As a fellow non-driver, I’ll have to respectfully disagree with tmayhem, when he says that he hates Uptown — depending on the context. I hate most of the bars in Uptown, I hate how you can’t walk half a block in any direction without getting panhandled, and most of the shops appeal to yuppie trash. However, I love the fact that I have convenient access to necessities, bus routes, and the Greenway. Downtown is still waiting for a Partial Foods Market (since they sell so many vitamins and supplements) to open up.

When is rex going to start speaking English?

I hate uptown, but that’s the kind of urban vitality both downtowns could use.

While talking with coworker this week about DT Minneapolis, I made a connection that I hadn’t before: the DT core is primarily a business district akin Wall St. in NYC. The financial district in NYC is pretty dead relative to the rest of the city outside of “normal business hours” – at least in my experience. Now, that doesn’t explain why, say, the North Loop/Wharehouse District is pretty dead on weekend days.

Regardless, I’m very excited about the Guthrie by the River.

As for St. Paul having a better downtown, don’t believe it. St. Paul has got two high quality urban spaces (Rice Park and Mears Park) which are truly top notch, but the rest of it is utterly forgettable. And St. Paul has torn down just about as many of its historical buildings as Minneapolis has.

And don’t get me started on the f’n Peanuts.

Anyway, Sydney Opera House? Yeah, that’s just about right: the 20th century’s version of impenetrable classicism. Or to paraphrase Westerberg, “I hate postmodernism, it’s got too many notes.”