Development News

If city officials approve it, North Minneapolis could get its first full-service bike shop by the spring of next year.

In response to a request for proposals that the city sent out some months ago, the Cultural Wellness Center submitted a proposal for Major Motion Bike Walk and Coffee, which uniquely emphasizes walking for fun, exercise or transportation, according to Kristen Klingler, who works in the city's health and family department. 

Her office recommended the proposal to a City Council committee, which will weigh in on it in January.

The South Minneapolis-based Cultural Wellness Center, a nonprofit organization that develops cultural approaches for health, economic development, and community building, plans to lease a 3,718-square-foot space at the corner of Lowry and Penn avenues north for the $450,000 project, Klingler says.

Major Motion Bike Walk and Coffee will offer new and used bikes, related gear and other accessories, plus bike repair and maintenance services and a coffee shop.

The shop will be stocked with items such as bus passes, compact shopping carts, reusable shopping bags and more, to help people make transitions from foot to bike to bus, according to Klingler.

Classes and workshops to "help people get comfortable riding the bike paths," for instance, along with spinning classes, will be held at the shop.  

The goal is to "give access to things residents need to be active on a regular basis," says Klingler, adding, "Improving health is the main focus."

The Wellness Center has enlisted the help of the Major Taylor Bicycling Club, an Upper Midwest group which tries to increase bike riding among African Americans. Other partners are the North Side's EMERGE Community Development, which provides youth employment and job training, and nearby NEON, a collaborative network that specializes in small business development support.
 
Klingler says the city has a $350,000 grant from Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) that was funneled through the Minnesota Department of Health from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to help with the center's up-front costs.

The bike/walk center is part of a larger health initiative in the city and state that has programs geared around obesity prevention, physical activity, and healthy eating.

In North Minneapolis and beyond, strategies include expanding the Nice Ride bike-sharing program, new bike lanes and walking trails, and wayfinding signage for bike and pedestrian access--all of which will feed into the bike/walk center. "We're really excited about it," Klinger says.   

Source: Kristen Klingler, City of Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

Architects from the University of Minnesota's Metropolitan Design Center led a workshop on Nov. 20 at the school, which dovetailed with an earlier talk about creating a framework for the future of the University District.

The district includes the university campus and its surrounding neighborhoods. 

At the event, which drew nearly 100 attendees, presenters Ignacio San Martin and Marcy Schulte challenged people to think in terms of connection, stressing sustainable, walkable communities.

Organizer Ted Tucker, a 40-year resident of the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood who serves on the University District Alliance, a board that's trying to improve the area, says it builds on the "transformational visioning" process that the group initiated.

The district faces unique challenges, with several large institutions in close quarters, such as the university, Augsburg College, and nearby clinics and hospitals. "We're trying to improve connections with surrounding neighborhoods so it's mutually beneficial," says Tucker.

At this early stage, the group is just trying to keep the lines of communication open as opposed to laying out any specific plans. "We want to have neighborhood residents talking to developers," he says. "They can get accustomed to what residents might be concerned about."

Conversely, he says, "Residents can hear about how developers operate and what they're looking for."

At the recent workshop, San Martin conveyed a perspective that "goes back to geology, landforms, and how the river works with adjacent neighborhoods and the ecology of the area," Tucker explains.  

On a map San Martin pinpointed 10 contested territories that are key places "where there are lots of different forces coinciding."  

For instance, there's the question of what should happen with a right-of-way that's known as Granary Road, which once served the Burlington Northern Railroad. It starts at one end of the Stone Arch Bridge and continues through the industrial area in Southeast, near the new TCF stadium. Part of it is planned to be a two-lane road. There's been discussion about extending it. Some people believe it should be used for trucks. "There are different ideas on the best way to use the land available," Tucker says.   

The events give residents and other community stakeholders the chance to hear ideas for the area and react, Tucker says, adding that their feedback will help inform the process as it moves forward.


Source: Ted Tucker, representative of the University District Alliance
Writer: Anna Pratt

One of the Eastside Food Coop's objectives is to minimize its environmental impact.  

Early on, though, the food coop, opened in Northeast Minneapolis in 2003, had accrued a lot of debt, according to its general manager, Amy Fields.

While the coop wanted to invest in energy-saving infrastructure, its bills made it difficult to go there.

But it wasn't long before the coop, which is housed in an old, largely cement building in the Audubon neighborhood, underwent an eye-opening analysis of its energy use. The study showed there was plenty of room for improvement.

It pushed the coop to get creative to reduce its carbon footprint and increase efficiency. After doing some digging to find energy-saving solutions, architect Brandon Sigrist, who is a coop member, along with the local Sundial Solar Consultants, proposed a solar photovoltaic array--which converts solar radiation into electrical energy--for the coop's 12,000 square foot rooftop, Fields says.

A combination of Xcel Energy rebates, including one for Minnesota-made solar products, plus a U.S. Treasury Green Energy grant, helped make the $167,000 project doable.

The coop was able to get a cutting-edge photovoltaic solar panel array from the Bloomington-based company, TenK Solar, which specializes in the contraptions. Six rows of 18 panels with reflectors, all on tracks, will put out about 28,000 kilowatt hours a year, which accounts for between five and 10 percent of the store's electrical costs.

The system is 50 percent more productive than traditional photovoltaic systems because the inverted-V-shaped panels can handle direct sunlight. It's effective even on overcast days, Fields adds.

It'll save the coop several thousand dollars annually and decrease its carbon emissions by 20 tons a year. Over the next five years, the system, which will soon be running, will pay for itself, says Fields.  

"Part of what excites me," he adds, "is that now 3,200 [coop members] in Northeast Minneapolis own a piece of solar. Hopefully it'll open us up to more alternative energy from all of us."


Source: Amy Fields, general manager at Eastside Food Coop
Writer: Anna Pratt

A group of staff and faculty members from the University of Minnesota's College of Design got a chance to show off their local and global projects at the school's recent design outreach slam.  

Following five-minute presentations, the designers' colleagues at the college got to pick first- and second-place winners, who received $1,000 and $500, respectively, for professional development purposes, explains organizer Brad Hokanson, the associate dean for research and outreach at the school.  

In the mix was everything from sustainable design initiatives in rural Minnesota to rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

Landscape architect Rebecca Krinke was the audience's top pick for her public art project that includes a three-dimensional map of the Twin Cities; it shows places that represent joy and pain in individuals' lives, which audience members jumped in to help identify, Hokanson says.

The interactive map, he says, made for "deep conversations, engaging people with the process of their lives."

Jim Lutz, who came in second place, is bringing students to Haiti this spring. In collaboration with the American Red Cross, the small group will design a couple of grade schools, which they'll get up and running in an eight-week window. Students will prepare by taking some special courses at the university beforehand.  "It's a real immersion program," says Hokanson.   

Other presentations shed light on development and decay in East Africa's Zanzibar; good and bad inner city housing in the Twin Cities; and the efforts to digitize holdings at the school's Goldstein Museum of Design in St. Paul, among others.  

Part of the reason for doing the Nov. 12 slam, Hokanson says, was to highlight the wide-ranging work that the school is a part of, work that extends far beyond the campus. Insiders in the school often "only know what [they're] doing," he says. "This was a way for people to find out about what other people are doing."

Additionally, he says, their good work "shows the benefits of being here."

Source: Brad Hokanson, University of Minnesota College of Design, associate dean for research and outreach
Writer: Anna Pratt

A sizable rock-climbing community in the Twin Cities is underserved, according to Nate Postma, the founder and president of the locally based company Vertical Endeavors. Numerous area rock-climbing gyms have gone out of business through the years, he explains. 

Vertical Endeavors runs several indoor rock-climbing gyms in St. Paul, Duluth, and Warrenville, Ill. In St. Paul, it offers indoor and outdoor lessons, youth programs, and group events, along with a pro shop, weight equipment, showers, lockers, and year round climate control, its website states.

As an indication of the sport's popularity, the St. Paul Vertical Endeavors location sees over 100,000 individual climbers a year. Many of them become repeat customers, Postma says.
 
For years the company scoped out various sites for a potential Minneapolis location.

Postma was pleased when Mark Krogh, the principal of Java Properties, approached Vertical Endeavors about the possibility of bringing an indoor rock-climbing gym to 26th and Nicollet Avenue in Southwest Minneapolis, as a part of a larger proposal to revamp a couple buildings on the block.

With the help of Minneapolis-based DJR Architecture, developer First & First LLC is heading the $5 million project.

The gym will go into an 11,000-square-foot space that once housed the Ice House Studio in the Whittier neighborhood.

Postma says the $2 million state-of-the-art facility will be among the largest in the country. It could be as high as 60 feet, with 25,000 square feet of climbing space. Many climbing gyms are half that size, or even smaller, he says.

It'll accommodate different styles, abilities and ages, with top-roped climbing, bouldering, and auto-belays (which allow people to go solo). "This will put Minneapolis on the map," he says, adding, "Our customers are destination-oriented."  

A branch of St. Paul's well-known burger joint, the Blue Door Pub, will be the second-largest tenant next to the gym, while the popular Azia restaurant is returning to the corner with a new concept, according to Krogh. Thirteen apartments, another restaurant, coffee shop, offices, courtyard and parking are also part of the plan.

Krogh says the rock-climbing gym will draw many new people to the restaurant-filled avenue, dubbed Eat Street. "I really believe this is going to be the next Uptown," he says. "It should be exciting. I think it's going to bring a lot of energy to Eat Street."

Source: Nate Postma, founder and president of Vertical Endeavors
Writer: Anna Pratt

No longer will parks simply be about 'turf and trees.'

A 21st-century park should be versatile enough to support various community activities that happen around the clock and throughout the year.

That's the challenge that's been laid out by the Mississippi Riverfront Design Competition (MRDC), which deals with a 5.4-mile stretch of the river, or about 220 acres starting in and around the Stone Arch Bridge and historic mills and heading north, according to project manager Mary DeLaittre.

MRDC is a joint project of the Minneapolis parks and its foundation, along with its creative partners, the University of Minnesota College of Design and Walker Art Center.  

Recently the group's 13-member jury culled through 55 submissions that arrived from all over the globe in response to its request for qualifications. They settled on four finalists including the Ken Smith Workshop, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Tom Leader Studio, and Turenscape. The award-winning designers and planners hail from New York City, Boston, Berkeley, and Beijing.

Now, the finalists have a little more than a month to come up with plans.

It's a complicated and fascinating assignment, DeLaittre explains. For starters, the terrain goes from the picturesque to the industrial within overlapping local-to-federal jurisdictions. Additionally, Interstate-94 cuts off North Minneapolis from the river, which adds another wrinkle, says DeLaittre, who is also the founder and principal of local consultant Groundwork: The Foundation for City Building.
 
However, the teams won't be starting from scratch, she says. They'll be armed with a list of the area's resources to work with.

DeLaittre says she's looking forward to seeing the results, which will lead to a commissioned project to be announced in February 2011. 

She hopes that the competition inspires people to see the river as a connector and not a divider. "We want to orient the city around the river," she says, adding, "It's one of the three great rivers of the world."


Source: Mary DeLaittre, project manager for the Mississippi Riverfront Design Competition, founder and principal of Groundwork: The Foundation for City Building
Writer: Anna Pratt

Minneapolis will soon be a "beta" tester for a federal Energy Score program, along with nine other U.S. cities.

The energy-saving program, which Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu presented last week, is comparable to the well-known Energy STAR label for appliances, program materials state.

In Minneapolis, the program begins with an educational workshop that gives homeowners the chance to sign up for a home visit from a two-person team of experts, according to Carl Nelson, the program and policy manager of the local nonprofit Center for Energy and Environment, which administers a related Community Energy Services program in Minneapolis.

For $30, the experts will check out a home's energy use and offer tips for improving efficiency. A blower door test, for instance, can show how much air is escaping through open spaces, Nelson explains.

Another benefit of the walk-through is "It'll give [homeowners] perspective on how they're doing in terms of other homes per square foot," he says.  

Beyond that initial inspection, homeowners will get periodic progress reports that are based on their energy bills. By installing recommended items such as fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and low-flow showerheads, or tackling retrofit projects, people can improve their marks and save money.

"Staff can help figure out how to finance it as well," he says, referencing various rebates and credits that are out there. "People can come to us and say 'what can we get?' and we can hook them up," he says.

Nelson hopes the program, which will be rolled out neighborhood by neighborhood starting with about 300 homes, will transform the market for energy-efficient upgrades.

"There's a lot of potential for something like this," he says, adding, "We want to try to make it as easy as possible for people to save energy in ways that are cost-effective."   

Source: Carl Nelson, program and policy manager for the Center for Energy and Environment
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Nice Ride Minnesota bike-sharing program closed for winter on Nov. 7, but it's still creating a buzz.

Nice Ride, which debuted this summer as the nation's largest program of its kind, is now holding planning workshops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, to get feedback about where additional stations ought to go.

The easy-to-spot lime-green bikes were wildly successful, lending to over 100,000 trips in only four and a half months from its current 65 stations downtown Minneapolis and near the University of Minnesota, according to Nice Ride information. Only a couple bikes went astray.

Those statistics alone, Nice Ride's executive director Bill Dossett, says, are " a big deal."  

In keeping with its early business plan, Nice Ride ultimately wants to triple in size, with another 130 stations--half of which would go into St. Paul. "We've done the legwork to now say, let's grow to St. Paul and these other areas," he says.

Dossett says that in scoping out locations for the bike corrals, high-density areas are important, offering people the chance to "do multiple things, such as ride to places where they shop and work."  

As a part of its "phase two" expansion plan, North Minneapolis will see at least six new stations.

But the program has a ways to go to fund bike stations for downtown St. Paul and University and Grand avenues where he says it makes sense to try to serve Central Corridor light rail users and the nearby colleges and universities.

A single station, including bikes, equipment, installation and assembly, costs $44,000.  

Recently Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota pledged $1.5 million to the cause but he explains that Nice Ride needs to come up with the other two-thirds of the whole cost.   

It's a challenge, but in light of its popularity so far, Dossett is hopeful that the funding will come through. "The reason we're so excited about this is because we think active transportation is great for our health and communities," he says, adding, "We want to live in communities where people walk and bike." 

Source: Bill Dossett, executive director, Nice Ride MN
Writer: Anna Pratt

An $80 million redevelopment proposal for the 6.5-acre parcel at Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in South Minneapolis, where the building that formerly housed the Brown Institute sits, emphasizes the popular Midtown Farmers Market and other nearby amenities, including light rail transit and the YWCA.

The current building, which is owned by the Minneapolis Public Schools, would be torn down. Whether the school district might still have offices or classrooms in the complex is up in the air, according to Jack Boarman, a senior partner with the BKV Group Architects.

The local architecture firm is collaborating on the project with a handful of partners that fall under the umbrella of L&H Development. Theirs was the only response to a request for proposals from the public schools and city, which had a Nov. 1 deadline.   

Under the proposal, a mix of affordable, senior, and market-rate housing units, along with street-level retail and office space, would be scattered throughout a series of three to five buildings.

It's an area that has mainly single-family homes, according to Boarman, who adds that the proposed variety of housing would open it up for residents of all income levels. 

Boarman says the team tried to be sensitive to the Corcoran neighborhood's goals for the area, creating a walkable place that will serve residents and the broader community.

For starters, "People can move through the development into what we're calling the Farmers Market Plaza," he says, adding that the buildings would be configured around a series of courtyards, with sidewalks and a boulevard leading to the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line.
 
Sustainability is top of mind, he says, and easy access to the train encourages residents to go car-free.

In the coming weeks, the proposal will go before a city committee and the neighborhood group, with Minneapolis Public Schools making a decision on the matter sometime in December.

Source: Jack Boarman, senior partner at BKV Group Architects 
Writer: Anna Pratt

In putting together a hip new coffee shop that opens this week in South Minneapolis, the scrappy Peace Coffee team found themselves climbing atop an abandoned grain elevator, coming away with a cool door that makes for a unique menu board.

They salvaged lumber from a demolished house for custom benches. Additionally, blue and white tiles that once lined the bottom of a swimming pool now form a beautiful floor mosaic, picturing boxy, espresso-guzzling robots and monkeys.

The build-out of the Peace Coffee Shop at Wonderland Park is in keeping with the company's social responsibility ethos, inside and out. Peace Coffee peddles fair trade and organic coffee, often literally, via bicycle, from its base of operations that includes a roastery, in the nearby Phillips neighborhood.

The company had considered venturing into retail for a while, according to Peace Coffee's Lee Wallace, who goes by "Queen Bean."

It came together after a local building owner approached Wallace just over a year ago about the possibility of developing the space in the Longfellow neighborhood, which was previously a photography supply store. "This just seemed like the right partnership," says Wallace, who is leading the charge.

"It's another way to support the Twin Cities' independent coffee culture and connect with customers more directly," she says. She's looking forward to talking with people about how they source their coffees. "We want people to understand how to taste coffee and understand the story that comes with the food," which she adds goes from the farm to the cup.

At the bar, customers can watch as their drinks are being made, while a lab area provides for barista training, fair trade classes, and more.

Source: Lee Wallace, Peace Coffee, "Queen Bean"
Writer: Anna Pratt

After years of wear-and-tear, some city planners say that Peavey Plaza, a downtown Minneapolis amphitheater and fountain on Nicollet Mall, could use some sprucing up.
 
Although it's a popular spot for outdoor concerts and other public gatherings, some areas are "depressed and hidden from view," says Chuck Lutz, who is the deputy director of the city's community planning and economic development office.
 
A couple years ago, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota named the plaza an endangered historic site.
 
M. Paul Friedberg, a prominent New York landscape architect, designed the 1975 plaza, which is defined by lots of concrete, hard lines and multiple levels. Friedberg also did the nearby Loring Greenway, a similarly-styled urban walkway. 
 
The fountain's mechanical system is failing, while the bronze-colored pumps and pipes are visibly distressed. "It's not looking so good," says Lutz, adding that its condition has even raised public safety concerns.
 
When Orchestra Hall announced in 2009 that it was embarking on a $40 million expansion and renovation of its adjacent concert hall, the city saw an opportunity to team up, Lutz says.Last year, the state legislature approved $16 million for both projects, with $2 million going to the plaza. The city still needs several more million dollars to pull it off, according to Lutz.
 
Right now, the city is soliciting ideas for the makeover from four finalist architects, including Close Landscape Architecture, Coen & Partners, Damon Farber Associates, and Oslund and Associates. The public is invited to sit in on interviews with the architects on Nov. 16 at the convention center. 
 
How much of the original design should be preserved is debatable. At this early stage, Lutz says, "We're not asking developers to come with designs already," Lutz says. "It's an opportunity to hear from the four competing firms."
 
 Source: Chuck Lutz, deputy director, Minneapolis community planning and economic development department 
Writer: Anna Pratt

They're easy to spot in their bright lime-green uniforms. "Ambassadors" are on hand to answer questions and clean up graffiti and trash, among the many other things they do in downtown Minneapolis.  

The Ambassadors collectively cover 125 blocks for the Downtown Improvement District (DID). DID is a public-private partnership that the local business community started in 2009 to keep the downtown area safe, clean, and green.

District COO Sarah Harris made the case for the DID model during a talk she gave on Nov. 5 at the Urban Land Institute.

DID, she told The Line, is one of several "business improvement districts" (BIDs) throughout the city, which help fund improvements within certain boundaries. Its mission is to "make downtown a thriving and competitive environment for recruiting and retaining businesses, employees, residents, and visitors," its website states.

Or, as Harris puts it more simply, "We are the concierge for downtown."

With over 1,000 districts nationwide to learn from, she says, "We took the best practices from several other districts and pieced them together based on what would work best in our community."    

Already, it's getting results, statistics show: Working with police, Ambassadors, who are keyed into the zone's radios and cameras, have helped dramatically decrease problems with chronic offenders. And their first-aid training has helped save lives--21 since Sept. 30 of this year, by DID's count.  

The Ambassador program is just one of many services the DID provides, including landscaping, snow removal, repair work, and more.

Thanks in part to their efforts, a recent DID survey found, downtowners' perceptions of their environment have greatly improved. "People said the area seemed friendlier, cleaner and safer," she says, adding that she gets numerous emails daily encouraging the DID to keep up the good work.

Source: Sarah Harris, COO, Downtown Improvement District
Writer: Anna Pratt

A home that's reasonably priced, safe, and sustainable should be within reach for anyone.

That's the statement that brought together more than 800 attendees, from high-ranking public officials to low-income residents, at the Nov. 8 "Homes for All" conference at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

Among the event's highlights was a keynote speech by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, a how-to workshop about making changes for the greener around the house, and an audiovisual exhibit featuring an oral history of homelessness.  

Emmy-Award-winning actor and vocalist T. Mychael Rambo led a  breakout session, while representatives from more than 40 housing, health, and financial organizations were on hand, as were U.S. representatives Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum and senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.

Chip Halbach, the executive director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership, says that he and other advocates hope the get-together will influence housing policy for the better, especially as the state's political leadership turns over and the legislative session nears.

"It's important to get people energized and thinking about what the state can do come January," Halbach says. His goal is to lay the groundwork for various housing-related bill proposals that will be introduced this session, and which he says deserve special attention in a budget-cycle year,

The challenges are many. Homelessness has spiked in the recession, and this has produced all kinds of side effects, he explains. "We have a situation where more people are losing homes and renters are paying a higher percentage of their income for housing." Recent U.S. census figures show that one in eight families in Minnesota are facing severe housing situations, he says.

There may be greater need and fewer resources these days, but he insists, "It's moral issues that are at stake."

Source: Chip Halbach, executive director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership
Writer: Anna Pratt

Leave it to a group of neurologists to make sure their new headquarters accommodates a giant head.

The American Academy of Neurology is moving to new offices that the group will build across the street from the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. As part of a deal the city council approved in October, the AAN will set back the building 10 feet from the sidewalk along Chicago Avenue to preserve views of the Guthrie Theater and its supersized photo-portrait of founder Tyrone Guthrie.

After negotiating with AAN over the project, CPED Deputy Director Chuck Lutz said, "I'm very happy with the result." Such deals take time, he added, but "we're all satisfied." Lutz said the city's sales price of $661,000 reflects a discount of about $88,000 to preserve the Guthrie viewshed. The City of Minneapolis also issued $16,500,000 for the project in tax-exempt revenue bonds as part of the Recovery Zone program.

Hundreds of neurologists fly to the Twin Cities each year for association meetings. One selling point for the AAN, currently headquartered in St. Paul's West Seventh neighborhood, is the new site's proximity to the Hiawatha light-rail transit connection to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A vibrant neighborhood was also part of the equation for the association, according to AAN Executive Director Catherine M. Rydell: "We are very supportive of the setback. It completes the pedestrian gateway along Chicago Avenue to the river and Guthrie. In fact, the Academy will be providing electricity to vendors of the Mill City Farmers market through outlets strategically placed along the exterior of our building."

Sources: Chuck Lutz, Minneapolis Community Planning and Development; Catherine M. Rydell, American Academy of Neurology
Writer: Chris Steller

The Twin Cities are showing a fresher face to the online world after Google recently updated its local Street View images.

According to Google spokesperson Deanna Yick, "it usually takes several months from when the photograph is taken until it appears on Google Maps," where the Street View feature is available.

Observers variously reported via Twitter that Google's trucks made the rounds last year in St. Paul and this year in Minneapolis. Google gathered its first round of pictures in 2007, stitching them together to create a virtual local landscape on the internet.

The company isn't keeping images from its initial Street View sweep of the Twin Cities publicly accessible, once newer ones replace them. The goal, according to Yick, is to give online visitors current views so they can feel "as if they're there in person."

A local landmark widely noted when the Twin Cities first joined Google's Street View universe in late 2007 was the former I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, captured intact before its collapse in August that year. Street View visitors now can virtually drive over the new I-35W bridge, but views also remain showing the old span from beneath.

People in the Twin Cities can count on Google to blur faces and legible license plates, Yick says. But that isn't enough for some people in Germany, according to University of Minnesota sociology professor Joachim Savelsberg, who is on sabbatical in Berlin. He reports that "debate about Google Street View reflects attitudes that differ substantially from those in the United States." A history of dictatorial governments spying on citizens there has led people there to gain the right to have Google take images of their homes out of its Street View system. Savelsberg notes, however, that "only a small percentage of Germans have made use of this right."
 
Sources: Deanna Yick, Google; Joachim Savelsberg, University of Minnesota
Writer: Chris Steller