The scene: The Monday morning editorial meeting in the Utne conference room/employee lounge, 9:30 a.m., March 17, 1997.

Hugh: So what about our city, Minneapolis? Should we make it one of our ten most enlightened towns?

Jay: No way. Minneapolis has fallen for every snakeoil version of progress for the last 100 years. It's the third most sprawling city in the country. It has this `50s--or, if you're charitable, `70s--idea of what makes a city work: Knock things down. Buildother things up. Be dazzled by every shiny new pseudo-solution that's put before your eyes.

Craig: That's true, but the level of community organizing here is second to none.

Jay: This place gets high marks for civic involvement but awful marks for urban design. Minneapolis is a city that put a K-Mart right in the middle of its most beautiful boulevard.

Hugh: Coming from New York, what I sense here is a certain optimism that a city can actually work.

Craig: Yeah, there's a faith that we'd better make it work before the people in City Hall screw it up.

Jay: In the `70s, this was a really progressive city. But then something happened. I think what we're seeing in Minneapolis now is the down side of liberalism. Liberalism and populism are two different things. Populism means listening to the people and hearing what they have to say. Liberalism says: 'The people are idiots; let's go find out what the experts think .' Minneapolis used to listen to the people --now it's just like every other American city.

Craig: Maybe, but the sense of hope is still alive and well in the neighborhoods. I can't imagine an inner city anywhere else that works better than this one.

Jay: Yes, there's still a war going on here over who controls the city, the nieghborhoods or the corporations. In every other city it's already been decided--the corporations won.

Jon: What I miss here is being able to live without a car. I tried it--it's not doable. For some reason, Minneapolis can't get its act together to create a convenient, walkable street life.