Our late editor Jean Deatrick had a regular column called "Where We Are Now" that I couldn't help thinking about when I walked by the new Southwest LRT Bryn Mawr station along the Cedar Lake Trail at Penn Avenue and 394.
The LRT station was intended to be a critical link to Bryn Mawr and North Minneapolis at a cost estimated in 2015 of $14-16 million, which we can assume is well over that now.
However, it seems so out of place, like a spaceship that's landed in the middle of a prairie — a bridge to nowhere of the Galactic Empire Revival variety.
If Transit Police cannot manage the relatively small and highly visible Uptown Transit Station and had to close it due to concerns related to safety, crime and vandalism, how will they monitor this remote site? Will they have to do so with full-time dedicated staff at an additional expense to taxpayers?
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that cities can punish people for sleeping in public places, will it put an end to our transit system acting as an ad hoc mobile emergency homeless shelter?
Will transit riders even use this station with its long skyway over the heavy rail corridor, far from businesses and residences? Sound transit oriented development maximizes the amount of residential and commercial space within a quarter mile walking distance of public transportation — where is that suppose to happen here?
With most current shelters on the brink of closure due to lack of proper funding from Hennepin County and other agencies, could these millions of dollars in capital costs and millions of dollars in ongoing future operations have been better spent on to affordable housing and shelter support? Time will tell.
