2 posts tagged “st. paul”

It was a gift... unexpected... and unaware you needed it until it was there.

The best kind of gift.

Lunchtime in downtown StP. The tension of a work morning at a terminal screen raised the anxiety level.

Where was the relief?

It came in the form of music.

Everywhere you turned the notes came at you - on a course to soothe.

From Mancini's Pink Panther theme to Brubeck's "Take Five" to Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."

The songs were different but they all plucked the same chord within.

You found yourself noticing the friendly nods of the musicians to those who went by.

You smiled at their understated "thank you" as the passerbys dropped money into the plastic coffee can or the saxophone case.

It was a gift, by God.

A few bucks wasn't nearly enough in return.

If you live in the Twin Cities  – and those harsh winters – you feel some gratitude for the skyway system.

In St. Paul, they are vast and can get you around a fair chunk of the downtown area.

And there are plenty of places around these skyways to get a bite to eat, a haircut, a cup of coffee, a last-minute gift for a spouse (not that I’ve ever done that mind you… no).

But these skyways of St. Paul – as colleague Bob Collins of NewsCut put it a few months back – are not exactly screaming “vibrant.”

Not by a long shot in some sections.

Collins wondered then what the Republican convention-goers might think of the vast unused space. Apparently he’s not alone.

Another colleague, MPR reporter Laura Yuen reported last week, that city business leaders are coming up with a plan to give short-term leases (as little as a week) to house their business in an empty space. Matt Anfang, president of the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association, told Yuen that the plan will help make downtown look more alive during the convention.

But another Chamber of Commerce official bristled at the notion that the effort is an attempt to make it look like downtown is more bustling that it really is. Some in the story said maybe this would be the entrée some business owners need to stick in the skyway space long after the convention has left town.

No one doubts that the idea to have these unused spaces filled for the convention makes sense.

But do we really need to have any other justifications (it could get the skyways more business, for example)?

Should city business leaders really feel aghast that one might suggest the effort is simply away to dress up the very dormant skyways? 

At least those spaces can be worked on.

Other spots in the skyway leave you wondering.

How, for instance, could city leaders possibly explain the atrophied escalators in the Town Square area of the skyway complex.

They once led to an indoor park, a great idea for those winter months, but one that couldn’t be sustained by city.

How do you dress those up?

Maybe an answer is forthcoming.

But there should be no reason for anyone in St. Paul to runaway from the idea that we want to make the downtown look as presentable as possible for the Republican convention. And if five-day leases in the skyways helps, fine. No need to make them out to be anything more than a quick makeover.