Down by the Riverside
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The Strib article said that the complex was 62% rent subsidized. Ive read elsewhere that the complex is now more than 75% Somali. A drive around the complex seems to confirm this.
I have some dealings with Somalis. Most consider the complex undesirable relative to other Somali neighborhoods. Those who killed the people at the Steward Somali store last December lived in the complex. Most of the recruiting to go back to Somalia to fight happened in the complex and at the Mosque next to Palmers bar (which has since cleaned up it's act.) I believe the first US suicide bomber was from Cedar Riverside Complex. He went back to Somalia to blow himself up.
Maybe it will occur to the radicalized Somalis that a light rail station is right in the neighborhood. If they want to make a big "splash" do it just before a high profile sports event related to the light rail.
I hope it doesn't happen but the London "tube" has been bombed and the attempts against the New York subway system were deemed very credible. Those two are essential to their cities but the Light Rail is a convenient "toy". People can get around and avoid the LRT if they want.
I actually developed this theory after watching the DVD "Death Race". They chose Montreal, Quebec for filming because of the large number of abandoned factories and buildings. After Montreal was awarded the Olympics in the early 1980's the French separatists started bombing and kidnapping. Corporations left in droves and factories like the locomotive factory used in the movie closed.
The same could happen here. For a corporation the main appeal of the Twin Cities is legacy. If corporations leave the charity and foundations will follow.
Again, most Somalis who don't live in the complex think of it as a "bad neighborhood" and worry about being painted with the same brush. They are almost excessively polite. At the Franklin Avenue Aldi's around a third of the Somalis don't understand the concept of giving someone the cart and they give you the quarter. They will give the cart but not take the quarter. I try to explain the concept to them. Sometimes they get it.
Anyway, tear down the complex. It is primo real-estate squandered.
Cross posted at http://LRTrider.com
posted by Greg Lang | 10:22 AM
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