Dangerous/Good parts of Minneapolis/ St. Paul (North St. Paul, Edgerton: apartment, low crime)

[MantaRay]

Thanks for the feedback!

[lalife]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

I've been scoping out possible future retirement spots lately, and I'm not sure yet if I can get past the Minneapolis winter cold, but otherwise I really like what the city has to offer. What I would generally be looking for in location for a home is close proximity to trails which I could bike to downtown/along the riverfront, close proximity to a park that I could walk or bike to and read a book, etc. and close proximity to nice eating spots. I noticed that Minneapolis is chock full of trails, and specifically in the areas just south and west of downtown, there are trails which connect to downtown and which also are in proximity to parks. I don't know the correct names, but I just know the neighborhoods are in proximity to Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, Lake Nokomis, (as a periphery), and back inward toward downtown.

My question is of those neighborhoods (all within about 5 miles or so of downtown in the south and west direction), which ones have the really good eating spots/restaurants/cafes, if any? Also, is anybody familiar enough with them to know reasons somebody might NOT want to live there? Thanks.

Why on earth would you want to retire in Minneapolis? The taxes are nuts here.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by lalife

Why on earth would you want to retire in Minneapolis? The taxes are nuts here.

Haven't made a final decision yet, (and I have a really long while yet until that time) but the types of cities that have made my short list have extensive bike paths, have a waterfront park, have access to lakes/waterways for (slow) kayaking, have between 1 million and 4 million people for lots of amenities but not too crowded, lots of park space, an ample selection/variety of restaurants, not pushing the upper 90s in the summer, and preferably not blistering cold in the winter, but I could always go somewhere else for two or three months. But certainly absolutely no places that tend to be overcast and gray a lot. And no places that are eye-popping expensive.

I've narrowed my "Final Four" list to Nashville, Denver, Chula Vista CA (San Diego suburb), Minneapolis. Minneapolis kind of just beats out St. Pete, FL because St. Pete is awfully muggy and hot for a solid 5 months. Anyway, that's why Minneapolis makes the list.

Let me ask you this- why does it seem like so many people like Minneapolis or want to move to Minneapolis?

[lalife]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Haven't made a final decision yet, (and I have a really long while yet until that time) but the types of cities that have made my short list have extensive bike paths, have a waterfront park, have access to lakes/waterways for (slow) kayaking, have between 1 million and 4 million people for lots of amenities but not too crowded, lots of park space, an ample selection/variety of restaurants, not pushing the upper 90s in the summer, and preferably not blistering cold in the winter, but I could always go somewhere else for two or three months. But certainly absolutely no places that tend to be overcast and gray a lot. And no places that are eye-popping expensive.

I've narrowed my "Final Four" list to Nashville, Denver, Chula Vista CA (San Diego suburb), Minneapolis. Minneapolis kind of just beats out St. Pete, FL because St. Pete is awfully muggy and hot for a solid 5 months. Anyway, that's why Minneapolis makes the list.

Let me ask you this- why does it seem like so many people like Minneapolis or want to move to Minneapolis?

People probably move here because the economy ( until recently) tends to be stable. I know that I moved here for work. If I can afford to retire someday, it won't be here. I'd move somewhere where social security isn't taxed and the weather is nice. Minneapolis has alot of gray and gloomy weather by the way.........

[lalife]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Let me ask you this- why does it seem like so many people like Minneapolis or want to move to Minneapolis?

Also, the 2nd answer to why alot of people move to Minneapolis is that for people who don't want to work, there are alot of free handouts here. Welfare, food stamps, section 8 etc.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by lalife

Minneapolis has alot of gray and gloomy weather by the way.........

Really? That's suprising. Weather.com shows Minneapolis as having fairly low precipitation averages. Is it kind of like San Diego's May Gray/June Gloom thing?

[City eYes]

People stay here or move here because of quality of life. We get plenty of sun here, even in the winter time.

[lalife]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Really? That's suprising. Weather.com shows Minneapolis as having fairly low precipitation averages. Is it kind of like San Diego's May Gray/June Gloom thing?

Yes, there can be weeks without sun in the months of November, December, February. But it is cold and icy too. Very miserable.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by lalife

Yes, there can be weeks without sun in the months of November, December, February. But it is cold and icy too. Very miserable.

You must live in a different MN than the rest of us. Never in all my years of living hear have we EVER had weeks at a time without sunshine. Yes, we may have a string of 5 days or so without sun, usually in the winter, but certainly never weeks at a time.

According to this: Weather Today - Weather Forecasts, Radar, Maps for 1000s of US and World Cities

Minneapolis/St. Paul receives on average 95 days of FULL sun every year, not including party sunny days even.

According to this National - Average Cloudy, Partly Cloudy, Clear Days (http://www.met.utah.edu/jhorel/html/wx/climate/cldy.html - broken link) we receive the same number of fully cloudy days so we have about 270 days of full or partly sunny skies.

The past 2 days have been gloriously sunny-so sunny that my heat hasn't kicked on all afternoon-I even had to close some of the blinds on the south side of the house because the rooms were too warm in this 9 degree weather.

[uptown_urbanist]

I don't think of MN as a gloomy place, even in the winter. There's plenty of sun in the winter, at least during the daytime hours! (admittedly the daytime hours are drastically reduced during the heart of winter, but then again, you get really long sunny days during the summer)

People move to the Twin Cities because it offers a good quality of life (including all the amenities desired by the OP) and at a reasonable price. I understand why people would choose to retire to MN. Given MantaRay's list of options, I can see why the Twin Cities would be a good fit. And at least thanks to the lower cost of living (compared to many big cities) and the frequent good deals on flights from MSP you can always do what so many Minnesotans do and take a mid-winter vacation to somewhere warmer if you need a winter break.