How to gut a city

Minnesota should write a manual on how to kill an urban area.

1. Ban smoking.
2. Increase the mimimum wage without an exception for wait staff.
3. Decrease the DWI limit to .08 so that no one has a clue as to when they have had too much.
4. Reduce the police staff so that crime spikes and people seek out suburb bars, where they can still smoke!

Viking Bar closes after 47 years

The Viking Bar, a much-loved, sometimes-feared institution in Minneapolis' West Bank scene, closed its doors after a last hurrah Monday night with blues vet Willie Murphy.

"The smoking ban did us in," said Mike Nelson, whose family has owned the bar for all of its 47 years.

Nelson would not comment on what the plans are for the building, but he predicted a downturn for the area. "I do a lot of work to keeping the sidewalks clean and kicking [the troublemakers] off the street corner," he said.

The city and state "leaders" are effectively gutting the local flavor of the city and replacing it with Hooters, Applebees and Chipoltle. Might as well live in Woodbury if they have the same bars and restaraunts as the city.