Tonight at 6pm there will be a meeting in Central @ Urban Ventures to discuss this hotel potential. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I find it interesting that a few people have tried to make the case that a Lake > Street motel in Central neighborhood would somehow benefit the neighborhood. It > might create a few service jobs ... It will create some service jobs, particularly service jobs which do not require English. The demographics in Central have changed dramatically in the last 10 years. > How many residents work at Honeywell / Wells Fargo / Allina? Quite a few actually. Honeywell had a sort of nepotism rule that if a good Honeywell employee's family members apply, they would be considered first for a position. Allina employs people from central, Phillips, Powderhorn, Stevens Square, etc. > The most interesting assertation of all is the idea that opposition to a motel > is in some way classist or racist. The accusations of racism comes from an awareness of the propensities of the people who have spearheaded the opposition. > thinks they can control > "most of the prostitution" with their security. although they > may make a valiant effort to keep the motel "clean", the proposers won't be able > too, it's beyond their control. This whole prostitution/drugs issue is, I think, a red herring. People don't spend $6 million to create a crack/prostition house (outside Las Vegas, given it's history). If we can show that the downtown hotels are having trouble with this issue, or the airport motels/hotels, then maybe there is a case. If not, this issue is mythic. > It makes no significant contribution to the availability of > services folks need on a regular basis like a bakery, a cooperative food store, the co-op was scheduled for 38th and 4th, we got lots of restaurants, there is a mega-video store just across the freeway (Blockbuster). The first floor of the hotel is slated for commercial development. > The risk for the > neighborhood is the significant propensity for failure, with massive potential > spillover effects for the area, which is of course highly visible. The design of this hotel, from what I understood from AmericaInn, and from visiting one of their other hotels, would lend itself to a very fine residence hotel, were a transient hotel to fail. I have lived in residence hotels and loved it. Makes keeping house a snap. Great accomodation possibilities. > Another interesting assertation was that since it will be a multi-million dollar > investment, it will be good for the neighborhood. > Actually, the argument is that a hotel brings in significantly higher taxes than the other proposals can produce, that we have very little commercial space in the neighborhood and should use it to our best tax advantage. > In addition to all of this, a significant level of public subsidy is being > considered, through the Empowerment / Enterprise Zone programs and potentially > NRP. Why on earth would public subsidy be used to suburbanize the city and > disenfranchise the residents - and why subsidize and environment fertile for > criminal activity in the area most vulnerable to it??? The red herring strikes again. > As far as the viability of the motel if it is built, I have heard folks argue > that it presents an affordable alternative to downtown hotels. At starting > prices of $99 per night, the Americ Inn is less affordable than at least a > couple of downtown options, and far less convenient. Hotels near the airport > present stiff competition with their regular shuttles to downtown and access to > the Mall of America (or is that, Maul of America.....). AmercaInn says they like to "locate in neighborhoods" because they have been successful in neighborhoods. Since they are planning to invest boucoup bucks, they have done studies of the viability of the location. I think they made the decision based on changes coming to I35W at Lake St. > It's time to end "Americ-Inn Imperialism" Actually, most of the neighborhood has never really discussed this hotel. Since 1993, David, you and a very few others have bad-mouthed the notion without asking for, or receiving any information from most of the neighborhood. I question the direction of the finger pointing about "imperialism."It is way past time that the whole neighborhood discuss plans for business development. WizardMarks, Central > Regards > David Piehl > Central > > ______________________________________________________________________ > The information contained in this message is private and confidential > information which may also be subject to the attorney-client privilege and work > product doctrine. This information is intended only for the individual or > entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended > recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution or > copy of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message > in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of > the message. Thank you. > > _______________________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
