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Mr. Keillor: Say it isn't

January 23, 2004 |

Mr. Keillor:
Say it isn't so!The NY Times recently profiled St Paul in its popular "Escapes" section featuring "Cool" and "Hip" getaway destinations. Are you bracing for a round of trendy restaurants, upscale boutiques, rising property taxes and overall gentrification?

—Tom

Tom,
All I can say is that when I drove downtown last night past the Winter Carnival Ice Palace that is almost built (20,000 blocks of ice from Lake Phalen), it took my breath away. It's bigger than the one Fitzgerald immortalized in his story, "The Ice Palace," and it's beautiful in the cold, with its turrets and towers and ramparts. That's what the "Cool" refers to and the "Hip" I believe refers to the style of the roof. We already have a couple trendy restaurants, a Canadian-Malaysian one and a Celanese, and lots of gentry and everybody's property taxes are rising, of course. But it's worth it.

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