By Mike Kaszuba
As if the Minnesota Vikings stadium plan did not have trouble enough, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman wants to make things more complicated.
In a letter Tuesday, Coleman said that if Minneapolis gets a new Vikings stadium his city should be considered for a new taxpayer-supported St. Paul Saints stadium and a downtown hockey practice rink.
"I have been a consistent and strong advocate for 'regionalism' -- the concept that we will all do better in the Twin Cities metropolitan region if we stop fighting each other and start working together," the mayor said. "But I have also made it clear that 'regionalism' does not mean one area of the region gets all of the critical assets and the rest of the region gets the leftover crumbs.
"Let me be clear -- there should not and cannot be a solution to the Vikings' problem without consideration of regional balance in the bill. Over the last several years, the city of Minneapolis has had two major facilities constructed using taxpayer dollars: Target Field and TCF stadium," Coleman said.
