Lyn-Lake visioning and design workshop

By Antonio Rosell
Published 03.25.06

We presented and led a visioning and design workshop for Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue in South Minneapolis. The workshop, sponsored by Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG) and Streets for People, was aimed at finding the long-term preferences for this intersection from businesses and residents.

The workshop was held at Bryant Square Park on March 15, and was attended by almost thirty people.

We began the workshop with a brief presentation covering information on urban design, street design, pedestrian issues, and experiences from other cities. Participants then broke into small groups to put together cross-sections of Lake Street. Using our "Streets and Places" tools, participants worked together to express their preferences: width of sidewalks, parking, number of lanes, etc. We finished the workshop with a discussion of each group's choices and their reasons for those choices.

One of the things that was remarkable about this workshop is not only that people participated enthusiastically, but that the whole group volunteered to stay longer (an hour longer!) to continue working and discussing their ideas - a very successful workshop that seemed to begin many important conversations.

CARAG and Streets for People will now take this input and present it to their respective organizations. CARAG and also Ward 10 Councilmember Ralph Remington will be posting these and other related documents on their websites. See the "Resources" section below to navigate to their sites.

You can find links to transportation resources, including some we used in the presentation (PPS's Lake Street report and others), on the right side column of this site. We are exploring the possibility of putting together a narrated movie for CARAG and Streets for People covering the topics presented at this meeting; when it is available you will be able to find it here.

Resources

• Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG): Lake Street news
• City of Minneapolis: Ward 10 Issues
• Project for Public Spaces (PPS): Transportation & Livable Communities

Contact: