Secrets of the City

Why the Philadelphia Inquirer did publish the cartoon. The short version is they have more guts than the Strib. On the other hand, look soon for the Strib story on favorite Muslim body parts that you can hide under a burka.

I was going to write that the STrib wouldn’t print shit if they had a mouthful, but then I realized they do and do.

Zips Liquor on Franklin Avenue extended its weekday hours starting Jan. 16, and now stays open until 10 p.m. from Monday through Saturday. Store manager Jennifer Schoenzeit said the business tallied 44 shoppers during the two extra hours that Monday evening.

We were all shocked by it, she said. We were like no way.

You know, I’m absolutely *amazed* by the lack of support (all around) for the changes outlined in this bill. Coming from outside of Minnesota where alcohol is sold on Sundays (*gasp*) until 2:30AM (*double gasp*) in grocery stores at full strength (*triple gasp*) it was a real shock to me to find the doors to the liquor stores locked on Sunday before the football games.

The big reasons that liquor stores, more than residents, are against this bill is because they don’t believe anyone will come in for a late purchase. While I’m limited now, I am *usually* at a bar after 8PM on a weeknight and I’m always looking for something to drink on the weekend after 10.

In college, we’d make multiple beer runs after 8PM including the ever-so-popular 2:15 AM run for four more cases of beer from the corner mini-mart.

It’s nice to see that Minnesota is starting to wake up and catch up with the rest of the civilized world when it comes to alcohol sales (2AM instead of 1AM and now this) but I’m shocked at the response from those selling it more than anything else!

Garcia is right…the Liquor stores are allied with cultural conservatives in both parties to prevent the repeal of the blue laws. Hell, even North Dakota repealed theirs years ago (when I was a teenager there, you couldn’t even shop on Sunday before noon).

I’d like to be able to buy liquor on Sunday, after 8:00, in a grocery store. But the liquor stores shoot down these changes time and time again because they don’t want to lose their monopoly.

Personally, I’ve always been perplexed by the fact that car dealerships are closed on Sunday. What’s up with that?

But the liquor stores shoot down these changes time and time again because they don’t want to lose their monopoly.

I’m not the slightest bit concerned about buying liquor/beer in grocery stores. I just want to safely enjoy intoxicating liquors on Sundays without having to create a stockpile in my garage or drive somewhere to imbibe them and risk a DUI.

Having lived in Omaha, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, all of which allow you to buy liquor at any grocery store until the wee small hours of the morning, I can comfortably say, man, do I miss that.

i couldn;t agree more with garcia. these blue laws have always been lame, and i have absolutely been aghast at liquor stores’ disingenuous blocking of any change in the law. they claim that they’ll lose money paying employees to stay late, when the law does not REQUIRE them to stay open. (the claim being that they’ll HAVE to stay open to compete with the other guys who DO stay open… so apparently there will be both too much and too little business to justify a change in the law.

i think that’t totally lame, and they just won;t say out loud that what they really fear is grocery stores and gas stations selling alcohol.

i lived in boston for many years, and they could legally stay open until 11 pm every night of the week. it was not uncommon to go to the liquor store at 10:30 and find that it had closed early because business was slow. so you’d go to another one that WAS open.

do you EVER go to a liquor store at 8.pm. on a weekday night, in minneapolis, and find you’re the only one there? not likely.

It’s too late for liquor, but we can always get some 3.2.

Damn, I’ve used that line before.

My legislative proposal for the Minnesota Twins:

WHEREAS we are all sick-to-death of hearing you bitch and whine about how your ballpark prevents you from making fistfulls of cash; and

WHEREAS there are several hundred organizations far more desperate for and worthy of my tax dollars than the Pohlad family; and

WHEREAS the Saint Paul Saints are considerably more fun to watch than the Twins, anyway;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the state of Minnesota officially says the hell with the Twins, let them go to Santa Fe or Tuscaloosa or wherever and see if we care;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a metro-wide sales tax increase (in an amount not to exceed one-tenth of whatever Speaker Sviggum and his pals are proposing) be instituted to fund a new ballpark for the Saint Paul Saints, who will be far more appreciative than the Twins and who better understand the value of not alienating your fans.

WHEREAS the Saint Paul Saints are considerably more fun to watch than the Twins, anyway;

You know, this is a fallacy that I hear continually repeated over and over and over again by tons of Minnesota residents that don’t have the first clue about what they’re saying. The St. Paul Saints, as a baseball team, are *not* more fun to watch, period. The St. Paul Saints *games*, OTOH, might be more entertaining — if you’re not a baseball fan.

I don’t consider myself a baseball fan by any means — I certainly can’t stand to watch it on TV and while I may be biased (attending only three Saint’s games and over 20 Twins games since 2002) I must say that the Twins are far more fun to watch live. I did enjoy receiving free Buca di Beppo and front row seats at our most recent Saint’s game but I spent so much time eating and watching the random on-field antics that I forgot that we were at a baseball game!

Now, as far as my support of a stadium — I think it’s a terrible idea that shouldn’t even be considered by our illustrious governor.

Let me know when the St. Paul Saints’ atomosphere shows up at a Twins game. Then it would be the perfect combination.

The Saints are the rough equivalent of a good junior college team. The Twins are actual major league ball players (never mind Bombo Rivera; that was a long time ago). If you want to know the difference, watch the infield play and watch the pitchers throw breaking balls when they are behind in the count. No actual baseball fan would watch the Saints when they could see the Twins.

The Twins and the Pohlads, btw, are major contributors to the cultural well being of this city. The Pohlad family, for example, gave $1 million for the new Minneapolis Library. The Twins have built many play fields for kids around the metro, especially in the neighborhoods which are ignored by those jerks in St. Paul who are the alleged stewards of our tax dollars.

Let’s take a look at some of the other things we’ve subsidized with our tax dollars over the years: the northern Minnesota toothpick factory, the NWA maintenance facility that was never built, the Target headquarters downtown, the Best Buy headquarters in Richfield, the Lawson headquarters in St. Paul. I could go on. (It should be noted here, too, that Target and Best Buy are also pretty damn generous in the community.)

In that scheme of things, the stadium doesn’t look so bad.

So, when it comes right down to it, I’d rather give my entertainment dollars to someone who puts some of it back. And I’ll keep buying my toilet paper at Target and PDAs at Best Buy.

As for the Vikings though, they can jump in Lake Minnetonka. And I do hope they’d take that fucking Twins bear with them.

When then Twins leave, we need to be sure and do what Cleveland did and keep the name here. When the Browns left, they had to be come the Ravens because Cleveland kept the Browns until a new team was formed. We don’t want to see the Las Vegas Twins!