Lalley Podcast; Ep 3
l3wis 
Janet Brekke and I are the featured guests!
Was the Arc of Dreams misplaced?
I will admit, I have looked at the Arc of Dreams several times at different angles from far away and up close. Depending on how you look at it you find something unique each time. It is quite the structure and engineering feat. But one of the things you will notice is that the only place you can really get a good view of the entire structure is from the North standing on the 6th street bridge or river greenway. You would also miss it if driving in a car over the bridge unless you happen to look over at it.
Some have questioned it’s location. First off, since it was privately funded they had to situate it on private property yet putting it in a public space. While the structure is mounted on private property, it crosses a public waterway.
As you can see below, most large sculptures, like the FLAMINGO in Chicago is placed in a large courtyard area so it can be viewed from 4 directions. I actually think a great place for the Arc would have been on North Minnesota Avenue coming into town from the airport, or others have suggested over the Levitt yard. Obviously the limitation was placing this on private property, but I think an easement could have been figured out.
It will be interesting to read reviews of it’s placement over the next couple of years.
City of Sioux Falls to present their pilot idea for on-demand transit on Tuesday
You will see how the city plans to implement a pilot program for on-demand transit. As I have posted about recently, while the people using the on-demand service love it, it really isn’t equitable and doesn’t help more people. A total overhaul of Paratransit and regular bus routes would be where I would start instead of on-demand.
The presentation compares it to On-Demand movies and is you look at their scenarios you will see the cost goes up (at least that is how interpret it). I guess I will wait to see the presentation to fill in the blanks.
Redevelopment of the Core should have started a decade ago
I have been a follower of Strongtowns for almost 10 years now, and tried to bring Chuck into speak about 7 years ago but couldn’t scrounge up a sponsorship. I’m happy to see people trying to embrace their thinking, but I think we need to play some serious catchup.
Jodi makes a good point in her Sunday column today;
But I think a renewed focus on improving existing housing stock, redeveloping core neighborhoods and investing in infrastructure and amenities that draw people to those neighborhoods could help.
Help?! I have been pleading with city councilors for over a decade to implement a core neighborhood revitalization program through re-allocating TIF rebates to individual homeowners and small apartment owners in our core neighborhoods. It could be a multi-tier program that gives property tax rebates for certain kinds of upgrades as well as using federal grants and community development loans. While we are in the middle of a crisis right now in SF when it comes to affordable housing because we have allowed realtors and developers artificially inflate the market. We can’t cry over what we should have done, we need to implement these programs ASAP to save our core neighborhoods while creating abundant affordable housing.
Minnehaha County introduces new show?
I guess I have never seen this show before, so it must be something new.
Here is Inside Town Hall with 4 city councilors. When they talked about the Levitt I wanted to clap when the host, Madeline Shields said that there is ‘plenty of parking’ for the Levitt. Amen!