Minneapolitans vs Saint Paulites

[audadvnc]

I lived in St. Paul places for several years and have lived in Minneapolis homes and apartments for many years since. Each city has blue collar neighborhoods (Northeast Mpls, Eastside St. Paul), upscale areas (Kenwood thru SW Mpls, Summit/Mac-Groveland/Highland Park), slummy scenes (Franklin Ave or Jordan Mpls, University Ave/Midway or Selby/Dale St. Paul) and downtowns (Minneapolis and, er, St Paul!). I like 'em both - Vive la différence!

[audadvnc]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

I grew up in a circle (really an oval with a stem) in east Minnetonka where the homes were all built by families of roughly the same age, where most of the homes had kids, and where we all played together through high school.

I couldn't imagine a better neighborhood in the city for a kid growing up. We had a small wooded area, a vacant lot for bike trails and digging, a "swamp" (actually a small pond) with ducks and turtles, and a safe and well-defined area in which to play kick the can, cops and robbers on bikes, and various other games.

My daughter grew up on a city street, where the homes were all built by families long dead or moved elsewhere. Some of the homes had kids with freckles and mop tops, some homes had scowling bikers with noisy parties, or little old ladies with pristine yards and homes, or shiftless boys hanging out instead of going to high school.

I couldn't imagine a better neighborhood for a kid growing up. We had lots of straight, level sidewalks to practice skating and bicycling, and three city-maintained playgrounds within walking distance, where we met other families and the kids played together - and let the real cops and robbers play their games on the other side of the fence. My daughter is now a teenager and is not afraid of her own shadow, and is smart enough to navigate through town on her own and stay away from trouble.