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I've been waiting for someone to mention the healthy and vibrant retail environment on University Avenue and Snelling Avenue. Take a drive along either street and you'll see restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores, insurance agencies, hair salons and new construction catering to the needs of Hmong, Vietnamese, Korean, African and African-American communities. Those establishments provide goods and service that Wal-Mart and Target and Herberger's don't sell. And.........I suspect that most of the owners of those small establishments are from the communities served. Ask those folks if capitalism works!! Paul Gleeson St. Paul PS. Paul, honestly, I think it was the Booya conversation that served as this tonic for this forum. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Paul Kuettel Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 12:13 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [StPaul] Back to St Paul St. Paul E-Democracy Links http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/links.html _____________________________________________ Hi All! I have been overwhelmed at how the Walmart thread has re-energized this list....or is it just that everyone is on Christmas Vacation with time on their hands? The various rational and irrational takes on economics have been very interesting,, but we have strayed far from the scope of the list. I suggest that we have beaten the general topic of capitalism to death. Let us return to the original thread of the pros and cons of Walmart locating in Midway Marketplace, specifically, and in St Paul, generally. My position is that jobs is jobs. Take 'em or leave 'em. We have experienced a great influx of immigrants over the past decade, which had grown exponentially as more come and reproduce. Betty McCollum promises to put an upword spike on those stats next year. I wondered back in a political debate in '94 why disparate cultures from the mountains of Laos to the deserts of Somalia would be attracted to such a radically different climate (weather, political, social, religious, you name it). The glass-half full people responded that it is for education, jobs, opportunity in general. The half-empties used terms like "welfare magnet." I think both groups are correct to some extent. In '94 I was more in tune with the half-empties, but seeing the success of many of our new neighbors has softened my stance. To be sure, we ARE a welfare magnet, but kudos to those who have quickly worked their way out of it. Should an EVILLLL corporation like Walmart be allowed to fill a vacant retail space and compete with nearby Target, providing value for the dollar and entry-level jobs for hundreds of St Paulites, or should we simply pay more property tax to Ramsey County for social services in order to keep the Midway Center/Marketplace/Target complex so very upscale and pristine? ;-) Builder's Square, Ikea, Walmart, Menards, etc. I say, Bring 'em ON! As Nahm used to say, "Gud fuh Saint Pawhl." Cheers and Happy New Year! PK St Paul born and bred, now keeping an eye on "my" city from my aerie in Falcon Heights, home of the Raptor Center. _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
