[Speed Gibson,
Sunday April 15, 2007 at 8:24am]
A Tale of Two Cities
I went to the Jason Lewis tax rally on Saturday at the Capitol. Parking has never been a problem in the past, but the likelihood of a large turnout and the unknown of the other "Global Warming" event made me decide to risk public transportation. Yes, I took the bus, through north Minneapolis, transferring in downtown Minneapolis.
I took the #22 to downtown Minneapolis via Lyndale, then the #16 though the University campus, past the new Gopher stadium site. Then the tour of University Ave, targeted for proactive blight by the next leg of light rail. I took the #94 express back to Minneapolis, connecting immediately to the #5 back to Brooklyn Center via Emerson & Fremont.
The bus gives you the chance to really survey the homes and businesses along along the way. I saw so many nice houses and properties, along Emerson Avenue in particular, it made me wonder just how bad does urban government have to be to make these areas largely undesirable?
I arrived early to do get an hour of exercise, walking through downtown St. Paul. I also saw a little of downtown Minneapolis, walking four blocks along the Nicollet Mall. It was quite the contrast.
Minneapolis was waking up, people everywhere, stores open. By comparison, St. Paul was dead, not much open, not many people milling about. Somehow this figures with my impression that St. Paul is the land of the white collar public sector, downtown and the Capitol being ground zero. They don't work weekends other than a few manning the boards at public broadcasting, and the tour guides at the Science Museum.
St. Paul has its own neighborhood treasures, but its downtown isn't one of them. Given the natural beauty of the area, better than Minneapolis I think, again I wonder. How bad does the government have to be?
I took the #22 to downtown Minneapolis via Lyndale, then the #16 though the University campus, past the new Gopher stadium site. Then the tour of University Ave, targeted for proactive blight by the next leg of light rail. I took the #94 express back to Minneapolis, connecting immediately to the #5 back to Brooklyn Center via Emerson & Fremont.
The bus gives you the chance to really survey the homes and businesses along along the way. I saw so many nice houses and properties, along Emerson Avenue in particular, it made me wonder just how bad does urban government have to be to make these areas largely undesirable?
I arrived early to do get an hour of exercise, walking through downtown St. Paul. I also saw a little of downtown Minneapolis, walking four blocks along the Nicollet Mall. It was quite the contrast.
Minneapolis was waking up, people everywhere, stores open. By comparison, St. Paul was dead, not much open, not many people milling about. Somehow this figures with my impression that St. Paul is the land of the white collar public sector, downtown and the Capitol being ground zero. They don't work weekends other than a few manning the boards at public broadcasting, and the tour guides at the Science Museum.
St. Paul has its own neighborhood treasures, but its downtown isn't one of them. Given the natural beauty of the area, better than Minneapolis I think, again I wonder. How bad does the government have to be?