Secrets of the City

I really hope lake street doesn’t become mall like retail area, the whole character of Lake Street will be tarnished if more and more businesses are driven out and to me, it will be a another development fuck up of MPLS like the kmart at the end of Nicollet Ave is.

Jamie Hook has polio?

I thought Lilligren was getting behind extending nicollet to Lake through that bastard Kmart?

I really don’t like the idea of million-dollar lofts on East Lake Street. Starbucks and Panera Breads and the like seem certain to follow, and soon enough it will be just like Uptown.

Nice article. Sure Lake Street needed work, but it’s scary to think what might happen if lofts, starbucks, etc take over. This was our chance to make a big move at improving the most important street in South Minneapolis, but instead we are going to take the easy route, without working to improve things for all the people in the community.

Guess I might have to look at getting a new domain name!

Re: Lake Street Article

This seemed pretty thin.

The street was 50 years old and badly needed repair.

Street reconstruction is always hard on existing businesses.

If they hadn’t included street furniture, decorative lighting, and other niceness, people would be upset that they didn’t get it because it’s a poor neighborhood. People scream about this type of investment bringing on gentrification, but what is the alternative? Not investing in poor neighborhoods?

The right-of-way is only 80′ from face of building to face of building, so unless you’re planning on tearing down half of the buildings on Lake Street, you can’t add traffic lanes, or bike lanes, or mass transit lanes, or wider sidewalks, as much as everybody might think one or all of those are a good idea.

The 35W Access project is another kettle of fish, in terms of being pushed by Allina, Abbott, et. al. While I still think that a stripped down version of this is probably necessary, it does represent a significant increase in a way that the rest of the Lake Street project does not.

The rebuilding of Lake Street simply needed to be done, and they may as well do a decent job of it the first time, right? Does it always have to be a conspiracy?

I thought the exact same thing.

I didn’t like the way the article started. It seemed to be saying that any development — merely fixing up the sidewalks — is a bad idea. The conspiracy should have been the exact opposite — why did it take so long for the city to finally work on fixing up the neighborhood?

This angle — that some guy’s business is suffering because there’s construction going on outside — is one that I’ve seen repeated in alt-weeklies, and it’s so short-sighted.

That said, the sentiment that follows later on is something we all probably agree with.

The businesses who are suffering from the current construction isn’t what alarms me — although I do feel bad every time I go into Carne Asada and there’s no one else eating there — it’s the idea that East Lake will be transformed into another bland, white-bread “neighborhood” that workers and shoppers from the suburbs will feel “safe” coming into. I don’t have any problem with fixing up the street, and it’s fine they found something to go into that gigantic Sears building, but the inevitable chain reaction is higher rents for retail space and, eventually, property values in adjacent residential areas — pushing the immigrant and working-class residents into once again more marginal spots — think Richfield, east Bloomington — that will once again be co-opted in 10 years time.

By-the-numbers alt-weekly shocker! I’m just surprised this wasn’t published in Pulse.

I’m not trying to bait anybody, but there is something of a patronizing thread that runs through the article and some of the comments.

Immigrant businesses can only succeed if they’re on a dumpy street? Or they’re less authentic if the city makes an investment in the neighborhood?

Yes, rents may increase, but over time, one would expect that these businesses will become better established, more successful, etc.

Are we proposing that Lake Street should be in constant turnover, from one group of immigrants to the next, scratching and clawing with the problems of running a small business ? Or can the most recent batch of immigrants (mostly Hispanic and Somali) make it their own, become successful, and reinvest in their own community?

I’m not promising that Lake Street will remain Panera and Starbuck’s-free, but if people from the suburbs are more inclined to come to Lake Street, isn’t that going to help Carne Asada and every other taqueria on the strip? As discussed in the Olive Garden thread elsewhere, people who drive in to an area are apparently more likely to dine at restaurants unique to that area rather than eating at chains. Eat Street (although it now sports a Starbucks) is another example of this. Rents have probably increased along this stretch of Nicollet over the last couple of years, but if an area can draw customers from a larger region, it’s worth it to those business owners.

Lake Street will not stay exactly the same. And that’s OK.

“it’s the idea that East Lake will be transformed into another bland, white-bread “neighborhood” that workers and shoppers from the suburbs will feel “safe” coming into. I don’t have any problem with fixing up the street, and it’s fine they found something to go into that gigantic Sears building, but the inevitable chain reaction is higher rents for retail space and, eventually, property values in adjacent residential areas — pushing the immigrant and working-class residents into once again more marginal spots — think Richfield, east Bloomington — that will once again be co-opted in 10 years time. “

Thats what I’am very afraid of. Suburbs have they’re Woodbury and Arbor Lakes type shopping areas and thats cool, but I just hope the Lake street doesn’t turn into that type of open mall where brand/bland stores full the avenue.

Jamie Hook’s apartment hunt? What a cheap shot. You rip on CJ for her voyeuristic gossip mongering, yet you pass on this bit of schadenfreude. Grow up.

Re: Jaime Hook.

Is the “you” in this supposed to be me? Cuz a) I promise you’ve never seen me rip on CJ for anything and b) I’m all about gossip mongering and schadenfreude and c) I’m the one who has been sympathic to Jaime’s plight (well, relatively sympathetic at least, compared to others here).

Regardless, I found it interesting in a “look what the internet yields” way, ’tis all.

I’m actually buying one of the condos in the nearby Midtown Exchange project, so I read this article with great interest.

I don’t expect real journalism from City Pages, but this wasn’t even close. It seems like they are saying the plan should be scrapped because it disrupts local businesses. Well, if that’s the standard then we’d never develop anything or fix a street anywhere.

But watch, CP will be the first one to stand up and say what a great thing Midtown is once it’s finished.

Fair enough, you yourself have never ripped on CJ. I’m sorry I made that assumption. And, come to think of it, it’s probably not even true of MNSpeak in general. But it is true, both specifically and synecdochally, that you seem to delight in gossip and ridicule and being generally above it all. Much on MNSpeak interests me, and I’m glad it exists. But sometimes it gets a little too wink-wink, catty, and juvenile.

And, Rex, it’s unbecoming of a Pulitzer Prize winner to use an ostensibly journalistic medium to exploit the guy’s private life like this for gossip. Incompetent or not, asshole or not, he’s trying to move on and doesn’t need it his efforts displayed in a discussion forum made up largely of people who (if they know who he is) dislike him. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been “well, relatively sympathetic” to him in the past or not, this is just wrong. Look what the internet yields, indeed.

Man, there isn’t enough space in this little box to respond to all those accusations. I’ve been called “unbecoming”!

“it’s unbecoming of a Pulitzer Prize winner….”

Ooooo, smack! Or do I mean “wink-wink”? Catty!

“…to use an ostensibly journalistic medium…”

Wow, where do we begin here?

“…to exploit the guy’s private life like this for gossip.”

Ai-yi-yi. You can’t possibly know Jaime Hook. Did you read the post? It’s written in this “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE INFAMOUS JAIME HOOK…” tone. You can’t “exploit” that kind of ostentatiousness! He’s sitting in his Brooklyn apartment right now, chuckling that he somehow created an impression that people are still talking about.

Of all the accusations, I take the journalistic one most sensitively. I’ll just say this: if I were writing a profile of Jaime Hook, I would use that Craigslist post as a fundamental piece of evidence in illustrating parts of his personality. It’s just packed with so much self-awareness, cockiness, wit, quasi-wit, strangeness… I’m going to run out of adjectives. If that’s unjournalistic in your mind, well, I can recommend a few books.

Fuck, there I go being catty again.

Oh, you mean Jaime Hook. No I don’t know Jaime. Point taken.

But seriously, I don’t mean to be harsh… or catty… or wink-wink. I just think it’s a little mean-spirited, even if he is asking for it in a lot of ways. (Which I don’t doubt.)

As for unjournalistic, I think the part that crossed the line for me was the word “sad” appended onto the headline. (Are link descriptions considered headlines?) It just seemed gratuitious. Editorlizing, sure, but in a very gossipy way.

That said, I DO like this site a lot. I just get irked sometimes but the tone. I’ll let that be my problem and not yours. It’s obviously working for you.

Jamie Hook shit on a lot of people in this town (as did Jaime Hook) during his brief tenure here. And it’s not just that his brash, confrontational style was too much for all us Minnesota Nicers. He has managed to leave behind scores of pissed off folks everywhere he lives.

His Craigslist ad is sad. And funny.

Who is Jaime Hook?

Does anyone have a email address for Jamie Hook? I want to reach him. you can send to me at cherimpls at hotmail dot com

Thanks Much,
Cheri