Burnsville? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Brooklyn Park: apartments, crime, neighborhoods)

[B&B18]

Hi! Just wanting some information about schools and crime in Burnsville...personal accounts (of people that live, or have lived in the area) would be best. Thanks so much for your help!

[golfgal]

Ranks up there with my least favorite place in the metro. It used to be one of the best places to live, not so much anymore. The schools are going down hill fast.

[Pisces69]

Boring, bad traffic congestion, no culture and everybody looks unhappy that they're there.

[QuietBlue]

It's a mixed bag; there are definitely some dumpier areas and pockets of higher crime (by suburban standards, though; it's not like the rougher parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul or even some other suburbs like Brooklyn Park). Yet there are also some quite nice neighborhoods too. There's a lot of variation between different parts of town. Parts of the city are in the 196 or 194 school districts as well, both of which are better than 191.

[chessgeek]

That is too bad about the decline in schools and crime in certain neighborhoods. It really has an enviable location near so many things (MN River Wildlife Refuge, Mall of America, MSP airport, MN Zoo). A quick check of Yahoo maps indicates there are plenty of restaurants, golf courses, parks, and shopping in and near the city, too.

If they get their act together on the schools and brought the crime levels down, they could be desirable once again. But the OP is looking for a good place today or in the not too distant future I would assume. Is this the city that built a downtown almost from scratch and called it "Heart of the City"?

Seems like it would work for a single person that wants a convenient location near activities, but not for someone with children in school unless they were in neighborhoods served by the 196 and 194 districts previously mentioned.

[ocsid]

A friend of mine went through a divorce and needed a place to live for a year or so. He originally thought Burnsville, and changed his mind quite quickly after looking at apartments there.

[jzeig104]

One could do alot worse than Burnsville, IMO. I dont know about the schools there, and I do note quite a bit of crime there in the local papers, but it certainly LOOKS like it has alot going for it. Location, clean, newer housing stock, plenty of businesses, good medical facilities, etc. Guess it depends what you are looking for.

[QuietBlue]

Originally Posted by chessgeek

Seems like it would work for a single person that wants a convenient location near activities, but not for someone with children in school unless they were in neighborhoods served by the 196 and 194 districts previously mentioned.

That's a pretty good summary, yeah.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by jzeig104

One could do alot worse than Burnsville, IMO. I dont know about the schools there, and I do note quite a bit of crime there in the local papers, but it certainly LOOKS like it has alot going for it. Location, clean, newer housing stock, plenty of businesses, good medical facilities, etc. Guess it depends what you are looking for.

That was the attraction to Burnsville---but a lot of places are not being kept up and like I said, the schools are going downhill so that's kind of the kiss of death for any town in MN.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

I remember when Burnsville was a booming suburb and sort of the place to be. We'd visit a family friend there and have hot-tub parties in the 'burbs. Today I seem to hear mostly negative things about it, like its schools and crime (this is probably relative to MN standards though). I'm not sure why the city would be changing for the worse but it sounds like it is or was. Anyone know what's causing the decline (beyond racial integration, which I don't particularly believe is a correlation for crime or disinvestment by itself).