Moving to Minn - confused about commute (Minneapolis, Edina: best neighborhood, apartments)

[StilltheSame]

Hi all,

I have read most of the posts in anticipation for the upcoming move of my family (2 adults - 2 kids 9,6) to Minneapolis. I will be working downtown and my spouse is still hunting. From reviewing other posts I suspect we want to live on the South side of the city or near downtown. My kids are currently in private schools so we really are intent on finding a good school - understanding that Minneapolis area schools are excellent. Weekend walkability of the neighborhood would be nice as we are moving from the warm south and are looking forward to enjoying the summer there. Most important though is a short and easy trip from home to school drop off to work downtown. I dont want anymore than 10 minutes to dropoff - even on bad days. We prefer a townhouse or home with basement, at least 1 car garage and only want to pay about $2000 per month. At a minimum it must be a 3/2. I have searched craigslist and realtor.com and am throughouly overwhelmed so any ideas or suggestions would help. Thanks!

[golfgal]

Most of the cities around the metro area have buses for the kids but you also won't be more then 10 minutes from their school unless you decide to go the private school route. I would beg to differ that the schools in the Minneapolis district are excellent but coming from the south they are probably better then the public schools there. The suburban schools in Twin Cities area are excellent.

[DaPerpKazoo]

I would reccommend you look in both the Kingfield and Seward areas. Both consist of mostly single-family home with some apartments mixed in, both are somewhat close to downtown, both have very low crime, and they are both walkable. Although they aren't exactly Uptown or Downtown, they have their fair share of coffee shops, ect. Kingfield has some of the best neighborhood parks in the city- King Field and Bryant Sqaure, and is also pretty close to the lakes. Neither should be too expensive, but I've never rented a house, so I'm not sure how far $2k goes. I live just south of Kingfield and spend a lot of time there, and I would say it is a great place to raise a family.

Regarding schools, the public schools in Minneapolis are very good. You may want to tour the community school when you come to look at homes. If you decide to stay on the private school route, the Catholic grade schools aren't too expensive, mostly around $3k. The unaffiliated private schools are usually extremely expensive.

[BarbaraMN]

I'd look around the areas of Edina and Minneapolis that are close to 50th/France area (approx. France to Xerxes, 44th to 60th). It's not an overly expensive area for rental homes and it's very walkable--especially the closer you are to France/50th.

My sons' school is at 54th and France--St. Peter's Lutheran. They have mixed-age classrooms and the kids get a great education. The teachers (and entire staff) really get to know each student as an individual (the kids are also amazingly supportive of eachother--no bullying there!). It's a small school but they have a music teacher, full-size gym, 5000 volume library, before/after school care and more. It's worth a look. The school has an infant-preschool age childcare program and is a K-8. The building's exterior appearance really masks the size.

[Slig]

I'll just add a couple points here

-Golfgal's opinion of Minneapolis school's I believe is in reference to their public schools. If you intend to keep your kids in private schools there are alot of excellent options in Minneapolis proper close to downtown. If I had kids and decided to put them on the private/charter route there are some excellent language immersion schools nearby including Emerson Spanish Immersion K-8 which is just south of downtown. It all depends on personal preference, I just feel that raising kids to be bilingual is important.

-99.9% of homes in the Twin Cities have a basement so that shouldn't be a concern.

-All parts of the city have their own unique characteristics and perks. I live on the southside and love it, it's very walkable, lots of things to see and do, etc. but I wouldn't throw out the possibility of other parts of the city. It would make sense to find the right school for your kids and then look for a place close to there.

[uptown_urbanist]

Linden Hills in SW Minneapolis is a very nice neighborhood right by Lake Harriet and very walkable, complete with kid-friendly amenities like one of the best toystores around, a children's bookstore, a fabulous ice cream shop, a bakery, a park with playground, a library, and other businesses for both the adults and kids. There are multiple elementary schools within close proximity, both public and private. $2,000 will go pretty far for a rental in Mpls, even for a house and even in Linden Hills. I know I've seen some rentals listed there in your size and (under, even) your price range.

The Minneapolis Public Schools get mixed reviews; many schools are indeed excellent, although some have their problems. I plan on sending my children there. There's a blend of magnet and community schools, although there might be some changes to the magnets due to budget issues. I believe that the MPS still provide busing to schools not within walking distance (if you went a magnet/non-community route) so your drop-off routine could easily just be walking your children to the corner bus stop.

[Camden Northsider]

I really like Interdistrict Downtown School, but kids are selected based on a lottery system which I don't know how it works (there is fine arts interdistrict school as well - the FAIR Academy in Crystal, MN - both schools have great reputations). There are a lot of good public elementary "community schools" throughout Minneapolis, some of the public middle schools are starting to pick up pre-IB curriculum, and there are two public high schools that often get credited as being excellent schools in awards/ publications - these are Patrick Henry High School and Southwest High School (and in that order contrary to popular belief!). Patrick Henry is much much more ethnically/ socioeconomically diverse than Southwest and they have been noted as being one of the few schools in the state if not region having great success rates with low-income students (interestingly, the same is said of Loring Community School, the elementary school in my neighborhood that's just down the street from Henry). But a lot of neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis proper also have private schools close by if that is the route that you want to take, some are (like others have said) extremely expensive but others seem to be more reasonable - in my neighborhood it seems that families who go private often send to Catholic schools (St. Elizabeth Seton elementary and De La Salle High School).

As for the whole suburban schools are so much more excellent than Minneapolis public schools - that whole thing has been blown way out of proportion and I'm not sure where people think they're getting their information on this. I know that the IB program at Minneapolis - Henry (public) beat out all of the other metro-area (only a few made the list) IB programs on a ranking of top IB programs in the nation, as well as was named one of the top 3 performing schools in MN (I don't believe any suburban public schools made the second list).

But some people feel more comfortable in suburban environments where there's less diversity in most senses of the word and where people tend to think their district is the best in the state/ nation because that's what they keep telling themselves and/or they haven't been exposed to much else - these folks also tend to spread unfounded rumors about this or that school district having "budget issues" or "going downhill fast" - to each his own, but if you are inclined to be in diverse walkable areas then you should definitely focus on the city proper.

[uptown_urbanist]

I've heard rumors that the Interdistrict Downtown School is closing (or maybe just Minneapolis is pulling out); don't know if that's true or not. And unfortunately I think all school districts have "budget issues" (and MPS certainly does) but I agree with Camden Northsider that the suburban schools-are-always-better myth is just that - a myth.

One nice thing about Minneapolis, in contrast to some of the other places I've lived, is that there always has been a core group of interested, involved (of all income levels, including the very wealthiest) parents who have strongly believed in the value of the public schools. There are certainly private schools, but unlike many big cities there's not the feeling that you "have" to send your kids there. As a result many of the public schools are fairly diverse, both in terms of ethnicity as well as family income level. There are also a lot of different options available, from the bilingual program mentioned above (I wish there were more of them, but maybe they'll continue to expand...), montessori, urban environmental, fine arts, and all sorts of other approaches. There might be some shifting around (or possible elimination of some smaller magnet programs - I think discussions are currently underway as to details) as enrollment levels shift and the school district faces some budget tightening, but undoubtedly there will still be plenty of excellent options available at all grade levels.

[Ben Around]

One thing newcomers don't immediately grasp is that there are many great neighborhoods in St Paul that are just as close if not closer to downtown Minneapolis than many Minneapolis neighborhoods. In addition to the great Mpls. neigborhoods already mentioned, check out the St Paul neighborhoods of Macalester-Groveland, Highland Park and St. Anthony Park (not the suburb called St. Anthony). All fit your criteria. All are an easy commute, whether you drive, use the frequent express buses on Cleveland and Snelling Avenues, or use LRT (46th St Station).

When we moved to the TC, we chose Highland to live in. One of the reasons was because I had a job in downtown St Paul but my wife didn't have a job yet. As it happened, she wound up getting a job in Minneapolis, so were were centrally located. (Her work unit has since been relocated to the burbs )

RE: schools, be sure to check out the charter schools (but be selective--quality is all over the map on these!). In our neighborhood, many kids walk to Highland Catholic School. In Mac-Groveland, the sidewalks are a sea of plaid every school day, with kids headed to Nativity School. Our kids went to the public grade school in our neighborhood and thrived there, but if going to school with some kids on the free lunch program and kids who are learning English as a second language concern you, it may not be for you.

[StilltheSame]

Thanks for all the insightful and helpful information. For clarification - we would like to put the kids in public school, so if that changes our choice of neighborhoods let me know. Also, I noticed that many on these boards emphasize the desirability of south Minneapolis and the western areas more so than the northern areas. However we are open to any great neighborhoods that will meet our needs. Thank you all for your assistance - we cant wait to join the Twin Cities!