I'd like to echo and expand on what Eric, Scott and Jan wrote on this subject.
Diversity of housing, architecture and land use - yes! I love what my
neighbors do with their 1910, 1920, 1930 houses that have seen many owners
and have taken on the rumpled character of an old hat... I love the fact that
there is an interesting body of water for me and my dog to walk to in three
different directions from my house: Powderhorn Lake (2 mi. round trip);
Minnehaha Creek (3 mi. round trip); Lake Hiawatha (3 1/2 mi. round trip);
plus in the summer I can enjoy everybody's flower gardens along the way,
while neglecting my own. And do a few errands or shopping while I'm walking,
too.
A couple years ago I took a road trip to the east coast through several Great
Lakes cities and upstate New York, ending up in Lawrence, Massachusetts... I
called it the "rust belt tour". It really brought home to me how much we have
to protect in Minneapolis - especially breathable air, functional
infrastructure, and outlying farms, small towns, forests, recreational and
habitat areas. I was also fascinated by how the old Great Lakes cities look
after generations of use and decay, and how nature tends to move in to places
people have abandoned as lost...
A note on Lawrence, MA, that I think is significant. Lawrence is the home of
a number of historic 19th-century woolen mills - big muscular brick
factories, bordered by canals that used to power their looms. Lawrence, which
is one of the rustier rust belt cities, has made a monument out of these
mills, and there is a wonderful museum dedicated to the labor movement, the
immigrants, and the many working people who made up its population. The
factories themselves are in disrepair, as is the rest of the city, but they
are protected and are not going to be torn down. I find it interesting that
Lawrence made a monument out of the factories instead of the mansions of
their rich owners! This, to me, is a key to an urban esthetic that
Minneapolis ought to aspire to (and that I think many of us unconsciously
value).
It's the difference between corporate-driven development, and human-centered
development - and at its best, there is a sustainable, ecological element as
well, so that our relationship with the earth is recognized, even in a
high-density human habitat like Minneapolis.
Minneapolitans instinctively feel uncomfortable with the way downtown has
evolved, because it is not human-centered. I moved here in 1979 and my first
job was working at the Twin Cities Reader in the old Produce Bank Building,
which is gone, as are the Venice Cafe (great place for a night-shift lunch &
rubbing elbows with the cops) and of course all the Block E hangouts... I
worked downtown, by preference, during most of the 80s and 90s, and lamented
the loss of the working peoples' department stores (Powers, Pennys,
Donaldons, Woolworths). Don't bother to take a teenager shopping downtown
anymore... Another note - mall clones like the Conservatory and City Center
have been flops, but the little skyway shops thrive, and in some ways define
the character of downtown better than these mega-retail productions. And it's
icky, pure and simple, that on one side of Nicollet Mall you have the
Galleria with its ooopscale shops and salons and pretty lights and fountains
and decor, and on the other side you have the decaying City Center with its
junk food court, discount store, empty storefronts and security guards
everywhere. So much for corporate-driven development...
So they're going to put a statue of Mary Tyler Moore on the Mall - is this a
monument to the human spirit, that our non-white or immigrant populations or
our young people can identify with for generations to come? (I don't think my
teenage daughter has ever watched an episode of the MTM show.) Or is this a
celebration of consumer/corporate culture?
I'm excited about the prospect of a vibrant arts neighborhood around the new
Guthrie development. I really like the Open Book! And I'm wondering if the
MacPhail Center for the Arts, which last I heard is still looking for a home,
would be a better neighbor in the river/arts district than an office building.
Sorry for the rant... anyway I am very much looking forward to some serious
dog-walking once again, as soon as all this ice melts. Go sun!
-- Holle Brian
Bancroft
(612) 822-6593
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