Keith Reitman wrote: 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. (snip)
Is it fair to expect that Federally fueled, and financed, projects in our Northwest Quadrant will adhere to obvious, and reasonable standards? Guess again. David Piehl writes: If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Smith Parker law firm (of Access/Excess fame) is involved in this process. If that is the case, just "follow the money", and the "logic" behind otherwise senseless decisions will become obvious. Public processes should not be privatized! Despite the shortcomings of our local government, I do not support merging local government with local law firms or any other private companies. Keith writes BRT is comin'. (snip) 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. But BRT, the "Fast Bus" , has been hijacked, and diverted! (snip) 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. (snip) 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. David Piehl writes: It is humorous to me that the county (and Smith Parker?) are diverting traffic from West Broadway, a business corridor, onto Lowry, a more residential area. One of the arguments frequently used to justify the expenditure of $200 million for the so-called Access Project at I35W and Lake is that it will put MORE traffic in the commercial areas and take it out of the residential areas. I don't necessarily agree that more traffic is a positive thing for any area, but it's probably less damaging in a commercial area than a residential area. It's actually funny to think about Peter McLaughlin & Smith Parker promoting one vision for south Minneapolis that they say will increase traffic in commercial areas, and on the north side, many of the same people are trying to get traffic OUT of the business areas! To me it sounds like they don't want to scare people by taking them through west Broadway....another "urban avoidance" scheme, not unlike the Wells Fargo ramp from I35W. David Piehl Central __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com 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.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
