Regionalism : Buzz

A recent survey of major metropolitan areas found that Minneapolis and St. Paul are the best in the nation when it comes to senior living. The cities were rated based on nine categories that are key to seniors' quality of life: healthcare, transportation, housing, social opportunities, crime, environment, economy, health and longevity, and spiritual life.
 
Ranked by Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement, the other cities in the top five were Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Denver. At the bottom of the list of 25 cities were Washington D.C., Austin, and Chicago.
 
In awarding the Twin Cities the top spot, the organization noted: "Seniors gravitate to Minneapolis-St. Paul for Minnesota's progressive medical insurance program and for proximity to the Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic; factors that contribute to the region's high scores for life expectancy and healthcare." 

In a recent review of Insiders’ Guide to Twin Cities by local author Jay Gabler, the librarian/blogger known as ricklibrarian talks about spending hours with the book before coming to the Twin Cities.

In previous visits to the area, “I only had a limited amount of time to see the sites and saw just enough to know I wanted to see more. So I enjoyed the well-organized and frequently updated Insiders’ Guide,” he states in the post.  

The book helped him to compile a list of must-see sites, including Minnehaha Falls, Open Book, the state capitol, Como Zoo, local art museums, and more.

He sums up by saying, “There is enough in the Twin Cities for several trips. Perhaps I should read Gabler's chapter on relocating to the great Midwestern metropolitan area. I'd love to go to Twins games regularly no matter where they are in the standings and have my picture taken on Kirby Puckett Lane. I hope the weather is fair.”

Agriculture site Agweek recently profiled Gordon Frederickson, a Minnesota author who's written a number of illustrated books that celebrate his family's small farm in the 1950s.
 
Published by Beaver's Pond Press in Edina, the books highlight Frederickson's experience of growing up on a dairy farm in New Prague.  The author believes that it's there he learned lessons like the benefits of teamwork and the importance of physical activity.
 
As noted in Agweek, Fredrickson says that too often, agriculture is portrayed to the public as "a petting zoo," and his aim is to provide a broader view of farm life.

A study of 361 metro areas gives the Twin Cities a third-place ranking for its resilience. Rochester, Minn., and Bismarck, N.D. top the list, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

The Business Journal states that according to the study "there is no place better than the Upper Midwest at bouncing back from financial, natural or other disasters."

Cities in Texas and California were at the bottom of the list, whixh came out of the University at Buffalo Regional Institute.

Factors in the Resilience Capacity Index included voter participation, home ownership, economic diversity and income levels, the Business Journal reports.

Minnesota now ranks 7th in CNBC's annual ranking of the top places to do business.

For the past five years, the news firm has ranked all 50 states based on categories such as cost of doing business, workforce, transportation and infrastructure, education, access to capital, and quality of life.

Minnesota improved its rankings for cost of doing business and access to capital, and came in 8th for its quality of life. The state came out ahead of Iowa and Nebraska, which also placed in the top 10.

Overall, Virginia was the highest-ranked state, and Rhode Island was the lowest-ranked.

Saint Paul beat out hundreds of competitors to become a "top 10 city" for its quality of life and business-friendly environment.

The rankings were put together by FDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times Ltd., which tracks global business and investment trends.

The Cities of the Future process compares over 400 cities in North and South America, examining economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, and business-friendliness.

In a comment on the Financial Times results, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman cited significant infrastructure investments like the Central Corridor Light Rail Line as well as a revitalized bar and restaurant scene in Lowertown. He noted, "[W]e are focused on making Saint Paul a destination for living, working and playing."

When it comes to global warming, the Twin Cities is more resilient than other U.S. cities.

In response to the Resilient Cities 2011 Conference and Grist.org's list of the 10 most "climate-ready" cities, Nature Conservancy blogger Jeff Opperman compiled his own ranking of cities and climate change that addresses "how vulnerable or resilient a city is to climate change based on the city's environmental context," writes Opperman.

While Minneapolis did not appear on the Grist list, we were number five in terms of the "most resilient/least vulnerable" to climate change, behind Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago.

"Rust Belt" cities rank high for their sustainable water supply (like the Great Lakes), low heat-stress rankings, and low vulnerability to natural disasters, he writes. 

The Republic, a newspaper in Columbus, Indiana, recently published an Associated Press story about a celebratory bike ride from Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman.

The two mayors jointly participated in their cities' Nice Ride public bike-sharing program.

Along with a number of other local bicyclists, the mayors started pedaling at the Seward Coop in Minneapolis and ended at a St. Paul Dunn Bros coffee shop.

Their ride was a nod to the program's expansion, which involves adding another 43 bike stations to its 73 in Minneapolis last year. This time around, the bike stations are popping up in both cities. 

Proponents of such bike-sharing programs say that they can "help cut down on obesity, traffic jams and auto emissions," the story states.

Travel and Leisure magazines gives the Twin Cities high marks for cleanliness. The Twin Cities come in second nationwide, just after Salt Lake City, Utah and before Portland, Ore., out of a handful of U.S. cities. 

New York City is on the opposite end of things, according to the magazine's survey, which separately looks at various quality of life factors. 

City Pages has a piece about the distinction that mentions that Travel and Leisure's readership determined the rankings.

How much trash a city seems to have had a lot to do with the results, it states.

"A hipster is just a Brooklynite who wishes they were from Minnesota because it's 'more real,' while genuine Minnesotans are exempt from the label," writes Chris Menning in Buzzfeed on "the most hipster state in the U.S."

They are strong words, stated tongue-in-cheek and a with a good amount of data behind them: Menning cites the frequency of regional searches for the term "hipster," and he backs up Minnesota's crowning with our "lumberjack look," thriving theater scene, plethora of co-ops and farmer's markets, favorite musical sons (from Dylan to Atmosphere), bike-city status, and the movie Juno.

A group of five students from Normandale Community College in Bloomington embarked on a road trip March 31 with a modest plan: save Detroit, writes Christine MacDonald in the Detroit News.

The plan, which came out of an assignment for a city politics class, involves "rebuild[ing] from the core," increasing the size of Wayne State University, and making it an "education epicenter," with Midtown Detroit modeled after Dinkytown, according to the article.

Calling Detroit a "laboratory for urban reformers," MacDonald notes that the five students are not the only ones bringing their visions to the motor city: The American Assembly public policy forum will "discuss proposals" there April 14�17.

Corporate Responsibility Magazine (CRM) has released its 100 Best Corporate Citizens List for 2011.

Six of the 100 companies listed are from Minnesota, including number-three ranked General Mills, Inc.

The list is compiled using publicly available data in seven categories: climate change, employee relations, environment, financial, governance, human rights, and philanthropy.

The six Minnesota companies included are (ranking in parentheses):

General Mills, Inc (3)
Xcel Energy, Inc. (30)
3M Co. (32)
Hormel Foods Corp (40)
Mosaic Company (45)
Medtronic, Inc. (77)

The list includes a "yellow card" category for companies that appear on the list "despite some self-caused reputational damage," according to CRM--usually a "pending or completed administrative or official legal sanction."

Minnesota was represented in this arena as well; CRM notes a December 2010 suit filed against 3M by the State of Minnesota "for contaminating the state's waters."

When it comes to public transportation, the Twin Cities are working hard to improve options, according to U.S. News and World Report.

In its recently compiled list of top ten U.S. cities for public transportation, the Twin Cities came in fifth place, after Boston and ahead of San Francisco. Portland topped the list.  

The Twin Cities made the list in part for its work on the Central Corridor Light Rail line that will link Minneapolis and St. Paul. It'll build on the already-existing Hiawatha Light Rail line that brings people between downtown Minneapolis and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Also noteworthy is its Northstar Commuter Rail that runs between downtown Minneapolis and the northwestern suburbs.  

Last year ridership increased 2.3 percent. 
 

In a recent column in the Huffington Post, local author Jay Walljasper describes winter bike-riding in the Twin Cities while also providing some practical tips for others who want to do the same. 

For Walljasper, winter biking is good exercise and it provides a "mental lift that comes from feeling the wind in my face and blood pumping through my body," he says.

He's not alone. Information from Bike Walk Twin Cities, he says, shows that 36 percent of summer bike commuters persist on "clear, warm winter days," while 20 percent brave the elements even when it's cold and snowy. 
 
For others looking to start winter biking, he suggests investing in a good light and snow tires and wearing layers, among other things.  

Dave Van Hattum, who is the policy and advocacy program manager at Transit for Livable Communities and Jim Erkel, the land use and transportation program director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, co-wrote a recent Star Tribune editorial urging the Twin Cities to pull together as a region to stay competitive.  

Van Huttum and Erkel, along with Ann Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, are the authors of a report about regional governance titled "Planning to Succeed?"

In their editorial, they state: "Today, we hear from some quarters that we don't need a strong regional vision, that local control is the key to success." They argue that that kind of thinking could put the metro area behind others across the country while also shortchanging its ability to respond to changing needs.

The market is shifting to more walkable, transit-friendly neighborhoods. "To compete with other regions, we need to ensure that the money we spend on transit, roads, airports, and sewers maximizes efficiency."