We Survived the Republicans

Please excuse all the blogging about the Republicans. This is the last one, I promise! I live in downtown St. Paul so it was just about impossible for me to ignore all the hoopla from last week, but now they've gone, downtown St. Paul has returned to normal surprisingly quickly.

Scenes of protests look as if nothing happened, the security barricades were pulled down within hours of the convention ending, the MSNBC stage in Rice Park has vanished, and the Fox news encampment across the way from the Xcel Energy Center was all the evidence that one of the biggest event in St. Paul's history just ended. I might be imagining this, but I'm sure there were rows of new flowers planted outside the Xcel Energy Center just before the convention, and now they've gone too.

And the thing that strikes everyone about downtown St. Paul is back. It's back to being as quiet as it used to be. Where there wasn't tear gas flying, protest marches, snipers on rooftops and security barricades, it was fun to see downtown so busy. Wouldn't it be nice if this was motivation for out-of-town visitors, and Twin Cities residents to visit downtown St. Paul's restaurants, museums, farmer's market and other attractions?