At 9:24 AM -0600 11/15/04, Clara McConnell wrote:
A noticeable lack of growth, however, has occurred in the Downtown Saint Paul area.
As a long time Downtown business owner operator, I have to chuckle at the statement. Lack of Growth.... should have been worded Noticeable Decrease in businesses growth in DT. I have watched as we have had a general 20 year downturn in the use of DT St Paul. Yes there have been small squirts here or there where it has rebounded some, but never has it been like it was 20+ years ago, you know back when we had a Nice Mall with several big name anchor stores. What was the vacancy rate reported in the PPress a month or so ago?
The city is engaged in housing development and business expansion,
Yes the city has been engaged in increasing housing in DT... that is clearly evident by the number of voters that are registered in the DT Districts.
Business expansion on the other hand WHERE? You can not call Lawson an expansion. Why? Cause of all the companies that were thrown out to make room for their nice fancy building. You can not call the World Trade center an expansion. Why? The building management is next to impossible to deal with and well if you have been in there lately you will notice a great deal of vacancies (and it's not the World Trade Center anymore it's the Wells Fargo building). You certainly can not call the US Bank deal an expansion as it left lots of empty space when they moved across the river from DT (so they are not even in DT anymore).
What efforts towards revitalization in Downtown Saint Paul have you observed?
None, well unless you call putting up banners about events that no one attends are revitalization.
How do you gauge the success of these projects?
From what I have observed they have done a MARVALOUS JOB and should be complimented. The lack of projects has been handled with great fan fare and in a manner in which nothing being done is usually handled. How can you complain about projects (for business) when there are none?
Ahh to have a small business in DT is a wonderful thing... no one listens to you or cares if your making a living or not, but if your a Multi-Million dollar business they will build you a building so you can outsource your jobs and lay people off a few years later and GET AWAY with it.
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Sincerely,
John Birrenbach
W 7th Neighborhood, St Paul MN
=== Political & Business Consulting ===
http://www.birrenbach.com/
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"Six years on the council has trained me to feign interest for long periods of time"
Chris Coleman Jan 21, 2004
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