On 6/13/03 12:14 AM, "Dyna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I pointed out that there are some economies of scale with bigger > buildings, although they often disappear when the building gets bigger > than a hectare.
However, you've failed to ever give an example of how that works to make big box retail preferable. So far your examples have been, a lumber yard, a post office and building Ford Ranger trucks. None of those are examples of big box retail and none of those uses are likely are going to be at West Broadway and Lyndale. So again, why should only big box retail be considered for that site? >> 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. > > IIRC, I pointed out that Super Valu was a medium size grocer, not the > beast of Bentonville. Their website says they're the 11th largest > grocer. Sorry Chris, reality bites. Yes, the 11th largest grocer in the nation (which sounds more like "big" than "medium" to me) AND leading food distributor (which is definitely big). And you only know that now because Chris went to the Supervalu web site and checked and then called you on it. Since it was a whole week ago, maybe you need to refresh your memory: http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2003-June/024698.html >> 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. > > And were going to do this on the low wage jobs with no benefits that > your favored small business provides? Can you cite any references that say all small businesses only provide low-wage jobs and no benefits? And do you have any references to support your apparent claim that big box retail would offer anything better? Target pays their employees, what, $8 an hour? That doesn't sound too livable to me. And just how many big box retailers are unionized, anyway? >> 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. > > Providing most of those $$$ were actually going to the grower and > employees I wouldn't mind. It does. That's the whole point of "fair trade" coffee. It cuts out the speculators that exploit the farmers. A fuller explanation of how this works is available at the Peace Coffee (voted best coffee for 2003 in the City Pages!) web site: http://www.peacecoffee.com/fair_trade.htm >> 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. > > Cedar Summit is not the only dairy to produce good milk, and what is > wrong with our Northside's milk? I'm not going to diss Marigold Foods. I've toured their facility and they run a respectable operation. So the problem is not them, it's what they get to work with - milk that comes from cows that are penned up, fed loads of antibiotics because they're surrounded in filth and given feed laden with unnecessary hormones instead of grass. By the way, Cedar Summit Farms does not ever use feed. Even in the winter, the cows are fed grass that was harvested during the growing season. And the rotational grazing method is a sustainable practice that maintains the quality of the land. By the way, I don't drive out to New Prague to buy my milk, either. I get it at the Selby-Dale Mississippi Market on my way home from work. Lastly, Dyna claimed that I was proposing to "carve up the Target site" and that would be inefficient. Actually, being the green-minded fellow I am, I envisioned a creative developer would find a way to renovate the existing building into a facility that could support a number of small or micro-businesses. Take that 83,000 square feet of floor space and divide it up into a range of sizes among 50 or 60 spots since someone selling jewelry probably doesn't need the same amount of space as someone running a bike sales and repair shop. There could even be space set aside for community use since I heard that was an idea that came up after Target announced they were closing the store. People ask "why couldn't these shops locate in any of the individual vacant spaces along Broadway?" and the answer is by combining them under one roof, they'll save on overhead, they'll benefit from the existing parking available and the greater visibility and access that comes with being located at a major intersection and they'll benefit from the group marketing opportunities. In other words, such a development helps reduce the barriers that have kept folks from opening small businesses and thus helps improve their chance of success. Perhaps that's part of why businesses in the Mercado development have managed to do well during a recession that has seen small businesses (and large ones) dropping like flies in the last few years. Mark Snyder Windom Park 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
