University Avenue in Minneapolis is too narrow for LRT

The February Bridge article “Prospect Park prepares for whatever’s coming down the tracks” does not address light rail transit (LRT) alternative routes or the problems of LRT routing on University Avenue.

There may of course be no “plans” for condemnations of buildings along University Avenue. Proponents of this potentially disastrous routing are not going to sound any alarms of this nature in their sales pitches. Those who are interested in promoting the Minneapolis University Avenue routing for LRT are apt to be developers who know that condemnations or vacations of buildings would be inherent with this routing because of the lack of width of the University Avenue stretch involved and that may well be the basis of their interest.

Virtually all of the Minneapolis segment of University Avenue is only six lanes wide including parking space. As The Bridge article states, two lanes of University Avenue would be permanently dedicated for LRT space.

With two lanes of space dedicated to LRT only four lanes are left for regular traffic and parking. There will be either only one lane of traffic in each direction or no parking at all unless buildings are removed in order to widen the street. With or without widening University Avenue, the functioning of some businesses cannot be sustained and many will vanish through demolition. Lack of parking on University Avenue would mean that there would be a spillover of parked vehicles into residential areas. Another problem of the University Avenue routing would be that the section of the Prospect Park neighborhood would be caused by having crossing areas a number of blocks apart. An I-94 alignment would be another option, but I believe the best routing, if any at all, would be two blocks north of University Avenue (beyond the residential area) from 27th Avenue SE to Berry Street in St. Paul.

I needed to drastically condense this letter in order to comply with space limitations. For more information please send your request, including your name, to me at towertalker@aol.com.

—Neal E. Simons

Cluck, cluck

Thank you to Maria Rubenstein for her insightful front-page article on companion chickens raised in Seward and elsewhere in Minneapolis. It was nice to read about chickens’ inquisitiveness and longevity, and their sensitive caretakers. Unfortunately many of us urban dwellers are unfamiliar with how nearly 99 percent of chickens supplying meat and eggs live on today’s factory farms.

Rather than the idyllic family farm scenario where hens get to cluck around freely and roost in the barn yard, today’s chickens living on factory farms are crowded into filthy and sunless sheds from hatching until slaughter. Broiler chickens raised for meat are selectively bred to rapidly bulk up so that they reach market weight in as little as 45 days. These baby chickens suffer heart problems with many others becoming crippled under their own weight because of the unnatural growth rate. Modern egg production facilities are even worse, with these social creatures cruelly crowded into tiny wire “battery cages” that don’t even allow them to spread their wings and exhibit nearly every other natural instinct.

The caretakers featured in the article know that chickens are intelligent and deserving creatures, not mere food production machines. In honor of National Chicken Month this May, let’s show some compassion for the billions of birds suffering on factory farms, and instead buy “chicken-free” patties at the Seward Co-op or tofu “egg” scramble at Hard Times or Seward Cafe.

—Gil Schwartz, Seward

last revised: June 1, 2006

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