Author Archives: Mary Turck

The Gallup survey is done, the Knight Foundation Soul of the Community report is written, and the verdict is that we St. Paul-ites love our city. And that’s important, according to the researchers, because of a strong correlation between good feelings and growing economies.

Why do people like the cities they live in, and why do we like St. Paul? Some of the more obvious reasons—strong economy, good jobs, public safety—turn out not to be anywhere near the top of the list. The survey, which covered 26 communities where the Knight Foundation works, found that the strongest factors are

Social offerings — Places for people to meet each other and the feeling that people in the community care about each other

• Vibrant nightlife
• Good place to meet people
• Other people care about each other
• Availability of arts and cultural opportunities
• Availability of social community events

Aesthetics — The physical beauty of the community including the availability of parks and green spaces

• Availability of parks, playgrounds, and trails
• Beauty or physical setting

Openness — How welcoming the community is to different types of people, including families with young children, minorities, and talented college graduates

• Good place for older people
• Good place for racial and ethnic minorities
• Good place for families with young children
• Good place for gays and lesbians
• Good place for young, talented college graduates looking for work
• Good place for immigrants
• Good place for young adults without children

And how do we do? Again, the report has a few surprises. You might think that St. Paul ranks high on openness and being a welcoming community, but we don’t get really high rankings. Maybe St. Paul-ites have higher expectations, and so rank our city lower in comparison to those expectations?

According to the report:

In the St. Paul area, social offerings (entertainment infrastructure, places to meet people, community events), aesthetics (an area’s physical beauty and green spaces) and openness (how welcoming the place is) are the most important factors emotionally connecting residents to where they live.

Aesthetics was perceived as a community strength, particularly the area’s parks, playgrounds and trails. All aspects of aesthetics were rated significantly higher in 2010.

Social offering and openness need improvement to further attach residents to the area, however both were rated significantly higher in 2010.  Nightlife was rated significantly higher. Gays and lesbians are seen as significantly more welcome in 2010 – all positive momentum that helped to improve these challenge areas for the community.

People in St. Paul were less enthralled by our economy and by community leadership—but neither of those factors ranks high in determining how attached people are to their communities. Is that a slam at St. Paul pols? Probably not, Knight Foundation’s Polly Talen told MinnPost: leadership was ranked low in every community.

Want to read the full report? You can download the PDF here.

Last year’s TC Media Alliance forum had low attendance because of sun—such nice weather that people stayed home to enjoy it. Today, it’s snow, falling quietly but persistently, slushing up the roads, skidding cars, making it easy to say, “I think I’ll stay home today.”

For those who ventured out to the Minneapolis Central Library, the energy is great. Lisa Williams, founder of Placeblogger, is asking people in the audience about blogs, and turning up fascinating stories from:

Meet the Neighbors, with Peter Shea telling video stories of people from Southwestern Minnesota.

Oromo Pride, began as a business venture by two UMD students, and now serves “as a media outlet that seeks to empower Oromo communities around the world to tell their stories and add perspective to the news that come out of Ethiopia”

Kenyaimagine, which is maintained by Julia Nekessa Opoti, a TC Daily Planet writer.

Shamelessagitator.org, also known as Random Stuff from Sheldon.

Among Lisa’s insights on blogging-in-place:

“Ask yourself, ‘If I can know what the stock price of Apple is every minute of every day,” then why can’t I know about my neighbor who is getting foreclosed on?'” Who does it serve that it’s easy to get news about Apple stock prices and hard to get news about what’s happening to your neighbors, in your town?

Blogging is a way to tell your story today. Lisa asks “How will people know 100 years ago what it is like to live today?” and exhorts, “Please, please, please, somebody think of the graduate students!”

For people who want to blog and get a wider audience, take a look at the TC Daily Planet blog page.

Big Brother Bob Fletcher is watching you and he wants you to watch your neighbors, too. He has just rolled out a spy site on the web, where would-be watchers can choose one of ten cameras to watch. They’re pretty boring, but some criminal someday may be stupid enough to do something unlawful while you are watching. This is all part of the continuing RNC security saga, which funded more than a hundred spy cams for the Twin Cities. If you remember, the St. Paul police had lots of cameras, but no one watching – Lights, cameras — but no action for St. Paul police. Fletcher has been planning his web cop project since at least January. Continue reading →