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	<title>King's Corner &#187; urban living</title>
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	<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew</link>
	<description>Because I've got nothing better to do than write this</description>
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		<title>Gentrify me, baby!</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/08/354</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/08/354#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gentrification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=354</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[They&#8217;re doing preliminary work on moving utilities and the like, and it won&#8217;t be long before the powers that be finally break ground on only the second light rail line in the region. The Central Line is the link between the two downtowns, replacing the busiest busses in the system with a quieter, cleaner, higher capacity mode of transportation: light rail. And it will be the only truly urban line once the others (SW, Bottineau) are also built to complement the single-line &#8220;system&#8221; that we currently have in that Central will only run across Minneapolis and St. Paul and won&#8217;t have the park-and-ride lots where us suburbanites can drop our cars and be real city dwellers. This one is exclusively for the city dwellers, but not all the city dwellers seem to want all the benefits that come with it. The huge to-do going on along University Avenue is that it will negatively affect the area by, get this, increasing the value of the surrounding property. To this I say, &#8220;Well, duh!&#8221; That is the point of development and infrastructure improvements, right? To make a city more desirable to live in? And the more desirable a place is to live, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Wedged in</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/06/395</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/06/395#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neighbors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=395</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had just seen this home listed for sale in Hopkins, and my first though was about just how huge it is in comparison to the typical story-and-a-half that one finds in my town. The second thought was just how close it is to its neighbors, and the third was, &#8220;Hasn&#8217;t anyone had enough of this crap?&#8221; Houses like this are, honestly, all over town. I get the &#8220;joy&#8221; of seeing one across the street from my own home, a split-level box taking up virtually the entire property and wedged in between the oldest home on the street and a 1940&#8242;s Cape Cod. There was a big deal made of &#8220;McMansions&#8221; going up in Edina a while back, and my question is: Why hasn&#8217;t anyone in the city of Hopkins made a similar stink? McMansions, by the way, are oversized homes built in older neighborhoods of smaller homes. They&#8217;re typically about twice the size of their neighbors, take up the entire lot, and stick out like a sore thumb. More often than not, the builder has demolished a perfectly livable older house to replace it and they&#8217;ve gotten variances from the city to  ignore such pesky laws as mandatory setbacks [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I live in the city</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/01/322</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/07/01/322#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[career]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=322</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As noted in my previous blog on the ambiguity of my career after I&#8217;m no longer needed at home full-time, as well as obvious signs throughout any of my comments on life in this urban playground at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, I have this pull to work in Minneapolis. To be in the city. It&#8217;s big, it&#8217;s exciting, it has a life that I enjoy being a part of even from my house six miles outside of its borders. I am a child of the &#8216;burbs that has grown up to be a man of the city. From junior high on, my family was in a 1980&#8242;s split-level house on the edge of St. Cloud, the stereotypical American Dream home in a very suburban setting. So I came of age in the suburban lifestyle, but as a college student I was drawn into city life when I moved onto campus across town. (Yes, I lived on campus at the university in my own home town instead of just staying at my parents&#8217; place.) With a denser population and the car parked a good mile away (oh, the joys of being a freshman) I got used to [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Photogeneric</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/06/29/378</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/06/29/378#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bicycling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fatherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=378</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was looking through the photos on my phone and found a few to share here. Enjoy&#8230; Last month I had posted an entry saying that a perfect place to open a small bicycle shop would be right next to the Depot Coffee Shop in Hopkins. Well, lo and behold, I actually buzzed by there after writing it to find the next best thing: A vending machine. While it lacks the expertise to help you with any repairs, the Gear Box does have a selection of oft-needed accessories for your bike. It&#8217;s a sad day in the neighborhood. One of the 5 bars within stumbling distance of my house closed down. No reason has been given, but I imagine that the loss of this highly visible bar on the corner where Archie&#8217;s used to stand for many a decade will be reported in the next Sun-Sailor. Any of you out there looking to open a bar? I think there&#8217;s an opportunity for you to pick up a business. Had to snap a picture of this fun jury-rig. We had to take the newer car into the body shop, and we had to take the car seat with us when we [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wrong way</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/06/16/337</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/06/16/337#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=337</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the reasons that we bought our house here in Hopkins is the impending construction of the Southwest Light Rail line. Sure, we&#8217;re connected to Minneapolis via mass transit as it is, but knowing that a smooth, electric train line is coming to supplement or replace entirely that big, smelly bus was an attractive asset to the neighborhood. The problem is, like many government-run endeavors, the final route chosen is woefully misguided and shows too much favor to the more affluent and will ultimately not serve the area as well as it could. For one, let&#8217;s take a look at where this could have gone. The cheapest, easiest, path-of-least-resistance route would have gone from Eden Prairie on up into Minneapolis entirely along the SW LRT bike path and Kennilworth trail. The problem with this is that, outside of Hopkins and St. Louis Park, a lot of this route goes nowhere, or at least nowhere that it would be easy to pick up riders. I used to live on the Eden Prairie end of this route, and the long, windy, cul-de-sac-ness of the neighborhoods are a far cry from the density and walkability that works well with light rail. Plus, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Bicycle! Biiiiicycle!</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/05/13/273</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/05/13/273#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2010 13:58:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bicycling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s getting to be that time of year in which I spend my mornings with the kid in the bicycle trailer, heading in to Minneapolis to enjoy the trails, parks, and playgrounds around the Chain of Lakes. Also this summer, my dear car-loving wife is considering biking to work, especially now that she has moved her office to a building not much more than a mile away. Building up to the biking season that is now upon us, we&#8217;ve been out to the local bike shops to make sure we&#8217;ve got the proper kit for the ride. The wife needed a helmet and a lock, I needed another bottle cage so I could bring my coffee with, and I also shopped around for a light for my father&#8217;s bike since he is taking up the occasional ride to work as well. And, as we made the rounds to Penn and Erik&#8217;s in the car, I realized just how inconvenient their suburban locations are for bicyclists. I guess it&#8217;s something that I should have realized last summer. In shopping for a Banjo Brothers Pocket Messenger Bag, a handy item to keep on your bike in case of an unplanned shopping trip, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Let&#8217;s fix this transit mess</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/04/19/261</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/04/19/261#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:47:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=261</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, so my last post was very obviously just a rant on some of the inefficiencies with the patchwork transit system we have in the area. I can do more than complain, though, so how about a few ways that we can fix this? Here are three big ideas to &#8220;fix&#8221; the region&#8217;s transportation network. None of them are easy in any way, nor are they something that will happen overnight if implemented, so I guess I&#8217;m just standing here shouting some big ideas for no apparent reason other than to put them out there. 1. Eliminate or restrict opt-out communities. I think I was pretty clear in my last post, I am no fan of the idea of cities in a greater region opting out of the mass transit system. This would be akin to them going it alone on building regional roads. Imagine if 494 stopped at the Plymouth border and picked up again outside the city. It makes no sense for roads that serve the region as a whole, and it makes no sense for transit that should serve the region as a whole. I say let them keep their local circulators. SouthWest Transit runs local loops [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>You&#8217;d think that they&#8217;d want to make transit simpler&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/04/15/257</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/04/15/257#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=257</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s that time of year again. For a second consecutive year, I&#8217;ve been heading off on weekday evenings to plunk myself behind a computer screen and scoring mandated tests for a state down south of here. It&#8217;s a good gig, I get to exercise the evaluative eyes I developed in teaching, but it comes with its downsides. For one, the tight deadlines require me to make it in to the office every weeknight with no days off. For another, though, I get to enjoy the deficiencies of the local mass transit in all their dysfunctional glory. Last year it was the bus that never showed up. We had just the one car, so Jen would drop me off and I would take the bus home at night. The location was great, too, as the bus line that goes through our fair city of Hopkins terminated in the office park where my job was. So, I clicked on over to the handy Metro Transit Trip Planner and, to cover all my bases in case I couldn&#8217;t get a ride to work at some point, entered in the information for the trip to work from home and then clicked on the return [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/04/15/257/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Until they bring the streetcars back</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/01/27/218</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/01/27/218#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:56:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=218</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That’s also the title of a book, by the way.  It’s a fairly decent one written by a St. Paul author.  The book is actually a quick read, short and rather fast-paced, but the story is engaging and it zips along at a healthy clip.  The book isn’t exactly focusing on streetcars, but they do serve as a historical point of reference: The main character’s father is a streetcar driver at the time that the Twin Cities Rapid Transit was on the verge of dismantling the entire system. A quick side note: I’ve seen the opinion that the biggest mistake of the removal of the streetcar lines wasn’t that it shouldn’t have happened at all, as many of the lines were unprofitable for the private company that was running them, but that some lines should have stayed.  If you take a look at the three light rail lines that we will have running in the near future, Hiawatha, Central, and Southwest, these all basically follow some of the busiest lines from the old streetcar system.  Had the streetcars been kept running on just the lines that got the heaviest use, we would be talking about just making improvements to our [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A gripe about local transit</title>
		<link>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/01/21/210</link>
		<comments>http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/index.php/2010/01/21/210#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:41:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matthew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transportation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kilanowski.us/matthew/?p=210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is my bus stop: Or, at least it should be.  The city, or, at least I would venture to guess it was the city, had gone through the expense of putting up the shelter as busses were stopping here on a regular basis.  And with this shelter being a mere block from my house, it was mighty convenient.  Heck, even as we were searching for a house to purchase not much more than two years ago one of the things I was looking for was proximity to mass transit. What I didn’t expect was that Metro Transit would cut back on service for my bus line, only a few months after we purchased the house.  This is now my bus stop: It’s nearly half a mile away.  Now, instead of coming down Main Street and passing by my street, the bus goes only as far as five blocks away before it heads south.  And I don’t have a shelter to wait in anymore, just a narrow strip of sidewalk where it appears that area planners never really intended for a stop to be, something that gets really treacherous when there&#8217;s mounds of snow and ice building up.  In all [...]]]></description>
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