“Everyone should live in California, but leave before they get soft. Everyone should live in Manhattan, but leave before they get hard.”
–Anonymous
[Editor’s Note: David Letterman may be about to broadcast his last show, but his comedic contributions — including “Top Ten” lists — will live on. In that vein . . . I offer, “Top 10 Things I Like About the Twin Cities.”]
10. Forget about a cup of sugar; neighbors will lend you their tiller or spare generator (assuming they like you).
9. (Almost) nobody knows the name of the state’s most valuable corporation (privately held Cargill, worth over $100 billion).
8. Streets get repaired in front of $200k homes before they get repaired in front of $4 million ones (ask anyone who lives around Lake of the Isles). P.S.: How much are property taxes on those $4 million homes? A LOT (compare with California).
7. Alan Page, the brainy MVP Vikings defensive lineman and one of the original “Purple People Eaters,” went on to become a long-serving Minnesota Supreme Court Justice.
6. “Minnesota Nice” (also known as passive-aggressive behavior). I know non-Minnesotans detest it . . . but I like it (or at least understand it). I’ll take someone shooting daggers at me with their eyes over someone shooting real ones any day. See, “living in New York City.”
5. Minnesotans. My definition of a genuine Minnesotan is someone who — when they get a 3-day weekend in January — heads north (presumably, to their cabin). Or as I like to say, “a little stoicism goes a long way.”
4. You won’t necessarily know who’s rich by where they live, what car they drive, or what clothes they wear (see also, #9.).
3. Good public schools (still).
2. Publicly-owned parks, riverfront, and lakes — and lots of ’em. See also, “Minneapolis vs. Miami vs. Malibu” (“3M’s”).”
1. Cultural amenities including the Guthrie, Walker, and dozens of other venues that belie the Twin Cities’ 3 million population.
Honorable Mention:
–The climate, especially for families raising children. The kids I feel sorriest for aren’t the ones who grow up dealing with below-zero windchill, mosquitoes, and tornadoes — it’s the ones who grow up in Hawaii, for whom life is all downhill . . . once they go anywhere else.
–Farm-to-table movement: the farms are all nearby.
–Bike trails! See, “In Praise of . . . The Midtown Greenway.”
