Links: Asphalt art, an airport encounter and more
Posted on June 1st, 2007 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
- Mural, mural, on the road: St. Paulites will be grabbing some paint and touching up a colorful piece of traffic-calming this weekend; click here for a Strib item.
- Biking at the airport? Alert reader Nicole and alert reader Dan call our attention to this blog item, in which a violinist-bicyclist describes his arrest as he tried to pedal away from the Twin Cities airport.
- 35W? Who needs it? We do, but we’re going to have to get through south Minneapolis without it this weekend; click here for a Strib story and map on the closing, here for MnDOT info.
- Train chugs ahead: Three counties are making sure that the Northstar commuter rail project keeps moving forward this summer; Strib story is here.
- Can’t afford to drive to Chicago? Vita.mn offers these closer-to-home ideas for shorter trips/day trips.
- Seat-belt gaffe: After doing a story about the New Jersey governor’s car crash (in which the governor was not wearing a seat belt), Matt Lauer of the “Today” Show interviewed Mitt Romney in a moving vehicle — and neither man was buckled in. Click here for an AP story via KMSP.com.
42 Responses to "Links: Asphalt art, an airport encounter and more"
Wow, that biking at the airport thing is very disturbing.
“Biking at the airport”
OK, so we got thugs, crime, and terrorism all over the map… and the police take down, rough up, and jail a 135-lb VIOLINIST on a BICYCLE??? Is that some kinda sick joke?
That came out of our taxes!! I would agree to a sales tax increase to pay for the cyclist’s lawyer.
So is there an alternative route that the cyclist SHOULD have been using? The airport should officially prohibit bicycles altogether or clearly define the route cyclists should use to avoid another similar incident. Has the airport ever stated an official policy regarding bicycles?
That bike incident is pretty upsetting, to say the least. I’d better stop there before launching into a lengthy diatribe.
An alternate route: free light rail to the Humphrey station (or Bloomington Central as the Humphrey is closed the rest of the year for “airport construction” (parking ramp)). Or if heading north, shell out the small fee to your favorite station toward downtown Mpls. Bikes roll right onto the trains and each car has racks for four bikes.
That story was profoundly troubling. The fact that 2 officers felt they had to tase him because they couldn’t take down a 135lb man? What the hell is that? And it’s a folding bicycle — offer to toss it in the trunk and give him a ride back to the lightrail station. That might have solved a lot of problems, if the main officer had approached the issue with rationality and reasoned thought instead of bluster and an attempt to make himself look good in front of the trainee. I sure hope the civilian review board has caught wind of this by now and that Orsak has filed complaints against the officers involved.
I am not big on all the litigation out there, but someone needs to get sued for this one.
The police should have just followed him out of the airport.
Next time the violinist should just call a cab, stick the folding bike into the cab, and be done with it–if he even chooses the airport ever again–if I were him, I would go Greyhound or rent a car.
I am confused on this one. I agree that this man was wronged, but I am unsure of where he was riding that is illegal. I feel that I have ridden near the place he is describing.
I have tried to ride my bike from north of the airport to get south of it. The airport is a big barrier to have to go around. I used Fort Snelling and went through the entire length until the trail drops off at Post Rd. Then the only option for heading south is to head NW towards HHH, past the cemetary, and then south on 34th Ave. I went directly past the HHH terminal, the HHH LRT stop, and across the LRT tracks. Continuing south, I passed all of the surface parking lots for airline employees and had to pass through the ugly snarl of on and off ramps for 494.
There is not a pleasant way to get around the airports and I think that there should be bike access, besides using the LRT. Even though you can take a free LRT ride between the terminals, as far as I know, there is no safe bike route out of Lindberg. Is there one? If there is, does anyone know where it is? IF there isn’t one–there SHOULD be!
Yea - taking the train is a LAME alternative to riding a bicycle. Easy, yes…. but still lame.
Officer Wingate sounds like the hominidal white men in pickups that 99% of the time are the ones that hit me, throw things at me, or yell whatever profanity their smallish brains can muster up, only he has a badge to make such abuse legal.
I wish him a truly horrible existence.
I am absolutely appalled at the bike story. I know the airport is very concerned with security but maybe they should focus more of their resources on training new, less offensive officers. I’m also curious as to why this story hasn’t received more converage from the Strib? Especially in light of the twin cities promoting themselves as such a great place to bike.
Right now, you CAN’T take the LRT between the two terminals. Humphrey terminal is closed for construction and there is no LRT stop there at this time.
“Humphrey terminal is closed for construction and there is no LRT stop there at this time.”
I did state that, and mentioned that the Bloomington Central station is the next one down the line, also conveniently avoiding the 34th and 494 interchange. I don’t know if the current temporary shuttle bus between the airports has a bike rack or not. Anyone know?
The LRT may also be considered a LAME alternative, but only if you’re an idealistic perfectionist riding a mighty high horse. It’s there and it’ll work until and long after a true bike route can be established after who knows how much red tape. Given the options of not riding, taking a bus, or a taxi, I guess it depends on your dedication to biking whether you use LRT or not.
Getting around the airport on bike isn’t convenient, and I wish they’d extend a road or trail from Ft. Snelling along the river and under 494, with a link to the 494 trail. Anyone know the feasibility of that (current land owners willing/not willing to sell, funding, etc.)?
How interesting, the airport police use bicycles to “cruise the parking ramps, airport roads and terminal buildings”
Everytime I read another story like this, I feel like the public loses a little more faith in our law enforcement officers. Once upon a time, you could approach an officer and always know they would be helpful and respectful. Now you can’t approach an officer for help without chancing being arrested yourself.
I suppose the public has gotten less tolerant of police officers, and while I’m unsure if this story is anecdotal or reflective of a prevalent trend in policing, I’ll say it again: the public is losing faith in the ability of the police force to protect them.
As pointed out numerous times above: how did stopping this man from riding his bike make the public safer? Even if you argue the police officer was trying to protect the biker from vehicle traffic, that argument is invalidated by the officer’s later actions which probably caused much greater injury to this person’s body and reputation.
This whole thing stinks of police abuse and destruction of evidence. I hope that this Officer Wingate is discharged after this ordeal. He disgraced the department and other officers he serves with. I hope that the depth of embarassment and exposure he/they face because of this will result in some permanent changes. I don’t honestly believe that, but I truly hope.
It’s not about dedication… it’s about options. I’ve never ridden a bicycle to the airport. It is much more convenient for ME to take LRT. But telling someone else that they can’t use their favorite transportation mode just because there is another option that others find more convenient is poor policy and LAME. Just because I find LRT convenient doesn’t mean everybody else should. Just because riding a bicycle to the airport is inconvenient for me, doesn’t mean it should be for everyone.
Good-god… that bicycle story just makes me sick.
This story is so weird. As a bicyclist i know i frequently break the rules, but I figure it is my own life at risk, nobody else is hurt when i travel througha stop sign, go the wrong way down a street, or use Pedestrian walkways when it suits me. as long as I don’t interfere with traffic, it only makes sense to follow the automobile rules. In suppose I would feel differently it i were to be ticketed for these behaviors.
Reading the story by the bicyclist makes me wonder “What was different here?”. Most police will ignore a bicycling violation as long as it doesn’t affect traffic. Was this officer out to get someone or is the story embellished to make the officer look bad. Without hearing both sides of the story, it is wrong for any of us to judge and disparage our police. Without knowing the credibility of the storygiver, it is wrong to accept his version as a fact. It is our own prejudices about police officers that are playing out in this drama.
two things:
1) These roads are limited access highways where drivers are not expecting to see a cyclist. If a cyclist makes drivers more likely to be surprised and swerve away from the cyclist or crowd other autos, public safety demands the cyclist be removed. (Note: whether it is appropriate for us to build such roads in the first place is another question entirely)
2) ‘Yes’ and ‘MnBikeCommuter’ are both correct: it IS somewhat lame to tell cyclists they can’t ride to the airport. But it’s also not unreasonable to ask them to park (for free) at a rail station and ride LRT. I suspect the demand for access to the airport via bicycle is relatively small enough that it would be difficult to justify the public expense required to build a bikeway.
Reuben
You say “it’s also not unreasonable to ask them to park (for free) at a rail station and ride LRT”
Do you mean park his car for free and pay to take the LRT or park his bike there a pay to take the LRT?
Why should someone be forced to pay in order to go the airport if they can do it under their own power?
Cars are not charged when they travel there, only when they park.
“…i travel througha stop sign, go the wrong way down a street, or use Pedestrian walkways when it suits me…”
Please be sure no one is around to see you when you do these things. Believe it or not, it does cause even more road rage (and pedestrian rage if you plow into someone).
Don’t give any more ammo to those folks.
I’m happily surprised by all of the comments supportive of Stephan. You go Roadguy readers!
Regarding 35W and who needs it I’ll toss the first barb:
Minneapolis certainly does NOT need it. We are nearing the end of the age of freeway expansion. The economy and the environment just can’t sustain an unsustainable land use and transportation paradigm. We can reduce our collective pain if we begin to change before we are forced to.
We should rid the inner cities (at least Minneapolis and St. Paul if not first ring suburbs as well) of freeways. There is no need to have freeways cutting through the inter cities.
Many cities across the globe have done this including Paris and Vancouver to name two. Closer to home, Detroit recently removed a freeway, San Fransisco declined to rebuild the Embarcadero freeway, Portland stopped construction of a new freeway in midstream, and Seoul Korea removed a freeway only to find a river underneath it. A river!
35W does nothing for Minneapolis other than separating and dividing communities. As for transporting goods on the roads we can have goods shipped to distribution centers outside of the city to be transfered to smaller vehicles before reaching its final destination.
I plan on thoroughly enjoying this weekend with a vacant 35W through south Minneapolis. It will be like a dream come true. Yiipppeee!!!!!!!!1
Is this the same Officer Wingate that was part of the Imams being forcefully removed from the plane at MSP?
http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/2006/12/11/cair-oh-responds-to-minnesota-imam-story/
I hope this case turns out well for you Greencycles guy!
Hey, I just noticed that Gary Schiff is off on two major bike rides (AIDS rides in CA and MN…). I wonder if he flew his bike out to CA??
Maybe he might care that the MSP police are trashing our city’s image as a place welcoming of cyclists?
Looks like Officer Brad Wingate has been involved with other incidents at the airport…
A couple of things:
1. I, also, would like to hear the other side of this story before passing judgment.
2. That said, assuming his story is true, what a horribly excessive use of force. I can’t think of any circumstance within a reasonable interpretation of his story that would necessitate use of a taser.
3. The transportation element is somewhat confusing. Where was he going on his bike? Glumack Dr dumps on to limited access freeways, where it is certainly not legal to ride a bike. It’s understandable why the officer would think he shouldn’t be biking there, even if the speed limit is low, it’s essentially a limited access freeway. While the biker may have been correct that it wasn’t posted as such at the terminal, that’s not someplace he should have been biking.
4. I agree that there should be some way to access the terminal by bike. The easiest option would be some sort of free usage on the light rail line for bikers between the most adjacent stations to the airport.
Matty, doing away with the freeways in Minneapolis and St. Paul would guarantee that I would never again go into them. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Explain how that would harm the cities, if you and like minded others, are not racing through on the freeways. In what way would that be a detriment to the vitality of Mpls or St. Paul?
Most of the traffic on the freeways through just about any major city slows to 30-40 miles/hour anyway.
Greetings to all, I’m Stephan Orsak, the violinist/cyclist who was attacked by Airport police. I’m happy to answer any questions, and really appreciate all of your responses to this. I also urge you to visit my blog greencycles.blogspot.com, post a comment there, download or forward a poster and let others know about this. Full case details are on my website http://web.mac.com/stephanorsak
I’ve found many thoughtful comments here and on other forums. It helps me to know what questions people have. As for leaving MSP airport by bike, this used to be absolutely legal. It is true that BY CAR there is only one way to leave- one must use the highway. But by bike, one takes Outbound Road toward the highway (15mph to 30mph max, same as residential MPLS), then begin to take the ‘return to terminal’ ramp, but immediately get off the road and cross over the median to Northwest Dr, the parallel service road, ‘walk’ a few hundred feet as it is one-way, then ride the rest as it becomes two way traffic. It is very lightly travelled. From there, Post Road, crossing over the highway and to the Fort Snelling trails. Very nice once you’re there. HOWEVER, 4 months after my incident, police put up (4) new signs, strangely placed, prohibiting bikes. For the full scoop on this, see my website http://web.mac.com/stephanorsak/iWeb/Site/New%20signs.html
Also want to say that many other airports make it EASY to come and go by bicycle, and for airport workers to do the same. (Many concession workers are very low paid and the 2x daily transit fare is a lot.) For example, at the Friedrichsafen airport in Germany you exit the front doors, cross the street, and there is the bike trail, with benches, signs with mileage markers, a covered gazebo and large maps of the area. Easy. In Basel the bike trail goes right to the front doors of the airport, and you can even pluck raspberries for breakfast along the way (!).
I think skepticism can be a healthy thing. I would not expect anyone who doesn’t know me to believe this, just because I have told it. Instead, please have a look at the police evidence, and read their narratives, and judge for yourselves if what they are saying makes any sense at all. Both scans and pure text versions of what the police have written are on my website. Also check out the slideshows on the signs. You’ll be amazed.
Thanks again to all, cheers and peaceful wishes, Stephan
Jay, do you turn into a pumpkin (like Cinderella at midnight) if you leave a freeway or travel below freeway speed? I don’t understand your comment.
Peace,
M
I am guessing Jay is referring to all the street traffic that comes from eliminating the freeway system. South Minneapolis, with no I-35W this weekend was much more congested.
I think the transportation network is like a fragile eco-system: you start banning one thing, and then everything else suffers. We all should just get along–cars, buses, bikes, pedestrians, scooters, etc.
With the closing of I-35W over the warmer summer months, a switch to bike/bus options for commuters that are able, could keep things moving well.
Is there a helpful source for folks who are considering using the car less, to plan safe and efficient routes? If there isn’t that could be part of the problem. As it is now, there seems to be some hurdles for people who are disconnected from the bike community, to make the plunge and discover the way. The Ride-to-work “day,” may not have been enough time for people to park the car and try it. The day was also a wash out in the rain. Maybe we need more than a DAY or even week to make the transition. Maybe the freeway closing frustration will be a greater motivator, than a special “day” or even increased fuel costs. When enough people get tired of the freeway construction and are willing to try an alternative mode of transport, where can they turn to find the routes and insider secrets?
To me, freeways are the way you get from one region of town to another; surface streets exist to get you to a freeway and from the freeway to your destination.
If there were no freeways into downtown Minneapolis, it would not be worth it to me to deal with extended travel on surface streets in order to get there unless there was a requirement that I could not get out of. Otherwise, I’d go places that were easier for me to get to. Even with the GPS navigation system in my car, Minneapolis is sufficiently difficult to navigate on surface streets (I mean, really, folks, why are there FOUR Hennepins, none of them related to any of the others?!) that the likelihood of getting lost is very, very high to this non-native who doesn’t live there.
Yep, that explains it. Fear. People that are only willing to drive on the freeway (can’t get lost there, only stuck), don’t know how to drive on the streets. You explained what I already suspected. Exactly.
I moved to this area over 10 years ago from another state. When I was about 6 years old, my grandfather took me for a walk to a park about a mile and a half from home. Along the way, he explained how the streets, numbers, and addresses worked and told me I would never get lost. He barely spoke English, and this information was no doubt vital for him. Well, I never have gotten lost, nor panic when I get stuck. I also, study maps of places before I go somewhere to get acquainted with their naming and numbering system, to learn the pattern. The cities that stop and begin renumbering as you walk down the same street (like in Manhattan) are challenging, until you figure out the pattern. I find that biking, walking, and bus riding make you the most aware of your surroundings and you know where you’re going. You are not just looking for freeway ramps.
What interferes with the flow of streets and numbers in any city, is the freeways that chop them up and disconnect neighborhoods. That is the culprit.
Stephan,
Thanks for the reply. I was wondering how NW’s service drive figured into the mix. I was looking at aerial photos trying to see if there was a connection, but I didn’t see one, and my only experience on Glumack Dr has been in a car, dumping onto the freeway.
I’ll have to take a closer look at the rest of your stuff when I get a chance. Thanks for posting it.
Only in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin do I ever worry about getting lost while driving around, and that’s because it’s just really poorly designed. However, anywhere else I’m even vaguely familiar with doesn’t worry me in terms of surface streets, because eventually I’ll land upon something that orients me properly. I know an adventurous spirit may feel tempered by the exorbitant gas prices, but let’s not let all the wanderlust die in the name of the dollar!
Dob, I understand perfectly how srteet numbering and the like works. Even in Manhattan (where it doesn’t work like much of anywhere else). The problem is that Minneapolis doesn’t have *one* pattern; it has several, and they change apparently randomly.
Even in places with sane layouts, though, I still use freeways as I described. They’re simply more efficient as a way to get from one place to another. What you’re advocating is a return to the 1940s. That wasn’t working then (why do you think we have freeways), and it darned sure won’t work now. Like all genies, that one isn’t going back in the bottle.
–35W does nothing for Minneapolis other than separating and dividing communities. As for transporting goods on the roads we can have goods shipped to distribution centers outside of the city to be transfered to smaller vehicles before reaching its final destination. –
Oh, this makes a heckuva a lot of sense. Instead of Cub/Target shipping everything via semi-truck, they’ll now use smaller vehicles. How much smaller? You might be willing to pay a lot more for a can of corn, but I doubt most are willing to do that. Especially since the inner cities have a disproportionate number of low income residents.
Reality Check-The lower income residents in the inner cities already pay more for essential items than folks in the ‘burbs. News media exposed that travesty. Target, Cub, Rainbow, and the like, charge more, because they figure they have a captive audience. Yes, that is the rationale. Rather, they framed it such that they have to “competitively” price items in the ‘burbs, because customers are more mobile and eager to drive anywhere to save a buck (yea, ‘cuz they’ll need more gas in the tank).
But then, how do larger cities than here justify the loss of an expressway or more, in their cities?
So, they should pay more on top of that because someone wants to remove 35W? That doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. As for inner city residents paying more for groceries, I was unaware. Then again, I have no idea if I’m being overcharged where I shop, compared to other stores in the west metro.
As for other the other cities justifying loosing a freeway, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe they expanded the other existing ones and it was deemed unnecessary. Maybe enough people hopped on mass transit and it wasn’t worth the maintenance. Removing all of the freeways into the central cities is one of the most hair-brained ideas I’ve ever heard. Good luck moving anything of size, bulk, or quantity at an economical cost.
Alex,
Thanks much for your interest. You probably already know that NW service drive is the parallel service road to Glumack dr, aka Outbound Rd. If you’re leaving the airport by car and want to go to the post office, for example, it’s amazing but you actually have to pass the post office completely, get on the highway going south, exit at Post Rd, then backtrack north along NW drive that parallels the highway, finally working your way back into the airport. It becomes one way just before it curves west towards the post office.
I like your idea about the light rail line for bikers. That would also help the workers at the airport. As to the use of the taser, I’ve puzzled over this as well. One unfortunate thing is certain- it is being used more and more as a police convenience to force compliance or squash disagreements, whatever the lawfulness of the stop. This is absolutely contrary to the MN police policy manual.
Appreciate your thoughts, and thanks in advance for having a closer look at the website when time allows.
Cheers, Stephan
“I mean, really, folks, why are there FOUR Hennepins, none of them related to any of the others?!”
Isn’t there just one Hennepin Ave? The one that runs from W 36th St near Lake Calhoun through uptown, downtown, and SE Minneapolis until it turns into Larpenteur at 280?
I can’t believe that the Minneapolis police would act this way towards a bicyclist. There are rumors that some of the officers have been heavy handed for other incidents at the airport so maybe it isn’t so surprising. The Star Tribune needs to focus very strongly on these officers and their history in airport law enforcement. There might be some gems in there.
