Dane Disses Human Habitrails
A Danish urban planer recently visited Minneapolis and chided the city for their skywalks saying, "I feel sorry for Minneapolis." A Latin American public parks planer concurred saying, "They suck the public life out of the city."
Well, you fancy pants foreigners can just go back to your Ikea apartments and tropical paradises. We gots to lives here! I, for one, loves me some skywalks.
Photo by Starfire.
Edit 12:16 pm:
For the Girl from the North Country and other Replacements fans, this version for the lyrics...
This version for the fun!
Comments
You take the Skyway, high above that busy little one way
In my stupid hat and gloves at night I lie awake
Wondering if I'll sleep
Wondering if we'll meet out in the street
But you take the Skyway
It don't move at all like a subway
It's got bums when it's cold like any other place
It's warm up inside
Sitting down and waiting for a ride
Beneath the Skyway
Oh then one day
I saw you walking down that little one-way
Near the place I catch my ride most every day
There wasn't a damn thing I could do or say
Up in the Skyway
Skyway
Skyway
I loves me some skywalks, and I loves me The Replacements, too.
Posted by: Girl From the North Country | November 16, 2007 11:13 AM
That almost made me a little weepy missing the 'mats and Mpls.
(sniffle)
Posted by: Brian | November 16, 2007 12:50 PM
The Danes don't live in the same kind of climate we do. They may think they're way up north, but they've got the Gulf Stream and that makes a world of difference.
I almost went to college in Eau Claire, but the thought of having to cross the bridge over the river twice a day in the winter kinda canceled that idea.
Posted by: Kitsune | November 16, 2007 03:35 PM
i agree with the planners. skywalks turn downtowns into ugly and/or boring malls and are bad for street-level businesses. people on the street contribute a lot to the vitality of a city.
Posted by: maria | November 16, 2007 03:53 PM
I like the skywalks. You could change to perspective of the conversation to say that street-level businesses hurt sales in the skywalk. You can't force customers to your will; you must go where they want you to be.
Posted by: Beverly | November 16, 2007 04:17 PM
Snot freezing cold and icy winds whipped between steel and glass skyscrapers are responsible for sucking the public life right out of the city.
Posted by: zra... | November 16, 2007 05:43 PM
i thought duluthians could handle the cold.
Posted by: maria | November 16, 2007 06:19 PM
touche' Maria. We are soft and that is the real issue.
Posted by: timolino | November 16, 2007 08:22 PM
lot of talk, I say...
Posted by: Kitsune | November 17, 2007 12:16 AM
Geez I thought that was one of the greatest parts about attending UMD & living in the dorms. The whole thing was one big habitrail. You never had to leave into the evil cold!! Just like Galtier in the St Paul - you can live, work, shop, go to the doctor, go "out" and get exercise all without having to put on mittens!
Posted by: Mel | November 17, 2007 03:33 AM
If everyone wore the Patagonia Chevron jacket, we wouldn't need skywalks/ways.
Posted by: Chester Dark | November 17, 2007 08:50 AM
i hate the skywalks and concur with Maria. when i first moved here (from Illinois) i thought it was weird to want to be inside all the time, no matter how cold it is. that wind on a January below zero day wakes you the fuck UP. and that's the way it should be.
Julian Malone and i did a little column once where the envisioned future was one where the drunks and poor were left outside while the rich and assholey were the ones who used the habitrails.
Posted by: hbh | November 19, 2007 01:10 PM
Skywalks totally ruin the streetscape. So many beautiful buildings in downtown Duluth have been disfigured by those steel tunnels sticking out of them.
Posted by: magus | November 19, 2007 01:17 PM
all businesses east of lake ave should be closed because they are taking customers away from the skywalk. rock bands can play in the hallway outside shanghai express.
we need more funds for the "clean and safe" team so it can fulfill its primary job duty (rousting homeless people).
we also need high-tech, protective, thermoregulation equipment for all duluthians to wear in the unfortunate event someone has to go outside. you can find these at either goodwill or the mall--ask the staff to direct you to the "jackets."
Posted by: maria | November 19, 2007 01:58 PM
cripes, don't people know you have to carry a flask at all times here? it's called anti-freeze for a reason.
Posted by: c-freak | November 19, 2007 02:25 PM