What makes a neighborhood feel vibrant?

It's certainly more than a collection of houses filled with people.

In my early years of teaching, as computers were making their way into classrooms as educational tools, SIM CITY, appeared and captivated my students (and me as well) with its programming ability to create a world out of nothing.   We all became would-be urban planners, plotting out housing development, creating infrastructure for power, transit, civic engagement, economic activity and the amenities that allow beauty to permeate our living experience.   We would celebrate growth and feel frustrated and disappointed when our cities crumbled under various pressures.   I gave up many waking hours in the attempt to create the mythical utopian city that lived in a well-tuned balance.

After I purchased Butter Bakery back in 2005, all these simulations entered the real world.   I bravely held on to my desire to be an element of creating a sustainable, vibrant neighborhood.  At the heart of this desire was a hope to be a local impact hub - that my efforts to seek out local services and products would be an investment in a local economy that ultimately would support me in return.

I joined the local neighborhood organization board (first Lyndale, then when the shop moved to Nicollet - Kingfield) and sought to be a part of civic engagement.   I got interested in housing development and dug into the 2040's plan to create business nodes and hubs as well as increasing density.  I moved the cafe to Nicollet Avenue with an understanding that business development along south Nicollet needed early pioneers to re-build a corridor that had suffered from its separation at Lake Street.

I made immediate choices for the cafe regarding power (going all in for wind-power - paying the little extra each month as an investor in a cleaner future), water conservation, waste management (composting before composting became a thing), and choosing to install gardens, sculpture and support music and the arts to tie into those amenities that I knew added so much to an otherwise bland simulated city.  I knew that a lot of what I was choosing wouldn't show impacts for many years, but by planting the seeds, something was bound to grow.

And most importantly, I had to think small.  I had to do my research (and lots of thanks go to my children for doing this research as well) to think close to home.   Could I drive to a producer's site and back in a day? Better yet, could I walk over and say hello?  I recognized that if I was asking my neighbors to stick close to home and support their local coffee shop over a global-giant version, it meant I should do the same - walk the walk - walk the talk.

My locality goal has been tempered by choosing an industry (coffee) that doesn't actually grow in our region, but I can make other choices, such as roasters who are nearby and who share my desire to be locally focused as well.    The produce world is also very seasonal here in Minnesota, although efforts to extend seasonality (greenhouses/indoor farming) were ones I invested in early and enjoyed the fruits of their labors. It's why I'm so interested in supporting the efforts of East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative to create an Urban Farm on the old Roof Depot site.  

I've also watched with great respect as other restaurants focused on menus that were not only locally-based but seasonally-based as well.  I learned from their successes and their challenges.  While I haven't made the 100% commitment, our connections to local, family farms (that exist all year round) and subscribing as a member of several Community Supported Agriculture Farms, has our ingredient choices in the 70-80% range most of the year.  

Shopping locally does have a local impact.  Our Buy Local organization, Metro IBA, notes that while nearly 48% of each purchase is recirculated locally by independent - locally-focused businesses, that number falls to 14% for large chains and online businesses.  This local multiplier effect - three times - the investment in a local economy is one I've tried to push even further.  Nearly 70% of my expenses go to local businesses and that amount grows when you imagine the spending of my staff, 80% of whom live within a mile of the cafe, recirculating their wages into the local economy as well.

After the cafe's move to Nicollet Avenue in 2012, my wife and I made a pledge to eat at every restaurant on Nicollet Ave (from the edge of downtown -14th St. to the edge of the city - 66th St.) That list numbered 124 at the time and while we were checking them off, several changed hands and required a return visit along the way.  With less than 10 left to visit at this point, it is a sign of the efforts of all of us around south Minneapolis these past dozen years, that so many on the list still remain - Butter Bakery Cafe included.  May the efforts to re-connect Nicollet Avenue through Lake Street be one that strengthens the local businesses that make up this vibrant corridor.  

It is my ongoing joy to walk the path of a vibrant local economy as an investor in it and recipient of its productivity.  May this green path be one that finds us crossing paths in many ways!