Rightsizing University Avenue

University Ave. is impossibly wide without light rail. Hooray for LRT. Photo credit Greater Frogtown CDCSpeeding home along University Avenue near in the Capitol in St. Paul the other evening, I was suddenly seized with the notion that I was likely to get pulled over. I checked my speedometer, which was nearing 40. I quickly let up on the gas. The only time I’d gotten a speeding ticket in Minnesota had been on a different stretch of University Avenue, for doing 40 in a 30-mph zone.

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How can you trace a sense of place?

A pocket park in Doylestown, PA.It’s hard to put your finger on the essence of a great community. The best way to put it is that you know it when you see it.

I had the distinct impression I was seeing it – a vibrant sense of place – when I returned to Doylestown, PA for a holiday visit in December. This is the town where my husband grew up, and where we got married. Because of these personal connections, it’s bound to be a special place to me. But returning to its streets after a four-year absence made me realize how impressive a community Doylestown remains to all who come across it.

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