A more sensible plan would be to have enhanced connector bus service from where the tracks leave County 81 in Robbinsdale down Broadway and across the river as far as UPS and the Postal Service Hub. This would provide service along Broadway while the commuters headed to or from downtown could stay on the train.
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
On Sunday, June 15, 2003, at 10:25 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
The "Big Muddy " still crosses West Bro. at the Broadway bridge. I often
wonder: What if our civic leaders could divert that water away from the
Northside's greatest Avenue? If they could send it through, somewhere else, by-passing
"Our Avenue With the Most Potential" West Broadway; how quick would they do it?
They are diverting some progress that is coming "down the pike", again.
Hwy 81 (West Broadway), has a huge County/Federal/Suburban Municipal(s)
redevelopment/reconfiguaration program from Rogers, to our City limits. But at our
City Limits, planning, and implementation, dead ends. Is there a wall at Wirth
Parkway; maybe some buried land mines, to explain the aversion to cooperative
planning with our stretch of West Broadway? Can Mpls' West Broadway have
it's rightful place in the plan?
Eastbound at Wirth Parkway--Warning: Do not enter, inner-city West Bro. ahead, stagnancy maintenance zone, no passage.
West Bound at Wirth Parkway--Warning: Do not exit the hood, Suburban Opportunity Zone ahead, stay out.
Met Council Chief Peter Bell told people that development standards shall be
utilized for Met Council projects. Metro transit, including BRT, is the
responsibility of the Met Council; but not a peep from Peter Bell. Is it fair to
expect that Federally fueled, and financed, projects in our Northwest Quadrant
will adhere to obvious, and reasonable standards? Guess again.
BRT is comin'. Plain English: Fast Buses. Light rail; without the rail.
Rubber wheels below; and a steerin' wheel inside. What a great advancement that
is; and it carries more then people! Yep; it carries most of the Hwy 81 (beyond
Mpls.) Redevelopment design money, and implementation money, as a bonus cargo.
BRT is doing some heavy schlepping of Federal cash for road redevelopment.
But BRT, the "Fast Bus" , has been hijacked, and diverted! The hijackers are
wearing no masks, carrying no bombs, and they are not packing heat. Sport
jacket and tie is the uniform of choice, or ladies's power dresses. The pen is
more mighty then the sword. And Civic Leaders did the switcheroo. Consider: Lowry
is an Avenue in North Mpls. that is being redesigned with, mostly, one
traffic lane in each direction; and no parking lanes. Yet, Civic Leaders are touting
it for Bus RAPID Transit (BRT) routing. And what booty is garnered by elected
officials intercepting a Fast Bus at Wirth Parkway? Who gains, and who loses
by diverting it off major West Broadway? Who gains, and who loses, by
detouring BRT onto more minor Lowry Avenue north? Who is sending long distance BRT
commuters along little Lowry to get from DT, and North Mpls, out to Rogers, and
back??
The "booty" in this hijacking is tens of millions of Federal dollars! Money
that should go to the more appropriate major transit corridor, West Broadway.
It may go to Little Lowry instead.
Who/what/where/why/how?????
Who: Those who have more interest in minor Lowry Avenue north then major, and
unique, West Broadway Ave.
What: Diverting Federal Transit, BRT, Money to redevelop Lowry Avenue. BRT
belongs solely on West Broadway. Regular MCTO transit to BRT nodes at West
Broadway/Penn, and West Broadway/Lyndale, from all over North Mpls., is
appropriate. Ask Peter Bell, Met Council Chief, about "standards". He just won't stand
up for West Broadway; he is willing to dismiss his "standards" and yield to the
political will of others.
Where: First, where not: Not Lowry Avenue, a neighborhood corridor. NOW
where: West Broadway the Northwest Quadrant's main commercial, and main commuter,
Corridor.
Why: Cynical and shortsighted Civic leaders' desire to renew minor Lowry
Avenue, at the expense, and with the neglect, of more appropriate West Broadway
Ave.
How: Further clogging a narrow "neighborhood corridor" with additional BRT
busses, and calling it a multi modal commuter corridor, and other gobbledeegoof,
while hijacking tens of millions of Federal dollars for the wrong County
Road, Little Lowry Avenue.
So...does the river still run under the Broadway Bridge? So far, yes. Should
West Broadway be the sole route for BRT in North Mpls, of course. Should it be
diverted, diluted, and slowed down for Trojan Horse funding of Lowry Avenue
renewal: No. Lowry BRT is a bad choice that must be halted; the federal
dollars must go to West Broadway Avenue.
Keith Reitman Property owner on both Lowry & West Broadway NearNorth
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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