An Outsiders Observations of The Cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartments, loft, condos)

[DannyBanany]

Well I can't wait to move to Minneapolis this August! It's going to be nice to get out of my small town and go to school in a nice big city! I've kind of been weighing the pros and cons of Minneapolis and after 6 trips up to The Cities in the past 2 years here's what I've come up with so far (I plan to add more after I move).

The good:

Winters are terrible but coming from Western South Dakota they're not as eclectic as what I'm used to. Here I get a blizzard one day and a heatwave the next. Minneapolis stays continuously dreary in the winter so I'll get used to it without getting teased by occasional warm weather.

People know how to dress and they're beautiful. I can't think of a time I ever saw an ugly person in Minneapolis. I am truly shocked by how good-looking everyone is in the Twin Cities. I've been to other large cities- Denver, San Diego, Las Vegas, Los Angeles even Paris and the best-looking people I have ever seen are in the Twin Cities. Both genders too! It's like eye candy 24/7!!! I love it!!!

The nightlife is comparable to coastal cities. Minneapolis could use a few more good clubs but from what I've seen so far, it beats the pants off of any other city in the plains.

Trees and parks. It's going to be so nice to live in a place that has so much vegetation. Living on the high plains makes seeing a cluster of trees a rarety and now I'll get to enjoy it everyday!

Shopping- no tax on clothes and food. Enough said.

The bad:

Traffic jams. I have never been in a city with more traffic jams than Minneapolis. Compared to Denver, a city of similar calibur, Minneapolis traffic is awful. Denver traffic flows quickly and without any jams whatsoever. Minneapolis traffic can come to a standstill 15 miles out of downtown. It drives me nuts.

Mill City. I don't care what anyone says and I know it's a historical landmark for Minneapolis but... it's ugly. I would never pay $900,000 for a studio loft that overlooks the Pillsbury Mills. It looks like industrial ruins in the middle of a nice, clean city. Which also brings me to Riverside Housing (the Crack Stacks) and then the fact that factories get thrown in the most random places. The dirty Ford factory is just blocks away from Highland Park- a nice residential area. And then there's all kinds of industrial parks by the University of Minnesota. Did Minneapolis have really skewed planning??? Riverside looks like something out of a Serbian ghetto.

Lack of mountains. I love my mountains but what can I expect? Minnesota is a plains state after all!

Overall, I can't wait to move up! I'm just giving my opinion and hopefully a little creative criticism!

[Slig]

From my experience the weather here tends to vary greatly and there have been many times where it goes from sunny and warm to snow storm within a day's time. I would guess that overall the climate is similar, although probably a little bit colder here in the winter. Personally I'm a fan of the Mill Park Stone Arch Bridge/Guthrie and Cedar-Riverside areas. The fact that they aren't the most aesthetically appealing areas makes them stand out and makes them cool and interesting in my opinion. I still stand by the claim that I'd be willing to live in the Riverside Plaza apartments on one of the top floors of the McKnight building (the tall one), so I could enjoy the views of the city.

I will disagree with you on metro traffic. It is only bad if you use the wrong road at the wrong time. In general, don't use the main arteries going into downtown Minneapolis/St. Paul in the morning during rush hour or leaving them in the afternoon and you'll be fine. I spent a week in the Los Angeles area recently and traffic there is WAAAY worse, it isn't even close. If it takes me 45 minutes to get across town here, it took me 2 1/2 hours there.

In general though, it sounds like you've found alot of the aspects that make the Twin Cities a great place. And there may not be mountains here, but there's plenty of lakes!

[Aylalou]

Welcome to the TC, Danny! I think you will really like it here even sans mountains. I don't think winter is dreary - not grey - but if you mean long winters - yes! But you already know that.

I also disagree about the traffic here and agree with Slig on this one. This is NOTHING compared to larger cities - maybe not Denver - but this is really a breeze even when one compares to cities like Portland and Seattle which are not as big as Chicago, or L.A. Their problem is bridges and gridlock.
The one big traffic problem in the TC is summer construction projects and detours. Aarrrgh!

[cdubs3201]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

Minneapolis stays continuously dreary in the winter so I'll get used to it without getting teased by occasional warm weather.

Ummmm, I never considered MN to be consistent weather. You will be teased with beautiful weather one day and extremely cold/wind/ice storm day the next. I don't know what SD is like, but I would've never described MN to be consistent weather.

[uptown_urbanist]

Yeah, I find it funny when Minnesotans (or soon-to-be Minnesotans!) complain about traffic - yes, it's not great, and yes, MN should be acting NOW to get good long-term public transportation in place to prevent future problems, but coming from time spent in DC and then (especially) LA let me tell you, traffic is great in Minneapolis. But then again, it's all relative, and I know the Twin Cities is worse than many other places. (same thing with cost of living - I hear people frequently complain about Minneapolis being expensive, but again, all relative!)

I personally love industrial ruins and the industrial historical riverfront, but agree with you that the Riverside housing is really ugly. Take heart in the fact that there were supposed to be many, many more towers of the same style, part of the broader urban "renewal" projects that took place across the country a couple of decades ago.

I agree about the trees - during the part of the year when things are growing, this is an incredibly green area. Right now the lilacs are in full bloom and everything smells great.

Thanks for the observations; we might not see eye-to-eye on everything, but it's always interesting to see how others think!

[Call me Gina]

What time is AM rush hour coming from the west (Minnetonka) to U of M campus? Is it a typical 7:30 to 9:30?

I'm moving to TC in 3 weeks!

[scolls]

I had similar impressions of Minneapolis. I also found the females to be very attractive there vs. anywhere else. Minneapolis does seem to have a poor road system. I'm sure I haven't traveled all the routes, but I've driven on main streets like Central Ave and University Ave and I cannot believe there is only 2 lanes of traffic each way. In Detroit it is a minimum of 3 lanes each way, and in a lot of cases 4 lanes. The freeways also seem narrow as most Detroit freeways are 4 or even 5 lanes in one direction. I like the fact Minneapolis seems set on building parks. You are also the first person i have seen to say a Minnesota winter is a positive.

[denver_hacker]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

Denver traffic flows quickly and without any jams whatsoever.

Maybe at 3am on a Tuesday.

Try going from Boulder to LoDo at 8am on a weekday.

Or from Parker to downtown Denver.

Or maybe from Aurora to Golden.

Or Castle Rock to Boulder.

As someone who deals with Denver's traffic daily, I just had to jump in and comment on that one. Denver's traffic is not a magical panacea.

[Ben Around]

I'm gonna take exception with your denouncement of the Ford plant's location in Highland Park. I live less than a half mile from the plant, and you would never know it was there if you were in my yard or in my house. The plant was built before the neighborhood was. The middle and upper middle income housing came after the plant was built. The planners did a remarkable job of screening this huge plant from the surrounding neighborhood. There are $1 million+ homes within blocks of the place on the Mississippi River Boulevard. As far as dirty, well, you can see a gritty scene if you stand at the gates at Ford & Cretin and look into the grounds, or on the Cleveland Avenue bridge and look north west into the rail yard, but otherwise, the plant is completely screened by beautiful landscaping on all four sides.

Personally, I will miss the plant. My greatest fear is that some of the plans to redevelop the land into "mixed retail and residential" will come to fruition, plopping a Woodberyesque development of big boxes, condos surrounded by vast parking lots, and upscale mini mansions.

[scolls]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

I'm gonna take exception with your denouncement of the Ford plant's location in Highland Park. I live less than a half mile from the plant, and you would never know it was there if you were in my yard or in my house. The plant was built before the neighborhood was. The middle and upper middle income housing came after the plant was built. The planners did a remarkable job of screening this huge plant from the surrounding neighborhood. There are $1 million+ homes within blocks of the place on the Mississippi River Boulevard. As far as dirty, well, you can see a gritty scene if you stand at the gates at Ford & Cretin and look into the grounds, or on the Cleveland Avenue bridge and look north west into the rail yard, but otherwise, the plant is completely screened by beautiful landscaping on all four sides.

Personally, I will miss the plant. My greatest fear is that some of the plans to redevelop the land into "mixed retail and residential" will come to fruition, plopping a Woodberyesque development of big boxes, condos surrounded by vast parking lots, and upscale mini mansions.

I would hate to see what he thought if he came to Detroit.