Watch the immigrant entrepreneurs vanish

It has now been 20 years since the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board took, by eminent domain, the parking area of Reiko Weston's Fuji-Ya restaurant on the riverfront. That despicable government action killed Reiko's labor of love, and deprived so many of us a unique, authentic and delightful Japanese dining experience. And what has come of the urgent "public" need for the space? Is there now "public" park or recreation space there? Is that space now an integral part of the grandiose tax money-enabled riverfront development that has been imposed on us since then?

It is not. The modest little Fuji-Ya building still sits, it's broad riverview windows boarded up, now in the dark afternoon shadow of high-rise condos. It sits anonymously, noticed by few, and understood by even fewer. The humble exterior, so very Japanese, gives no clue to the wonderful dining experience that Reiko offered to a public in an era of rampant government destruction in the name of urban renewal. It sits just up-river from the "public" Mill City Museum and the extravagant new Guthrie Theatre. In front of all that winds the new riverfront avenue, built more to showcase riverfront development than the river itself.

Fuji-Ya sits, like a solemn grave monument, in testimony to the utter thoughtlessness of government officials with enough power and money to simply erase the dreams and livelihood of individuals. Although their actions may just be invisible, they also have access to the money and talent needed to hide behind slick slogans and good public presentations. They can get media to promote the results of their actions, while ignoring the costs to individuals sacrificed in the process. They are, after all, providing parks and recreation... who can be opposed to that? It's "for the kids".

Reiko's unique dream was wantonly killed by the vote of now-nameless commissioners on a government board. None of the current Park and Recreation board commissioners were responsible for that vote, so there are no individuals we can blame. The majority of the MPRB budget (currently 69%) is generated from property taxes paid by Minneapolis residents, and commissioners are elected.

The MPRB jokingly shows "Citizens of Minneapolis" at the very top of their organization chart. In 2007, the MPRB will take in over $39 million (PDF) just in property tax money, up 5.1% from 2006, for a total 2007 budget of over $53 million.

It's impossible to imagine just what the MPRB had in mind when the Fuji-Ya was killed. Whatever their twisted plan, it didn't happen, and, 20 years later, it still hasn't. Reiko Weston showed the city that the riverfront could be an attraction, and MPRB rewarded her by destroying her. While she created something from nothing, at her own expense, her creation is now surrounded by massive constructions created by power-mongers, often with a lot of taxpayer money or tax breaks. While she offered a great riverfront view as a free bonus for the price of a fine dining experience, the view is now dominated by those who can afford more.

I've written about this before, but I want readers to understand that this is only one of hundreds of examples of government agencies destroying dreams. It's an ugly hallmark of urban planning. Every time you see a grand edifice crop up, I want you to remember what was once there, know that eminent domain or the threat of it was probably used, and that it made people give up their lives and leave. I also want you to understand that it could happen to your life just that easily.

Urban planning and government developments of all kinds are miserably destructive. They're the products of a few people with power who want to point to the end result and claim "we created that... isn't it grand?" They don't save for it, design it, or pay for it... they just vote to spend taxpayer money on it, spend even more on public relations programs to convince us how wonderful it is, and expect us to admire them for their creations.

It is always the working poor who suffer at the hands of urban planning. The poor are viewed by government and their squads of hired planners as no more than pawns to be evicted... monopoly game pieces to be moved or swept off the board in the name of grand slogans made up of words such as renewal, renaissance, or "reweaving the fabric of our city".

If you're in the Twin Cities in the next year or so, drive down University Avenue between Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and take careful note of the amazing number of small businesses built by immigrants who arrived here virtually destitute. Consider what rugged spirit and enterprise each of those businesses represents, and recognize that they are but the latest examples of what made this nation great... creating something from nothing but hard work, frugality, and dogged determination.

I ask you to notice those businesses, not just because, like the Fuji-Ya, they're immigrant businesses built from scratch by individuals, but because they will soon fall prey to the same forces that destroyed Reiko Weston's dream.

In just a few years, a massive government project , at enormous taxpayer expense, will put "light rail" down the middle of University Avenue, changing it completely. That transformation has all of the urban planning forces absolutely salivating at the potential profits for architects, planners, developers, builders, and construction unions.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small businesses will simply vanish from the scene, unable to afford the escalted real estate values and hiked-up property taxes. Some will fail simply because of the disruption of traffic due to construction. Some will move, many will simply die, and life will become harder for all those who patronized those small businesses. University Avenue will become, like so many other areas of forced "renewal", another real estate mecca pushed by government for the well-to-do.

It's very possible that the grand "reweaving" scheme will be another major government flop, but whether it fails or "succeeds", the current businesses along University Avenue will have already suffered. They will join a very long list of immigrant communities destroyed by government grand schemes.