What should be done about downtown St. Paul? Boosters sound off

[Laker]

The number one problem is a lack of governmental support for the downtown area. With Norm Coleman and Kelly as mayors, one felt that the city had a commitment to the central core. Coleman brought the Wild, Kelly spurred an increase in downtown residency. I think Chris Coleman is either totally uninterested in the central city or totally inept, take your pick.

Number two is a lack of private sector sponsorship of downtown development. The major corporation in the east metro, 3M company, has a total lack of presence in the downtown. Individual private sector leadership is also lacking. Minneapolis has the "brotherhood," St. Paul has no one.

Number three is the Bush economy. With the current economic disaster, few areas are doing well. St. Paul always seems to be slow to take advantage of a boom, and very quick to feel the results of a bust. Penfield, Farmers Market, the Opus development all stalled with little hope of revival.

[Wild Fan 18000]

St Paul is an interesting place. As being a STH for the Wild you'd be surprised how many people I see running out after the game for the bars/clubs/rest. in Minneapolis.

[Drunkoncouch]

Grady Hannah wrote:

ARTISTS! ARTISTS ARE THE ANSWER! Run some live/work loft space downtown as an incubator for hot young artists and help them get their work into shows in New York, LA, etc. You may even get some artists from more expensive cities to transplant to Saint Paul for a time.
Artists are poor, and reaching out to help them ply their trade will keep them in Saint Paul and keep them making downtown more interesting. Everyone loves the arts!
Sincerely,
Grady

Yeah let's do all we can to keep the poor people downtown and out of the suburbs. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Scott Simon]

Many good answers here. Take a look at the Galtier movies forum. Some real slow thinkers on that discussion.

[polar bear]

Mellers wrote:

<quoted text>
Any chance your first name is Tim?

Any chance you could get a life or a job? 830 comments according to your profile. How can you comment on anything when you don't have the time to leave your basement? Get out into the real world.

[Master of Clowny]

Scott Simon wrote:

Many good answers here. Take a look at the Galtier movies forum. Some real slow thinkers on that discussion.

Trolling over here now?

[DT resident]

Jaime wrote:

I would concentrate on family enteratinment options and emphasize that. Be what St. Paul is and go for that. Next would power washing clean up the pigeons and all of the pigeon poop on the sidewalks and
buildings would be a good start to getting St. Paul on the right track. You want to revitalize retail and restaraunts well then you have to get more people to live down there. That starts with having reasonably priced housing that includes parking spaces. Simple equation no bodies no restaraunts and retail that will be driven by the traffic. The Childrens museum area is a good place to start concentrate building the family desitination to St Paul. Tired of the panhandlers, there not going anywhere with Dorthy Day right there. You have to give them access to jobs and housing if you want to solve that problem. Problem is many of those guy's would rather hold up a sign and collect change.

Your suggestion would be more valid if you would have mentioned that DT St Paul has a thriving residential community with pretty close to 10,000 residents....

[EOD Guy]

"Blow it in place"

[RipSaw88]

EOD Guy wrote:

"Blow it in place"

blow it up.
plow it in.
and start all over again.....