It seems to me that Nicollet Ace is the most successful of the neighborhood hardware stores in my area. I see people I know from all south Minneapolis there, and on a spring weekend the place is buzzing.
Why? It’s pretty simple, I think. It’s the service. That’s why I go there, anyway. Sometimes I have to park a half a block away, but I don’t mind because I am treated well, and my questions are answered with some degree of knowledge. It is also fairly close to where I live. When doing a larger project requiring lumber etc., I go to (save us all) Home Depot at the Quarry or Bennetts, where I sometimes have to park half a block away, albeit in a parking lot. I have even rented the Home Depot truck to deliver large loads that I can't carry in a compact car. I doubt seriously that tearing down two houses (which is what we are really talking about now) and creating 21 parking spaces is going to make Nicollet Ace any more competitive with lumber yards/hardware stores like Menards and Home Depot. What it will do is put them in a better position to out-compete other neighborhood hardware stores. Nicollet Ace is a “good neighbor,” but it is also a business. And try as I might, I don’t see that their argument for more off-street parking as anything but a way to increase their market share. The question, then, is whether the neighborhood should be physically altered to help them increase their market share RELATIVE TO OTHER SIMILAR CITY BUSINESSES. Let’s be clear, too, about the fact that the proposed physical alteration will increase traffic at an already busy intersection--with all the related environmental consequences. So to my mind, the equation is quite simple, Nicollet Ace gets more business and profit, the surrounding neighborhood is degraded by increased traffic, a precedent is set for other “good neighbor” businesses that feel they NEED additional parking and profit, other mom and pop hardware stores are subject to increased economic pressure from a “good neighbor,” and two houses are demolished. Simplified, Nicollet Ace benefits, and everybody else loses a little for the privilege of spending money there. Replicate this over all of Minneapolis and you get a city that crows about its quality of life while making short-sighted decisions that favor businesses (and motor vehicles) at the expense of the City’s aesthetics, environment, and ultimately its people. Instead of a parking lot, maybe Nicollet Ace could have worked to set up a delivery service (with neighborhood help?) using clean electric vehicles that dropped off heavy products to residents who don’t have pickup trucks and/or strong backs. Now that would be service that would benefit lots of folks. . . . But gee, an original/visionary/environmentally-sound plan that benefited the community would probably be shot down by the “voices of reason” on our council, including an erstwhile Green. Russell Raczkowski Bancroft _______________________________________ 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
