President Obama is at the Union Depot today (Feb. 26) to outline a $302 billion transportation plan for the nation. He’ll definitely be talking transit. But hipsters may get a little mention, too.
The Scoop is wagering (say, a 60-40 chance) that the president will point to public transit as a key ingredient in urban renewal, and a lure for so-called millennials — recent college grads who are more likely than their parents to gravitate to car-free lifestyles and city living rather than driving to work from the suburbs.
After studying the percentage of residents in St. Paul’s 55101 zip code who rent, land between the ages 25 to 34, and walk to work, a realty company last year named Lowertown the top “hipster” neighborhood in the country. Downtown Minneapolis’ 55401 zip code came in fourth in RealtyTrac.com’s “Top 25 Hipster Zips for Rental Returns” list, and a neighborhood in Seattle came in ninth.
The depot maintains several charging stations for electric cars, and local environmental policies could get a nod in the president’s speech, too. Robert Moffitt, a spokesman for the American Lung Association in Minnesota, said the state has made “real progress” since Obama’s last visit in the areas of cleaner fuels, advanced engine technologies and a growing market for alternatives to traditional petroleum fuels.
Companies such as DART Transportation, Waste Management, and Dick’s Sanitation have switched their truck fleets from diesel to natural gas-powered vehicles, which burns cleaner, while others have moved from diesel to biodiesel blends, in part because of state rules enacted in 2005.