At the heart of St. Paul, there's a dead zone. The streets are empty. Many of the towers have high vacancy rates. The city feels empty, ghostly and full of sorrow to me. When I was a teenager, we went downtown on the weekends. Now, after dark, there are small spots of activity and other zones, at bus stops, where teenagers fight.
Downtown is the space where those of us with jobs encounter those with nothing. Where homeless people line up outside the Dorothy Day Center, half a block from hockey at the Xcel Center and opera at Ordway. It's one place where I see a broken social contract. Middle-class families have fled, leaving a dead zone in the center.
Trisha
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