Secrets of the City

I guess they’ll all survive if our taxes keep getting raised to pay for them.

Interesting, Z, that it’s not such a big deal when the state makes a sweetheart deal with Ford or some other huge corporation to give tax breaks. Why’s it so weird to subsidize art, history or science?

Word is that they want to invest in the Amory in downtown MPLS too, sadly I only heard this word of mouth and have no link. What could they do with that space?

I think an event center for things like weddings and bar mitzvahs and other large family gatherings.

OR a mud wrestling venue!

We could turn the Armory (where His Purpleness shot one of his early videos) into a Prince Museum. Or the Museum Formerly Known As Prince. Better yet, a place where any homeless vet can find a warm bed and a hot meal (that’s what the St. Paul Armory is being used for today).

But to answer Matt’s question, I think that there is a certain point where the sports entertaiment dollars get streached too thin, especially in a “small market” area like the Twin Cities.

In the field of the arts, the Guthrie, MIA and Walker are deeply engrained in our culture, none of these need to worry. What’s amazing is all of the small museums, galleries and theatres this community supports.

Perhaps we are not quite the Midwestern rubes some on the coasts (and many living here) think we are….

Along with the Twins game, we are also going to see the new MIA expansion. We will get into the new Guthrie before the year is over.

Minneapolis owns the Target Center. What else should the City Council do — call Edina Realty?

I have fond memories of as a child going down to the Armory every Christmas season for the big Honeywell Christmas party. They would have bands and performing animals, tons of food. When you left you received a stocking with fruit and candy and little toys like balsa wood airplanes.

Better yet, a place where any homeless vet can find a warm bed and a hot meal (that’s what the St. Paul Armory is being used for today).

That is a good idea too. And maybe they could watch mud wrestling while they rest up!

What’s wrong with the Armory’s current use, a parking lot? Having the parking inside the building is a much better approach than just razing the danged place and paving an ubiquitous surface parking, the likes of which seem to be sprinkled liberally about downtown.

Lileks has an excellent site detailing the armory:
http://www.lileks.com/mpls/armory/index.html

…..or maybe we should just convert everything into condos.

Thanks for the link, go_team. I wouldn’t complain if they replaced the roof of the Armory with windoows, made the entire place a Winter Garden – but any commercial activity would probably expire in a year, and the city would be on the hook for another big empty project.

Maybe the Armory could be a year round hockey rink. Ice time is desired, right?

With the baby boomers retiring and having free time, won’t that help to increase use of these art venues?

Maybe there could be more shuttle services to bring people into MPLS/St. Paul for a day or evening of the arts and entertainment. Perhaps an arts commuter train system!

We can spend 1.2 million to cover losses on the Target Center, and yet we can’t keep libraries open. Maybe it’s time we stopped electing the same slugs to the Mpls City Council, for a start.

Did you notice the part where the City owns the Target Center? Why would we not bail out the building we own? Would you prefer paying the debt on a building that’s empty or doing something to lessen the loss long-term? Maybe look at the actual situation.

I preferred the Armory when it played host to Dead Kennedys, Husker Du and Otto’s Chemical Lounge. If they could renovate it so that it would do that again, they’re welcome to use my tax dollars.

I think we already have a dump like that Fireman. It’s called First Avenue.

When can we raise Glen Taylor’s rent to make the thing pay?

We just all need to start heading down to Happy Hour at the NBA bar.
2-4-1’s from 5-8 and 10-midnight everyday and $4 apps.

It could be the first MNspeak gathering!

Remember to tip your waitress.

Ha! I guess the NBA bar does not hug at the heart strings as much as Betty’s Bikes and Buns did.

Tug, hug, shrug, glug. Sorry.

Sorry I previously posted this rantg in the wrong thread…

I think the Guthrie looks like an ugly blue bank with 1984-esque portraits and I hope that fascist Joe “SPONSOR OF GREORGE BUSH’s CAMPAIGN” Dowling dances a jig and flits himself off that ugly thrust in the river where he is NOT rescued by Lesbian White Water Rafters.

THAT would be poetic justice.

What is the purpose of that over-hang anyway? So Patrons can commit boredom-induced suicide casued from having to endure one of the rotten Guthrie productions?

I was outraged by this, too, until I saw that the City owned the building and then I was like well, what else can they do? This is my one worry about the Twins stadium (and the Vikings for that matter). The governments – not the teams – will own them so they’ll be on the hook for potential revenue losses. The Twins stadiums might be different though, because they aren’t really competing with anything else the way the Target Center is.

Incidentally, I have the same fear about the Midtown Global Market. Government pushed that so hard (which should have been obvious to anyone at the opening ceremony) that I fear there may not be the public demand to keep it open and sustainable. I can imagine all the businesses sitting there with no customers because there was no demand for the market in the first place. Hopefully I’m wrong, cause I’ll be living about a 9-iron away.

Oh and I think the difference between sports and the arts and crafts scene is that sports probably draws more people on a statewide basis. I doubt a lot of folks are coming in from Windom to see the latest Walker exhibit. So I think the base is broad enough to sustain all them.

Let’s not forget while the city keeps pouring money into projects like Guthrie, Walker, MIA, and other institutions whose budgets are already so bloated, smaller orgs like MN Film Arts and other local arts non-profits fall prey to lack of involvement from city officials. The Mayor expressed interest in getting involved in the MFA debacle, but alas I guess keeping sports arenas in downtown is a greater priority for this city. Forget it’s cinematic history and let’s play ball!

We do not need a new Gopher stadium. It costs too much money for the University to get there own stadium, and it’s going to result in a rise in taxes.

We do not need a new Gopher stadium.

Uh, thanks for your input Bucky.

I actually agreed with most of what Raindog said! Pretty rare…

The only part that is inaccurate is: fascist Joe “SPONSOR OF GREORGE BUSH’s CAMPAIGN” Dowling

To make a correction:

Communist pinko Joe “I support raising taxes and stealing money away from people who work hard for it” Dowling

If MPLS owns the Target Ctr why is called the Target Center and not Minneapolis Center?

St. Paul needs something to bring people to it’s city. Who in their right mind would go there otherwise if it wasn’t for the science museum or sports.