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blindeke.bsky.social
Urban Geographer @ UMN. Cityscape columnist @ Minnpost. Skyway Don Quixote. Tread lightly on earth. he/him Author of "St. Paul: Urban Biography”
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Holy smokes this chart from Bloomberg NEF.

Worldwide oil demand will peak in 2029 (!), meanwhile the USA is going to double-down on V-8 engines.

BREAKING: There is a bird trapped in the first car of the blue line

"The last remnants of Spirit Island are believed to be a narrow jetty emerging from the south end of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam." sahanjournal.com/climate-envi...

6th Street in Downtown St. Paul is astonishingly bleak bleak bleak!

Excellent opportunity for someone who loves cities, writing, and great people. Fill these big shoes!

I wrote about affordable housing subsidies in Phillips, and how it fits into the long-standing policy feud in the Twin Cities. www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...

I can't think of another place that mixes it up like the Eagles #34. racketmn.com/how-the-eagl...

"How many would-be entrepreneurs have been deterred from trying to open businesses in St. Paul’s neighborhoods because of restrictive zoning? How many dreams and great ideas weren’t able to get off Square One?" streets.mn/2025/06/18/h...

Good column. www.minnpost.com/community-vo...

Glorious

my goodness. someone on new york ave was killed by a driver hauling a tank post-army parade. a woman literally died for this useless excess.

A tax break for car interest payments is a spectacularly terrible policy idea: ❌ Regressive ❌ Encourages people to get a bigger car than they need ❌ Disincentivizes modes that are less dangerous/polluting (walking, biking, transit)

they’ve gone from “clearly uniformed” to “partially uniformed” to “in no way identifiable” in like three weeks

If you want some anecdotal evidence of the effects of tariffs, there isn't a single fireworks tent on route 70 between 35 in Minnesota and Siren, WI

This past weekend, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board did something they don't often do: they closed a parkway to nearly all car traffic for a whole weekend for the Stone Arch Bridge Art Festival on West River Parkway in Downtown Minneapolis. (1)

✈️ Everyone’s betting on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to decarbonise flying and pave the way for airport expansion in the UK. However, our new briefing paper concludes that SAFs are not the game changer many are hoping for 🧵

"The brake pedal, which was pushed up as far as it could go, still wasn't high enough for Goldman's feet to reach. So her dad bolted a 2-by-4 wood plank on top of the pedal." (Fun fact: I might be the only person to have biked from STP to the Elko Speedway.) racketmn.com/meet-taylor-...

This is a great piece on Orfield Labs, local Minneapolis history, and silence. mspmag.com/arts-and-cul...

The Guardian discovers All Square. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

"You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens. I’m not obstructing, I am standing right here in the hallway. … You don’t have the authority to arrest US citizens asking for a judicial warrant.” www.amny.com/news/brad-la...

Once again, Aaron is very thorough here describing exactly how much faster the B Line will be than the #21. A little too thorough, perhaps, for some tastes. streets.mn/2025/06/17/q...

Carol Becker is a singularly toxic figure in local politics. Nobody in St. Paul even comes close -- not Tom Goldstein, not Bill Hosko -- which is an astonishing thing to say. Learned over the years: the ultimate bad faith actor, and should never be given attention.

Please read and share this statement from Sophie and Colin Hortman, children of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. (via WCCO reporter Caroline Cummings on X)

If going to the Congo (!) to preach about liberal American sexuality is not considered extreme politics, what is? www.startribune.com/suspect-show...

Clogged storm drain at 25th and Dupont Ave S cleared by members of the Wedge Volunteer Public Works Department.

Like the 21 before it, the B Line loses a lot of time going up the hill out of downtown Saint Paul. If only there was a solution for this...

"So I looked on my trailcam and said to the missus, that looks like a person. So I reported it."

“A tent managed by a beverage company handed out room-temperature bottles of an energy drink, Phorm. The flavor, called Screamin’ Freedom, tasted like hard candies dissolved in water.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“One example Prentice floated was that an airship could send Minnesota turkeys to Chile and return with bananas.” www.startribune.com/air-india-cr...

In the US, transit ridership recovery from the pandemic has closely tracked service recovery. More service = more riders. Of 285 US urban areas, just 35% had as much service in 2024 as they had in 2019. And these have had much higher ridership recovery than those with less service (91% vs 74%).

Me and some friends celebrated the new MetroTransit B Line BRT by dressing as bees

Fascinating local bowling alley history right here. I need to add this one to my booklet! racketmn.com/87-years-of-...

Carbrain is extreme American Exceptionalism and deadly. www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis...

Ok that’s pretty funny.

More of this please. minnesotareformer.com/2025/06/12/a...

BS charge against Lopez. racketmn.com/st-paul-mn-p...