Postby Wedgeguy » November 15th, 2015, 8:13 am
I'd ask my city council person why we are wasting tax payer dollars. As far as I'm concerned, a few trees a boulavard with grass,A freshly paved street will hold a farmers market as well as a woonerf. We have a nice park, with a small community center, why is a farmers market now held there? Why did the last farmers market fizzle out? I've hear one of the reasons, what do you know about the last farmers market that died next to where Marche is now. I ask because no one can give me a real concrete answer as to why this is needed, other than it would be cool. Who is it going to help? People in the north half of my neighborhood despises the over built south end, so I don't think you will be getting a lot of them. I don't see that many millennials at the Lyndale farmers market. Not sure they even know what real farm grown veggies are.
There are areas in this city that really need improvements. This would be taking that money away from those that truly could use it to better their community. Again why is this such a big deal. The Girard woonerf not living up to the claims that it was going to bring. One section where the Parking ramp is flourishes. You need people leaving their cars to get it walkable. The section by the Walkway is really a joke. One of the businesses is now close until spring. 3 other retail spaces are still empty in the red hot uptown retail market. I've watch one experiment fizzle and now you want to try another that will have even less chances for pedestrian traffic.
Woonerf would be great in an area like NE MPLS that has great stub streets where there are breweries , art galleries, old warehouses, that you can create an exciting area all around it. 29th is a trench on one side, and a lot of fences, parking lots, and blank walls. You can put lips stick on a pig, but it still would be a pig. In the 30 years I've seen the city waste a s**t load of money on sure bets that never brought the people. Riverplace, St. Anthony Main were an experiment festival retail that cost some Banks, hundred million in loses. Businesses have tried to come and usually end up gone. Now 25 years later we finally have the critical mass of residents. But now the whole Old St Anthony business district is thriving and I can only hope that the retail space on Riverplace get filled again and we have pedestrian traffic.
That is why I look at this with such low regard, I've seen too many sure bet experiments that flopped because the people did not come, or change their current habits to include said project. More or less " You can lead a horse to water , but you can't make it drink." You can build a very pretty place, but if it is not convenient to peoples every day lives. they will not use it.