Central Corridor

## Lifeline between the Cities

Posted by: Brynhild

   Grand and University both define the neighborhoods in the western part of Saint Paul. The commercial lifeline between the Cities  runs right down here, and both these busy avenues follow I-94 right into downtown. They’re a very active part of the sprawl, and you won’t get far here without keeping that in mind. Grand Avenue, at the southern border of the western St. Paul neighborhoods, goes past two of the colleges as you head east while slowly becoming a stretch of old-style small shops and such. Chain stores have been traditionally unwelcome here for a long time, and the corps have surprisingly not forced their way in. With the constant non-corporate police presence in such a well-off area, they haven’t been able to be too heavy-handed. That doesn’t mean, however, that the shopkeeps have no corporate ties, only that they’re not totally part of the machine. The indie stores have to get wares from somewhere, and rent is so high that often owners resort to corporate financing, with strings definitely attached, just to keep afloat.

*Some of the shopowners have corp ties, but part of the reason the corps have been kept out is that neighborhood sentiment is strongly in favor of the “local flavor” on Grand. Some anti-corporate groups even have operations in the area actively preventing overt corporate moves into the sector, with backing from many of the shopkeepers.*
- Wired Rose

*At least one shopkeep has proposed a more active, overarching organization for the small stores to oppose the corps with. It’s ballsy, but if he can do it without getting cacked or disappeared, good for him, I say. And I’m sure, of course, that both sides would pay people to swing things one way or another.*
- Red Hawk

*These shop owners know people, through local ties, corporate ties, and/or radical ties. Make good friends with them, if you can. It pays off.*
- Hyasynth

Just off of this eastern end of Grand Avenue in both directions is the area known as Summit or Crocus Hill. It’s the setting for a lot of really old mansions, from the rail baron era in the 19th century, owned by industrial magnates and the like. Much of St. Paul’s old money, especially its old, legitimate money, resides here, as well as more than a few simstars, big-time mages and retired suits. If I ever make it big, this is where my pad is gonna be.

*At least one or two of these places is haunted. Not surprising. In two hundred years a lot of bad mojo can take root.*
- Phim Kooj Koi

Go north along Dale, and you’ll see those mansions give way to typical sprawl housing leading up to the highway, in a wageslave-populated area of little note. Once you cross the highway, things are visibly different, and you’re in Frogtown, a low-rent metahuman and immigrant neighborhood centered around Thomas and Dale. Don’t ask me why it’s called that, I don’t know, and I don’t know anyone who does. I can tell you that this is the neighborhood one of Dillinger’s gang died in, in a hail of police bullets. A century and a half later and it’s not any calmer. Without the overarching, overwhelming Mob  presence that the East Side ghettos have, it’s controlled by small gangs that continuously bicker and fight. Still, it’s got a pretty vibrant community, with ork  boutiques and immigrant shops along University Avenue, a weekly farmer’s market in the warmer seasons, and a connection to the Central Corridor rail line that runs between the downtowns. If it wasn’t so commercially active, the gangs  wouldn’t have so much to fight over, and the protection fees stay pretty low from the heavy competition. If the shopkeepers don’t like the offer one gang makes, they’ll pay another gang for security instead. Just remember, as exciting as Frogtown can be, once you get off the main strips, it’s like any other bad neighborhood with long back alleys.

*You really shouldn’t put it alongside Phillips  or the Seattle Barrens, though, you know? Don’t bash the place, I grew up there.*
- Wirefrog

*And look how you turned out! You shoot and stab people for a living!*
- Iab Npauj

Not all the time!
- Wirefrog

*The traffic on the stretch along University is pretty terrible a lot of the time. It’s a good place to force a chase on foot, if your pursuers have a car.*
- Vision Fist

*You can find some surprising herbs if you know who to talk to at the farmer’s market. Drugs, obviously, but also stuff useful to the running magician, for magical rituals and the like.*
- Phim Kooj Koi

*I wouldn’t hedge your bets on the area being completely free of Mob influence. Just something to keep in mind.*
- Ginebig

   The small shops at Dale and University give way as you go west to the Midway neighborhood’s large chain and retail stores, owned by every corp imaginable. Good place to gear up, and the proximity of so many different corporate territories makes this a fun place to play lead tag with corporate security and still be able to escape. Even farther west, around Cleveland, you start getting into industrial corporate properties, which are even more humming with work.

*Some of the industrial properties aren’t directly megacorp-controlled and extraterritorial, so there’s even a few remnants of labor unions in the area, if you look for ‘em. If you’re into hooding work, look ‘em up. If you’re not, well, they won’t pay all that well, but keep it in mind if you get desperate.*
- Nodewalker

*Would they have ties with the anti-corporate radicals? If so, they might prove decent employers, indeed.*
- Juba

*Wouldn’t surprise me at all.*
- Hyasynth

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