A corner of urbanism

Visiting our son in Minneapolis last weekend, we found a delightful (and very popular) coffee/brunch place in a residential neighborhood in the southeast part of the city, near Lake Nokomis. I was struck by the activity and range of businesses at the corner of 52nd Street and Bloomington Avenue. From the surrounding neighborhood, a person could walk to the cafe as well as an insurance office, dentist, bookstore, plus-size closing store, and a Masonic temple.

That won't fill all your daily needs, of course, but it's a pocket of semi-walkability that is rare in my town. The residents have ready access to a small variety of things, but have to tolerate customers parking on their streets...

 ...maybe especially on Sundays at 10, when half the city seemed ready to pack itself into the Hot Plate--and the rest took refuge in the Irreverent Bookworm across the street. I mention this because traffic and parking are automatic objections whenever someone tries to make a neighborhood more walkable. Those are not irrelevant, but can't become absolute values in a walkable, inclusive community. For a little inconvenience, look what you get!


You could argue that the neighborhood is unusual. The Hot Plate is in Census tract 117.03, which is well-off (med income of $47423/yr puts in the top 10 percent of census tracts nationally), but is densely-populated (4252 people in 0.67 sq mi=6338/sq mi) with people who have chosen an older neighborhood (median home construction is 1939). Nevertheless, people have chosen to live in a place like this, and if such choices were available elsewhere they would be chosen there as well.

SEE ALSO:
"Letter from Washington (III)," 3 March 2018
"Envision CR IV: Neighborhood Stores," 28 May 2015
"Indulging in Urban Fantasy," 6 September 2014