Part 1 - Mr. Smith Goes to City Hall Last year, the city saw an exodus of staff in two of its newest divisions, the office of race, equity and inclusion and the office of performance and innovation, now called The Department of Performance Management and Innovation. Both lost all their staff in 2023. One of those who left in 2023 was Brian K. Smith. In 2016 Smith went from being an outsider fighting city hall to becoming the Director of the new city division aimed at innovation and equity, started by then-mayor Besty Hodges. That ended last year, following a controversial city coordinator appointment, a discrimination complaint, and a lawsuit he and others filed against the city. On July 7, 2023, just a few weeks after retiring from his position working in City Hall, I met with Smith and talked with him about his experience there. He didn’t expect to get the job when he was hired by Hodges. “She knew me just like most of the other council members,”...
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First, I have also noticed that "cars often occupy the bike lane near corners." This is actually *required* by law. The safe way for a driver to make a right turn where there is a bike lane is to merge into the bike lane and take the turn from there. These folks are, for the most part, doing what they should be doing.
When Riverside is reconstructed (which is slated to happen in 2011), we can make sure that there are sufficient right turn lanes to handle this sort of stacking, reducing the use of the bike lane for stacking.
Second, it's always the case that bicyclists should beware of car doors from the parking lane. However, this is much less of a concern on Riverside than on other streets, even other streets with bike lanes, for one simple reason: the bike lanes on Riverside are fairly wide in most locations. I ride on Riverside (and other streets, both with bike lanes and without) on a regular basis, and I can tell you uniquivocally that I now feel much more protected from dooring on Riverside than most other streets in the Minneapolis.