Post in Speaker and Minneapolis Resident Margaret Anderson Kelleher Goes for Mall Boondoggle at the Expense of Her Home Town

May 02 17:41 UTC

Hi Bob-

  I agree with your sentiments about the subsidy entirely. There are a few
things I would disagree with however in the argument.

  1. Bloomington is an old suburb. It has been the third or fourth largest city
in teh state (trading positions) for decades. The eastern part (where the mall
is) is a square block grid design, something most urban planners identify as
the demarkation between older suburbs that resulted from population growth and
newer suburbs that resulted a bit more from flight.

  2. You seem to equate MOA with sprawl. In addition to the older neighborhood
argument above, I would disagree. MOA may hurt the downtowns, but so does Grand
Avenue in St. Paul and Uptown here. Sprawl certainly hurts downtowns, but
frankly those spread out strip malls in the 3rd and 4th ring and the exurbs are
far more damaging in many ways. The MOA actually represent considerable
density, it may not be the flavor we think of in urban environments (I live in
Loring Park and love it), but the density is far greater than most retail
environments

  3. MOA, of any retail establishment in the metro area, brings in attention
adn dollars form outside the area that WOULD NOT be here if it was not the MOA,
Icelandair does not advertise vacation packages to Minnesota to go to Southdale
or downtown MPLS/ST. Paul shopping. I dont agree with subsidies, but this fact
alone makes it a far far wiser investment than the Ballpark. As the Swedish
version of the Icelandair website says about Minneapolis: The Mall of America
(Voucher), det strsta utbudet av affrer under samma tak i USA ligger i
Minneapolis.

  4. Transportation- while the Mall may have density it surely is vastly car
based. You would be absolutely correct in pointing out that huge flaw. At teh
same time, the Mall operates as a 3rd downtown in our public transit system and
creates a focal point in the south metro. As gas prices go up and up and up, it
may actually be better to focus near suburban development around the mall area
rather than in strip malls elsewhere.

  5. Downtown MPLS and St.Paul may be negatively impacted by the MOA, BUT, is
it because of the MOA or because suburbanites would rather shop out in the
suburbs (meaning if the mall were not there they would they just go to the
Apple Valley stip mall)?. In many ways it can be argued that MOA, because it
brings in more "outsiders", is far far less a threat than the strip malls and
dales. Frankly with that train and an airport in between MPLS DT should be able
to leverage the MOA much more. There are so many "Friendly Manitobans" in MOA
on a weekend that Gary Doer (premeir of Manitoba) could campaign for the NDP
there on the weekend and hit more Peggers than at home. I think we are going to
have to come to terms with the fact that downtown retail in MPLS and St. Paul
can pull in people from throughout the area, but to a large extent requires
many downtown residents. We are ahead of you in MPLS but you are catching up on
residents downtown.

  6. Suburban attitudes- I obviously am a city lover, but it is interesting how
we hold our nose when talking about suburbanites attitudes. The same thing goes
on in the City but at smaller scale. I could not believe the NIMBY attitides in
Uptown over that really cool (and dense) tower that a developer wanted to put
in a few years a go. This was not in the historic part of uptown (????) but
next to the Lagoon theatre....come on people...get a grip. If you don't like $4
gas and cars everywhere you damn well better be willing to creat clusters of
density. South Minneapolis is a more like a suburb than it is like the
downtowns where you and I live.

  Conclusion:

  Subsidies don't work and the legislature should not be supporting this. My
respect for the "let's build a ballpark" crowd who scream over MOA development
is....well....completely absent (and this is not directed at you Bob because
from your writing it is obvious you are not a ballpark fan either). The Twins
are a private business in the entertainment industry (that is their industry
and it is one with a fixed number of local dollars). From a purely utilitarian
point of view, dollar for dollar, their ballpark does not even begin to compare
with teh MOA in terms of a wise investment. I am against MOA subsidy but for a
little candor and common sense while opposing it.

  Peter Tharaldson
  CD5 CHair IPMN
  Minneapolis

Bob Spaulding <<email obscured>> wrote:
  So, the best possible spin I could put on this, a narrow pool of union folks
got their way...

...At the expense of a public discussion where stakeholders are consulted and
informed about what's happening before our pockets are stripped of $371 million
that would have otherwise gone to struggling cities... That's more than the
state will spend on the Central Corridor (~$300 million for public
infrastructure), and about as much as we will spend on the Twin Stadium ($392
million for a one-of-its-kind regional asset).

...At the expense of sacrificing the future of the landmark nationally-lauded
1971 Fiscal Disparities Act, one of the nation's strongest laws to ensure
regional stability (see
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/18467184.html) ...

...At the expense of every other city in the region who will lose market share
to the Mall...

...At the expense most particularly of the two central cities, and all the
tourist destinations that will be forgone by the mall, and in particular our
downtowns...

...At the expense of urban sprawl...

...At the expense of combating global climate change...

...At the expense of the natural environment...

In short, at the expense of our region and our very future. And that's the best
possible spin.

I know labor did well. And the rest of us? Chopped liver.

Margaret Anderson Kelliher had a defining choice to make, and has rendered
herself useless as a guardian of the public interest, and as an informed broker
in one of the most seminal decisions to come her way.

It's simply shocking.

Bob Spaulding

Bob Spaulding
Downtown, St Paul
Info about Bob Spaulding:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/contacts/robertspaulding

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