[Winona Online Democracy]
Just throwing out here a couple of bits of info to think about, and also a plug for Winona's older neighborhoods, particularly in central Winona. For those who believe that the upscale housing market is limited to outlying areas, might I suggest they take another look in the city's core? I know that certain of the landlord's contingent like to tout the 'best use' of the gracious homes in Winona's center as being chopped up for student housing. However, my husband and I chose our home because of its charm, grace, quality and beauty of construction which cannot be matched at any price, as well as for the very wonderful family neighborhood, close enough for my husband to walk to work and for the kids to walk to school, library, parks, post office, pool, grocery or convenience store, movie theater, etc. Just a thought and something I think more people should consider. The older homes are very undervalued in Winona's real estate market, imo.
On my drive to work, I like to listen to NPR when I'm not listening to oldie's stations. This morning, there was discussion about indoor air quality and problems which have arisen since newly constructed homes have been built 'tighter', keeping more of indoor pollutants and allergens indoors instead of leaking through gaps along with the heat, and additionally, new problems arising from new construction materials and the gases they emit. This is a new area of study, but is certainly something that I believe that consumers as well as builders need to be aware of.
And again, on the way home, a nice discussion about the boom in organic farming. One organic farmer, a retired law enforcement officer who grew up on a farm said that when he retired to farming, he didn't know anything about the 'new' technologies and methods; he simply farmed as he learned growing up, which turns out to be low tech and organic. Turns out, organic farmers are having a hard time keeping up with demand for their high quality products as more and more people discover that nothing beats locally grown and produced foods for flavor and for quality. What is past is prologue.
More and more communities around the nation are exploring, developing or re-developing and embracing central down town areas, Main Street and smaller, locally owned and controlled businesses. I very much understand the push for being modern, but I believe Winona would do better to embrace it's history and core, not as a tourist/seasonal attraction, but quite frankly, as a way of life very much sought after and valued by millions of Americans whose history, whose roots have given way to anonymous strip malls and mega stores controlled by corporations hundreds of miles away. BTW, to prove a point to my coworkers in Rochester, I took some Bloedows to work, just to demonstrate how much better Bloedows is than Krispy Kreme. Bloedow's definitely was the winner, hands down.
Terri Hyle
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