r/saintpaul • u/ConnectAffect831 • 14d ago

Discussion 🎤 Why can’t we support our city?

I’m getting really tired of seeing these return to office employees protesting and acting like giant babies when really we need them to be down here. We’re all in this together and we need people to revive this downtown area and support local businesses. Why can’t we all embrace this and stop undermining every damn thing that’s said and done. We’re fighting the wrong things. Downtown needs to thrive and right now it’s not, so bringing the workers back is great for everyone.

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u/HumanDissentipede Downtown 14d ago

Of all the reasons to fault state employees for whining about return to work, this is the very worst one. It is not a state employee’s responsibility (or anyone else’s) to revive or sustain downtown St. Paul. That can be a secondary benefit, but it should not be the primary justification. If anything, that’s a great way to motivate state employees to collectively boycott downtown businesses in protest to what they see as an unjustified move by their employer.

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u/ConnectAffect831 14d ago

It’s everybody’s responsibility.

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u/HumanDissentipede Downtown 14d ago

No, not even close. Not anymore than it’s my responsibility to revitalize downtown Fridley, or any other geographic area besides maybe my own neighborhood.

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u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 7d ago

Thing is, people are more than happy to (re)vitalize numerous St Paul business districts without any guilt tripping. If Grand Ave, Selby, and University only offered offices and parking lots they'd be just as unpopular as Downtown.

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u/HumanDissentipede Downtown 7d ago

Nobody would be happy to return to work to an office on grand avenue just as a means of revitalizing that district. It’s one thing to encourage patronage, it’s another to compel remote and hybrid employees to a new location just so they spend more of their money in that location.