r/saintpaul

Does anyone else find it frustrating when cyclists observing the TCM ride on the sidewalks along Summit, especially when the other side of the road is open?

I was walking with my kids and dog and we came close to being hit several times. At one point, a cyclist with a whistle was actually telling pedestrians to get out of his way while he was riding on the sidewalk.

I completely understand there are a lot of cyclists out there today, but sidewalks should still feel safe for pedestrians, especially families with kids and dogs. Anyone else experience this? It always feels like we are in THEIR way vs them understanding that they are the exception.

[copied from Google Reviews]

Today, a friend and I parked and paid via posted QR code for all-day parking at the lot surrounding the old Sears at 425 Rice Street during the marathon, so it was pretty packed. We encountered a woman sobbing, saying her car had been towed while she was completing the race and she watched it get carried away even though she paid, so we triple-checked that I got the confirmation email before walking away.

When I returned with my friend a couple hours later (he had a flight to catch and we were on time at that point), my car was gone, and we assumed it had been towed in error too. After 15 minutes of searching the parking lot for a service number, we reached Guardian Recovery Services, and spoke to Haley, who was incredibly helpful. After forwarding the confirmation email, she confirmed my car had been towed in error and would get her team to return it immediately. Haley did not know why the car had been towed, but that Guardian Recovery Services engages as a third party to parking lots like this, and there clearly was some sort of system error/lapse in communication.

While we waited for them to return with my car in the blistering sun, we watched as Guardian Recovery Services had tow truck after tow truck hauling vehicles out of this lot, in a clearly oily manner of preying on event-goers, and wondered how many cars had been similarly towed in error.

After a 60-minute ordeal, Guardian Recovery Services finally returned with my vehicle, which was thankfully intact. The representative who dropped it off said that, “the system thinks the lot costs $5,000, and when you didn’t pay that, it flagged to us as needing to be towed.” I’m unsure what “system” they could be referring to, but the website I used to pay definitely did not ask me to pay that amount, and obviously I wouldn’t have. This meager, placating excuse was not sensible at all and spoke to a pretty low-quality business operation. They couldn’t even look me in the eyes or say another apologetic word as they unlatched my car and drove off.

It was confirmation that Guardian Recovery Services was aware that their system was incorrectly flagging cars without the ability to discern if the cause was legitimate. I was appalled that at no point did human eyes monitor this “system” to identify this error. We watched several cars get towed in the hour we spent on that lot - probably for the same erroneous reason! Clearly Guardian Recovery Services is aware of the issue and needs to stop towing cars until they figure that out - if they couldn’t distinguish that my car was being flagged in error, who knows how many cars they towed in error today.

As we exited the lot, that same truck appeared to have turned themselves around and re-entered the lot. The driver was looking around, as if to catch yet another car to tow. Guardian Recovery Services looks like a disgusting business practice led by incompetent desperate people who are frothing at the mouth for the chance to make money off of well-intentioned drivers, using outdated software and business practices that should probably be reported (I have the rest of the day off and am happily looking into that!)

It ended up being a best-case scenario for me, but this inconvenience should have never happened. Guardian Recovery Services is taking advantage of people, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn about other cars being taken or even damaged in the towing process

I am new here, so not sure what it is usually like, but thought the rollout of the marathon was bungled. None of the street closures were on google maps, so people were running into dead end roads. I live on Grand Ave. and received one (1) postcard several weeks ago telling me about it and forgot about it the day of.

I love opening up streets for people but think there needs need to be better planning for it here, especially when there's so many online tools available for it.

I moved here from LA, and we do open streets pretty frequently, but the outreach and awareness is much higher there. Am I crazy?

I’ve never been to Twin Cities but have a conference at Mayo Clinic. Female traveling alone. From Northern CA so want to experience local history, art museums (preferably free of hoards of school children). I am not planning to rent a car. Was leaning toward St Paul and staying at the Celeste of St Paul because it looks cool and funky. Wabash St caves also on my list. I will only have 3 nights in twin cities and 1 night in Rochester. Flying out of Rochester right after conference. Also I love BBQ, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and ranch dressing so if could eat all of those things in my 4 nights 5 days that would be excellent.

Which city is considered low key and easily walkable?
What restaurants are must try?
Parks or nature areas? Historic district?
Small odd museums?

Any other cultural attractions off the beaten path?
Wabash caves and hidden waterfall park are on my list.

Originally posted on Minneapolis sub but got a lot of downvotes about favoring St Paul 😆. Deciding between Celeste of St. Paul or Historic B and B in summit hill. Leaning towards summit hill neighborhood. I am renting a car in St. Paul and will drive to Rochester day before. Will drive into Minneapolis at least once. Did get tons of helpful Minneapolis suggestions so now looking for St. Paul especially where to stay as I’m not sure Celeste area is what I’m looking for.

Driving north on 35W from downtown Minneapolis, huge smoke plume coming from the south and a little east. Way too big for a normal structure fire.

tl;dr Do folks have any recommendations for places to volunteer in Saint Paul that would fit this bill?
- well run & organized
- related to food distribution, mental health, housing, immigration, healthcare, transit, labor
- have people in charge who would be good at writing a recommendation letter
- in Saint Paul
- bonus: you've volunteered with, worked with, or gotten help from the group you are mentioning

My spouse is doing a mid-career shift and applying to social work school this coming winter/spring. His last couple of jobs were pretty terrible (think places where there was mandatory overtime and/or terrible micromanagers) so getting grad school recommendation letters from them is pretty unlikely.

He also wants to do volunteering closer to the kind of work he is aiming to do eventually. We are thinking there are places where he could help with connecting people with resources or distributing resources (i.e. food banks). (He is currently between jobs and applying for jobs at the schools in the area that have tuition assistance.) He is hoping he can ultimately get a letter from the place he volunteers at to help with his grad school application.

We currently have the Hallie Q Brown Center, Neighborhood House, and Zion Community Commons on our list. But I am just generally aware of food distro work in general, so it would be nice to get recommendations of other places that he could volunteer at that are different than food distro (i.e. mental health, housing, immigration, healthcare, transit, labor). Also, he doesn't have a car, so we want to research volunteering opportunities in Saint Paul or very close by.

Especially hoping to hear from folks who have volunteered with, worked with, or gotten help from the groups they mention and can speak to them being organized. (A lot of volunteer spaces can be chaotic and actually not that well run.)

Thanks for any suggestions folks have!

Saturday’s forecast is for perfect bike weather and peak fall colors in the Twin Cities.

Twin Cities Bike Tour 2026 • Saturday, 10/10
Three route options • Ride at your own pace • Rest stops with snacks and beverages • Fully supported • All bikes welcome

Use this link to save $10 on advance registration, which closes this Wednesday (10/7) 11:59 PM. Registering day-of is an annoying hassle, so do yourself a favor and register ASAP!

hello all,
I am needing to get a permenant retainer of mine replaced as well as my removable one which just broke. Doing some research it looks like this can cost up to 1000$ without insurance. does anyone have any suggestions of affordable orthos? i have dental insurance but ortho isn’t covered