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dreamsharkHow could I have been so dumb?
For years I have been biking to the Wedge Coop when I needed bulk foods like rice and crystallized ginger. It's only 2.5 miles away, but biking there gets harder every year as the City of Minneapolis fiddles with the local streets to make them increasingly difficult to use (for both cars and bikes). Currently there is not a SINGLE STREET between I-35W and Lyndale where a biker can cross Lake Street at a traffic light without the street suddenly changing direction or the bike path abruptly disappearing. And even if you are young and spry enough to dash across Lake Street traffic without a light, I don't think there are any north-south streets that are truly ridable in both directions. I've been riding down to Bryant, working my way through the construction mess and backtracking to Lyndale. And for what? To get to a coop I don't even like very much.
It FINALLY occurred to me that the Seward Friendship Coop is less than a mile away! It opened in 2015, but I somehow never realized just how close it was. Probably because it is on the other side of the freeway, a neighborhood I rarely visit. But there's a pedestrian bridge on 40th St., at the bottom of the hill I live on! *duh* So on Tuesday when the weather warmed up briefly I biked over there and it was lovely. I think I did visit that store when it opened back in 2015 and wasn't impressed - probably because it was still in chaotic early days. Now it has landscaping and sweet little outdoor tables for eating deli purchases, and bike racks and off-street parking and all the coop things.
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I see by the new neighborhood paper (The Connector) that the wonderful South Lyndale Liquor Store has just moved to a new building down the block, tripling its size. They're using the extra space to add a deli and wine tasting room, and to allow the family that owns it to keep expanding their already impressive selection of wines and ciders and beers. It's always been a great liquor store, and now it will be better. And It's nice to see a locally owned family business thriving.
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In other news, the abandoned K-Mart Building at Blaisdell and Lake burned down this morning! I didn't even notice the sirens. Maybe I'll bike down and gawk at the ruins, since it looks like a lovely day. No great loss - they were planning to demolish it next spring. The plans for redeveloping that tragic site keep cranking along at snails' pace, but are starting to look kind of promising. Besides finally reconnecting the severed pieces of Nicollet Avenue, there will be some sort of park space that will supposedly connect to the Greenway and possibly on up to Eat Street.
For years I have been biking to the Wedge Coop when I needed bulk foods like rice and crystallized ginger. It's only 2.5 miles away, but biking there gets harder every year as the City of Minneapolis fiddles with the local streets to make them increasingly difficult to use (for both cars and bikes). Currently there is not a SINGLE STREET between I-35W and Lyndale where a biker can cross Lake Street at a traffic light without the street suddenly changing direction or the bike path abruptly disappearing. And even if you are young and spry enough to dash across Lake Street traffic without a light, I don't think there are any north-south streets that are truly ridable in both directions. I've been riding down to Bryant, working my way through the construction mess and backtracking to Lyndale. And for what? To get to a coop I don't even like very much.
It FINALLY occurred to me that the Seward Friendship Coop is less than a mile away! It opened in 2015, but I somehow never realized just how close it was. Probably because it is on the other side of the freeway, a neighborhood I rarely visit. But there's a pedestrian bridge on 40th St., at the bottom of the hill I live on! *duh* So on Tuesday when the weather warmed up briefly I biked over there and it was lovely. I think I did visit that store when it opened back in 2015 and wasn't impressed - probably because it was still in chaotic early days. Now it has landscaping and sweet little outdoor tables for eating deli purchases, and bike racks and off-street parking and all the coop things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see by the new neighborhood paper (The Connector) that the wonderful South Lyndale Liquor Store has just moved to a new building down the block, tripling its size. They're using the extra space to add a deli and wine tasting room, and to allow the family that owns it to keep expanding their already impressive selection of wines and ciders and beers. It's always been a great liquor store, and now it will be better. And It's nice to see a locally owned family business thriving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, the abandoned K-Mart Building at Blaisdell and Lake burned down this morning! I didn't even notice the sirens. Maybe I'll bike down and gawk at the ruins, since it looks like a lovely day. No great loss - they were planning to demolish it next spring. The plans for redeveloping that tragic site keep cranking along at snails' pace, but are starting to look kind of promising. Besides finally reconnecting the severed pieces of Nicollet Avenue, there will be some sort of park space that will supposedly connect to the Greenway and possibly on up to Eat Street.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-20 05:01 pm (UTC)I have to wonder if this was just random chance, random arson, or somebody finally fed up with all the delays with that damn building. I hope nobody got hurt.
I really like the Seward Friendship Coop. I can walk over there (it's half a mile from me) and then either walk back, or take the 23 if my groceries are heavy. Not that I've done that for quite a while, but it was nice.
P.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-20 06:31 pm (UTC)If there were some obvious advantage in burning down an unwanted building rather than demolishing it in a more orderly fashion I would be suspicious. (I never believed that the old Northwest Bank Building downtown was actually set fire by a couple of 12-year-old boys, as was claimed). But I think that clearing away fire-damaged rubble is more expensive than just tearing it down, and I doubt it was insured. It's been sitting empty for years, while The City dithers about it. The surprising thing is that it didn't catch fire sooner. I wouldn't be surprised if people were squatting in it, toasting hot dogs over open fires. However, the reports I saw claimed no one was hurt, so if squatter started the fire they skedaddled out of there in time.
ETA a few hours later. I biked up there to look at it, and was surprised to see that it was by no means burned to the ground. In fact, from the front it didn't look any different at all. The fire was at the back of the building, where maybe 15% of the structure is a blackened ruin. It looks like the fire hit a concrete firewall at that point, and there is no obvious damage beyond that.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-21 02:56 am (UTC)I don't know about the insurance issue. I mean, our post office actually did burn down during the protests about the murder of George Floyd, and they put it in part of that K-Mart while the original site was rebuilt. In any case, I guess I was picturing the theoretical arsonist as someone who's been annoyed by having to deal with that mess for decades because they live in the neighborhood and just got fed up, not anybody making careful logical decisions. But it doesn't sound as if anything like that happened. Hooray for firewalls, I guess.
P.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-21 07:43 pm (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-21 07:56 pm (UTC)Maybe they will put in a parking ramp as part of the redevelopment of the KMart site, which would make Eat Street a lot easier to visit. Parking is practically impossible there as it is, so if new parking isn't part of the plan it will be a mess. But as for businesses moving away - there is plenty of room for expansion into South Nicollet, which is still pretty bedraggled after all these years.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-24 02:00 am (UTC)