Confused04's Plot of the Web - St. Paul

Picture of the Day #16

Tue, 25 May 2010 04:59:00 -0400

Todays picture of the day is just an ode to winter. Its a long harsh season here but on days when we not only break the old record high for the day, but by 7 degrees F... a little bit of this doesn't sound too bad. Minneapolis topped out at 95 F with heat indices flirting with 100 F, Wouldn't be so bad if it didn't remain in the 80's til 4 AM. This picture was taken around a single degree F (-17 C). I wouldn't mind a brief hint of this... something a bit stronger than opening the freezer door.

The Bad Boy List of Metro Transit

Fri, 21 May 2010 15:07:00 -0400

Picture of the Day #15- Hiawatha Line at Target Field Station. This station will be linked to the Inter Modal Transit Center to be located across the street that will be the focal point of 4 Light rail lines, highspeed rail, commuter rail, buses, and bikes. Currently it is only served by one light rail, a second is under construction, and one commuter rail in addition to buses.

We all know that riding mass transit in pretty much any sizable city is bound to come with some adventures. I myself have LOADS of stories riding Metrotransit buses and light rail. I had the 2:30 #16 homosexuality debate between the ardent lesbians and the "you don't know until you try it" heteros.... There was the National American "Smoke-iversity" singer.... and the random people who wanted to beat my friend up for supposedly staring at her boyfriend while other women on the bus were tying there hair back to step in to defend her. So yes, riding the bus can often times be an adventure. Usually it comes from the passengers....

However, occasionally it comes from the drivers. I have nothing but utter respect for these drivers who have to navigate in rush hour and all types of weather. In fact, I'm always amazed when I see a Metrotransit bus in my neighborhood in Saint Paul during the winter when roads narrow by about 10 to 25% and they STILL don't hit anything. But... I guess the pressure of being a bus driver can get to you.

Metro Transit's Bad Boy List

Its a decent read but also somewhat disturbing that we have issues such as this coming from public servants. Yes, they are human and make mistakes... but you don't leave people outside when its -22 F (-30 C) while you take a nap. Its at that point dangerous and potentially life threatening. What scares me the most is that these people remain on the job after some near 30 LEGITIMATE complaints (not including the ones that people don't follow through). This of course could be used as more anti-union fodder and in some sense, yes, I agree there needs to be more reform to weaken the union somewhat. Just kinda weird that people who physically threaten disabled people can still drive city buses.

Anywho....

Minneapolis decided to secretly work towards the 2012 Democratic National Convention. I mean VERY secretly. In 2008 when Saint Paul was awarded the RNC, it was well known for some 2 years that the Twin Cities were attempting to bid jointly and got a lot of work done right in the open for all to see. But somehow this year with the deadline being TODAY to bid... Minneapolis didn't say a word publicly until actually submitting the bid. This surprised many pundits who didn't see this one coming the least bit, especially in the chorus of more vocal bidders such as Saint Louis and Philly, as well as Charlotte, Cleveland, and Phoenix.... well and any other unannouced city.

Picture of the Day #13

Mon, 17 May 2010 04:08:00 -0400

I took this shot over 2 years ago during the depths of winter. It wasn't really too bad by Minnesotan standards but even our downtown streets were somewhat hard to keep clear. I like this shot cause it shows how dynamic a downtown area can be and how even the skyway system continues to evolve. At one point this skyway connected to a building which has sense been demolished. The skyway which is probably was never removed (held up by now demolished supports) was a path to no where allowing someone to paint the entire side of the building with a Twin Cities Marathon mural. Of course the demands for a coherent skyway system probably forced them to create the out of character hallway that spanned the parking lot. Now if they only put something in this parking lot.

Picture of the Day #12

Sat, 08 May 2010 03:29:00 -0400

The F. Scott Fitzergald house in my neighborhood on a nice day last month. Wouldn't mind living here.

Gotta love Bureaucratic Phone Tag

Mon, 03 May 2010 15:01:00 -0400

So I've lived in my apartment for the year which comes equipped with a single solitary parking spot. Which normally isn't a big deal but the multitude of parking restrictions in our neighborhood through out the year, especially during winter, road construction and the occasional gas leak or sink hole have made it rather.... irritating. But what is worse is that on Sunday nights (technically Monday 2 AM to 7 AM), we cannot park in front of our building. On the street I live on, there are a lot of businesses and parking is thus restricted to allow high turnover, but the sections in front of residential buildings are for the most part exempt (which allows non-residents to park all day if they so choose to). So I'm baffled why my building gets this really weird parking restriction. I know full well its not street sweeping, or at the very least it better not be. Who street sweeps 200 feet....

What I believe is the case is that this sign is old. Ages ago there used to be a small grocery store on the first floor of my building and like all other stores, they have to stock up. A Monday stocking time seems VERY logical as weekends are typically the big shopping days and 5 hours for a grocery store less than 5000 square feet seems logical. So currently I'm assuming that this is an old sign yet to be taken down.

So... who do I call... there's not exactly a number on the Saint Paul website that pertains to "Inquiry odd road signs call ______". So I looked at their directory and none of the numbers were really a 100% fit for my question so I picked the "Street Design" number... I figured that since our street was remodeled (narrowed) and they kept the sign, that perhaps theres a unique design element. I doubted that but figured I didn't have anything to go off of. I figured I'd get redirected a couple times anyway....

Action: Call Street Design
Result: "I think you need to talk to Parks and Rec, I'll redirect you..." Umm... why?

Action: Listened to Parks and Rec Menu
Result: Hung up. Nothing there would have helped

Action: Called Generic Public Works info line....
Result: "Oh you need to contact a right of way inspector... here's the number". Sweet! Getting somewhere!

Action: Dialed number for Right of Way office
Result: Phone refused to even dial....

Action: Repeat previous action... twice
Result: Me getting frustrated and pissed off.....

Action: Looked up "Right of Way Saint Paul" and found a random document about a street space permit for vendors. Perhaps that parks and rec lady WAS right...
Result: Found phone number!

Action: Dialed said phone number
Result: "sorry, but this number has been disconnected call "****** 7250" Turns out the first guy who tried to connect me to the right of way office told me 7200, and it was really 7250... UGH

Action: Called right of way office's REAL number
Result: Call either of these two folks... Victory is at hand!!!!

Action: called both numbers
Result: Answering machines....

Overall Result: wasted some 15 mins on my cell... great....

PotD #11

Spring's Early Arrival

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:55:00 -0400

I'm usually not one for warm weather, but I can't say that this spring is anything but spectacular. Grilling midway through April in Minnesota!! Thats incredible to say the least. Usually the temperatures hover in the mid 50's but we've been well into the 60's and 70s and on one day... we even cracked 81 F, nearly 30 degrees above average. With several large rain storms, our very brown landscape has bloomed and come alive. I remember in 2004, it snowed on the first week of May and there was hardly any leaves out. What a dramatic turn around. I just hope that Summer isn't above average.

Anyway, here are some pics from the neighborhood.

PotD #9

Picture of the Day #8

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:24:00 -0400

Bing's rendition of downtown. Unfortunately I feel like the buildings are really squished. But the quality is superior to Google Earth. Bing is sometimes pretty good.
Simcity Saint Paul :P

Minneapolis moves on stalled street car plan

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:05:00 -0400

Courtesy of the Transport Politic (click pic to link or click link below)

Back in 2007, Minneapolis announced an effort to replace some of the cities most popular and shorter (so non-express, non-suburban or connectors) bus lines with modern street cars to much fan fare. RT Rybak for years has championed this cause and was on the approach to getting city approval. Unfortunately, the Bush administration's hostile criteria for federal funding assistance stalled the street car plans to which even Rybak pointed out in his State of the City address as one of his biggest non-accomplishments. But with the election of a more transit friendly administration, the Minneapolis City Council is set to embrace a long term street car plan along the densest corridors in the city providing cheap and relatively reliable service to the transit dependent while hopefully encouraging even more dense development that was characteristic of the 2000 to 2008 boom.

Of course, this always leads to the argument about whether this sort of funding is worth it and the inevitable "why are we subsidizing". To be frank, I find this argument rather pointless as pretty much all modes of transportation (with very few notable exceptions) require some sort of public funds either through local or state bonding and usually with a federal grant. So highway or street car, we're using public funds. At this point in American urban development, our network of highways is for the most part "complete" and the vast majority of highway projects are usually interchange re-planning or widening with the miles of new limited access roads decreasing. In terms of societal efficiency, we just don't really have the room for highways with similar levels of car dependencies. If the US does reach the 450 million mark around 2050, and the population continues to urbanize, we have to move the extra 140 million people and the net gain in cars from this population growth has to be very small. The US can't afford financially to both build and maintain hundreds of thousands of new highway lane miles and its accompanying demand for resources. I don't doubt the benefit of interstate highways, but as the US struggles with oil dependencies and chronic congestion, we have no choice but to invest in these forms of mass transit, even if it comes at a somewhat greater public financing cost. Highways are quickly becoming antiqued and inefficient. States that are increasingly highway based also face the economic weight of gas prices now becoming an increasing burden, especially on Sunbelt states that have generally avoided mass transit. In addition to the increased societal cost of increased highway construction, and the impending oil demands, there's also the added health cost of being a sedentary population, stuck in traffic jams for hours at a time. Cities with great massive transit plans also tend to have lower rates of obesity and obesity related diseases just from the fact that you have to walk to and from transit entrance and exit points. So in a way, mass transit has a hidden cost BENEFIT that is never included in federal funds requests. Of course, no individual project can claim a reduction in municipal fat but the evidence is clear.

In the planning community, street cars have a love-hate relationship with many. One the one hand, street cars are slow, operate in traffic, and are usually limited in scope. However, there is no doubt that these street cars have time and time again encouraged development and promote commuting and even equalize racial disparities in ridership. Unfortunately, whites tend to avoid mass transit buses in droves but change it to a street car which is essentially no different, and its a hip new clean way to travel. Its unfortunate that mass transit has to combat on social preconceptions as well as financial ones, but its the reality of American transit. So as illogical as street cars are compared to other lines, they still get the job done and encourage growth and at a significantly lower cost than light rail. Many of the lines proposed in Minneapolis' transit plan are barely a mile long (at first) but can see tens of thousands of riders a day at 1/10th the cost of a light rail line.

I think Minneapolis is doing a great job so far in its mass transit planning (of course, implementation is a whole 'nother story) and its approach is very systematic and reasonable. Minneapolis' plan is to use a gambit of transit options to meet generally at one intermodal station that would connect buses, BRT, commuter rail, light rail, taxis, street cars and even bikes and skyways in downtown using the best solution for each corridor necessary. This is a logical plan that I'm surprised many cities aren't following through with. Yes, many cities beat Minneapolis in current mass transit construction, but many of the systems I've looked at run independently from the other systems or at best intersect haphazardly here and there.

Personally, I just like the fact that Minneapolis used its new baseball stadium to anchor the intermodal station which will be constructed in the coming years.

PotD #5

Reflections on the Mississippi River late night in Saint Paul. Again... not studying when I should have been.

My Photosynth

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:43:00 -0400

Took some 272 photos today out and about Saint Paul. I'll get around to posting them but I tried using Photosynth with some marginal success. In case you didn't know, Photosynth is a Microsoft tool you can use to stitch a lot of photos at various angles and zooms in a scene together allowing anyone to examine your cohesive collection. Often times it simulates rotation around a subject or interesting panoramas. I went to Rice Park today in Saint Paul and created this Photosynth. It was only able to string 61% of the images into one photosything, with a few others making their own mini-photosynths and about 8 images failing to stitch to any other which I partially blame on myself and on whatever algorithm or formula the program uses. Anyway... Enjoy

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=108a6f5c-cb8d-4c85-81b8-8bb6cc31e94d

Out and About

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:30:00 -0400

Been a pretty busy time recently so I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of things like I wanted to and with weather not being particularly welcoming, I have resigned myself to waiting until the final thaw. Currently we have something around 18-24 inches of snow on the ground which isn't particularly bad, just annoying knowing full well that its here to stay for quite a long period of time.

Unlike the East coast, storms rarely dump snow and start melting right away. Yes, the East Coast storms were massive this past winter and as an upper Midwesterner, we give them props for going through this. As much as we are proud of our winter heritage, we also realize that 30 inches of snow in a 24 hour period is nothing to scoff at. Minnesotan's for once were not envious of the East Coast. But despite the massive snow totals, I'm sure that we will have snow longer than the East Coast cities (I'm sure some of the higher elevations may beat us out). My parents had 11", 20", and 8" within a very short time frame burying theircity which usually experiences relatively mild winter.

Our winter in Minneapolis has been stunningly average. October was colder than average and November was far above average temperature wise. December came in slightly below average and our very volatile January ended up balanced to be near average. Snowfall wise, we are just a couple inches up. Somewhere near 40". Although the airport had some anomalous totals this winter falling well below the rest of the metro on several occasions, but... statistically speaking, it should balance out (maybe not this year but in others). So while the East Coast digs out... Minneapolis lies relatively content with our easy average winter. Our forays into the negative territories were relatively minor and bearable. The only downside to this winter is the lack of an extended thaw that has led to a deep icy snow pack and particularly rough potholes. Minneapolis recently banned parking on one side of the non-snow emergency routes eliminating an estimated 80,000 on-street parking spots until April 1st or the snow melts significantly. The roads were getting so narrow that emergency vehicles were struggling to get to their destinations with some calls being forced to park a block or more away and hauling their gear to the scene.

Here's a few quick pics from the last week that I took...

After shoveling my Uncle's driveway for the umpteenth time, I took this pic. Sadly there was yet another snowfall after this storm bringing some piles in his area to the 4 to 5 foot area.

I edited my iPod Touch's theme to be super cool :D.

More Snow pics

A look towards the Cathedral during one of our moderate snow events.
Crossing 50,000 miles on mmy car.

The Pupster at the computer :D

My first half-ass'd attempt at combining Minneapolis' and Saint Paul's skylines. Nearly height proportional.

Before

After carwash!

Finally...
I've been reading this book called... and don't laugh... Cop Book, which despite its rather poor title, has been a fascinating look into the life of a cop in the Twin Citie's suburb of Bloomington. Its been quite the emotional rollercoaster as he recounts his life and stories with such vivid details and a sometimes macabre sense of humor. I personally recommend this book to people who enjoy memoirs and have a decent stomach. Here's a selection of the book that I absolutely loved. He recalls his story as the first K-9 cop in his city and the rather funny situations his dog got him into.

My random folder....

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:48:00 -0400

I've decided to share an entire FOLDER of my stuff (with a few exceptions to keep within the rules of Simtropolis). This folder was my random folder. This folder was for a long time my "stuff folder"... appropriately named "stuff". While surfing the internet or working on college essays/presentations or arguing in chat, I would save things to my desktop. After a short period of time, it'd get too cluttered and I'd clean up my desktop by throwing everything into this "stuff" folder. Additionally, I loved stumbling (using the Firefox add-on "Stumble Upon!") and I would save funny images or images I liked. Other images I found on websites I frequent often like skyscrapercity or wunderground. Some I've taken. So here's a quick view into my "Stuff folder" from back in August of 2008. Sorry, some of the pics are small, but the limitations of the blog software is forcing me to resize them to fit the average monitor.

Day 2 of My Neighborhood

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:09:00 -0400

And now the conclusion of this tour of my neighborhood. I missed most of the big homes on Summit Avenue as I felt weird taking pictures of homes. But a lot of these were not homes so I took pictures of them. Besides, there's always Google Street View. You'll notice that my neighborhood as a very eclectic mix of structures, especially some Victorians. A lot of these structures do stray from their architectural standards and there is a reason for that. Many of these homes were built during the railroad and steam boat boom years of Saint Paul. When speculative money was flowing in and railroads were pocketing enormous sums of money, people needed to show off their new found wealth, especially since they lived up on the hill (Now called Summit Hill). However, during the early years of Saint Paul, there were no professional architects to be found, after all, the city was very young (20 - 40 years old) and many of the immigrants pouring in were not skilled and were just looking for land. So many artisans without any formal architectural training dabbled in building many different styles of homes but were not entirely familiar with all the nuances. Some purposely disregarded them for their own taste. Many of the homes built are seen in these photos. There are also many modern buildings as well, sometimes squeezed in between older ones as some of the Old Money dried up and pricey land was sold. I took a quick trip into the Cathedral as well and this was the first time I had been in there since I moved into this neighborhood. Quite beautiful and the pictures do not do it justice. Its unfortunate that I came just before the doors closed and that the lighting was not really up to par (especially since it was nearly sunset). Anyway, here is the conclusion.

The Stealth Election of 2009

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:40:00 -0400

So its the first Tuesday of November... the day we hold our annual elections (although for completely different offices, unless its only for a one year term). After the undoubtedly historic election of 2008 and the turmoil that occurred concurrently and since, this election appeared to have snuck up on many of us, some even asking "What election?" Yes there is one and there are a number of races that were highly watched as they were labelled a "barometer" of Obama's presidency as Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota put it. There were interesting races across the country from governorships to numerous municipal elections. I'll start with the big ones...

Virginia and New Jersey Governorships:
Before I get to each individual race, lets just analyze the current state of American politics, briefly of course. The big question is... Are these races in any way a referendum on Obama's Presidency. The answer, in my opinion is a simple no. Americans are GREAT at separating Federal and State Elections. Now I'm not discounting the existence of coattails... but thats usually a bigger phenomenon when the person pulling the coattails is ACTUALLY on the ballot. Obama is NOT on the ballot. Additionally... there are unique conditions in both Virginia and New Jersey that even I concede I don't have a clue about. Wins in the Republican column in no way mean anything in terms of Obama's Presidency. Lets put this in a simple caricature....

Lets leave the President and his current agenda and issues as is. Health Care Reform, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Climate Change bills being his main concerns. But say a state is choosing their governor.... do national issues ALWAYS trump local issues in elections? Of COURSE not. A state may be more concerned about slot machines, sales tax, budget crises and other things. There's a reason why we have a federal structure of government... issues are handled at different levels. So what may be the focus of the federal government it does not necessarily match state governments and I think most people realize that. The election of a particular candidate at the state level does not mean that the approval or disapproval of the president has any bearing (especially since the powers of these two offices almost never overlap).

Additionally... we are dealing with ACTUAL candidates in state elections. Its not "Obama's Party" v. "Not Obama's Party" (although after last years thwomping, it may seem that way). There are names and faces, debates and ads. State elections are inherently separate animals then their federal counterparts. ESPECIALLY when its an off year election as it is now. Off year elections almost ALWAYS favor the party NOT in power.

So specific to this year... What should we have expected before today... Voter turnout will be abysmal. I'm talking 20% in most places. This has very astounding effects.
A) Federal elections get a lot more media attention and will attract more voters due to perceived "importance". What does this mean in terms of results. Biased sampling will be far more prevalent. Since people are not generally passionate about the off year elections, the people who DO turnout will not be representative of the population as a whole (sampling bias). The people who are more passionate will show up in greater numbers (and its usually the people who are not in power). The Republicans SHOULD do better in this election.
B) Minority and Youth turnout is expected to be low. With 2008 numbers for both youths and minorities at record levels, it is only natural to see them collapse. But off years even more so. Older generations tend to vote with more regularity (only somewhat more). The enthusiasm gap that plagued Republicans last November is now reversed. Youths and minorities are not going to match the numbers they put up last year and never have come out in force on off years. Older white rural voters tend to have a greater share of the vote in off years. Again a plus for Republicans

So does this translate into wins in New Jersey and Virginia....

New Jersey:
Given Corzines approval ratings flirting with the freezing mark, yes, Christopher Christi should have one. Really, had Republicans put up a more qualified candidate who could articulate his thoughts (and apparently was skinnier), they would have solidly won this (easily by double digits). Corzines abysmal approval rating should have marked a tidal wave of votes for the Republicans and given the conditions of 2009, Christi's sub-50% win is actually disappointing. But, a W by a Republican in a blue state is still a good W. Besides, in non-Wave years, flips like this are rather pointless. Great, the GOP have a governor in New Jersey. Too bad he doesn't control the legislative agenda and his party is the minority in New Jersey. A pretty hollow victory.

Virginia:
Despite the rather large victory by Obama in 2008, Virgina is still a fairly red state. But as I pointed out earlier, this is not an Obama Referendum. The candidate the VA Democratic Party put up for governor was a poor candidate and may have lost for NOT being liberal ENOUGH and resulted in a piss poor enthusiasm in the Democratic base. When polls earlier this summer suggested a close race for tonight, instead of trying to enthuse his base and getting the Youth and Minority demographics out in force, he tried moving left of center suggesting he'd opt out of the public option being among his most controversial things. As McCain struggled with alienating his base (his TRUE moderate base), Deeds has repeated that problem. This and the off year election factors that favor the Republicans in 09, there is no surprise that Republicans won.

Here's how it should be looked it... the Two Governorships falling into Republican hands SHOULD have occurred. If they didn't, that would have been a very large upset and would have spelled huge troubles for the Republican Party. So tonights victories, although still good, isn't stellar.

The GOP should be worried about losing NY-23, a district that normally favors Republicans. But the confusing split in the Republican ranks may have just handed the election to the Democrats. A big loss indicative of the moderates becoming disillusioned with the Republican party and following Dede Scozzafava's advice of backing the Democratic just shows that the ideological split in the GOP can and will still spell trouble in 2010. This is a race that the Republicans should have held on to, but the Teabagging wing of the Republican Party has turned off many moderate Republicans.

My local races:
Nothing terribly exciting in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul cruised to re-election by garnering nearly 70% of the vote in their respective cities. The big news of the day is that Minneapolis used Ranked Choice voting (instant runoff voting) and ran very smoothing and across the Mississippi, Saint Paul's voters voted to use this same system for future elections. The vote won with around 53% of the vote.

Other major races include...
Atlanta (First white female?)
Houston (First Openly gay mayor?)
The Gay Marriage referendum in Maine

As of the writing of this post, Atlanta and Houston were poised to make history. The Gay Marriage referendum may overturn the legislature's efforts to legalize gay marriage although a recount is possible in Maine. If there are any races anyone else wants to comment on ... go for it.

My Neighborhood: Complete with some of the crappiest October weather in History

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:59:00 -0400

So... as fall rolled around I was really excited to take pictures of my stunning neighborhood. With the homes of famous people like the Governor of Minnesota, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James J. Hill, and many more in my area, I was looking forward to taking snapshots of old and eclectic Victorians, brownstones, and other buildings. But unfortunately, as everyone knows, Minnesota's weather is... chaotic (at best sometimes) and between my work schedule and bouts of snow and continual rain, I didn't get many photos and most were taken on very cloudy days within the hour before sunset (forcing me to put my ISO on high making my images grainy). Additionally, because Minneapolis-Saint Paul was at the heart of the drought for much of the year, most of the fall colors were quiet drab and dull making the color display rather... tired. Finally... an early cold snap that sent the temperatures diving much earlier than normal had made many of the trees drop all their leaves in just a couple of hours. With this perfect storm of conditions.... I rank this fall's color display a meager 3 out of 10. During this wild October, there were three bouts of snowfall as well and clearly it was colder than normal. Minneapolis ended up having its 4th Coldest October (average temperature 43.2 F), 5th Wettest (250% to 300% of our average rainfall) and 7th snowiest. Its been a crazy month.

Anywho, here are my pictures. I know they aren't the best but I'm still gonna share them cause its my neighborhood and I like it.

This is Day 1 of my October phototour. My battery died on the last pic so I went out on a day that wasn't cold and snowy. Oh, btw, I apparently need new shoes. There's a hole at the bottom of my soles that allows water in. What I do for you people (that an look at all these thumbnails I do!). I'm pretty sure I'm the only Simtropolite who does this. Anywho, more to come.

And Now the Conclusion!

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:05:00 -0400

Figured I'd post part 3 of my phototour from the Cathedral to Lowertown and back.

Part 1

Part 2