Snelling area will say a lot about what kind of city we want St. Paul
to be. Air quality at the corner of University and Snelling is the
worst in the entire metro: if you exclude a fwe large hog farms it's
probably the worst in 3 or 4 states. The entire Midwat Marketplace area
is a traffic and parking nightmare, is unfriendly to pedestrians,
bicyclists,and public transit; and -especially on the west end- is butt
ugly to boot(with or without billboards.) Putting a one-story, auto-
orientedbig-box store on I-94 and Snelling will only serve to
exacerbate the problems that are already there. Big-box stores
generally pay crummy wages, take money from the community instead of
building a stronger local economy and hurt locally-owned businesses.
I'll save a full discussion of big-box and Wal-Mart economics for
another day but you might look at www.civiceconomics.org for some
insight.
This shopping area will have a crucial relationship with the LRT on
University Ave.(or I-94) Thoughtful development that relates retail,
housing, transportation, community and 21st century urban density
issues requires a long-term comprehensive plan for this area.
University United actually has a plan that deals with the issues and
addresses the entire area bounded by Snelling, University, I-94, and
Syndicate on the east (Target included). Their plan would be a good
starting point for a community based discussion on the future of this
crucial area.
Putting a big-box store on the bus barn space is a 1990 answer to 21st
century questions. How about some smart development this time?
David Unowsky, temporarily residing in no-ones land on Grand and Dunlap.