Political Speeches at Lowry Bridge Opening

Post and videos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Every so often, I find myself turning into the north Minneapolis version of C-SPAN.  We have these great events, like the opening of the Lowry Bridge, and of course a parade of politicians have to have their say.  Most of the time, what's said is predictable (thanks to the community and the workers and the fellow politicians and the businesses and the children, etc.), although even in this set of speeches we have a few surprises.

In any case, these are our community leaders, and what they have to say at an event like this should be recorded and readily available.  That's where this blog comes in.

Several of our speakers touted the new bike lanes, and there was that surprise...

Stenglein on Lowry Bridge: "Beautiful doesn't even BEGIN to describe it!"

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

On Wednesday the final piece of the Lowry Bridge arch was put into place.  This is going to be a world-class bridge that will bring north and northeast Minneapolis back together.  The aesthetics are already amazing, but we found out it's just getting better.  The bridge will have LED lighting similar to the 35W bridge, the bike lanes are done right, and the county is building storage tanks that will hold hundreds of gallons of rainwater before the runoff gets to the Mississippi.  Hennepin County really hit it out of the park here, and this bridge will help transform and revitalize our communities by leaps and bounds.

A side note on blogging and social media here:  the implosion of the Lowry Bridge was the first video I uploaded onto Youtube.  In the spirit of trying new ways to connect people and events through social media and smartphone technology, I streamed footage live from my phone on an application called Qik, and uploaded videos 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the event.  I'm still ironing out the wrinkles and looking for a way to stream live directly on Blogger, but live streaming is yet another way blogs and social media can get coverage of an event out faster and more nimbly than traditional sources.  (Although the Strib's video is quite cool if I do say so myself.)

The videos of the final piece being put into place are indicative of the building process as a whole.  The arch was completed so slowly as to be almost imperceptible.  I moved the camera from side to side a few times just to show anyone watching that the video had not paused in any way.  I am compelled to warn you, with some degree of irony, that you should not watch those clips while operating heavy machinery.  But once the arch was completed, one almost forgets how long it took to finish the job.

More photos after the jump...

Lowry Bridge Arch to be Complete Today

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

One of the arches on the Lowry Bridge was connected today, and tomorrow at approximately 10 a.m. the "keystone" piece of the arch will be put into place.  An event commemorating its completion will be held at Edgewater Park in northeast Minneapolis starting at 9:30 a.m.

Commissioner Stenglein's office released a press advisory that reads...

Arches of Lowry Bridge Near Completion

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

The Lowry Bridge arches are close to being completed, and they are looking tremendous.  Ever since seeing the original proposals, I was quite excited at the prospect that the bridge could become a visual feature that would come to define north Minneapolis in a more positive light.  (Okay, and northeast too.  We'll let them bask in the glory a bit.)  If anything, it seems my initial reaction was understated and I can't wait to see it completed.

The final piece of the arches is expected to be put in place within a week.  A press conference and other festivities will be scheduled to commemorate the event.

Lowry Bike Lanes and a Blogging Success Story

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, above image from Hennepin County, and photo below from the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition blog.

Last summer, I found out that the Lowry Bridge bike lanes initially planned were not up to the standards that I had hoped to see - nor did they meet what many bicyclist groups had wanted, nor did they pass muster in accordance with long-term plans for Lowry Avenue.  So I did a rather extensive post (linked above) about the topic.  What followed was a result that affirms why I put so much energy into both reading comprehensive area planning documents, and blogging about them as best as I'm able.

Obviously in this case I wanted to see a better design for bike lanes on the Lowry Bridge.  But after the initial post I did not have the time, energy, wherewithal, or connections to see things through to a full and successful end goal.  Others did.  The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition and a whole host of other cycling activists began a dialogue with Commissioner Stenglein around how to improve the bike lane designs.  That dialogue has proven successful, and I'm told that the bridge will have "slip ramps."

An example of a slip ramp, although the lanes on the Lowry Bridge will be much wider.

In a poetic twist, the bike lane pictured above is from the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon.

So thank you to Commissioner Stenglein, the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, and anyone else who helped the Lowry Bridge get much-improved bike lanes!  And check out the coalition's post for the specific details about how the lanes came about and how they will work.

We always knew the Lowry Bridge would be well-built, but now we can rest easier knowing it will be built right.

Community Dialoge Continues Around Hennepin County Hub

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Last night community members met with representatives from Catalyst Community Partners, the Ackerberg Group, Hennepin County, and the City of Minneapolis to discuss the proposed social services hub at Broadway and Girard/Irving.  Other NoMi bloggers who, like me, live in the impact zone, will surely have their say.  What follows is my perspective.

I'm not convinced that the Hub proposal on its face is a good idea for Hennepin County taxpayers - at all, anywhere.

Eric Johnson of the Irving Inquisition blog beat me to the point that what we are doing by decentralizing services from downtown is essentially spending tens of millions of dollars to create duplicate delivery of services.  And after a while budget concerns could drive the county to specialize services by geographic location, making it even harder on those in need of assistance.  Commissioner Stenglein responded that the way they've been doing it until now, with a central downtown location, hasn't been sufficiently decreasing poverty.

While Stenglein seemed genuine about his desire for the County to do better in that regard, I'm still not following the logic that decentralizing will in fact give us that specific improvement.  Yes, it's what their clients have said they want, and yes it will make things more convenient for them.  But I haven't yet heard a direct relationship between the hub project and an actual decrease in demand for or use of services.

Asking for the addition of a DMV, passport photos, or other similar services as compromising amenities is pointless.

On multiple levels.  Here's why...

River of Life Thanked for Homeless Shelter

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Last fall, members of River of Life Lutheran Church at 22nd and Fremont wanted to maximize the use of our space.  (I attend and am the Vice President of the congregation.)  We began to look into ways that we could serve our community and those in the most need.  My pastor called me up one day and asked if I could join other church council members in touring several homeless shelters.  We wanted to explore whether the gym could be used as an overflow shelter for the winter, and needed to understand how we could accomplish that.

Fortunately we had plenty of support from partners at the city and county level, as well as partnerships from other Minneapolis shelters.  We heard the concerns of residents in the Hawthorne and Jordan neighborhoods and JACC board member Todd Heintz was crucial in building a relationship between our church and Jordan so that we could move forward.  KSTP reported when our permit was approved by the city, and we were on our way.

Last Friday, our temporary shelter permit expired, and we "celebrated" the closing.  Celebrated is a tough word to use here because...