I think Dennis Plante's remarks about common sense were most apropos. At the same time, thinking outside the box produces some interesting ideas:While schools are appropriately the key discussion right now, part of the issue is connected to a larger challenge: Minneapolis has too many buildings. That's the problem but there may be some creative ideas out there which could make this part of the solution.
* Maybe it is time for Minneapolis to become a consolidated city and county. I have not surveyed the field, but let me mention that San Francisco and I believe Baltimore made this change in relatively recent history. Denver, Colorado has been a combined city/county entity for a long time, likewise Milwaukee. And even Broomfield, Colorado (population ~40,000) created its own county in the past few years.
* Maybe the city of Minneapolis should include the school system and the library system. Sharing facilities would then become the default.
* Perhaps Minneapolis should have a historic building law of some sort which reviews any proposed demolition, so that the school board (as the easiest, but not only, example) cannot indiscriminately bulldoze buildings of enduring structure and architecture. We may have "too many buildings" but I'd argue that most of the "too many" are of modern "cheap" construction of little architectural or historical note. Minneapolis has pretty much ruined the vast majority of its architectural, and thus physical cultural heritage via wrong-headed demolition -- if not for the few exceptions and the parks, the city would not look anything like what it did in 1950, much less 1900. As it is, the resemblance is only passing in many areas. Just as tearing a community school down diminishes that community in hard to measure ways, likewise with indiscriminate demolition and "renewal" in any part of the city. On subtle, subconscious levels, people form strong interpersonal _community_ bonds which make a city great based not just on who they know, but the environment around them. A sense of place, familiarity and history all lend strength to a community and a city. There's little such sense in "all new" (people and structures and geography) places.
* Maybe the various city, school and library buildings need to be smaller and more energy efficient? Truly, every neighborhood deserves to be served by a neighborhood library and school for the many benefits which accrue to a neighborhood and to the city as a whole, when composed of strong, healthy neighborhoods. Yes, it is more expensive facility-wise to have 10 small buildings instead of one giant central building. But the greater benefits to the city as a whole, despite being hard to quantify, usually reside with the distributed, diversified smaller buildings. I've got parks, a school, a hardware store, a couple gas stations, a few restaurants and a few other retail establishments within walking distance of my house. Without them, it would not be worth living here. I may as well live in the suburbs, where the house, the property taxes and the utilities would be cheaper. Close a bunch of schools and some branch libraries, and suddenly it becomes a lot less desirable to live here. I don't run into my neighbors as often because I have to go such a long distance to get to public spaces like the library or the school. Less interaction foments less concern, and pretty soon the neighborhood deteriorates.
I'm not in favor of MPS wasting lots of money on mostly empty school buildings, but closing a school simply for the school system facility's bottom line is penny wise and pound foolish unless they try to make some good estimates of the value of that school to the neighborhood and city. Sure, that's really hard work, and sure, it's somewhat outside the purview of the schools' real mission, but it must not be ignored if we want the city to be successful. That success or lack of it reflects back on the schools. If MPS destroys the city's neighborhood fabric by closing schools left and right, it becomes a spiraling, self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. Schools close, fabric tears, neighborhoods degenerate, people move out, schools have less money and fewer students -- lather, rinse, repeat until nothing is left.
Cities (as are cultures and transportation systems) are systemic. Ignoring the side effects is negligence. Look at the big picture, not just your backyard, because what's over the fence affects you too.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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