One Day at a Time

As any one who knows me well knows, I've been itching to leave MN for a long time. I'm not a city girl and I'm definitely not a MN summer person; I wilt in heat and humidity. Now, something really seems to be conspiring against me.

Here are the facts:
1) I work with students at one of the largest public universities in the country. Construction began this summer on a new on-campus stadium. All well and good, except they're building the stadium where all of the student parking used to be. All of it. Some 3 thousand parking spaces lost, plus the road work surrounding the area. Some parking will be replaced, but not nearly as much and not nearly for the same prices, and not until 2008 at the earliest.

2) The I35W bridge collapsed. Beyond the loss of human life, this is a huge loss to Minneapolis, as it is the primary bridge across the Mississippi. The Quarry Shopping Center in Northeast Mpls will take a huge loss, since all of the re-routings completely bypass the area. Not to mention just the loss of connection between north and south Mpls; I kind of feel like I don't know how to drive in this city anymore, even though I know there are plenty of ways to get where I want to go.

For more of an idea of the scope of this mess, here are some pictures that a friend of a friend took: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~ltierney/Bridge/.

3) The Republican National Convention will be here in Fall 2008. During State Fair. During New Student Week on campus. They've already booked every hotel surrounding the campus. Have fun bringing your new freshman to campus at the beginning of the year next fall! No hotels AND no parking for move-in weekend