Twelve individuals and businesses — ranging from artists and performance groups to a barbershop, a fashion designer, and a design center — were awarded up to $10,000 to occupy a physical location downtown. Paull helped broker deals with landlords for street-level space varying in size from 600 to 8,000 square feet, and with leases ranging from two months to three years. The Downtown Partnership also gave grantees business advice on how to scale their ideas to a physical space. The program not only fills empty storefronts, enlivening the street, it also allows people to incubate an idea on a short-term basis with the goal of building a business long-term.
What natural functions do storefronts perform in a city?
I’m studying ecology and urban design at the same time, and I’m looking for parallels. This isn’t unique - Jane Jacobs offered an ecological view of how cities work 40 years ago. I’m finally reading The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and her basic point is that urban planners don’t understand the natural functions spaces in cities perform. For example, building set back from the street to buffer those in them from strangers actually make everyone less safe because that means fewer eyes on the street and more isolation.
In restoration ecology, natural function is a central concept. In a degraded landscape, how do you reestablish how things used to work? For example, more rainwater used to infiltrate into the ground before the trees were cut down, now there’s erosion. Let’s plant trees.
Light rail and road construction on University Avenue is a disturbance. The dynamic between merchants and customers changes when it’s harder for them to connect. Naturally, there are now fewer stores open, and they look less inviting with vacant spaces around them. If it’s good that those vacant spaces get filled, how?
If you’ve gotten this far, and you’ve suspected that this is all lead-up to me saying that this new project we’re working on is the answer, and awesome - no. But I’m convinced the answer is related to the insight that planners often script things too much. There are hundreds of vacant storefronts in Baltimore, no one seems to want them… let’s pay people to occupy them. How much spaces can we control with this grant? Six? Six storefronts. Okay, let’s take applications and decide who should get the money. By what criteria? Well, let’s make something up. There, that oughta do it.
Maybe that’s the best approach, I honestly don’t know. But it seems to me that the real raw material you’re dealing with is people who think their idea could work. I think it’s generally goofy to get in their way. Vacant storefront project models that include a heavy gatekeeper kind of weird me out. As does the theory that the source of a new storefront tenant should be community input. New storefront ventures are assertions. I think one of the natural functions of storefronts is to let people try things out. What’s the simplest way to facilitate that?
Around the world, areas with ethnic divisions are likely to have less government spending.
The extreme homogeneity of the Scandinavian countries, for example, made it easier to create support for a generous welfare state. Before the system was reformed, the U.S. states with larger black populations typically had less generous welfare benefits, holding state income constant. The work of the economist Erzo Luttmer finds that Americans are less likely to support redistribution if they live near poorer people of a different race.
I’m all for the Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Development Partnership. I buy the idea that metro areas are the right unit for economic competition, and our collective brand could use some sprucing up. I think this video is good. But there are some interesting choices here.
0:00 - Outsiders think that MN is flyover country? Let’s start with a rapturous shot of a cornfield.
0:16 - After a farmstead out of context, a sailboat out of context.
0:22 - Until… the reveal! There are many sailboats here. You will not be alone in your sailboat.
0:33 - But! You will have to watch out for trains as you cross the tracks to reach the marina. Just trying to set expectations nice and low here. Don’t worry, the train goes very, very… slowly.
0:41 - Maybe you don’t think cornfields when you think MN, maybe you think forest. We got them, too.
0:43 - Sike! Cul de sacs! With big houses and… EVEN SWIMMING POOLS.
0:59 - Bicycling Magazine said that about Minneapolis, not the region, but, whatever, go ahead. Sit back and enjoy the variety of buildings we put near water.
1:16 - Self-evidently amazing statistic. Do executives care if a lot of other (regular) people golf? If I was an executive, I would not - stay off my course.
1:23 - Do you like to sail? Just checking again. No? How about tugboats?
1:36 - BAM! Enough of that sissy nature stuff, SKYLINE! Progress! Another skyline! Same one? Obligatory light rail shot. Highway interchange! Have they figured out connecting highways where you live? We have…
1:54 - Stereotypical bland suburban subdivision, and… ballfields in slight drought conditions. Garrison Keillor? Whoa there, comrade. Public school? I’m rich!
2:06 - My favorite shot. Are you Catholic? Wanna see that steeple… from ABOVE? We have a helicopter!
2:10 - How about the Como Zoo for less than a second? Maybe they could tell it’s a zoo if some shots weren’t taken from this one altitude.
2:15 - Suburban corporate headquarters, check. Dramatic reveal of Lake Calhoun marina into skyline, check.
2:33 - It’s tricky to shoot this much footage of downtown Minneapolis from above without acknowledging the Metrodome.
2:39 - I guess when you shoot the MOA, you should focus on the parking lot, but I can’t say it feels right.
2:44 - Have you ever seen an amusement park… NEXT TO A RIVER?
2:55 - Did that river seem small to you? Don’t worry, we got em big, too. Isn’t that statistic about Minnesota overall? Nevermind!
3:03 - St Thomas shown before the U - huh. We’re still guessing you’re Catholic!
3:24 - You will not hear a sarcastic peep out of me about this 1st stunt - I’d do it, too. Cymbal crash to boot.
3:40 - A much better shot of the Mall.
3:54 - 4:20 - Over 25 seconds of skyscraper close-ups - I feel uncomfortable. Do we think you’re from Saskatoon?
4:26 - Prosperity happens here… because of the State Capitol? That doesn’t feel true, exactly. I read the paper. And is that slogan grammatically correct? Huh. I thought and think that Minnesota is too cold, but apparently there’s no snow.
Where to live if you want to be cool
The hottest neighborhoods this year are all about what’s next. Restaurants, shops, bars, schools, green, parks, trails, all these things. You can kick it old school or new school, both are cool. Did you know that Minneapolis was named the #1 biking city, or that Saint Paul was named the most livable city, or that Circle Pines was named the best suburb in the country?Subjective rankings by experts who took the time to create an online slideshow and deserve your trust.
Nevermind where you work, where your family lives - where you live is an independent decision you make as a consumer. What’s your brand? Your lifestyle? It’s important to have a lifestyle!
What’s that? Those other areas of the map? Those neighborhoods are not cool. Poverty. Maybe that nether region between hip and kitschy. Maybe too many chain stores. But poverty. Dealbreaker!
Do we need people invested in making each community better, regardless of whether or not they’re cool? I’m glad you brought that up. How did we get this far in the introduction without using the word community? Community.
WORKS PROGRESS, an artist-led public design studio based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, seeks a PART TIME PROJECT ASSISTANT
This is an opportunity for an emerging cultural producer to assist a rapidly growing organization with large and small-scale public projects. The Works Progress (WP) Project Assistant will work directly with WP Co-Directors, as well as with project partners from diverse fields and backgrounds. This position requires outstanding communication skills, flexibility and independence, creative and critical thinking skills, confidence, and curiosity. This is an excellent opportunity for hands-on learning, teaching, and creative networking. Your weekly work schedule will be flexible, but some in-state travel with WP will be required.
Because of the commitment required for this position, we are not accepting applications from full-time students. Expanded Works Progress volunteer opportunities will be posted soon.
Qualified candidates will have experience creating or facilitating public art and/or design projects, public programs, or comparable creative activities; demonstrated communication skills; familiarity with online social and productivity platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Vimeo, and Google Docs); as well as an interest in public engagement and social issues. Graphic design and/or basic video production experience is a plus. We are looking to hire an individual with diverse life and work experience, and a unique perspective that is divergent from our own.
Compensation is $10 to $15 per hour, depending on experience, with a minimum of 10 to 20 hours per week; with an opportunity for more involvement and project-based work in the coming year.
Learn more about Works Progress on our website, see how we communicate on Twitter, check out our projects on Flickr, and explore our growing community on Facebook.
To apply, please send a letter of interest and your resume to Colin and Shanai at hello [at] worksprogress [dot] org on or before November 7th, 2011.
The start date is December 5th, 2011. Please help us spread the word about this great opportunity!
Hear Ye!
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for St Paul, 1903
Prompted by buchino, image from U of MN digital collection (password protected)
