Newspaper comments

I've got some Google news feeds set up, for Central Corridor, and the Southwest Corridor. Of course a lot of these are newspaper articles, and these newspaper articles have comments sections. Now I don't know why, but it seems to me that newspaper article comments bring out either the worst people, or just the worst in normal people. Replying and pointing out how wrong people are usually isn't very effective, and not nearly as fun as poking fun at them in an environment where people agree with me. Now I'm hoping to do this from time to time, to amuse myself and let off some steam. So here's what I've found today:

University Av. stores look ahead to LRT parking loss
This is a perfectly legitimate story about parking concerns along the Central Corridor line. There's a lot of debate about this line, and not just along the lines of pro transit vs pro road. But this cracks me up for some reason:

Most merchants along the route fear lost business starting next year. Why was this LIGHT RAIL ROUTE ever approved to go down University Ave? Somebody must be making money off this route or it would have been moved to a different street, highway or rail track.

Yes, why indeed was this LIGHT RAIL ROUTE (emphasis most definitely not mine) approved?

Welcome to the blog

This the first of what I hope will be many posts on this blog. An introduction is in order first.

I live in Minneapolis, just a few steps away from both the Hiawatha Line and I 94. I'm a transit 'enthusiast,' though I do own a car (and a bike). I've been learning about transit here in the Twin Cities since I first got lost on the 3 my freshmen year of college. I've taken an active interested in matters transit and transportation related here in the metro area.

I've been reading a lot of transit blogs from around the country, and I've also noticed that areas much smaller than ours have transit bloggers, but we don't have anything similar here. That, combined with the fact that my friends are tired of me talking about subsidization, headways, rail bias, and all the rest of it, has led me to start this blog.

It's my hope that this blog will evolve into a few things. First, an uncensored view on the news of the region. I've got nothing against TLC Minneosta and Twin Cities Streets for People, but they're advocay groups. I don't have anyone here to answer to.

Second, a more indepth analysis on long term plans for the region. I've got plenty to say about Central Corridor, Southest Corridor, and Bottineau Boulevard, as well as high speed rail and all the other transitways.

Third and finnaly, it is a mystery. I'm not sure what this is going to evolve into, but please, stay tuned.