Jacob: Minneapolis has the chance to show the nation that effective, thoughtful governance works. We don’t need to respond to extremism with the opposite extreme. Instead, we need to show that getting the basics right – through responsible leadership and practical solutions – can drive progress.

We must love our city more than our ideology.

I realize this problem is likely not limited to MPLS and is likely just a widespread symptom of corporate fuckery.

This morning I took my four year old out to get their piggy bank money counted. Coins and paper. They were thrilled and I got her excited for the process. I worked at a credit union in college. I wrongfully assumed any brick and mortar bank could handle counting coins in some fashion.

I was wrong.

Our primary bank is Huntington due to our mortgage. So we go in. The teller looked at me like I was speaking in tongues when I made the request. My kid was confused. He called over a teammate who told me they don’t do that and legitimately looked disgusted. They offered to give me paper tubes to count and roll them myself. I grabbed my kid a few suckers from bowl and we left.

Chase was next door, I use them. Figured it was worth a try. To her credit the person there was nice and this office was more oriented to other customers. She said most banks got rid of the machines years ago. She suggested a credit union.

So we took a chance and the CU up the road had a machine and their staff was incredibly nice. My kid got a bunch of candy and to their credit was incredible patient.

Of all the services you can’t force online or to digital medium. If it weren’t for my mortgage I’d suggest we close and move accounts tomorrow. Yes it’s petty. No, it’s not that extreme.

As a North Loop resident, I’m sick of Washington Ave being treated like a drag strip. Way too many lanes and not enough safe crosswalks for a stretch of road that has so many restaurants, businesses, and breweries. Minneapolis needs to follow the lead that other cities around the world have done and stop tailoring their cities towards cars and start thinking about the people that live there. I’m picturing reduced lanes, more green spaces (maybe a tree lined boulevard), lots of cross walks, etc. For inspiration, head over to r/fuckcars.

From Chicago...just bought a house in Armatage with my husband (who went to "the U"). (We were already planning to move here) Nervous AF but gotta say, this weekend was particularly beautiful. Moving in January because I apparently hate myself. Let's go! If anyone's up for a beer or fun, LMK. (I'm 35 and it shows lol)d

Exxon knew about climate change.

When I first heard that, I guess I assumed it was a decision made by a bunch of shadowy board members who were probably elderly in the late 70s and dead now, thus no justice was possible.

Nope.

One fucker, Lee Raymond, former CEO of Exxon Mobil, made the decision that Exxon was always an oil company and would always be an oil company. So he killed their climate research. He killed their alternative energy research. He funneled money into disinformation.

He's 86. He's exceedingly wealthy and exceedingly comfortable. Exxon's models are still some of the best, so my guess is that he bought a home where the oceans are very unlikely to rise and overtake him.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some kind of global outrage to rise up and make him stand trial? Maybe like... a climate nuremberg trial? We don't have to hang them, maybe we just redistribute all of his money into climate solutions. (Their money because the very first thing he'll do is point the finger at someone else.)

Okay, rant over. But you can't tell me that's not a workable solution, we have precedent.

Dear Leslie,

I, a humble inhabitant of the Marshall Terrace neighborhood, am writing you this letter on behalf of all of us who have been forced—nay, trapped—to gaze upon your two closed temples of forsaken leisure, Psycho Suzi’s and Betty Danger’s. They now sit vacant, collecting cobwebs, raccoons, and broken dreams, like monuments to lost potential and questionable pricing strategies.

We were once a proud community, known for our love of good drinks, fun food, and a little bit of quirky danger (thank you for that). But now? Now we sit here, watching the rest of Northeast Minneapolis flourish while your properties rot before our eyes like two enormous, rusty tiki boats marooned on the shores of bad business sense.

Let’s talk. You want $10 million for two vacant restaurants. $10 million! That’s like trying to sell a Chuck E. Cheese and expecting Disney World prices. And on top of that, you want a buyer who keeps them as-is, no changes necessary—because heaven forbid someone might have a new idea. The problem? No one can make that math work. There’s no culinary wizard capable of squeezing $10 million worth of magic out of abandoned cocktail umbrellas and ferris wheel memories.

Meanwhile, these properties are acting like the drunk uncle at Thanksgiving—taking up way too much space and refusing to leave. We can’t get new businesses in. We can’t get fresh investment. All we have are your shuttered dreams, now functionally serving as urban blight, glaring at us like a ghost of cocktails past.

Look, we get it. Selling things is hard. But you’re not selling a one-of-a-kind Picasso. You’re selling two restaurants that have been closed long enough for Google Maps to give up and label them “Probably Permanently Closed.” And every day they sit there, they drag the whole neighborhood down with them.

What I really hope is that the city catches on and starts taxing vacant businesses into oblivion. You know, a little nudge to encourage people to either sell or do something before the properties reach their next evolutionary phase as “interesting places for teens to dare each other to break into.”

So please, Leslie. For the love of all things sacred—like functional retail spaces—sell them at a price that doesn’t sound like you’re holding out for Elon Musk to decide he wants to open a space-themed cocktail lounge - we've already got one of those coming in. Until then, we’ll just be here. Staring. Waiting. Slowly losing our minds.

Kind regards (but mostly despair),
Marshall Terrace Resident

“Not all cities are ideal for this co-living model, but the report identifies Denver, Seattle, and Minneapolis as three prime candidates, with dozens of existing buildings in each that could make this housing model work right now.”

I googled the names and the only people running against the incumbents are inexperienced jerks.

Why do you gotta be a dick, antagonize and provoke, ride my ass, in the car pool lane I paid for, and flash your lights at me when I don't get out of your way? that's some real bull shit right there. I was breaking no laws but you continued to get right on my ass and by the way, couldn't cross the double white line which is why I wouldn't move... but you flashed your lights like you were gonna stop me so I pulled over and you just sped up and continued being a dick, and wonder why cops get a bad rep. Fuck off.

I was just a few cars ahead, heard the crunch, then saw the car drive off. DM me.

The colors are starting to get really nice and you can definitely feel the infectious joy in the air (: