apple juice

I love stories like this:

“You come here and it’s like, ‘Where do I park? Is it five blocks down a side street, or what?’ “

Yes, you’ll have to walk! It’s part of the plan. Once you find that really great parking spot for your car, for the love of pete, don’t move it. Ever been to Chicago? Exactly. I think I’m having deja vu or something, but the strib is running a story about all the parking problems and havoc that is the excelsior and grand project.

By the end of the article they seem to be praising it a bit more:

Industry observers say the clearest point of success has been the residential portion. Wilson and his colleagues at TOLD describe that side of the project as “stellar,” with no vacancies among 337 apartments and all but 12 of the 210 completed condos sold, with more being built.

Geri Schiavino moved into her new condo in May. “I totally don’t use the car half of what I used to,” she said. “I take the bus, and when friends come over, we walk to coffee shops or dinner. Everything’s right here.”

This is a really cool project on the whole, and I think it is great to see all these higher density residential areas sprouting up, but you need to have the mixed-use areas in there as well (grocery stores, coffee shops, etc), otherwise you’ll be exacerbating the traffic problems, and not alleviating them. When residents of these condos can walk to everything, they don’t need to drive their cars everywhere.

[tags]condos, urban, minneapolis[/tags]