On the other side of the Mississippi River from Saint Paul is Minneapolis, the oft-perfidious, slowly-declining “City of Lakes” of some 380,000 Minnesota-Friendly residents.
Minneapolis boasts a rich and thriving entertainment industry, from a broad array of varyingly sleazy tittie bars to two museums and four major theaters. In fact, it’s claimed that the city is the country’s third-largest theater market, with per-capita attendance at theatre and arts events behind only Chicago and New York City. It is also said to have the second-highest per-capita population of zombies (with attitude), after Chicago.
The “Mill City”, as Minneapolis was once know, plays host to four national sports teams - American-league baseball team the Minnesota Twins, National Football League NFC embarassment the Minnesota Vikings, both of whom play inside the sinfully ugly Metrodome stadium, NBA Western Conference underdogs the Minnesota Timberwolves, and WNBA team the Minnesota Lynx, who both compete in the Target Center, also a popular concert venue.
Often referred to as Murderapolis, Minneapolis has the sort of crime problems not normally seen in the midwest. From meth addicts stealing copper gas pipes from vacant houses (leading to explosions and fires) to sprees of catalytic-converter thefts; from elevated instances of auto theft to a couple cases of arson per day; from ongoing turf warfare between Crips, Bloods, Eighteenth Street, Sur 13, and a host of other street gangs, Minneapolis teems with some of the less-pleasant forms of excitement. Starting in late 2006, the city has begun installing accoustic gunshot detectors throughout problem neighborhoods - the places where neighbors are deaf, blind, and dumb. It’s only a matter of time before silencers become the thug’s accessory of choice.
Minneapolis, like Saint Paul, is well-served by public transit, as will be described on a separate page one day.