Dyna sure tries to paint a poverty stricken and crime riddled view of North Mpls and I'm here to say that while we have those things, it's not the ENTIRE image of North Mpls. Geez, EVERY neighborhood in the WORLD has problems to deal with and it's unfair to characterize an entire community based on your negative perspective!
Let me tell you more about North Mpls from the perspective of a proud, happy and committed resident. DYNA WROTE: I'm talking about a bakery that can feed a city, not just a few yuppies. We can't afford $3 a loaf bread on the Northside. CB SEZ: Speak for yourself -- I can afford a $3 loaf of bread and so can plenty of other folks I know here on the Northside. We're not ALL living in poverty here -- some people are, sure, and the CUB will serve their needs. DYNA: Only the hair stylist, hardware, and auto parts store fit well the Northside's demographic. We have plenty of empty apartments already, thank you. CB: Again, you speak for your neighbors on the Northside as if NONE of us would EVER use those services. I think the Northside needs a Kinko's type place, a bookstore and antique store would be great, and I think we could support another coffeeshop similar more to the old Destination X in offering night entertainment. We could use a video rental store, as well. We've got two really great hardware stores, an auto parts store on Broadway and even a florist on Dowling & Humboldt not to mention Aardvark Balloons and Carlson Drug for cards. There are two coffeeshops up this way, Penn Station for a burger, Top Diner's open all day now in their new location and DQ has fabulous chili dogs and is one of the few in town with chocolate soft serve :-) And have I mentioned Kowalski's in my other posts?!? I can't tell you how much we love that store! A friend of mine did a comparison and found that most of their prices were comparable to CUB but since they do so much to support our neighborhood and they're real close, I don't need no stinkin' CUB -- I'm glad it'll be there for those who do, though :-) And these are just a few of the great businesses we've got to offer -- not to mention our great parks with walking and bike paths! And Victory Parkway -- it's a good feeling to see so many people walking their dogs, playing football and really using that green space! Simply speaking, while some view the Northside as a crime ridden, poverty stricken haven for hookers and drug dealers, that's just a small part of who we are. I'm one of those folks who's pretty tired of always having to defend where she lives due to melodramatic media coverage -- we had two live news crews at the Spring Art Party on June 7th but neither, to my knowledge, mentioned our goal of improving the overall image of our community by spotlighting some of the artists who live and work here! Oh well, the fact that people saw us on TV and came to see what was going on was good enough for now, I guess. DYNA: Been there, done that- I was involved in the early days of North County and was a member of Whole Foods Co-op in the 70s. When they went up market they lost me. CUB will pretty much eliminate the need for a real food co-op in the Northside, and I'd have no reason to join a yuppie one. CB: Again, you speak for your neighbors -- I'd shop at a co-op and so would a lot of people I know here in North Mpls. We're looking forward to the one Northeast which will serve us fine for now -- until we get more folks here to support our very own. DYNA; Being neither an artist nor finacially able to consume art I won't bother them. CB: You'd be no bother at all -- it's free to come in and look at the artwork and there are no high-handed sales pressure, believe me. Thanks to Mark for spotlighting Homewood. George and Bev Roberts are wonderful people and we're lucky to have them there. They renovated an old grocery into artist studios and a gallery space. I, for one, am having a show there in August -- the arrangements are far easier than a high-brow art gallery and they don't take a commission of my sales so I don't have to raise my prices! YAY! DYNA: Depends on what your looking for- we have an army of hookers and a crack house on damn near every block. As I write it's past midnight and the neighborhood gangbangers are sending up another barrage of fireworks. CB: And this just simply is NOT true! Dyna, you're not helping the image of your neighborhood by making unilaterally false statements like this! I've lived in my home for 20 years now and while I've seen some "changes" in the neighborhood, I'm one of those that doesn't just let that stuff happen. I'm out there chattin' with the young people asking them to not light off their fireworks; I tell the folks who visit my neighbors and leave their loud music blasting to turn it down; I tell the hookers to get lost; and I report things to law enforcement so they'll come out and take care of the problem. It doesn't always work but at least I'm trying to do something! I defend my part of town wherever I go -- I proudly tell folks where I live and answer their questions about just how safe it is to live here. I agree; some areas are worse than others -- I'm on Lowry & Girard and it's been bad here but we get right on a problem and it goes away (usually) -- but if more neighbors would get together to fight these issues instead of accepting them as they are and then complain about their neighborhood --- why, I just think the whole world would be a much better place! DYNA: Sorry Mark, but we haven't had much to celebrate on the Northside except the coming of CUB and the continuing business of our railroads and river. CB: Again, a false statement -- as it relates to all of North Mpls, at least! This is a great place to live or I wouldn't have done it all my life! I've got a great house that I bought 20 years ago so the payments are reasonable and I can finally have some choices in life. I'm a struggling artist so my choices are often very limited, but I still have them and I still exercise my right to make choices every day. I choose to live where I do; I chose my vocation in life; and I choose to be pro-active and try to make a positive impact on my community. So I'd like those of you who don't have the privilege of living where I do to not pay attention to Dyna's negative opinions about North Mpls being such a bad place -- there's plenty to celebrate in North Mpls and there's plenty to be proud of, as well! Connie Beckers - FOLWELL Resident THE GODDESS OF GLASS www.goddessofglass.com "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." ~John Lennon TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. 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