If Planning On Driving In Saint Paul On Saturday
By Mitch Berg
It’s two days until the opening of the “Green Line” – and the Met Council’s toy choo choo has already been involved in four accidents. That’s far ahead of the pace of the Ventura Trolley.
I’ve driven down University alongside the trains; it’s more than a little bit disconcerting. And, if you’re not really really diligent about checking your vehicle’s blind spots, potentially deadly.
But what could possibly make it worse? They’re going to turn opening night into a pub crawl.
That’s right – like Uni doesn’t have enough drunks patrolling it on a Saturday night anyway…
June 12th, 2014 at 7:23 am
I say we get a bunch of bicyclists together and ride in a pack, blocking busses, trains and cars the whole way from Union Depot to the Twins Stadium.
June 12th, 2014 at 9:23 am
Was listening to the sickeningly sweet tribute MPR did for the Green Line yesterday. They found people like: a professor at the ‘U’ who thought his experiments would be ruined; a woman from an African American Church who thought that it would be like the 50-year-ago destruction of the Rondo neighborhood all over again; and in fact someone at MPR where they were worried Kerri Millers leftwing political analysis might be interrupted by the muffled sound of train horn. All of these people are satisfied (and in a lithium induced happy state) with the changes (combined with the two major currencies of the Left, good intentions and cash money) made to accommodate their concerns that everyone was ready to welcome the line with open arms.
The best interview though was of the fellow who mediated the disputes between the train thugs and the people whose lives and livelihoods were going to be affected. His guiding principle in the mediation seemed to be: we can meet anywhere you want; you can hold any opinion you want; and you can bring whatever factual information you want to present that this shouldn’t be done – but we are going to get to yes. He made authoritarianism sounds so nice.
June 12th, 2014 at 9:27 am
Should people dress up like zombies?
June 12th, 2014 at 9:29 am
“drunks patrolling” already are zombies…
June 12th, 2014 at 9:32 am
I hope they commemorate the inaugural vomiting.
June 12th, 2014 at 9:45 am
Yup! The left is in full spin mode. There was an article in the Red Star on Sunday about the “net gain” of new businesses that have sprung up. Although it did point out the number that moved, closed and/or suffered from the construction, it didn’t go far enough. They still made it sound like everyone was happy! One of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants, Hoa Bien at University and Lex, is run by a brother and sister. They told us that they were very close to closing and only a short term cash injection kept them afloat. Their business is still down by about 30%.
June 12th, 2014 at 10:21 am
All the media outlets: HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY. Don’t look behind the curtain, we’re on a pub crawl and we’re HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY.
June 12th, 2014 at 10:29 am
Boss – I LOVE Hoa Bien. It’s a pain to go there now, you can’t turn left out of the parking lot because of the Damned Train. But the Hot and Spicy Chicken is awesome.
Another place that barely survived is Best Steak House at University and Western. Family-owned, been there forever, outstanding value (the $10.00 steak hangs off the plate, it’s so huge). Construction workers had barricades outside for TWO YEARS but they hung on. Give them a try.
June 12th, 2014 at 10:39 am
TBS: Just think about the song ‘everything is awesome’ from the LEGO movie.
June 12th, 2014 at 11:15 am
JD: You are correct on getting in and out of there now and that’s part of the problem! University has now been relegated to eternal traffic problems, ala Hiawatha/Hwy 55.
I’ve been to Best Steak House a couple of times and you are right! Damn good steak for 10 bucks!
June 12th, 2014 at 11:23 am
“toy choo choo has already been involved in four accidents”
Time to begin the dead pool?
June 12th, 2014 at 11:43 am
I don’t know about the Green Line, but I do traverse Hiawatha Avenue along the Hiawatha line on my furniture runs for our store quite a lot. The sheer number of traffic lights for such a minimal stretch of road is absolutely mind-numbing. I routinely see some motorists (I may be among their ranks) simply ignore the red lights in favor of common sense.
June 12th, 2014 at 1:55 pm
POD: In Utopia, there are no sad songs.
June 13th, 2014 at 8:28 am
My cartoon bubble has SaNdy PApPas strolling into Johnny Baby’s and ordering her minion to fetch her a Mimosa.
BTW, Best Steak is on Victoria & Uni.
June 13th, 2014 at 6:08 pm
Swiftee, you’re absolutely right. My favorite restaurant at Western is Mai Village, also driven to the brink by light rail construction, saved by generous investors.
Thanks for the assist.
.