urbanMSP

I can think of a few posts I've seen since joining relatively recently that read as "I've never been to St. Paul except for one trip to Midway Rainbow and a game at the Xcel - why is the rest of St. Paul so dead and boring?" It's not snobbery, though, just ignorance.

I hope it doesn't come off of snobbery, but as a Minneapolitan, there aren't a lot of things that St. Paul has that Minneapolis doesn't have. I mean, it rarely makes sense for me to go to St. Paul for a restaurant or bar when there are lots of great restaurants and bars in Minneapolis that are much easier for me to get to. This isn't to suggest that they're not as good as the ones in Minneapolis, just that they'd have to be notably better to justify the trip.

And to be clear, I suspect that St. Paulites feel the same about traveling to Minneapolis for many things. That said, I do find myself in St. Paul on a pretty regular basis and always enjoy its charms.

To somewhat echo the link above, though, I do find it very frustrating that whenever Minneapolis gets something nice, St. Paul insists on getting their quid pro quo.

If you're looking for a reason to go to St. Paul, check out the Katy Vernon Band playing Wednesdays in August at the Amsterdam (plug).

MNdible pretty much nailed it. I've lived in both cities, and they're both great. St. Paul has more elevation, intact history, quaint neighborhoods, etc. If you're a St. Paulite and not a bar/indie-music/ball-sports/downtown person, you probably wouldn't find yourself in Minneapolis very often.

I lived in St. Paul for 7 years (and Woodbury prior) before moving to Whittier at age 28, two years ago. I can say whole heartedly that I wish I had lived more of my twenties in Minneapolis. I felt that way immediately upon moving and I still feel that way two years later. There is just so much more going on for young people. To sum it up in one long sentence: I can easily go to First Avenue on my bike or a bus, which means I get to do fun things like that more often, since I don't have to drive and worry about the whole DWI thing. But I get that it's not for everyone. Growing up in the eastern burbs, St. Paul was "the City" and Minneapolis was largely irrelevant. Why would I go to Minneapolis (unless for a specific event) when I'd be driving through the entirety of St. Paul to get there? Whether living in Woodbury in my late teens or St. Paul most of my twenties, I honestly didn't find myself in Minneapolis that often unless going to a douchey downtown bar that no one that lives in Minneapolis is proud of having. Then again, not knowing what other Minneapolis neighborhoods had to offer, I didn't know what I was missing.

More on the Project for Pride in Living and Beacon projects

http://feedly.com/k/147Wjhl

Didn't see a topic for it anywhere, but Island Station will probably be meeting the wrecking ball within a month or two:
http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_238 ... river-meet

Most people seem to hate it, but I think it's cool. It's in bad shape now days though.

Good bye, Economy Inn. Regions Hospital plans to buy and tear down this horrendous structure on University and Jackson. Even though a parking lot would take its place, I'm still smiling.

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_238 ... al-parking

That's pretty hideous, but there are two parking structures across the street, does Regions really need that much parking? Maybe there are better ways to deal with getting people to the hospital than all those parking spaces?

Regions is huge, and they probably do need a ton of parking. The hospital complex is also pretty cut off from the rest of downtown and public transportation services, so getting there without a car is certainly not the easiest task.

But looking at google maps, there is literally 3 huge ramps surrounding this building plus a giant empty lot across the street. This just seems needless.

But looking at google maps, there is literally 3 huge ramps surrounding this building plus a giant empty lot across the street. This just seems needless.

Hmm yes, probably so.

Also about 1.5 blocks from the Robert Street station on the Green Line, which ought to qualify it as being in some sort of TOD zoning. But maybe they're relying too much on the ridership models in their planning? I think that stop is ranked as the 2nd-worst for ridership along the entire route, with only 340 daily boardings expected in 2030. Two out of the three stops that weren't going to be included along University Avenue ranked better than that (Hamline and Victoria -- somehow Western is projected to only get 270, which also baffles me).

Can we get a moratorium on surface parking lots until the Green Line is actually up and running?

A ramp is going to cost millions of dollars (as a random number I'd think even $25 million would be on the low end). How much bus service from downtown could that pay for?

The answer to a transportation question should be a little more complicated than buy everything -> knock it over and put up parking

45 stall parking lot instead of a 51 room motel? Sad to see that happen. Even if the motel needed to get cleaned up.
Even IF the parking lot was privately owned and paying property taxes (this won't, if it's owned by Regions) I'm sure the sleeziest motel would pay more in property taxes and do more for the street life than the snazziest of asphalt car storage parcels.

I'm guessing this is more about Regions acquiring and holding that land than any real need for parking.

Via Bill Lindeke, a good PiPress article about the city paying to rehab some homes in a failed neighborhood on the East Side.

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_23879994/

Article about general St. Paul things:
http://finance-commerce.com/2013/08/che ... d-st-paul/

This sounds like a pretty bad idea: http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_243 ... et-traffic

Dayton's Bluff residents start petition to close (one block of) 6th Street between Mounds & Maria.

I'm not sure what the absolute best idea would be there, but closing the block doesn't seem so bad to me. I've walked over there a few times after work and have been amazed at how hard it is to cross that street just one or two blocks up the hill from the end of the on-/off-ramps. People really don't want to stop, and are not yet acclimated to the residential nature of the area at that distance.

I think the city has already tried a few traffic-calming measures there, but the street could use more. Closing the street entirely is a fairly big-hammer approach, but is worthy of consideration.