Ambiguous
By Mitch Berg
So we’re reliably informed that Downtown Minneapolis is back.
But that it desperately needs Target to force its workers back into the office.
Reporter Brianna Kelly spent months talking to downtown Minneapolis businesses about the flexible hybrid approach of downtown’s largest employer, and the impact it is having on the local economy.
“You know, everyone wants Target to be back; we need Target to be back,” Kelly said. “They’re a huge part of the entire ecosystem downtown.”
The story behind the story is this: if the wellbeing of Downtown Minneapolis is that dependent on a single employer, that whole “Minneapolis is a Cold Flint” comparison is looking better and better, and I don’t say that with any great joy.
August 29th, 2023 at 6:45 am
I worked for Target for a decade. They have much bigger problems than a downtown ecosystem.
August 29th, 2023 at 7:10 am
Notice that HennCo is also not doing an in the office mandate. So if they have problems downtown, they need to look in the mirror. And really, I remember that it seemed like a lot of problems as far back as 2017. It ain’t just the epidemic.
August 29th, 2023 at 8:34 am
So backwards! Target needs people in the downtown first. It can come back as soon as there are customers/workers in the downtown to do their shopping. What a bunch of maroons!!!
August 29th, 2023 at 8:49 am
I will make my last work-related trip to downtown Minneapolis this Friday to turn in my laptop as I retire. After this it will be a long time before I go there again.
But others have assured me that downtown doesn’t need people like me.
August 29th, 2023 at 9:16 am
Information is not correct. I talked to a guy who works for HennCo. They are on a hybrid system – must spend at least one day per week in the office – which is most likely to avoid county employees working ‘from home’ in Florida. Taxpayers would hate that.
I have heard that Ramsey is two days per week but cannot confirm.
August 29th, 2023 at 9:51 am
I imagine some Minneapolis city council members working on a “Target Tax.” Employers (excluding government, of course) pay a head tax calculated on the number of days that each employee does not report in-person to a downtown office. These funds, after the city keeps a share, could be distributed to skyway vendors, ensuring a vibrant downtown.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:09 am
NW, hearty congratulations on your retirement.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:29 am
Night;
Congratulations on your retirement.
August 29th, 2023 at 10:31 am
Dittos on the congrats, Night. So, where are you off to? I hear Tampa/St. Pete is nice this time of year.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:00 am
Those who need high level personal interaction are still using the big cities and putting up with the commute or living centrally . Those who don’t are working elsewhere or WFH. This could actually make big cities more attractive to the elite and more feasible for dreamers in a garret. But non premium retail and office floorspace will need a restructure.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:04 am
“high level personal interaction”
Huh, never heard “muggers” called that before.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:07 am
I suppose that term also covers “flash mob shopper” and “car jacker” along with “pickpocket” and “grafitti vandal.”
Yes, all careers which require a high degree of personal attention, can’t really do them over the internet.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:22 am
My neighbor says 3 days p/w WFH has amounted to roughly 150 more breakfasts with her daughter per year. She has not missed any deadlines or deliverables as a result.
Time to move on. WFH as appropriate. Most employers now accept the hybrid model where it’s appropriate for their business and does not harm the business. And lazy people are lazy wherever they work. It’s not rocket science.
August 29th, 2023 at 11:36 am
Completely off-topic but I wanted to share this ray of sunshine in an otherwise dim world.
https://clintel.org/
As you were…
August 29th, 2023 at 11:58 am
WFH should allow for greater participation in the labor force from people who otherwise would struggle to be in a working environment, we will likely see less hours lost to commuting delays, less hours lost to mental health issues, closer family relationships producing longer term and less measurable benefits.
However the main reason that WFH will stay isn’t because of the benefits it’s because the technology is here. We simply don’t need to drive to an office to sit in an office anymore. Our applications are all in the cloud, everyone has fast broadband, we all have email and collaboration tools. Insisting on people working in an office 5 days a week is like people who insisted on coal mining long after it was productive to do so.
August 29th, 2023 at 12:19 pm
People I don’t want to have a beer with after indictments JPA ….How warm is the water enroute to Florida? That’s the question you should be addressing. And it’s not pretty. Lots of energy to draw from.
August 29th, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Congrats, NW. I’m pleased to hear the news.
August 29th, 2023 at 1:03 pm
My immediate retirement plans include a trip to Norway and Finland next month, and my wife and I are going to “winter” in Merida, Mexico in January and February to see if we want to make that an annual winter occurrence.
This last legislative session has convinced me that Minnesota is not a state where one wants to own property, however. After they turned a $1.7 billion surplus into a giant political Happy Meal with toys and committed to higher ongoing spending after this “surplus” COVID money is gone, the hairy Sauron-like eyeball of the Beast will turn to property owners. I’m divesting our rental props and even looking at selling the homestead and hopping over the river to Prescott (my wife has family in the metro that she wants to visit regularly – at least until the Wall goes up).
August 29th, 2023 at 1:44 pm
Enrique’s in Prescott has the best burritos.
August 29th, 2023 at 1:48 pm
But I am afraid that Wisconsin will soon go the way of Minnesota. As in Minnesota, the local dems can manufacture a Hell of a lot of votes in a few urban counties and are trying to leverage that into permanent majority in both the state senate and house as well as all statewide offices. The Dems in Dane & Wilwaukee counties are at least as radical as the urban DFL.
August 29th, 2023 at 2:32 pm
MP is correct.
The three stooges; Commandant Klink, Tony Evers and Gretchen Witmer, met on Mackinac Island a couple of weekends ago, to discuss how they could deliver (read rig our elections so he “wins”) the presidency to Pedo Pete in 2024.
August 29th, 2023 at 3:02 pm
I have little hope and few illusions about the long-term viability of Wisconsin, given the Dane County gravitational pull. Wisconsin is the best I can do right now, though, given my wife’s geographic constraints.
Thanks for all the kind comments, guys!
August 29th, 2023 at 3:10 pm
It’s bewildering to me to see that even The Emery Collective recognizes Work From Home makes more sense for those who can, than schlepping downtown. The freeway commute, the gas, the parking, not to mention the crime . . . who wants it? The 1920’s work model is over, the 2020’s model is here.
It’s not just empty offices. Five years ago, I marveled at the Minneapolis skyway system, full of thriving shops and services, miles ahead of its poor cousin in St. Paul. Then the Lockdown and nobody asked – what happens to the jobs at the skyway drycleaner, jeweler, book seller, and food vendor when everybody who uses a laptop works from home, when nobody goes to the office downtown but the receptionist and the janitor?
Okay, sure, you got rid of the Bad Orange Man so No Mean Tweets, good job Democrats. Was it worth killing Minneapolis?
August 29th, 2023 at 3:12 pm
Night – I like the idea of wintering in Mexico, wish we had been able to do it. But my wife’s inlaws all wanted Fort Myers because of the Twins. I’m not a big baseball fan but I’m seriously considering ordering matching t-shirts for us guys to wear to the ball park down there. We’ll walk along the railing down front and stand with our backs facing the crowd so they can read the names: Killebrew, Oliva, and Carew. Should be good for a laugh.
August 29th, 2023 at 3:30 pm
Bigman – I used to work at the Metrodome, and came into the building through the same entrance as the ball players. I was of an age then, and reasonable enough physique, to kind of look as if I were a player or trainer with the baseball teams if I walked in the same time their bus arrived. The pro and college football teams, though – no way!
Merida is wonderful. The first thing in any advertisement or video is always about how safe it is, which shows you how much awareness the tourist crowd has with crime in Mexico. Merida doesn’t need tourism though, it’s an established city with a great mix of European/colonial style and native Mayan cultures (It was once the capital of the global sisal trade in the age of sail). You’ve got the “old town” Centro which is great, and a very European section where the Paseo de Montejo bears more than a passing resemblance to the Champs Elysees. We spent a couple weeks there last winter and really liked it. It’s also affordable, even with the influx of ex-pat nortenos from the U.S. and Canada driving up the cost of living. I wouldn’t live there in the summer months because of the heat, but the winter is beautiful and there’s so much to see and do in the area.
August 29th, 2023 at 3:34 pm
I guess it’s not only downtown that need an economic boost. Latest job figure revisions released – huh, down again, whaddya know?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/labor-market-implodes-job-openings-crater-prior-data-unexpectedly-revised-sharply-lower
August 29th, 2023 at 3:37 pm
NW, congrats on retirement and I can’t wait to see links to pics of you jumping into a cenote pool.
August 29th, 2023 at 3:41 pm
Don’t worry Big, IRA will surely prove Bidenomics work… errr…. well…
Federal revenue falls $416 billion from this time last year despite passage of IRA
Budget experts say the revenue raising portions of the IRA still haven’t taken full effect and when they do, the cost of the law’s energy tax credits will likely drown them out. The projections for interest rates – already at a 16-year high – may further doom the IRA’s success.
August 29th, 2023 at 4:07 pm
Thanks, jpa. We didn’t make it to a cenote last visit; the one closest to us was closed that day! On the docket for the future. And who knows, perhaps you and I can have another meet up at the Reagan statue in Budapest!
August 29th, 2023 at 5:59 pm
Nah NW, not Budapest. I have not been to Norway/Sweden/Finland yet. And there is a chance I may be in Helsinki in October, but you probably will be long gone by then. Next time.
August 29th, 2023 at 6:52 pm
Night:
My wife’s grandparents moved to Minnesota from Norway around 1900. Her grandmother was about 8 years old when she got here. They met here in Minnesota. My wife and s-i-l went there last summer to look for genealogy stuff. They want to go back. Of course, being liberals, they wouldn’t shut up about how much better Norway was than the U.S.
August 29th, 2023 at 7:58 pm
jpa – (to continue the retirement/travel threadjack) – we’ll be in Bergen, Norway from 9/20-9/24, then back to Finland, about two hours from Helsinki. We’re flying from Helsinki on 10/10; if there’s an overlap with your schedule we might be able to break rye-bread there.
August 30th, 2023 at 10:45 am
Flint ain’t warm. But I digress.
August 31st, 2023 at 12:16 am
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