Minneapolis vs. Milwaukee

[MILWCITY]

That's because for hundreds of miles there's nothing even close to you and you don't have to compete with O'hare and Midway. Yeah our airport is dead boring and nothing to brag about except very clean and easy to fly in and out of.

[Thegonagle]

The Humphrey terminal at MSP is tops for ease of use. I love it. The Lindbergh terminal at MSP is not so easy on the legs/time schedule. (But the Lindbergh has the famous Larry Craig Memorial Men's room.)

If I can, I prefer to use airlines that fly in and out of the Humphrey terminal. (Of course, I'm not into bathroom encounters--But I did just now realize why it's called a "lay"over, ha ha!)

[laosixonetwo]

Originally Posted by TheManWithoutQualities

Yes, I must admit - there is a tinge of fear when I contemplate the upper Midwest winter.

Though people I know who live there seem to love it...so there must be enough good things to counteract the rough times.

I guess I better buy some thermal underwear if I end up moving there next summer.

Really... it's not that bad. You won't even need the thermal underwear... but i guess when in rome. Winters aren't as bad as some people who've never even been here say it is. But it does get cold. Maybe not as much snow as the northeastern states but cold. It's fine if you live in the city. worse if you decide to live in the outer metro. Some sort of weird factor there. The "cities" is always about 5 degrees warmer than the outlying areas. I've live in Milwaukee and moved back to Mpls. It's more progressive and hip here I do have to say. Hope this helps. Oh yeah... if you're into sports.. we have all four. That's nice also. Plus the wharehouse district outweighs anything Milwaukee has for nightlife, unless you decide to take the hour trip to Chicago just to "go out" for the night.

[rajun08]

I moved from Milwaukee to Minneapolis three months ago, and would like to provide my opinion of Milwaukee. I grew up there and live an overwhelming majority of my life there.

Reasons I moved from Milwaukee:
1. Poor public transportation - It takes a long time to get from one side of town to the other as their are very few highways (and County Executive Scott Walker keeps raising the price of bus fares to hurt certain people...see #2)
2. Milwaukee is an EXTREMELY segregated city (always in the top 2 or 3 as far as most segregated cities in the nation, and I see nothing that changes that...I lived in Shorewood, a predominantly white neighborhood near the ghetto, and of the approx. 100 cars I saw pulled over while I lived there, not one had a white driver - even my Hispanic girlfriend got pulled over for no reason). I wouldn't say tensions are high, but it's definitely an issue.
3. Politics - Inadequate politicians at best who do nothing for the betterment of the city but instead try to increase their benefits on a yearly basis (google 'Milwaukee pension scandal' for further details)
4. Poor music scene - Milwaukee is not a good band's Friday or Saturday night pick as they will play Milwaukee before Chicago on a Wed. or Thurs. or on Sunday after Chicago, or not at all. Their symphony is wonderful, though.
5. Laissez-faire attitude of their residents - People in Milwaukee never want change (google either PabstCity, Dave and Busters, or Gameworks)
6. Poor city planning - everything is so spread out that getting from one place to another is always a pain, and there's only 1/2 of the options as far as building because of the Lake (how did Chicago get it right???), and see #1
7. Inability to bring in new business - too high of taxes on any business that Milwaukee will only see businesses moving out of the city and not the other way around
8. Malls - overpacked since there are so few and always littered with punks with little else to do since politicians will not create inner-city programs for youths
9. Insecurity - Milwaukee competed with Chicago into the early 1900's as a great city and lost out do to location, among other things. That sense of the unnoticed middle-child still lingers. Residents I have found to be content with just staying and living their entire lives in Milwaukee, and not really experiencing other cities/countries, but rather pointing and screaming from their couches as to Milwaukee is better than _________ (fill in the blank) because.... Chicago is only an hour away, but I have a feeling that some of the people writing comments rarely take advantage of that, if ever. I drove down there last weekend with 2 friends and it was a blast.

Now I know that I'm in the Honeymoon stage of my time in Minneapolis, but the companies/jobs here are less manufacturing based than those in Milwaukee, has more young professionals, and I like that Minneapolis has more of a city feel, with people being out during the week in the downtown area. Milwaukee shuts down when there isn't a drinking festival going on. People also told me Milwaukee was a dirty city, something I was offended by and didn't really understand until I moved up here. People are much more active in Minneapolis (4th fittest city in the nation). Minneapolis is "land-locked" which stinks but has a great airport with much cheaper flights than MKE to more cities. As a traveler, this is huge. I'm still learning about the politics up here, and the Coleman/Franken situation is a bit embarrassing. Overall, Minneapolis is more my kind of town, and from what I've read, would be more of your kind of town, too. Milwaukee is largely German/Polish, two stubborn nationalities by nature, and Minneapolis is quite Norwegian, people which I have found to be rather humble.

[TheManWithoutQualities]

Hey, the OP here:

Well, I'm applying to several law schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and 1 in Milwaukee (I'm also applying to law school in Chicago and a couple in Boston). Anyway, we'll see where I get in over the next couple of months but it's rather likely that I'll end up in the Upper Midwest as expected.

I was in Minneapolis briefly this summer and in Milwaukee for an extended period of time (I've spent a bit of time in the Twin Cities in the past, this was my first trip to Milwaukee).

Anyway, I'm going to consider Milwaukee if I get accepted from Marquette and compare it to other offers (scholarship money, etc.) but I must admit...Minneapolis is probably a better fit, culturally speaking.

I don't think Milwaukee is a bad place though and I think it gets kind of a bad rap since it's overshadowed by Chicago and by the Twin Cities.

Anyway, I'm back to Minneapolis in January to see how I can handle the cold weather.

Happy Holidays all!

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by TheManWithoutQualities

Hey, the OP here:

Well, I'm applying to several law schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and 1 in Milwaukee (I'm also applying to law school in Chicago and a couple in Boston). Anyway, we'll see where I get in over the next couple of months but it's rather likely that I'll end up in the Upper Midwest as expected.

I was in Minneapolis briefly this summer and in Milwaukee for an extended period of time (I've spent a bit of time in the Twin Cities in the past, this was my first trip to Milwaukee).

Anyway, I'm going to consider Milwaukee if I get accepted from Marquette and compare it to other offers (scholarship money, etc.) but I must admit...Minneapolis is probably a better fit, culturally speaking.

I don't think Milwaukee is a bad place though and I think it gets kind of a bad rap since it's overshadowed by Chicago and by the Twin Cities.

Anyway, I'm back to Minneapolis in January to see how I can handle the cold weather.

Happy Holidays all!

At this rate, it just may be warmer in January. This was the coldest week in eight years.

[TheManWithoutQualities]

Yikes. I'm there next week. I'm hoping it's cold, just to have an idea of how "bad" it gets.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by TheManWithoutQualities

Yikes. I'm there next week. I'm hoping it's cold, just to have an idea of how "bad" it gets.

Actually, there's a warm up/ thaw forecasted for the weekend and next week (low 30s I believe)- were you to have come this week you REALLY would have known how bad it gets.

[nbus5]

Originally Posted by TheManWithoutQualities

Yikes. I'm there next week. I'm hoping it's cold, just to have an idea of how "bad" it gets.

Good luck OP! I did the exact opposite move as you (from the Twin Cities to Los Angeles). I just wanted a change of scene and to escape winter for a while, but I'm sure you can tough it out. I have to admit, I am loving the fact that it has been about 100 degrees warmer in So Cal than Minneapolis the last several days - sorry family and friends

[Milwaukee City]

Don't worry I'm moving to San Diego as soon as the wifey gets out of grad school. My grandparents moved here from Poland and they settled in Long Beach California, then out of the blue my grandpa says to my grandmother " lets move to Milwaukee" and so thats how I ended up here. I think of this story every time it drops below 50.