Roper: I will be obsessively curious and occasionally crusading about Twin Cities issues

This will be a column that does things.

I’m borrowing that phrase from a predecessor of this newspaper, the Minneapolis Journal, which often described itself more than a century ago as “The Paper That Does Things.” (Unlike the Journal, however, I have no plans of starting a newsboys band.)

I intend to be obsessively curious and occasionally crusading about urban life in the Twin Cities. This column will combine a street-level view of our metropolis with a critical eye on big-picture issues. It will demonstrate respectful dialogue on difficult topics and regularly elevate reader feedback.

Hopefully, we can have some fun in the process.

The “doing” is, after all, what stands out the most about legendary columnists of yesteryear — notably Barbara Flanagan of the Minneapolis Star. Barbara’s advocacy of urbanism when people were fleeing Minneapolis is best remembered for her efforts to legalize sidewalk cafes in the city. Jim Klobuchar’s dispatches from statewide bike rides with readers, meanwhile, represented innovative “audience engagement” of a pre-internet era.

Writing a regular column is both the most exciting and terrifying moment of my 16-year career at the Minnesota Star Tribune. I am doing it partly because the only antidote to the widespread deterioration of civic discourse is more people engaging in public life with an open mind. So I’m sticking my neck out, even if I risk getting clobbered (figuratively, please!).

I need your help to make this column a conversation. I want this space to reflect a diverse range of viewpoints — beyond just my own. Please email me your thoughts at eric.roper@startribune.com. I’d like to have regular “mailbag” features. And if you would like to follow this column by email, sign up here.

A bit about me: I grew up in New York and joined the Star Tribune right out of college as an intern in the Washington bureau. Since moving here in 2010, I’ve grown increasingly convinced that Minneapolis and Minnesota are where I want to spend the rest of my life.

I cut my teeth as a city reporter in the 2010s covering Minneapolis City Hall. It was an ascendant period in the city’s history, when density, streetcars and a Vikings stadium dominated local debates. I later transitioned to a beat involving the entire metropolitan area, including a series of waste-related topics that led me to begin exclaiming “If it smells, it sells!”

My interest in local history drew me to Curious Minnesota, our reader-generated reporting project. I thought I found my forever home at what I dubbed the “yesterday desk,” covering everything from ancient Minnesota rocks to the corrupt dismantling of the Twin Cities streetcar system.

But I also kept returning to my research on Harry and Clementine Robinson. The Robinsons were a Black couple who owned my south Minneapolis home a century ago. My fascination with their story became a nearly five-year investigation that culminated in a narrative podcast, “Ghost of a Chance.” It debuted in January and I’m incredibly proud of what we created.

I think columnists have an important role in the media ecosystem — especially these days, when the news can feel extra exhausting.

First, they can look for patterns in the news and try to connect the dots.

For example, recent coverage has highlighted the crisis facing our downtowns, stadiums seeking major investments and suburbs subsidizing efforts to become major hubs of entertainment and sports. It reminds me that we are an exceptionally fragmented area — i.e., too many cities, with too many priorities — that needs a more forceful regional government minding the store. Regionalism will be a theme of this column.

Columnists can also promote ideas and amplify topics that deserve more attention.

My early columns will call for more scrutiny of the Mall of America water park plan, rethinking our approach to Nicollet Mall and saving the John H. Stevens House (the “birthplace of Minneapolis”) from irrelevance.

Some things get less attention because they are working well. I’ve witnessed many improvements to the local bus system in the last decade, for example, with even more promising changes on the horizon. I’ve drafted a column about that. Let‘s celebrate wins when we see them.

On that note, I generally get around the urban core by busing, biking and walking. This helps me see the city and its residents up close, which I think will be helpful in this role. I expect to wade into some of the feisty local debates over transportation.

Not all columns will involve “doing.” But I’m putting that principle out there as a goal for myself to a) find active ways to approach the topics I’m writing about, and b) take positions and sometimes fight for change. I welcome your ideas on what forms this could take.

True to its slogan, the Minneapolis Journal purchased the John H. Stevens House in the 1890s and devised the idea for schoolchildren to move it to Minnehaha Park.

Once it arrived, the mayor credited the paper for its “public spirit and enterprise.” As I embark on this next chapter, I think those remain worthy ideals.