I am moving to Minnesota and need information.

For family and health reasons I will be moving to the Minn/St Paul area. The exact date is not set in stone yet but that will come through discussions and time. Anyway, I'd like to know anything and everything anyone from the Minn/St. Paul area cares to tell me. Housing, cost of living, rush hour traffic, health care, telephone and utility companies, public transportation, whether apartment come with air conditioning, shopping availability and types, my favorite "LIBRARIES", and anything else anyone can think of.

Many thanks for any and all advice in advance.

I'm actually a native moving back after 18 years. I have a deposit down on a two-bedroom apartment three blocks from a lake for $825/month plus electricity, and it's within the Minneapolis city limits. The suburbs are cheaper, but I don't want to live in the suburbs.

Otherwise, the prices of things seem pretty much in line with Portland.

The telephone company is Qwest, the electric company is Xcel, and the cable company (at least in Mpls) is Time-Warner.

Most newer apartments that I looked at had air conditioning.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are on one public transportation network, but so far, it's all buses except for one light rail line from downtown Minneapolis to the airport and Mall of America, scheduled to open next year. The bus system is fine within the cities, barely adequate in the suburbs.

I'd be able to tell you more if I were already living there, but I'm not.

I'm convinced that every city in America--no, every city in the world--has terrible traffic jams.

:party:

woo-hoo!

Well, I'm sure you know who you can contact if you need any help getting situated. Glad to hear you found a place.

both moving here???

We'll have to have a gathering to welcome them! :party:

Edit: Before I forget - Precinct Caucuses are March 2. Mark your calendars now.

....me when I say that even though I am in the "39 and holding" crowd I will be active in politics. Whoever my new Rep ends up being will get to know me by name, just as my Rep here does.

BTW, the idea of getting together is a great idea.

at least the southern ones can be relatively pricey. A two bedroom probably would run around $800 like Lydia's but there would be no amenities like a lake or a busline. Most apartments have air conditioning, but it's most apt to be a wall unit, not central air, so it will suck up the electricity. However, I've never heard of an apartment where the heat & water aren't included in the rent. (Not true of townhouses). It's currently a renter's market. Lots of vacancies.

I live in an older building in Bloomington. I have a small one bedroom no dishwasher, garbage disposal, no security system, though the outside doors get locked between 9 and 10. With the garage, I pay $610 a month. I've lived in the same place so long that I get cut something of deal on the rent. I believe if I were moving in today the rent would be nearly $700. I am on a busline - but it only runs once an hour on weekdays.

is the skyway system. You can walk all over downtown via second floor enclosed "bridges" without ever going outside, which believe me, is great in the winter.

<snip>

Here's how the Minneapolis skyway numbers add up: If you walked the whole system, you'd go 5 miles, cross 62 bridges and pass almost 200 stores, 34 restaurants and dozens of coffee shops and ma-and-pa operations. From the skyways you can get to 1,500 apartments or condominiums, 4,000 hotel rooms, almost 200 million square feet of office space and about 2.5 million square feet of retail space - all without touching the ground.

<snip>

Start your tour here:

http://www.startribune.com/stonline/html/special/skyway/

there's the network of lakes and parks.

Back around 1900, Minneapolis had a far-sighted parks commissioner who bought up the land around all the lakes that were within or near the city limits of that time. Everyone thought he was crazy, because of course, the city would never grow that big.

But as a result, there's a chain of lakes all connected by bikeways, pedestrian paths, and scenic drives that also takes in Minnehaha Creek, which flows into the Mississippi.

Some of the lakes have public swimming beaches.

The cultural scene is also terrific, especially for live theater.

When I was growing up, the major ethnic groups were Scandinavians and Germans, but in the past thirty years, African-Americans, African-Africans, Southeast Asians, and Native Americans have been added to the mix.

I use to go out on weekends and ride the bike paths all over the place. I never knew exactly were I was going to end up, but you can get to almost any part of the cities on linked paths without ever going out onto the streets. One of my favorite rides was along the river going down to Minnehaha Falls. Absolutely beautiful.

http://www.2havefun.com/Places/Metro/minnehaha-falls.shtml

I use to have season tickets at the Guthrie Theater. Saw some outstanding productions with some very innovative stagings. Here is a link to the Guthrie Theater web page:

http://www.guthrietheater.org/

Where are you moving from? I'm from TX originally so of course I thought it was COLD! lol, wasn't too bad though once I learned how to dress properly for snow.

Let's see...the Twin Cities are only 9 miles apart, but they have two very distinct personalities. Minneapolis has more of a big city feel to it...young, vibrant, etc. St. Paul, which is nice and liberal, has a more calm feel to me. The historical buildings are gorgeous in St. Paul and the city seems to be more family oriented.

From my own experiences, I found it was difficult for me to automatically connect and make friends up there (I find it much easier here in TX), but once you do get to know the people, they have a depth that is unmatched. Some of the smartest people I've had the honor of meeting have been up there and the conversations were facinating. Once you break their shell, the people are great to know.

I lived up there during what had to be the craziest, most fun political climate ever. Govenor Ventura and Senator Wellstone. Need I say more? Now it's Govenor Pawlenty and that awful Coleman guy. Can't say you'll be all the pleased with either of them. I know I wasn't.

Good restaurants, great theatre, Mall of America, every type of professional sport teams you can imagine. Mediocre night life in my opinion (I'm biased though since I came from Austin where the night life is wonderful). The State Fair is fun but odd. Apparently Minnesotans are fascinated with deep frying everything and putting it on a stick. Fried snicker bars on a stick. Fried mac and cheese on a stick. If there are any Minnesotans here who would like to explain this one to me, please do so because it's freakin' weird.

Great medical and research communities...especially with the Mayo clinic just a couple hours away. I was pleased with the education there...mainly because the community takes education very seriously. Low crime rate. I always felt safe. Hmmm...what else can I tell you? Did you want to know about certain neighborhoods?

The best thing about Minnesota??? SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION AND HIGH VOTER TURNOUT! I wish every state did this. The worst thing about Minnesota: The misquitos. I am not kidding.

The foliage is gorgeous in the fall, the snow is beautiful in the winter (but not in April because by then you're sick of it), and the Spring and Summers are very lush and green.

When I think of more, I'll post another message. I hope this was somewhat helpful. I know it's hard to fully understand what a place is like though until you're living in it. Good luck and I hope the move is an easy transition.

....I get up there and I will make a point of changing a few minds after I get settled. That Coleman makes me f.....ing sick!!!!

....I love autumn and winter. Before coming to Colo I lived in Mont so I am still very familar with dressing for cold snowy weather. For me, the colder the better.

I agree totally with "The best thing about Minnesota??? SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION AND HIGH VOTER TURNOUT! I wish every state did this.

Ok, good to know this, I will get me some skitter spray for, "The worst thing about Minnesota: The misquitos. I am not kidding." This may take some getting used to because Colo has VERY LOW (in the teens and 20's) humidity and I understand Minn averages in the 50% range so that is going to seem very high for a while.

By all means please post anything and everything you think of, and thank you for the info so far.

sometimes the dew point will crawl into the 70's or so - it's a bit of shock to the system even for those of us who've lived here forever.

I'm from Louisiana, and I find that the people in the urban areas are mostly more reserved than a southron or a Texas is comfortable with. But when I lived in Detroit Lakes and was out putting up signs for the local congressional candidate, people were constantly stopping to ask me if my car was OK. A very southern/texan sort of thing to do.

And one does get used to the weather.

Colorado ges cold and those big wet spring snows. But up here on the plains we get Blizzards, which can be a ton of fun if you're at home and pretty scary if you get caught out on the road.

I live 2 and a half hours north, but from what I've seen of the cities, I'd pick St. Paul. It reminds me more of my home town of N'wawlins.

"I live 2 and a half hours north, but from what I've seen of the cities, I'd pick St. Paul."

IOne thing I WILL NOT miss about Colo is the sun strokes and heat strokes in the summer. I suffer horribly with the heat and none but the newest of the new apartments and condos come with air conditioning. I have two window air conditioner at opposite ends of my apartment and they run pretty much all the time from about the middle of June until the middle of September.

Especially up in Lakes Country, there are probably between 10 and 20 days a year that remind me of living in N'wawlins.

I take heat pretty well. I used to live with a women who was violently allergic to the little beasties who live in HVAC units. We lived without A/C for almost 10 years (counting college) without A/C. Of course, most of the houses were designed to be survivable without A/C: twelve or fourteen foot ceilings, with almost more window than wall in some cases.

It's bearble, with Haspel machine-washable suits and a couple of showers a day.

we're always willing to help out when the going gets tough, and we worry about peoples cars in the cold LOL.

I like both Minneapolis and St Paul. But mostly have lived in Minneapolis of the two, they have the interesting restaurants and Theatre. Most of the basics have been covered in the threads above. The lakes, right in the city, are great. There are leash free dog runs too. Public transportion sucks though. And you are MORE THAN WELCOME to help us rid ourselves of Colemand and Pawlenty.

Welcome!!!!

I don't tolerate heat very well at all.

MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES...COUNT NUMBER OF DAYS
MAX ACTUAL AVERAGE DEPART
<=32 82 76 +6 COLDER
>=50 226 212 +14 WARMER
>=60 186 174 +12 WARMER
>=70 133 128 +5 WARMER
>=80 62 67 -5 COLDER
>=90 6 13 -7 COLDER

MINIMUM TEMPERATURES...COUNT NUMBER OF DAYS
MIN ACTUAL AVERAGE DEPART
<= 32 140 154 -14 WARMER
<= 20 88 89 -1 NEAR NORMAL
<= 10 57 52 5 COOLER
<= 0 24 29 -5 WARMER
<= -10 6 11 -5 WARMER
>= 50 131 123 8 WARMER

The summer was warmer in 2002 than in 2001. The days over 80 can be very humid and uncomfortable, but it almost always cools down at night to 60-70 degrees.

Winter is nothing like Colorado, though. It gets *cold* and dry. Last winter we went 24 days (12 of them in a row) where it never got above 0.

....and as far as it not getting above 0 for 12 days in a row, BRING IT ON!!! I love cold weather.

This is sounding better all the time.

I can't remember exactly. Although it was highly unusual to wait until the end of June for the first 90 degree day. The nice thing is that even though it will get hot & humid sometimes, it doesn't normally last more than 2 or 3 days before a storm rolls through and cools it right off.

"....it doesn't normally last more than 2 or 3 days before a storm rolls through and cools it right off."

I am so tired of days on end and weeks on end of 90+-degree weather, especially since I suffer so bad with the heat. I'm bringing an air conditioner with me to help deal with the humidity, and as far as cold, oh bring it on. I used to live in Mont so I know how to deal with nice cold weather.

If you aren't a regular listener of this show,based in St, Paul, do start. The monologues about Lake Woebegone are classic in their encapsulization of the Minnesota microcosm. The entire show conveys many of the mores and folkways of the particular flavor of midwestern culture known as Minnesota. It's sheer genius. Good primer for living there.

http://www.prairiehome.org

A :toast: to you!!

some of us, raising hand here, and I love listening to him. We are getting to be more multifaceted and multi cultural though. We have a large Hmong community for one, and are also seeing lots of Somalis.

Whichever area you choose to live in, there will probably be a branch library nearby. The library system encompasses Minneapolis, St. Paul and the 'burbs; there is an exchange program with the University of Minnesota system. Any library card works for any library system in the state.

The downtown and Edina libraries have been torn down to put up larger buildings, and reconstruction just finished on the Linden Hills and Roseville branches last year (Roseville is a first-ring suburb north of St. Paul -- the new building there is 3 times larger than the old one, and includes a coffee shop). Unfortunately, the planetarium that was in the old main library building downtown won't be replaced.


Traffic has become a problem, although you'd have to go through downtown at rush hour to find the kind of congestion Denver has on I-25 most of the time. Sprawl here is pretty bad -- people live as far as 50 miles from where they work. If you live in Mound (north) and have friends in Prior Lake (south), the drive is comparable to going from Golden to Castle Rock. Within and between the city cores and first ring suburbs, bus service is good. Not nearly so good in the outer ring suburbs.

There is a prototype 'smart growth' area in south minneapolis called "Centennial Lakes", and another going up on Excelsior Boulevard at 36th street south. The third, at Lake and 40th avenue (just west of the Lake street bridge connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul) was, tragically, struck by lightning and burned recently (no one living there yet), but reconstruction has begun.

There are something like 15,000 new apartments and condos being built along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. There is a population movement back into the city from the 'burbs. Housing in my neighborhood has gone along with the general rise, with house prices doubling in the past 10 years, but you can find affordable housing in almost any area of either city.

Urban reconstruction is vibrant. Both downtowns are full of new construction. There didn't used to be thriving ethnic areas 20 years ago, but now there are Hispanic, Laotian, Vietnamese and Somali communities across Minneapolis and St. Paul.

We've been adding bicycle lanes to a lot of the main drags. Between the park system and biking trails, there is a 50 mile 'scenic trail' around Minneapolis, and trails on the 22 lakes within the Minneapolis city limits. There are walk/bike trails along the Minnehaha Creek (which runs from Lake Minnetonka in the west, across the city to Minnehaha Falls at the Mississippi, and along both sides of the Mississippi.

Oh -- did I mention that there's a bookstore every dozen blocks? And not just the chains (Barnes&Noble targeted Minneapolis/St. Paul for two stores, one in St. Paul and one in Minneapolis. They're up to 6 now, I think). There's Wild Rumpus, the original Amazon Books, Arise!, Half-price, Jim and Mary Laurie Books, Ruminator (with a good restaurant attached), Campus books, dozens of others.

There are dozens of theaters, from the Guthrie to local amatuer productions (some very good). Every church has a choir worth listening to, and we're the world center for choral music, including the Plymouth Church and St. Olaf choirs, and The Dale Warland Singers.

Not one, but TWO civic orchestras -- the Minnesota Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra -- and, again, dozens of small and medium orchestras and jazz and rock groups. Night life is better in Minneapolis than in St. Paul.

....a varied library system??? I'll be in heaven!!!

My dislike of sprawl was one thing that kept me away from the Twin Cities for so many years. It seemed to be turning into Los Angeles with blizzards.

But in recent years, it seems that this trend is reversing somewhat, as GAspnes says. I especially noticed the New Urbanist town center in St. Louis Park and the revitalization of downtown Hopkins, to name two noticeable changes in the 'burbs.

....that may also be able to add something. :kick:

I'm moving to Fargo, ND in 4 weeks or so, but I've lived here half my life:

THE GOOD:

The food: WIDE variety of ethnic food restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses, etc. There's chain stores everywhere, but what city doesn't have them??:-)

The NEW inner-city: Minneapolis in some places has almost of a Bohemian-esque, San Francisco kind of feel. Very urban, very mixed-use. Cafes below apartments, corner stores, etc.

The diversity. There's a growing number of Somali, African-American and Latinos in Minneapolis, and they came around around the time Mpls's inner-city was being revived. Lake Street by Chicago and lyndale avenues used to be known as "Crack Alley" in the late-80's to early-90's, but have been transformed into a pseudo-upscale strip area with renovated lofts and decreasing crime.

The culture. Two major symphonies, a major ballet, several large theatre production groups, more major Broadway theatres, and many more smaller ones. This place is a haven for off-Broadway productions.

THE BAD:

The sports (MINUS the Wild): Our Vikings football team (even though the team sells out every game) is not well-respected nationally, and is owned by a owner of questionable morals (Red McCombs), and have choked in the playoffs and Super Bowls numerous times in the past. They share an obsolete stadium, the Metrodome, or as 93X, the rock station in Mpls. calls it: "The big inflatable toilet". A sub-standard stadium used for football, as well as baseball. The people and lawmakers in the TC have bickered about new facilities for the Vikes and Twins for over seven years now, and have gotten nowhere.

The fans (Vikings, Twins, T-Wolves) are VERY fairweather and band-wagoning. If the team is playing good, they put on the jerseys and face paint and claim their loyalty, but crawl back to the woodwork when they get a losing streak. the Wild fans are the only ones who don't do this. The Timberwolves are a big draw, but are becoming a new version of the Vikings, in the fact that they cannot win a playoff series. The Wild are the ray of light. They have an awesome arena, sell out every game, have VERY LOYAL fans, the atmosphere at games is ELECTRIC, and are now a winning team. If you move here and want tobecome a fan of one of our teams, I would suggest the Wild.

The radio: One crappy Clear Channel rock station (93X), two crappy classic rocstations (KQRS and WLOL), one Clear Channel crap station (KDWB, or as I call it - "K-Dweeb"), and a nauseating Hip-Hop station (B96) which plays the same song every 20 minutes. there used to be an awesome station, "THE EDGE", which played some of the BEST rock and alternative music, and REV105 also existed before I moved here, of which I also heard good things about.

The sprawl and suburbs: There are over 150 communities in the Twin Cities area, and the cities of Minneapolis and st. paul only cover a small amount of that area. Minneapolis and St. Paul wanted to annex some suburbs a while back, but that was stricken down. There's less money to go around (with the budget crisis) for governments of our many suburbs that have less than 5,000 people, and any talk of consolidating suburbs is met with that old provincial Minnesotan "NO!". The cities themselves are growing, but if you travel on any freeway in the area, you'll pass about a half-dozen different town signs in a 5-mile stretch.

I love the Twin Cities, they're my second home. I think Minneapolis is the best city in the nation for a person to live, but I'm going back to my roots in Fargo. There are a LOT of people who, if told, would want to move to the Twin cities in a heartbeat.

The Twin Cities' NPR station is split in two, with one station (KSJN) broadcasting classical music 21 hours a day, and one (KNOW) broadcasting the NPR news and other non-musical programs, although I think it has some music programs on the weekend. The classical station has two drive time announcers who play a wide variety of folk, jazz, old pop music, bluegrass, and unclassifiable other stuff between 6:00 and 9:00.

There's another classical station, WCAL, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, which is easily heard in the Twin Cities.

The University of Minnesota's student radio station, KUOM, is at 770 AM and 106.5 FM. It's, well, a college radio station, which means that it plays a lot of non-standard music.

Then there's KFAI community radio, which is unclassifiable. It's like a college radio station for non-students, in that the mostly volunteer staff has a great deal of freedom to play whatever they want. This station also features shows by and for the major immigrant groups.

There's also a jazz station somewhere, but I don't know any detalis.

So if you venture into the lower and upper ends of the dial, there's a lot of non-crappy radio.

and I'm highly impressed you remember KFAI :) The Jazz station is 88.5 FM, can't remember the call letters. They play good stuff.

Have a listen to Radio K. It's independent college radio and it kicks ass, in an alternative kind of way:

http://radiok.cce.umn.edu/radiok/

Have a listen to KBEM, Jazz88. It's standard and nonstandard jazz (and traffic information) and carries some pretty good stuff. And Bluegrass Saturday morning kicks ass:

http://www.jazz88fm.com/

Have a listen to KFAI Community Radio. Tremendous drive-time be-bop, blues, jazz, soul, plus Louisiana Rhythms on Friday mornings after 9am Central, Bluegrass on Sunday afternoons, and Democracy Now! M-F at noon and rebroadcast at 5am the next morning. This stations kicks serious community ass:

http://www.kfai.org/

Enjoy!

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota
(The twin city mom always liked better)
;-)

Ok, sometimes KBEM is playing what I call "space jazz", KFAI is doing the the Hmong or Somali hour and I can't understand any of it and KNOW doesn't have anything interesting on - it's during those times (usually weekday nights) that you can get caught in a sort of radio limbo around here.

Don't forget AM 770 Radio K - they've got something good more often than not!


northernsoul,
Saint Paul - the twin city recommended by 4 out of 5 dentists!

major right wing talk

And Drive105 (the ALL Coldplay station) isn't doing it for me. 770 RadioK ai the University is pretty good, but I get static often in the suburbs.

Now on the OTHER HAND, Fargo-Moorhead has two new rock stations (one of which is alternative-heavy, the other a mediocre Clear-Channel franchise), three classic rock stations (two of which are pretty good), and NO RUSH LIMBAUGH OR DR. LAURA ON THE AIR ANYMORE!!!!!!:-)

You'll like it here. Just don't read the Pioneer Press's editorial page. You'll gag in a heartbeat.(They feature Ann Coulter regularly)

Theaters are great, there's almost always something going on music-wise- especially during the summer, we have a ton of great stuff. The mosquitos are hell, as is the humidity, but you can generally overlook those if you have a nice air conditioner.

Uh....what else....

People here are seriously as good as you will find them. The kindest, most caring bunch of people. In essence, a large sense of community.

And the downtown is not nearly as bad as the others I've been to/lived in, aside from the occasional drunk, but those aren't really all that bad.

Things to know:
-Jason Lewis is a dick.
-Norm Coleman is an egomaniac.
-Tim Pawlenty......really doesn't matter....in three years, Mike Hatch is going to kick his ass out of office so fast it'll make his head spin.
-None of our teams suck TOO badly.....save the Vikes, but give them time.
-Stay the hell out of Edina and Prior Lake. People there are some of the most stuck-up, closed-minded asses you'll ever meet- especially Edina(I've lived in both and hated them). While not all of the people there are like that, the loudest ones are, and they're the ones you'll want to beat with a hammer.
-The sprawl is kind of nice on the occasions where you don't want to deal with traffic to find a good place to eat- and there are tons of them.
-Stay away from 94/494/35W during rush hour, unless you're a masichist.
-The best buys that I've seen for apartments are in Eagan. Affordable, close to basically anything you want to do, and usually good quality.

What city are you moving to, anyway?

.....otherwise they will have me up on murder charges. LOL

From the sounds of it, my main problem will be the humidity. I'm coming from Colorado with an average humidity level of 10 to 25%, so 50%+ will be an adjustment for sure. I will bring a window air conditioner with me though just to be on the safe side.

How will you make it on your own???
This world is awfully big
Girl this time your all alone...but its time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving
Love is all around no need to waste it
You can have a time why don't you take it
You might just make it after all
You might just make it after all

....as I do on a regular basis here in Colorado. No neo con goes unchallanged around me!! :evilgrin:

Lots of activities and places for children. Mpls/St. Paul area has been ranked nationally as one of the best places to raise kids. Good school system (we'll see if that holds up with the Repukes in charge now), low crime rate, etc., all the things that have been mentioned.

Plus for the kids, there is the Children's Museum (we got a membership, we go so often), the Science Museum, the Children's Theater, two zoos, great amusement park outdoors (Valleyfair) and indoors (Camp Snoopy at the Megamall). Heck if you can filter out the consumerist crap the Megamall is a fantastic place to just spend a day during the cold of winter.

Welcome to Minnesota! You will love it here!

so feel free to contact me with any specific questions about my fair city (some folks like to call it "America's Biggest Small Town" - I'm not so sure about that, but we certainly do have a more "homey" feel). If you're looking to rent, you're in luck as rental vacancies are WAY up and rent rates seem to be falling accordingly.

What kind of living situation are you looking for?
What activities are important to you?

I'm a huge booster for MN, so I'd love to provide you with any help that I can.

love DaVonnis(sp?) pizza/hoagies
Grand Old Days

went to College of St Thomas..... 20+ yrs ago

sis still lives on Lexington near Grand.

but dont miss Jan -30 degrees

The first store was on the west bank of the U of M campus.

I have not lived in Minnesota (or "MinneSNOWta" haha) since I was a little kid but I was there last summer for a family reunion. I wanted to live there again but I doubt I would like the winters since I have lived on the Gulf Coast for 10 years now. The mosquitos can be a nuisance. They call it the state bird. No worse than a lot of places though.

we retired to Arizona ten years ago and have been back for visits. The most wonderful thing about Minnesota are the people...down to earth and friendly. Of course I hear that it's turning rather republican...don't know whether that's true or not...hope not. And the parks and the lakes...that's what I miss...the water! Still, considering a large number of Minnesotans have moved to AZ, and the fact that AZ is beginning to look a little more "left" than before, it's getting better. Good luck on the move. Except for the winged monsters that attack (you know what I mean) it's a grand place.

I card hundreds of people's ID's for cigarettes at my convenience store that I work in, and like 70 percent of the out-of-state ID's ( I usually ask them if they're here to visit, or if they just moved here, and they mostly say they moved here) I see are from Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Arizona, Florida, etc. 30 percent of the others are from Wisconsin, and a few Iowas, Dakotas, Michigans ind Illinois's.

The majority of people who are moving here from the south came from VERY repube governments, and mostly voted repube, while a good percentage of our older, established Minnesotans moving to Arizona and California. Like northernsoul said (paraphrasing) once, it's the "Sunbelters moving here and turning out state more to the right". You could place most of the blame in Minnesota's rightward shift in these southerners coming in and voting repub.

....is why we are stuck with a neo cons Gov now who has his nose so far up Bush's posterior that Owens can't even tell the time of day anymore.

Have faith though, here is one rabid Dem coming to help turn the tide back in favor of liberals. My favorite saying these days is.....

The worst Democrat is better than the best republican.

need to have a string of really, really severe winters, not anything that will bother the natives, but enough to scare the Sun Belt Repiggies into moving back where they came from.

Have you ever seen the bumpersticker that says, "Thirty below keeps the riffraff out?"

It could work!

....it is only 77 days - and counting - until I move. I'm getting super excited now!!!!!

No offense Colorado but I am the hell out of here.

I'm moving to Fargo, ND for college in 5 weeks. We're ALL movin, huh??

you'll be here time for Autumn, which is our finest season if you were to ask me.

:hi:

Our gain is CO's loss

"Our gain is CO's loss" Thank you!!! I am looking so forard to this move, it can't happen soon enough for me. And YES, I too think autumn is the most beautiful time of year!! Whoever or whatever created autumn really outdid themself with the absolutely eye popping color scheme.

I'm coming prepared for winter with boots and a down filled coat that reaches my thighs with detachable hood and heavy gloves. I'M READY!!!!

Minneapolis is first among U.S. cities in literacy, per study

St. Paul came in 11th, behind Seattle, Denver, Atlanta and San Francisco.

http://startribune.com/stories/1592/3983960.html