I guess I’m the odd man out since I didn’t move to the coasts: I found a city aggressively moving forward with rail, cycling infrastructure, and urban revitalization in the Great Lakes region that actually isn’t Chicago: that city is Minneapolis. The city basically takes what all the naysayers in Cbus would say about my recommendations (wishful thinking and little more) and here it’s reality: I get to live in the Columbus that never was and likely never will be. That “bad neighborhood” in Cbus (and with Indy I’m sure it’s the same deal) which would never see the necessary city investment for new entrepreneurs to flock there, does get financial assistance and storefronts in our “bad neighborhoods” are filling in with coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and what have you.

Seeing up-and-coming neighborhoods that really are up-and-coming as opposed to one or two new businesses every year or two if they were one of the lucky few neighborhoods, is so very refreshing. I can go in virtually any direction from Downtown (which in and of it self was mind blowing since I wasn’t expecting much at all, let alone a vibrant ten-block urban wall of car-free density) and there’s plenty to do with more progress being made where improvements are needed and every neighborhood is connected to the rest of the city through an extensive bike system. Progress is so tangible here: seeing the new light rail line under construction with my own eyes, visiting numerous places that opened up this year alone in once forgotten corners of town, riding daily along the two new bike boulevards that just debuted a month ago in my side of town, this alone is more than I experienced in the handful of years I lived near High St. It’s great to live in a city that embraces its urbanism, isn’t it?