Posts from April, rant regarding mobile devices

Yesterday was a productive day, I made a dent in my dishes, ran some important errands, and learned the limits of my 3G Mobile Hotspot through Verizon.  While I have an unlimited data plan, my Hotspot is capped at 5GB, and I went over by a GB.  This has resulted in a overage charge of $22.88 that I will have to pay on my next bill.

While video chatting with Frank and Victoria over Ichat, My brother asked me what my usage was on my mobile hotspot was and that the video chatting uses a ton of bandwidth.  But in the course of the discussion, we talked about me switching to the iPhone 4 and since I am in the city of Chicago: AT&T,  The evil empire of the Mobile Universe, has strong single strength in Chicago.

But there is another time and another place for a discussion or debate on who you are going to pay to access the growing world of mobile communication.  All of the major carriers are developing 4G data networks with promises of better speeds, faster phones with better performance, and apps that make our lives easier or help pass the time.  I found myself in the market for a new phone two weeks ago when the location services on my Palm Pre Plus decided to stop working in the middle of Downtown Chicago.  I was able to seek out a Verizon Wireless store and they told me that I would have to send the phone in and have it replaced by a refurbished model.  I didn’t send it in that day, because at that time I was staying in Schiller Park at the extended Stay hotel: Candlewood Suits; and I did not have a mailbox.

Update on the Palm Pre Plus:

I did eventually send in the phone and received a refurbished model, although the location services still seem to be buggy.  I have been really disappointed with the Palm Pre Plus, WebOS had a lot of potential but limited hardware severely limited the usefulness of the phone and its incredibly limited app catalogue when compared to IOS and Android operating systems.  I'll post a link to the Engadget review from January of 2010.  I got the phone for free under a new 2 year upgrade and a data plan through Verizon, however, for what you pay the device disappoints.  Its saving feature was the Mobile Hotspot that allowed for limited tethering.  Hopefully this continues to be a feature included in next generation devices that launch on 4G/LTE networks from all the major carriers.

And an update on WebOS from August; HP has discontinued operations on all of its WebOS products followed by a "fire sale" on the company's last hope; the HP Touchpad which many thought would be a solid entry into the Tablet Market.  Phew, that was a lot of technology update for what many would say is incredibly old news, especially in the world of social media.  I am now waiting on the release of the Iphone 5 and my new phone upgrade date through Verizon.

Some of you may notice that I link a lot to Engadget.com; the reason for this IMHO, is that they have some of  the best technology reviewers on the market, great coverage on emerging trends, and a loyal community.  Plus, another one of their weblogs, Joystiq.com is also on the list of one of my most visited sites.  End/Tangent

Back to updates from Rogers Park:

Saturday, April 16, 2011 7:55 PM

Today was a Red Letter Day, I am once again connected to the Global World Wide Web, I got Comcast installed at my apartment in Rogers Park this morning.  It couldn’t have happened on a better day too, the weather was terrible; cold and raining for most of the day.  The technician from Comcast arrived after I made a batch of waffles and a fresh pot of coffee.  It is amazing how this building is wired, Comcast, RCN, and one or two Dishes are strong all across the building.  Originally my line had been cut and it took the technician and I climbing up to the roof of my building to identify the various runs and reconnect it to the cable box.

There’s a great view of the skyline from my apartment’s roof, hopefully this summer I will have a chance to take some pictures.

Now back to watching Streaming Netflix on my Xbox 360.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

This could be a problem, its sunny outside, I have errands to run and yet where am I?  I am in my living room glued to my TV watching Netflix: this is as bad as the first years of Facebook or Youtube.  There’s a wealth of programming available for streaming and for 8 bucks a month; Amazing!!  I don’t know why I chose Jared Diamond’s Collapse: I tried reading this book of doom and gloom a number of years ago and just couldn’t take it seriously.  In discussions with family, colleagues, and how the world will end...we all often come to the same conclusion; it will be far more terrible than any movie or book we have seen or read.  Probably on the scale of massive starvation, not war or destruction at the hands of an invader or a Frankenstien’s Monster.  Mother Nature will simply decide that there are too many humans on this planet, and make conditions unsustainable for large populations of humans.

I am writing stream of consciousness here, enjoying some coffee and pastries from a local Panaderia down on Clark St. and Morse Ave.  I bought like 7 things and the total bill came to be under 4 dollars, holy smokes!!  So far I have consumed a donut, a flacky/crunchy kind of cinnamon pastry, and a coconut donut..

This post got a little lengthy, I'll try to trim the next one down a bit.

Sunday, March 27, 2011 - Finding Local Places with the help of Yelp!

What a fun night last night.  A little cold, windy, but discovered a new place with my cousin Jim for dinner.  With the help of yelp, I found a local place to get quality food for cheap cheap prices: Chikis Pizza.  

I had poured over reviews and what people had posted on the place, so I had a good feeling going in.  We were greeted by the owner Andreas and an empty restaurant, my assumption is that most people in Rogers Park order out from this establishment or have things delivered to their buildings.  We picked out a table and were given ample amounts of water and fresh chips with two tasty sauces of which Jim particularly enjoyed the Green Pesto/Basil/Green based sauce.

Craving a good burger and fries, although their menu encompasses ample choices, I ordered the Blue Cheese Burger and Jim decided upon the Bacon Cheeseburger.  We didn’t have to wait long before the medium sized portions where placed in front of us and embraced the first bite, instantly for me the distinctive abundance of Blue Cheese and bite of hot sauce and a good char of a burger, not over-done and not too pink.  The fries were also freshly prepared and came out piping hot and had the distinctive crunch that restaurant fries should have.  We left the place feeling satisfied and ready to explore other destinations in Rogers Park.

We made our way to the Glenwood Bar over by the Morse Red Line Metro Station.  There was a Black Hawk game on the screens and a spare number of patrons in the bar.  It was confirmed pretty quickly that the Glenwood was a Gay/Mixed bar, with the music from the overhead speakers and the over-all cliental.  But it was a very nice-big bar.  They could use a Dance Floor and maybe another pool-table.  With it being cold we stayed and had a beer or two and after the game was over the channel switched to Ghostbusters being aired on Television.  I found out last night that Ghostbusters is one of Jim’s favorite movies, another thing my cousin and I have in common.

Jim has been very helpful in my first couple of weeks getting adjusted to Rogers Park.  Its almost like a harmonic convergence, that of the thousands of apartments available for rent in the dozens of neighborhoods in the city of Chicago, that I would end up renting an apartment 4 blocks away from him.  When I first moved he asked me jokingly if his parents had sent me here to spy on him.

This has been a very productive weekend.  Technology wise, I am now once again connected to the world of internet video calling through Skype.  Frank Sr. asked me to install it this afternoon so that he could call us from Peru.  Hopefully he will have access to a wi-fi source when he is in Peru.  We also played around with Face Time, another way of video chatting but through Mobile devices.

As I progress through this Spring and Summer I hope to discover more great local places to grab dinner after a long day of work.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

-Note, a lot of these posts will be older; I will have to chronicle my arrival and searching for apartments in another post but for now the posts that follow are what I have written in the past 6-7 months.

Been another long week, and on this Saturday Afternoon it is nice to just be sitting down in my living room enjoying #2 Florida Vs. #8 Butler in the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.  Had some heartbreak last night, The Ohio State was an eliminated in a tough game against Kentucky.

Now Kansas will have to come through and Dominate the remaining field.  This morning I slept until 9:00 AM after getting very little sleep the day before.  Friday began early at 5:40 AM driving out to the NPL office in Dekalb to pick up some supplies for the office; of course it couldn’t be a day without a stroke of bad luck, I missed the merge from I-90 to I-290 that would connect me to I-88 and a straight shot to Dekalb on the Tollway.  Nope, instead I followed I-90 all the way up to Elgin before getting off and bush-whacking across the metro to get to highway 38 and arrived at the Dekalb yard a half hour late!!!!

My boss let me leave early so I could meet up with the technicians from People’s Gas to turn on my stove.  They ended up arriving around 2:30 PM, turned on the gas down in the basement, and then proceeded to turn on the pilot light for the stove.  After lighting the pilot, only one burner decided to light fully, the left rear; and so I was cooking with Gas...sort of.  I will have to call the Management Company and alert them to the problem.

To celebrate my new form of culinary prep, I whipped up some eggs and took the remaining peppers in the refrigerator and threw together an omelet along with a cheese quesadilla.

One burner better than no burner

Quesidillas FTW!!

Feeling thoroughly rested from sleeping in a bit this morning, I woke up and made some coffee, fuddled with my mobil HotSpot on my Palm Pre Plus to listen to some Streaming Radio: Notably WBEZ and Streaming Music from the Current in Minneapolis.  While my coffee was brewing I whipped up some tasty waffles.  Waffles being consumed, I continued listening to the Accidental Billionaires: the Story of Facebook by Ben Mezrich which I had picked up last year but had never gotten to listen to.  Listening to it makes me want to see the Social Network really badly.

Today I ordered some important components from Amazon, a new Gigabyte Cable Modem and Router for when I have internet service installed at the apartment. 

It will be great to be connected to the world once again.

A Weekend of Beautiful Weather and Difficult Disc Golf

This past Memorial weekend the Twin Cities had some of the most incredible weather.  Although humid at times, the abundance of sun shine and a cooling breeze made it great to spend time outdoors.

A number of weeks ago the Star Tribune ran an article in the North section of the paper describing the disc golf course @ Bunker Hill Regional Park in Andover, MN

layout of the course provided by Anoka County

Informational signs are now in place, however, there is still construction on hole 6.  For a 9-hole course, it was moderately difficult.  The signs were helpful in determining the shot needed to hit the hole and the number of strokes also made it easy to find ones way to the next hole.  We didn’t have to pay-to-play as it were, but there was a day pass fee for the park of $5.00.

The Disc Golf course is very close to Bunker Beach, the water park in Bunker Hill, and was closed while we were there as their season does not begin until June (now).  It was amazing to see the number of water parks that begin their seasons in June closed with the phenomenal Memorial Day weather.

With as dry as it has been, the course was mostly dirt and scrub grass that was trying to grow in.  The sections that were in the forest smelled of pine needles blistering in the heat.  Near the parking lot we found the usual amenities: a large pavilion that was being used by the local VFW for the Memorial Day holiday, a large play area with a mister for cooling off in the heat, kind of neat to see them here in Minnesota when they are often found in the South and Western states of the country, and then finally a large grassy field.

Kristen and I picked out a nice spot in the shade and unrolled my University of Minnesota blanket, to enjoy a break and some much needed lunch.  For entertainment, we watched a group of kids and parents run wild around the field flying kites.  The father in charge would direct a corresponding child to run like the dickens to keep their kites in the air, searching for that essential updraft that would make it sore.  However, what would ultimately happen was the kid would keep running and the kite would smash to the ground.

With our stomachs full, we packed up and made our way to my parent’s house in Brooklyn Park, our base of operations for the weekend.  Feeling energized from lunch, we stopped at Brooklyn Park’s 9-hole disc golf course located in Central Park.

Map view provided by: http://www.playdg.com/

The course is made up mostly of grass and wood chips near the scoring baskets (is that their official title?).  Distances and Par are listed on the base of the throwing platform for the hole, however, unlike other disc golf courses; BP has not installed signs that show this information or how to best set up ones throw.

 However, the course is pretty user friendly and is a great introduction to the past time/sport/activity, that is Disc Golf, and the fact that the course is free: icing on the cake.

Before starting out on the course, we took a couple of shots around the putting circle (lower left corner of photo posted above) which allows players to practice putting from a number of distances that diminish as one gets closer to the hole (as opposed to an ascending order).  Kristen and I’s favorite hole is #8 from the top of the hill; and is also the best hole to watch other disc golfers perfect their throws and plead with their discs to ‘Get Down, Get Down, Get Down”.  The trick is to pick up enough of an updraft to carry the disc to the hole, but not too much, thus having the disc hug the hill as it approaches the hole.

That evening we got a Facebook message from a good friend from College, Matthew Rhett, who told us that’d he would be in town for the weekend and would be up for playing some disc golf.  An avid and semi-pro disc golfer recommended the 18-hole course @ Bryant Lake Park: part of the Three Rivers Park District.  We all agreed on the location and planned for a tee-off time of 10:00 Am the next day.  Kristen and I then went to bed with the hopes that our throwing arms would have enough rest by morning.

Kristen and I awoke with the excitement of playing a new course in the Metro area and reconnect with friends.  Along with Matthew, his older brother and former floormate of Kristen’s @ Middlebrook: Brian Rhett joined us along with his wife Katrina who I often tease as the Hurricane (I hope she doesn’t hate me for this) and their baby daughter Bella.  The course has a daily fee of $3.00 per person of which Matthew was kind enough to cover for all of us, I’ll have to take him out for a beer the next time he is in town, or challenge him to another round at a different course.

Here’s a description of the course from the Three Rivers Park Website:

The 18-hole disc golf course at Bryant Lake Regional Park offers short and long tee boxes, scenic lake views and the infamous hole #17, where golfers throw their discs off a cliff to reach the basket.  

Descriptions of holes can also be found on the three rivers park website, under the tour button.  The course was one of the most difficult that Kristen and I had ever played through, and the wind was also a contributing factor on a number of holes.

We had some throws where we thought for sure and always aloud “Well, that one is gone forever!”; only to later find our discs in either the thick woods or tall grass.  It also got incredibly hot through the course of playing and I had made the mistake of wearing mostly cotton and not bringing anything synthetic.

We kept pace with Matthew and Brian, while Katrina and Bella walked the course behind us.  I can’t remember how we did stroke wise, but will say that we’ll have to go to Bryant Lake again and continue to work on our disc throwing abilities.

This turned out to be a pretty lengthy post, and it took me a while to finish due to grabbing photos and reading some descriptions, finding links to embed etc.  Overall this was a really fun Holiday weekend for Kristen and I and we are looking forward to spending time with the Rhett Family again in late June during Cottage Grove’s Strawberry festival and a tour of Brian’s garden in his backyard.

Today its June 9^th already, and I am up North @ the Tulaby Cabin.  It’s been rainy, windy, cold and overcast and not a typical warm summer day as was promised.  But this has lead to some well needed napping and reading of books.

Kristen spent the last weekend and most of this week with her folks: Dave and Lola @ a campground near Collinwood Lake in Cokato, MN.  Lola recently bought a new camper and they spent the weekend breaking it in.  On Tuesday, Kristen and her Dad where out fishing and Dave was able to land a fairly large Carp weighing about 8 IB.  Hopefully Kristen will write a post about her weekend @ Collinwood in the next couple of days.

I need to write a post about new toy purchases, I recently upgraded my old phone to a new Palm Pre Plus through Verizon Wireless and the Pre Plus has been a handy device.  My father got one as well, and now we have 3G wireless through the Mobile Hotspot at the Cabin.  It has been nice for simple web browsing and checking email.

We’ll see if the weather makes it possible to launch the larger boat and maybe do some fishing if we feel adventurous.  Planning to be back in the cities Thursday and then down in Red Wing, MN Saturday for Fusion Dance’s annual Recital.  My older brother Frank’s students did really well this year as well as a number of his pieces were recognized for choreography awards.

Now, back to George Orwell’s 1984, of which I am reading through for the first time, and possibly a fresh pot of coffee.     

One of the Best Uses of: Sleepyhead by Passion Pit

My vote is for the Little Big Planet 2 Announcement Trailer. While I am not an owner of a PS3 or Little Big Planet, a good friend of mine has got a lot of mileage out of it and has created some good levels. The first time I heard the song "Sleepyhead" by passion Pit was in the first round of commercials for the Palm Pixi. However, the song didn't get me excited about the product itself; although I have gone on to buy a Palm Pre Plus through Verizon (of which I will dedicate a post to in time). The Song does a great job getting me excited for fans of Little Big Planet 2 and the changing adventures of the main protagonist: Sack-Boy.

The song fits well into the marketing of the game for its epicness of creativity and customization through the driving beats in the background of the song. The creator did a great job of linking moments from the game to the song.
So to wrap things up; this is (IMO) the best use of Passion Pit's Sleepyhead song in the use of marketing a product. Whomever attempts to use the song again for an IP, should consult this video to try an out due what was done, or choose another song. I hope the artists have gotten plenty of exposure from these marketing materials, and compels them to put out more tracks for our enjoyment.
As for Little Big Planet; I saw some great level designs based on ABC's Wipeout that were really well done and I am sure it will continue to be a great platform for beginning, amateur, and experienced game designers the world over. LBP 2 is expected to drop Winter of this year.

The Real Ghostbusters Makes #22 on IGN’s top 100 Animated Series!!

From IGN

"There's a part of us that actually appreciates The Real Ghostbusters more than the actual Ghostbusters movies.  Don't get us wrong, the first movie was classically hilarious, but The Real Ghostbusters just told some really mean and nasty supernatural stories. Their take on The Boogeyman -- and we all know that everyone has their own take on that creature -- was the best we've ever seen. This show had a notably darker tone than other cartoons on at the time, and did well in its research of creature myths and folklore. Most of the time, Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Winston could often be found thwarting famously diabolical creatures. Samhain, Grundel, Tiamat, Marduk, Russian Domovois and even the freakin' Lovecraft beast Cthulhu! They all fell to the power of the real Ghostbusters!" Image obtained from IGN.com

The Real Ghostbusters: Winston Zeddemore ,Raymond Stantz,Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler

Citation:

Staff, IGN. Retrieved June 04, 2010, from IGN's Top 100 Animated Series: http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/22.html

The reason I am posting this is The Real Ghostbusters was and remains one of my all time favorite animated series of all time. For years and years I would search the vastness of the internets in the hopes that a fan or dedicated group of fans would put together the episodes as a collection or a rallying cry to owners of the works to put a complete set. For the 25^th Anniversary of the original film: Time Life released a massive collector's edition DVD boxed set of the entire show: All episodes and special commentary of series producers; including another favorite of mine: J. Michael Straczynski – creator of Captain Power: and the Soldiers of the Future, and more well known; Babylon 5.


The IGN staff nails it in their critique on the series, that while intended for children, there were a lot of mature story lines and truthfully scary moments, particularly episodes that were written by Straczynski.  This allowed for the show to be enjoyed by adults and also add depth to the series.
Last Christmas, this was the top item under impossible never going to happen in a million years category: and my wonderful girlfriend Kristen totally GOT ME IT!! I contained my excitement and the next morning opened the iconic Firehouse Case and dived into Season 1. Months later, I am somewhere near the end of Season 2. Other television series have taken my focus, as well as some video games including: Ghostbusters: The Video Game for the Xbox 360 made by Atari. The game was a real treat for fans, with the majority of the original cast returning to reprise their roles from the first film, and a great mechanic for catching and defeating ghosts that was intuitive, rewarding, and most importantly fun.


For fans of animated series through the years and for those like myself who grew up in the late 80's and early 90's, there are many of the greats in IGN's list and several that are currently in my DVD collection. A series that I recently got back into from the early 2000's is Samurai Jack: from Cartoon Network's Genndy Tartakovsky; who also animated IGN's #21 on the list: Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)


My thanks to the IGN editorial staff for this piece, and I hope they continue to produce these quality top 100 lists.

Wild Weather @ Tulaby Lake

Kristen and I spent the weekend up North, mowing lawn and enjoying some well needed rest and relaxation. We left the Twin Cities Friday evening around 6:20 PM. Feeling excited and ready for the weekend, we jumped onto 35W northbound hoping to make great time and have few stops.

Boy did we make a mistake, as soon as we hit the junction of 35W and county rd C we could already see traffic backing up from the single lane reductions in both directions starting at 35W and highway 694. We lost a lot of time on this stretch of highway, but were able to get off and found our way to County Rd 10, eventually merging with Highway 10 and on our way North.

Road Construction has been horrible this season trying to get North of the cities, lane closures on both 35 and 94 westbound in Rogers have made the necessity for side routes and new ways of getting to the cabin. We hit all greens on highway 10 and were able to make up some time.

Friday night we rolled in around 11:20 PM, got settled, and watched Star Wars: the Empire Strike Back (that celebrated its 30th Birthday on Friday) and made microwave popcorn as a snack before bed.

Saturday morning we enjoyed a breakfast of Hormel thick Bacon and Pancakes before heading up to the garage to prepare the mowers. We also got to enjoy a few cups of coffee: Starbuck's Yukon blend.

Saturday's weather was overcast with very high winds that made it difficult to mow, but we were able to finish a majority of the cabin property and Kristen taught me a new trick with the riding mower: by engaging the parking brake, you can keep the mower running and dismount without the mower shutting off. Saturday evening there were high winds which forced Kristen and I to cook our steaks on the stove as opposed to on the grill, of which we couldn't get lit because of the wind. That night a thunderstorm moved through that lit up the sky and had some soft thunder, but left very little rain.

The best day of the weekend came Sunday with clear skies and a slight breeze. Kristen and I took a hike to the Fire Tower near Tulaby Lake off of Highway 113 and we had gone a long ways before we realized that we had missed the turn to get to the tower and had instead followed a snow-mobile trail…Usually I hike this path with my dad in the fall and winter and forgot to turn left to ascend the hill. As we got further from highway 113 the bugs got worse and the wind couldn't keep us cool. So we hiked back to the cabin, changed into swimsuits, and I took a well needed dive into the frigid lake.

Sunday night we enjoyed watching some movies including Pixar's UP and The Box. The Box was an interesting science fiction/mystery film and starred a good friend of ours as an extra as a reporter dressed in1970's attire. We might have seen the back of his head during a scene but were both unsure. Also Sunday night more sever weather entered the region and dumped rain, hail, and strong winds knocking out the power Monday morning around 5:45 AM. Kristen and I woke up, did our best to clean up the cabin and then hit the road.

It feels nice to blog again, I know I say this a lot but I am going to try and update as much as I can. I have been meaning to write a post about some of the books I have been reading over the past number of months and some of the games I have played through notably: Dead Space for the Xbox 360. I received Dead Space as a gift from my older brother last Christmas and it was a very satisfying entry to the survival horror universe and a joy for fans of horror in space.

NEC 25th Birthday!!!

Photo courtesy of the wonderful staff @ the Neighborhood Energy Connection
624 Selby Avenue • Saint Paul • MN • 55104 • Phone: 651.221.4462

The NEC invites YOU to join us in CELEBRATING 25 YEARS of conserving, cycling, recycling, building community, driving less and driving change in the world.

Party with the NEC, HOURCAR members, celebrities, friends and supporters. We will be serving Summit beer, root beer, Chipotle burritos, chips & salsa, and cake.

Come one come all for great food, games, live music and fun
Thursday, February 25
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
SUMMIT BREWING CO. - The Ratskeller Room
910 Montreal Circle
St Paul, MN 55102

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling (651) 221-4462 ext. 136. Visa/MasterCard or checks accepted.

If anyone out there still reads the outpost known as "Nothin' but a Drew Thing" you know that I usually focus on issues related to Land use and Transportation (HSR, Woot!!), descriptions and photos of major occurrences in my corner of South Minneapolis, and whatever else crosses my Radar.

But now I am taking a big leap into the world of Home Energy efficiency, Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs), and Water Heater blankets, my specialty ;-)

In late January I started working with a great group of people over at the Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) as a crew member for one of their many programs: The Home Energy Squad (HES).

I have only been on the job for a few weeks and already I have been exposed to a lot of information on how simple, low cost improvements can result in significant energy use reductions and savings for home owners in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

We are hoping to have a strong attendance to our 25th Anniversary party, so if you consider yourself a home energy efficiency junky, a fan of delicious CHIPOTLE burritos, live music, and a great group of like minded people we hope that you can attend.

P.S. Xcel energy has partnered with major retailers in Minnesota offering its energy customers CFL light bulbs for as little as $1.00 per bulb, this is a great opportunity for home owners to replace their most used light fixtures with CFL bulbs that come in various shapes and lumens:
From the Wikpedia:

The lumen (symbol: lm) is the SI unit of luminous flux, a measure of the power of light perceived by the human eye. Luminous flux differs from radiant flux, the measure of the total power of light emitted, in that luminous flux is adjusted to reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light. The lumen is defined in relation to the candela by

1 lm = 1 cd·sr

That is, a light source that uniformly radiates one candela in all directions radiates a total of 4π lumens. If the source were partially covered by an ideal absorbing hemisphere, that system would radiate half as much luminous flux—only 2π lumens. The luminous intensity would still be one candela in those directions that are not obscured.

Not sure when the program ends, hoping to get to my local Home Depot and pick up a bunch for the fixtures I use the most.

A response to: MN 2020 Central LRT article

University of Minnesota Shouldn’t Slow Central Corridor Down

Posted using ShareThis

For some reason, MN 2020 wouldn't let me post this on its replies section, or at least it didn't show up after hitting refresh multiple times... So here's my response to the article and several other comments (three at the time of posting):

As a prior avid supporter of the Central Corridor (see posts tagged Central Corridor), I applaud the University's suit against the Metropolitan Council. However, it will not net the result that many transit supporters have discussed for many months now: The removal of LRT through Stadium Village with an alignment through Dinkytown.
While this would be too lengthy to discuss on this discussion panel, many of the Central Line's stakeholders including the University of Minnesota were promised a tunnel in choosing the current alignment, however, costs became prohibitive for a tunnel and an at-grade transit mall was selected and approved. All the while this was being negotiated, we had the 35W bridge collapse and be rebuilt "Transit Ready" so that it could carry some form of transit to be determined later, President Obama was elected and presented an administration much more favorable to investment in rail transit systems and transportation infrastructure than the previous administration.

Now, there is no shame (as stated by a commentator) on Bruininks for questioning the legitimacy of the ridership estimates of the Metropolitan Council who say that there will be greater ridership numbers through the current approved alignment. Personally, I would like to see what will happen to traffic counts for East River Road (a major bike/walk, slow traffic carrier) and all other roads once traffic is removed and replaced by trains. Also, The Vault (TCF Bank Stadium) is complete, if we want to bring people to the new Gophers' stadium via transit, why not run the train behind it and tie into the new biology corridor that is currently being planned, and then jog over to University Ave and run at-grade from there? This way, the businesses in Stadium Village do not have to give up there on-street parking through this tricky section of Washington Ave.
I want this project as much as any other transit supporter in the metro, however, people often preach "build once hurt once", or 100 year decisions have consequences on the built environment etc. This suit, allows us to take a breather, even though we are on the cusp of a final approval (or did we get that already?). I am not to the point of arguing in favor of the tax evaders of Minnesota, but the University of Minnesota is a major stakeholder along the line and should not be pushed around or intimidated by the council.
For those of us who desire a alternative alignment, it would be a losing effort, but if anybody has any resources to get it going again, you'd have my support.

-Update- Was requested to repost and submitted with no problems, be interesting to see if it stimulates discussion or results in rants. Thanks to Chris of Hindsight for the heads up.

-Second Update-

Important Message from the University of Minnesota on its relations with the Central Corridor: From the University's Youtube Channel

-I tried posting the video and it kept exceeding the margins, probably need to do some fiddling with settings regarding blogger. Plus its an older video from this summer and not really relevant to the current scuffle that will be over soon.