In Favor of the Skyways
The collective reaction to the “the skyways are ruining your city” story a couple weeks ago was a big ol’ knee-jerk HUHWHAT?!?! The skyways are one of the really awesome mostly unique things about Minneapolis. Because the reason the Twin Cities metro isn’t much bigger since it’s so cool here (figuratively) is because it’s so cool here (literally).
My two cents: The skyway (non-)issue again butts up against who we’re desiging for. Visitors or residents? You have to do both. Two-story stores accessible at street level and by skyway are critical.
It’s the same as with the Hiawatha LRT line. This was the first choice for LRT because it connects the airport with the MOA and with downtown. Clearly focused on visitors. Turns out it’s pretty convenient for some commuters and game-goers, too, but that’s a nice bonus more than it was the driving factor.
But Leif says it with much more flare.
But back to the handful of street-level retailers stewing over business lost to the Skyway passing over their entrances… I’m convinced that there’s a better solution than defacing the Mall with five years of construction shenanigans, thereby screwing all retailers, and needlessly spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. So, I’ve had a sit-down with the TIWILM Urban Planning Panel and we’ve narrowed it down to a two word solution:
Stairways, jackholes.
Seriously, though, by the time we decide to abolish the skyways and actually get it approved, figure out how to close off all that 2nd-story skyway space within all the downtown buildings, and figure out how to pay for it all, we might as well just shut down downtown Minneapolis all together. I’d rather give my tax dollars to Carl Pohlad than pay for that.
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Um..yeah. It’s friggin cold here. When it’s 6 degrees (like today), don’t they think retailers will be complaining that people aren’t walking around outside — frequenting their businesses — because they won’t leave the comfort of the warm buildings? Perhaps street retailer purchases should be mandated and subsidized by our out of control legislature?
Add in the hassle of parking (for those who don’t bus/train) and people just won’t bother going downtown if it’s too cold to be outside.
Looks like the latest word is foot traffic is up in downtown Minneapolis.