Very thorough bike lock review. I have a Litelok on my e-cargo bike and feel much better about it now. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
Urban Geographer @ UMN. Cityscape columnist @ Minnpost. Skyway Don Quixote. Tread lightly on earth. he/him Author of "St. Paul: Urban Biography”
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Very thorough bike lock review. I have a Litelok on my e-cargo bike and feel much better about it now. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...
"He’s the only player in MLB history with more than 100 steals and a success rate above 90 percent." (!) www.nytimes.com/athletic/658...
This is an eye opening history of that stretch of road. streets.mn/2016/02/29/w...
I was interviewed here, and did my best to remember how this all started!
"Free" from congestion?
"Hi, I'd like 2 single shots of espresso please."
Yuck
"St. Paul had to borrow computers from Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Elk River, Minneapolis and Sherburne County to run the reset operation." www.twincities.com/2025/08/29/s...
It all starts and ends with sidewalks.
LOL that's a hilarious goal. Reminds me of this map.
Cyclists, don't forget to wear hi viz!
"On the first day of operation, the fastest scheduled NextGen service from Boston to Washington was set to take 7 hours 4 minutes — 24 minutes slower than the fastest service on an original Acela train." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/t...
“The suspect said ‘he was distracted by a text message on his cellphone,’ according to the affidavit. ‘He stated that he opened his texting application, and when he looked to read the message, he heard a bump.’” www.startribune.com/state-patrol...
Life goals
“The biggest difference that we suspect matters here is that Kelowna focused on fast permit times, setting up pre-approved (outright) designs with very short permit times, and relatively fast permit times for general applications with different designs.” doodles.mountainmath.ca/posts/2025-0...
What's it like having the Minneapolis Park and Rec Board as a neighbor? Not that great. 4th-hole.tumblr.com/post/7910426...
Riese & Müller Pauses Shipments of eBikes & eCargo Bikes to USA Due to 50% Tariffs on Steel #ebikes #cargobikes #tariffs tinyurl.com/2pe2upkd
Gotta keep doing this, ideally at random, once a month or so forever until the property owners get it that they don't get to appropriate public land.
Here's who's profiting from ICE contracts in Minnesota, via @shadib.bsky.social www.minnpost.com/national/was...
There is zero chance any Republicans stand up to Trump. Can't believe anyone thinks this!
jeez, this doesn't seem great at Ramsey County. www.twincities.com/2025/08/27/2...
Great news: You're Not From Here returns to Black Hart on Wednesday 9/3! Come, make friends (but only if you want), and learn about Perkasie, New Bern, and Des Moines. Feat @biketrouble.bsky.social re: their recent Racket piece on transplant social tactics! tcsidewalks.blogspot.com/2025/08/your...
Good piece on Milwaukee Avenue's amazing working-class homes. mspmag.com/home-and-des...
I feel like these bikes should be part of a museum somewhere in town. kottke.org/25/08/004741...
Re: my piece this week about the 'opt-out' transit providers and their high administrative overhead, someone did a data request for salaries and salary ranges for high-level staff at MVTA (1.5M annual rides) vs. Metro Transit (47.5M annual rides). Pretty illuminating.
There’s a widespread myth that Americans hate traffic cameras. It’s simply not true. On the contrary, researchers have consistently found that Americans broadly support using automatic enforcement to curb crashes. And for good reason: It works. Me, in Bloomberg 🧵
🚨Border Patrol arrested two firefighters who were actively fighting a wildfire at the time. When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
Again, the parallel with Versailles jumps off the page. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This photo is amazing. www.latimes.com/california/s...
Report from DC from a long-time sidewalk observer. sidewalkcity.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/s...
It's possible that "handshake deals" with Trump may not be all that reliable. www.bluestemprairie.com/bluestemprai...
Dunno. One big takeaway for me is that it should not be easy (or possible) to buy assault rifles.
Not a new problem: see Mike Hicks' Streets article from 2013!
A propos of nothing, some photos of notable doorways from Detroit and Minneapolis, including these four beauts. FYI Detroit has the best doorways of any city I've seen. tcsidewalks.blogspot.com/2025/08/twin...
"For all the doom and gloom about a mass exodus, when tax rates did increase, millionaire populations continued to climb." www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
I feel like Bowling for Columbine said just about everything we need to know, and that was in 2002.
This would fall under the Mayor's purview.
"The idea is to make city governments helpless while continuing to blame them for everything that goes wrong in cities," writes @humantransit.bsky.social . "It plays well in conservative media, but it’s not fair and it’s certainly not democracy."
Once again, St. Paul's DSI seems to be less than helpful when it comes to new businesses and catalyzing investment. www.myvillager.com/news/busines...
"Today, New Orleans is smaller, poorer and more unequal than before the storm. It hasn’t rebuilt a durable middle class, and lacks basic services and a major economic engine outside of its storied tourism industry." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...
"It is extremely unusual for prosecutors to come out of a grand jury without obtaining an indictment because they are in control of the information... and defendants are not allowed to have their lawyers in the room as evidence is presented." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
This guys material is pretty good! www.startribune.com/minnesota-re...
I barely scratched the surface, so please do!
Not one of them remains!
From the NYT "analysis" article of today's lickspittle cabinet meeting... Q: do I want to know what this is?
Ha! I knew this development plan was BS. The City Council needs to kill a data center on this key spot. Currently one of the worst buildings in all of downtown. www.startribune.com/former-wells...
Amsterdam Bar!
Making them wear high-visibility vests over camo is such a good joke you couldn’t write it
Can confirm
"We tend to think of the weaponization of federal government power as mostly centering on the Justice Department. But as you can see here, that’s hardly the case... All the powers of the state are unleashed against the people who displease the president." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-mag...
"It defies common sense. And when people believe rates of crime are always horrific and getting worse, they become willing to justify responses proportionate to that imagined danger." www.startribune.com/mpls-crime-r...
The best thing about being inside Spruce Tree Center is that you can't see the Spruce Tree Center from there. The worst thing, apparently, is you have to look at this graffiti instead. www.myvillager.com/news/general...
Every Day, Invoicing for Natural Amenities www.startribune.com/edina-trees-...
I finally wrote about the Twin Cities' "opt-out" transit agencies and why they're dumb. www.minnpost.com/news/2025/08...
I also owe my education to enrolling in PSEO back in the 1990s. High school was not my favorite, and this is a great program IMO. www.startribune.com/mn-postsecon...
Absolutely spot-on (as usual) from Jamelle Bouie. kottke.org/25/08/the-ar...
Checking in on manomin. www.minnpost.com/other-nonpro...
Get your early bird tickets to Minnpost Festival, chat with me about cities! www.minnpost.com/inside-minnp...
The cars :: cigarettes parallel has legs.
I am not worried about the future of western Summit Avenue.
"Legislating behavior by regulating which types of people can live where is brutally difficult to do fairly and creates a slippery slope that risks veering into the zoning mistakes of our past, like racial redlining." streets.mn/2025/08/26/s...
Oh wow.
Irony that Karl, the guy who was run over and left to bleed on the street by Mark Tinucci, Sr., worked for the MN Department of Health improving our state's public health. www.startribune.com/co-owner-of-...
If we're going to nationalize large US companies, can we at least do the railroads?
@douglewin.bsky.social: "One acre of corn for ethanol = 25,000 miles in a Ford F-150. One acre of solar = 700,000 miles in an F-150 Lightning. That’s the scale of possibility Bill McKibben laid out on the Energy Capital Podcast." #alwaysbecharging www.douglewin.com/p/here-comes...
"A blue SUV was traveling east in the westbound lanes when it hit the cyclist traveling in the bicycle lane, then hit the pedestrian crossing Lake Street. The SUV did not stop." www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...
Great to see Minneapolis PW has nearly completed their Sisyphean copper wire task. kstp.com/kstp-news/to...
Did not know that! www.minnpost.com/fact-briefs/...
Of course they did.
“autonomously driven vehicles will induce more journeys, and traffic congestion will therefore increase. Such a future poses a threat to public transport, but it also poses a threat to cycling.” authory.com/CarltonReid/...
Never Ending Story, for me
President Trump’s federal takeover of D.C.’s local police is unprecedented. “The last person who asserted the authority to use military personnel for routine law enforcement anywhere in the country for any reason was King George,” a legal scholar said.
Man, downtown Chicago needs congestion pricing if anywhere in the US does. Also, I hear the CTA could really use a stable source of revenue.
“Jimenez Rosa, a legal permanent resident and mother of four U.S. citizens, was detained over what her lawyer believes was a decades-old, personal-use marijuana charge, which is no longer a crime in Massachusetts today… “I was just like, ‘Girls, we might never see your mother again in this country’”
Wow great Twins debuts for Bradley and Abel, the stud pitchers we traded for at the deadline! /s
People should think of doing something social like going to a party as healthy for them as going for a run or eating a salad if not more so. You don’t have to do it every night but this is v important to your physical and mental well being. (It’s 🤯 that you have to put it this way but here we are)
They did the thing.
"Erosion on both sides is starving the point, higher water levels are drowning it and powerful winds are battering it." www.startribune.com/as-duluths-p...
New from data reporter @shadib.bsky.social: Minnesota ranks 1st in country in share of adults who identify as transgender. “This should be a point of pride for Minnesotans,” says @rohnkat.bsky.social of @outfrontmn.bsky.social www.minnpost.com/data/2025/08...
Oh my I will ASAP!
“From what I can tell, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Senate seems to be motivated by pure cultural animus toward urban life.” humantransit.org/2025/08/the-...
I wrote an unusually strongly worded thing about the transit crisis in Pennsylvania, which is coming soon to Oregon and Illinois. humantransit.org/2025/08/the-...
Enjoy these hand-painted signs from one-story Detroit auto shops. kottke.org/25/08/the-ha...
"Mark Tinucci Sr. allegedly got out of the SUV, looked at the bicyclist, got back behind the wheel and drove off." www.startribune.com/co-owner-of-...
And the Midtown Greenway turned 25 this month! @blindeke.bsky.social wrote about the origin and significance of the 5.5-mile bike trail on its quarter-century anniversary: www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...
I love the state fair & I love this @streets.mn article by @blindeke.bsky.social from 2018 streets.mn/2018/08/27/s...
I know it's supposed to be "12 days of fun", but the Minnesota State Fair is also "12 days of psychopathic drivers running wild on the streets of St. Paul." (Yikes! I cursed out two different people while riding my bike this afternoon. Maniacs everywhere.)
Tommy Watkins does not GAF any more.
"Graduate and professional students are expected to feel the greatest impact, given the new borrowing limits and the loss of Grad Plus loans." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A rainbow crosswalk in Orlando that was part of the city’s Pulse Memorial was painted over by the state last night at the order of Ron DeSantis. The memorial honored the 49 people fatally shot by a gunman at the Pulse LGBTQ nightclub in 2016 — the largest mass shooting in the country at the time.
Come write for Minnpost and really get to know the state capitol building. www.minnpost.com/careers/2025...
Updated biking to the fair guide just dropped, and it’s a good one!
Opponents of lower speed limits in cities often argue that they would actually increase emissions. But it's actually a lot more complicated than that. This study looks into it properly and finds that they can reduce emissions by 10% doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
"Before 2010, the estimated lifespan for American early adults increased every year... By 2023, American early adults’ chance of dying was 70 percent higher than it would have been had the lifesaving trends of the early 2000s continued." slate.com/technology/2...
I can't help it, I keep wanting to inflate that rear wheel.
194 homes and some retail coming to the Hamm's Brewery is great news. It'll make the entire area, including St. Paul Brewing, more vibrant and successful. www.twincities.com/2025/08/20/s...
Perfect example of this design philosophy right here: www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...
But being unable to easily enter skyways is a feature, not a bug, for downtown building owners. Lanyard people know how to navigate, and everyone else is befuddled. They are designed to exclude "those people" and will never boast all-day activity. www.startribune.com/downtown-mpl...
Perfect example of this right here: www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...
I'd like to hear more about the vision for how a pedestrian plaza could be used. What would it feel like to be there with or without cars? www.startribune.com/george-floyd...