Summary:

Any great city has a downtown or central core that is full of activity. Without an appealing downtown or central core, the rest of the city suffers in some capacity. So my idea to make downtown St. Paul great again is downtown has to reinvent itself. It's already doing a good job with light rail and the Saints stadium. However, I would start by removing all skyway links. They're an eyesore and have been holding up street life for far too long. Shops and restaurants should rarely ever be set so far inside a building that no one knows what's there.They should be outside on the street. Leave that up to suburban malls. Secondly, Town Square with the adjoining towers, the Dayton's building, The Doubletree hotel and the building surrounded by E.5th St and Minnesota should all be torn down and in it's place a European style state of the art "central square" should be developed with housing and businesses built around the perimeter of it where artists, musicians, mimes etc., could entertain in a family oriented atmosphere. A fountain like the "Buckingham" in Chicago's Grant Park should be built in the middle that lights up in different colors at night with an ice rink relocated there so people would still visit during the Winter months. I believe ugliness attracts ugliness and these types of buildings do not add in a positive light to Saint Paul's skyline at all and actually could be a reason why vacancy levels are what they are downtown. People want to visit or create jobs in areas that are attractive and safe. It keeps crime levels down also. The people that are in charge of what's built in this city have to set their standards much higher than what they have been in the past. I also think to make Saint Paul a better place to live and visit is you have to make this a "walking person's" city which means housing and business density should be emphasized even more. Their should be more focus on adding to the vibrancy of Arcade, Payne, Rice, West 7th and University Avenue.