About - OurUptown.com


	About

	Thatcher Imboden Owner / Operator The short overview is that I was born and raised in Uptown. Studied Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota. Board Member of my neighborhood group, the Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (00-01, 05-06). Steering Committee member of the Uptown Art Fair (05-06), and volunteer (98-06). Employee at Southwest Community Education (97-05), and The Ackerberg Group (05-06). I co-authored Uptown Minneapolis, a history book of the area that utilized photographs from years past. I love urban areas and see promoting Uptown as a way to encourage people to seek out urban areas to live, work, and visit - as it's more sustainable. I live and work in Uptown.


	1. Promote Uptown First and foremost, OurUptown.com wants to promote Uptown as a great place to shop, work, live, visit, eat at, do business, hang out, and more. 2. Provide Useful Information To better serve you, OurUptown.com wants to provide useful information so that our guests can better understand Uptown. 3. Explore Uptown's Many Dynamics So many different things go on in and around Uptown everyday, and OurUptown.com wants to explore a wide range of issues and as in-depth as possible. 4. Discuss Change Urban places are the result of people, and as time and people move on change occurs. OurUptown.com wants to discuss change and provide resources to guests as to empower people to discuss change.

	History OurUptown.com began in 1997 first as the Southwest Directory, a small, ugly website attempting to highlight parts of Southwest Minneapolis, including Uptown. Its creation coincided with Thatcher Imboden's freshman year of high school. The site quickly changed names to Uptown on the Web and focused in on Uptown. At the time, not much existing on the web regarding Uptown in the way of business directories, and the site provided some much needed information. The site operated until 2001 when it stopped receiving updates. In late spring of 2005, OurUptown.com was born out of a renewed interest (and more importantly, time!) in promoting Uptown, and perhaps to some slight degree the book he and his sister authored, Uptown Minneapolis. Beginning in July 2006, OurUptown.com began a redesign as to improve the function and look of the site. As summer turns to fall, expect lots more content on businesses, more historical content, and several features. Advertising For years, OurUptown.com and its predecessor did not have paid advertising on its website. The websites did not generate or collect any funds for its operation. The decision was made in the summer of 2006 to ad Google ads with the hopes that any revenue generated could be put back into the site, starting with covering the server upkeep. Several expansion plans require costs other than time, and the thought was to follow the ad route. Local businesses can purchase ads through Google Adsense by clicking the "Advertise on this site" link on some of the ads. OurUptown.com will consider alternative advertising if it is non-disruptive to our visitors. *OurUptown.com is NOT a paid listing service.* All Uptown businesses can be listed on this site. If a business is missing that you believe should be included, please contact us. The Javascript e-mail link on this page is adapted from a free script at www.joemaller.com.