Twin Cities Community News 
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St Paul Private School Ends Nearly 120 Years of Educating
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 6:06pm. 50 Views, 0 Comments.
After more than a century of educating the minds of Saint Paul children, St. Bernard's High School will close at the end of the school year.
School leaders blame financial troubles for the closing. Like many inner-city Catholic schools, St. Bernard's has struggled the past 15 years to stay afloat. It closed its grade school last year.
German and Austrian immigrants who settled in Saint Paul's North End neighborhood founded St. Bernard's parish in 1890. They opened the grade school the next year. By 1957, a growing student body and demand prompted the opening of St. Bernard's High.
The neighborhood changed over the years as families moved to the suburbs. Fewer residents choose Catholic private schools and growing competition from charter schools were also…
Home and Patio Show 2010
Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 4:00pm. 66 Views, 0 Comments.
The Home and Patio Show is back at the Saint Paul RiverCentre! This show features hundreds of exhibitors and has the best and most respected local resources for all home and garden needs. Find what is needed for new spring and summer gardening, home renovation, landscaping, building, decorating, or green projects. There's also a kids' potting table, bulb sale, and opportunities to consult experts through Ask the Gardener!
The show opened Thursday and will be open through Sunday. The cost is $9 for adults and $2.50 for children ages 6 to 12. Younger kids have free admission!
Are You a Minnesota Snowbird or Do You Know One?
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 10:30pm. 92 Views, 0 Comments.
Calling all snowbirds who have flown the coop to warmer climates for winter: Minnesota needs you to fly back home by April 1 for the 2010 U.S. Census. The reason is that Minnesota residents can't simply fill out the census form they get at their winter home. The forms are geo-coded to each address, meaning that filling out a form in Arizona will count toward that state, not Minnesota. And this year, the state has a lot riding on the census.
"If even a fraction of Minnesotans miss this opportunity, we could easily be left with only seven representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives," State Demographer Tom Gillaspy said in a news release. The State Demographic Center estimates that fewer than 3,000 people could be critical for Minnesota to retain its…
Saint Paul & Minneapolis Among Leaders for Residents' Well-Being
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 9:44am. 86 Views, 0 Comments.
Of the nation's 52 largest metropolitan areas surveyed in 2009, the Twin Cities Metropolitan area ranked 4th best in the nation in terms of well-being, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. San Jose, Calif., Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, N.C., were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. San Francisco was 5th. That's a lot of coastal cities, but we know that one reason the Twin Cities are great is because we experience all of the seasons here in full force without the earthquakes or the hurricanes.
This Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index defines large cities as those with a population size of 1 million or greater. Interviews were conducted with more than 353,000 Americans during 2009, asking individuals to assess their jobs, finances, physical health, emotional…
Saint Paul and Minneapolis CityLiving Program Revived
Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 6:09pm. 90 Views, 1 Comments.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak have jointly announced $41 million in new funding for the CityLiving Program. CityLiving helps first time homebuyers purchase homes in either city.
The CityLiving Program offers below-market interest rates on mortgages as well as down payment and closing-cost assistance. In order to quality for the funding, homebuyers’ household income cannot exceed $92,290 and the purchase price for a single-family home can’t be greater than $276,870.
"We have an opportunity for people to invest, to get a good deal on an interest rate, get some assistance with a down payment, and get back into the cities," said Coleman. "It's a win-win for the potential homeowner, first-time homebuyer, and it's certainly a great…
I-94 from Downtown Saint Paul & Downtown Minneapolis to be Repaved
Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 11:59pm. 69 Views, 0 Comments.
The stretch of Interstate 94 between downtown Saint Paul and downtown Minneapolis will get a repaving makeover. The 2-year project will begin this summer.
Crews will complete the $45 million project in two phases, beginning this year with the east section between Hwy. 280 to near John Ireland Boulevard.
The west section, from Hwy. 280 to near 6th Street in downtown Minneapolis, will be done in 2011, said Todd Kramascz, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Crews will remove the top layer of I-94's pavement and lay down new asphalt, while also making improvements to curbs, gutters and guardrails. The shoulders, often used by buses during rush hours, also will be improved.
The 12-mile stretch of road is one of the busiest in Minnesota. It…
City of Saint Paul is Going Green
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 6:18pm. 78 Views, 0 Comments.
With eyes set to the future, the city of St. Paul is moving forward with green building requirements for new construction projects that receive $200,000 or more in city funding.
An advisory group of architects, designers, contractors, developers, bankers, regulatory agencies, city staff and other industry representatives worked for more than two years to develop the city's new sustainable building policy. Under it, building projects that receive at least $200,000 in city loans, grants or "other funding vehicles" must meet green building standards as defined by one of seven rating systems to satisfy the requirements. A partial list of approved rating systems includes LEED Silver or Green Globes 2 for commercial projects or LEED for Homes or Minnesota…
Woodbury is Looking Toward the Future
Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 11:22pm. 73 Views, 1 Comments.
Plans have been proceeding on the Red Rock Territory in Woodbury: A 580-acre stretch of land along I-94 that will hopefully soon be transformed into a complex of office buildings, manufacturing plants, warehouses, stores, parkland, and around 550 housing units.
The site's developer and city planners say its completion will help Woodbury emergence as a major business and manufacturing hub in the Twin Cities. The first businesses could move in and begin adding jobs to the economy as soon as this fall or early 2011.
Red Rock Territory, a named derived from Woodbury's original territorial days, entails nearly 2.5 million square feet of potential building space, plus parking for thousands of vehicles.
It includes a spot for at least one corporate headquarters, an…
Saint Paul's Admission Possible Program Proving Itself, Expanding
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 10:13pm. 65 Views, 0 Comments.
Admission Possible, a St. Paul nonprofit that helps low-income students get into college, plans to expand to as many as 10 cities over the next five years.
The organization, which now only operates in the Twin Cities and in Milwaukee, confirmed last month that it will expand to a third site in 2011.
National statistics show more than 200,000 low-income students every year graduate from high school prepared for college but just don't go. Admission Possible's mission is to identify low-income high school students with the potential and motivation for college and then to provide them with four critical services: ACT and SAT test preparation; guidance in preparing college applications; help in obtaining financial aid; and guidance for the transition to college.
Saint Paul Homes for $1 - And a Catch
Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 6:08pm. 86 Views, 1 Comments.
Believe it or not, the City of Saint Paul is having a hard time finding buyers willing to pay as little as $1 to purchase homes in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.
The city bought 11 properties on or near East 4th. The most expensive one is $50,000 and the cheapest two are just $1. The catch is that homes need lots of work, and the city is expecting whoever moves in to spend around $100,000, or perhaps more, on renovations and upgrades. All a buyer has to do is be able to prove is that they can rehab the homes to meet city rules and preservation codes.
"This isn't just about providing shelter," City Council President Kathy Lantry said of the renovation project. "This is about people who want to invest in a home, and live there, and become part of a…
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