76th Street

I have heard it come from the city council before, why didn’t we have the gift of foresight? EX: “If we did we would have built the new city maintenance garage two years earlier we would have saved boat loads of taxpayers money.”

Unfortunately foresight is not a superpower or a secret ninja skill possessed by most city governments. However hindsight is a super power possessed by all and we can use it to learn and act on future projects provided we use the superpower of “Political Will”

What I am talking about is Richfield has an opportunity to save a pile of taxpayers dollars if they finish the trail and bike paths from 11th Ave to Cedar Ave. How so? First, construction costs are down as are material cost with the housing an d building slump. Waiting would only guarantee a higher cost down the road. Secondly, the road west of 76th Street is already being torn up and refinished, we would benefit in cost savings of tying into a larger project.

This happened to me just recently, I negotiated a price to have a company cut down my very dead red maple tree. I then priced out what it would be to have them come back out in three to five years to cut down my dying blue spruce. It was very pricey. I asked them what they would charge me if they cut down the limply pine when they were out to cut down the red maple. They gave me a ridiculously good price.

Now I have a ridiculously large amount of firewood.

Not only are we saving tax dollars by doing it now, in a time of economic downturn for the construction industry, Richfield is creating much needed jobs. Finishing the parkway is not only economically prudent and pro-business, it is downright American and a win-win for all.

The March 2008 issue of the Atlantic Monthly published an article titled “The Next Slum?” by Christopher Leinberger, had reinforced what I have learned on the changing tide of suburbanization. That renewed urban allure to Gen-xers and the Millennials, the second largest demographic in history after the baby boomers, combined with the disillusionment of urban sprawl, long commuting times and high gas prices (and home heating prices) have led to a critical glut in McMansions at metropolitan fringes and housing, and that the urban core, once a bargain twenty years ago,  are now going for a premium. 

The article isn’t dismissive of all suburbs and that while there is a shift underway to walkable environments the author, Leinberger, doubts that the swing from suburb to city will be as dramatic as the swing from city to suburb was in the 20th century. Many will still prefer the big house/car lifestyle. However those suburbs with access to shorter commute times or close mass transit will be among the suburbs fairing well.

Those suburbs that are on the wrong side of town, and poorly served by public transport, are already suffering decline finding long time residents replaced by Low-income people, displaced by the gentrifying inner cities. He make an interesting prediction, that much of the future decline is more likely to occur on the fringes in recently developed areas, that many of the the McMansions will be resale at rock-bottom prices to lower income families and will suffer eventual conversion to apartments.

I have heard apocalyptic suburban ruin wishful thinking before and I am sceptical, however, there is definitely some truth in the matter.   It is becoming increasing costly to runaway from problems instead of dealing with them. The days of cheap subsidised land are coming to an end, the costs are off-set by the cost of gas prices and home heating and the harder to measure but still costly - ever increasing commuting time.

There is also the issue that the article mentions I think has had a large factor in the return to the cities; most of the Gen-xers and Millennials have chosen not to have kids. The Baby Boomer’s parents generation (the settlers of Richfield), more than half of all households contained children, by 2000 they were only a third and by 2025 it will be closer to a quarter and there will be about as many singles households as family households. Schools, which once were a big selling feature of new suburban communities, hold less allure than they did fifty years ago. 

Speaking of the value of city planning :

Having once owned a home on Saint Paul’s West Side and having been lived next to West Saint Paul has made me very much appreciate Richfield, which like West Saint Paul, initially started with little or no urban planning but unlike West Saint Paul has made serious efforts since the 1980’s to correct it’s previous blind eye to unplanned development and have some design standards and not be afraid of urban planning.

The sad thing is, with it’s rolling hills West Saint Paul probably had some of the most stunning landscapes in the Twin Cities area and has pretty much made a sows ear out of a silk purse.  The following video was submitting to the Walker Art Center  for their “Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes” exhibit and pretty much captures the spirit of West Saint Paul living at its finest.

So there has been a series of interesting articles and blog entries about the metro area cities attempts to market themselves. The Pioneer Press came out with a piece on cities in the metropolitan area attempts to brand themselves usually with all the flare and charisma that one could expect when you have the office intern, or your very talented high school age son or daughter execute your city’s marketing plan, except many of these cities paid good money to ad agencies to come up with city slogans and branding like “A ‘Small Town’ City” (Mahtomedi) the mouth full that North Saint Paul uses, “a small-town atmosphere in a large metropolitan area”. They talk about the old stale standards that cities aways fall back on when coming up with these things; bodies of water, community, geographic gateways and history are usually popular.

In case if your wondering what Richfield’s slogan is, it is “Your urban home town in the heart of the Twin Cities.” A slogan I certainly would not confused at least with, say, Moorhead, Minnesota.

I have been harping on city officials at meetings on the need for marketing and developing Richfield’s brand. Unfortunately Richfield’s brand at present is more like “Laurence Welk Village” and less like “Johnny Carismaville.”

Unfortunately what most cities fail to understand, including Richfield, is that brand is more than just a catchy slogan. It is an essence. Imagine going into a Starbucks and finding it looking instead like a White Castle. A brand is a promise, an expectation on want to expect. If employees are rude at Starbucks that effects their brand. If the restrooms are dirty that effects their brand because it effects the customers experience.

Most cities create a bad slogan and leave it at that when thinking of brand, and some might push their brand identity as far as people’s impressions of their school system or even street scapes, but most go no further than that.

Most corporations are very concerned about brand control. To most cities, brand is a by-product something to react to.

The blog “twin cities sidewalks” whose post on the subject inspired my post, paraphrases Louis Mumford and American historian known for his studies and writings on cities, I will quote him here

Creating memorable places is really the key to attracting people and business to your area. Cultivating streetcorners and sidewalks worth walking on, emphasizing historical landmarks like a watertower, old church, library or city hall, and trying to get people to come together physically in the same spaces at the same times are all ways to really brand suburban cities, and to replace empty spaces with memorable places.

Brand for a city is more than just one element. It is about creating an experience. Looking at the city holistically.

Is Richfield’s brand really perceived by most people that we want to locate here as: “Your urban home town in the heart of the Twin Cities” or is it perceived more like my friend puts it as: “God’s Waiting Room”?

Personally I think our brand Slogan should be more like: “As Sexy as South Minneapolis, only with big backyards.”