[Mpls] Missing the point as well as the children

[Michael Atherton]

Emilie Quast wrote:

>  The question is how to attract families with young children 
>  back to the inner city from the suburbs.
>  
>  What's it going to be:
>  
>  a multi-generational inner city (known, apparently, for its 
>  vibrance) or  Sun City, Northern Edition?

You're right, there are two separate questions here: 1) The
quality of services that the city provides for children; and
2) Whether it is important to attract families with children
to live in the city.  (I'm assuming that there are sufficient
numbers of children in the city to justify the funding of
services for them.)

I will cover #1 in a longer post, but I object to setting
#2 as a specific goal.  Demographics are best handled by
individual choices.  I don't believe that it is the role
of city government to try and artificially induce some
particular set of population demographics.  There are a
number of failed publicly subsided projects that attest
to the futility of such programs.  Why would suburban
families what to live in an urban environment anyway?  
It's a matter of personal preference. My family doesn't like 
suburban living.  We don't need to live 200 feet from our 
neighbors.  We like sidewalks and being able to walk to facilities 
such as stores, coffee shops, etc.  My point was that there is 
another major urban city, St. Paul, which provides much better 
options for children (more on this later).

Can someone explain why we need the "correct" percentages
of old and young people?

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park