The case for clearing sidewalks of snow by block, not property

If you live in a winter city in which property owners are responsible for clearing snow from their section(s) of sidewalk, have any of the following happened to you? A: You clear your sidewalk, one of your neighbors doesn’t, your block is still treacherous. B: You’re unavailable immediately after a snowstorm, when you get home […]

Streets without trees are dangerous

With more cities developing Vision Zero initiatives to eliminate road traffic fatalities, more people are seeing the way streets that are designed as a life-and-death issue. That entails seeing things that used to look fairly benign – a 13′ lane width, for example – as hazardous. We should start seeing the absence of mature street […]

Taking in the local atmosphere

With this post, I’m starting a series about air. It ties back to another small post from today about swimming pools, which you can find here if you’re curious. The gist of it is that when the systems around managing a shared public resource like a simple pool of water aren’t working, it’s gross on […]

If Mpls & St Paul grow and add affordable housing and movie stars, will they be like Islington?

If you’re familiar with the Twin Cities, stretch your imagination with me and picture a city in which: Both exceptionally very wealthy and very poor people live. People reliably support liberal politicians. There’s an area to the west that’s also wealthy, has less poverty, and leans further right politically. Residents have a reputation for being […]