Is Minnesota a greatly underrated state?

[chessgeek]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

And that, folks, is how to avoid dealing with reality.

You brought it up, so provide the specifics instead of a "label". That would not cut it in debate class. I can call anyone a name.

I think people with natural charisma often get accused by others of wanting a cool image. When you consider some of the challenges he and the city have faced (bridge collapse and rebuilding, tornado damage recovery in north Mpls, aftermath of the Accent Co. shootings, getting new Vikings stadium, etc) I am sure being "cool" did not even rate in the top five factors. It was about getting through them the best way possible.

Again, it is easy to be jealous of people with charisma and energy and take potshots. I think he is and has been one of the better mayors in the country all things considered.

There is some reality. Now have a nice evening. Nothing personal, we just agree to disagree.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

So you can go on pretending you're clever? Life is too short.

I'm not being clever (well, I can't guarantee that, but that's certainly not the reason I made the comment ). It's just that you have a rather vehement position that you take against RT. I understand you didn't like the Vikings deal (while I'm not opposed to a public subsidy for a facility per se, I think they clearly didn't think the deal through and Minneapolis did not get the greatest deal...and I would have preferred a different site, but that's a moot point), but do you really think he's done such a horrible job?

We have a weak mayor system. The City Council is where all the power is located. The job of mayor is more about being a city booster and creating relationships rather than crafting policy. That falls into the council's hands and they were the ones that really screwed the pooch on things like the Vikings stadium.

I'd be curious to know (outside of the Vikings stadium) what RT needs to do better under the auspices of his actual power...and who is a better candidate that we have coming up? There's already interviews with pretty much all of the candidates online (except Cam Winton, but my guess is that you won't be voting for him...he's definitely not progressive). What should be done better that actually can be? How is RT worse than Sharon Sayles Belton, who had more than a few spending boondoggles under her tenure? I just don't see your fascination with defaming him (and how it particularly relates to the original topic).

[sholomar]

Honestly most people don't think that much about areas other than where they live or where they go to vacation, just like most people don't move far from where they grew up... so in that sense it's hard to say if MN is underrated, only that NY and CA are overrated.

Personally I'd like to move to Missouri. Perhaps a bit hot in summer but I can live with that if the other 9 months a year are much better in temps. Columbus is on my short list.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

Honestly most people don't think that much about areas other than where they live or where they go to vacation, just like most people don't move far from where they grew up... so in that sense it's hard to say if MN is underrated, only that NY and CA are overrated.

Personally I'd like to move to Missouri. Perhaps a bit hot in summer but I can live with that if the other 9 months a year are much better in temps. Columbus is on my short list.

We've spent a lot of time in Missouri and it's on our list of possible places we would move as well. I would never have kids in the schools there though, sorry MO. For whatever reason though, their college/university system is amazing. They have very good medical care, at least in the St. Louis area, with all the teaching hospitals. It's pretty cheap to live there too. I've only been through Columbus once though so not sure what that area is like.

The summers are hot but not all that much worse then what we get, just more days like that I guess. Winter you still see some snow, not a lot, but some.

[Arkansas Mac]

With all of the ways of communicating and the media, I doubt there are many places left that are......."greatly underrated"

( especially not a whole state )

The phrase........." best kept secret"-----is overused and wrongly used.

[sholomar]

Originally Posted by Arkansas Mac

With all of the ways of communicating and the media, I doubt there are many places left that are......."greatly underrated"

( especially not a whole state )

The phrase........." best kept secret"-----is overused and wrongly used.

very true. Underrated depends on personal preference too. For me some underrated places would be Rapid City, SD, Scottsbluff, NE, and in general all of eastern CO, eastern WY, western NE, and Southwest SD, because of the chinook winds really making the winters, springs, and falls bearable and the low humidity and less bugs in the summertime. This would include the city of Denver, CO, but other than Denver this area is extremely rural. It's like the Desert SW but not as oppressively hot. Much of it is pretty flat and/or brown though.

[Arkansas Mac]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

very true. Underrated depends on personal preference too. For me some underrated places would be Rapid City, SD, Scottsbluff, NE, and in general all of eastern CO, eastern WY, western NE, and Southwest SD, because of the chinook winds really making the winters, springs, and falls bearable and the low humidity and less bugs in the summertime. This would include the city of Denver, CO, but other than Denver this area is extremely rural. It's like the Desert SW but not as oppressively hot. Much of it is pretty flat and/or brown though.

Very good point about the Chinook winds !

A friend's brother retired from the military ( married a girl from Florida)
He was not interested in Florida and she was was leary of Minnesota winters.
She said she would give MN a try for one year. The winter was too much and she suggested they move to Florida.

He asked if she would give Rapid City a try ( he had heard about Chinook winds )
She did.

20 years later they are still living in Rapid City.
If Chinook winds reached central MN, I might have not grown to hate winter and still be there.

[RC01]

Originally Posted by Arkansas Mac

Very good point about the Chinook winds !

A friend's brother retired from the military ( married a girl from Florida)
He was not interested in Florida and she was was leary of Minnesota winters.
She said she would give MN a try for one year. The winter was too much and she suggested they move to Florida.

He asked if she would give Rapid City a try ( he had heard about Chinook winds )
She did.

20 years later they are still living in Rapid City.
If Chinook winds reached central MN, I might have not grown to hate winter and still be there.

After my first sort of winter here (I went back home from the end of December to mid January.), I can say that I really miss the Chinook winds back in Rapid City.

I think Minnesota is really underrated. I didn't live that far away, but I really just pictured it the same as the stereotypical Iowa image. That's probably because the main time I ever drove through it was on I-90. I did come to the Twin Cities a few times as I was growing up (more than Denver even though I lived closer to Denver), but I never realized how nice they were. I had a sort of negative perception of big cities in general from my parents who really didn't like driving though the cities . But I really want to go up north for a weekend and see up there. All in good time though

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

Honestly most people don't think that much about areas other than where they live or where they go to vacation, just like most people don't move far from where they grew up... so in that sense it's hard to say if MN is underrated, only that NY and CA are overrated.

Personally I'd like to move to Missouri. Perhaps a bit hot in summer but I can live with that if the other 9 months a year are much better in temps. Columbus is on my short list.

I think you would prefer Des Moines region (plenty of smaller towns surrounding it) as it is much milder than South Dakota without being as brutally hot/humid for long periods of time like Missouri...