Welcome to West St. Paul Reader, founded in 2019 with the help of our supporters.
Our goal is to inform, engage, and connect the people of West St. Paul, Minnesota.
We’re a first-ring suburb of 20,000 people in a metro area of more than 3 million. The local news media doesn’t pay a lot of attention to us—understandably—so it’s hard to know what’s going on.
That can make people feel disconnected and aloof.
But when you know what’s going on, you feel a sense of belonging in your community. It’s your community. That warm feeling? That’s local pride.
The challenge, of course, is that people are busy. Who has time to attend city council meetings and parse what’s really happening? Even if you know what’s happening, do you know why? Sometimes understanding the dynamics at play is even harder.
We try to make it simple. We help busy people know what’s going on in West St. Paul.
Who’s Behind West St. Paul Reader?
West St. Paul Reader is published by Monkey Outta Nowhere, a local writing and editing company that specializes in helping organizations tell their story.
Kevin D. Hendricks, local freelance writer and blogger, is the founding editor of West St. Paul Reader. He started blogging about West St. Paul on his personal blog back in 2014. This local passion didn’t go away, so Hendricks embraced hyper-local news and launched West St. Paul Reader with the help of a Kickstarter campaign (and lots of ongoing community support) in 2019.
Hendricks has lived in West St. Paul, Minn., with his wife and two kids since 2007. He’s been blogging since 1998, tweeting since 2007, and likes to read a lot. In 2020, Hendricks wrote a book called Better Politics, Please that was inspired by West St. Paul.
Other Contributors
We hire other writers and photographers as we’re able (thanks to member support!):
- Stephanie Schempp, writer
- Megan Noggle, writer & intern
- Jacob Parkinson, writer
- Ken Paulman, writer
- Sam Amundson, photographer
- Finely Gustafson, photographer
Learn more about being a contributor.
Support
West St. Paul Reader exists thanks to community support. We’re grateful for our initial Kickstarter backers and our community of patrons. Learn more about how you can support West St. Paul Reader.
Subscribe
Join our monthly email for regular updates from West St. Paul Reader:
Legalese & Disclaimers
Comment policy: All comments are moderated and reviewed for inappropriate content. That includes, but is not limited to, hate speech, bullying, name calling, profanity, etc. We reserve the right to remove comments for any reason whatsoever and we are the ultimate arbiters of what violates this policy and what does not. Short version: You’re welcome to your opinion, but don’t be a jerk.
Affiliate links: We occasionally use affiliate links with Amazon.com and other sites, meaning that we receive a small portion of any purchases you make after clicking on our links. It’s not much, but it helps pay the bills.
Copyright: All material on this site is owned by Monkey Outta Nowhere, LLC. While it is available online and through RSS, that does not constitute permission to reprint material. Without permission you are welcome to link to our site or any of our content or excerpt up to 200 words of our content (or not more than 50%, for posts shorter than 200 words), as long as you include a link to the original content. Our permission is required for any reposting, reprinting or translation.
West St. Paul Reader 
Thanks for the update on the building plans for this location. Is there approval from the city? It looks awesome. Thank you for this site.
Judi Hanson
Hey Judi: Glad to be of service. Since you’re commenting on the About page, I’m not sure which building plans you’re talking about. The current plans rolling around right now have preliminary approval from the city, but there are a lot of steps and moving pieces where additional approval is required. So nothing is a sure thing.
I just heard moments ago that the old YMCA building is in the process of being torn down. Such a foolish move by the city, as it was a huge community asset. And so sad for all of the community members who frequented the “Y”, especially the elders, who depended on the facility for social interaction, convenience, and a source for help staying heathy. Even though it has been closed for a number of months, I still had hopes for the salvation of this community treasure. So sad!
Actually, the city has no control over the YMCA being torn down. They’re a private entity and sold their property to another private entity. The city had been involved in many talks with the YMCA to find some kind of partnership and keep them in West St. Paul. Nothing ever panned out. City officials have talked about this repeatedly (just ask Council Member Dick Vitelli—he has opinions about it).
Yes, it’s sad to see the YMCA move. Hopefully they’ll find another location close by. But it was the Y’s decision. If you don’t like that decision, blame them.
Also, the Y has not been closed for months. They moved to a new location in Inver Grove Heights (across the street from WSP!) next to Aldi.