Sustainability : Buzz

Popular local food trucks Chef Shack and Vellee Deli appeared on a recent list of the country's top food trucks, in a ranking dished up by food website The Daily Meal.
 
Chef Shack, a fixture on the food truck scene here and one of the first to kick off the trend, nabbed the no. 10 spot on the list while fusion cuisine purveyor Vellee Deli came in at no. 84.
 
The website looked at over 450 trucks from over 40 cities, and came up with the list by considering Twitter and Facebook popularity, as well as innovative menus, originality, and online reviews.
 
In singling out Chef Shack, the site noted that ingredients are organic when possible, and from family farms and co-ops in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Vellee Deli, meanwhile, won a spot for its blend of Asian and Mexican dishes.

"If you're a lover of outdoor urban activity, might we suggest a move to Minneapolis?" begins the story on U.S. city park systems from Grist.
 
The online news site cited rankings from the Trust for Public Land in its second-annual ParkScore Index. Although Minneapolis didn't appear on last year's list, the survey results were tweaked this year to include more metropolitan locations, and the city zoomed to the top, beating out larger cities like San Francisco and New York City.
 
In calculating the rankings, ParkScore looked at acreage of city parks, services and investment, and access. Minneapolis parks boast 15 percent of the city's overall area, with over 5,000 acres of parkland.  

For the third year in a row, the Twin Cities landed at the top of the list for the healthiest cities in the country, according to the American Fitness Index, a study done by the American College of Sports Medicine.
 
Aimed at presenting a snapshot of the state of health and fitness at the metropolitan level, the annual ranking looks at a variety of factors that drive health, including the number of farmers markets per capita, city playgrounds and parks, golf courses and tennis courts, and other recreation opportunities.
 
Although the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was considered to have the most areas of excellence, there were some "improvement priority areas," including the number of smokers who live here, and the lower percentage of residents who eat more than five servings of fruits or vegetables per day.
 
Rounding out the top five were Washington D.C., Portland, San Francisco, and Denver.

Minnetonka-based United Health Foundation recently released a study that examined the health of the country's seniors, and which states had the most community resources to support them as they age.
 
Minnesota came out on top, followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Iowa.
 
The report is designed to provide information that can be used to inspire new and effective solutions that meet the healthcare needs of seniors, noted Reed Tuckson, senior advisor to United Health Foundation. In a statement, he said, "We are measuring senior heath in order to help improve it."
 
Minnesota's advantages over other states include more robust drug coverage, lower rates of hunger among seniors, higher rates of annual dental visits, and an abundance of home health care workers.
 
The report noted, "We want this report to be more than just an assessment of the current status of senior health. We want to promote a public discussion of the overall health of the age 65+ population that is comprehensive and balanced."

Food and drink website The Daily Meal recently ran a feature called "The 10 Best Locavore Cities in America Right Now," and Minneapolis landed at number eight.
 
Each city's listing showcases a restaurant that represents a commitment to locavores (those who seek out only locally sourced food). For Minneapolis, Corner Table got the nod.
 
"Minneapolis has come into its own as a food city, and Corner Table epitomizes the town's focus on fresh and friendly Midwestern cuisine," the article notes, before praising the restaurant's globally inspired dishes and seasonal tasting menus.
 
To come up with the list, editors at the site looked at which cities had the most restaurants known for serving locally sourced ingredients. Coming in at the top of the list is Asheville, North Carolina.
 

Earth Policy describes various bike-sharing programs around the world in a recent post.

The post mentions Nice Ride, the bike-sharing program in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which is the second largest in the U.S. Nice Ride has 1,550 bikes at 170 stations, it states. Capital Bikeshare, which serves the Washington, D.C. area, is the biggest, with more than 1,800 bikes at 200 stations,the piece notes.

Bike-sharing programs are popping up more and more, these days. “Forward-thinking cities are turning back to the humble bicycle as a way to enhance mobility, alleviate automotive congestion, reduce air pollution, boost health, support local businesses, and attract more young people,” according to the article.

Bike-sharing systems “are being embraced by a growing number of people in the urbanizing world who are starting to view car ownership as more of a hassle than a rite of passage.” 

DC.Streetsblog.org gives a shout-out to the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride bike-sharing program in a post, “Midwest Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share.”

Recently, Pittsburgh announced it was adding a similar program, while several other cities plan to follow suit.

The post goes on to say, “And of course there’s the grandaddy of them all: Minneapolis’ Nice Ride. Launched in 2010, this system currently boasts more than 1,200 bikes. Late last year, the system surpassed half a million trips.”

The post also includes a photo of a local bicyclist taking advantage of the pioneering bike-sharing program.

Bicycling in Minneapolis increased by 56 percent over the past six years, and walking by 22 percent, according to the City of Minneapolis Bicyclist and Pedestrian Count Report 2012, released on March 1st.
 
The figures are based on annual counts conducted every September, at 30 different locations for bicyclists and 23 locations for pedestrians. According to the report, the top locations for both activities are near the University of Minnesota, in downtown Minneapolis, and along the Midtown Greenway and Cedar Lake Trail.
 
Other findings from the report include an increase in the number of routes for bicycling, which has attracted new cyclists and given existing cyclists more options. Minneapolis has added over 40 miles of bikeways in just the past two years.
 
The ongoing collection of data about bicycling and walking is done by the city to develop a more complete picture of overall traffic behavior in our communities, the report noted.

The Minnesota Office of the Secretary of State reported that new business filings in 2012 represented an 18 percent increase over the previous year, and constituted the second highest number of new filings in the state's history.
 
Over 60,000 new businesses were filed last year. As noted by Twin Cities Business, the record was set in 2009, when the state had over 63,000 new filings. However, that increase is largely attributed to a shift in filing practices implemented by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
 
"New business filings reflect Minnesota's great business climate," said Secretary Mark Ritchie in a statement. "As our economy continues to improve in 2013, new business filings will remain strong."  

According to a recent article in Recycling Today, Minneapolis-based Pioneer Industries International opened its eighth location at the end of November.
 
Pioneer is one of the largest privately owned recycling firms in the Midwest, and its newest location in Milwaukee will offer a range of processing services, including recycling of packaging materials and metal.
 
In addition to Minneapolis, the company has operations in Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and other Midwestern locations.
 
Talking to Recycling Today about the recent expansion, the company noted that the "principles of excellent customer service, strong end-user relationships and being a true sustainability partner to its customers resonate within this new venture just as it did before."

Cities in different climates are starting to resemble each other in unexpected ways.

A New York Times magazine story talks about the increasing similarities between Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Baltimore: “Scientists think that cities are starting to look alike in ways that have nothing to do with the proliferation of Starbucks, WalMart, or T.G.I Fridays,” the story states.

Landscaping plays a major role in this. It’s about “the choices we make every spring when we emerge from our apartments and homes and descend on local garden centers.”

While Phoenix has more lakes today than it did in the past, Minneapolis, known for its lakes, “is becoming drier as developers fill in wetlands,” it states.

Cities are “becoming more like one another ecologically than they are like the wild environments around them.”

This, says the piece, is hopeful in that it indicates that “a sprawling metropolis built in a desert might actually offer a path toward something like sustainability.”  

On its inaugural list of America's Best Hipster Neighborhoods, financial magazine Forbes chose Minneapolis' North Loop as one of its picks.
 
To define "hipster," the publication searched through data on more than 250 neighborhoods in the largest U.S. cities, and looked for factors like the number of coffee shops per capita, the diversity of food trucks and farmers markets, walkability, the percentage of residents who work in artistic occupations, and the number of bars and restaurants.
 
The North Loop, also known as the Warehouse District, was recognized as "hipster" for its large warehouse spaces that have been converted to apartments, boutiques, and restaurants. Forbes also added: "Bike trails, a park and an arts collective also boost the hipness quotient." The North Loop came in 12th out of 20 neighborhoods.
 
At the top of the Forbes list was Los Angeles' Silver Lake, San Francisco's Mission District, and Brooklyn's Williamsburg.

Because of "excellent planning policies, high level of staff commitment to pedestrian safety and pedestrian campaigns and events," Minneapolis is a gold-level community for walking, according to Walk Friendly Communities.
 
As also reported in Southwest Journal, the city's extensive sidewalk network is an example of how Minneapolis is devoted to providing pedestrian facilities. Over 90 percent of streets in Minneapolis have complete sidewalks, and over 80 percent of streets have sidewalks on both sides of the street.
 
Walk Friendly Communities also noted the city's pedestrian street lighting, parking standards, and crosswalk practices as other indications of the walking friendliness of Minneapolis.

"Think it's futile to build up a massive cycling network because of frosty winter temperatures?" asks a recent news story in Winnipeg Free Press. "[Minneapolis] has proven a bit of snow and sub-zero winds don't mean a city can't be a top cycling spot."
 
The article notes that Minneapolis is among a handful of North American cities considered leaders in building a network of paths that encourage recreational and commuter travel. About 3.5 percent of Minneapolis residents bike to work, and the city is on track to increase that number to seven percent within the next couple of years, according to the newspaper.
 
Quoting Shaun Murphy, Minneapolis bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, the story added that half of the city cyclists don't ride their bikes during the winter, but there's been growing interest in winter biking. One draw is that Minneapolis works to have all bicycle trails plowed within 24 hours of a snowfall. 

The number of farmers markets is growing across the country, which makes singling out just a few of them a challenging task. But the Mother Nature Network (MNN) was willing to take on the job, highlighting nine markets across the country, including the Minneapolis Farmers Market.
 
"Some of the produce and goods sold here are seldom seen in smaller markets (or in any other markets in the Upper Midwest, for that matter), a product of Minneapolis' diverse population," the article notes.
 
True food aficionados need to visit the market, MNN advises, along with other markets in Portland, Santa Fe, Madison, Hilo, HI, New Orleans, and Chicago.