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The Excess and Repaving Projects in the news:
A handy guide to all the articles we've seen published in the local
papers about the Excess Project and/or the Lake Street Repaving
- just click on the headline to view the full article:
Small business
owners discuss Lake St project
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - published 08.18.04
"... for many of the small business people who have made
the avenue their home over the course of the last decade and a
half, the key question is not whether the street should be redeveloped,
but rather, development for whom and in whose interest?"
Minneapolis to fight
I-35W upgrade
Star Tribune - published 08.25.04
"Minneapolis moved ahead Tuesday with plans to oppose the
Crosstown/Interstate Hwy. 35W road construction project, and the
strategy is drawing angry response..."
I-35W upgrade could be delayed
Star Tribune - published 08.24.04
"In a dramatic attempt to make high-speed commuter bus service
a reality on Interstate Hwy. 35W, Minneapolis is preparing to
stand in the way of one of the metro area's most highly anticipated
road construction projects..."
Don't let a five-lane road stunt
Lake Street
Star Tribune - published 07.23.04
Jay Walljasper, urbanist and former editor of Utne magazine,
asks for a rethinking of the County's plan for Lake Street.
Kingfield may sue over I-35W
project
Southwest Journal - published 07.22.04
Kingfield Neighborhood considers lawsuit to stop the Excess Project
over issues of segmentation
and unequal impacts on communities of color.
Guest commentary: More
cars on Lake St. too costly
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - published 12.03.03
How the repaving project will affect Lake Street's many cultural
communities, including impacts on businesses and people's health.
Guest commentary by Liz McLemore.
Auto zone or people
zone?
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - published 11.26.03
Award-winning reporter Isaac Peterson follows up on the Lake
Street project, including recent controversies, and linkages to
the 35W project. Features interviews with project opponents and
comments from the project managers.
Overhaul for Crosstown/I-35W
junction revived
Star Tribune - published 11.07.03
More lanes on the Crosstown equals more lanes on the Excess Project
- the I-35W megaproject of the early 1990s rears its ugly head
once again ...
State OKs plan to try toll lane
Star Tribune - published 11.06.03
Wondering what will happen with the HOV lanes that will be added
to 35W under Excess? Here's a plan:
Guest commentary:
Take social cues in choosing a mode
Star Tribune - published 10.26.03
Why we should think about investing in alternatives to the automobile.
Guest commentary by Jeff Carlson.
Editorial: New freeways
would cost $20 billion
Star Tribune - published 10.19.03
The Star Tribune asks if the cost of "building our way out
of congestion" is, at around $20 billion, a reasonable choice.
MnDOT's tactics squeeze
landowners
Star Tribune - published 09.21.03
A Star Tribune investigation that validates what we've been saying
all along: that the mostly low income and minority home owners
whose
houses will be demolished by the Excess Project are not be
likely to receive fair market value for their homes and will be
unable to obtain comparable housing in the surrounding areas.
He's the future of economic development
Southwest Journal - published 08.08.03
Additional reactions to Rybak's appointment of a Smith Parker
attorney as director of planning and economic development, including
that of City employees and Councilmembers, who note that the city's
top planner should in fact be a planner.
Two development
officials named in Minneapolis
Star Tribune - published 07.12.03
Mayor R.T. Rybak names Mike Christenson, an attorney with Smith
Parker, as director of director of "Planning and Strategic
Partnerships" at the City's new Department of Community Planning
and Economic Development.
Minneapolis, take back your streets
Finance and Commerce - published 07.11.03
How the County and Mn/DOT's State Aid standards are damaging
the fabric of Minneapolis, and what we can do about it. Guest
editorial by Ken Avidor and Jeff Carlson.
What do Lake Street people want?
Southwest Journal - published 05.29.03
Smith Parker's other Lake Street project (handed to them on a
silver platter by Hennepin "no bid, no problem" County),
and the opinions and ideas of those affected.
Some I-35W changes could be put
on hold
Star Tribune - published 05.28.03
No money for project means delay for 38th Street (of course the
ramps at 28th don't get affected at all)
Sign of the times: pro-35W Access Project
group forms
Southwest Journal - published 05.15.03
Read the inspiring story of the latest manufactured grassroots
group, includes good insights into the workings of the Expansionnaire
mind.
Is I-35W Expansion another
Rondo?
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - published 03.20.03
"Some residents oppose tearing up the neighborhood for the
convenience of suburban commuters - Do the urban planning and
economic development policies used in planning the I-35 and Lake
Street expansions in South Minneapolis contribute to racial injustice
in Minneapolis? Do those plans alleviate problems for African
Americans and others of color, or add to them? ..." - includes
comments from residents of the area that will be impacted by the
project.
ACORN charges
Wells Fargo with predatory lending
Insight News - published 03.12.03
Wells Fargo, prospective corporate recipient of public largesse,
and friend of Smith Parker and the MacMayor and McLaughlin, engages
in predatory lending.
Additional work recommended
for Lake St./I-35W project
Star Tribune - published 01.29.03
The Excess Project gets more excessive ! ($180 million and still
rising)
Driving the I-35W Access
Project
Southwest Journal - published 01.07.03
Great information for the public record, includes the following
amazing quotes in its introduction:
The $152 million I-35W Access Project all started five years
ago with an effort to get new ramps at 26th and 28th streets,
making easier freeway connections for Abbott Northwestern Hospital,
800 E. 28th St. - "That is all I had in mind back then,"
said Tom Johnson, who, in 1997, was a consultant with Abbott
Northwestern Hospital and Allina Hospitals and Clinics. "That
is all we wanted to do. That was our project."
SWJ reporter Scott Russell, who wrote the story, recently stated
that “the
thing that most struck me from my research was that the project
appeared to be a done deal by 1998, before the Project Advisory
Committee started... [the article] gives credibility to those
critics who say that no-build was not really an option during
the PAC process. ... I was surprised the piece got so little reaction
at the time.”
35W Access Project hits bumps in
the road
Pulse of the Twin Cities - published 11.20.02
Report from the last set of open houses for the project, includes
history of the project and quotes from the meetings.
Let the
Public Decide
Star Tribune Letters section - published 11.20.02
Letter to the editor from Councilmember Dean Zimmermann arguing
against the access project: "... The project will remove
housing and businesses from the tax rolls, reduce livability in
several Minneapolis neighborhoods, and disrupt the community-based
economy on Lake Street ..."
Council member charges untoward
coercion on I-35W ramps
Star Tribune - published 11.15.02
Councilmember Robert Lilligren cites Commisioner McLaughlin's
"handshake deals" with project backers and area corporations,
Mayor Rybak said to have pressured city council to accept project
because "commitments were made". Smith Parker said to
have offered $2 million to area project [the now failed Nicollet/Lake
Sherman project] in exchange for their support of the Excess Project.
Jim Graham, of Ventura Village, admits to a deal offered to his
neighborhood by Smith parker in exchange for his neighborhood's
vote in favor of the project.
Part II: Linking Lake
to I-35 - whose gain, whose pain?
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - published 11.14.02
"Is the project's goal simply access, or is it a major freeway
expansion?" - Second of the two-part series on the Excess
Project, investigates the role and function of Smith Parker, covers
then mayor Sayles-Belton's switch from supporter to opponent of
project plan.
Part I: Linking Lake
to I-35 - whose gain, whose pain?
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder - 11.07.02
"Corporate interests, neighborhood residents face off over
proposal to expand Lake Street access to I-35W" - First article
of an excellent two-part series on the Excess Project, gives an
overview of the project, including its history, introduces Tom
Johnson, Smith Parker project manager, questions role and position
in the project. Includes comments by Councilmember Lilligren.
I-35W access group backs
plan with bus-carpool lanes
Star Tribune - 12.19.01
How the new lanes were added to the project. Includes comments
by State Representative Karen Clark, who urged representatives
to consult with their communities before accepting Mn/DOT's ultimatum.
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