Dave Piehl writes: "It's interesting that despite great freeway access, the Target store in north Minneapolis isn't generating enough traffic to remain viable. Meanwhile, K Mart on Lake Street, which has "suffered" poor freeway access since it was built, has survived several rounds of K Mart downsizing. As a company, Target is far mor successful than K Mart, so apparently great freeway access isn't all it's cracked up to be.
It's time to save $200 million taxpayer dollars and Ax the Excess!" J.C.'s response to Mr. Piehl's keen observation: All of Lake Street near 35W is thriving, not just K-Mart. Any casual observer would be hard-pressed to miss a renaissance like this. In the shell of the former thrift store at 5th Ave. there are dozens of small merchants starting businesses. At Fourth and Lake, the Las Americas building will soon house a new marketplace. The Midtown Greenway is attracting new and more diverse users. Ridership on the 21 and 18 lines is increasing annually. Buses are full to excess. The hum of economic vitality is ever present, and judging by the success of Eat Street, (where there is no freeway access), Lake Street could use less ramps, not more. Under the guise of "economic growth" the freeway expansionnaires would tear out 16 units of affordable housing for a flyover ramp to Wells Fargo, a half dozen thriving businesses for a supersized Lake Street complete with median imported from Woodbury, and a tot lot for a southbound exit ramp to Lake. Do you love speed at any cost? Do you feel like our city has too much affordable housing and too many parks? Want to complete the urban renewal begun in the 60's? If so, the Excess is your project. We can choose between the alternatives laid out in the Kingfield plan, e.g. more transit, better walking and biking facilities, and freeway mitigation, or the Excess Project's vision of more ramps, more pavement, and more burden on the taxpayers - a $200 gamble in a sluggish economy. For more info, check out STRIDE's newly updated site: www.stride-mn.org Jeff Carlson, Whittier __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
