Neighborhoods to avoid (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Brooklyn Park: mortgage, house hunting, apartments)

[2blessed2stress]

"Originally Posted by Jim Stokes
Based on my own experience raising my kids, I'd say stay away from North Minneapolis past Highway 55. All you have to do is watch TV news and read the Minneapolis Tribune daily paper to be very much aware that not only is the North Side a bad place to live but also Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. They're always in the news for murders and rapes"

And the news is always SO fair and accurate...

The fact is, people have different needs and expectations when choosing where to live. Mpls is not so crime-ridden as to say the average joe minding his business will be shot down and killed. Would I consider an Uptown an ideal place to live? No. I would not. Would I buy a house in B.C. or B.P.? Yes. Near a major intersection or near multiple 300 apartment complexes, No. There are areas of B.P. with Half Million dollar homes...Stop always extremes making...goodness.

[Ben Around]

Good post, 2 blessed. Some people can't seem to post here without pulling out their broad brushes.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Nicollet and Franklin isn't gentrified, but it isn't oy vey bad. Nicollet and Lake are oy vey bad. Actually, the former has alot of pretty good restaurants and some nice new condos.

[Andrew T.]

From what I hear, a lot of it has to do with that liqour store right next door to starbucks and jimmy johns, and the fact that it opens at 8 am... brings in a strange crowd, apparently. (this is from what friends tell me)...I live by MOA so i cant talk.. LOL

[Jim Stokes]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

Nicollet and Franklin isn't gentrified, but it isn't oy vey bad. Nicollet and Lake are oy vey bad. Actually, the former has alot of pretty good restaurants and some nice new condos.

Are you kidding? I used to live at 1st Avenue & 24th. The last two caretakers we had were 1) a simpleton and a thief and 2) a crook who carried a gun and stole my bike out of storage where he had a duplicate key and the battery out of my car because he knew I was out of town for several days.

Anyplace in a big city where you have older mutiple dwellings, they are comprised of people who can't afford a house or are transients=scumballs and criminals.

Thank goodness we live in a upscale neighborhood and live in our our PAID FOR home.

[Minnehahapolitan]

I'm dead serious. That's the key word Jim, used to. I guarantee if you lived there 10 years ago, it was alot worse. I USED to live in Kingfield 20 years ago and the coppers came through my backyard with drawn guns. That wouldn't happen now. Things change. Just yesterday, I was talking to someone who workerd on the development around Franklin and Portland. Way back, it was just a bunch of nuns running a shelter. Now, they have formed a non-profit and are building a three year project to infill an entire corner with clean and affordable housing. The area is still bad, but alot has been done to change it and even a crack alley like Portland is cleaner and safer. The area around Nicollet has two new developments. Some are selling for upwards of 400,000. The area has a great mix of immigrants' shops and uppity coffeehouses. People are walking the streets and I felt perfectly comfortable taking a stroll down the street. Not only are your ideas about that particular corner antiquated and based on experiences which are years old, but your sweeping generalizations about the city are simply untrue. Uptown and Dinkytown are safe, and they have dense and old housing. Loring Park is a great neighborhood. Even the area west of Lake Harriet has old apartments. It is great that you are comfortable where you live, however just because someone still rents or is poor does not make them a danger. Crime does not stem from poverty, or West Virginia would not be one of the safest states. Seriously, go take a stroll through the city. Sure, it still has its pockets, but it is better, by leaps and bounds, than it was just five or ten years ago. You don't know what you are talking about, but at least you get to spew nonsense about the city from you paid off home. Also, wouldn't your generalizations about those "older multiple dwellings" implicate yourself a former transient? If so, I certainly wouldn't take the word of a "scumball" or "criminal"

[lilmeows]

Wow i am not a expert but i had considered uptown to be more of the rich part of minneapolis I was shocked to hear people say it was more dangerous than the rest. There is crime everywhere but Uptown seems to be (in my opinion) the place rich yuppies go to eat and shop. I defiantly do not agree that it is one of the most dangerous to me that is kinda comical.

[The Icy River Vagabond]

ONCE AGAIN..... There is NO area of Minneapolis that is really too dangerous... I think that suburbanites with suburbanite fear should keep there mouths shut and not speak about something that they don't know about..

[JenLee]

We lived in Uptown for 14 years and had our kids there and it is NOT a dangerous neighborhood!

I believe any place (even the middle of a small town) can be dangerous if you don't pay attention to your surroundings or do really stupid things that leave you open to danger. There is such a thing as"Common Sense," and if you use it; you will usually be safe!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by The Icy River Vagabond

ONCE AGAIN..... There is NO area of Minneapolis that is really too dangerous... I think that suburbanites with suburbanite fear should keep there mouths shut and not speak about something that they don't know about..

Just because you are comfortable with muggings and other personal crime doesn't mean that others are. The fears of these personal crimes is legitimate. My BIL had a liquor store on Nicollet and Lake street and the things that happened around his store are not things that most people what to deal with every day. Many people want to be able to walk in the evenings and not have to worry about being mugged, they want to be able to park their car on the street and not worry about vandalism. There are plenty of areas in St. Paul and Minneapolis that these are real concerns.