It was a beautiful evening. Warm and pleasant. As always in the city of North St. Paul, MN, when the weather is nice the air is so heavy with wood smoke pollution you cannot stand to breathe it. I knew it would be smoky tonight because it always is in North St. Paul when the weather is nice. Always. You can bet money on it and win every time.
It would have been a nice evening to sit outside and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather more characteristic of late May than March. But you couldn't. The air was so polluted with wood and yard waste smoke breathing it irritated your sinuses. Stepping outside for a minute would leave your clothes reeking of smoke as if you spent hours in a smoky bar. It was another North St. Paul nightmare from hell.
3:10 PM: Very faint to faint smoke that smells odd. It smells like burning grass and burning meat or something. I'm not sure what it is. The smoke comes and goes blowing in the windows. It stinks. 76 degrees and sunny at this time.
3:35 PM: The very faint stinky smoke from earlier comes and goes.
4:00 PM: No smoke. Fresh air. But it won't last long.
5:00 PM: No smoke. The calm before the wood smoke pollution storm. 77 degrees and sunny.
6:50 PM: No smoke. The windows are open. The breeze is blowing through the house. Enjoying that last bit of fresh air.
7:15 PM: The air is not fresh. Something is in it. Somebody somewhere is burning. The bonfires have started. Close the windows! We know what is coming. It's like this every day in this horrible polluted hell of a city.
7:30 PM: Very faint to faint wood smoke in the air. The pollution is getting stronger.
7:37 PM: Faint wood smoke in the air. The smoke is getting stronger.
8:00 PM: Moderate to strong wood and what smells like grass smoke. It is extremely smoky at this time. This air pollution is inhumane. I can't believe any human being would subject another human being to the torture of heavy air pollution like this as our city council has been doing for years. Living in North St. Paul is like living in a bad dream that you relive every evening.
8:55 PM: Moderate to strong wood and grass smoke continues. Extremely heavy air pollution continues. You cannot stand to breathe this air. If you stepped outside for one minute your clothes would reek of smoke when you came back in.
9:50 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. The intensity of the air pollution is decreasing. 66 degrees at this time.
10:15 PM: Faint wood smoke continues.
10:40 PM: Very faint wood smoke at this time. This was the last check of the evening.
I did not stay up late and slept through until morning. I wasn't able to check if the smoke got heavier late at night as it often does.
This is life in North St. Paul. This is how we have lived for many years now. I've seen that homes have been selling the past couple of months. You people who are moving into the city are in for a rude surprise when you see how much it costs you for electricity this summer when you have to leave your air conditioner on all night because the air is so smoky you can't open your windows.
North St. Paul was a great place to live until the early 2000s. It's been getting worse and worse every year since.
Recreational Fires Must Be Eliminated
Do you support clean air? Click the Facebook Like button if you have a Facebook account.
WELCOME TO HELL ON EARTH
The air is smoky from burning wood in North St. Paul, MN, almost every evening. It is a nightmare. What used to be a nice place to live has become a living hell.
WARNING: If you buy a house in North St. Paul, MN, you will regret it! It may be the biggest, most expensive mistake you ever make. You will breathe smoky air almost every day of your life in this town. This is not an exaggeration. The wood smoke in this town gets heavy and gets heavy often. When you want to get out of this dump of a town, how many people do you think are going to want to buy a house in a city where heavy air pollution every night is normal and clean air is rare? This blog gets thousands of visitors every year. The word is out: North St. Paul is a horrible place to live!
Fresh air is very rare around here. If you are considering moving to North St. Paul or buying a home here, I strongly recommend that you do not do it no matter how good of a price you get. The only way you will be happy in this town is if you love breathing smoky air almost every day. North St. Paul, MN, is a horrible place to live because of the smoky air!
Burning wood, grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, and sometimes plastic, construction materials, and chemicals, if it is combustible it gets burned in North St. Paul and you are going to breathe it.
The air was smoky 25 out of 31 evenings in July 2009. We had 37 hours of continuous wood smoke in the air Aug. 29th - 31st. There was wood smoke in the air 19 consecutive evenings from Aug. 21st to Sept. 8th. It rained heavily on Aug. 20th, providing the only relief we got from wood smoke for almost three weeks.
Is this a good way to live? No. It is a horrible way to live. Take it from someone who knows. Breathing smoky, polluted air every day is misery.
Every day in this city several people are having recreational fires. Every evening the air is filled with the stench of burning wood. I am one person sick and tired of breathing smoky air every day. Is it too much to ask to be able to breathe fresh air in your own home?
Who is responsible for this wood smoke nightmare? The four city council members are responsible. Council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick have refused to do anything about this wood smoke problem. They don't care if you have a child with asthma. They don't care if you have to live like a shut-in because the air is so polluted. They don't care if your sinuses burn because the wood smoke is so heavy.
Our four Council members have defended the rights of a small percentage of households to burn wood daily over the rights of all the rest of us to breathe.
You have no right to breathe under Walczak, Bruton, Furlong, and Zick. Burners have the right to burn wood 49 hours a week recreationally. The rest of us have no rights at all.
If you are considering purchasing real estate in the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota (55109), factor this blog carefully into your decision. Buying a home in this city means that your kids will breathe smoky air while playing in the yard almost every day. Your baby will breathe smoky air in her crib should you leave the windows open around your house. If you leave your windows open you will wake up in the middle of the night choking on smoky air.
Perhaps worst of all, your utility rates will be high because you will have to run the air conditioner instead of leaving the windows open on a cool summer evening. You have no other choice because almost every night the air is too smoky to breathe in this city. Consider this blog your warning.
North St. Paul, Minnesota, is a wonderful community other than the wood smoke. If we could restore fresh air like we used to enjoy, life would be happy again. But that is not going to happen any time soon.
Tell others about this blog!
| Share |
The air is smoky from burning wood in North St. Paul, MN, almost every evening. It is a nightmare. What used to be a nice place to live has become a living hell.
WARNING: If you buy a house in North St. Paul, MN, you will regret it! It may be the biggest, most expensive mistake you ever make. You will breathe smoky air almost every day of your life in this town. This is not an exaggeration. The wood smoke in this town gets heavy and gets heavy often. When you want to get out of this dump of a town, how many people do you think are going to want to buy a house in a city where heavy air pollution every night is normal and clean air is rare? This blog gets thousands of visitors every year. The word is out: North St. Paul is a horrible place to live!
Fresh air is very rare around here. If you are considering moving to North St. Paul or buying a home here, I strongly recommend that you do not do it no matter how good of a price you get. The only way you will be happy in this town is if you love breathing smoky air almost every day. North St. Paul, MN, is a horrible place to live because of the smoky air!
Burning wood, grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, and sometimes plastic, construction materials, and chemicals, if it is combustible it gets burned in North St. Paul and you are going to breathe it.
The air was smoky 25 out of 31 evenings in July 2009. We had 37 hours of continuous wood smoke in the air Aug. 29th - 31st. There was wood smoke in the air 19 consecutive evenings from Aug. 21st to Sept. 8th. It rained heavily on Aug. 20th, providing the only relief we got from wood smoke for almost three weeks.
Is this a good way to live? No. It is a horrible way to live. Take it from someone who knows. Breathing smoky, polluted air every day is misery.
Every day in this city several people are having recreational fires. Every evening the air is filled with the stench of burning wood. I am one person sick and tired of breathing smoky air every day. Is it too much to ask to be able to breathe fresh air in your own home?
Who is responsible for this wood smoke nightmare? The four city council members are responsible. Council members Jan Walczak, Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick have refused to do anything about this wood smoke problem. They don't care if you have a child with asthma. They don't care if you have to live like a shut-in because the air is so polluted. They don't care if your sinuses burn because the wood smoke is so heavy.
Our four Council members have defended the rights of a small percentage of households to burn wood daily over the rights of all the rest of us to breathe.
You have no right to breathe under Walczak, Bruton, Furlong, and Zick. Burners have the right to burn wood 49 hours a week recreationally. The rest of us have no rights at all.
If you are considering purchasing real estate in the city of North Saint Paul, Minnesota (55109), factor this blog carefully into your decision. Buying a home in this city means that your kids will breathe smoky air while playing in the yard almost every day. Your baby will breathe smoky air in her crib should you leave the windows open around your house. If you leave your windows open you will wake up in the middle of the night choking on smoky air.
Perhaps worst of all, your utility rates will be high because you will have to run the air conditioner instead of leaving the windows open on a cool summer evening. You have no other choice because almost every night the air is too smoky to breathe in this city. Consider this blog your warning.
North St. Paul, Minnesota, is a wonderful community other than the wood smoke. If we could restore fresh air like we used to enjoy, life would be happy again. But that is not going to happen any time soon.
Tell others about this blog!
