Photo: stpaul.gov

“Shaken.” That’s one word Mayor Chris Coleman used to describe St. Paul during his State of the City address Monday. He said “a near-collapse of financial markets” has already forced him to make “significant cuts” to city services.

Coleman also had words of encouragement, but he cautioned that “there are no shortcuts to economic prosperity” — and said those who claim otherwise are either “lying to you … [or] fooling themselves.”

Still, he reminded citizens that St. Paul’s CIty Hall was built during the Great Depression and promised that even in “excruciating times,” the city would “refuse to be ordinary.”

Signs of hope Coleman cited ranged from the quaint to the depressing: downtown flower baskets, “dozens” of people who shovel their neighbors’ walks, and a tally of vacant houses that held steady — at 2,000 — from June 2008 to March 2009 (“arguably the housing market’s most challenging period”).

Coleman stressed that transportation infrastructure investment would be the big-ticket item that could pull the city through.

Coleman characterized the Central Corridor light-rail transit line as “crucial to future of city.” Without tooting his own horn for brokering a dispute over train noise between the Metropolitan Council and Minnesota Public Radio, he said, “One by one, obstructions to the Central Corridor have been removed.”

And Coleman called a proposed high-speed rail link from Chicago to St. Paul’s Union Depot “an opportunity we will seize and we will make a reality.”

Although the mayor was a late supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Coleman said the city is lucky to have the former Illinois senator in the White House. “We are fortunate to have a president who understands the importance of cities.”

The setting for the annual address — at one of St. Joseph’s Hospital’s ongoing expansion projects — was meant to show off the health sector as a backbone of the local economy. And he called education a “cornerstone” for St. Paul since its founding to the present day.

“Not only will our children be ready to work,” Coleman said, “… they’ll be ready to work in a global economy.” He bragged that St. Paul’s public school students speak 70 languages — a talent, he said, that employers increasingly value.

The health sector, education and the global economy were also themes for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in his State of the City address last month. By comparison, Coleman’s speech was shorter, generally lacked lofty policy rhetoric and was less a laundry list than Rybak’s speech. (True to its bigger-twin stereotype, Minneapolis claims that about a dozen more foreign languages are spoken in its public schools.)

Both mayors are running for re-election this year, but both have also shown interest in running for governor in 2010, using other occasions to show off their grasp of statewide concerns. But such ambitions weren’t evident at either speech.

Also not highlighted was the St. Paul’s hosting of last year’s Republican National Convention — a point of pride and shame for St. Paulites. City and Ramsey County officials have had to drop most charges that arose from mass arrests and pre-emptive raids, which dominated local news coverage.

“Safe we are but not naive,” was one standout line from a poem composed for the event that St. Paul Poet Laureate Carol Connolly recited before Coleman’s address.

Coleman had a new initiative to unveil that aims to promote greater involvement of residents in their community. The Volunteer-Inspire-Prosper Web page offers a comprehensive list of volunteer opportunities. Among them, the St. Paul Police Reserve, a group of reserve officers typically have duties like traffic control and barricade erection.

Minneapolis R.T. Rybak set a “green” example yesterday by recycling much of his annual State of the City address from last year’s speech. Speaking under dull skies at a gleaming new corporate headquarters on what he called the site of a former riverfront scrapyard (surrounded by blocks still devoted to metal-salvaging), Rybak was his usual upbeat self but not especially scrappy.

Familiar themes — engaging the global economy, growing transit, supporting small businesses, training workers and providing public safety — simply got more or less emphasis. Talk of responding to foreclosures replaced boasts about cultural resources, and the word “depression” got uttered rather than “recession” — that was how you knew it was 2009 and not 2008 in Minneapolis.

What Rybak didn’t say might have been most interesting. This is a city election year, but he wasn’t particularly political. Partly that’s because the occasion demands leadership over partisanship, but perhaps also because Rybak appears to be a shoo-in for re-election.

Speaking only a stone’s throw from the semi-swollen Mississippi River, Rybak gave no gratuitous shout-out to communities battling the rising Red River on Minnesota’s western border — as Chris Coleman, his St. Paul counterpart and another possible contender for the governorship in 2010, did this week.

The speech didn’t include an obvious parry or thrust in the mayor’s pitched rhetorical and budgetary battle with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who Rybak says he might try to replace in 2010.

In fact, for a speech with “State” in the title, which named dozens of partners from tiny arts nonprofits to the federal government, mention of Minnesota state government was surprisingly scant.

Rybak did announce a May trip to Beijing, China — “as the only American mayor invited to speak at the International Forum on Development of High-Tech Enterprises at the Great Hall of the People” — that could be interpreted as trade-mission one-upsmanship with frequent-flyer Pawlenty.

Rybak, who said he had been in Washington, D.C., Monday for talks with President Obama’s heads for transportation and urban affairs, perhaps was focused on matters beyond this event. One sign: On an entrance table inside Coloplast’s new building stood 156 plastic bottles — arrayed in two triangles like bowling pins — each containing 16.9 fluid ounces of Aquafina brand water.

Rybak has been at the forefront of a national fight by mayors against the bottled-water industry.

Not as catchy as Orwell's "Ignorance Is Strength"

Vice President Joe Biden held a town-hall meeting on beefing up the middle class in St. Cloud today. Watch live streaming video via the UpTake after the jump.

The setting for Biden’s appearance — a New Flyer of America Bus Co. plant that last year hired 90 people to build low-emission, alternative-fuel vehicles — has something in common with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s choice of locale for his State of the City address next week: the new Coloplast corporate campus on West River Parkway, a company that brought 200 jobs to Minneapolis when the company relocated from Georgia.

Another thing the venues have in common: Both companies are owned by foreign firms.

Here’s video of Biden’s St. Cloud event, courtesy of the UpTake:

“In the Friday morning darkness, we saw the face of evil and we will not let it stand,” Coleman said. While he pointed out that overall crime is down in St. Paul, he said the city plans to continue targeted overtime during the summer and to expand programs aimed at reducing and preventing crime.

In his second address since his election, Coleman also talked about economic development, education, the environment and “the soul of our city.”  He spoke extensively about development projects and opportunities in the city including the central corridor, the Ford plant site and the 2008 Republican National Convention, which will be held in St. Paul. He did not mention the controversial Bridges of St. Paul project.

He gave no specific direction for the Ford plant site, but encouraged members of the task force to dream big: “The elements of magic abound on the St. Paul site.” The Ford plant in Highland Park will close next year, opening a vast area for potential redevelopment.

He said “the future of downtown is bright,” pointing to the Penfield, the indoor farmer’s market and the West publishing building as examples of downtown development opportunities along with the expansion of many of the hospitals creating new jobs and new opportunities. Next year’s Republican National Convention in downtown will be “our moment in the sun,” he said, explaining he is very interested in “telling the world the story of St. Paul.”

In discussing the central corridor project, which includes light rail along University Avenue, he said downtown’s Union Depot will be an east metro transit hub.  “It will not be a spoke off the west metro system,” he said.

Coleman also emphasized the importance of the city’s neighborhoods in his address. “Our civic pride comes from our unique sense of place and our connection to our communities,” he said. He talked about the Invest St. Paul project, which will bring money to neighborhoods including Frogtown and Rondo.

The mayor also announced a partnership with the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation that would establish scholarships in the North End and Frogtown neighborhoods for up to two years of pre-kindergarten education.

Coleman also spoke of the strength of the arts and making St. Paul a key arts and culture hub. He also acknowledged the private foundations and others who have helped the city accomplish goals in spite of budget shortfalls.

“Today I’m proud to report that St. Paul’s a strong city, made stronger by our shared values of cooperation, responsibility and respect,” he said.