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Andrew Owen

@owenam.bsky.social
80 followers 65 following 266 posts

Cities are amazing, transportation is magical, history is present’s stage, and the future is more familiar than you wish. SATX -> MPLS

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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 17h
It seems a notable comparison that the Met Council’s vanpool program has a budget of something like $50m (federally funded, not sure what %), and that number is going UP in order to cover increasing fuel costs.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 20h
🎵We learned the strongest bonds are bonds of neighborhood 🎵 andrewowen.bandcamp.com/track/first-...
andrewowen.bandcamp.com
First Minnesota, by Andrew Owen
track by Andrew Owen
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BΔTBΔRΔ @marteani.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This gap is less than it cost the mayor to put a bounce house in the warehouse district for a summer. This is 1/33 the cost of MPS's surprise overtime. They renovated Target Center in part by making us, the citizens, pay $74 million via a sales tax. WE. HAVE. MONEY. We can spend it in better places
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John Levin @jlstp.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is an absolute travesty. The leadership of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and the Met Council should be SCREAMING! Services like Hourcar and Evie are ESSENTIAL to their vision for our region.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I assume she’ll of course also demonstrate some other great ways to get around Minneapolis, like biking, transit, and walking. Maybe with some representatives to answer questions. Right?
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Bill Lindeke @blindeke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is the big story beneath the surface of a lot of other ones.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Serious question: if MPS thinks “we will continue to have challenges as long as public education is underfunded” why would they not communicate loudly that there is an upcoming statewide vote to increase public education funding?
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Laura G Mitchell @lauragmitchell.com · 29/09/2026
Holy shit. Friend of a friend encountered a driver on Sabo Bridge today. Driver apparently seemed very confused and lost. Howwww did they get past the concrete barricades on both ends? (For non Mpls folks: this bridge is bike/ped only & paths up are narrow w/ bollards on both ends.)
A car is on Sabo Bridge
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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Salted Nut Rolls are delicious but also have an interesting story to tell, and same goes for lots of other Minnesota snacks. A pleasure to contribute some thoughts and history to this excellent piece by @stribrooks.bsky.social Gift link! 🍫 🍬
startribune.com
Unwrapping Minnesota’s greatest contributions to the candy aisle
As the Pearson’s plant in St. Paul produces its last Salted Nut Roll, a look back at some sweet Minnesota history.
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Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This the American Way: Deliberately make transit confusing and difficult to use, then the powers that be can say “see, people don’t take transit.” Minneapolis is playing this exact game with the Nicollet Mall, so it can become a permanent corporate events space tailored to suburban tastes.
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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This post may be the most effective argument right now for letting public transit wither. It may not make sense to you, but it feels right to many, many people. So in a short new post, I talk through what's going on here, and how to engage with it. humantransit.org/2026/09/the-...
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Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The city's first roundabout was built in 1942 in front of Victory Hospital, today's North Memorial Medical Center, at the intersection of Victory Drive, Lowry Avenue, and West Broadway. This fantastical creation had at least seven entrances/exits and a streetcar line running through the middle. 2/8
black and white photo of a large circular intersection with flat white center and streetcar tracks, service station and two women crossing the street in lower left. Victory Hospital in background.
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Vince Mpls @vincempls.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I replied to this excellent observation by @komradiron.bsky.social in a thread over on the other place and recreate it here for your enjoyment 🧵
"The summoning ritual will begin shortly. 25th and Dupont S." with 2 photographs of traffic cones arranged around a chalk circle in the middle of the intersection.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
🎵We learned our strongest bonds are bonds of neighborhood andrewowen.bandcamp.com/track/first-...
andrewowen.bandcamp.com
First Minnesota, by Andrew Owen
track by Andrew Owen
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Can attest that test folks are already excellent neighbors!
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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Before you envy elected officials and senior government bureaucrats, remember: They have been getting this email since the dawn of time. Everybody's problems are entirely their fault.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 08/08/2026
A good reminder that cities aren't loud. Cars are loud.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/07/2026
13. Hence our dismal conclusion: rather than finding that LLMs free us to do a better job of what we were doing before they came along, they shift scientific incentives (and the playing field of academic competition) in ways that compel us to do more and more, faster and faster, less and less well.
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Bill Lindeke @blindeke.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I like this time-spent breakdown comparing airplanes v. trains b/w Portland and Seattle. Very similar end-to-end, but vastly superior quality of time via train trips. www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1G1...
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David King @cityplanning.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I’m in a Waymo and just drove by Herbie and I wonder is Herbie gets feelings about Waymos just running around everywhere, never having won a car race.
Herbie on a Phoenix corner. Lonely and for sale.
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bag of moons 🏳️‍🌈 @bagofmoons.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
the visual here (it is a whole-ass brown bear sort of draped over the T of a utility pole against a perfect blue sky with little white clouds) is amazing but it's the audio that really makes it, imo.
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Wes Burdine @wesburdine.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
100% agree. A lack of universal healthcare is a massive restraint on the economy
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David King @cityplanning.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
We tolerate a lot more failure from private actors than we do the state. Waymo, SpaceX, scooters, etc, get to make mistakes that would (and have) shut down public attempts as such things. How much failure we should tolerate from public or private actors is a political question, not an empirical one.
inc.com
Firefighters Had to Move a Waymo Themselves After It Blocked an Emergency Call
The robotaxi company is facing a number of safety-related concerns in California.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Happy Aquatennial! Pay no attention to the class war behind the curtain…
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Take note, urban dwellers: San Francisco has more robotaxi experience than any city in the country, and its mayor—a tech booster!— is warning that AVs make the transportation network vulnerable to collapse.
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Alex Schieferdecker @alexschief.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Some recent photos of the under-construction Franklin Avenue that show how Minneapolis and partners (Hennepin County in this case!) work to preserve mature trees in design and construction, without compromising the transportation function of future road.
A photo looking westbound on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis while under construction. The work to build a bikeway and rebuild the sidewalk is occurring around a mature tree, which is partly fenced off.A photo looking eastbound on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis while under construction. The work to build a bikeway and rebuild the sidewalk is occurring around a mature tree, which is partly fenced off.A photo looking westbound on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis while under construction. A new bikeway and new sidewalk have been laid on either side of several mature trees, which are fenced off.A photo looking westbound on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis while under construction. A new bikeway and new sidewalk have been completed on either side of a mature trees, which remains in the planting zone.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Gotta read the context, but this is a super important distinction. One of the reasons that they "look similar" is that that transit is often portrayed on a map using *lines*, while its most important features are *points* — stops & stations.
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Todd Graham @metrogram.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
not long ago, coworkers and I wrote this big picture summary of #MplsStPaul #regionaldevelopment over the last 60+ years metrocouncil.org/News-Events/... Main pts: 1. starting ~1960 #InterstateHighways TRIPLED #MplsStPaul metro's accessible (~30 mins) land supply (🧵1/4)
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The lack of exit number use makes me want to scream. All I want most of the time is: “Get on I-94 East. Take exit 248.” But no, I have to do six rounds of “in 250 feet, keep right to stay on I-94” and then “take the exit for MN 51 Snelling Avenue North”
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Pushed a crosswalk button at Franklin & Cedar, expecting to hear WAIT WAIT …but it was silent. Then, just as the walk light came on, it said CHANGE PASSWORD
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David M Levinson ⁂ @transportist.org · 07/07/2026
Congestion pricing saves lives
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 07/07/2026
A new report from @frontiergroup.bsky.social shows how some states have reduced vehicle miles traveled per capita: frontiergroup.org/resources/wh... One key explanation: Land use! ⏬ States with higher population densities have less car travel! And states that grew through density reduced driving!
Higher population density is associated with less driving (note: New York state, with very high population density and low per capita VMT, is not shown).States that grew through increased density reduced driving rates
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Jason Rabinowitz @airlineflyer.net · 05/07/2026
A $3 @mta.info subway fare and some good Q train timing can buy you one hell of a view of the July 4th fireworks and the Brooklyn Bridge light show! Huge shoutout to the train operator for slow rolling over the Manhattan Bridge and the conductor for announcing it.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
England, 1937: The Goalkeeper Who Got Lost in the Fog kottke.org/25/04/the-go...
kottke.org
The Goalkeeper Who Got Lost in the Fog
This is a fun story about Sam Bartram, a goalkeeper who was accidentally left on the field when a 1937 game was called off during the second half due to heavy f
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Strider @reluctantranger.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
400 masked cowardly Patriot Front bros walking through D.C. once, then fleeing ain’t shit, peeps. They are a tiny fetid drop in the American bucket. Remember Minneapolis at -20F. We are bigger, braver, and stronger. By a mile.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Today we celebrate the PDFing of "Declaration FINAL v3 USE THIS ONE - SIGNED.docx" (Jefferson's draft was heavily edited by the Committee, then again by Congress, and he was big mad about it.)
📂 Version 1.0 — June 20, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Draft_TJ_DO_NOT_EDIT.docx
Author: t_jefferson_33
Commit Message: "Initial copy-paste from my Mason_VA_Rights_Notes.txt and VA_Constitution_V2.docx scratchpads. Confine your review to grammar and typos, and do not redline, only leave comments."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
Line 14: "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable..."
Comment from t_jefferson_33: "Certified banger."
📂 Version 1.1 — June 24, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Draft_TJ_comments_JA_BF.docx
Editors: b_franklin_GrittyOG and JA_redsoxfan (obo Committee, w/ Sherman and Livingston)
Commit Message: "First pass by the Committee of Five. Modest style changes."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
47 revisions (redlined), three full new paragraphs
Deleted: "sacred & undeniable" * Inserted: "self-evident"
Comment from b_franklin_GrittyOG: "250 years from now, people will think you wrote that banger. You’re welcome."
📂 Version 2.0 — June 28, 1776
File Name: Declaration_Committee_Review_FINAL.docx
Author: t_jefferson_33
Commit Message: "Incorporated Ben and John's very minor edits of my excellent first draft into a clean copy. Ready for the Continental Congress to approve verbatim."
📂 Version 2.1 to 2.8 — July 2 – July 4, 1776
File Name: Declaration_CONGRESS_REVISED2_redline_NEW_v4_approved..docx
Editors: Continental_Congress Group Chat (50+ active users)
Commit Message: "Line-by-line review by committee. Light trimming, a mere 20% of the original text. Optimizing for colonial unity."
Tracked Changes & Notes:
❌ CRITICAL DELETION: 300 word imprudent diatribe against KG III for transatlantic slave trade (“waging cruel war against human nature”).
Comment from dunkin_delegate: “Jefferson wrote that? He always struck me as a smug hypocrite. #IYKYK”
Comment from SC_delegation_delegate: "I thought we agreed this issue was off the table for now. It can be amicably settled later."
❌ DELETION: Large sections complaining about the ordinary British public being "deaf to the voice of justice."
Comment from NY_delegation_hub: "Guys, let's keep the finger pointed strictly at King George. If we trash the British citizens, we ruin any chance of future trade partnerships or alliances. Keep it professional."
➕ INSERTION: Added "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world" and "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence" to the closing paragraph.
Comment from Middlesex_Conservative: "Marketing requested more religious claptrap to ensure maximum buy-in from the zealots."
System Notification: User t_jefferson_33 reacted 👎(39 instances).
📂 Version 3.0 (Production) — July 4, 1776 (Late Morning)
File Name: Declaration_of_Independence_FINAL_v3_USE_THIS_ONE_SIGNED.docx
Editors: john_hancock_big_font
Commit Message: "Approved. Shipped to the printers. John Hancock didn't realize his zoom level was at 200% when he signed. Committee unable to find the one intern who can resize images, shipping anyway."
System Notification: User t_jefferson_33 has left the chat.
The draft of the Declaration was revised first by Adams and Franklin, and then by the full committee. A total of 47 alterations, including the insertion of three complete paragraphs, were made to the text before it was presented to Congress on June 28. After voting for independence on July 2, Congress continued to refine the document, making 39 additional revisions to the committee draft before its final adoption on the morning of July 4.

The draft shows the multiplicity of corrections, additions and deletions that were made at each step. Although most of the alterations are in Jefferson's handwriting (Jefferson later indicated which changes he believed were made by Adams and Franklin), he felt slighted by the way Congress rewrote the manuscript. In a consoling letter of July 21, 1776, the state's senior delegate, Richard Henry Lee, wrote to Jefferson that he wished that "the manuscript had not been mangled as it is." In an 1823 letter to Madison, Jefferson wrote that, at the time, "during the debate, I was sitting by Dr. Franklin and he observed that I was writhing a little under the acrimonious criticisms" of Congress. In fact, as Congress neared completion of the document by altering nearly all of his last paragraph, Jefferson could only write in the margin "a different phraseology inserted." Jefferson remained bitter about the changes made to the Declaration of Independence right up to his death. His autobiography was a major effort to set the record straight on its writing.
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Thoroughly Eldritch Tillie 🎃🦉🌙 @theowlwagon.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
For a complete appreciation of this photo and this day, please read the ALT text. 🫡⭐️🇺🇸
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Wes Burdine @wesburdine.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I don’t mind hating people for bad calls. I resent having to hate a system of surveillance that strips joy
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STEVE-il Dead Rise @snark.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Your reminder that Joshua Chamberlain thought it was a moral imperative to fight the Confederacy but he didn't have any background as an Army officer, so he was like, "Hmm, I should study Casey's Infantry Tactics and Duparcq's Elements of Military Art and History", and that's how he beat Longstreet.
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snackerü @snackeru.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Reminder! In Minnesota, residents have access to thousands of full-text ebooks, magazines, journals and newspapers just by virtue of being in the state through eLibrary MN. And as of July 1 you have access to 2 new resources: "Social Explorer" and "Craft and Hobby." No login required! elibrarymn.org
elibrarymn.org
eLibrary Minnesota
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
That’s the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry — the first from *anywhere* in the US to volunteer in defense of the Union. andrewowen.bandcamp.com/track/first-...
andrewowen.bandcamp.com
First Minnesota, by Andrew Owen
track by Andrew Owen
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 29/06/2026
When Google strips all this away by harvesting an "answer" and displaying it at the top of the page, the bargain between Google and the open web breaks down. Google is extracting 100% of the value from the websites it summarizes, and giving nothing back in return. 7/
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Doug Mack @douglasmack.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Wrote about the World Cup fan experience and what it says about the USA
snackstack.net
The World Cup, Waffle House, and Other Symbols of the American Experience
Soccer tourists’ adventures offer fresh insight into American culture. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
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Wedge LIVE!™ @wedge.live · 29/06/2026
Multiple expansions of the Leaning Tower patio into the former rear parking area. Yet the owner lashes out over a modest loss of street parking to make it safer to bike/walk Lyndale. He gets what's important on his private property, but not when it comes to public infrastructure.
Lyndale Ave photo of Leaning Tower banner hanging from the building: "open now, new garden patio"
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Evan Roberts @evanrobertsnz.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
🧵. Given that it's sort of flat the Twin Cities has surprisingly good waterfalls. On a per capita and "per net elevation change over area" nation leading, I'd say. The question of "which American city has the most awesome waterfalls?" needs animated discussion this weekend.
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Andrew Owen @owenam.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
You Might have Been your last Giant
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I support Somali-Americans @adamrothman.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Enjoy this article from a Minnesota newspaper in 1882 noting that Scandinavians love their home countries so much that it will take them generations to assimilate into America. www.loc.gov/resource/sn8...
SCANDINAVIANS 
No people on earth, probably excel the Scandinavians, and scarcely any equal them, unless it may be the Swiss mountaineers, in attachment to their native country. The Scandinavian emigrant
brings with him to this country, not only his love of home, but his attachments to customs and habits of his old home. So
strong is this passion that it is hard for him to assimilate to the customs of his new home, and to conform to the ideas of American citizenship, but he remains in his adopted land, a foreigner, in all that pertains to his modes, manners, habits,
likes and dislikes.This peculiar habit of our Scandinavian fellow citizens, and this strong, over-mastering attachment to their native land, has not been generally known and appreciated by our own citizens, "to the manor born."
It will take several generations to wear away this foster land attachment, and to assimilate the Scandinavian emigrant, and
absorb him into the language, habits, customs and true idea of a homogeneous American citizenship.
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Abbey @abbeyarletto.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.
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Ragnar Fawkes @ragnarfawkes.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The World cup is literally the US having a gigantic sleepover with all the cousins we never see because our parents hate each other.
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Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Transit agencies should stop talking about getting "back" to pre-COVID ridership. Here's why. humantransit.org/2026/06/tran...
humantransit.org
Public Transit Is Not "Coming Back" ... It's Doing Something Better — Human Transit
The history of transit ridership in the US is what it is: But it matters enormously how we talk about it.  Many US transit agencies will be facing the voters in the next two years, seeking new funding...
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