If a suburb was annexed to become part of Minneapolis, which would it be? (St. Paul: live, malls)

[dotifa]

Originally Posted by MN55

I would be very against that. If it did happen the city would more than likely be renamed St Anthony.

Or Minneapolis could be named St Anthony and the whole entity could be called Minneapolis

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by flyingwriter

I don't think Mpls and St. Paul should merge. I like how they are distinct cities with their own atmosphere.

I agree, I suggested the Mpls/St. Paul/Bloomington but I just suggested it just because, and I don't think there would be any benefits to it or anytihng. It's best the way it is

[Camden Northsider]

I don't know- the cities and their suburbs all seem do be doing fine, all things considered- there's not really any issues that I can think of that would necessitate an annexation except in small cases like Edina-Morningside. Someone else's suggestion of Robbinsdale, Crystal, and New Hope merging to become a super-suburb might make sense (although I think Robbinsdale has a more distinctive character than the others)- mainly because I never know when the hell i'm crossing any of these city borders, with some exceptions they all look pretty similar (esp. Crystal and New Hope- I think Robbinsdale's got a lot more character and could be the older downtown section), and quite frankly- they could stand to work together a little more in the planning of their commerical districts IMO.

I guess one argument for mergers/annexation- merging/streamlining the backroom operations, data systems, departments, and/or budgets of several cities could lead to significant cost savings if done correctly (although the merger of backroom ops could likely be done w/out a formal city merger), which would allow cities to invest more in needed resources/infrastructure and help keep taxes lower. However, it seems like most suburbs operate on pretty modest budgets as is, which can be good and bad I suppose.

On a related off-topic- with the recent death of NRP, I've heard some folks suggest or talk about the possibility and/or need of Mpls neighborhoods to think about merging (or at least merge the operations of their neighborhood associations as a result of the now very limited resources).

[uptown_urbanist]

Interesting about NRP -- I can see how that could potentially make sense. I do like that neighborhoods work on the micro-level in some cases (it makes it that much easier to meet your neighbors, etc.), but given how the current formal neighborhoods often artificially carve up larger districts they also contribute to a lack of cohesiveness in larger informal neighborhoods. I'm thinking of Uptown here, but I assume this dynamic is also at work in other parts of the city (Marcy-Holmes comes to mind as another official neighborhood that is really divided between two different areas, and seems like it would be better off in a remix). Perhaps one option would be the merging or outright reshaping of some neighborhood into larger groups, but with each individual neighborhood remaining a committee.

I do think that if each neighborhood is going to continue to be viable at the organizational level then there needs to be some changes to the system. I'm also concerned with the fact that so often these neighborhood groups are recognized by others (including city officials) as speaking for the neighborhood's population; on the one hand they are treated like elected bodies (which I suppose they are), but on the other I don't think most boards are representative of the neighborhood as a whole, and there's little effort in many areas to really do anything about that.

Back to the original topic, I agree that the potential merging of some suburbs makes more sense, or at least may be more of a serious possibility, than the merging of some suburbs into the city.

[west336]

St. Paul!

[urza216]

Originally Posted by west336

St. Paul!

St Paul is a suburb? I thought it was it's own city..

I could be mistaken but I think Charles Shulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, is from Saint Paul. Or maybe that's just where he got his start cartooning..

[west336]

It is a city.

[urza216]

Oh ok, I see. I just got confused.

I've never been to Minnesota. Although I'm sure I will someday because it's one of the only midwestern states I haven't been to before.

My bad if I'm coming off as a heckler right now..

[Kid Cann]

Well if you were to make it into one giant city...

Minneapolis + St. Paul + Bloomington + Richfield (Cannot annex Bloomington w/o Richfield)

You would have a city of nearly 800,000 and 160 square miles....

Similar to Austin, TX (790,000 and 300 sq miles), Indianapolis, IN (810,000 and 350 sq miles) San Fransico, CA (810,000 and 230 sq miles)

The only place that would really rival would be San Jose, CA with 965,000 and 178 sq miles.

What would it be called?

St. Minnebloomingfield?

There you have it.

St. Minnebloomingfield, Minnesota. The newest city in America.

795,000 people. 160 square miles.

Minnesota River and Mississippi River border.
State Capital
Home to 4 Professional teams
Mall of America
International Airport
Target Field and Xcel Energy Center

[Kid Cann]

St. Minnebloomingfield, Minnesota.