Put us together, Minneapolis and St. Paul, known as the Twin Cities, become one of the largest snowbelt cities in the United States. While we have many similarities as urban core cities, we are also two unique municipalities with differences in demographics, cultures, geography, economy, transportation networks, and last but not least, snow plans.

In this session, we will talk about the similarities and differences in how we manage snow and ice control in our adjacent cities; from coordinated snowfighter training to media relations and public outreach. In particular, we will describe how our snow plans deal with our differing public expectations, a high demand for on-street parking, and how our cities communicate two separate snow plans a very diverse and significantly transient population, as well as the media.

Discussion will focus on how we have both utilized modern public outreach strategies and opportunities to help improve public relations including public web sites, phone, text and email notifications, social media and smartphone applications.

Whether your city or agency is large or small, you may come away with new ideas about public relations and outreach.

Joe Spah

Assistant City Engineer, City of Saint Paul Department of Public Works, Street Maintenance Division

Appearances