The Fat of the Land

So it's time to spill the beans about the Blake Road Corridor. Before I begin with the statistical information and such, I'd like to take some time to explain the project in a bit more detail.

I first became involved with the Blake Road Corridor when I started working in Hopkins three years ago. The company I work for currently has partnered with civic organizations and the police department. I would always hear sirens going down Excelsior Boulevard toward the corridor. Eventually, I asked the police commissioner why the police cars only went one direction down Excelsior. He explained that the corridor had its share of problems. Just this past April, a Somali man was murdered at the White Castle in Hopkins, located on the North side of the corridor. This was the second murder in a year, the other being a 90-year-old woman murdered in her house. Before that, the city hadn't experienced any homicides in almost a decade.

The Blake Road corridor exists south of Highway 7 and north of Excelsior Boulevard on Blake road. This corridor, about a mile long, makes its home to 1,350 families. These families are mixed in with industrial complexes and retail spaces, which further divide the neighborhoods and further increase the population density. For all these families, there is only one park. On the same road, south of Excelsior Boulevard, are some of the most expensive homes in Minnesota. The houses are more reminiscent of castles than the quaint, single family homes found on the north side of Hopkins or the densely-packed apartments of the corridor.

This document will attempt to investigate what role social and economic class plays on the corridor.

Currently in heavy rotation:


Placebo - Running Up That Hill [Kate Bush cover]

Editors - An End Has A Start

VAUX - Celibate Good Times