Regionalism : Featured Stories
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 26, 2013
With Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) a possible future option for areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul where light rail isn't feasible, I decided to take ride on Apple Valley's newly opened BRT route (the Red Line) to check it out. And why not? I'd already checked into a suburban hotel after the power went out at home.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 24, 2013
She was the key consultant on the Knight Foundation/Gallup Soul of the Community project, which looked at why people love where they live and how that attachment can drive economic development. The in-demand placemaker is the star attraction at a weeklong series of discussions next week, cosponsored by The Line.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, February 27, 2013
From "road diets" to "advisory bike lanes" to Complete Streets programs, Twin Cities suburbs are beginning to create infrastructure and policy to turn their familiar auto-only paradigm into a new vision of walkable, bikeable streets.
Conrad DeFiebre Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, November 07, 2012
While the concept of the green job is a nice fusion of much-needed employment growth and environmental responsibility, it's been hard to get a handle on the size and even the definition of this part of the job market. But according to Matt Entenza and other experts, the picture in Minnesota is getting clearer as more jobs fit the category. In fact, this small but growing sector may be the IT of the future.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, July 25, 2012
How are Minnesota and the Twin Cities doing as film production centers and locations? There have been some major disappointments recently, but new moves give us reason to hope we can lure Hollywood back.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, July 18, 2012
What can the Twin Cities learn from other communities' success with municipal broadband? For one thing, that "bright cable" has a bright future. For another, that every city's situation is different.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 13, 2012
At the Grassroots and Groundwork anti-poverty conference--held at Mystic Lake Casino, of all places--attendees heard about ingenious ways to build wealth in struggling communities by adapting old-school immigrant self-help tactics to the digital age.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 11, 2012
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: A web site that makes hiking through our towns an exercise in historical imagination.
Susan Klemond Wednesday, April 04, 2012
What do you do when the urban garden you've struggled to create gets sold out from under you? At the recent Community Garden Spring Resource Fair, New York gardening advocate Karen Washington told local growers that if they want their gardens to be really sustainable--i.e., permanent--they'd better get savvy about the political system.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, March 28, 2012
German-born Katharina (Katie) Eggers has studied politics in Paris, taught in Thailand, and worked as a UN-EU liaison in Brussels. Now this young, internationally connected overachiever is preparing to launch a print magazine that will highlight the Twin Cities' connections to the nation and the world. And she has some pointed things to say about what it's like to be a newcomer in our towns.
Islamic Resource Group of Minnesota Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Muslim Minnesotans range from immigrants to American-born men and women with Mideastern, African, or Asian ancestry to converts with a "Lake Wobegon" background. This film, produced by the Islamic Resource Group of Minnesota, puts very human and very recognizable faces on Minnesota's diverse and growing Muslim community.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, February 01, 2012
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.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"Coopetition"--cooperation among competitors or potential competitors--was a force to be reckoned with in the Twin Cities during 2011. Our politics may be gridlocked in partisanship, but the smartest entrepreneurs and civic officials locally are embracing a wider vision than the zero-sum game.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Did you know that there's a National Park right in the middle of the Twin Cities metro? It's long and narrow, and it's called the Mississippi River. The National Park Service and its local ally, the Mississippi River Fund, want you to know more about our stretch of the river. Get your cell phones, tablets, and laptops out.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A conversation with Julia Freeman and Hillary Rodgers of the Organizing Apprenticeship Program. Through its Education Equity Organizing Collaborative, the OAP has entered into a pathbreaking partnership with the State of Minnesota. Its goal: close the widely publicized "achievement gap" by making sure equal treatment of all students is state policy.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 20, 2011
For urban designer Peter Musty, who's collaborating on plans for the Loring neighborhood in Minneapolis and the Ford site in St, Paul, walkable, transit-focused neighborhoods are non-negotiable. We need them for our health and prosperity--and to help our culture calm down.
Michelle Bruch Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Nobody expected Central Corridor light-rail construction to be easy on the small businesses along the route. But now that the challenges of access and parking are hitting, business owners, the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations are working to keep the Corridor as customer-friendly as possible.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, March 30, 2011
In the past year or so, the Twin Cities have solidified their reputation as one of the bike-friendliest metropolitan areas in America. And we're not resting on our laurels. An expanded bike-share program, a brand-new online bike-rental business, new trails and connections, a new bike/coffee shop combo in the works, and more--they all point to a great spring for the human-powered-transport set.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Lars Leafblad, a principal in the Minneapolis executive search firm KeyStone Search, was dubbed "the most networked man in the Twin Cities" by Minnesota Business magazine last year. In the second of our Big Picture conversations about the future of our city and state, Leafblad acknowledges that we're good at cooperation and connection--but adds that we need a compelling new image of what we want to be and where we want to go.
Chris Steller Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Like it or not, the Twin Cities are competing with major metropolises around the world--we're talking Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, and the like--to attract creative, innovative, entrepreneurial people who can live anywhere. That's the message of adman John Foley, whose brand-new nonprofit, 4Front, aims to raise awareness of this high-stakes situation by creating a yearly festival that's part competition, part showcase of Twin Cities innovation. The goal: to lure the best and brightest worldwide to our towns.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, September 22, 2010
There's a lot of excitement about "green jobs" and their potential to put America back to work. But defining what a green job actually is can be difficult, say some clued-in researchers in the state Department of Employment and Economic Development whose efforts have helped put Minnesota is in the forefront of the infant science of green-labor-market studies. A few real-world trends: there are many shades of green in the job market, the total number of certifiably green jobs in the state isn't large yet, and yet the potential for green-job growth is real.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, June 02, 2010
What can we do to do leverage the abundant high-tech talent in Minnesota into more startups? At the MinneBar 2010 conference, geeks and investors gathered to grapple with that question--among others--and to assess the state of the tech biz in the Gopher State. The verdict: More risk-taking, more mentoring, more connectivity are needed here--but everybody can keep their cabins.