Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is trying a unique strategy to get remote workers to return downtown: insulting them.
“I don’t know if you saw this study the other day,” Frey told an audience of 1,000 at Minneapolis Downtown Council’s annual meeting on Wednesday. “What this study clearly showed … is that when people who have the ability to come downtown to an office don’t — when they stay home sitting on their couch, with their nasty cat blanket, diddling on their laptop — if they do that for a few months, you become a loser!”
The comment was a “complete joke” and the study was made-up, the Minneapolis mayor’s office told Fortune, but there are serious facts to back up Frey’s worry about the impact of remote work on Minneapolis’ downtown economy.
The comment was a “complete joke” and the study was made-up, the Minneapolis mayor’s office told Fortune
Ah yes the typical “what? It was just a joke, why’s everyone mad at me?” reaction to saying something only an asshole would say, fuck this guy. So sorry rich people are going to make less money off of their real estate investments, boo fucking hoo, how about adapting to technological and cultural changes better? 🤷♂️
He went with the “it was just a prank bro” strategy, which has in the last decade been very successful
Disclosure: I work from home and enjoy it immensely. I never want to work in an office again.
So sorry rich people are going to make less money off of their real estate investments, boo fucking hoo, how about adapting to technological and cultural changes better?
There is that, and some rich people need to be boiled in their own pudding. But this affects all downtown businesses, even mom and pop shops. People will just flee like urban flight did when people went to the suburbs. What’s left? I hear about “well, turn office buildings into residential space,” but the logistics of that with fire codes, building codes, and urban planning are not drop in replacements. They can be done, but at great cost.
We’re looking at an urban decay beyond what we’ve planned for. Minneapolis is terrified to become another Detroit or Gary Indiana.
It doesn’t have to all be bad. If the city could get the head out of their ass, they could sort out the codes and get it done. Let people who work downtown live downtown. Shrink the driving and parking infrastructure, turn it into a walkable, bikeable area.
Rents/leases could go way down for the mom and pop shops that can survive in the new design.
Other businesses can move further out where the people are, so the suburbs can become more walkable.
If we made the focus on reducing waste, and making things easy for everyone, rather than how to make rich people richer, theres lots of solutions.
In addition, increase housing density by removing single family only zoning and adding more missing middle and affordable housing. Make the city a place people want to live (and can afford to live) rather than just a place people commute in and out from in their noisy, polluting cars.
Demand has changed in the market? Bummer. Anyway,
but the logistics of that with fire codes, building codes, and urban planning are not drop in replacements. They can be done, but at great cost.
Most of the buildings were talking about are made to accommodate stricter codes already. The problem isn’t really at all the cost of retrofitting them, so much as it is the lower rent/sf price they can charge for it.
Everything else you mentioned is fair, but the only reason people would rather leave urban centers if they don’t need to be there is the cost of living there. No matter how you slice it, the biggest obstacle to dense residential city centers is the established expectation of higher ROI on the space and the over-leveraged building owners who can’t afford to charge less for risk of defaulting on their properties.
In the end, it’s about bailing out the rich. They should have diversified their bets away from commercial real estate.
Covid mashed fast forward, but remote knowledge work was a thing before it. It was a foreseeable risk, even just from guessing normal rich people motivations: once the San Francisco crowd figured out they could cast a bigger net for talent, AND pay lower-cost-of-living city salaries to them, it was going to spread.
They hate improving citizens lives so for that they must go
Insulting a key demographic of your constituency in a ranked choice system is an interesting strategy.
Yeah but businesses are probably paying him more.
What the fuck is wrong with this guy.
This is what happens when your education is CEO-pandering articles on Forbes and Fortune shoving “the workers are the problem and work-from-home is lazy and will kill your business” agenda so they get more views
Well he’s not exactly a great orator is he?
Presumably he is invested in getting people back into the office, so you would have thought that he would have tried something a little bit more likely to succeed than insulting people.
Politicians these days are just bad at being corrupt.
This is the guy who showed up to a protest for the murder of George Floyd and everyone switched to chanting “Go home Jacob, go home” and “shame”. Dude just sucks.
He has more money/power than is healthy for him or the rest of society…
He seems like an OK mayor for the city tbh but shit has gone downhill under him like the George Floyd thing which Domino’d to chaos over time.
This is probably a cascade from businesses wanting to end their lease on downtown offices, which is due to remote workers, which is why this dude is spazzing. It’s directly affecting the city income, budget, planning, etc. Just pushing it more towards chaos.
I see the reasons, but instead of putting everything back maybe try to move forward? I’m no city planner so I have no idea what another solution would be. Cheaper business startup costs to increase local markets?
A city is sort of like a business because there are budgets, income, expenses, etc. When you have no offices being leased, you will, as the city, lose.
Addition: he said it was a joke. It could’ve been. It could not have been. As I said before, he’s done an OK job. I’d feel inclined to belive it was a joke in poor taste. Perhaps a half joke. Idk man. It’s not super important in the grand scheme.
Good god. Thank you for bringing a sane, thoughtful take on the situation.
A city is sort of like a business because there are budgets, income, expenses, etc. When you have no offices being leased, you will, as the city, lose.
Yes. There are real monetary issues here and memes aren’t going to change that overnight.
And the real monetary issues are that the free market has spoken and the businesses, instead of listening to this Free Market that they worship so much, have instead propped up a failure of a decision for no reason other than they’ve already spent a bunch of money on it.
If MY business failed because I stuck too hard to a sunk cost fallacy, nobody would give a shit. So why is it a problem here? They should have invested better, or at the very least, seen which way the wind is blowing and adapt appropriately.
Oh no, my feelings are so hurt … Hearing a politician teach me about work is like hearing a priest teach me about sex with an adult.
Just don’t knock anything off the
altardesk and you’ll be fine.
People just don’t want to spend what little time we have on this earth commuting, paying $10 for a shitty Subway sandwich for lunch, and listening to Elderly Manager Brian talk about his glory days to a captive audience.
What the fuck is a “nasty cat blanket”
Projection.
Nah, it’s class contempt. All of us rubes working from our slums, when we should be content to bask in the glory of the Corporate Office…
A blanket that is 10% cat hair/pee/scratched and 100% nasty
So a picnic rug/baby blanket/couch throw?
Yes but with less of a perpetual scent.
Dogs are far worse for that. My sister has a dog and nothing in their house will ever be clean again
Lol okay our dog doesn’t lose any hair, at least not more than a human
Don’t know many humans that shit on the floor of their home though.
Eh, they’re just more cleaning than a human when it comes to the big messy ones. Totally managable with full mobility. Though if you have an unfortunate situation like a long-hair shedding dog and no vaccuum or one that hair-wraps easily… it gets rough.
Other than that, it’s largely staying on top of messes and training them to keep it outside. One bad pee spot a year is easy enough to clean up without a trace, but if it soaks in or it’s all over, it’s a chore and one that needs a shampooer or serious mopping, too.
Also UV flashlights, the kind with a black (filtered) lense, are your friend. They’re cheap these days and make pee spots flouresce.
Yeah I’m not going to my sister’s house with the black light, that seems to cross a line.
Ha yea don’t snoop…Though they are awesome for finding pee spots. Just let 'em borrow it or buy extras. There are ones for under ten bucks these days.
Because humans evolved to live in a sterile environment 24/7 and to never be exposed to other forms of life, dirt, or literally any sort of adversity physically or emotionally. Or something?
Your home doesn’t need to be sterile, but it does need to be disease free.
We have known that since the middle ages.
Okay, what diseases are my dogs giving me? Also, define “disease free” because you’re already covered in “diseases”. The bacteria that causes strep throat is already hanging out inside of your throat, waiting to proliferate one day when your immune system dips because of something entirely unrelated. If you’ve eaten out, you’ve probably eaten fecal coliform bacteria from the people who made your food, and you never even knew it (and neither did they) because nobody washes their hands for the recommended 30 seconds. Just take it easy, don’t do obviously risky things with your health, and you’ll be fine.
a clear indication that the man is a barbarian
Yeah… No. The real losers are the asshats that have to get up, shower, get lunch together, drive to a factory, inhale shit all day, fantasize about unrealistic things like unicorns, homeownership, and retirement, and then drive home.
Source: Me. Am loser, driving, breathing shit, and all with no cat blanket…
Would you like a cat blanket in these trying times?
That’s all I’ve ever wanted out of life!
:P
Shows his desperation. Adapt or die.
He probably invested too heavily in real estate. Now, the corporate RIET or REIT (I always forget) aren’t growing to his expectations.
This dude just called every c suite exec a loser …lol
Stop man… You had me at cat blanket, no need to say anything else, I will continue from home.
What a fucking tool
I call politicians scumbags that just lie and steal, but whatever
I’m pretty sure those studies actually exist though
Studies definitely exist, but they say remote work is vastly more efficient. Buy the lies or do research.
They probably meant studies showing that politicians are lying and stealing scumbags
Doh! That was a whoosh moment! Sorry @echodot@feddit.uk
Its that efficency that is the problem.
There are a lot of other subeconomies that rely on daily commuter herds.
This guy is upset a broken system has been exposed for what it is.
so does corruption in science. once again, you have capitalism to thank for that. Publication pressure everyone’s heard of, but journals don’t like to publish papers that simply refute or fail to reproduce another lab’s results - and without that, it’s not science, it’s just fantasy; without it, there can be no path forward.
I guess making his downtown a good place to live and work might take some effort, while insults are free. Good use of economic resources.
I hope this guy gets stuck in traffic enough that his policies don’t get traction, and someone more capable gets elected next.
Minor nit pick overall, but ‘diddling’ is a revealing choice of words
It’s all projection with these types.
I can’t read this article, but I’ve seen (and posted) other articles about this. Governor Walz responded with “I guess I’m a nasty cat blanket person then”. The DFL isn’t a sack of shit, but Mayor Frey sure is. And he got re elected last time because he’s about as conservative as can win here and the downtown businesses threw a bunch of money in his campaign.
Maybe they should have used that money to entice workers back into the office…
The whole back to the office argument is stupid. Rather than trying to force people back businesses should realize this is an opportunity to decrease their outgoings. Sell the giant waste of space office in an expensive part of town, and just carry on doing what you’re already doing.
I made them put that I am a permanent homework in my contract so they can’t make me go back into that office. But they still maintain the physical building which is mad. Now they’re just getting the worst of both worlds, their employees are removed yet their paying for a building. About a year before the lockdown they replaced the expensive staffed canteen with vending machines, and that pissed everyone off. They still haven’t undone that yet so why should I go back?
See, that’s the problem most normies don’t know: These offices have LONG leases. They’re basically a home owner that bought on a bubble.
They still deserve to lose the investment, though. That’s what all their money is for, right? Taking risks? Sounds like they should’ve kept more around for a rainy day…
The only “people” who truly are interested in RTO are real estate holding companies desperately trying to stave off financial ruin, and executives/billionaires who have investments therein.
The arm twisting is coming right from the top and isn’t going to work long term.
It’s daft though because at the rate AI development is going this was going to happen anyway even without COVID.
