If a suburb was annexed to become part of Minneapolis, which would it be? (St. Paul: neighborhoods, taxes)

[tpk-nyc]

This may be a controversial suggestion, but why not annex (or at least merge with) St. Paul? New York (Manhattan) merged with Brooklyn to create a super city. Minneapolis/St. Paul could do the same.

[trackstar13]

As an outsider, who recently moved to Minnesota, I could never see this happening. I have lived in the Minneapolis suburbs and now the city of St. Paul. It is like living in an entirely different state, when I lived closer to Minneapolis, many of the people I knew were from Minnesota, but didn't really know much about St. Paul, well other than it is the capital and has alot of museums. Also, after having lived in St. Paul for a little while, I have noticed that many people here think Minneapolis is too big, urban, and unsafe. From what I have seen, people in and around Minneapolis don't care about St. Paul and people in St. Paul don't care to go to Minneapolis, unless out of necessity(there seems to be less necessity for someone from Minneapolis to come to St. Paul). This is a broad generalization and there are definitely flaws with all generalizations, but it is just what I have seen. I don't really buy into this idea and although some of my neighbors might think I am crazy, I frequent both cities and their suburbs. For instance, I love some of the restaurants and small towns near Lake Minnetonka and I also love going to lunch in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul and I like biking to the state fair from my house.

[dotifa]

Originally Posted by tpk-nyc

This may be a controversial suggestion, but why not annex (or at least merge with) St. Paul? New York (Manhattan) merged with Brooklyn to create a super city. Minneapolis/St. Paul could do the same.

This discussion has been had, I believe, but it's one that's always intrigued me. I like the idea, a lot of people don't, and it'll probably never happen. Oh well...


Obviously the biggest argument is that there is no real reason to do so, but another reason, especially among those in St. Paul is that they'd lose their identity. Which I don't think necessarily is true. I don't think the individual identities of the two cities are so fragile that they'd be destroyed upon their merger. Also, it's not as though Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the others just merged and it's one huge city. It's my understanding that their are tiers because of the boroughs, and so if MSP did merge (which, again, I agree is extremely unlikely) it would probably form with some sort of organization like that.

Also they'd have to have a name. They could name it something new for the whole thing, like Minnesota City or something like that, or the Twin Cities as its official name. They could also name the whole thing Minneapolis and rename the borough or subdivision or whatever of Minneapolis something else (idk what) which is I think what New York Did (the old New York City became Manhattan borough though I could be wrong about this).


Alas, what futility this discussion holds

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by dotifa

Also they'd have to have a name. They could name it something new for the whole thing, like Minnesota City or something like that, or the Twin Cities as its official name. They could also name the whole thing Minneapolis and rename the borough or subdivision or whatever of Minneapolis something else (idk what) which is I think what New York Did (the old New York City became Manhattan borough though I could be wrong about this).


Alas, what futility this discussion holds

That could be a good idea, don't know what a good name is, Minnesota City would be fine I guess, and Minneapolis and St. Paul would be the boroughs, you could even include Bloomington and have 3 boroughs, don't know what other people would think though, I don't even know if this is a good idea.
Doesn't really matter because it is very very very unlikely something like this will happen.

[tpk-nyc]

What is the advantage in any annexation? Why is it so common in Texas yet nearly inconceivable in Minnesota?

The annexation of a suburb would seem even more unlikely as suburbs are largely about maintaining the exclusivity of their school districts. Edina has far more to lose than St. Paul in that regard.

The advantage would be economies of scale in municipal services. I think once the cities are linked via light rail a merger would be more likely.

I've never understood the Minneapolis/St. Paul antagonism.

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by tpk-nyc

What is the advantage in any annexation? Why is it so common in Texas yet nearly inconceivable in Minnesota?

Laws, mostly. Although I do not know the specifics of state/county annexation laws in either case.

It has been attempted and successful here before, however. I'm blanking on the neighborhood that Edina annexed years ago, and there has always been talk about Columbia Heights annexing Hilltop....

But mostly, it's just that Minneapolis, St. Paul, and all of their immediate suburbs have filled in their borders, and any one individually would be too strong of an opposition to annexation on their own....

[MnMomma]

Originally Posted by srsmn

It has been attempted and successful here before, however. I'm blanking on the neighborhood that Edina annexed years ago, and there has always been talk about Columbia Heights annexing Hilltop....

Edina annexed Morningside in 1966 but it was a very small area...less than 800 homes, I think.

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by Radical_Car

That could be a good idea, don't know what a good name is, Minnesota City would be fine I guess, and Minneapolis and St. Paul would be the boroughs, you could even include Bloomington and have 3 boroughs, don't know what other people would think though, I don't even know if this is a good idea.
Doesn't really matter because it is very very very unlikely something like this will happen.

Minnesota City is already taken.

https://www.city-data.com/city/Minnes...Minnesota.html

I don't think Mpls and St. Paul should merge. I like how they are distinct cities with their own atmosphere.

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by BarbaraMN

Edina annexed Morningside in 1966 but it was a very small area...less than 800 homes, I think.

Yup! That's the one I was thinking of!

....and if you dig deeper, we'd probably see that that happened on many occasions before. There are some states that make it easier for "villages" to survive (MO for instance: take a look at the number of tiny suburbs in metro St. Louis!), and some states that do not.

[MN55]

This may be a controversial suggestion, but why not annex (or at least merge with) St. Paul? New York (Manhattan) merged with Brooklyn to create a super city. Minneapolis/St. Paul could do the same.

I would be very against that. If it did happen the city would more than likely be renamed St Anthony.