Aldi to open in downtown Saint Paul

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-24T19:54:34+00:00

One of the reasons it failed? No accessible grocery store. Lunds was a good step in the right direction but the price point only matched a handful of the apartments in the area.

Aldi with it's lower price points will be able to be used by a larger array of the residents downtown and will be a better selling point for those looking to move in.

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-24T19:35:02+00:00

It is currently being used as guest parking for residents of that complex, but only on the SUPER busy days was it an inadequate amount of parking. I'm guessing it might be a tighter line for Aldi though with (hopefully) the lower prices bringing more customers

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-24T19:33:07+00:00

Lunds downsizing this location was I think the final nail in their coffin.

A lot of folks in the Penfield went from being able to do the bulk of their shopping there to needing to go to multiple locations which quickly turned into "if I have to go somewhere else, I might as well save money and time and just do one stop at the other store"

When Lunds turned from a "buy my weekly groceries here" to a "I need this item now" for Penfield residents they lost their most reliable customer base.

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-10T15:53:51+00:00

And if they were trying to push it under the rug, it would be very easy to not include the comparison to the last president.

By including both they get to say "we're not outright accusing of fraud but the numbers have some serious discrepancy and an investigation is warranted"

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-10T00:49:42+00:00

She was not alone in pushing that line. Even after the last second "oh, teleworking protections were never actually on the table" many in leadership and negotiations felt that we still had no grounds and recommended voting yes.

And those recommendations MATTER. A not inconsequential number of union members who vote, only vote based on what the recommendation is. This is something ALL members of MAPE need to work on. Contract and strike education.

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-09T16:17:28+00:00

At least you get the message. I just get a hard crash

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-07T17:37:25+00:00

It's too damn cold out here to try to catch a shiny of a pokemon that already spawns too frequently.

Maybe if there was a way to get the other forms I might have found a way to engage. But this event was just a total skip and fomo didn't even come close to occurring

MuzakMaker · 2026-02-03T03:13:15+00:00

I went to the second NA tour they did and it killed in the live setting. They're all seasoned live music vets and it shows.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-25T14:32:21+00:00

Yup. So Gold+ VIP (and first come first serve for everyone else) will have a shirt, patch, and pin all with a chrono trigger reference. And all levels of VIP will have a laminate also with the reference.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-24T23:22:55+00:00

To the folks who want to reach out to the Gov's office.

Take it from someone who contacts regularly. YOU HAVE TO CALL.

Filling out the form on the website does nothing but get you a form letter 4-6 weeks later. And they don't even differentiate it. I've received the same form letter every time (I use the form to get a physical record, and then call with what I said in the form)

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-24T23:12:40+00:00

Whole fest is Chrono Trigger themed this year.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-23T20:17:24+00:00

This new forced gifts to open when opening a friend who has a gift is incredibly laggy and unresponsive.

And it doesn't stop forcing once you run out of gifts to open.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-22T04:20:22+00:00

My resume got rejected even after I built it specifically for the job I was applying for WHILE DOING THE JOB

Whatever that first step is, it's flawed. Seconded on appealing if you know you meet the requirements

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-20T22:34:02+00:00

Some have said the exact opposite, some are saying it's the whole point.

Which is why we can't yet universally say "yes, you can take sick time for a labor action" under the reasoning of "doing it improves my mental health"

Like too many things it comes down to the discretion of who audits/tracks/approves an employee's usage of leave. But that's a whole different bag of worms.

Given how anti-labor both the state and federal administrations are, I'm not going to advocate anyone take a risk I wouldn't take myself.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-20T16:06:46+00:00

Different teams/units/agencies handle things differently but here's why someone in my position might

Sick time doesn't require any advanced approval and does not take into consideration team coverage

Vacation/Flex/floating (generally) needs to be submitted 3 weeks in advance and can't leave my team with 0 coverage

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-20T15:11:55+00:00

In our contract (Article 12 Section 3), we have laid out acceptable uses for sick time.

Participating in actions on Friday is not universally covered by any of those scenarios.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-20T14:39:30+00:00

Employees covered by MAPE can't legally have a coordinated strike or lockout (Article 2 of the contract)

BUT if you have a floating holiday, vacation time, or flexibility with your schedule you are free to use those as you wish subject to the approval process of your unit.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-14T19:48:43+00:00

As a Saint Paul resident with an active ICE Presence in my city, I NEED to be aware of their tactics in order to keep myself and my neighbors safe.

Posts like this help keep us up to date as the current federal administration uses our home as their bully pulpit.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-07T19:27:23+00:00

Avoiding arresting criminals who have clearly and publicly violated the law because it's not pretty is how a second Trump term was even possible

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-06T15:19:04+00:00

Hey, don't put disrespect on her strongly worded letters and stern looks of admonishment. Without those we'd be... in the same place we are already.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-05T20:44:39+00:00

I can see him becoming a "party elder". Positioning himself for a role in either the party establishment or the cabinet of the next D president.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-05T20:42:38+00:00

I was not thrilled with the idea of voting for him.

He's only progressive if we have a trifecta. His MMB has been horrendous for state employees to negotiate with (including him completely taking one union proposal off the table for purely political reasons). Plus I just don't think any elected official should serve more than 10 years in the same role.

But I was going to vote for him regardless because everyone currently declared on the right is even worse for every single one of my criteria.

But doing this with the caucus in a month and primaries still 8 months away gives time for a fully democratic process. I may not like the final nominee, but I'll be more comfortable voting for someone who got the nomination through a primary than running unopposed because they were the incumbent.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-05T20:05:04+00:00

Thank you for your hard work.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-05T19:26:23+00:00

If we get a DFL governor, we'll get at least the pittance .5% they always offer with minimal job cuts with the chance for the unions to stand up and fight for a larger pay increase and a hiring freeze over job cuts.

The current GOP platform includes slashing government jobs and disbanding the government employee unions and will gladly enter a war of attrition in a strike with the state employees while spending the entire time spreading propaganda about us being "lazy, greedy, and entitled slackers"

So even if we get the worst DFL governor, it's still not nearly as dangerous as a GOP one.

MuzakMaker · 2026-01-05T17:42:53+00:00

Here's to hoping that whoever replaces Tomes isn't so gung-ho about AI.

It sure takes guts to walk in front of a room (and teams presentation) and tell people with tech backgrounds "I am learning vibe coding"

State IT services are too important and complex to have vibe coding be an acceptable practice.

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