Ever since I started reading this list, I had this question bugging me: "What the HECK is 'Ventura Village'?" I've lived here since 1966 and NEVER heard of any part of Minneapolis called that. In fact, no part of Minneapolis WOULD call itself anything so corny. Had to be some joke.
Well, now I've done some reading and realize I was closer than I could have guessed. It WAS a joke, a joke that went very wrong. Moreover, it was a political ploy worthy of Northern Rhodesia.Or actually, for anyone who knows Hawaiian history, it reminds me of the immigrant organizations that overthrew the royal Hawaiian regime with the help of the white government in Washington. http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-minneapolis-field/2001-April/001666.html _________________________________________ I welcome Michael Hohmann's illuminating comments. I also believe that government should not use taxes to finance would-be business owners who lack the skills and prudence to do business without that help. I think there are ways to help entire business districts. Or ways that collections of businesses can improve their own district, and I do think those are good ideas. However, I have to clarify the difference between Michael's points and mine. I wasn't talking about the things that government does (such as bring in big discount chains) that drive businesses under. I was talking about the fact that MOST OF US simply aren't qualified by personality to float in business solo. It isnt something that government does to us. The most common thing is to simply under-estimate grossly what a successful business takes. You don't really own it. It owns YOU. I learned that over the last decade when my sister owned one. She made a critical error in expanding right before a highway project cut the traffic to her first store. You can blame it on MNDOT, but they don't deserve the whole rap. If you are signing a note that could bankrupt you, you need to understand the flow of traffic to your store and what could interrupt it. So, if you start up a business, you risk nearly all you have. And some of us should steer clear of that. And government should help make the severity of risk MORE OBVIOUS, not softpeddle it. _____________________________________________ Good heavens! Well, I've said it before and will say it again. If you rely on commercial media, you have a pretty foggy notion of what is going on around you. I have a good grasp (I think) of Longfellow/Cooper affairs. But I confess that reading about "palace coups" in Central and Florida-style politics in Philips makes me wonder what it is about economically-impacted neighborhoods. I've lived in every part of the city but North, but I've never encountered anything like the stuff described here. Maybe I'm just listening to activists on this list, and they have colorful ways of talking about mundane things. Seems like the spirit of cooperation was a little deeper and earlier in the places where I chose to live in the last 30 years. ____________________________________________ If you want 35mph on Hiawatha, just set the lights so that people will get lots of red lights if they go faster. My impression is that that step has not yet been taken because when I drive faster, I can get quite a distance before I hit a red light. Somehow, it seems to me the people who are demanding slower speeds are resurrecting the whole fight against routing traffic down this artery. But speeds have been faster since the day in the 60's when I arrived. There can be no talking of restoring some lost Shangri-La. Perhaps they need some kind of pedestrian tunnel at the few intersections with LRT stations. ____________________________________________ List participants should realize that organizations that collect for charity are not bound by telemarketing laws. However, the better ones will respect a request not to call. Since mppoa buys commercial help, they may not BE one of the "better ones". In fact, with law enforcement disavowing it left and right, it seems near certain they are not. This is where caller ID comes in. And if it really annoys you, there are now several other options. For example, I have a phone options that allows me to designate hours when I don't want calls and a recording says "This number is not taking calls at this time". ___________________________________________ "As Shakespere says 'me thinks they doth protest too much.'" A passive-aggressive non-argument. ===== ========================================= Jim Mork----Cooper Neighborhood "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God" ---Matthew 5:9 United for Peace http://www.unitedforpeace.org/new/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
