Minnesota Suburbs vs. Exurbs

After doing absolutely zero research on the topic, I have come up with both a list and some firm rules regarding the distinction between suburb and exurb in Minnesota and specifically the Minneapolis / St. Paul / Twin Cities area.

Is there open land / farm land between two cities? If so, the more distant of the two from the core city (in this case Minneapolis or St. Paul) is an exurb. Connections are what make suburbs. Endless stretches of houses, strip malls and unwalkable streets with no farm land separating said cities make suburbs.

Burnsville and Lakeville are suburbs. Elko New Market is an exurb. Shakopee and Prior Lake are suburbs, as is their neighbor Savage. Jordan and Belle Plaine are exurbs. Drive down 169 and you’ll see why Jordan and Belle Plaine are exurbs.

Chaska is a suburb. Its neighbor, Carver, is a suburb as well because it is connected to Chaska. Waconia, though, is an exurb.

To the north you have Forest Lake. Forest Lake is an exurb. And then there’s North Branch which might as well be part of Duluth or at least Hinckley. I’m kidding North Branch, I love your little two-bit outlet mall.

Argue all you want but these are the rules of what separates suburbs and exurbs along with some damn sold examples.

Cougars in the suburbs?

By now we all know that the suburban cougar is alive and well. The suburban cougar is pursued by young males everywhere. If I weren't married, I'd probably be pursuing a cougar for myself because she'd probably have a few tricks up her sleeve. But today I'm not talking about that suburban cougar that hangs out at bars and wears seductive clothing. Today I'm talking about real cougars in the giant feline form.

A local thoroughbred who was supposed to be a spokeshorse of sorts for other retired ponies was attacked by what many think to be a cougar on a farm in Prior Lake near a Shakopee elementary school. I've always had my doubts about the tales I've heard since moving here about cougars and coyotes roaming the valleys along the Minnesota River. My wife is particularly adamant about the existence of coyotes. She recounts memories of hearing them on the farm she grew up on just above the Minnesota River. Her brothers had seen coyotes in the woods near the farm and her dad had shot at them to scare them away on numerous occasions.

Again, I had my doubts. I never believe something until I've seen it with my own eyes. Then one night while driving in the Belle Plaine area along Highway 169 I actually saw a small dog-like animal standing on the shoulder of the road. I knew it wasn't a fox - I have seen plenty of those while growing up in far southern Minnesota. My wife immediately told me that it was a coyote.

And that is exactly what the Minnesota DNR thinks attacked My Friend Deke, the horse that was stabling in Prior Lake. If I lived in that immediate area or had kids who attended that particular elementary school, I'd be alreat but not concerned. After all, we are the ones who encroached on the area which these wild animals call home. Six years ago when I moved here, that particular area was still corn fields and woods. Now it is leveled and full of half-million dollar homes and strip malls. When humans and animals try to co-exist, it's usually the animals who end up losing the battle in the end but a cougar or a coyote attacking a farm animal should serve as a wake-up call that we are all pissing nature off.

If you like nature and want to embrace it, check out MinnPics which often times showcases fabulous photos of Minnesota's natural beauty.

The word of the day is "bitter"

The suburbs are supposedly a peaceful haven where people move to get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of the big city. I guess it's that rather mistaken identity that prompts the uptight citizens of certain suburbs to write well-worded but still bitter letters to the editor about what some would see as a rather prominent cultural event coming to their city and billing it as nothing but "vulgar noise".

That is what a husband and wife from Shakopee (who each wrote a letter which got published) called Soundset '09 which took place on Sunday, May 24 - Memorial Day weekend. Soundset, if you didn't know, is an all-day rap/hip-hop festival which took place at Canterbury Park. It is one of just a few venues in the Twin Cities where outdoor concert events take place and if these sticks in the mud have their way it wouldn't happen there again.

I'm a huge music fan and I've lived near outdoor events which I didn't attend. I loved sitting on my deck listening ot the music off in the distance. It always made the bland sameness of the suburbs seem alive but the letters by Kathy and Cliff Stafford give me the impression that they would only be happy if everyone in the city shut their mouths and simply played canasta only to call it a night by 8 PM.

Sure, to many hip-hop is just noise but I'm fairly certain that the music of their generation was called noise by their elders as well. It's a never-ending circle and these "forward-thinking" citizens who want their peace and quiet can keep on bitching because I'm fairly certain that while there are plenty of others who feel the same way, the hundreds of thousands of dollars this event brought in trump the backwoods views of two people who complained about some homegrown Minnesota hip-hop which is far from vulgar. Form your own opinions and listen to some Brother Ali, Atmosphere and P.O.S.

But if you can't stand the "noise", go inside (like almost all other suburbanites), close your windows, turn on a fan and the TV and that should pretty much cover up the "noise".

If you appreciate all things Minnesota, check out the amazing photos at MinnPics.

A South Dakota view of the southwest metro

Apparently South Dakotans are jealous of the beauty and bounty that surrounds us lucky Minnesotans. It's the kind of crap we take for granted because we see it every day. Hills covered with trees (never mind the endless raking of leaves) because they have no leaves or hills in eastern South Dakota. They also have no humans but that's for another day. (Yes, I finally offended all 17 people in South Dakota, next stop, IOWA!)

The recap reads like a very condensed version of a grown-up roadtrip from Sioux Falls to Shakopee complete with a truckload of golf carts on their way to hibernate. The cargo, not so exciting, the pics, fairly decent.

In all seriousness, it was cool to see a photo of an actual sugarbeet. I hear that they used to be grown back in my homeland but I've never seen a real one or a photo of one until I read this story. Hey, the writer/reporter even offers up the video below but be warned, it's not much and it probably should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Are far-flung 'burbs lacking necessities?

Belle Plaine isn't a familiar name when it comes to the game of "know your Twin Cities suburbs". Mainly because it isn't really a suburb and because it's a smaller city. This "Mayberry-like" city about 15 miles southwest of Shakopee with a population of just over 6,000 is apparently full of residents clamoring for economic growth. And when the residents say economic growth, mayor Tom Meger says that translates to "Where's our Target, where's our Walmart?"

One guy already got in a good rant (and some MnSpeak traffic) about the damn fools that moved twenty miles out from the cities knowing full well that little to nothing existed there. But I'll give you an insider's perspective as my wife is originally from this far-flung, backwards town where a mere two dining options (Subway and Dairy Queen) exist.

Belle Plaine exists today because after the Bloomington Ferry Bridge was built, commuters could finally cross the Minnesota River into cities like Eden Prairie and Bloomington and suddenly a commute to Minneapolis and even Blaine was easy and with gas around a buck per gallon it didn't break the bank. Couple that with houses around $150,000 at that same time, the scene was set for Belle Plaine to grow.

The only problem is that the growth didn't last and the SUV driving commuters are now stuck with shittily-built cookie cutter houses and townhomes in a small town with zero amenities 15 miles from crap you actually need. They forget, though, that they routinely pass at least one each of Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Target and Kohl's because to get a job that supports their lifestyle of "I want to live in the country but have everything from the suburbs" they have to work in Shakopee, if not further away, to afford all that they "need".

In short, it's a city filled with the worst kind of hypocrites. They'll likely vote out the current mayor because, in their eyes, Tom Meger (a nice guy, by the way) can't further the necessary economic growth that the residents of Belle Plaine so desperately need. Well fools, which do you want? Do you want your slice of Mayberry or do you want the same crap that every damn Twin Cities suburb has? Make a decision because you'll neverhave it both ways. And if you want to live closer, good luck peddling your house in a town where well over 100 homes are currently on the market.

Will I showcase Belle Plaine on MinnPics? Click and find out.

How local is too local?

It's been said that while newspapers as traditional dead-tree editions/bird-cage liners are dying, Americans are consuming more news than ever. They, myself included, are just consuming it in different ways.

Much has been said about blogs but they, for the most part, seem to fall in to three general categories including political opinions, news opinions/rehashings and personal happenings/musings. While they apparently (and I can attest to it) have a niche that people will be drawn to, they do little to further the coverage of news because 99% of the time the blogs discussing news and politics base their takes on these events on the original coverage of major and traditional news-gathering outlets.

My conundrum is this: How would a news outlet (hypothetically in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis) reach a neighborhood whose residents choose, for whatever reason, to not associate themselves or said neighborhood with the city it and they reside in? Let's also say that by distance alone, the neighborhood itself is separated from the core of this particular city. The bulk of this neighborhood's residents are commuters and despite repeated efforts, the city's main print media outlet has tried but failed to reach them in a traditional format. How, then, do you attract this lucrative but somewhat small amount of residents and deliver pertinent news and advertising messages to them?

The main approach being discussed is electronic only. Which way(s) would you like to receive news (and entertaining content) if you were a busy suburban household who only lived in an area and hadn't associated with this portion of the community? You probably don't know or even see your neighbors, moved to this area for (relative) housing affordability and your kids (if you have any) may not even attend schools in the city which your neighborhood technically is in.

Would you like to get specific news from area communities which affects your neighborhood? Would you like short videos about the news and the people in your neighborhood? Would you contribute your own photos and feedback on the news stories from the professionals who cover the news? Would you contribute even the occasional blog post? Would you want it light-hearted, serious or a mix of both or something entirely different?

Tell me your thoughts on how to best reach these (hypothetical) folks.