No, carving up the Target site as you propose would be short sighted. There are very few sites in this city the size of Targets that are available. Unless we want to be stuck with inefficent and expensive boutiques to shop in we need to preserve large sites like Target's.
No, big does not equal better. No, small does not equal boutique. No, small does not mean more expensive.
However, I'm fairly sure I will never chane Dyna's mind on any of those points in my lifetime. She's clearly decided that big stores, big trucks, big trains and big unions are always better.
Again, the Mercado Central concept may not work everywhere.
But it may work on Broadway. Dyna has presented no more evidence that it would not work than she has that it would. Always the cynic, Dyna.
that a cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Another reality check- to get decent rates on shipping you need to
The last time Dyna gave us a reality check on SUPERVALU, her facts were all wrong as even just a glance at the front page of their web site would have confirmed.
Some people make their shopping choices simply based on price, others make their choices based on value.
Mark, most working folks can't afford to choose to pay more for dubious benefits.
Dubious benefits like living-wage employement for people working those industries? Lower unemployment? Less environmental damage? Lower energy usage? Dyna's position to me sounds like "I'm poor but I still want to buy all of the American dream at super discount prices, screw the long-term and societal costs." If we were not so spoiled by low retail prices on a large number of items, we could actually afford to employee people instead of making them charity cases. The middle class could be greatly expanded, and the destitute greatly reduced.
Coffee is a commodity and in no way should it cost $9 a pound, and your purchase of a few pounds a year is having zilch effect on the coffee market.
If one knows how coffee is grown and harvested, one knows that it ought to be $9 a pound or higher. If it were unionized, it would be even more expensive.
I pay more for milk from Cedar Summit Farms in New Prague because I think it's cool that they still offer returnable bottles after Schroeder Milk stopped doing that last year.
Mark, I don't know if you've noticed but we have a dairy up on the Northside too, kiddy corner to Target. It's a union shop and it's been there forever. So I support my neighborhood dairy and you can dispose of that scab stuff from Shroeder's at a proper Hazmat facility. And I'm not about to waste energy driving to New Prague just for milk.
What kind of person bashes a dairy as being "scab" and hazardous material, and further lumps Cedar Summit Farm into the equation? Cedar Summit actually produces their milk at a lower cost than other dairies, but because of government meddling in the marketplace, the really huge producers get far bigger tax breaks and subsidies, resulting in the end products having retail price ratios opposite to their cost of production. Further, Cedar Summit uses sustainable farming, grazing their cows on grass, instead of using feed, hormones, antibiotics and more.
Dairy farming is perfect example of big is not better. Let me quote Dave Minar, a dairy farmer:
"The solution to the dairy crisis is not to recruit outside investors to build the biggest dairies possible so we can claim we are number one in dairy cows. In Minnesota, we need to focus on the number of dairy farmers, not just the number of dairy cows. Cows don't shop on Main Street -- people do. A community is better off with 10 100-cow dairies, rather than one 1,000-cow operation."
Dave Minar was a conventional dairy farmer for many years before converting to management intensive rotational grazing, instead of using feed. This technique also spreads the manure in an evironmentally sound way.
I'm generally a supporter of the union ideals, especially in times where management seems more apt to take advantage of employees than not. But not for one second do I believe that the only good industry or shop or store is the one that is unionized.
I buy my milk from Cedar Summit, and I don't have to go to New Prague to get it. It tastes better. It's far less contaminated with chemicals. It's better for the environment. And yes, it costs more. But I'm happy to support a family farm, and thereby support a rural community and protect our environment.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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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