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Neither... Minneapolis is the provincial capital of the upper midwest but can't really compete with East and West Coast cities for cultural relevance or historical importance. Phoenix is home to all of the people who couldn't shuck it when the factories closed in places like Detroit and Cleveland, and are dragging that city down just as they did to the cities up here. If I had to choose between these two cities with someone pointing a gun at my head, I think I'd choose the bullet.
Imagine that - someone from Cleveland talking about a gun to his head.
What? So you've never had a gun pulled your head? y'all are softies up there. I got shot almost every other week. Most people living in Cleveland do. I've got a gun to my head right now. Got to go.
Neither... Minneapolis is the provincial capital of the upper midwest but can't really compete with East and West Coast cities for cultural relevance or historical importance. Phoenix is home to all of the people who couldn't shuck it when the factories closed in places like Detroit and Cleveland, and are dragging that city down just as they did to the cities up here. If I had to choose between these two cities with someone pointing a gun at my head, I think I'd choose the bullet.
considering the source, this is a ringing endorsement for both Minneapolis and Phoenix
Certainly it can't be because of Phoenix's overall better weather or the fact that it's not in the rustbelt.
It most definitely is. Better weather? Is that because it is hot/warm and sunny all of the time?
That sounds beyond horrible. I enjoy summer, yes, but not a monotonous nearly everlasting summer. I enjoy fall, when the weather is clear and cool, the trees change colors, you can go to apple orchards, drive through fully grown farmland, and walk/run/hike/bike/rollerblade/rollerski without having to worry about sweating buckets and you can wear comfortable jeans and a jacket.
I also enjoy winter, when everything feels clean because of the cold, everything is covered in white snow, lakes and rivers are frozen and you can walk and drive on them, the air wakes you up when you're tired, you burn more calories and stay healthy by being in cold air, you can go downhill skiing, cross country skiing, ice skating, sledding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and even shovel snow when needed for exercise.
And then, when winter is over, the snow and ice melts, and then we get spring. In spring it is cool to start, with the snow melting into cool formations, curbs transforming into miniature roadside rivers, and birds flying back. And then it becomes warm, and plants and trees bloom, everything smells great, you can start to switch over from winter activities to summer activities and it is great. And then, summer again, and the cycle keeps going.
And beyond temperatures, we get (I live in Minneapolis-St. Paul if you were wondering) all kinds of weather. Light rain, heavy rain, mild thunderstorms, heavy strong thunderstorms, hail, sleet, snow flurries, snow showers, blizzards, high winds, no winds, tornadoes, derechos, dry air, humid air, remnants of hurricanes, overcast skies, clear skies, partly cloudy skies, skies filled only with high altitude cirrus clouds, even the northern lights if you count the effects of solar weather.
So why would I prefer Minneapolis'/Cleveland's/any humid continental northern cities' weather over Phoenix's? Because I enjoy variety. I like living where I know that I always have something new coming up to look forward to, with all kinds of things about each different season to keep me from being bored. Not only that, but I enjoy cold weather. I love it. And if you do or don't, it doesn't matter, warm weather always feels good afterward. You never get bored by the weather. In Phoenix, you simply can't experience that. Sure you can go up to the mountains every once and a while to experience some variety, but that does not compare. Moving to a place where it is almost always warm, where the skies are almost always sunny, and the air is always dry sounds like moving to my death. So no, Phoenix does not have better weather than Cleveland in my opinion, and it's not even close. Phoenix has terrible weather.
I could go on to address your second comment about Phoenix not being in the rust belt, but, as a person who likes cities with history, interesting architecture, and actual interesting urban layout, urban grit, many cultures, and variety, I can tell you now that I would not want to live in a city that is essentially a giant expanse of primarily monotonous boom suburbs. Don't get me wrong, Phoenix has plenty to offer in many categories, but I have plenty of logical reasons why I do not and will not want to live there.
* "Minneapolis is popular because Minnesotans needed a central city"
Well, it definitely is the cultural and economic powerhouse of Minnesota, but it also anchors the entire Upper Midwest region, which I'm using here to define the area comprised of all of Minnesota, the eastern halves of North Dakota and South Dakota, most of Iowa, almost all of Wisconsin, most of Michigan's UP, and bits and pieces of Illinois and Nebraska - you could even argue that the influence of Minneapolis reaches all the way up to parts of Ontario and Manitoba. But even that is not at all the only reason Minneapolis is popular. What about the cultural institutions and history, the national economic weight, the urban vibrancy, and the copious recreational amenities?
I enjoyed your breakdown, and I'm a fan of the Twin Cities, but this statement is patently false. The UP is influenced largely by Green Bay (Western half) and Detroit (Eastern half). Wisconsin's sparsely populated West-Central region is influenced quite a bit by the Twin Cities, because they're right across the border, but the vast majority of the state's population falls under Milwaukee (a fairly similar-sized metro right in Wisconsin), Green Bay, Wausau and Madison. And don't forget that a much larger city than Minneapolis, Chicago, is right on the border.
Here is a map showing the shere of influence of American cities:
I enjoyed your breakdown, and I'm a fan of the Twin Cities, but this statement is patently false. The UP is influenced largely by Green Bay (Western half) and Detroit (Eastern half). Wisconsin's sparsely populated West-Central region is influenced quite a bit by the Twin Cities, because they're right across the border, but the vast majority of the state's population falls under Milwaukee (a fairly similar-sized metro right in Wisconsin), Green Bay, Wausau and Madison. And don't forget that a much larger city than Minneapolis, Chicago, is right on the border.
Here is a map showing the shere of influence of American cities:
No yeah I totally agree with you, I'm just saying that Minneapolis is by far the cultural and economic powerhouse of the Upper Midwest region. Not necessarily that all those places are more influenced by Minneapolis than anywhere else.
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