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Nobody said it was better some people like living in a urban downtown setting some people would rather live in a single family house in a city . But when you go on a site and a thread comparing cities people are probably going to compare them . If that upsets you I wouldn't read city vs city threads. And do you realize your the one that brought up bigger is better . It's not for all people that's why I was giving facts so people could decide.
Really .according to Collier international Minneapolis has 29 million square ft. Of office space downtown. Seattle according to Colliers has 55 million.
Minneapolis downtown population is 37,500 . Seattle is 70,000. Minneapolis has 7,000 hotel rooms downtown . Seattle has 15,000 + I include Seattle Center Hotels Seattle also has several hotels under construction.
And as Minneapolis downtown is losing theater complexes , department stores, and malls. Seattle is gaining new department stores new movie theater complexes and adding downtown malls . Minneapolis as it's downtown population grows will gain retail back but it will be neighborhood retail to cater to residents and office workers. The regional destination center has moved to M.O.A. . Ok a couple facts that doesn't make Seattle better it just means it's downtown is bigger me I like living downtown.
Really .according to Collier international Minneapolis has 29 million square ft. Of office space downtown. Seattle according to Colliers has 55 million.
Minneapolis downtown population is 37,500 . Seattle is 70,000. Minneapolis has 7,000 hotel rooms downtown . Seattle has 15,000 + I include Seattle Center Hotels Seattle also has several hotels under construction.
And as Minneapolis downtown is losing theater complexes , department stores, and malls. Seattle is gaining new department stores new movie theater complexes and adding downtown malls . Minneapolis as it's downtown population grows will gain retail back but it will be neighborhood retail to cater to residents and office workers. The regional destination center has moved to M.O.A. . Ok a couple facts that doesn't make Seattle better it just means it's downtown is bigger me I like living downtown.
Thank you for the facts. I guess it's subjective, but realize too that there is another fairly substantially sized downtown just miles away with residents, shopping, and offices in St. Paul as well. I know that it doesn't count. But I wonder how much even better Minne could be if it were one core instead of two competing CBD's.
I would say downtown Seattle is one of the ten best central cores in the country. I would peg Minne in the top 15. As to what is better, that will always be a matter of preference as you state. Just hearing people try and belittle Minneapolis is crazy. But I guess with a thread like this it's inevitable. People marginalizing one of the better US cities makes me sad.
If these are the things said about Minneapolis I'd hate to hear the things said about the mid-sized downtown I came to know and love eek!
I am curious to hear just how many of you out of towners have actually been to duluth.... The city itself absolutely sucks.
Definitely - Duluth/Superior (sorry, you can't separate these twin cities) is not a nice area in terms of the cities themselves. Very beautiful naturaly setting. Duluth has a pretty nice downtown for a city its size, sure, but the same can be said of a lot of cities no one ever talks about on C-D. Whereas I think you get a free C-D coffee mug every time you drop "Duluth, MN" in a thread.
One big difference between the two: Minneapolis/St. Paul suffered quite a bit of blight and decay since WWII, unlike Seattle.
So did Seattle. Prior to Microsoft and the big tech boom that began in the 90's, Seattle had been economically stagnant since the 70's, due to being a company town (Boeing). I first visited Seattle in 1982, and back then it was a much different place. Pretty run down, boring, and depressing. Most of the buildings looked old and in a state of decay. I don't remember seeing any new construction at all. The prosperity that exists there today is still a relatively new phenomenon.
So did Seattle. Prior to Microsoft and the big tech boom that began in the 90's, Seattle had been economically stagnant since the 70's, due to being a company town (Boeing). I first visited Seattle in 1982, and back then it was a much different place. Pretty run down, boring, and depressing. Most of the buildings looked old and in a state of decay. I don't remember seeing any new construction at all. The prosperity that exists there today is still a relatively new phenomenon.
Most of the Pacific Northwest's urban landscapes still seem stuck in the 60s or 70s outside of Seattle too. If you go to places like Longview and Aberdeen it's very depressing. I'd argue the Rust Belt extends all the way across the North to the Pacific Ocean.
Most of the Pacific Northwest's urban landscapes still seem stuck in the 60s or 70s outside of Seattle too. If you go to places like Longview and Aberdeen it's very depressing. I'd argue the Rust Belt extends all the way across the North to the Pacific Ocean.
I agree, but Aberdeen and Longview are small places. A bigger and better example would be Spokane. Spokane still looks and feels like it's stuck in the early 70's. There was a small boom of new construction that occurred there in the wake of the 1974 Expo, and it's like the city was just frozen in that time frame. Spokane's economy isn't exactly "depressed", but it's not really growing much either. It's just kind of stagnant and not really moving much in either direction. It's a stark contrast to Seattle.
1) Seattle has a larger and more urban core
2) Is expanding its core at a faster rate
Not to say that Minneapolis doesn't have a vibrant core or isn't growing, but I just get the impression that Seattle is more vibrant and is growing faster pace?
1) Seattle has a larger and more urban core
2) Is expanding its core at a faster rate
Not to say that Minneapolis doesn't have a vibrant core or isn't growing, but I just get the impression that Seattle is more vibrant and is growing faster pace?
Yes, Seattle is growing at a faster pace, but it's definitely no more vibrant than the Twin Cities. I would put both cities in the same place in terms of vibrancy, and the Twin Cities slightly ahead in terms of the arts (theater and visual arts in particular). Seattle is ahead in tech, entrepreneurialism, and overall "cool" factor due to media saturation.
Seattle got a head start on its urban redevelopment, and it's naturally just going to attract more people because of its mild climate and coastal setting. The Twin Cities has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, a thriving and diversified economy, and a substantially lower cost of living than Seattle, but our winters are just too extreme for a good number of people.
Yes, Seattle is growing at a faster pace, but it's definitely no more vibrant than the Twin Cities. I would put both cities in the same place in terms of vibrancy, and the Twin Cities slightly ahead in terms of the arts (theater and visual arts in particular). Seattle is ahead in tech, entrepreneurialism, and overall "cool" factor due to media saturation.
Seattle got a head start on its urban redevelopment, and it's naturally just going to attract more people because of its mild climate and coastal setting. The Twin Cities has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, a thriving and diversified economy, and a substantially lower cost of living than Seattle, but our winters are just too extreme for a good number of people.
This. Arts I'd give to the Twin Cities with far less reservation (our live theater market is larger than Los Angeles'); but overall, it's still true that when Forbes listed this past February the 20 fastest-growing urban metros, population- and economy-wise, it ranked Seattle 11th and the Twin Cities 17th.
I do think, though, that Forbes needed to do more to compensate in their ranking for the disparity in cost of living between the Twin Cities and Seattle. A median pay of $71,400 in Seattle stretches less than the Twin Cities' median pay of $63,400, according to CNN Money's cost of living comparison. Together with lower unemployment and a population growth rate only 0.09% greater for Seattle, if I'd have been in the office that did that ranking, I'd probably have given the Twin Cities the socioeconomic edge over Seattle, especially since raw population can't be much of a factor in their list, given how as it stands they've ranked relatively small metropolitan statistical areas like Cape Coral-Fort Meyers, FL and Ogden-Clearfield, UT higher than the Twin Cities.
So did Seattle. Prior to Microsoft and the big tech boom that began in the 90's, Seattle had been economically stagnant since the 70's, due to being a company town (Boeing). I first visited Seattle in 1982, and back then it was a much different place. Pretty run down, boring, and depressing. Most of the buildings looked old and in a state of decay. I don't remember seeing any new construction at all. The prosperity that exists there today is still a relatively new phenomenon.
Interestingly, Boise, Idaho (16th) was the only other city to make the Forbes list linked above from anywhere in the north: not a single Northeastern city did, and no Midwestern ones but the Twin Cities.
Hence while I won't dispute you saying that the Rust belt seems to extend across the whole north of the States, I'd also say that once you hit the Plains, you've likely reached the Rust Belt's tapered end; I haven't been too many places in the Northwest, but from what I've seen here, I suspect that as far as rust is concerned, places like Milwaukee and Green Bay beat them all hollow.
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