twin city sidewalks went to the House Tax hearing yesterday on the Twins Stadium proposal and has decided he likes the deal.

Just like Doug Grow, I’m gonna take a new tack here with the Twins Stadium proposal. I was at the House Tax hearing yesterday for the Twins presentation, and I’m getting much more impressed by the stadium proposal as it currently sits. Maybe it’s because the Twins are getting smarter with their design, but the stadium architect said a lot of good things when he was describing the proposed stadium.

A few things I like about it:

• It’s open air (no expensive transformer roof) and the field is real grass
• The stadium entrances will be “pedestrian oriented,” which probably means they’ll be at street level with a nice facade
• It’s a “green building,” and uses the nearby steam plant as its heating source
• It will be a “bridge” over the Great Northern rail corridor that currently separates the Warehouse District from the North Loop area of downtown. Presently, there’s a big gulf between these two booming areas of Minneapolis, and this large stadium thing might help increase accessibility from one part of downtown to the other.
• It will be right at the intersection of two rail transit lines and a new dedicated bike path, and will probably increase transit use throughout the greater Minneapolis area

I like the urban planning-focused point of view. It takes the whole argument a step beyond whether or not we like sports and how much money we’re willing to spend to have a team here, and talks about how the team and the facility are integrated into the community.

Related posts:

1. Twins Stadium a done deal? Not quite yet…
2. Twins Stadium Update and a note about the season
3. The Twins Stadium Debacle continues
4. Twins Stadium Construction Webcam up and running
5. MOA Expansion Cost vs New Twins Stadium Cost