Why don't people like Bloomington and Richfield? (Minneapolis, Grant: public schools, cities)

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Anneee

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I'd recommend against Richfield for a newcomer. Richfield is an older, very Minnesotan community, and your family may find it hard to fit in, especially if you have school-age kids.

I personally believe that Richfield is in a transition period. Majority of homes were built in the 50s often called post war. For that reason they tend to be modest in size and simple in design. They still used quality materials in the 50s so the homes are pretty good in terms of how they age. Timing is such that many of the people that built are up in age and homes are turning over to younger and more diverse buyers. Typically people looking for a good value and lower entry point than many areas of Minneapolis and other suburbs, will consider Richfield. Many of the homes are getting updates and expansions from the new generation of buyers.

As far as it comparing to White Bear Lake goes, it really is a matter of what you want. WBL is much more isolated in terms of distance, but it is somewhat similar in other ways such as being a mature location with great tree cover and a fair number of local businesses and some affordable housing. My guess is you will see a lot of overlap in price ranges if you look at homes in these two cities, with some of WBL near the shore being towards upper bracket that you will not find in Richfield. Also, WBL has a longer history and you will find some homes that are much older than the typical home in Richfield. Way back in the day, WBL was a destination for recreation away from the city. They had a train going out there, an amusement park in Willernie and lots of small lake cabins. Some of this history has been preserved and some of it is fading.

[big daryle]

I love Bloomington! My wife comes from there. She also lived in Richfield when she was a very small child. (Carol Christianson, Bloomington Lincoln Class of 1971).

[Mick St John]

Originally Posted by Anneee

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I'd recommend against Richfield for a newcomer. Richfield is an older, very Minnesotan community, and your family may find it hard to fit in, especially if you have school-age kids.

That makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever. Richfield is an older "inner ring" suburb and its demographics might be a little older, but there are a lot of younger buyers moving in due to affordable quality housing. I think people who have a hard time fitting in might have issues of their own.
Actually, the OLD place you're describing sounds more like Edina.
Note to the OP: Whether it be Richfield or Bloomington, i would recommend being as FAR away from the airport as you can.

[DaPerpKazoo]

The airport really is a factor. We lived directly under the flightpath of the new runway, and although the MAC replaced our 60 year old windows, roof, and insulation when it opened, it really was a pain outside sometimes. You get used to it, but your guests don't.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by Mick St John

That makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever. Richfield is an older "inner ring" suburb and its demographics might be a little older, but there are a lot of younger buyers moving in due to affordable quality housing. I think people who have a hard time fitting in might have issues of their own.
Actually, the OLD place you're describing sounds more like Edina.
Note to the OP: Whether it be Richfield or Bloomington, i would recommend being as FAR away from the airport as you can.

Good advice on the Airport. Many people do not realize this, but distance from the airport is not the #1 thing that will reduce noise. Go out to the MAC Website and they have very specific map that shows were noise levels are at. You can see that path under the runway will extend like two pencils (one for each E/W runnway) through Richfield and into Minneapolis. One of the worst places I have experianced for airport noise was near 58th and Blaisdell in Minneapolis (wall shaking bad). A friend had a house there, and it was way louder than his current house with is near 73 and Clinton in Richfield. When planes get speed up, the start ascending and this shoots noise down towards the ground in a very focused area. Also, be aware that one visit to a location is not going to give you the entire picture. They change flight patterns due to weather and will often rotate takeoffs to give certian spots a break from the noise. Used to be every other Sunday, but not sure if this is still in place or not. It is somewhat counter intuative that plane noise is actually worse in some areas that are quite some distance from the runway than it is for areas that are near the airport, but not directly under the flight path.

[DaPerpKazoo]

Very true. It all depends on wind direction. If they were using the parallel runways we would get them coming over every 2-3 minutes all afternoon, but some days when they were suing other runways, we would only get a handful all day.

We were on 56th and Portland, for reference. You can draw a straight line in Google maps down the more southern of the parallel runways and it goes directly through the neighboring lot.

[Mick St John]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

One of the worst places I have experianced for airport noise was near 58th and Blaisdell in Minneapolis (wall shaking bad). A friend had a house there, and it was way louder than his current house with is near 73 and Clinton in Richfield.

Oh yeah. Went to school there. Windom Elementary at the time. Those 707's rattled the foundation.

[big daryle]

So Bloomington Kennedy is not considered a good school? How come?

[big daryle]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

A Richfield house could maybe be 1500 feet if it counted the basement, attic, garage and half the shed. Those houses are 900 foot bungalows from the 1940s and 50s. The schools are not very good in Richfield or east Bloomington. They aren't dangerous areas, they were always blue collar neighborhoods where the older residents are aging now. The cheap housing stock means many of the working poor are attracted to the area. Traffic on the beltway and the crosstown can be bad in general, not to account for construction. However, the ease of access and the central location that Richfield and Bloomington offer help support their cities -- that is not a hinderance to the area.
When and if you look for a home there, remember that (like Minneapolis or Saint Paul) that you really can't describe the quality of Richfield and Bloomington as a whole. West Richfield is nicer than east Richfield and the Woodlake area is on par with some nicer parts of south Mpls.

Why dont you consider the schools in Richfield and East Bloomington to be good?

[Mick St John]

I wouldn't have a problem with Richfield or Bloomington public schools.
I would stay out of Minneapolis and St Paul. I'm a product of the Minneapolis public school system, but that was 40 years ago. A lot has changed since then.