Vince Mpls

🤣😭

They'd probably have to block traffic on Hennepin for that, and cars still always take priority there lol.

And here's when the E-Line ribbon finally gives way to big scissors, with US Senators @amyklobuchar.com and @smith.senate.gov, State Sen Scott Dibble, Rep @katiejonesmpls.bsky.social, Hennepin County Chair Irene Fernando, and happy retirees Rep Frank Hornstein and Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle.

So much going on!

Rent Me, Buy Me

I dunno just magically appeared outta nowhere so I hailed John over there

Derek holding up a red BUS ONLY scarf standing next to Skip Traffic, the Metro transit mascot

Zoning Board of Adjustment member and esteemed Chair of our @eastbankmpls.bsky.social Land Use + Infrastructure Committee @kub.bsky.social is also here, sporting his coveted @theoverheadwire.com scarf

I didn't check to see what's inside

Even @wedge.live is here with Skip Traffic

A who's who of elected officials, staff, and the fine citizens of Minneapolis are here on a cold winter morning celebrating the opening of a line that makes the Twin Cities the BRT capital of North America.

IT'S HAPPENING

Mississippi River gorge on a cold night with a few patches of open water and the Minneapolis skyline in the distance.

After recent cold weather, the great river that bisects the United States between West and East has almost frozen over.

nice

Those old cars were probably not great in the snow!

Armistice day was 1940, a beautiful 60 degree day and the state relying entirely on predictions from the Chicago weather office, which closed at 5pm. When the storm blew in it caught hunters and travelers outside.

Yes different and unlike Armistice Day, no fatalities. And this blizzard is also different (or perhaps in addition to) the Thanksgiving Day Blizzard of 1950 a week earlier, which killed 383 people across the northern and eastern US.

All white super modernist Coffee Shop at TWA Flight Center, JFK airport

The shark-nose Pennsylvania Railroad T-1 steam locomotive.

Air Force One blue and white livery and typeface, developed by Loewy on advise from Jacqueline Kennedy.

I forgot to mention this rather spartan streamline look is by industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who developed such icons as these:

#OnThisDay Dec 5, 1950: A 3 day blizzard begins, eventually covering the state in nearly 2' of snow. Duluth receives 25.4" in just 24 hours, over 30" total, a record at the time. In Minneapolis, the Fire Dept is called out to help clear hydrants and streets.

The clean white main aisle on the 1st floor of Gimbel's, lined with low contemporary wood display cases inbetween tall columns with ornate capitals. A row of white flocked christmas trees stand between them. Very little other decor is visible.

December 1950: Gimbel's Department Store in its understated modernist Christmas decor.

black and white flash photograph of a large steam engine with 4 workers in various positions around the boiler. Airhoses and parts are all around on the floor, a large piston stands in the foreground.

December 1942: Workers at the Illinois Central Roundhouse rebuild a former switching engine for use on the main line due to increased rail traffic demands during WW2. 📸 Jack Delano, Office of War Information, Library of Congress.

if the sender has included upper management and the email is about me, you bet it's going to be reply all.

Bigger and better than before!

Front of the Washburn Crosby complex in 1929, with multiple buildings joined together and large signs at the top that read WASHBURN CROSBY COMPANY GOLD MEDAL FLOUR. Large railyards are at the base of the building. The company's tag "Eventually" in neon script letters is at the top with water tanks.

black and white photo of the interior of Pillsbury A Mill, with a row of belt-driven milling equipment extending into the distance on either side of a long corridor. John Vashon, Farm Services Administration, Office of War Information, Library of Congress.

For those keeping track at home, Washburn produced 1.44 million pounds of flour *A DAY* in 1880. Pillsbury A across the river started at 980k in 1881, and after upgrades was producing 3.4M/day by 1905. These miraculous plants ran on the power of St Anthony Falls and weren't electrified until 1950.

The Washburn-Crosby Mill complex was the largest in the world when completed in 1880. It was soon overtaken for "biggest" when Pillsbury A Mill opened directly across the river. Together they made Minneapolis the planet's greatest industrial food producer for the next 50 years.

This is exactly the vibe, including the sad employees.

For train nerds out there, in the trench left of this cool building was the former St Paul & Pacific, laid 1862 before this was Minneapolis. When the Stone Arch Bridge was finished in 1883, it became the transcontinental mainline of the Great Northern, with a little local station on the tracks below

And some idiot below you could put out a grill and bbq the building into non existence in minutes.

👀

photo of 3 story apartments in alternating brick and yellow wood, the wood part is where sliding glass doors and balconies were once located.

The balcony-free version doesn't look too bad. Beyond being a maintenance headache there are also a lot of new regulations about wooden apt balconies after multiple fires, so maybe it's best these are gone for a whole lot of reasons.

St Paul's District Council model is where we need to go. Minneapolis with 87 neighborhoods and nearly as many neighborhood organizations is just silly.