How much money does Mayor Coleman make per year?
$105,100.52.

How much does a City Council member make per year?
$52,550.26. They work part time.

What is the XcelEnergyCenter's monthly electricity bill?
In 2008, the average monthly electric bill at the Xcel Center was $2,522.

What's going to happen to the Schmidt brewery?
This time last year, things were looking up for the 150-year-old beer-castle on West 7th. Jeffrey and Craig Cohen, a father-and-son investment team, came on board in late 2007 with a $200 million vision of artist lofts, retail and entertainment space dubbed "Brewtown." They partnered with the West 7th/Fort Road Federation, a neighborhood advocacy group, and one residential development company, Dominium, had already signed on. But then the economy fell apart and, last November, Brewtown dissolved with it. The Cohens are no longer involved, but that doesn't mean the plans are off the table. "We still hope to turn it into artist lofts," says Ken Peterson, president of the Fort Road Federation, which is still in discussions with Dominium and landowner Bruce Hendry about the redevelopment. Regardless of how you'd like to see the site used (do we really need more lofts?), anyone who appreciates the beautiful old structure should look forward to June of this year: That's when any or all of the 15-acre complex will be designated for historic preservation.

Does the governor actually live in the Governor's Mansion?
Usually. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his family currently live there. Jesse Ventura didn't, though. His family stayed at their Maple Grove home instead, and in 2002 Ventura even closed mansion and fired its staff after the state legislature slashed his budget.   

Why does anyone live here?
We were lied to. According to a Star Tribune article published in 1995, early promoters of settlement in Minnesota weren't exactly straight with folks on the East Coast about the area's climate. "The bracing temperatures were said to cure everything from head colds to cholera to tuberculosis," wrote staff writer Peg Meier. "The climate made heads clear and bodies strong. Come here sick, and be cured in weeks."

Where is HiddenFalls?
Just off Mississippi River Boulevard at Magoffin Avenue in St. Paul. 

What is the most confusing intersection in St. Paul?
In front of the Summit Brewery, where Montreal Avenue and Montreal Way meet Montreal Circle.

What's with all the underground tunnels?
According to Billions of Years of Minnesota (Science Museum of Minnesota, 1985), a giant prehistoric sea covered the Midwest about 500 million years ago. Its shoreline contained many megatons of quartz sand and stretched east to Detroit, south to Arkansas and north to what is now the Twin Cities. Over the years, all that sand was loosely cemented into the sandstone found beneath St. Paul, especially along the river bluffs. Sandstone is so soft it can be carved with a finger and therefore forms tunnels very easily.

Did Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant really have a pig's eye?
No. Parrant—a fur-trader, bootlegger, bar-owner and the first settler of what was for a time called Pig's Eye Landing and later rechristened St. Paul—was so named because he was blind in one eye.

Was anything else named after Pig's Eye?
Yep. A lake, an island, a sandbar, a lighthouse and a beer.

Is “Progress of State,” the golden statuary group that sits above the main entrance at the MinnesotaState Capitol, really made of gold?
No. It’s gold-leafed. The underlying armature of the statues—which were sculpted by Daniel Chester French and Edward Potter and placed atop the Capitol in 1906—is made out of copper and steel. And in case you’re wondering, the horses represent earth, wind, fire and water; the women stand for civilization; and the guy on the chariot symbolizes prosperity.

What's up with all the white squirrels in St. Paul? Are they albino?
According to Jason Abraham, the Minnesota DNR’s "fur bearer specialist" (or “fur guy” as his co-workers call him), the white squirrels are either albino or a color variant of the eastern grey squirrel—the most common variety of bushy-tailed rodent found in the Twin Cities. So how can you tell the difference between the two? “Albino squirrels have reddish or pinkish eyes and are pure white,” says Abraham. “White eastern grey squirrels have brown eyes and may have a little grey fur in their undercoat.”

How much butter is used in the Princess Kay of the Milky Way sculpture at the State Fair?
90 pounds of Grade-A salted butter.

Where does Frogtown—the neighborhood built around University Avenue and Dale Street—get its name?
Nobody knows. But like any good mystery, this one’s got multiple theories competing to explain it. The least P.C. of these points to the large number of French immigrants who first settled the area in the mid-1800s. Another theory says that Archbishop John Ireland, the founder of St. Thomas University, gave the ’hood its amphibious nickname after hearing frogs singing in unison in the area’s marshy environs. Yet another hypothesis claims that Frogtown, once home to St. Paul’s many railroad workers, is named after railcar couplings, which were known as “frogs.”

How much does Jenna, the green anaconda at Como Zoo, weigh?
Approximately 60 pounds.  

Why does the speed limit on 35E plummet to 45 m.p.h. south of Downtown?
When the southern half of 35E was completed in the mid-’80s, the City of St. Paul and Mn/DOT agreed to a slower speed limit for the stretch just south of downtown in order to reduce noise for nearby neighborhoods.
 
What's the oldest restaurant in town?
Open since 1933, Yarusso-Bros. Italian Restaurant is the oldest continuously run eatery in the Saintly city. Its closest competition is the Lexington, which has been open since 1935.

What does a house on Summit sell for?
According to realtor Shane Montoya of the Odd Couple at Edina Realty, the most stately and admired homes on Summit Avenue (i.e., those castles sitting between Lexington Parkway and Western Avenue) are selling for $1.5 to $2.7 million these days.