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Now that the Crosstown Commons / 35W project has run in to some bumper-to-bumper traffic, might it be possible to come back to the drawing board and create a true solution for the future?

Including, most importantly, dedicated light rail right down the middle.

No one can deny the great success of the Hiawatha line. Think of the potential for the 35W corridor! Look at what Denver did with a steady source of dedicated transit funding. Many miles of new rail transit, including a line tracking the I-25 corridor, their North to South interstate.

More Info: http://www.trexproject.com/

We need a solution that encourages responsible development and encourages people to leave their cars at home. Light rail is a solution that scales to meet the needs of the future, and isn’t something that will run out of capacity the day it opens.

I’m willing to pay for thoughtful transit solutions.

[tags]minneapolis, lrt, light rail, light rail transit, transit[/tags]

We saw a wonderful concert last night at the Cedar Cultural Center, Psapp, Juana Molina and José González.

This was my first time at seeing a concert at the Cedar, and I was quite impressed. I am one who enjoys the slightly slower speed of sitting down on a chair, and listening to a concert without getting jostled about. The sound, as advertised, was excellent.

Psapp was up first, and I think you could say they gave new meaning to the word eclectic. Between songs they were throwing little stuffed kittens into the crowd. During the songs they tapped away at toy guitars, little horns, and other strange toys. It was a fun time though, and the crowd was clearly into it.

Juana Molina came on next. I’m not sure the crowd new what to make of her at first. The way that she performs is very interesting. She played alone, but with the aid of a few keyboards and some very intense looping equipment. Each song builds into a quiet fury as she adds layer after layer. It took me a minute before the song would gel but once it built, it was very entertaining. She was also quite funny on stange, delivering some very strange interludes about the english language, cat and dog noises, etc.

Then finally José González took the stage. I was very impressed by his music from the very first listen, but I remember saying, I wish it were longer! As he performed his songs, there was little break between, and no introduction or information about them. A tad dissapointing because I want more, but the songs themselves were wonderful. At the end of the first set, there was a beautiful surprise when he covered TearDrop by Massive Attack. This is a haunting electronic song, and at first I didn’t recognize it. But the goosebumps were running up and down my arms when I spontaneously started singing along. The crowd gave a rousing applause as he left the stage. He came back for a short encore, which was greatly appreciated. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him in the future!

So I was on my bike a week ago…

If you noticed the picture of my bike that is currently on the right, you may have also noticed that the fork is bent back at an unnatural angle. Let’s use that bent fork as a metaphor for my collarbone.

The doctor tells me it will be about six weeks until I’m able to get on a bike again. I’ve responded in the past week by sitting on the couch, playing video games, and ordering cable TV again. (Well, the World Cup is going on!)

On the plus side, maybe I’ll blog with a bit more regularity? I’m listening to the DFL convention on NPR at the moment, they’re trying to nominate a gubernatorial candidate. I hope they don’t pick Hatch. It seems at this moment that Becky Lourey may drop out, and a majority of her delegates will switch over to Steve Kelley… hopefully it will happen. (Suck it up DFL’ers! So what if he voted for the stadium? The stadium will help the city and state generate revenue in the long run, create a more vibrant downtown, create stronger draw for high end jobs (as opposed to the cold omaha situation), etc. etc. It’s about overall quality of life in conjunction with all the other stuff that care about)