Chris And Me

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

If you want to have a city full of blue collar workers earning a decent union wage, you need one of two things: industry, or government.

Since the 1980’s, Saint Paul has lost the Ford plant, West Publishing, Schmidt Brewery, Hamm’s Brewery, Whirlpool and 3M, good solid companies with well-paid union workers, every one. They should have been the DFL’s solidest supporters and the City should have fought to keep them.

But it seems we’re opting for less industry and more government instead. Downtown is full of government offices in former retail space. Good for the occupancy rate but government workers evacuate downtown at 4:30 so nobody shops downtown any more. Town Square died and now we’ve lost Macy’s. Moving the ball park to the riverfront might bring in the tailgate crowd and high-speed rail from Chicago will bring in the welfare crowd but neither they nor hipsters in converted Lowertown warehouse lofts promise to rejuvenate the city’s core.

Saint Paul is becoming more like Detroit every day.

Joe Doakes

Actually, downtown Detroit seens to on the mend; companies are moving to downtown Detroit, drawn by tax incentives and inexpensive office space.  Some companies are offering massive subsidies to workers who buy condos downtown (up to $20,000 toward down payment, or equivalent rental assistance).  People actually live and work in downtown Detroit, and do things there at night.  And I haven’t checked the stats, but I wouldn’t doubt that the crime stats in downtown Detroit (but not outside downtown) are competitive with downtown Minneapolis.

Which is not to say that Minneapolis or Saint Paul are quite in Detroit’s league – they’re not.  Minneapolis is merely headed the wrong way.  And Saint Paul is moving more toward the “Flint” territory.

2 thoughts on “Chris And Me

  1. Mitch:

    I’ll go one further. In the city of Minneapolis on busy residential streets which had businesses for several years now have empty blocks where those businesses used to be. If Minneapolis is on the come back as the DFL claims wouldn’t those blocks have a business that wants to be there.

    And before you claim, but there is no way for people to get to those businesses one of the streets I’m describing is on a bus route(s). To top it off one of the closed businesses which is gone was a drug store that used to be across the street from a grocery store.

    Walter Hanson
    Minneapolis, MN

  2. Gosh, you mean when you make it difficult to make a living in a place, people choose not to try? You mean supply and demand actually applies?

    Wow. :^)

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