February 2012
5 posts
Thoughts on "elitism"
About a week ago, I was involved in a tense comment thread on the Northfield News website on Northfield’s new land development code (LDC), particularly as it applies to 3-car garages. (Under the new rules, attached garages are capped at 24 feet, and they must be at least six feet behind the main façade of the house.) Many citizen voices, who have apparently ignored the multi-year LDC...
Reading Northfield's Rental Ordinance
I gave Northfield’s controversial rental ordinance a quick read before I signed my first lease a year ago. Now that it’s being challenged in court — and I prepare to find housing for June 1 — I thought I’d give it a more thorough read. So, the highlights:
Sec. 14-78. Purpose and scope.
To the extent that any standards of this article apply only to rental...
A letter to Walgreens
I was recently in your Walgreens store in Northfield and noticed the lovely display you had for “Walk with Walgreens.” This campaign seems to encourage healthy walking as a part of daily life. Among other things, your brochure suggests “walk[ing] when you run an errand.”
I think it is great that Walgreens is encouraging walking. However, I think you have an obligation to...
December 2011
2 posts
Highway 3: It starts with a name
I strongly believe that many of the false perceptions of Northfield’s Highway 3 result from the name we currently use to describe it. Highway 3, it must be some long state route. Highway — that’s for driving fast.
The reality is that most state highways in Minnesota have local names. In Northfield, Highway 246 is known as W Woodley St and S Division St, and Highway 19 is known...
Highway 3: A problem of perception
I was having a conversation about speeding at Christmas dinner, when my brother remarked at the onerously slow speed limits on Highway 3 in Northfield, especially the 30 zone downtown. I responded that it is downtown, and that pedestrians need to be able to cross the roadway without freeway-speed traffic. He insisted that there weren’t even sidewalks: why would there be pedestrians?
There...
November 2011
0 posts
Stop signs do not apply to bikes.
Stop signs do not apply to bikes. Stop signs seem to be a defining issue for American cycling, especially in a suburban context. If only cyclists would stop blowing through stop signs, or running red lights — or whatever it is that seems to offend the driving majority — then maybe cycling could be a legitimate form of transportation.
The trouble with this is, is that what is a minor...
June 2011
1 post
A letter from Jefferson Road
A couple of weeks ago, I sent an informational packet to 25 affected homeowners on Jefferson Road. Four have responded, two quite courteously. Just before leaving for Scandinavia, I received a rather aggressive letter from one resident. Since the letter was anonymous and had no return address, I cannot respond to the resident’s complaints directly. So instead I will do it here, piece by...
May 2011
2 posts
A letter to Sen. Al DeKruif
Northfield’s state senator, Al DeKruif, voted yesterday to put a constitutional gay marriage ban on the Minnesota ballot. Doing my best to have faith in my representation, I wrote him the following today:
Senator DeKruif: I was watching the floor debate on the marriage amendment bill, and I was intrigued by the claim of many of your fellow Republican senators who spoke. Their claim was...
ID law discriminates against college students
Letter to editor in today’s Snooze:
“If voting is that important to you, you should get a voting ID.”
That is what our new Rep. Kelby Woodard had to say about voting in the state of Minnesota. A co-author of a bill that requires that voters display photo identification, he apparently doesn’t believe that voting is the right and duty of all citizens. But if you really, really insist, I...
April 2011
4 posts
Keep it moral, St. Olaf
From the BORSC report on Health at St. Olaf, in a section called “Positives”:
Sexual Behavior
Students reported the following number of sexual partners within the last 12 months:
Why the difference? Perhaps having numerous sexual partners is not considered as socially acceptable here as other places. These numbers also reflect the fact that there is less reporting of involvement...
City names are confusing
A couple of years ago, the Metro Airports Commission replaced signage along Minneapolis freeways to the Minneapolis airport. The signage had previously said the names of the terminals, Lindbergh and Humphrey. Deemed far too confusing by the Commission, they were replaced with signs indicating Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. How could people possibly know what a Lindbergh or a Humphrey was? Advanced...
Get on the bike path, motherf***er!
I was riding up to Minneapolis yesterday, a beautiful spring day. Preparing to turn on to Pilot Knob Road from Dodd Boulevard, a car came up from behind, and a 30-something man shouted out of the window of his Jeep, “get on the bike path!” Limited in my response time, I simply showed him the middle finger. That was followed by a “bike path, motherfucker!!!” and a witty...
The Victim's Fault
On Thursday, a cyclist was killed on the University of Minnesota campus. She was riding on a street with a designated bike lane, following traffic laws, and riding as predictably as possible: going in a straight line through an intersection. A truck at this intersection turned right across her right of way and struck and killed her. This category of accident — driver failing to yield right...
March 2011
1 post
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January 2011
11 posts
1 tag
Earthquakes, cars, and homos
(Walking back to Hill-Kitt, behind a group of first-years talking about California.)
Guy 1: “It’s all just earthquakes, cars, and homos. I don’t ever wanna go there” Guy 2: “What you got against homos?”Guy 1: I just think it’s not the most comfortable experience to be somewhere where like everyone around you is a homo” Guy 2: “You don’t...
2 tags
I griped yesterday about the problems with the total lack of Minnesota River crossings for bikes. Apparently, the legislature (the previous, DFL one, not the current GOP-controlled one) actually just addressed this problem in their Trunk Highway Bridge Improvement Program, to prevent future Cedar Avenue bridges.
(165.14 Subd. 4) (d) All bridge projects funded under this section in fiscal year...
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A matter of priorities
It’s consistently pissed me off that there is no legal crossing for bicycles or pedestrians between the Highway 169 and Highway 494 bridges over the Minnesota River — a gap of over 13 miles between bridges (20km). There are actually two bridges: I-35W and the Cedar Avenue Freeway, but both formally disallow cycling. There was a bridge immediately adjacent to the Cedar Avenue Freeway...
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Downtown Minneapolis vs. The "Apple Core"
I remain shocked almost every time I look at at the Metrodome side of downtown Minneapolis. For being, you know, a city, it has a shocking amount of surface parking. So what better to compare it to than the surface parking capital of the south metro, Apple Valley “Apple Core” downtown. (With a personal thanks to the AV Convention and Visitors’ Bureau for coming up with that...
Olaf is responsible for drunk driving
Northfield News ran a particularly sanctimonious article recently on drunk driving. This seems to reflect a common attitude toward drunk driving: it’s the responsibility of the sinful lush — and if we arrest more of them, the problem will be solved.
I don’t think, however, most people driving drunk are really people who particularly want to. They’re people who want to be...
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Endelig
Universitetet i Oslo har endelig oppdatert sine online ordbøker. De tidligere websidene så ut som de var laget i ca. 1996. Ingen CSS, slett ingen Ajax, og forferdelig dårlig adressen: www.dokpro.uio.no/ordboksoek.html. Den nye har fortsatt ingen Ajax og ingen sider til mobiler, men ser mye bedre ut, og er mye lettere å lese. Adressen er også forbedret, til www.nob-ordbok.uio.no, men fortsatt for...
Godt nyttår
I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, and certainly not disclosed ones. And I’m going to keep it that way. I do, however, hope to revive what I started here before Norway and Denmark.
Until then, though, GLÆDIG JUL OG GODT NYTÅR from the nice, white, native people at Dansk Folkeparti:
July 2010
4 posts
WatchObviously the language might be a bit problematic, but this video’s worth a watch — a new prison in Norway, with a strong emphasis on rehabilitation. Impressive. Looks nicer than the old dorms here.
Watch
June 2010
13 posts
Less street
I’ve always felt that sidewalks are a necessity. Northfield is rewriting its Land Development Code, and I was extremely pleased that it will require full coverage (both sides) on all new streets.
But, after reading Traffic and Suburban Nation this summer, I realize that sidewalks are really a concession. They allow the public right of way to remain dominated by car. Suburban Nation also had...
Picture Show: The 37 or so Ingredients in a... →
WatchSpending the weekend in Aitkin. This is nearby Crosby.
Ahead of his time
Entenza’s campaign mentions this bill from 1998. Both Anderson Kelliher and Dayton also seem to support marriage equality as well, but impressive that he had an interest in gay rights enough to promote this well before any state had legalized gay marriage.
1.1 A bill for an act
1.2 relating to marriages; authorizing marriages between
1.3 ...
“The reader will notice, in discussing the physical forms of the city, we have...”
– Andres Duany, et al, Suburban Nation
I’ve been kind of torn in the DFL primary. I don’t really love any of the candidates. I guess Entenza is my choice among them, despite the endless repetition of his abandonment by his alcoholic father (goes well with his running mate stepping off a Greyhoud bus).
However, the Republican endorsement is just unspeakably bad. This guy makes T-Paw look like a quality governor....
Slate: I'm quitting the Internet →
Awesome set of illustrated articles (irony of blogging this full appreciated).
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“I will not be tethered by a set of antiquated laws that were designed for 3000lb...”
– Jeff, Bike Jerks blog
May 2010
8 posts
1 tag
Bathroom discrimination
I’m really fond of the 2008-2009 renovations made to St. Olaf’s Old Music Hall. But what’s up with the bathrooms? Due to the small size of the building, all restrooms are single-occupancy. And yet, they’re still gender-designated.
This is a practical inconvenience for everyone (I often have to go up or down a floor to pee), but also just a form of unnecessary...
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“Footwear too, but he could no longer stand the thought of footwear. It would be...”
– Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
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First HTML5 site
Three years ago, I did the original site for Sisters Ugly, a downtown clothing store for women. They moved to a new location on Division this spring and accordingly wanted to freshen things up. I was actually quite fond of the old site, but the new site is quite a bit brighter and matches the new look of their store.
Several gee-whiz things about the site to love. This is my first commercial...
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