Uptown - LynLake - The Wedge - News & General

[min-chi-cbus]

BizJournals fires back, and rightfully so!
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/m ... ptown.html

[min-chi-cbus]

I'm not sure if it's a personal bias or if the Strib actually does this, but much of the time when there is a story about growth or prosperity somewhere in the metro (but especially somewhere in the cities of Mpls or StP) there is a heavy negative connotation. It's like the Strib is catering to an audience that hates Minneapolis and St. Paul and many of the very things that are helping them revive and thrive, like redevelopment, density, mass transit, public amenities, etc. Uptown is growing (so fast) right now and the chief complaints are:

-"everything is too new/suburban in character"
-"too much congestion" (not on the sidewalks!)
-"too much traffic, what are we supposed to do -- walk or bike everywhere?" (yes!)
-"it's getting too expensive" (legit complaint, but let market forces work their magic)
-"I don't want it to change/I am uncomfortable with the change" (tough $hit)
-"the theatre seats are so new I can't feel the springs in my ass anymore" (my favorite complaint!)

[editcostarica]

I know what you mean, min-chi-cbus. Anything that disrupts the status quo garners a flurry of worried questions from the local culture, and the press report more on the man-on-the-street level, and less with the bigger picture in mind.

[min-chi-cbus]

It's one of the only cities in America where responsible, sustainable growth is a concern to residents!

I'm in Cleveland now and there's a little bit of this type of thing going on here, but nothing on the scale of Minneapolis (Uptown or Downtown), and I guarantee you the community would be stoked to see the kind of infill and revitalization occur here!

[Viktor Vaughn]

I'm not sure if it's a personal bias or if the Strib actually does this, but much of the time when there is a story about growth or prosperity somewhere in the metro (but especially somewhere in the cities of Mpls or StP) there is a heavy negative connotation. It's like the Strib is catering to an audience that hates Minneapolis and St. Paul and many of the very things that are helping them revive and thrive, like redevelopment, density, mass transit, public amenities, etc.

Randy Furst, who wrote the uptown story, is actually one of my favorite reporters at the Strib. His investigative reporting about the Gang Strike Force was second to none, and he covered Occupy with admirable fairness. The story he wrote was very different from one a real estate / business reporter like Jennifer Bjorhus or Jim Butcha would have written. His angle is much more from a human interest perspective and he did manage to capture a real sense of loss people feel over a changing Uptown.

Maybe, if we had given more voice to those displaced by building urban freeways and urban renewal, we would have made different decisions or done more to mitigate their negative impact. Airing these people's concerns is not equal to validating them. In fact, the "I don't like change" and "I miss getting poked in the butt with a spring" comments really capture the irrational and knee-jerk reactions of the critics.

I don't give credence to concerns about density, parking, or a party bar district. In fact, I think Uptown is clearly our best bet for a real, connected, intact urban neighborhood. But the neighborhood has really taken the feel of suburb of Edina. Which I guess is ok. I'm glad affluent young people and retiring boomers have moved into the city. I absolutely love the fact that a grade-separated bike path has driven new density and tax base. But seriously, anybody with a countercultural bent who hates the condos and the yuppies, probably should have moved on from Uptown at least a decade ago. You can still find urban grit and authenticity in many city neighborhoods. East Lake street in Midtown, Franklin Ave in Philips, Univeristy in NE, and most of the Northside all offer great refuges from encroaching wine bars and foodie brunch spots.

And to address your other point -- the Strib absolutely caters to those who hate the central cities as part of their broader web click strategy. If they can put something into a negative light that attracts the city-haters and their transparently uninformed comments, they will do so. On the flip side, they also report stories in a way that gets liberals all riled up about the hypocritical bankrupt MN GOP, and other topics. That way they maintain readership / web clicks from across the political spectrum and we all can read the articles that confirm our biases.

[nasa35]

And to address your other point -- the Strib absolutely caters to those who hate the central cities as part of their broader web click strategy. If they can put something into a negative light that attracts the city-haters and their transparently uninformed comments, they will do so. On the flip side, they also report stories in a way that gets liberals all riled up about the hypocritical bankrupt MN GOP, and other topics. That way they maintain readership / web clicks from across the political spectrum and we all can read the articles that confirm our biases

Where are you from? Have you ever lived here? Read the paper?

Cater to the city haters??? This is just stoopid, all day people like YOU hate on the suburbs and then throw out the absurd. I don't know anyone who "hates" the city. Everyone I know ENJOYS spending time in the city when they can. Stop making crap up just to support an agenda and idea that really doesn't even need to exist.

Lets get along and stop "hating". Your turn.

[mplser]

You obviously haven't read any of the star tribune website's comments on stories about urban developments or anything to do with downtown. there seems to be a lot of people that actually do hate the city on there. That is what he was referring to

[Viktor Vaughn]

Thanks for your reply Nasa. My point is that even though the "Redstar" is often accused of being a liberal rag, it's actually biased towards conflict & sensationalism (to channel Jon Stewart). Some stories feed into the local-tv-news-fomented fears about cities and people in them. The Star Tribune has figured out that any mention of Block E, $50K water fountains, or Keith Ellison immediately brings swarms of commenters complaining about thugs, homeless people and Minneapolis becoming Detroit. It's not unusual for these commenters to claim to have avoided Minneapolis for decades. This isn't surprising when reading their derisive comments, it sometimes sounds like they haven't walked down Hennepin since 1978. The Star Tribune recognizes this demographic and throws them red meat. They do the same thing with a different demographic when they report on Michelle Bachmann.

We all have a selection bias. This is why an article about Ellison posted at the same time as an article about Bachmann will both have comments against them 10 to 1. My conclusion is that feeding into this selection bias is a key web strategy of the Star Tribune.

But if you, as someone who obviously cares about cities, can't acknowledge the legions of city-haters, I don't know what to say. Maybe read the paper online on Friday nights? That's seems to be when that group rules the roost...

Note to the moderator: These last couple comments have nothing to do with Uptown. I've thought for a few weeks about starting an anything goes thread about TC media or maybe the Star Tribune in particular. I'm not sure this spat is a great way to start it, but feel free to break it off into a new topic to appease the thread purists.

[twincitizen]

You're right, we do need a thread to talk about the local media. Look for that later, although I don't know if I have the ability to move Uptown posts to a non-Uptown sub-forum.

[John]

Strib covers the boom, now with video: http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 69261.html

You don't hear about this much, but I think one positives with the boom in projects in Uptown is the "spillover effect" to other neighborhoods eastward. I'm thinking that there will be a movement of more of the bohemian independent stores seeking lower rents towards Nicollet Ave, especially around 26th street, and along Lake Street east of Lyndale. I think this will help make the already great Whittier neighborhood even more lively and interesting.

[MNdible]

I was thinking about this the other day. It's striking to me how the Lyn-Lake business node stops dead cold at Garfield Avenue.

The only thing that might be considered an eastward extension of it is the newish liquor store.

[twincitizen]

John, you should visit Nicollet & 26th. The spillover has happened. That intersection is surprisingly fully developed, save for the still vacant Azia space on the NW corner, but supposedly that is reopening "soon" with no involvement from Mr. Pham.

I try not to over-romanticize the K-Mart situation like our politicians do, but I think the cancer at Nicollet&Lake spreads pretty far & wide. When that street opens up, I think Nicollet & 28th will be revitalized pretty quickly.

With regards to Lyn-Lake stopping so abruptly at Garfield, I think that will change if the apartment building boom keeps going. Aside from the already approved Elan (Bennett) blocks 2 and 3, there isn't much land left west of Lyndale that doesn't require the removal of functioning businesses (Rainbow, Planned Parenthood). The Paul Williams Tire property is my preferred candidate for redevelopment and could be a catalyst for the rest of the area. It's amazing how many crummy surface lots, used car dealers, etc. still exist between Lyndale and Grand even. The LynLake business association claims an eastern boundary of Grand, it would be great to see the area live up to it.

Just for fun, check out the difference in lot size between Popeye's and Wendy's. Popeye's totally fits within the urban environment, drive through and all, while Wendy's is a suburban waste of space. I wonder which one does more business? I KNOW which one does more business per sq. ft.

I have identified many of these properties on my map (top of this thread) and welcome your input.

[nasa35]

Thanks for your reply Nasa. My point is that even though the "Redstar" is often accused of being a liberal rag, it's actually biased towards conflict & sensationalism (to channel Jon Stewart). Some stories feed into the local-tv-news-fomented fears about cities and people in them. The Star Tribune has figured out that any mention of Block E, $50K water fountains, or Keith Ellison immediately brings swarms of commenters complaining about thugs, homeless people and Minneapolis becoming Detroit. It's not unusual for these commenters to claim to have avoided Minneapolis for decades. This isn't surprising when reading their derisive comments, it sometimes sounds like they haven't walked down Hennepin since 1978. The Star Tribune recognizes this demographic and throws them red meat. They do the same thing with a different demographic when they report on Michelle Bachmann.

We all have a selection bias. This is why an article about Ellison posted at the same time as an article about Bachmann will both have comments against them 10 to 1. My conclusion is that feeding into this selection bias is a key web strategy of the Star Tribune.

But if you, as someone who obviously cares about cities, can't acknowledge the legions of city-haters, I don't know what to say. Maybe read the paper online on Friday nights? That's seems to be when that group rules the roost...

Note to the moderator: These last couple comments have nothing to do with Uptown. I've thought for a few weeks about starting an anything goes thread about TC media or maybe the Star Tribune in particular. I'm not sure this spat is a great way to start it, but feel free to break it off into a new topic to appease the thread purists.

Maybe I'm blind. I find it silly to hate either the city or her surrounding communities.

Uptown is finally flexing some muscle; it's good to see and about time.

[mnmike]

I hate to add to the off topic discussion, but I also always notice an anti-city bias on the Strib website. Not ALWAYS, no, but seriously, I don't know how one could miss the city hating comments. I try not to read the comments often, because a lot of times they are irritating to me.

[MNdible]

The comments are one thing, but I believe the original post above suggested that the article and the newspaper itself had an anti-city bias, which I've never perceived.

Unlike certain TV stations...

Frankly, I think that the Strib's Minneapolis coverage has improved in quantity and quality over the last few years. It's at times critical, but at times Minneapolis deserves it.

[Viktor Vaughn]

I mostly agree with you MNdible. By and large the Star Tribune's Minneapolis coverage is decent (not to be confused with uncritical). In my comment above I defended the Uptown article in question.

Though, I stand by my assertion that they sometimes consciously throw city-haters red meat. Remember Eric Roper's series of articles where he artificially juxtaposed the city laying off firefighters with the hiring of a bike coordinator. That earned them some page clicks...

[MNdible]

I don't think Eric Roper was the one that made that comparison -- my read is that the Fire Department union did, and he was just reporting on it, as I would have expected him to.

[min-chi-cbus]

Strib covers the boom, now with video: http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 69261.html

You don't hear about this much, but I think one positives with the boom in projects in Uptown is the "spillover effect" to other neighborhoods eastward. I'm thinking that there will be a movement of more of the bohemian independent stores seeking lower rents towards Nicollet Ave, especially around 26th street, and along Lake Street east of Lyndale. I think this will help make the already great Whittier neighborhood even more lively and interesting.

I think the "spillover" area is actually E. Lake!

[woofner]

I don't think Eric Roper was the one that made that comparison -- my read is that the Fire Department union did, and he was just reporting on it, as I would have expected him to.

Maybe this is a mistaken impression I have from watching the Daily Show, but it seems to me the responsible way to report that would be to note that the Fire Dept was incorrect in its assertion that the hiring of the Bike/Walk Coordinator had anything to do with the laying off of fire fighters. I haven't been to journalism school, though, so maybe it really is standard practice to just reprint the press releases of politically-motivated groups, which seems to be about 90% of reportage today.

[Viktor Vaughn]

True. Nor should they repeat untrue talking points in 50pt type headlines.