“Lisa Clarke, the DMC’s executive director, speaks bluntly about what the DMC would offer. “It’s between 25,000 and 45,000 jobs over 20 years, with the accompanying growth in tax revenue,” Clarke tells Fast Company.”
The $6.5 Billion, 20-Year Plan To Transform An American City
The League of American Bicyclists ranked Minnesota the second-most bicycle friendly state for 2015, the second year in a row that the League has recognized our North Star State as No. 2 and the eighth year in a row that we have made the top 10.
The Bicycle Friendly States ranking is based on a number key indicators, including infrastructure and funding that provide safe places to bike, education and encouragement programs that promote cycling, and passage and enforcement of bicycle-friendly laws that make it safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities to ride.
“Retaining the No. 2 ranking is recognition of the good work we’re doing and something we can be really proud of,” Dorian Grilley, executive director of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, said in a MNDOT press release. “Our ranking recognizes that we have made significant improvement around the state, and that the competition around the country is really fierce.”
Washington remains the top ranked state for the eighth year in a row, followed by Minnesota, Delaware, Massachusetts and Utah, according to the DOT. Minnesota is fewer than four points behind.
Here at DMC, we’re working hard to plan Rochester as a bicycle-friendly community that encourages bike commuters and access to bicycles. In fact, it’s in the DMC Development Plan as a stated goal of upgrades to downtown Rochester’s transportation infrastructure.
(Maybe these improvements will even help propel Minnesota to the top spot on the League’s rankings.)
The state’s “top 10 signs of success” in the ranking process include a Complete Streets policy that incorporates bicycling, dedicated state funding, an active state advocacy group, a state bicycle plan, Share the Road campaign, and laws that protect the bicycler.
Several state agencies, including the departments of Health, Natural Resources, Transportation and Tourism invest in bicycling as an important component of Minnesota’s transportation system. Those agencies, and other groups, comprise PedalMn, a coalition that helps all ages enjoy bicycling.
For 2016 we’ve got our sights set on being number one.
— Dorian Grilley, executive director, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota
[tnc-pdf-viewer-link file=”https://dmc.mn/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BFS2015_Minnesota.pdf” target=”_blank” download=”true” print=”true” fullscreen=”true” share=”true” zoom=”true” open=”true” pagenav=”true” logo=”true” find=”true” language=”en-US” class=”” text=”View Minnesota report card from the League of American Bicyclists” page=”” default_zoom=”auto”]
Nearly half of Minnesotans rode a bicycle last year, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation 2014 Omnibus Transportation Survey.
Watch an overview of proton beam therapy from Mayo Clinic
Treatment is likely to begin next month at Mayo Clinic’s $188 million Proton Beam Therapy Center.
Housed in the Richard O. Jacobson Building, named for a long-time Mayo patient who donated $100 million for the center’s construction, the Proton Beam Therapy Center will be able to treat more than 130 cancer patients a day with a cutting-edge type of radiation therapy that obliterates tumors with surgical precision while leaving surrounding tissue almost entirely unscathed.
The experimental treatment approach is called “intensity-modulated pencil beam therapy,” which uses a particle accelerator to rev up individual protons to two-thirds the speed of light and aim them directly into tumors, where they fracture the malignancies’ DNA, rendering the disease unable to replicate. You can read more about Mayo’s Proton Therapy on Mayo Clinic’s website.
The approach promises to be most helpful for patients whose tumors are situated in particularly sensitive areas, such as the brain or esophagus. Children also are likely to benefit greatly from this type of radiation therapy, as the proton beam can help shrink tumors while sparing their sensitive and still-developing organs.
Moreover, the pencil beam proton treatment reduces the uncomfortable side effects often associated with traditional radiation therapy, and in some cases eliminates them altogether.
Watch a time-lapse video of the 3-year construction
Catch up on recent action in DMC with this month’s DMC Newsletter.
We published the newsletter through email this Tuesday, ahead of three identical workshops from the Rochester-Olmsted Planning Department that were geared toward the City of Rochester’s comprehensive planning process. (If you missed those, don’t sweat it… we’ll share details from the workshops here soon.)
This edition features updates on two projects within the DMC District, which the DMC Corporation Board of Directors approved at its April meeting. We also share the news that Mayo Clinic has pledged another $2.1 million for DMC activities, including $1.5 million for a feasibility study on Discovery Square, a proposed biobusiness hub in downtown Rochester, and $585,000 annually for operational and staffing support of DMC’s Economic Development Agency
Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to receive regular updates directly to your email. (We promise never to share your contact information—it’s just for the newsletter, and nothing else.)
