PROPAGANDA catalyzes momentum. Or some appear to think so.
You have to love how the emperor is dressed.
Pied Piper, rats, children.
Be led.
And with that lead-in -
The comment link, and the Strib reporting; Strib saying
Cities aim lower, leaving behind dreams of utopia
Article by: JENNIFER BJORHUS , Star Tribune Updated: July 11, 2011 - 9:22 AM
In the post-recession era, some cities have had to scrap visions for complex development projects.
Blaine had big plans for an old cement plant long before the operation finally shut down. The plant sits on a high-profile corner near Laddie Lake that had been seen as something of a gateway to the Anoka County suburb. City officials had visions of filling the 5-acre spot with offices topped with apartments, a restaurant, maybe a medical facility.
The grand plan now? A Kwik Trip.
[...] No one wants to say they are lowering aspirations, but compromises are emerging for redevelopment projects throughout the metro area. Condo projects have become apartments. Plans for dynamic, multi-use developments where people would live, work, eat and shop are in limbo.
Instead of walkable shops, a big-box retailer may have to suffice. For some, even a major retailer seems out of reach.
[...] Take Apple Valley. The south metro suburb said it's going to wait and stay true to its vision for Central Village, a 60-acre "new urbanist" housing-retail-restaurant project that's only partially built. One resident calls the empty fields and roads "post apocalyptic." Instead of the dense downtown-like vision with condos above stores or offices, the city may have to consider a more traditional suburban layout with apartments, its community development director said.
Whatever the size and scope of the project, cities will have to be more flexible and creative now, said Jon Rausch, an executive in NorthMarq's land division. "They all went to the same city planning school and had utopia in mind," Rausch said. "Utopia's not working anymore."
[...] The pressures worry some local planning experts who say they want cities to hold out for complex projects with multiple uses which, in theory, adapt better to changing times.
"I'm seriously concerned," said Caren Dewar, head of the Urban Land Institute in Minnesota. "Given that there hasn't been much going on, it's going to be a compelling choice for cities to take projects that are more straightforward, easier to finance and quicker to get done."
And there is Ramsey where a Fleet Farm would be non-utopian, to some - and an unbelievably sound community addition to many others, many who've lived in Ramsey since the 1970's and see more to Fleet Farm than REI; (and for the REI crowd, don't hold your breath until that arrives, please -- you can close your eyes, say Gore-Tex, climbing gear, trail-boots, 5000 times, and open your eyes and REI still will not be in Ramsey).
You should read the entire Strib article. Yet, for some propagandists, it's way, way off message. Keeping to the message can be obsessive, oppressive, and obsequious [O3].
There is this, below, from here. Click to enlarge and read. It is about keeping on message in the face of irrefutable numbers showing loss-of-equity-to-sell-it super-sized-discount unit pricing.
PROPAGANDA It has many aspects, yet, with sloganeering and repetition being constants:
Last item, from here, with some text redacted to more strongly emphasize repetitious sloganeering.
The emptier the slogan, the better?
Do you suppose - just possibly - that Philidelphia offers residents and visitors the authentic lifestyle that comes with living in a city that is truly a reflection of those that choose to make their home there? I have seen it appearing true in Lakawanna, New York, (Tonnawanda too for that matter), and in Tukwilla, Washington. In Ely, Minnesota? In Fargo (despite the film)? I think we can safely say it would be unusual for any town to be a reflection of those choosing to live elsewhere.
Could Keihlor also honestly have said Lake Woebegon was "a reflection" of the women who were strong, the men who were good looking, and all those children who were above average?
WRAPUP
You have to love how the emperor is dressed.