Streets and parking. We may frequently divert to conversations about crime, housing, and homelessness – but local politics always come back to streets and parking.
As host of the Wedge neighborhood’s #1 rated podcast, I’ve been forced to listen to some of the worst transportation arguments that have ever been made, especially during my conversations with this year’s candidates for city council.
Over the last decade I’ve been pleased to see Minneapolis make strides towards building streets that are friendlier to bikes, pedestrians, and transit riders. Will that hard-won progress continue? Or will we surrender to the backlash?
Some of the most common complaints:
- people drive
- lots of people drive
- most people drive
- everyone drives
- we need parking
- I like bikes, but not here
- the greenway is great, why can’t you use that?
- no fucking bumpouts!
The following is my response to your transportation concerns.
It’s still amazingly easy to drive and park in the Twin Cities
The energy some are bringing to this conversation makes me think they believe we banned cars. Driving in Minneapolis remains amazingly fast and convenient. I will frequently go months never riding in a car. Then, when I take a car trip, I’m reminded how world-class our car infrastructure is. You can easily drive somewhere in 10 minutes that would take a transit rider 60+.
Cars have monopolized public space for generations
Any move to promote convenient, efficient and safe alternatives to driving, means clawing back space we’ve devoted almost entirely to cars. Since the middle of the last century, pedestrians, bikes, and transit riders have been crowded out to the margins. Fixing that imbalance means redistributing some space.
Street reconstructions are not optional
Not only do streets begin to crumble at the surface, underground infrastructure like sewer pipes need to be replaced. Closures are an understandable frustration for business owners, but there’s no way to reconstruct a street without closing it down.
There’s no place to park?
There actually are places to park. Parking studies have shown this time and again. I’ve lived through so many street battles where the aparkalypse was predicted but never arrived. You get through to the other side, people forget how pissed off they were, and life goes on.
Everyone drives?
This frequently cited statistic — “everyone drives” — isn’t backed up by the data. And even people who drive, frequently live extended portions of their lives outside the confines of an automobile.
More than 20% of households (2,614 out of 12,890) in the Wedge and Whittier neighborhoods do not have a vehicle. These are the neighborhoods adjacent to current and future reconstructions on Hennepin and Lyndale Avenues. 30% of Whittier takes transit, bikes, or walks to work. In the Wedge, it’s 22%.
But you can own a vehicle and care about safer streets and more livable neighborhoods. Most of the transportation advocates I know are also car owners!
Demanding maximal convenience for drivers does not equate to advocacy for elders or the disabled
Many seniors or those with disabilities don’t have access to a vehicle or are prevented from driving by a disability. Ride the bus and you will understand this. 10% of Metro Transit riders are disabled.
Missing the point of traffic calming
To the lady who shouted “no fucking bumpouts!” at a community meeting that was supposed to cover the topic of crime, I say: if you’re frustrated at having to drive slower and with more care around that crap they put in the street — that was the whole point.
We’re not impressed with how much you say you love the Midtown Greenway
The Midtown Greenway is great. But it will not get you from the Wedge to downtown. It won’t get you to the northside. It’s one piece of a transportation network. Shouting out how much you love the greenway, and that bikes should just use the greenway, tells me you don’t understand bikes as transportation.
Don’t dismiss this as a pie in the sky environmental cause
It’s true, we are burning up our one and only planet. And locally, I’d love to be breathing cleaner air. Car exhaust, tire particles, and brake dust are actually killing people. But it’s about more than that.
Let me sell you on the immediate, real, tangible upside. Walk to the store without cheating death at every intersection. Make a quick trip across town by bike or bus. Eat at a sidewalk patio without shouting over revving traffic. Spare yourself the financial burden of owning and operating one or more vehicles (currently over $1,000/month on average and rising fast). We should want these things for our neighbors and their families.
We are happier, healthier, safer and more connected to our communities when we aren’t constantly in our cars. We sacrifice so much for a mode of transportation that is miserable, expensive, and deadly. Many more people would like to live this way but aren’t being given the opportunity.
Caucus night is Tuesday, April 8.
Nothing is more political than the way you get around your city. If you don’t show up to the Minneapolis DFL caucuses, someone else could get power over the streets that make your daily life miserable. Caucus locations are here.