Forest Lake? (Minneapolis, Richfield: for sale, houses, neighborhoods)

[wmk]

We will be relocating to the area and have read the previous threads on places to steer clear of...what about Forest Lake? I have heard there are drug issues in the high schools and that it isn't the most friendly place for "new folks". However...I love the suburbs to the north and there are some beautiful houses for sale in the area. I realize that kids can find drugs in any school...but is there any truth to this rumor?

[sushigirlie]

Forest Lake is a suburb and it's a nice place to live overall. But there is no culture there and it will be most likely difficult to integrate with the locals.
It's a suburb, what else can I say ???

[think.reciprocity]

I was born and raised in Forest Lake & I admittedly have an extremely biased - yet I believe very accurate point of view in regards to it.

I couldn't leave soon enough after graduating from high school & have never looked back (in the sense that, you couldn't offer me a home for free there & get me to live in it). Although the majority of my family does still live there & I visit them often.

If you value diversity in any way, shape, form, or fashion - & require it to be any regular part of your life - you will not find it there.

Forest Lake was established as a resort community - folks with their summer homes by the lakes eventually started staying there year-round. And, while it has grown & seen a great deal of development - it is still very much "the country" in my estimation. The mentality, in general, is not at all urbanized (even in the "sub" sense... lol).

If you are well-off, caucasian, christian, & tend to keep with "your own" (not meant to be offensive - just straight forward) & are okay with that - then it may be fine for you.

Drugs are VERY prevalent in the schools there & I did not find the education system in place to be acceptable - then for me or now with my nieces & nephews (nor would I have been willing to have my son educated there or in a similar education system).

For whatever reasons (I won't go into) there simply has always been a large drug sub-culture in that area. Some major drug busts have come out of there. But, I am not talking about the sort of urban drug situations that one tends to think of when picturing a rampant drug problem - but it is nonetheless a real concern. While I was growing up it was mainly marijuana & alcohol with a dabble of heroin & cocaine entering the picture in the 80's. Now, to my knowledge, while marijuana & drinking remain at issue, there is meth and xstasy (okay, I don't know how they spell it for the drug). I don't know much more than that. But, let's face it - drugs ARE everywhere - no community is escaping their wrath!

Forest Lake has improved in the sense that it does now offer alternatives to the mainstream high school - but, those who fall outside the "norm" of mainstream - whether that be a child with special education needs, alternative "style", alternative "lifestyle", a loner, a nerd, a geek, or anything outside of the norm - just don't have an easy time in this school system or in this community (in general, of course, and in my opinion).

I would never raise a child of colour in this community - don't let anyone fool you on this point - Forest Lake is still a closed community in that sense.

On the positive - there ARE beautiful homes, the many lakes, all sorts of natural beauty all around. It is a place where the majority of my family members still feel no need to lock their doors on their homes or on their cars. The kids, in general, are allowed to ride their bikes & go about the neighborhoods in a similar fashion to when I was coming up. It has plenty of the big businesses (if that is a positive in your mind) that the city usually offers - like large grocery stores, every possible fast food place under the sun, Target, Walmart, Menards, Video Stores - etc. If you are catholic, there is a parochial school in town that is well-established (although I cannot vouch for the education - as I am not catholic). You have the benefits & attitudes of the country combined with many of the conveniences of the suburbs.

I don't know if it counts for much, but many people who grew up there - stay there or come back to raise their kids. Seems, there's no accounting for taste! lol (that was a joke)... Clearly many find it a wonderful place to live & raise a family. I am just not one of them.

All the best to you...

[sven123]

I, and all of my family, graduated from Forest Lake High School twenty some years ago. Yes, there were drugs in the school then, as there are in virtually every school. But I do know that overall it still has a very bad reputation drug wise.

As an example, one day at work (in Richfield) I overheard an individual I did not know make a comment that Forest Lake High has a bad reputation for drug use. The interesting thing is that he had absolutely no idea that I went to Forest Lake High. Even more interesting is that this is a single guy who grew up in Montana and then moved directly to downtown Minneapolis, so he didn't experience it himself. Yet he has heard about it.

The reputation is probably unfair but it is obviously pervasive.

Otherwise, Forest Lake is an average community, with the benefits others have already mentioned.