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I have a friend that moved from MPLS to Phoenix. I warned him about sprawl, traffic, and chain restaurants. He loves it there (well, the gf doesn't like the suicide lanes, but whatevere...).
What has this taught me? That it is not a good idea to trust my initial suspicions about a city and then blab about it to others.
These are all on my list to visit (especially Phoenix, to go see him). I could post more about what I *think* about each city, but it's a crap-chute....without enough knowledge, you usually end up saying something, somehow that manages to offend a local (no matter how mundane the comment was). I am guilty of this as well-- taking offense where none was due.
Guys, we don't know each other's cities inside and out. Let's live with it. Be careful about what you say about somebody else's city, and be understanding that not everybody's vantage point is the same-- that means, don't go nuts when somebody who doesn't live in the city says something inaccurate, but relatively harmless.
Now, when they do something crazy like call your city "crime ridden" with apparently no experience, go nuts.
srsmn I have been to many of these cities including Minneapolis. I also know many people who reside in Minneapolis.
My other point:
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin has a combined population of 20, 874, 551 people. At this number these states combined are not much larger than the entire state of New York, and is not larger in population than Texas or California. Though that is not my point. The city of New York has a urban population of 18, 897, 109 and a combined statistical area ( what I was counting) of 22.9 million people.
Minnesota and Iowa has a combined population of 8, 350, 280 people. New York city limits has a population of 8, 175, 133. Chicago has a metro population of 9, 461, 105 (more populated than Georgia, almost as populated as the entire state of Michigan).
It is not just large cities and states that benifit from the crime index. Another example is Des Moines with a metro population of 562, 906, however the entire state of Wyoming population is nearly the same at 563, 626. Last comparison Minneapolis metro at 3, 269, 814 but the state of Iowa entire population at 3, 046, 355. I think you get the ideal now: size does matter.
I wanted to point out these numbers simply due to Unity77 post which for many can be misleading in how safe New York and other cities are. This is why city-data provides a crime index. If we were to rank safe cities base off the data Unity77 provided Gary Indiana and maybe Minneapolis would be safer than all the cities polled but in reality neither are not.
______________________________________
Average crime index 319.2 ( a higher crime index means more crime) Minneapolis crime index 1999: 756.6 2007: 733.1 2008: 624.2
Gary Indiana crime index 1999: 685.1 2007: 633.9 2008: 608.3
Denver 2008: 338.6
Phoenix 2009: 396
Seattle 2008: 418.8
Compton California 2007: 689.9
New York New York 2009: 234.2
Last edited by timeofseasons; 06-04-2011 at 01:32 AM..
srsmn I have been to many of these cities including Minneapolis.
You may have been to Minneapolis but your brain was obviously not capable of processing what your eyes saw. You said that Minneapolis was a mirror image of Detroit. This is one of the most assinine statements in the history of the internet.
srsmn I have been to many of these cities including Minneapolis. I also know many people who reside in Minneapolis.
My other point:
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin has a combined population of 20, 874, 551 people. At this number these states combined are not much larger than the entire state of New York, and is not larger in population than Texas or California. Though that is not my point. The city of New York has a urban population of 18, 897, 109 and a combined statistical area ( what I was counting) of 22.9 million people.
Minnesota and Iowa has a combined population of 8, 350, 280 people. New York city limits has a population of 8, 175, 133. Chicago has a metro population of 9, 461, 105 (more populated than Georgia, almost as populated as the entire state of Michigan).
It is not just large cities and states that benifit from the crime index. Another example is Des Moines with a metro population of 562, 906, however the entire state of Wyoming population is nearly the same at 563, 626. Last comparison Minneapolis metro at 3, 269, 814 but the state of Iowa entire population at 3, 046, 355. I think you get the ideal now: size does matter.
I wanted to point out these numbers simply due to Unity77 post which for many can be misleading in how safe New York and other cities are. This is why city-data provides a crime index. If we were to rank safe cities base off the data Unity77 provided Gary Indiana and maybe Minneapolis would be safer than all the cities polled but in reality neither are not.
No, I get it. You should measure a crime rate, and not a total number of reported crimes...that makes sense.
However:
1. I am somewhat in doubt of the validity of a "crime index" that city-data designed, because I don't trust them as a source. City-data is great for discussions like this in the forum, but not so great-- I find-- for information on the mainpage. That is why I asked for their methodology, and why I provided a source with a bit more....veracity...that is, wiki, which got it's info from the FBI. I think we can agree that the FBI is a pretty reliable source...
And, we need to read between the lines. Ok, so Minneapolis has a high "crime index" (in reality, it has a boringly average crime rate, but whatever....). What does that mean? Well, according to the FBI, the property crime rate is lower in Minneapolis than in all than one of the cities in this poll, and the homicide rate is lower than in all but one of the cities in this poll. The rate of forcible rape is significantly higher though. Again, a high incidence of forcible rape does not make any city look good....but what do you think is going to be a real concern to more people? Forcible rape? Or, homicide? Or, property crime?
2. You said that Minneapolis crime is a mirror image of Detroit. That's not even close to true. And Minneapolis has a lower crime rate than a number of large cities. Your post doesnt indicate that very well, because you selected the cities to compare Minneapolis with that best suit your argument. If Minneapolis is "crime-ridden", then what does that make the likes of Detroit, St. Louis, Memphis, Oakland, Baltimore, Cleveland, KC, et al. that have higher violent crime rates than Minneapolis? What about the cities that have higher property crime rates than Minneapolis?
I just don't think your argument was very well reasoned, is all. And when you make a blanket statement like the one you di, you'd better have really good reasons...
I don't get how some of these are mid- major cities but Boston and Atlanta are major cities. Phoenix is in the top 10 in America. Detroit and Phoenix is larger than Boston. Detroit, Phoenix, and Denver is larger than Atlanta. Detroit has a metro population of 5.7 with Windsor included, larger than Atlanta's and Boston's metro. I don't understand this?
But anyway my list goes:
Detroit
Minneapolis
Seattle
Phoenix/ Denver (tie)
Alright my fellow C-Daholics. I figure with the recent outlandish threads I would attempt to make an accurate comparison. I consider these cities/metros to be the mid-major cities of the nation. Definitely not on the level of LA and Chicago, not quite Phily, Boston, or Atlanta but definitely on the verge if not nipping at the heels. Ironically, all 5 are different from each other and command some sort of dominance in their niche areas.
Detroit: old manufacturing Rust Belt city that has fallen from prominence but still has packed quite a punch historically to be siginificant and is attempting to re-invent itself.
Seattle: the PNW capital city and the crown jewel of Cascadia. Seattle is just about to go to the next level but not quite there yet. An urban city with great neighborhoods and significant IT industries.
Minneapolis: the rising financial center of the Midwest and soon to be the Midwest 2nd city. It keeps the Midwest tradition of agribusiness and commodities and has a cool sidekick.
Denver: the Rocky Mount city and probably the most isolated major city of the nation. This happens to work in its favor as it is rising to national prominence
Phoenix: capital city of the Southwest, Sunbelt heavyweight, and proof that living in the desert can still be cool. It has/is surviving the recession quite well and perhaps the most underrated of the 5.
So ladies/gentlemen. Have at it. Throw out all the stats, compare & contrast them. They are similar in population and economic output. Are they in the same class? Which one will join the ranks of Phily, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Atlanta as national front runners?
How are you forgetting San Francisco? It belongs in the same class as Philly and Boston, at the very least.
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