Secrets of the City

Hahahahahahaaahaaaa……..

hahahaaaaaaahah!

ROTFL

Is this a late April Fool’s post or something?

LOL LOL LOL

I know a great way to get big crowds on the Stone Arch…have a bridge collapse in the river and invite tons of gawkers. Damn…somebody beat me to it.

To the OP:

Are you from around here? How long have you lived here?

You come off sounding very much like someone who isn’t aware of A) St. Paul and B) that the Twin Cities has never been, and never will be, despite sincere wishing, a late-night kind of town. Much less a 24-hour kind of town. Talk to any 2nd shifter or coastal transplant.

Are you aware that last call is at 12:30 and bars close at 1 or 2?
Most close even before that for lack of business.

Have you been to any of the precious few 24-hour stores in the metro? I have, at all hours, and I never see people ‘flocking’ to them spending ‘tons’ of money. And I’m talking places that sell stuff people actually need, like tampons, condoms and energy drinks – not farmer vendors selling eggplant or hippies selling hemp bracelets.

Your idea is novel, but I’d love to hear why you’re intrigued by it. Seriously, I’d love to hear how “Minneapolis” and this “late market” concept arrived together in your brain. This is not Taipei; it’s not even Asia. Do YOU actually think that would survive here? Why?

I think it’s a great idea, and I think Stone Arch is perfect for it.

why? because there are tons of people who are looking for something to do from 10pm-2am. they aren’t into the bar scene, and they’ve seen every movie out there.

On the pro side, you would find CM Goodman and some other CM’s. probably the mayor too. They are all for a “24 hour city” and anything cosmopolitan.

An the con side would be quite a few of the new condo elite on both sides of the bridge. They will whine about nosie and traffic and parking.

But I do think it could be a neighborhood unifier, and great synergy could be created with St. Anthony Main. You’d have to have a good mix of food/beverage vendors, but also some farmers market type vendors too. (I can never get up early enough to hit a farmers market, and whn I have it’s always been sold out of the stuff I wanted. Yeah night market!)

Crafts/art might work. Thta’s not my thing so i cant speak to it.

Bottom line: An individual is going to have to get behind this and make it go, probably for little or no pay. I have no idea how, or if, the city would want to get compensated, but I’m guessing they’d want 10% of sales to pay for police & cleanup. Market organizer would want 10% for overhead/promotions

I know a great way to get big crowds on the Stone Arch…have a bridge collapse in the river and invite tons of gawkers. Damn…somebody beat me to it.

Oh no u di’nt

sgross: great idea … for another city. We are not known for wanting late night anythings — unless it’s craptastic food after a night of partying.

I could be wrong, but I think you’d be hard pressed to keep something like this going here.

While intriguing, unfortunately I don’t think the idea would work here in Mpls/St. Paul. We just don’t have the late night population that would sustain a night market.

I remember walking around downtown with my parents several ago at about 8 p.m., wondering 1) where the hell was everybody and 2) how come there is no place open to eat? Seriously, the place was a goast town.

We go to bed after Shelby.

we went to the Mill City Farmer’s Market today, and the mass of people gathered on the bridge today was about 100x what you’d see on a typical Saturday.

I know some, a lot, of people need to see the devastation to believe or heal or whateva, I’m just not one of them and it seems wrong … like dancing on someone’s grave. I guess having a friend on the bridge at the time of the collapse and watching her go through reliving the experience influences my perspective though.

I think the Mill City Farmer’s Market is crap. The aisles are way too narrow, there’s barely any vegetables, and everyone stopping for samples of lotions, etc, slows up the line into a big blob. Besides that, there’s the problem of parking. I went once and I will not go again.

cat, i didn’t know anybody on the bridge (friend of a friend, i guess)…but after going down there today it seemed so much more tangible…and heartbreaking, and tragic. it really put it in perspective, for me, about how awful it really was. and most people aren’t gawking, they’re in awe. i think there’s a difference.

Will go down there sometime. One of my best friends drover over during the 6 o’clock news that night. I’d like to go and see it, and think about how lucky he was and we all are.

it could work for the weekend, you would have to move the bridge to Hennepin Ave tho. oh – and increase the patrol police by 40%.

I think the night market is a great idea and I think it would work. My Taiwanese friends are always talking about how cool night markets are in Taiwan (although I think technically they might be illegal and get shut down sometimes.) You know Water Fire in Providence Rhode Island draws hoards of people. And when they started that downtown PVD was way more dead that Minneapolis ever is. Create an attraction and people will come.

Cubbie: your points are valid and I do understand that many need to see it in order to understand; it’s a personal thing.
It’s a confusing situation for me. Listening to my friend and watch her go through all of the “so happy to be alive, but how did I make it when others didn’t?” emotions. Her sadness is palpable and that’s heartbreaking enough for me.

The biggest impediment to any kind of outdoor booth sales in the cities has always been the objections of existing businesses in the cities who claim, with some justification, that they pay to maintain their facilities and to keep them not only attractive and accessible, but in conformance with building codes, health codes, etc.; that they pay huge property taxes to supprt the city infrastrucure; and they’re there all year long, helping to bring spenders into the city;

while transient booths aren’t providing any of that tax support for the streets, lights, etc, but get to use them for free; that the booths get a free ride on code enforcement (because, while we have strict requirements for buildings, we have few requirements for booths, esp. in the food areas); and that booths come into the city at the most popular times, skim the cash from the summer evening crowds, and then leave during the slower periods, essentially depriving the established businesses of the heightened profits of those few yearly boomtimes.

So, good luck with that. Many cities, and quite a few local suburbs here, won’t even allow farmers markets for these reasons.

There’s got to be a fair way to tax / fee the booth vendors. And while it might skim some $$$ from the permanent businesses in the general vicinity, there’s also the likelihood that it would bring people into the area who wouldn’t usually be there, thus creating additional revenue opportunities to the surrounding businesses.

Amber can finally open up that kissing booth, and stop talking about dry humping.

Maybe this will encourage the drug dealers & beggers/drug users to move away from block E.

Are you aware that last call is at 12:30 and bars close at 1 or 2?

Are you seriously living in 1993?
You show your ignorance at every turn.

Mpls Simpleton

I am surprised no one corrected him, until you sorta of did.

Are you aware that last call is at 12:30 and bars close at 1 or 2?

1st ave/uptown/lyndale bars are packed right up until 2am … at least when there’s not 50 mph winds. They could definitely stay open til 4am and still be packed.

A night market on the other hand … probably wouldn’t work. There are lots of young professionals around that condo area, but probably not enough to sustain this thing every night in the summer. Maybe as an one-time thing, or a once a month thing and it could work, I suppose.

When you said “late night” I thought you meant till 9:00 or 10:00 pm.

“Maybe this will encourage the drug dealers & beggers/drug users to move away from block E.”

Sure, to Block K or Block H.

“And while it might skim some $$$ from the permanent businesses in the general vicinity, there’s also the likelihood that it would bring people into the area who wouldn’t usually be there, thus creating additional revenue opportunities to the surrounding businesses.“

They’ve been arguing this particular controversy for decades, and have used, on both sides, any and every reason you or I could think of. Bottom line, though, is that the existing businesses have more stake in the city (the idealistic view) and much more influence over the pols who’ll make the decision (the cynical view.)

is this the whole ‘renters vs. owners’ debate all over again?

because I want no part of that.

The crucial issue- would there be dippin’ dots?

I think it would be fun, but it’s not likely to happen. Maybe you could get one going as part of the Stone Arch Festival? Would be a cool experiment.

I’m probably the only lunatic who would love to do a small version of this in the winter- get cider, coca, cookies, whatever, while trudging around in the snow. You gotta work around that pesky weather, though. It would be awesome on a warm-ish, snowy night, not so fun when it’s -20. Plus, your night market could start at sunset, so it’d be done by 10 or 11.

speaking of bar time… i think we should change it to four. and liquor stores should be open on sundays. in my humble opinion.

I’m just waiting for street food. Walk around Lake Phalen sometime – it’s about 90% Asian and where, I ask you, where the hell are the dumpling carts and noodle stalls?

Stupid public health rules.

All I want is some dumplings…. DUMPLINGS!!!!!

yepnope – you got coca in the, umm, snow?

Awesome. Where?

It’s pronounced JIAO ZI, Saloth Sar.

And I’m PROUD to be ignorant of the bar close times.

Why?

And I’m PROUD to be ignorant …

I think this sums it all up. Sounds like something you would hear on Springer.

The only thing that strikes me as terribly, terribly wrong about this is the location. From reading this thread, it appears as if no one here has actually been on the Stone Arch Bridge after dark.

I have, and it’s disgusting.

Hordes of giant moths and and mayflies and gnats and spiders and “light-fritters” (don’t know what they’re actually called – those enormous, gangly bugs that prance against lightbulbs) swarm the bridge lights and railings. It’s highly advisable to keep your mouth closed while on the bridge unless you’d like a little extra protein in your diet.

Ick.

One would think, BX, that if you were using bar close times as part of your (rather acerbic) argument why this idea wouldn’t work, you would have made a point of NOT being ignorant of bar close times. Tends to mess up that whole “logical debate” thingy…

And WHATEVER, Paul! I’ll have you know that this girl is in no need of a kissing booth. Though if proceeds went to charity, I suppose I could provide my services, for, you know, charity…

Gaucho- “This is pure snow! Do you know the street value of this mountain?”

silly typos

I’m just waiting for street food.

I think a poutine stand in Dinkytown, Stadium Village, or downtown would make a killing.

“And I’m PROUD to be ignorant of the bar close times.“

Having to be carried out unconscious every night is no way to go through life, son.