doodledee

The Strib ran a story on Sunday that beat the crap out of Block E. It was a fun read, but only because it's full of that "I told you so" type of smirking that tends to come with this type of article, not because it offered insights into how to fix the problem.

I've personally seen most of the Block E transformation. I've eaten at the Hard Rock and played video games at that GameWorks place. I've also stood there - like *everyone* else - and talked about how an entertainment destination that's long on Starbucks and Applebee's and short on anything that really makes it a 'destination' is bound to fail. Dots.connect and all that, this one isn't hard.

Beyond the sucky tenants, there's plenty of other stuff to bitch about. The foot traffic patterns suck, the overall layout sucks, the bus stop on Hennepin sucks, the Starbucks sucks, blah blah blah. But again, it all seems so obvious, and that's the part I wish somebody would go nutso about.

I want to blame that lead developer guy, Dan McCaffery. He seems like a total kook. Now that people are being critical of the place, he's getting all defensive and paranoid:

"I'm thrilled with the performance because I don't believe my job was made particularly easy by the perceptions of the downtown," McCaffery said.

And talking about some of his tenants:

Assessing the tenants, consultant McComb said GameWorks could be considered "a score."

"Hard Rock is choosy, though it covers a lot of markets. A bookstore is an obvious tenant."

The Snyders doesn't seem to fit the original plan, but McCaffery called it "a coup."

Shut up doof. It's a Snyders. You've taken $40M in taxpayer money and built an Applebee's and a Snyders. And some parking. Enjoy being thrilled with that, I guess.

Oh wait, there's that fancy hotel, too, don't forget that.

"We needed something with some kick-ass power to keep the energy level up for the elitists. That's my nod to them," McCaffery said.

Kick ass power? Who talks like that?

But now I'm even more confused. Is it supposed to be an entertainment destination for all Twin Cities residents or is it a kick ass powerful playhouse for the $350/night elitist crowd? Or is it supposed to be both? Or neither?

The point is that anyone should been able to predict that if Block E turned out like this that it wasn't going to be a success. So who approved the plans? And is the finished product different than what the original plan called for? (Hint: yes.) And what's being done to bridge the gaps? (Hint: nothing.) And so on.

But I've kind of stopped caring for a while. It's not the park I wanted, so I just get to be grumpy instead. Rock on.