Twin Cities' National and Global Image

[at40man]

Men's Journal has listed St. Paul as being a top 10 city to live in the USA, and even calls out the little secret some of us already know -- that St Paul is a way cooler place to live than Minneapolis.

http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advic ... -minnesota

[xandrex]

And this has St. Paul as being a top 10 city to live in the USA, and even calls out the little secret some of us already know -- that St Paul is way cooler than Minneapolis.

http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advic ... -minnesota

Not so sure about this part:

Saint Paul has long been overshadowed by its slicker, richer twin. And, frankly, the people who live there wouldn't have it any other way.

[twinkess]

Yeah but who wants to live in the suburbs

[talindsay]

Yeah but who wants to live in the suburbs

Hear hear

[Snelbian]

I've stopped being able to tell if I have thin skin, if that joke stopped being funny many, many years and millions of retelling ago, if the people telling it have ever actually been across the river, or if it's even meant as a joke half the time. Regardless, how about it just stops being a thing? Can we do that? Because it mostly just makes Minneapolitans sound like smug, insular douchebags.

[Wedgeguy]

I've stopped being able to tell if I have thin skin, if that joke stopped being funny many, many years and millions of retelling ago, if the people telling it have ever actually been across the river, or if it's even meant as a joke half the time. Regardless, how about it just stops being a thing? Can we do that? Because it mostly just makes Minneapolitans sound like smug, insular douchebags.

I'd have to agree, What is MPLS's equivalent of Grand Ave, Summit Ave, and Rice Park district. Where is the grand equivalent of the St. Paul Hotel Union Depot, Highland Park Neighborhood. St. Paul has a feel all to itself. Western and Selby district, Old St Anthony with Muffeletta. Both cities got a start for different reasons. St. Paul as a river port and train hub. Minneapolis started as a Milling city and industrial hub due to the falls. St. Paul put a lot of other larger Midwestern cities to shame. It has great neighborhoods and great cultural icons, Ordway, Landmark Center, Science Museum, and History Center. They are both working their way back into greatness. With the green line available I think a few unenlightened people should take a tour of the great St. Paul and educate themselves so they don't insert foot in mouth so often. Just a suggestion.

[talindsay]

I've stopped being able to tell if I have thin skin, if that joke stopped being funny many, many years and millions of retelling ago, if the people telling it have ever actually been across the river, or if it's even meant as a joke half the time. Regardless, how about it just stops being a thing? Can we do that? Because it mostly just makes Minneapolitans sound like smug, insular douchebags.

It's funny because it riles St. Paulies so much. We're in St. Paul more than Minneapolis, spend more money there, send our kid to their schools, etc. St. Paul is great. But its "me too" attitude is just fun to mess with.

[David Greene]

Yeah but who wants to live in the suburbs

Well, it *is* the largest and most important suburb.

[David Greene]

I'd have to agree, What is MPLS's equivalent of...

This is just silly. Of course there are great places in St. Paul. But "what is Minneapolis' equivalent" is the wrong question. We cannot have equivalency. I could rattle off any number of Minneapolis places with no equivalent in the metro. So what? It's like a tautology.

[Wedgeguy]

As childish as calling the State capital a suburb? I pointed out that St. Paul is far from anyone's suburb. St. Paul has some of the best neighborhoods in the state. Sometimes you have to educate the kiddies.

[WHS]

I loved how, a month ago, the Pioneer Press had a little tournament to come up with a Saint Paul Eat Street, so it could have one like MInneapolis does. And the winner was... Payne Avenue, with a grand total of eight mostly unremarkable restaurants scattered through a desolate mile-long stretch.

http://www.twincities.com/restaurants/c ... ce=contest

(Edit: also, I'm with talinsday -- while I'm not going to say that I particularly like Saint Paul, it's mostly fun to poke at because people get very worked up about defending its greatness in a way that does not especially characterize great cities)

[EOst]

Maybe we should call St. Paul a burough instead?

[Nick]

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog ... g-loathed/

Right, Hamilton Nolan has been the most gleeful and vitriolic of Boston’s critics, slashing at the city at the slightest provocation. He told me that he hates Boston sports fans and the whole genre of white-gangster movies inspired by the city, but for the most part it’s recreational. “Making fun of cities is the same as hating a sports team,” he said. “It’s not rational, and it’s not factually based.” Nolan’s favorite prey animals are DC and Boston, but the revealing thing about Boston, he told me, “is how mad they get and how seriously they take it.” He likened it to when you’re hanging out with a bunch of friends and one of them busts your balls. “The worst thing you can do is start crying about it.” So the hate is just feigned? “I don’t have an actual problem with Boston,” Nolan said. “I can’t say I have any firsthand evidence of Boston being a shithole. But it’s not about whether Boston sucks or not, it’s about whether you can goad the people into getting offended.”

Sometimes the St. Paul stuff is a bit much, though, as people will hear the casual ribbing and then treat "why the hell did we build a $250 million dollar train station in the wrong city" as the same comment even though those are two very different things.

[Wedgeguy]

Because St. Paul had the foresight not to tear their depot down like MPLS did. Building a new train station in a city that got rid of their best available track for other purposes, would have probably cost them 2 to 3 times that much for a less then stellar operation. Look what we got for our Twins/Interchange money! People can drive out the airport in Bloomington ok, but then piss and moan that they have to drive or take LRT to St. Paul for a train is ...........

[Tiller]

Minneapolitans are just jealous b/c of the Interchange's severe capacity constraints; they'll have to make an additional transfer when traveling

https://imgur.com/jUHbu1W

(Are there size constraints for posting images? The "Img" BBCode didn't work)

[WHS]

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog ... g-loathed/

Right, Hamilton Nolan has been the most gleeful and vitriolic of Boston’s critics, slashing at the city at the slightest provocation. He told me that he hates Boston sports fans and the whole genre of white-gangster movies inspired by the city, but for the most part it’s recreational. “Making fun of cities is the same as hating a sports team,” he said. “It’s not rational, and it’s not factually based.” Nolan’s favorite prey animals are DC and Boston, but the revealing thing about Boston, he told me, “is how mad they get and how seriously they take it.” He likened it to when you’re hanging out with a bunch of friends and one of them busts your balls. “The worst thing you can do is start crying about it.” So the hate is just feigned? “I don’t have an actual problem with Boston,” Nolan said. “I can’t say I have any firsthand evidence of Boston being a shithole. But it’s not about whether Boston sucks or not, it’s about whether you can goad the people into getting offended.”

Sometimes the St. Paul stuff is a bit much, though, as people will hear the casual ribbing and then treat "why the hell did we build a $250 million dollar train station in the wrong city" as the same comment even though those are two very different things.

Ironically, the whole faux-Irish thing is probably the one thing that genuinely annoys me about Saint Paul, mostly because it reminds me of terrible, terrible Bostonians.

[mplsjaromir]

Because St. Paul had the foresight not to tear their depot down like MPLS did. Building a new train station in a city that got rid of their best available track for other purposes, would have probably cost them 2 to 3 times that much for a less then stellar operation. Look what we got for our Twins/Interchange money! People can drive out the airport in Bloomington ok, but then piss and moan that they have to drive or take LRT to St. Paul for a train is ...........

It's hard to fault Minneapolis for tearing down Great Northern Depot when they did. All rail lines leading to the Depot were abandoned, making the structure obsolete. I do not believe the city was in the position to operate a railroad. In place of the station Minneapolis got a new branch of world's second best central bank (SNB being #1, obs), and a fantastic riverside park. The bank pays $3.4 million in annual property taxes, I couldn't find a property in downtown St. Paul that pays more.

SPUD would still be rotting away if it wasn't for a huge influx of federal stimulus money. I agree with the spending the money, but its not like it was St. Paul who made it happen.

St. Paul is nice and cool. But St. Paul wants to be taken seriously as a cutting edge city, for that to happen they are going to actually implement some cutting edge policy and stop looking to the 1960s as guidance. Minneapolis and it leaders have moved into the 21st century for the most part, hopefully St. Paul can as well.

[Nathan]

I loved how, a month ago, the Pioneer Press had a little tournament to come up with a Saint Paul Eat Street, so it could have one like MInneapolis does. And the winner was... Payne Avenue, with a grand total of eight mostly unremarkable restaurants scattered through a desolate mile-long stretch.

http://www.twincities.com/restaurants/c ... ce=contest

(Edit: also, I'm with talinsday -- while I'm not going to say that I particularly like Saint Paul, it's mostly fun to poke at because people get very worked up about defending its greatness in a way that does not especially characterize great cities)

I'm a Minneapolis kid for sure, but two of my favorite and probably best in the cities restaurants are on Payne. Tongue in cheek and ward 6 are crazy good. Crazy.

[twinkess]

I've stopped being able to tell if I have thin skin, if that joke stopped being funny many, many years and millions of retelling ago, if the people telling it have ever actually been across the river, or if it's even meant as a joke half the time. Regardless, how about it just stops being a thing? Can we do that? Because it mostly just makes Minneapolitans sound like smug, insular douchebags.

It's funny because it riles St. Paulies so much. We're in St. Paul more than Minneapolis, spend more money there, send our kid to their schools, etc. St. Paul is great. But its "me too" attitude is just fun to mess with.

Hey now, I love St Paul like a brother. Nobody can make fun of St. Paul but me. Kinda like Canada. We make fun of it but love it just the same.

[Anondson]

Not sure if this got linked up thread ... "Minneapolis is No Miracle"

https://medium.com/migration-issues/min ... 655c95d893