Vince Mpls

The population of St Paul is 307k. Adding ~40k or 10% is a low estimate based on simple math on how the city will pay for services without raising taxes. 100k is the estimate for the metro to control housing costs and reduce suburban sprawl. Lefty's should be rushing towards more density as policy.

All zoned like a strip mall, because nearby homeowners don't want something taller than 2 stories. Which means no developer will bother. It's a difficult problem.

Thx! I took broad numbers generally known and specific figures from the Minnesota Senate (22% nontaxable) to basically estimate only 40% of St Paul's land is zonable and useable. That means to get enough revenue that land will need to be MUCH more dense, and we need about 40,000 more residents.

10) Repairing these self-inflicted wounds will unfreeze the ground, but won't nurture it. Incentives, trade-offs, compromises are needed. Is St Paul ready for bold ideas, or is it willing to turn into Buffalo, Flint, or Gary of the 1980s? Because that's where its headed, esp if there's a recession.

9) Rent Control, not bad *by itself*, but combined with the above factors it's completely deadly. The political dithering since then to remove part of it hasn't unsalted the earth, and won't. Simple tenant protections like banning rate collusion between owners is better policy.

8) Bad process also means city permitting takes *YEARS* eg the new Hotel next to Allianz stadium, for which a fight over 5' of height took 18 months. What sane person would ever want to build anything in a market like this? Even with a landowner desperate to sell, how would you even get a loan?

7/ St Paul's restrictive zoning is straight out of the 1990s: eg University Avenue is limited to 2.5 stories from Snelling to Capitol, on $1Billion of LRT infrastructure. The CVS intersection in particular that everyone is upset about won't amount to anything unless this is radically changed.

6/ Though St Paul's issues are complex, there are really 3 big factors preventing development, which also happen to interact with each other in an especially toxic way. Any 1 of these are survivable, all 3 combined together are deadly: Zoning, Permitting, and hold on to your hats... Rent Control

5/ Therefore as it currently stands, St Paul is not economically viable. There simply isn't enough revenue to run a city this size correctly, nor is there EVER GOING TO BE if all stays the same. It doesn't matter if you "tax the rich more" or "reduce taxes to attract", there's not enough density.

4/ St Paul is also continuing through a painful and *completely unplanned* deindustrialization that began in the 1960s. See: the closure just last month of WestRock, leaving 40 more acres derelict. The once Mighty Midway resembles a rust belt city.

3/ Nearly an 1/8th of the city is taken up with highways, streets, parking lots, ramps, and the storage of personal private vehicles on the public right of way, the latter an especially ridiculous waste of land.

2/ At least a third of St Paul's land is simply undevelopable, because it's either park, green space, vertical, water, or a flood plain. 22% of the remainder that's even "zonable" is government, universities, and nonprofits that don't pay any tax, ironically also where a lot of jobs are.

1/10 The original sin is of course the freeways built 1965-8, displacing +30,000 residents and businesses, not just destroying Rondo but also the downtown. The city has been a fragile ecosystem ever since, wholly dependent on government workers to stay economically stable.

This is the correct take. There's a special tragedy to St Paul's downward spiral that the DSA left, the ossified Save Our Summit right, and even the city's planners don't understand or are simply unwilling to face. A 🧵

The bike path convo was silly and I'm glad he's coming around, but suspect that's due the scrutiny and not his actual understanding of it. My issue with Cole was the complete lack of knowledge about zoning. Not only wrong on policy, couldn't even explain it correctly. Just not ready for primetime.

St Paul desperately needs 40,000 units of housing *right now* simply to survive economically, not to mention what needs to happen by 2030. How is that going to get done?

The problem is the other 3 candidates don't make any sense. Cole is especially contradictory, always making up answers depending on audience. His WedgeLive interview was a disaster. I'm not really happy with Molly's donors, but she's got the correct policies, and St Paul is different.

I notice this has occurred with too many in this city who were "progressive" 30 years ago, and rightly lauded for it at the time. As they age becoming much less progressive, even conservative, betraying their own legacy. Cautionary tale for us all.

1890s black and white photo car 395, a typical 1st generation electric streetcar in Minneapolis. Driver and conductor are posing at the front, "HENNEPIN AVE and KENWOOD" displayed on the top.

black and white photo of 4 of the large turbines inside the powerhouse at the lower St Anthony Falls hydro station, 1890s.

#OnThisDay Aug 4 1891: The old horsecar line from Hennepin Avenue to Lowry Avenue along 2nd Street in Northeast Minneapolis is electrified. By summer's end the city's entire street railway would be running on electricity, much of it produced at the St Anthony Falls hydroelectric plant.

Can confirm that pig is Padillo, encountered often in St Paul… must be branching out!

3 single columns with a 1/2 piece of arched steel rise high above dirt piles with the assistance of a steam crane. Pile drivers can be seen on the left. University of MInnesota LIbraries photo.

The completed "Field House" in 1930 at intersection of 4th Street SE and Oak Street SE. A large brick building takes up the block, arched roof is apparent on the East facade where the arched front doors are. Streetcar tracks in the foreground.

#OnThisDay Aug 4 1927: Construction begins on the first University of Minnesota Field House, renamed "Williams Arena" when remodeled in 1950. Until 1971 it had the largest capacity of any collegiate basketball arena in the nation.

For historic context: this spot is along a major branch of the former Chicago Milwaukee St Paul & Pacific Railroad built in 1881, connecting its transcontinental mainline to that of the Northern Pacific, with a few small industries along the way. Today this is Interstate 94.

Bluesky says I'm not eligible for verification because my takes are too dry

Loni Anderson started as a Twin Cities stage actor in the ‘60s. A natural brunette, she was able to grab the role of Billie Dawn in “Born Yesterday” at the Friars Dinner Theatre in Minneapolis by wearing a blond wig. www.startribune.com/loni-anderso...

I saw that motto painted on the other side lolol.

Blue pink white trans flag spray-painted, with a pirate skull symbol painted in black with the word YARRRR! underneath.

When you're walking along an old railroad right of way sometimes you discover trans pirates have been there already.

a woman wearing a hoodie and sunglasses stands in a crowd of people with the words she does n't even go here ALT: a woman wearing a hoodie and sunglasses stands in a crowd of people with the words she does n't even go here

Yea but

🫶

Shocking evidence

These #hyperlocal historic anecdotes are what make social media fun