Downtown Revitalization: Minneapolis

[vicupstate]

For those thinking big scale national retailers are a possibility for DT jacksonville, such as Mayor Brown, this article has some sobering information. Minneapolis has 35,000 population in it's core, it still must be diligent
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/20/4992607/minneapolis-leaders-tell-charlotte.html#.U6WZMfldUwA

[vicupstate]

A summary of the lessons learned from the Charlotte officials visit to Minneapolis:

Last week, about 130 leaders from Charlotte's business, government, arts and philanthropic sectors traveled to Minneapolis for the Charlotte Chamber's annual intercity visit.

The goal was to find new solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing our region.

It was a busy trip, packed with panel discussions and speeches on major civic questions including educational equity, paying for transit and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Here are some of my takeaways:

1. Meet the real big spenders. Charlotte taxpayers often feel overtaxed compared with neighbors from surrounding counties. But Charlotte's got nothing on the blue-state Minneapolis region, which has poured millions into pro sports stadiums and a sophisticated transit system similar to the one Charlotte wants to build – when it finds about $5 billion more.

All of that comes with high taxes and a higher cost of living than Charlotte. Still, Minneapolis' unemployment sits at about 4 percent, far lower than Charlotte's, thanks to Fortune 500 firms drawn by the highly educated workforce and strong quality of life.

That's the "high-cost, high-quality approach," said Michael Langley, head of the Minneapolis-St. Paul regional economic development partnership.

It seems to work for the Twin Cities. But with the latest tax hike rolling in on high earners, even Langley sounded as if he'd be happy if taxes don't go up any more.

2. Embrace green-friendly growth. For a city associated with frigid winters and snowstorms, Minneapolis leans heavily on its bikeways and greenway corridors to help spur redevelopment in the urban core – and on its light-rail system, too. I got a definite sense that those who support denser, more pedestrian-friendly development in Charlotte came away feeling validated and more determined than ever.

3. Stand together or fall apart. Twin Cities officials time and again stressed that they couldn't get big civic projects done without bipartisan and regional cooperation. Citizens fought over light rail for two decades there before a regional group of county leaders and a group of CEOs from major corporations pushed it through. After heated battles over whether to build a new $1 billion football stadium, the state chipped in $348 million.

4. Protect your past. Looking at beautiful old buildings sprinkled throughout Minneapolis' downtown, it seemed a shame that the Queen City hasn't preserved more of its architectural past. Many of the Twin Cities' older buildings had street-level retail stores in them, giving a random walk a sense of the kind of urban adventure you'd get in cities such as New York or San Francisco.

At a time when the younger generation is longing for walkable streets filled with shops and restaurants, uptown Charlotte is hamstrung by the fact that the bank towers that dominate its streetscape weren't built to include street-level retail space. Uptown leaders are working to change that, but the eclectic vibe you find along some of downtown Minneapolis' streets suggests much remains to be done.

5. Anticipate your future. U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis earned a standing ovation with a speech in which he urged the Charlotte group to deal with not only today's challenges and opportunities but to anticipate tomorrow's as well. Borrowing a sports metaphor from hockey great Wayne Gretzsky, he told the group to approach Charlotte's challenges like a hockey player who skates not to where the puck has been but to where it is going to be.

"Read the ricochet," he said.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/23/4999165/charlotte-chambers-minneapolis.html#storylink=cpy

[vicupstate]

I came across this article on Minneapolis today, and while most of the article concerns their apparently very successful alternative to land filling garbage, there was also this tidbit which I found interesting regarding the use of incentives.

Half a century ago, the state of Minnesota faced a problem still beguiling parts of the country today. Whereas states now compete for business by undercutting each other with ever-greater incentives, so too did the myriad cities and counties within Minnesota back then—creating a zero-sum economic competition that hurt the region more than it helped. The state Legislature's answer to this race to the bottom was to essentially put into motion the sort of plan that goes by one, politically suicidal word today: redistribution. (Or, if you'd prefer to stay true to the state's Scandinavian roots, you could opt for the synonym with more positive connotations: cooperation.)
As a result, every local government was forced to pitch in nearly half of their commercial tax revenue growth to a collective pool to fuel regional growth and ensure that the region around the Twin Cities didn't break apart into a world of haves and have nots. The legacy of that shared wealth is evident today in Minneapolis-St. Paul, home to the headquarters of 19  Fortune 500 companies, the city that online real estate listing service Trulia recently named the most affordable in the country, and which a  study this month found was the fastest-growing home to tech jobs nationwide, outpacing even traditional powerhouses like California, New York and Washington state.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/minneapolis-trash-incinerator-121570#ixzz3kUeqd1FZ

In addition to the interesting incentives strategy, it is pretty damn impressive that this city is home to 19 F500 corporations, has the fastest growing tech job base and YET is extremely affordable at the same time. 

Based on the reading I have done over the years and my own visit to MSP, I swear there doesn't seem to be a city that has it's act together better than they do. If there is, I haven't been there.   

[CCMjax]

I came across this article on Minneapolis today, and while most of the article concerns their apparently very successful alternative to land filling garbage, there was also this tidbit which I found interesting regarding the use of incentives.

Half a century ago, the state of Minnesota faced a problem still beguiling parts of the country today. Whereas states now compete for business by undercutting each other with ever-greater incentives, so too did the myriad cities and counties within Minnesota back then—creating a zero-sum economic competition that hurt the region more than it helped. The state Legislature's answer to this race to the bottom was to essentially put into motion the sort of plan that goes by one, politically suicidal word today: redistribution. (Or, if you'd prefer to stay true to the state's Scandinavian roots, you could opt for the synonym with more positive connotations: cooperation.)
As a result, every local government was forced to pitch in nearly half of their commercial tax revenue growth to a collective pool to fuel regional growth and ensure that the region around the Twin Cities didn't break apart into a world of haves and have nots. The legacy of that shared wealth is evident today in Minneapolis-St. Paul, home to the headquarters of 19  Fortune 500 companies, the city that online real estate listing service Trulia recently named the most affordable in the country, and which a  study this month found was the fastest-growing home to tech jobs nationwide, outpacing even traditional powerhouses like California, New York and Washington state.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/minneapolis-trash-incinerator-121570#ixzz3kUeqd1FZ

In addition to the interesting incentives strategy, it is pretty damn impressive that this city is home to 19 F500 corporations, has the fastest growing tech job base and YET is extremely affordable at the same time. 

Based on the reading I have done over the years and my own visit to MSP, I swear there doesn't seem to be a city that has it's act together better than they do. If there is, I haven't been there.   

^I know why . . . It's because of their Scandinavian blood lines    Think about it . . . the Scandinavian countries have some of the highest quality of life (according to rankings) in the world.  And Minnesota, largely populated by Scandinavians, is one of the states with the highest quality of life (again, according to rankings that I've read but don't feel like looking up again and posting).

All kidding aside (or maybe there is some truth to it), I have enjoyed every part of Minnesota I've been to.  Duluth is a very cool small city, and Northfield just southeast of Minny is one of the nicest little towns I've been to in the US.

[ProjectMaximus]

^I visited MSP for the first time this past summer and wrote about it in these forums. Was very impressed! Was supposed to go to Duluth as well but last minute our friend we were going to visit there actually moved away to NY. I'll be back in a few weeks to attend a wedding in Northfield, actually.