Abandoned ships

Minneapolis and St. Paul are two fast-sinking ships.

The urban centers of Minneapolis and St. Paul are slowly dying. In fact, by some accounts, St. Paul is already dead, and Minneapolis is not too far behind.

The downtown areas of both cities were once the entertainment hub of the metro area. Not anymore. Both downtown areas have turned into ghost towns, particularly on the weekends. Why risk going downtown when you may be accosted by the criminal element that appears to roam freely in the entertainment districts?

Businesses, both large and small, are moving out as soon as their lease expires or, at the very least, substantially reducing their footprint. Furthermore, employees of law firms, accounting firms, and other businesses simply don’t want to work downtown anymore. They are either working remotely or moving to other employers located in the suburbs. Target Corporation’s recent decision is a perfect example of this growing trend.

The commercial tax base for both cities is shrinking at an alarming pace. I can cite several dozen examples of this, but one perfect illustration of this trend is the Ameriprise Financial building, which sold for $85 million several years ago, but was recently sold for a pittance of $6 million. Why? For the simple reason that employers and their employees don’t want to work, play, or live in downtown Minneapolis. There is an intuitive sense that our inner cities are slowly dying, and people simply don’t want to be a part of it.

With decreasing real estate tax being levied on commercial property due to low occupancy rates, the residential portion of property taxes is increasing significantly, forcing homeowners to pay for an ever-increasing share of city services. The net result is that homeowners who have the means and ability to relocate are moving out to the suburbs at a rapid pace. Some are even experiencing losses on their property when they sell their homes. I can personally attest to this experience. In 2003, I purchased a home on Lake Harriet Boulevard with a value of $2.2 million, including the renovation I made prior to moving in. In January 2021 — 17 years later and after the George Floyd riots — I sold my home for $1.3 million. What happened? Simply stated, homebuyers who can afford nice properties don’t want to live in a poorly managed city.

Additionally, who in their right mind would want to buy a house in Minneapolis or St. Paul and then have to send their kids to the cities’ poorly performing public schools? Let’s face it, the public schools are a mess. No one seems to care, least of all the teachers’ union or our public school administrators and elected officials.

Quite honestly, I am of the mind that both cities are beyond repair. The DFL Party and the Democratic Socialists who are “managing” our cities cannot effectively address these problems. Why? Before one can fix a problem, one must first accept the reality that there is a problem. The DFL and their Democratic Socialist colleagues don’t believe that there is a problem. In fact, most of our city leaders are of the opinion that everything is just fine. Nothing more is needed other than more of the same: more taxes, more spending, and more regulation. Good luck with that. I ask, how is that working out?

Can Minneapolis and St. Paul be fixed? It’s uncertain at this point. But if our leaders were serious about identifying the real problems and committed to solving them, I can offer a few suggestions to begin the rebuilding process.

1. Make the urban centers the safest place in the state by hiring more police officers and patrolling every part of the city. Make people feel safe, and then they’ll consider returning to our downtown areas for entertainment and work.

2. Control spending on wasteful government programs that don’t enhance economic prosperity. Every government program and expenditure should have an ROI — return on investment. Feel-good social programs should be placed under a microscope and eliminated if they don’t meet some basic return on investment. I understand that the government cannot be fully managed as a business, but a few general financial management principles could and should be used.

3. Shut down the public school system. It is glaringly obvious that the teachers’ union cannot manage schools very effectively. Let’s find ways to privatize the schools and create some competition so that every child in the cities can attend a well-run school. It can’t be worse than the current situation.

4. Stop increasing property taxes because it only hurts low- and middle-income wage earners. High-wage earners are leaving the city in droves. High-income areas like Lake of the Isles, Lake Harriet, and Kenwood are being abandoned at a rapid pace, and resale prices are reflecting that.

5. Implement a proactive campaign to welcome businesses back to the city by cutting regulations, prioritizing spending programs, and cutting taxes. Put out a welcome sign and tell the business community how important they are for the whole community and state of Minnesota. Without a strong business presence in our downtown area, we simply won’t have a prosperous urban community or state. We don’t want to become another Los Angeles or Chicago, do we?

6. Elect government officials who have some (even minimal) experience managing large enterprises. The mayors of both Minneapolis and St. Paul, and their respective city council members, act as though real-life experience in this area is anathema to their jobs. Unfortunately, we get the government we deserve by electing these inexperienced and incompetent officials.

It’s time to wake up. The Twin Cities are declining, and no one seems to be concerned about it, much less alarmed by it. As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching.” And what I see, and judging by the many people who are voting with their feet, both cities are slowly dying. St. Paul has a head start on that path, but Minneapolis is right on its heels.