The truth behind North Minneapolis (St. Paul, Eagan: crime rate, houses, school)

[Downtown]

I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities but I feel a lot of people do not know the complete truth about North Minneapolis.

I have never lived in North Minneapolis and I have not spent a lot of time there, nor am I an expert in this area, but I have lived in the Twin Cities my whole life and I did a little bit of volunteering on the north side last summer.

North Minneapolis has changed quite a bit in the past 70 years. In 1936 it had about 11,000-12,000 Jews. There are numerous former synagogues that have been converted for other uses.

The violence and danger in North Minneapolis is real. There was even a murder on the property of the school that I volunteered at The area has a significantly higher murder rate than most other parts of the city. Most of this can be attributed to your stereotypical urban problems. Poverty, drugs, guns, gangs, prostitution, absent parents, etectera. There are areas of North Minneapolis that are safer than others. For example the area north of Dowling Avenue has seen far fewer murders than the rest of the north side.

I have met a lot of cool people who live and/or work in North Minneapolis, many of whom are working to make the area a better place to live. This is not an easy task. I know a person who has a bike shop on the north side and wanted to get kids to work there and get paid for their work over the summer but he was unable to get the money to do so.

The term North Minneapolis has a very negative connotation which is unfortunate. The north side has potential and I can envision a time in the near future where crime will go down and it will be a safer and better place to live. Whether this will happen is unknown but with hard work and good planning I believe it is attainable.

Here is a link to a book about Jews on the north side:

http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Communi...e=UTF8&s=books

Here is a link to crime statistics on the north side:

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/poli.../precinct4.asp

[Evenkeel]

When you say Northern Minneapolis has a bad reputation for crime, are you referring to : Vadnais,Gem Lake, North Oaks area ? What suburbs comprise of North Minneapolis....please advise

[Minnehahapolitan]

You are way askew sir (or maam). You are in Ramsey County, those areas are perfectly safe. North Oaks has the highest home values in the state. Downtown is referring to the near North side of Mpls. proper. (West of the river, north of Olson Hwy. and vaguely south of Dowling) Usually, the prob. areas are Willard-Hay, Jordan and what used to be Sumner-Glenwood bef. it was rebuilt from the clay up. When you look at Mpls. history it was the Jewish section of the city. Most now live in Gldn. Val and Saint Louis Pk. Boradway used to be on par with Lake Street, now it is devoid of any glory. The areas around Victory Mem. Pkwy. are lovely. It the houses were 20 blocks south they would be twice as expensive. Things tend to change by the block in the city. Some are well kempt and are owner occupied. The next over will be codemened and rented to dealers and scum. Theres alot of history and even more hate. A damn shame. Anyways, thanks for the link to Jewish Mpls. on yahoo.
-----Minnehahapolitan

[The Icy River Vagabond]

Evenkeel. Don't worry about it. Live wherever you want to. Its pretty safe wherever you choose. Unless you are a criminal yourself, the likelihood that you will ever be affected by crime is very slim. Toronto probably has a jhigher crime rate than North Minnepaolis.

[Northstar17]

I seriously doubt that Toronto, the safest of all Canadian cities, has a higher crime rate then north Minneapolis. Toronto had a muder rate of 2.3 in 2002, compared to Minneapolis, whom had a muder rate of 12.3.

[mrkue]

N. Minneapolis is safe... I think the thing here is that the people on this forum has never traveled outside of Minneapolis or the state of Minnesota for that matter or they will see how truly dangerous other cities are like , for instance, I'm from Detroit, but have lived in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The twin cities has some bad areas, but it is relatively safe when we compare it to Detroit, Flint, St.louis, milwaukee or Chicago. I mean I love Minnesota, it's my second home i have tons of family there, but they don't even want to come to Detroit often and they are from your so called dangerous N. Minneapolis. My aunt grew up in detroit and she tells me she gets nervous every time she comes to the D becuase she says that Detroit is like another country. She says the first time she brought my uncle home from Minnesota to see Detroit for the first time in the early 80's he thought he was on another planet. I'm telling the facts, minneapolis is not that bad maybe the north has it's share of problems but honestly they are over doing it when they say it's one of the most crime ridden in the states because it truly is not. They are not even among the top twenty...

[lukeache]

Interesting way of looking at things. North Minneapolis isnt too bad, look at Detroit. With this type of mentality, you could also say, hey Detroit is not too bad, it could be Baghdad. The reality is that many residents of the North Side have very low standards. I remember talking to this African American lady at work, a resident of the North Side about the murders in North Minneapolis, her response was "Well, you know, it happens everywhere!".I have lived here in Eagan for some time now and only recall a couple murders ever taking place in this area. I guess, North Minneapolis isnt too bad, it could be Compton.

[Ketzalitzli]

Interesting that one says, " I have never lived in North Minneapolis and I have not spent a lot of time there, nor am I an expert in this area, but..." and then proceeds to tell every one the "truth" about it. How can you know the "truth" of a place you only vaguely experienced?

[patrickdoty]

Is this the white people who are scared to face the reality of the world, who live in the sheltered suburbs thread? It sure seems like it......instead of being an armchair psychologist, why don't you do something and effect change instead of just whining about it. I myself live in north and have for 4 years...... i have met only kind and compassionate people who are only bitter because the white christian system has set up the world around them, and they don't get a chance to make a change.

[patrickdoty]

This must be an all Caucasian thread........if you have never lived there, you have no right to give your "OPINION"