I don't mean to sound disrespectful Roxana, but have you been downtown lately? I share your preference for not adding taxes onto Minneapolis-only if it can be avoided, but the downtown you describe sounds nothing like what I know.
As I've mentioned in posts before, I'm a season ticket holder for the Timberwolves and a frequent visitor to downtown clubs like First Avenue and sursumcorda to check out my pals from Minneapolis Soul Music (www.mpls-soul.com). Oftentimes before games, I'll go downtown early and get a haircut and visit the shops before tip-off. It is not dead downtown at 5pm by any means. Now, the streets may not be packed in the winter because of that neat invention called skyways, but it's definitely not dead. Hennepin Ave is quite busy and with foot traffic - I would know this because one of my stops is often Shinders so I can check out the sports and sci-fi sections. Nicollet Mall generally has foot traffic, which I'm either a part of when I go downtown early or that I see before games when I get downtown right before tip-off, since I park at the ramp on 9th and LaSalle. Heck, I see people at Marshall Fields still shopping AFTER the games, when it's nearly 10pm! When I go to the clubs, it can take awhile for them to fill, but most pick up by 11pm or midnight. And anybody who visits the Warehouse district knows how vibrant it is along 1st Avenue now. I remember what it used to be dead over there back, 15 years ago or so, back before that nifty Target Center got built. Don't tell me a well-organized ballpark plan can't bring additional businesses and consumers because Target Center and 1st Avenue totally refute it. Why isn't there anything around Metrodome? Beats me - but I attribute it more to poor development planning than "sports parasites" trying to make Minneapolis less livable. Like I said, I hope a food and beverage tax to support a ballpark can be avoided in favor of parking/ticket surcharges, but if not, I'm willing to pay it and I'll keep going downtown to watch the Timberwolves (and hopefully the Twins), and patronize the shops and clubs just like the thousands, if not millions, I see around me every time I do. Mark Snyder Ward 1/Windom Park [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 3/22/02 11:05 AM, "Ghost" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Any additional taxes and fees on city residents, or worse yet, downtown > residents, to support a stadium are unacceptable. > > Minneapolis residents have been shafted year after year for taxes to > fund the sports venues. I would remind everyone on this list that we > once had a lively downtown where people from all over the metro came to > shop and eat and have fun. We used to have a Powers, a JC Penney, a > Woolworth, and a Donaldson's. We used to have a City Center full of > shops. The Skyway theater was packed every day. We had inexpensive > stores aplenty, and we had very upscale stores that were doing well. > Now, we have a mostly dead downtown where most smaller restaurants close > at 2 or 3 PM, the skyways and even the main commercial retail spaces are > vacant, and the streets are empty after 5 PM. Why? Because people > aren't so dumb that they want to pay extra for the same food and goods > they can get elsewhere, just to fund the stadiums. Why eat somewhere > that has a big food/liquor tax added, when you can find just as good a > restaurant elsewhere that doesn't jack up the price? Why pay extra for > any taxable merchandise? All incentives for people to shop, eat, and > seek entertainment downtown is gone, all in the name of attracting > people from other parts of the state and other states to come into > downtown briefly for a game, without spending any significant money at > the city's commercial establishments. > > The claims that businesses benefit so much from sports in the city are a > crock. Just watch traffic in and out of the city when there is a game > on. There is a huge, last-minute rush to get into the city and find > parking. (Tying up streets for Mpls residents and businesses, and > subjecting people with a real reason to be downtown to excessive "event > parking" fees.) There's a pedestrian rush from the parking areas to the > stadium. (Snarling up traffic for people who just want to get in and > out, since sports fans think that traffic lights don't count for them > because they're so special to be coming in to watch the game.) The fans > pack into the stadium, and then a couple of hours later the whole > pattern is reversed. If there was any money to be made from the fans > for Mpls businesses, there would be all kinds of restaurants and shops > around the Dome, and on the way to it from the parking garages. Those > businesses ain't there. Back in the 80s, there was a flurry of > speculation in land and buildings near the Dome because the Dome's > proponents claimed that there would be huge business to be had nearby. > Here we are, 20 years later, with NOTHING near the stadium. People > working in that area have a hard time getting lunch within a few > blocks. Why? Because those who tried to make a go of a business in a > fan area quickly lost their shirts. > > So, what we have here are sports parasites trying to make Mpls even less > livable for the residents, especially those least able to afford the > extra taxes, so they can have their toys. The idea of a city-wide tax > is especially harmful, because there is no remotely arguable benefit to > businesses even a few blocks away, much less several miles away, from > stadium events. The people of Mpls are speaking up in droves that they > don't want the stadium, they don't want to pay for the stadium, and > they're tired of having their government victimize them for the sake of > these massive for-profit entertainment conglomerates. The idea is NOT > to spread the area to harm more citizens with allegedly slightly lower > extra taxes. The idea is to say NO, NOT NOW, NOT EVER, are we going to > give a dime to sports teams. > > Hey, officials of Mpls - let's please make Mpls livable and vibrant FOR > MINNEAPOLITANS. I'd love to be able to stroll downtown again in the > evening, like I did in the mid-80s, and go shopping, stop at the > library, have a great meal, enjoy being out among a lot of people, see a > movie, and feel happy that I live in such a great city. As long as we > keep jacking up costs for corporate welfare to the richest of the rich > entertainment businesses, that will never happen again. But gee, if it > did, Mpls's coffers would be a lot better off because people would > actually patronize local businesses, and those businesses wouldn't be > dying or leaving in droves. > > The only answer is for Minnesota to show the nation its leadership. Let > the twins and the vikings go, if they want. Hopefully the next city > that they try to squeeze money from will get a clue and say no, too. > And the next, and the next. Folks, this has to end somewhere. > Hundreds of millions of dollars to feed the profits of the biggest > entertainment companies? While kids go hungry and get a poor > education? Nope. > > Roxana Orrell > Central > _______________________________________ 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
