There are still unpaved city streets?
In Como, apparently (the Mpls neighborhood, not the Stp neighborhood).
Does Minneapolis have a lot of streets that have never been paved?
My question stems from the fact that, in the Como neighborhood, we have four blocks of streets and alleys along our north edge that have never been paved, plus a section of Talmadge Ave. and two blocks of 33rd Ave. SE, in east Como, that has never been paved. No sidewalks in the latter or along Winter St.
The interesting part is how the city plans to handle them.
The CM is proposing that property owners in the north stretch decide whether they want paving or not, given that there is a huge cost for a “first-time paving” project. One young homeowner got residents to sign a petition to ask for paving and new curbs, but evidently the owners of commercial/industrial property don’t like the idea of being assessed for paving, and of course the absentee landlords are always loathe to put money into streets they never traverse.
Seems this sort of thing has happened before and was resolved without too much fuss. It’s really strange to me that it’s even an issue in the first place.
Related posts:
See the referenced article:
http://www.startribune.com/local/12044376.html
for more. The streets in Como were oiled and then have been patched (multiple times) with asphalt.
I live in that neighborhood, too.
There’s lots of heavy truck traffic, which continually tears the streets up, so standard paving wouldn’t last anyhow. They need to be paved to a higher standard used in industrial areas that can stand up to truck traffic (among other things, there’s a foundry in that chunk of Como - heavy stuff comes and goes).
Last night’s meeting was, according to Ostrow’s office, strictly informational, with another meeting to come “sometime after the holidays”.
But with the snowfall on Saturday/Sunday, it’s less of an issue for most. Our streets are in their best condition when they’re covered with snow and ice. Fills in all the potholes.
Thanks, Dave.
(That Strib article is informative, but I hate linking to the Strib, so I skipped it.)