Clearly, areas with higher populations are likely going to fare a bit better on this visualization, but I think it’s also showing something else. Startups don’t care about being in low-tax states. For them, the benefits outweigh the tax savings.

Here is what the greater Twin Cities metro looks like:

Startups are not only favoring a state with higher taxes, but they’re choosing for build their businesses in the highest taxed counties and highest taxed cities within those counties.

How can that be?

Startups featured on Crunchbase tend to be companies that can be run from anywhere with reliable power and a decent Internet connection. While the Twin Cities meet those criteria, a lot of other areas do as well, so what gives?

My theories:

1. Startups don’t pay a lot of taxes, because they’re not making a lot of profits.

2. Startups need smart people capable of building products and services that have never existed before. It’s likely easier for a startup’s founders to geographically surround itself with smart people than to move to a low-tax state and attempt to recruit the best and the brightest AWAY from Minneapolis to a state border city like Sioux Falls, SD or outside of Hennepin County to Delano, MN.

3. Startups are often founded by the same types of people that appreciate great restaurants, museums, trails, pro sports, theater, and nightlife. Quality of life, as they measure it, more than makes up for the difference in taxes.

Who Actually Creates Jobs?

Check out this interesting visual that compares how many jobs by year are being created in the United States by startups vs. existing companies:

Why is this so?

I think it ties to one of the other reasons that Target’s support for Minnesota Forward and thus Tom Emmer is misguided. The MN Forward crowd is full of established, well-run companies that occasionally support gay bashing politicians. Their biggest issue is not gay bashing, but corporate taxes. They want them lowered or eliminated entirely. This is because their companies are mature enough that they’ve becoming focused on driving down costs over innovation. We see this with Best Buy and Target, where both company’s strength has been in their buying power. Now they’re both getting crushed online by companies who innovated and now have buying power too (Amazon).

To me, it seems darn clear that companies that have donated to MN Forward would put a lot more of those tax savings toward corporate profits than job creation.

The state would have less money to fund the amenities that attract startups, so we’d slowly slouch toward the Dakotas for startup attractiveness. Entrepreneurial Dakotans would start skipping Minneapolis and head to the coasts (where taxes and cost of living are even higher).

If any of the gubernatorial candidates are serious about job creation, they should be serious about creating an environment that attracts startups. To do that, I highly recommend that all candidates stop by Twin Cities Startup Weekend September 17-19th to talk to people who are creating new jobs by creating new, valuable products and services.

If you’re not sure what to ask them, try this: What would you do with $1 million?

Compare the answers you receive from startup founders to the answers you receive from the companies who’ve donated to MN Forward. Who will actually create great new jobs in the State of Minnesota? And what do they need to do it?

Lowry Avenue near the Library was once one of the city’s most popular ho strolls. In case you don’t know, a ho stroll is exactly what it means: an area where hos stroll. Several years ago, an evening cruise around this area would encounter a host of women strolling up and down the avenue, from Fremont up to Penn. Most of the hos were of the desperate crackhead variety, but every once in a while you could come across a chick that made your jaws drop in shock that such a chick was a working girl.

The area has since undergone a huge facelift. The Avenue had been widened considerably, making the working girl stand out conspicuously and police have aggressively tamped down of much of the illegal activity. Thus, it has nowhere the action it once boasted. But old habits die hard and every so often you will spot a working girl out on the Ave taking a chance on making some money.

Perhaps it’s been pushed to other parts of the neighborhood? It seems like the streets along Lyndale between Broadway and Dowling are the drive-thru for just about anything you’d want to buy in North. Maybe it’s not as far north as Lowry these days.

On the south side of town, Carly and I saw some action on Lake near 13th Ave S pre-dawn on Tuesday (they were out too late, or we were out too early). It looks like the stretches of Lake and 31st St from there to 35W have a long history of action in South Minneapolis, according to the stats Johnny Northside posted last year. Ranty backs that up in Johnny’s comments.

One thing interesting about the stats Johnny posted is the big gaps between arrests, and the occasional spikes. Here are the dates when arrests occurred, and how many:

10/3/2006	1
5/2/2007	4
5/16/2007	2
6/11/2007	1
6/14/2007	5
6/18/2007	1
6/21/2007	2
6/28/2007	2
7/18/2007	1
7/19/2007	1
7/26/2007	1
8/13/2007	1
8/22/2007	1
8/29/2007	1
11/7/2007	1
11/20/2007	1
12/4/2007	1
12/18/2007	2
12/26/2007	2
1/2/2008	1
1/4/2008	1
1/9/2008	1
1/19/2008	1
1/22/2008	1
1/25/2008	1
2/5/2008	1
2/6/2008	1
3/24/2008	1
3/25/2008	1
3/26/2008	1
3/30/2008	1
4/2/2008	2
5/4/2008	1
5/7/2008	3
5/8/2008	1
5/12/2008	2
5/14/2008	2
5/20/2008	1
5/21/2008	1
7/2/2008	1
7/10/2008	1
7/16/2008	2
7/31/2008	2
8/20/2008	1
8/21/2008	9
3/12/2009	1

Does anyone have any theories on the time gaps or spikes? Is this something that gets attention from time to time, which leads to sweeps?

As Graham mentions in the video, he was planning to ride from near Lund’s in Northeast to Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown. That’s a couple miles. When he gets to Dinkytown, he can check in the bike on 4th near Burrito Loco and walk the last block to Al’s. Since he’ll have the bike back in a kiosk in under 30 minutes, he won’t have any additional trip charges. In fact, he could bounce around town all day like that for his $5 (plus tax).

If you make longer trips between stops, you may rack up some additional charges. That’s explained here.

Niceride 65

I took on the Niceride 65 Challenge last Sunday. The challenge is to visit all 65 Nice Ride locations within 24 hours. Done. However, I had a glitch. When I got home I checked my results on the Nice Ride website where subscribers can see a log of all their trips.

Unfortunately, I missed one downtown, so I swung back to downtown later in the day to pick that up. Total time: 8 hours, 8 minutes. That’s a pretty soft time, considering that I hit the first 64 kiosks in 2:35. Sub-2:30 is very doable. Heck, I could do it.

Longfellow: Upper left
Cooper: Upper Right
Howe: Middle
Hiawatha: South (near Minnehaha Park).

The heat map shows the average listing price for each neighborhood for the previous week. That’s pretty consistent. The stuff closer to the river costs a bit more. However, the stuff closer to the light rail on Hiawatha is doing pretty well these days.

Zillow has trend information based on the average values of home prices by neighborhood. Here is a look at the four:

That sure makes it look like the Hiawatha neighborhood is on one heck of a run. While prices are still down from their all-time highs, Hiawatha seems to be recovering at a faster rate than its neighboring neighborhoods to the north.

What does Hiawatha have going for it?

A reconstructed bike trail on West River Parkway.
Minnehaha Park
Sea Salt
Walkable to the 46th St Station LRT
The Riverview Theater
Parkway Pizza
Easy access to shopping in in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul (and cheaper housing).

I’m sure there are at least a few Hiawatha residents reading this blog. What have you been doing that’s made you so darn attractive?