ST. PAUL, Minn. – Since anyone can remember, it’s been the tale of two cities: Minneapolis and St. Paul.
But now, those who love the capital city for what it is have birthed a slogan: Keep St. Paul Boring, #KSPB. Now, what started as an inside joke has turned into a debate over the smaller of the Twin Cities’ true identity.
“Well, Keep St Paul Boring kind of has a couple layers to its meaning,” described Nick Hannula, the man who coined the phrase about 18 months ago and decided to slap it on T-shirts.
“It's an ironic look at how people view St. Paul,” says Hannula.
The idea was more of a piggy back from a similar concept in North Carolina that used the slogan Keep Raleigh Boring.
“I thought that kind of really works well here, because we are not as boring as people think but people think we are boring,” believes Hannula. “There is a certain set of St. Paulites that oppose this sort of change and it’s also a little poke at them saying ‘You are trying to keep St. Paul boring and we are not.”
Mayor Chris Coleman gets the shirt.
“Well, you know it's got a reputation to uphold. I always say the old joke is ‘How many St. Paulites does it take to screw in a light bulb? How many? What was wrong with the old one?” says Coleman.
To the mayor the slogan is funny; a play on what St. Paul used to be and what it has become. He believes the slogan is born out of love for St. Paul.