On 6/21/03 11:05 PM, "Dyna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > As long as you don't eat pesticide laden clothing while pregnant you > should be OK.
Dyna may not quite be able to grasp this concept, but some of us actually take our concern for others into account when making purchasing decisions. I don't choose organic cotton whenever possible because I'm worried about being exposed to pesticides. I choose it because I'd rather not purchase products where farmers and farm workers, their families and those who live near the farms are being exposed to large amounts of toxic pesticides. I've read that approximately 300,000 farm workers annually are diagnosed with illnesses related to pesticides exposure in the United States. I've also read that conventional cotton growing is responsible for some 25% of the pesticides used annually worldwide. Again, that may put me a little out there, but I'm used to it. > Sears is overpriced on just about everything, and why would I drive to > St.Paul when I can be fleeced just as well at the nearby Brookdale > Sears? Well, when one recalls that I work as a state government mule in St. Paul about a mile or so from that Sears, then perhaps it becomes clearer why I would choose it over Brookdale. I get that whole "combine trips to save gas" benefit, plus the view of the Capitol is a far cry better than anything out in Brooklyn Center. And actually, I was recently asked about washing machines by a friend of mine who recently bought a house in Jordan neighborhood and discovered that Sears actually offered lower prices than several other retailers. And people can say what they want about Sears' prices, but I know this: my gramma owns a Craftsman lawn mower that I remember my grampa using when I was a little kid. Since I'm 31, it's got to be around 25 or 30 years old. Aside from oil changes, blade sharpenings and maybe a few tuneups, it's never needed any work and it still runs perfectly fine, though it does probably require an extra pull or two on the starter cord than when it was new. Anybody got a story like that about something they bought at Fleet Farm? How about Home Depot or Menard's? I made the mistake of buying a lawn mower from Menard's once because it was cheaper. That's when I learned that paying a little more for quality isn't such a bad thing. > A lot of what ails us as a community here is our low income, > aggravated by the shortage of affordable basic goods that the "boxes" > could provide. Another yuppie food co-op is not the answer to the > Northside's problems. OK, I think everyone is aware that low incomes are certainly a big part of what ails the Northside. Now we've heard this Cub Foods that will take over the Target site will be unionized, so that should help for the 100 or so folks that get jobs there, assuming Jerry's Foods will place an emphasis on hiring locally. Any other union big box retailers out there that Broadway should seek? From what I've seen, such retailers usually pay out lousy wages and are also generally strongly anti-union. So let's see just how this works: We have a community with mostly low-income folks, so we try to draw in a big box retailer that offers low-priced goods that these poor folks can afford, but then of course, that big box retailer pays squat, so we end up stuck in a fairly vicious cycle, don't we now? Now, while I'll admit that I can't personally understand it myself, I'm willing to concede that there may be some folks on the Northside who just plain aren't interested in shopping at a natural foods co-op. But I'll bet there are some folks up Hwy 81 that are. And none of them have natural food co-ops in their communities now, do they? So if one were to locate on West Broadway somewhere, then in retailer language, that's what's known as a "destination" for drawing folks into your community. Because do you know what those folks are doing now? They're traveling through the Northside to I-94 without stopping and then heading down to the Wedge. Heck, my friends that live in Jordan neighborhood do that now. They're not going to shop at the Cub Foods that opens at the Target site, one of them has already told me they're going to stick with the Wedge until the Eastside Food Coop opens. And these are the kinds of folks I'd think the Northside would like to have more of. After all, one of them is a med student at the U who is about to start her rotations and the other is going for his PhD in history. > With a CUB coming in that's about to change. The CUB will have a > synergistic affect and draw more customers to the area who will > patronize other businesses in the area. You mean like the Target did? Sure, Dyna...let's compare that theory to what Rep. Neva Walker said in the June 10th edition of Insight News: "[Walker] claimed that the vitality of established smaller scale businesses was bruised when Target established the Broadway store - now the shopping facility is closing, she added, 'the area is even worse off than before their arrival.'" See the full article at http://www.insightnews.com/articles.asp?mode=display&articleID=672 But since it looks like a done deal that Cub Foods is coming to West Broadway and Lyndale, I sure hope I'm wrong. > CUB, the asian take out in Hawthorne Crossings, etc.. I ask for some good things that might draw people to the Northside and this is the best you can come up with? A grocery store that's not open yet and an Asian takeout place in the middle of an urban strip mall? Geez, Dyna! What about Lucille's Kitchen, Caf� Tatta Buna, Tooties on Lowry, Theo Wirth Park, Homewood Studios on Plymouth Ave, the new Houston's Neighborhood Market on West Broadway, just past Penn Ave? Maybe you could check it out on the way back from Fleet Farm. What other good places are there to talk about on the Northside? Anyone? > Mark, I save a lot of money by shopping at CUB, Fleet Farm, etc.. I > have to save up money because as Minneapolis becomes increasingly > unliveable I may need to purchase property elsewhere. Yeah, this is the kind of mindset that's really going to help West Broadway and the Northside realize it's potential. Good thing the Northside has folks like list members Joan Thom, Keith Reitman and Anne McCandless who don't share it. Keith and I may not see eye-to-eye on everything, but I'll definitely give him credit for at least trying to make a difference. By the way on a somewhat related note, a friend's birthday celebration last night took me out to the Sunsets restaurant on pedestrian-friendly new Lake Street in Wayzata along Lake Minnetonka. Even some of suburbs now are embracing the concept that people LIKE the idea of being able to actually walk someplace to eat or shop. The streets have one (that's right, one!) lane in each direction and traffic flowed smoothly even though the area was bustling with activity from the various shops, restaurants and folks visiting the lake. If Wazayta can pull this off with their Lake Street, why can't Minneapolis get by with two lanes on ours? Go STRIDE! 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
