First - my current name, well, that’s got to go because it has spaces and punctuation.

Second, I have a very sneaky suspicion that we will be clicking though 27 pages of posts so the Strib can crank up its website hits, just as it does with stories. Screw that. I’m bored with the 4 comments per page spread across 27 pages.

Third, bored with the like/don’t like options and hope that doesn’t come around. It’s only good to get an idea whether conservatives or liberals are reading any given story.

Roadguy, it’s been a nice run, but I’m betting that I’ll be checking out soon. Too bad since it’s the only redeeming quality of this website. Looks like Pioneer Press here I come.

Cool to know that there is a good chance that while riding my bike on sealcoat, certain DBaGs won’t be out harrassing me.

And it’s not more pleasant to visit the area via walking because half the sidewalks are closed, you are forced to walk through a lot of dusty, dirty roads, and car movements are less predictable.

If you talk to businesses, one of the big disincentives for people to come downtown is driving and parking. They drive out to the suburbs because they don’t think they can park downtown. If you want a thriving downtown, you need to encourage vehicle traffic. I’m not saying that it should only be cars - light rail, buses and bikes are good too.

But let’s be honest, if you’re a retailer, your key market is not people on public transit and bikes. It’s people in big cars. I’m willing to be $1,000 that nobody has ever bought an expensive designer dress from Saks or Neimen Marcus and brought it home on a bike or public transit. I mean, let’s be honest here.

You need to make it easy for people to get to the core. Sure, they should walk when they’re down there, but you need to get people there first. Until you make that easier, the downtown retail will continue to lose to the suburban malls.

Your argument is far more utopia than practical reality.

DGB - Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-2104 “Evaluation of Seal Coat Performance by Using Macrotexture Measurements”

For example, while people are discouraged from driving motor vehicles to businesses in the area, it is much more pleasant to visit the area via walking, biking and transit due to the decrease in auto traffic. Along these lines, if we were to make a permanent disincentive to drive private vehicles into the heart of the central business district downtown we would see businesses thriving and travel time with the core significantly improved because there would be fewer tips in private motor vehicles, which is the most inefficient mode of transport for short trips within a dense central business district like downtown Minneapolis.

We’re better off all around with fewer cars plugging up our streets. Discouraging people from bringing their cars into downtown helps free up space for everyone and would be a positive tradeoff in my estimation.