Mt two cents worth... It is my understanding that there are about 30,000 resident's in the new, growing downtown neighborhood. Sounds like plenty of people that could build a co-operative grocery store. Cooperatives are owned by their members who by and large are residents of the area geographically surrounding the cooperative.
Subsidy for the parking lot might be easier to swallow if the community had some part of the negotiating of what kind of grocery store and run by whom. The Wedge hasn't done so bad at reconfiguring a block and figuring out the parking thing. And another thing - aren't we supposed to be doing "smart growth or transit-oriented development" which I though meant getting people out of their cars and on to walking and biking (with all those bags of groceries - right!) So about the big parking ramp again - why does it cost so much per stall to build parking ramps? Shouldn't we be looking at that question? It's the cost of the land underneath it - hmmm! I liked the e-mail that suggested using a block that already is surface parking and doesn't need to relocate as many other businesses or ruin the idea of keeping the historic building section of Hennepin. A waiver for less parking stall seems much more appropriate. I think co-ops can work and should be part of the consideration for this downtown (much needed) grocery store. And a co-op doesn't have to just sell only natural foods - it can sell anything - it's about the members owning it and what they want. And for the wine lovers maybe a "Wine Cellar" liquor type store could be next door to the co-op (like the Surydk's deli - just much, much larger) and a seperate entity. Annie Young Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep. Agnes Meyer _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
