“Does This Empty Building Make My City Look Fat?”
By Mitch Berg
When the cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul, or the Met Council, ask for public input, you can be certain of three things:
- They have long since decided what they want to do
- It is going to reflect the revealed egos of the decision makers involved, and how they want to manifest “moving their city/area forward“ in physical form
- See the first bullet. And the post title, for that matter.Nobody cares about your input.
With that in mind – the city of Minneapolis is “seeking input“ on what to do with the old Kmart property at Lake and Nicollet:
The City of Minneapolis wants the public’s ideas on how it will redevelop the former site of Kmart at Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street…In order to gather public feedback for the project, the city has opened a surveythrough Nov. 30.
The survey asks residents about how they currently get to the area, for what reasons, and what their future goals for the area.
The city is “seeking input“ so they can check “seeking input“ off the statutory list of things to do, before doing exactly what whoever controls most of the city council wants done.
It’s how the Green Line got built down the middle of University even though the “public hearings” excoriated the idea.
It’s why the SW light rail got built through a hill and under a condo even though publc hearings said “put it where people are”.
It’s why they built a soccer stadium at the most congested intersection in the state, and tore down the retail that was the anchor of the Midway neighborhood.
Fearless prediction: the Kmart site will be turned into four blocks of “mixed use“ multi story apartments, with first floor office and business space that will mostly be filled by “community“ nonprofits.
“Public input” on public projects in MN are always a sham.
October 3rd, 2022 at 7:18 am
That is right in the heart of the Reparations Zone. Features and amenities include:
– Beatings
– Car jackings
– Armed robberies
– Gunfights
– Looting
– Drug commerce and consumption
– Pervasive homeless presence
In other words, it’s another vibrant, Minneapolis landmark in the making.
October 3rd, 2022 at 7:19 am
Wasn’t it a Target before a K-mart? And did Nicollet ever go straight down to Lake? I assume so because of unnatural-looking traffic flow around the building, kinda like permanent road construction.
October 3rd, 2022 at 8:05 am
Yes, jdm. Nicollet did once go to Lake. It was always a KMart, or later, an empty building during my tenure in MN.
October 3rd, 2022 at 8:09 am
Don’t be ridiculous, Blade.
There is a police station just a block away, at 31st & Nicollett.
If you can openly commit a crime at Lake & Nicollet, then no place in Minneapolis is safe.
October 3rd, 2022 at 8:26 am
Don’t be ridiculous, MP.
That precinct will be vacated at the first time of trouble and burned, just like 3rd precinct, in the middle of the winter to keep the vibrant people warm and happy.
October 3rd, 2022 at 8:37 am
liberals start every public meeting with an acknowledgement that white men stole this land from the indians but they never do anything about it heres there chance
give it back to the indians perfect spot for a casino
October 3rd, 2022 at 8:37 am
moderation
October 3rd, 2022 at 9:06 am
Word on the street, UMMP, is that the MPLS cops drive “burner cars” to work, because they cannot protect their personal vehicles parked in fenced off, police parking lots.
I’m sure that is true to an extent in Saint Paul, and coming soon to first ring ‘burbs.
October 3rd, 2022 at 9:14 am
Why don’t they just rename it Squatter City and be done with it, saving millions of dollars.
October 3rd, 2022 at 11:05 am
When will your Governor seek input into what to do with his empty, $4million dollar morgue?
October 3rd, 2022 at 11:20 am
sold it
https://www.fox9.com/news/minnesota-sells-warehouse-once-planned-as-covid-19-morgue
looks as if the buyer is a legit business
https://soldiertrucking.com/about-us/
October 3rd, 2022 at 11:20 am
moderation twice in one day
seriously whats that about
October 3rd, 2022 at 11:48 am
A permanent tent city/homeless enclave sounds about right to me.
October 3rd, 2022 at 4:42 pm
My wife once sat on a Met Council planning board. That board recommended Bus Rapid Transit instead of LRT down University. The recommendation was either unanimous, or had just a couple of dissenters. FTR, the Board was bipartisan and included several well known Democrats (at least well known in and around the Capitol).
Of course the Met Council completely ignored the recommendation of their own advisory body.
October 5th, 2022 at 2:35 am
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