The Southwest Journal has an excellent case study of what is wrong with the city of my birth.
http://swjournal.com/display/inn_news/news01.txt The problem is too much high speed traffic on 50th street. Having lived a block away from there for 10 years I would have to agree. During rush hour it gets pretty fast. Every now and then you get to see a pretty good car wreck, with a lot of busted glass. No deaths that I can remember. The solution offered by the traffic engineers and being trumpeted by the neighborhood groups and individual folks is to eliminate most of the parking on 50th street between France and Lyndale Ave. For those of you un-familiar with this stretch: it is long, vibrant and a model for all other commercial streets to emulate. Very little chain store action. Mostly unique individual stores with loads of character, that employ locals if not owned by locals. As is the case in situations like this, the shopkeepers are opposed. In this case specific, the shopkeepers are UNIVERSALLY OPPOSED. They are complete agreement from one end of this commercial street to the other. No diverging opinions. Since horse and buggy days small business owners want street parking. We managed to survive 75 years of automobiles on this street. But their opinions are going to mean very little. They 1. Pay more taxes 2. Shovel their walks before the home owners. 3. Get sued more often. 4. Employ the kids of the neighborhood, who don't want to work at the suburban big box. 5. Provide countless sums of money to local well intentioned groups and causes. 6. Sponsor every thing under the sun. 7. Allow their business' to be the organizing and focal point for community involvement. 8. Get graffittied more often, and get billed for the effort. 9. If the parks are the heart of the city, these business' are the soul of the city. They are the reasons people come and stay in SW Mpls. There are better parks in many cities, there are better schools in most of the suburbs, there is more housing for the buck everywhere, there is more efficient use of taxpayer dollars in all other cities. But the one thing the burbs can never have is the cool scene of commerce in the city. Nada, donut, never, not gonna happen. Hands down, slam-dunk, over before it started. Small city business romp! For some of these business, the parking on the street are as inseparable from them as yeast is to a baker. They just have to have it. The SWJ pointed out that some long time business' are leaving instead of putting up with it. How terrible and sad. So why are these business' being damaged? 1. Because the business speeds down the street? No buildings don't have wheels 2. Because the employs speed down the street? Maybe the pizza delivery guys, but no, that doesn't make sense either because they usually have a store logo all over their car, they would get busted and accounted for. Most of the employees park their cars and go to work. No the reason they are going to be punished, is that the citizens of Mpls and some suburbs like to drive fast and break the law. So we're going to punish the business owner for someone else's sins. Lets review some past items. 1. Pay phones, nuisance, got rid of, not because they rang to loud or anything. But because law breakers called drug dealers were using them. So we got rid of most of those. 2. Mail boxes. The blue ones, we packed most of those up, not because of anti blue lead paint contamination. But vandalism perpetrated by law breakers. Got rid of most of them. Make the old folks walk or risk sticking it in their own mail box. 3. Now we are going to squeeze the small business' for the crimes of others. Minneapolitans, do you still live in a glorius city? Or are you giving up the "quality" one increment at a time because you fail to hold your fellow citizen accountable for their criminal and dangerous acts? Craig Miller Former and Future Resident Living in Rogers [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 9:02 PM Subject: [Mpls] No Parking on South 50th S./France to Lyndale/Merchant Angst > Anybody notice the signs festooned around 50th and Xerxes S. "No parking, No > Business, No Neighborhood"? > > I called the local lamp maker, "Michael's", at the Corner to find out the > buzz. What has got boutique retailers upset, I asked? > > Tentatively, I learned, there will be no parking on the South side of 50th, > from France to Lyndale. I learned from another source that retailers, "Judith > McGrann" and "Needlework Unlimited" are already bookin' to points west, over > the parking issue. > > One neighbor said, "We are losing nice, little, neighborhood businesses". She > asked, "What will replace them? > > I did not have any answer; I know parking is gold. I imagine that Barrett > Lane will be identifying, and acquiring, off street parking nodes from > willing sellers, to replace the lost, on-street slots. Right? > > Too bad nobody told the movers before made other plans. > > Keith Reitman NearNorth > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. > 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
