I've said it before and I'll say it again: Bring back the iconic (and incredibly formative for girls of a certain age) 1999 Titanic exhibit. www.startribune.com/titanic-imme...
Greta Kaul
@gretakaul.bsky.social
📰Subscribe to your local newspaper. 🏙️Covering the Twin Cities built environment at the @StarTribune.bsky.social. How's the way your city's built affecting your life? Send tips: greta.kaul@startribune.com
What a rush. I was heading home to finish a story on deadline when I saw the Securian ramp in downtown St. Paul requires payment BY CASH OR CHECK to exit (yes, in 2026). BUT, I happened to have a checkbook in my work bag, for reasons I actually can't remember.
Another Minnesota city is riled up about a flag. And a council member who took it from the city flagpole. And a leaked sheriff's office report. And maybe some small-town politics.
Another Minnesota city is riled up about a flag. No, not that flag.
Marine on St. Croix is abuzz after a council member admitted to taking a Prisoners of War/Missing in Action flag, which he later returned.
startribune.com
Falcon Heights residents got their first look at a developer's pitch to build up to 1,815 housing units, plus commercial, on the former Les Bolstad Golf Course tonight. Here's a recap: www.startribune.com/les-bolstad-...
Falcon Heights gets look at developer’s pitch for Les Bolstad Golf Course
Rachel Development unveiled plans to build a range of housing types as well as commercial properties on the site.
startribune.com
I worked at a hotel with one of these elevators. Quite a skill to land the elevator flush with the floor. Once in a while, would get a guest who could definitely take a joke and stop it between floors to scare them. www.startribune.com/last-elevato...
With the state’s last known elevator operator, Nicollet Mall office building honors its past
In downtown Minneapolis’ Young-Quinlan Building, Lee Bowser sees commuters through the ups and downs of their workdays.
startribune.com
"I never see you at the club." "OK, I never see you on the river!" We have so many great waterways in the Twin Cities and so few people get out on them. It's surprisingly easy, if you know where to go. New today! 2 additional routes on our urban paddling guide: www.startribune.com/canoe-kayak-...
Your guide to paddling the Twin Cities
From beginner-friendly lakes to scenic river trips, our Urban Paddle Guide now features 13 adventures — including new routes on the Mississippi and Rum rivers.
startribune.com
I was lucky to grow up living with a g-ma who lived through the Great Depression (at 5014 Lyndale in S. Minneapolis), so I heard stories about what her life was like -- people asking for food at the door, etc. but didn't know a lot about broader conditions in MN. www.startribune.com/curious-minn...
What was Minnesota like during the Great Depression?
With unemployment as high as 70 percent in some parts of the state, Minnesotans responded to the crisis in unique ways.
startribune.com
The MPCA hasn't had the authority to regulate stinky spots in decades. Now, it's working on rules for SOME of the Twin Cities' most odorous areas, and wants your input. www.startribune.com/mn-odor-rule...
What’s that smell? Regulation is coming for some Twin Cities stinky spots
State regulators are coming up with rules for managing smelly facilities. But first they have to define an “objectionable odor.”
startribune.com
Tamarack Village clock, Woodbur, which the Americlock guy told me he recently did maintenance on: on time. Didn’t realize they got rid of the neony ‘90s motif.
Greta Kaul@gretakaul.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhen was the last time you gave a though to clock towers? I spent some TIME doing that last week (see what I did there?) as cities/clock owners consider what to do about their aging and now largely symbolic structures. Photo: 1993, Judy Griesedieck/The Minnesota Star Tribune
Catching up on Met Council committees this Friday afternoon. Metro Transit talked a bit Monday about how it's using rider feedback data from Transit, the app. As a rider who sometimes answers Transit's prompts, I've been curious. metrocouncil.org/getdoc/fd815...
062226 Agenda - Metropolitan Council
metrocouncil.org
Clocktower, Normandy Inn. About 9 minutes behind the current time. Didn’t stick around to see if that was a coincidence or if it’s tickin’
Greta Kaul@gretakaul.bsky.social · 3mo agoWhen was the last time you gave a though to clock towers? I spent some TIME doing that last week (see what I did there?) as cities/clock owners consider what to do about their aging and now largely symbolic structures. Photo: 1993, Judy Griesedieck/The Minnesota Star Tribune
When was the last time you gave a though to clock towers? I spent some TIME doing that last week (see what I did there?) as cities/clock owners consider what to do about their aging and now largely symbolic structures. Photo: 1993, Judy Griesedieck/The Minnesota Star Tribune
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In my lifetime, Woodbury has risen from farm fields into one of the biggest cities in the state, kind of quietly. Residents love it, outsiders sometimes have trouble defining it (but often run a lot of errands there). A look at Woodbury: www.startribune.com/woodbury-sub...
No downtown, no regrets: How Woodbury made convenience a source of civic pride
Outsiders sometimes struggle to define Woodbury, now the seventh-largest city in Minnesota. But residents love its parks, trails, schools and community.
startribune.com
Long-gestating plans to redevelop TCAAP have always had elements of a gothic horror story — scale, tension, an abandoned setting. The latest effort to reanimate the project adds a Frankenstein quality: stitching together multiple developers. www.startribune.com/tcaap-rice-c...
New plan aims to revive monster development in Arden Hills
Progress at the TCAAP site, also known as Rice Creek Commons, has been stymied for years. A new plan would bring on more developers to get it going.
startribune.com
Statement from the Star Tribune Guild in response to management’s plans to lay off 15% of staff, including union members in the newsroom:
Porches went out of fashion for much of the 20th century — just look at the ramblers and split-level homes that proliferated from midcentury onward. But now they’re back, adorning many new construction homes across the Twin Cities suburbs.
Come on over: Front porch revival invites neighborhood connection
A middle ground between private homes and public streets, front porches have made a steady comeback in new home construction.
bit.ly
The streets don't line up perfectly, probably due to a difference in map projection and scale, but as near as I can tell the Great East Minneapolis Traffic Circle would have been centered at Eli's on East Hennepin.
Greta Kaul@gretakaul.bsky.social · 4mo agoA 1917 boulevards, Beaux-Arts plan for Minneapolis made the rounds on the internet. Amid the struggles the city faces today, there seems to be something alluring about its grandiosity, but would it be as good as it looks?
A 1917 boulevards, Beaux-Arts plan for Minneapolis made the rounds on the internet. Amid the struggles the city faces today, there seems to be something alluring about its grandiosity, but would it be as good as it looks?
Minnesota Star Tribune@startribune.com · 4mo agoThe 1917 plan envisioned wide, diagonal arteries through the city’s street grids, a grand civic plaza and Classical-inspired buildings on both sides of the river.
Love to watch basketball by pulling up the score on a phone periodically because it’s on a different platform I’m not paying for every night. It’s kind of quaint, like an old-timey radio experience, if the radio cut out 98% of the game.
In more affluent Twin Cities suburbs, some new neighborhoods are built to rent www.startribune.com/built-to-ren...
In more affluent Twin Cities suburbs, some new neighborhoods are built to rent
The single-family homes, renting for $3,000 to $5,000 per month, are facing scrutiny from affordable housing advocates.
startribune.com
North Oaks cites septic failure threat in push to bend sewer rules www.startribune.com/north-oaks-m...
North Oaks cites septic failure threat in push to bend sewer rules
North Oaks, an unusual private city with many rural lots, falls short of the housing density the Met Council requires for cost-efficient sewers.
startribune.com
@mikedolan1111.bsky.social I'm a reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune working on a story about front porches. Would love to set up an interview with you for this piece -- greta.kaul@startribune.com if interested.
It's that time of year again! Went to Brit's Pub after work the other day and there are large glass windows looking out onto Nicollet where you could see your bike if it were hypothetically parked there. But there's no bike parking. www.startribune.com/secure-bike-...
The Twin Cities have hundreds of miles of bike lanes, but cyclists say one key thing is missing
Even committed Twin Cities cyclists say they don’t bike places if there aren’t secure places to park them to prevent theft.
startribune.com
Twin Cities suburbs are shutting off Flock license plate cameras over data sharing concerns. Residents raised questions amid the federal immigration surge, via Sarah Ritter: www.startribune.com/twin-cities-...
Some Twin Cities suburbs shut off license plate cameras over data sharing concerns
Residents have aired concerns about privacy at City Council meetings and raised new questions after the federal immigration enforcement surge.
startribune.com
