Secrets of the City

Come and visit us on Lake Street. We have a new identity, did you see the signage? The signage is green in real life.

Even Pineda Tacos is getting a makeover. The signage on the building says “New Building Soon.” Nice.

Pineda. Yummmmmmmm. And gross. And yummmmmmmm.

Great, now I want a damn torta.

Gross? Why gross?

Does anyone know what they’re building between the Lake Street Target/strip mall and Cub Foods?

Does anyone know what they’re building between the Lake Street Target/strip mall and Cub Foods?

Good question- it is a combo apartments and storefronts type building. I am not sure if they are only rentals or if they are condos or a mixture. I don’t know if my budget could handle living in the same parking lot as Target.

Just wondering: Did MNspeak ever mention anything about the city tearing up Lake Street on the low-rent/less white-and-comfy side of Hiawatha (as it’s been for weeks now from 14th Ave. to past Cedar, and was from Chicago Ave-ish to 14th before that)?

Rex would have been all over that w/ MNspeak 1.0. He was a well-known aficionado of Ingebretsen’s.

I kid.

Yes, dear reader, a couple of times. Here, and here. Dig that crazy “Search” box over on the right!

Ah, yes, dear reader, MNSpeak did talk about that here . . . oh, nevermind mcgeary beat me to it. And the development is called Hiawatha Commons.

Mmm…torta doble with milanesa and carnitas, with extra lime juice and cilantro all over it, with that roast tomato red salsa they have.

That reader is not the same as this Reader.

I live neawr Lake and Bloomington and Lake is a mess in that area right now, but they are doing their best to keep traffic flowing. I wish the access to the businesses was better; the yummy Guayaquil restaurant currently has the street and sidewalks around it totally ripped out.

I suppose if I got an account I could avoid this problem of people posting as me.

you should register . . . it’s fun and exciting

But then I wouldn’t feel like an interloper. Maybe I am a very public figure. Maybe I’m into anarchy.

Well, geez, I *said* I was just wondering. And good. It’s nice that the travails of the low-rent/less white-n-comfy neighborhoods are noticed.

And what’s going into that empty stprefront where the old hardware store used to be, in the savers/neo-jetsons strip mall?

Signed, lowercase reader

Maybe I am lazy.

Maybe.

Anyway, Lake Street, pretty exciting changes. Franklin Avenue is doing some nice things too. Wonder how the crime rates will react, if at all.

Not gross as eww gross, persay – more or less the Mexican Sandwich (with no meat) is basically a giant slab of fried to hell cheese. Gross unhealthy but gross yummmmmm.

I thought it was a good question lowercase reader.

I am not sure what is going in the closed hardware store or the old ReUse Center space, but another condo building is being buit in the parking lot next to Subway.

you mean the rollercoast mall? I dunno. I heard that hardware store isn’t coming back, because of an increase in rent due to the renovation. Don’t know if that is accurate or not.

Lowry Avenue is also undergoing a major renovation!

Ah Fuck!
I’ve been watching out my 36th and Lake street window at these basterds all morning.
with concrete saws they’re going to town, and making the air smell horible with gas fumes and tar dust and IT FUCKING SUCKS.
I’m going to have to get a bunch of plants and keep the windows closed all summer if I want to breath clean air anymore.

Just when I was enjoying walking down to TownTalk and Rainbow foods.

A condo by subway? DAMN from street level, this neighborhood has no clue what is about to happen.

let me say it again.
IT FUCKING SUCKS

ray, do you live in White Castle?

I think it’s great, this areas needs major facelift.
Ray, it will be better in the end/
Now all we need is that burned out ‘Baraka Rugs’ building to either go bye-bye or to be retrofitted as an aprtment complex or something.
What happens on Lake st. even affects me 12 blocks south of it.

yay for Lake st development!

And what’s going into that empty stprefront where the old hardware store used to be, in the savers/neo-jetsons strip mall?

I read about a year or so ago that they were putting an Aldi’s there. Don’t know if that is still the case. Anyone?

\\Anyway, Lake Street, pretty exciting changes. Franklin Avenue is doing some nice things too. Wonder how the crime rates will react, if at all.
\\
I bet crime rate will drop—the old ‘broken window’ theory

I didn’t realize that the Midtown Global Market @ the Sears complex would have a Holy Land Deli and United Noodles!!!! This is the best gentirifcation, evah!

Make way for Aldi’s.

Lake Street! Now with 36% less poor people! (coming soon, The Newer, Whiter Lake Street!)

Great, so much for the only semi-convenient way to cross Hiawatha without having to deal with all those light-rail-fucked intersections in the 30s and 40s.

huh. Pat, I usually avoid crossing Hiawatha at Lake, as in my experience it takes much longer than going across at 32nd or 35th . . . and if I’m going west I definitely take 26th.

The whole damn neighborhood is whacked with construction. I am near 31st and 12th and I can’t go ANYWHERE without hitting it..

Grrr.. hurry up already.

improving neighborhoods is never a bad thing!
ok, almost never.

unless improving means to add more taco bells and dollar stores.

I’m dreaming of a white Lake Street….

I’m dreaming of a lake street I can walk down late at night without being offered crack or robbed.

Well I’m sure you’ll get that, just as soon as The Gap and Starbucks move in – I mean, we gotta worry about their patrons…

Gentrification—it’s an urban phenomenon, and it must be accepted and dealt with.
I’ll be sad to see some of the small businesses go, but the overall product will be better for all the city’s residents in the long run.

spaceman,

Yeah I live in the White Castle now.

“This area is under live audio and video monitering” and “Please leave the area or the police will be dispached” are phrases heard sounding into the night as I watch the Popeyes bar close crowd.

I’m waiting for the shift to Parisian suburban-ghettos, while the main city core is too pricy for them folks.

tmayhem: that’s already happening to many of the inner ring suburbs to some degree. The Heritage Park area by the MN-55/I-94 intersection was a wasteland for years after they leveled four public housing projects. The people who lived there didn’t just disappear.

As someone who wants to buy a house someday before he’s got kids, I sure feel the suburban squeeze.

I’m waiting for the shift to Parisian suburban-ghettos, while the main city core is too pricy for them folks.

Me too! Bring it on, then I could walk around my neighborhood without being afraid of being shot. I’m hoping for a lot more than 36% less poor people. What color they are I could care less about.