Some things that have been on my radar lately. First, in today’s news:
- More mixed commercial-residential development coming on 42nd Street. Is three a trend? We now have the Dakota Textbook Company building, Northern Heights at Griggs Square, and this new project as examples of mixed development in locations that in the past would have been either strip malls or apartment buildings. Downtown counts as well, so maybe we should quantify what the difference in these locations versus downtown represents?
- Tina Rakowski writes in to say “the rent is too damn high!” Not in those exact words, but what are we doing in Grand Forks to examine the reasons for rent going up across the board?
Second, it’s been a positive week in the American streets blogosphere:
- Cycling advocates so polite they might actually be Canadian install bike lane pylons in Seattle. How cool is this? Not only is the city completely polite in return, but they offer to return the pylons…in essence allowing the group to stage a protest at another location in he future.
- Old people get to have all the fun–when they get old. The question is a great one: why wait until retirement to live in a place that lets you walk and ride where you need to go in complete safety?
- College was awesome, not only because you didn’t have to drive anywhere. It’s argument by nostalgia, but even if you didn’t go to college (or didn’t live and eat on campus), there are a lot of things to be said for 1) lots of time off and 2) having good food close by.
- Accessibility as a replacement for mobility (scroll down to “Moving green”). A short piece about interconnectedness versus disconnectedness in a longer article about greening cities.
Thirdly, some of the recent local/regional articles you may have missed (copies available on request):
- Columbia Road widening project is pushing ahead (2013-04-02)
- Central parking ramp to be repaired (2013-04-02)
- Drunk driving is mostly victimless, so why should it be illegal? (2013-03-23)
- We need Arts and Entertainment zones in Grand Forks (2013-03-17)
- Speeding tickets are just a money grab (2013-03-02)
- It’s no longer weird to ride your bicycle in the winter, in Winnipeg at least (2013-02-15)