Central Corridor : Featured Stories

The nonprofit Springboard for the Arts used to concentrate solely on career development for artists. Now, under the leadership of Laura Zabel, it's become a powerful force in redefining the whole relationship between artists and the communities they live in--and in marshaling artistic creativity to improve those communities.

Art lives in the Twin Cities--and not just in the tonier parts of town. Thanks to initiatives like Twin Cities LISC's Building Sustainable Communities program, art and artists are taking major roles in helping some of our most challenged inner-city communities thrive.

As the building phase of the Central Corridor line finishes up, it's becoming clear that--thankfully--the direst predictions of business disruption didn't materialize. Now enterprises up and down the corridor are getting used to the new normal.

When globetrotting dancers and choreographers Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, formerly of the Alvin Ailey company, decided to establish a new kind of multicultural dance school in Saint Paul, they knew where they wanted it to be: along the Central Corridor in the heart of the city.

According to Amber Collett, a transit and bike activist (and a former Twin Cities resident), we've got reason to envy Portland's bike-friendly transit system. But Minneapolis actually wins in the comparison. Why? Read on.

The Central Corridor light rail line (aka the Green Line) won't be finished till 2014, but it's already earning its keep, writes Conrad LeFiebre of MN 2020, as development advances, once-disrupted business stabilizes, and observers add up the unique advantages of a line that connects two downtowns.

In this blog post from Minnesota 2020, Conrad deFiebre argues that, while light rail is both successful and expanding in the Twin Cities, it's not the only answer to the 21st-century transit question in our metro. Meet the "rapid bus," a transit mode that mimics rail--on rubber tires.

Far from simply decorating the light-rail route, Saint Paul's Central Corridor Public Art Plan is redefining art in the public sphere.

Mike Fitzsimmons and John Grider, AKA Broken Crow, explain how the Irrigate initiative helped get their intense, stylish animal images up on a University Avenue business--helping that business to stand out during light rail construction.

Saint Paul's music-loving mayor wants a city with a scene--a dynamic downtown with the special energy that only art and music provide. Last Thursday he shared some successes, some hopes, and some rock-concert memories with The Line.

On some long-vacant land behind their Central Corridor high school, a group of students and their supporters envision a multi-use greenspace that would be a focal point for the neighborhood--and could be unique in the nation.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: Get to know Irrigate, our public-spirited and art-fueled Central Corridor placemaking project.

In town to talk about the Central Corridor, Hennepin Avenue, and other local nodes of city planning, lauded urbanist Charles Landry called for an approach that integrates the cities' diverse cultures into a rich, essentially artistic, mix--and makes everyone feel appreciated and included.

In one magical zone in the Twin Cities, there's a loon made of junk, a chimney covered in shattered glass and ceramic shards, and a place to buy tarantulas. It's called the Central Corridor. Here's a second look at what photographer Bill Kelley and managing editor Jon Spayde picked out last year as they traveled down University Avenue and Washington Avenue, seeking out their favorite offbeat, oddball, one-of-a-kind things.

An aggressive, and unconventional, marketing campaign to keep people coming to Central Corridor businesses during light rail construction in 2011 appears to have paid off in less business decline than expected--and a mood of cautious optimism about the future.