Mr. Brown writes:
My response:
Ah, but there's quite a difference between pumping over $60 million into a Target store smack in the middle of what was an already vibrant, economically viable downtown business district and focusing some of tax dollars back to the communities whose men and women paid for that monument to corporate greed. Perhaps Mr. Brown would like to visit some of the establishments that dot the Jordan and Folwell neighborhoods, that serve as the only source of groceries for many along Lowry and West Broadway and Chicago. I think that you quickly get the idea that a "hood store" is generally an indepent organization (although a few franchises walk a fine line as well) that violates established retail and taxation guidelines (selling items in single units although originally packed as a multiple unit set, or attempting to scam WIC) or that looks the other way when patrons/visitors engage in criminal activity.
I have a hard time believing that any elected official who would focus her/his energy on assisting the communities that comprise their wards would find themselves facing retribution on election day.
Mr. Brown:
>Add that to we haven't (yet anyway) done it for the sports teams and at
>least within the City of Minneapolis doesn't seem to have a tremendous >amount of support. >My repsonse:
That's the way it looks at this time. Give it a few months. St. Paul is gearing up for an all-out effort to lure one or both sports teams from Minneapolis. Does anyone think Minneapolis and Hennepin County will roll over and play dead? What I'm saying is before that happens perhaps we should re-evaluate what the true priorities of this city should be. Just before I left the Detroit area in the late 1980's, all the city leaders could talk about was how this theater and that restaurant and those retail establishments all needed to be centered right downtown, along with new sports stadiums. Naturally, to lure them into the riot-scarred core of the city took millions of tax dollars. The problem? Neighborhoods were ignored and disintergrated at an alarming rate, which resulted in higher crime, which resulted in keeping people indoors, which resulted in few venturing downtown to see the glitz.
It all boils down to liveability issues. What are cities for? Yes, a thriving downtown is wonderful, but we had that even before Target got its way and bulldozed art galleries, successful non-chain restaurants, and independent businesses.
Mr. Brown:
Or do you want to increase the overall tax
>burden to put a grocery store at any given intersection?
My reponse:
Where this proposal came I do not know. I suppose it's an attempt to dramatize a point. However, I notice that Mr. Brown lives in an area that has tried for years to secure a grocery store other than City Market on Hennepin and the now defunct SuperValu on Nicollet. I'm sure he would like other grocery alternatives, unless he has access to a car. There's the rub. Many of those beholden to the corner "hood store" do not have freedom of transporation, and if they do carrying multiple bags of groceries is a bit difficult.
Tax incentives to lure business should be a last resort (not a first, as was the case with the last administration). But should they be necessary, what harm do they do in the short run? Vacant land, or underdeveloped land, does little to add value to the tax rolls. Perhaps a business in it's place, hiring residents of a neighborhood (thus lowering unemployment rates), will have a positive ripple effect. It's certainly better than doing nothing.
Protection from crime and fire. Good schools. Fine transportation and roads. Garbage collection and snow removal. Most importantly, neighborhoods we want to come home to, and can afford to live in. Isn't this the basics that we look for?
Alan Hooker
Victory Neighborhood
Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account is over limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage! REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
