Neighborhood recommendation for lesbian family? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: for sale, real estate, apartments)

[inthemarket2]

My partner and I are considering a move to the Twin Cities and are not too familiar with the various non-suburbia neighborhoods. Basically we're looking for an area that is friendly to same-sex couples and their children. As we are starting a family, we are definitely interested in being somewhere where our children won't be the only ones in their schools with same-sex parents. Good schools and being in a relatively safe neighborhood are important, and in a perfect world, we'd like a backyard for our dog (even if it's a small one). Any ideas on where to begin? Thanks for any thoughts!

[uptown_urbanist]

I think I read somewhere that CARAG had one of the highest percentages of gay or lesbian-headed households with children in the country, although now I can't find the statistics to back that up. (CARAG is part of the Uptown/Lyn-Lake area) I doubt that in any Minneapolis school your kids will be the only ones in the school with lesbian parents; it's likely that they won't even be the only ones in their classes with lesbian parents. (Sometimes it seems like all of my female friends from high school are lesbian and are starting to think about having families, so you'll be in good company!) I think you'd be fine in any Minneapolis (probably St. Paul, but I'll leave the St. Paul comments to others that know that city better) neighborhood, so you can go about picking a neighborhood on the same parameters that you would if you weren't lesbian. I personally like the Uptown, Lyn-Lake, and Whittier areas; they're pretty safe (Whittier has a bit more crime, but is still fine, but also has the fewest kids) neighborhoods. Seward also would be very lesbian family friendly. Kingfield would also be a good option. You'd have decent public school options in all of these areas, too. All of these areas have apartments, single family homes, and duplexes. But really, I think you'll be fine on the same-sex parent thing anywhere in the city.

[Astron1000]

^I second that. Both Minneapolis & St. Paul are pretty liberal socially speaking. It doesn't mean you won't come across stupidity on occasion . But anywhere near the neighborhoods mentioned above would be relatively easy going.

You might want to check out Rainbow Families: • Rainbow Families, 3711 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 554098, 612-827-7731, connect@rainbowfamilies.org

visit http://www.familyequality.org/rainbowfamilies/

Also. visit the official website regarding same-sex couples in Minneapolis: http://www.minneapolis.org/page/1/gl...rogressive.jsp

And then there's always PFLAG of course: http://www.pflagtc.org/

[inthemarket2]

Thank you both for the ideas! It was my impression that the Twin Cities in general are fairly friendly. We'd be coming from Chicago and are used to a generally tolerant environment, but you start mixing kids into things, and I just want to make sure we're in the most supportive possible place for their sakes (and that they have other schoolmates from similar families).

I guess then our priorities become: 1) GLBT friendly neighborhood, 2) high quality schools, 3) safe neighborhood, 4) affordable ($325K is probably our max), 5) a yard would be great.

Maybe we should consider a neighborhood near one of the universities? Our friends just moved to a really cute area that seems to be called the Macalester-groveland area. Any thoughts on that area?

I might be back with more questions after I research some of your suggestions. Thanks again! It's really appreciated.

[uptown_urbanist]

That's a fairly generous budget, actually. I don't know much about Macalester-Groveland in particular (may be more expensive?) although it's well-known as a nice neighborhood and I've always enjoyed my time there as a visitor. (I don't get over to St. Paul as much as I should, despite its many nice neighborhoods) It would certainly be GLBT friendly, there are some very good St. Paul schools, it's safe, and you should have no problems finding a place with a yard (if you can afford something there, that is.) Actually, the yard issue in general shouldn't be a big deal - with your budget you can buy a single family home (or a duplex) and almost all of them will come with at least some yard space.

I would say that the neighborhoods near the St. Paul universities all seem pretty family friendly; the areas around the U of MN are more hit-or-miss, and can have much higher percentages of hard-partying students (not that St. Paul doesn't have it, too, but it seems more diluted). I wouldn't live in Dinkytown, for example, if I didn't have a university connection. Some of the other neighborhoods near the U could work, though: Prospect Park, parts of Marcy-Holmes, etc.

I don't know the north side neighborhoods very well, but there are others on this board that do. Depending on where you'll be working you may want to seriously consider buying over there. Some neighborhoods are rough, but there are some very nice neighborhoods, too, and you can find some great housing deals at the moment. There are also some city and sometimes also neighborhood housing incentive programs available right now; you may want to look into those to see if you qualify.

[acesgrinned]

Originally Posted by inthemarket2

My partner and I are considering a move to the Twin Cities and are not too familiar with the various non-suburbia neighborhoods. Basically we're looking for an area that is friendly to same-sex couples and their children. As we are starting a family, we are definitely interested in being somewhere where our children won't be the only ones in their schools with same-sex parents. Good schools and being in a relatively safe neighborhood are important, and in a perfect world, we'd like a backyard for our dog (even if it's a small one). Any ideas on where to begin? Thanks for any thoughts!

I would think of Uptown/Kenwood. The people are liberal (mostly) and because the area is kinda expensive (Kenwood) the police usually patrol frequently. Good luck and welcome...Denny

[uptown_urbanist]

They're not going to find a place in Kenwood for that budget, though. Parts of Uptown, yes, Kenwood, no. (and personally I think Kenwood is kind of boring, but the houses are nice) Uptown is certainly extremely liberal and there are plenty of same-sex-headed families around.

[shizzy]

I would agree with all that has been stated. I also lived in the Mac/Groveland neighborhood and loved it. Im a heavily tattoed young guy with a shaved head who had a loud motorcycle and all the neighbors were more then friendly. 99% of them walked right up and introduced themselves and gave me their family history and some info about the block.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I don't know the north side neighborhoods very well, but there are others on this board that do. Depending on where you'll be working you may want to seriously consider buying over there. Some neighborhoods are rough, but there are some very nice neighborhoods, too, and you can find some great housing deals at the moment.

There is an active group on the Northside called the GLBT Northsiders (I think this was formerly called the Camden Gay Neighbors' League although am not 100% sure on that). This group spearheads the "Get to NOMI"(NoMi= North Minneapolis) homebuying tours- for more information go here: NOMI Home Buyers Tour and sign up to be on their email list.

On your budget you could find a number of options in my neighborhood (Victory), and probably a lot of great options for a significant amount less than your max purchase price. We love it here- there is a great community feel here, it's safe, and there are a lot of families with young children as well as a significant GLBT population (admittedly I am somewhat ignorant about the intersection of the two groups, although I would think it's pretty likely that there are a number of gay couples with children here- I'm just not the most observant).

I've heard and seen very great things from the local elementary school- Loring Community School- it is a very diverse in all senses of the word and has had a lot of success with a majority low-income student population. The high school that serves the area (Minneapolis Henry) similarly is a great urban public high school with a stellar IB program. In addition to the public schools here, I've known of a number of families in the n'hood that send their kids to private and/or public interdistrict schools- of these include InterDistrict Downtown School(IDDS) and Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR).

And if the link works, real estate listings for Victory Neighborhood can be found here: Victory Real Estate & Homes for Sale - REALTOR.com. Neighborhood Association information can be found here: www.victoryneighborhood.org. Good luck with your search!

[Slig]

We could all heavily plug our own neighborhoods as being the right one for you but when it comes down to it you'll be choosing the best fit for you and your family according to your own personal preferences. If you want to learn about individual neighborhoods here is a nice resource to check out:
Minneapolis Neighborhood Profiles

Here is the great map that shows the boundaries of all the communities and neighborhoods:
http://www.ci.mpls.mn.us/about/maps/neighborhoods.pdf