On Tuesday, June 10, 2003, at 07:33 PM, Mark Snyder wrote:
Why? You've stated that Broadway/Lyndale is one of the few places zoned for
big box retail, so it CAN go there, but that doesn't address whether big box
retail SHOULD go there.
Some community oriented businesses like a lumber yard or Post Office just plain need there space.... In fact the Target building is just short of what is considered the "sweet spot" of building sizes, about 100,000 square feet.
If I want to, I CAN pull a hammer out of my toolbox and whack myself upside
the head with it. Does that mean that I should?
And sometimes a sledge hammer is appropriate for the job.
I have to admit that before Jon Gorder suggested a Mercado Central-style
operation on the northside, I didn't know a lot about it. Since then, I've
done some looking around and learned that it opened in 1999 with about two
dozen or so businesses. Now, despite the years of recession, it's up to 49
and there's a waiting list for more. The types of retailers found range from
artisans to books and music to clothing and jewelry, fresh foods,
restaurants, pretty much anything you can think of and would find in a
retailer like a Target, though I'm afraid they don't seem to have any stores
offering farm chemicals or machinery parts. Sorry, Dyna.
I doubt and hope there will never be much demand for pesticides in Minneapolis. However, have you noticed that the machinery our local small contractors use looks a lot like farm machinery? And with the Bush administration threatening increasing natural gas prices, wouldn't silos of bulk fuel corn and wood pellets make sense? And old North Minneapolis homes share a lot of parts with old farmhouses...
But my point is this: look at the Sears site in south Minneapolis that's
been abandoned for years, northeasters are probably familiar with the empty
shell that was Apache Plaza on the outskirts of our neighborhoods and I'm
sure that there were plenty who were wondering what would happen at the
Quarry if Fleming hadn't found a buyer for their Rainbow store there. Now
Target on West Broadway is closing. Does anyone really believe that these
big boxes are truly worth the headaches they'll bring to the surrounding
neighborhoods when they ultimately close? And they will close eventually.
Whether it's a business downturn or the building becomes obsolete or the
parent corporation goes under, it's gonna happen. And dozens or hundreds of
people will lose their jobs and thousands will lose their primary shopping
destination. Just like what will happen soon at West Broadway and Lyndale.
Mark, as Kieth pointed out there are plenty of small storefronts up and down Broadway for small business start ups. But we have few sites the size of Target's and we need to preserve them for users that need there scale.
Now contrast that with this: http://www.windndc.org/ndc/mercado.html
There isn't just one place to buy clothes and jewelry, there's nine of them.
Instead of just one place to buy groceries, there's six of them. And so on.
So if one fails, it'll suck, but the whole community isn't going to be stuck
up the creek and it's a heck of a lot easier to find someone to take over
one little shop and try something new than a whole 83,000 square foot
building.
And when half the business in your Broadway Mercado go under, who'll pay the bills?
Here's something else to think about. Mercado Central has 49 different
businesses. Even if each one only employs 2-3 people, collectively, it's
employing the same number or more than one big box retailer.
At what wages? And do they have health care?
And even more
importantly, instead of the vast majority of the profits being sent off to
some corporate tower far away from the neighborhoods, never to be seen
again, this model has several dozen owners profiting who are and building
wealth that are far more likely to invest back in those neighborhoods.
Hasn't it been a common refrain that what's really killing the northside is
an utter lack of opportunities for people to work their way from low-income
to at least an average income? What's more likely to bring that - a big box
where a hundred or so people can bust their humps for eight bucks an hour or
a chance for folks to create and run their own business?
How about a better idea- a co-op for the Target site. Not only is it locally owned, we own it. And it provides what we want- food, clothes, seeds, hardware, fuels, whatever...
To quote David Shove: "Small IS beautiful"
And expensive...
Hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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.)
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