Minneapolis

Do a trip report here....go to another city and want to relate it to what KC is doing right or could do better? Give us a summary in here.
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bahua
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Post by bahua »

Geez, KCP, you're going everywhere I've been this summer, only two weeks later. I'm going to New York this weekend. How about you?
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dangerboy
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Post by dangerboy »

There are dozens of Bloch cancer parks. The foundation sponsors them all over the country.
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KCPowercat
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Post by KCPowercat »

danger...had no idea....I was shocked when I saw the sign and then the same statue...that's cool.

bahua...I wish, NYC prices just went down to like $140 round trip too....so maybe so.
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ComandanteCero
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Post by ComandanteCero »

i saw a train deal that was around there a few months back...
KC Region is all part of the same animal regardless of state and county lines.
Think on the Regional scale.
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KCPowercat
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by KCPowercat »

OK so I went BACK to the twin cities this weekend.  This is my trip report to the twincityscape site so if questions don't make sense, that's why.

Saturday:  Drove up to MPLS.  MO roads, poor; Iowa roads, good but slow; Minn roads ok...seems way too few highway lanes for such a large metro.  I could see multiple bottlenecks all through the 35W route.  Check into the Marriott downtown, great location.  Get ready for the night and walk down to find something to eat.  End up walking down Nicolett (sp?) until we run into Eat St. where we ate at Salsa la Salsa I believe it was.  Terrific little mexican place.  Loved the eat street area.  Walk back and decide to hit the warehouse district for some drinks.  Get free drink coupons to "drink" so head in there.  Seemed like a great time.  With only the woman and I, don't hang around long, home by 1am.  Overall the walk down Nicolett was a great as I remembered it.  Very well done, reminds me a lot of 16th st. in Denver sans the free buses...not quite as busy as I would have expected on a Sat. night.  Warehouse district seems like a great time, good mix of younger and older style bars that mix the demographics well.

Sunday:  Head down to the Uptown area after mass at the Basillica...very nice church.  Uptown is just a great neighborhood all around.  Walk around there for awhile before eating at Donovans I think it was.....quick serve pizza/hoggie place.  Nothing special.  Notice a place called Figglio's....with the same neon as the one on our Country Club Plaza.  Had no idea this place was a chain....or is it?  Same neon sign made it seem like it was.  Question:  What is the official definition of MPLS' downtown area that you use to get the population of whatever your downtown population is now.  Reason I ask is the downtown and uptown areas seem to flow together so well it would be hard to distingush between the two.  Great, great area and would be my first choice if living in MPLS.  Head to IKEA (the reason me made the trip, talk about a regional draw), buy a bunch of crap and decide to drive around St. Paul since we had never been there.  On the radio we hear an ad for the St. Paul Saints in town vs. the KCK T-Bones....well hell, looks like something to do.  Never seen the T-Bones play before and had always heard the Saints were fun.  Head back to the hotel, get warmer clothes, and head out to eat at first to Ike's...until the $12 cheeseburger, $23 ribs ran us off, so went to the place with the lawn bowling (forget the name).  Great food and atmosphere.  Drive over to St. Paul to take in a game....wow it was crowded and the stands were not made for a crowd.  Get there about 8, leave about 9:30....fun to see for awhile but I don't really see the draw except for families...super cheap.  Probably won't make it over to a T-Bones game...maybe I'm just a baseball snob (funny coming from a Royals fan).  Head out that night back to the warehouse district after driving around the UMinnesota campus and an area north of the main warehouse district.  REally reminded me of a further along West Bottoms here in KC.  That night was freaking crazy with people....dance clubs were overflowing all around.  We walk through GameWorks...these things aren't as impressive as I once thought they were...the bowling was busy but the rest was dead.  Walk around so more in amazement of the mass amounts of people going into the bigger danceclubs...place was much more busy than Sat. night.  head back to the hotel not wanting to go bumping and grinding all night.

Monday:  Head to Loring Park area as suggested by somebody on here.  Eat at Loring Grille, great breakfast.  Walk around the park....awesome urban park and would be something I'd like to see here in KC, we just don't have the right location for something similiar.  Walk over to the sculpture garden and see the the cherry in the spoon....love weird sculptures like that.  Back to IKEA one more time and start the long drive home.

Thanks MPLS, once again you put a great face on and made me envious and hopeful to what our downtown will once hopefully become.

One more question.  Where is kind of the upper 20's age group hang out?  You know, the more chill hang out type bars.  It seems every bar in the warehouse district was a little younger or geared more towards a high energy night (which is awesome to have) but it only being us 2, we were kind of looking for a place to hang out...for KC people reading this, more like a Bulldog type bar.  I know they are out there, but I just didn't ask anybody where to find it.  Thanks again for the great weekend.


To KCskyscrapers.com:  Go check out MPLS to see a lot of things I think we want our downtown to become.  They still have issues such as homelessness (who would choose to live there I do not know) and underage kids hanging out where they don't belong.....but it seems to be overshadowed by an overall great downtown.  It's no utopia but it is a great model to learn a lot of lessons from.  They have a great benefit of some of their best neighborhoods being next to downtown unlike us but we do have a great set of urban neighborhoods as well, they just stretch clear down to 75th street. 

Their "plaza", Nicolett street still does not seem as busy as the plaza...but that's in great deal due to there not being a lot of restaurants or bars on that street and stores closing as early as the plaza.  Most bars/restaurants are scattered in surrounding streets or appear in the busy warehouse district.
http://downtownkcmo.blogspot.com

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ozone84
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by ozone84 »

The place with the lawn bowling is Brit's Pub.  At least that's what it was called when I lived there in 2001.

Place to hang out that's not a meat market?  Definitely The Little Wagon at 5th Ave and 5th St.  Laid back.  Lots of regulars.  Used to be a major Star Tribune hangout.  Also try Nye's Polinaise across the bridge.  Great Polish place and nice bar for after dinner.  Kieren's Irish Pub is another good place but it's kind of young.

I lived in Uptown, but we always made our way to the Little Wagon!
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by trailerkid »

You didn't take a train once?  [-(
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by KCPowercat »

yeah no train...really didn't go where I needed it to go
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by trailerkid »

Also, it's fun to visit other types of places, but I would've went to Chi if IKEA was my main objective.
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KCPowercat
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by KCPowercat »

good point....cheaper hotel rooms :)
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chrizow
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by chrizow »

where is the Mpls IKEA?  is it by the Mall of America?  what's the area like, in KC terms?
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KCPowercat
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by KCPowercat »

by Mall of America.....Overland Park type area
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FangKC
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Re: Minneapolis

Post by FangKC »

Minneapolis appears close to allowing more dense zoning.

Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan likely to pass, council members say
A controversial plan to make Minneapolis a more densely populated city has enough support on the City Council to pass when it comes to a vote next month, council members said this week.

Six council members reached by the Star Tribune indicated they would vote in support of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan on Dec. 7. It needs nine votes to pass, but even Council Member Linea Palmisano, who opposes the 2040 plan, believes it will move forward.

On Friday, Council President Lisa Bender said she was “very confident” the plan would be approved.

“I actually think there’s a lot of consensus among council members and a lot of excitement about the general direction the plan is taking us,” she said.

The 2040 plan would usher in citywide upzoning, allowing triplexes in neighborhoods currently reserved for single-family homes, and denser development along transit corridors. Since the plan became public this spring, impassioned residents have packed public hearings, planted lawn signs and sent thousands of online comments to express how they feel the plan would affect their neighborhoods.
...
http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis- ... 500729901/
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