Which reminds me of the reasons why Starbuck is succeeding while Minneapolis is increasingly being deserted. Now before anyone drags out those 2000 census numbers, there already obsolete- the vacancy rate is about 50% on my block and the same 3 homes have been for sale forever. A mexican famiily replaced the asian family down at the corner though and they were putting in a lovely fence today. There in the construction business though, and I suspect our city inspectors will soon chase them out for parking their trucks along that ugly freeway noise wall.
My friend in Starbuck tried to find a building for a tranny house here in the cities. For the majority of you that are unfamiliar with "tranny houses", the tranny house movement started in the 1960s when transsexuals would rent a house together or adjoining apartments and create a community. Now the transsexuals have jobs and money so they're buying property, but the motivation is the same. My friend looked at many properties in the city and found anything she could afford was rundown and surrounded by drug dealing, prostitution, and worse. Not a very theraputic environment when you're trying to keep a young transsexual away from such vices.
Then my friend noted some bargain priced properties in greater Minnesota. Starbuck had just built a new hospital and medical clinic making the "old" clinic available at a bargain price. Imagine 4000 square feet plus full basement, built in the 50s and 70s, air conditioned, heavy electric service, all wheelchair accessable... for $90,000! There's probably a bit of peeling paint there, but no one seems to care. My friend is essentually running a group home there, and no one is bothered... one can only imagine the community outrage if someone tried to set up a group home in one of Minneapolis crime infested neighborhoods. One of the trannies thought she would practice the worlds oldest profession a bit in Starbuck... and was promptly shut down and on her way out of town. I believe she moved to Minneapolis, where she can practice her trade relatively unimpeded. A serial shoplifter was also amongst the early inhabitants of the Starbuck tranny house and he was promptly sent packing in similar manner.
Despite these bad apples the citizenry of Starbuck seems to have accepted this quite out community of transsexuals in their midst. While the local chapter of "Promise Keepers" got a bit miffed, the local business association is renting one of the tranny house's outbuildings for storage. And while Minneapolis is threatening to imprison citizens for possession of peeling paint, Starbuck welcomes investment and has saved the tranny house thousands by changing their tax status from business to homesteaded residential. There are buildings with peeled paint in Starbuck, but nobody's worrying about it.
Starbuck is growing while Minneapolis is dying because Starbuck understands this nebulous thing called a housing market and Minneapolis doesn't. Starbuck will be happy to let you stay at it's full service muncipal campground for $900 for the five month season and free parking when they close for the winter. Starbuck has some wonderful old buildings like the classic 1950s car dealership that's available for $60,000. And they'll let you slide on the peeling paint and don't mind if you convert it into a home for yourself and your classic car/tractor/whatever collection. There are plenty of decent houses in the $50,000 range as well as land with lake views to site an RV on or for new construction.
With a market imbalance like this the only thing keeping Minneapolitans in Minneapolis is jobs, and a lot of us are reaching retirement age...
abandoned 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.)
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
