Questions about Robbinsdale

[nrogers1122]

I was just told by a co-worker who used to live in Mpls, that Richfield has good and bad areas. He mentioned that everything to the East of Lyndale is progressively dodgier as you get closer to the airport. I thought it looked OK when I went there, though. Thats the thing about new towns. You really can't tell just by driving through how decent an area is. He advsd me to stay west of 35W, but to avoid the area near the Best Buy HQ.

Do you have any thoughts on this advice?

[uptown_urbanist]

There are some nice areas east of Lyndale, so I wouldn't use that as a hard and fast rule. I do generally prefer west of 35W, but one of my favorite things in Richfield -- Wood Lake Nature Center -- is east of there, and there are nice residential areas around there, too (near there is also where a great deal of money has been pumped into some senior high rise condos, as well as some other development right along Lyndale). Augsburg Library is over that direction, too. I'm not sure of how the different schools in Richfield compare; it could be that some of the "west of 35" advice stems from school boundaries?

The area right around Best Buy has some large apartment complexes, and I think some of them do have some petty crime. Richfield has a pretty active crime prevention/community outreach program that also specifically addresses apartments; if you end up looking at a specific house I'd give them a call to check on the area in general, and to ask about any of the buildings nearby (they provide some of the apartment information, such as police calls and information about the manager, for the benefit of potential renters, but it seems like an equally useful resource for any potential neighbor). They also have interactive crime maps and other information online: Richfield Public Safety Department (http://www.cityofrichfield.org/PublicSafety/index.htm - broken link)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Ritchfied has airport noise in at least some areas. I don't know which areas but that should be considered.

[uptown_urbanist]

Good point about the airport noise. That's probably part of the reason for the "stay in the west" advice, although you'll find that airport noise can vary dramatically even within pretty short distances; you'll know soon enough if the house you're looking at is in a noisy area or not, as it will be obvious when visiting.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

We have good friends we visit frequently in East Richfield in the 70's and just west of Hwy 77. I am convinced that the airport noise there is heavily exaggerated. At least where they live there is essentially one plane that passes each day at 4:00pm that makes alot of noise and other than that the noise is non-existent. We saw the plane yesterday, it was a very low flying Delta passenger plane taking off and flying Southwest. It was actually kind of cool to watch. Anyway, I like the area. My only real complaint is the general lack of sidewalks. There is a park over in that area down a stretch of Bloomington Ave, however, called Christian Park that has a sidewalk going down the street. On the west side of the street is the park and the east side is lined with houses. If I ever found a good deal on one of those houses I wouldn't hesitate to buy, great location in my opinion.