Wealth in the City

The picture above is a house right next to Lake Calhoun. As you can plainly see, it's a beautiful, gigantic wonder of a residence. I imagine its market value is, to the least, beyond the means of mere mortals such as myself. Moreover, the street on which it's located (Zenith Ave. South) is rife with similarly opulent and beautiful homes.

These homes, of course, are located within the city limits of Minneapolis. While this fact may seem ordinary to some readers, I assure you that as a recent resident of Cleveland, Ohio I am stunned that such wealth exists so prominently in the actual center city of a metropolitan region.

In cities like Cleveland, people who can afford mansions tend to locate outside the city itself. With the notable exception of the far west side along Lake Erie, you just don't find a lot of mansions in Cleveland. Here in Minneapolis, however, there are quite a number of them. This tells me that Minneapolis has done something right; or, at the least, economic catastrophes have not befallen Minneapolis the way they have in Rust Belt cities.

Minneapolitans, Take Heed: Do not take for granted your Rich Folk, for their Mighty Presence signals your Economic Health! Remember to always vigorously pursue Quality of Life crimes, for if left Unchecked they are the Harbingers of Neighborhood Degradation! Let us bask in the glory of great, expensive architecture and remain thankful that the waterfront of lakes such as Calhoun are fully Publicly Accessible.

(Small note on that front: Guess how much of the Lake Erie coastline is publicly accessible within Cuyahoga County. If you guessed more than 10%, go to Jail and do not collect $200).

P.S.: I'm going to write some nice, approving posts about Cleveland next week!