White Bear Lake: what's it like? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: middle-class, fit in, insurance)

[kristineh]

My family is considering a move to the Twin Cities area from out of state and I've heard White Bear Lake is neat but I don't know much about it. We have two young kids so we need good public schools, we like older homes, and we are pretty liberal -- mostly in an environmentally friendly/green kind of way.

Would we "fit in" in White Bear Lake with our Obama yard sign or would we be the local freaks? I don't need everyone to think like me, I just don't want to move in to Conservative Central, either.

Any guidance would be great.

Thanks!

[MotownLowdown]

Hi.

I grew up in WBL, but it's been 12 years since I lived there for any appreciable amount of time.

It's a nice community-- fairly typical middle-upper class suburb. It's not a "true" first ring 'burb like Maplewood, Roseville, or St. Louis Park, as it is just outside the 494/694 loop. But, it is an established community, much more so than a Woodbury or Maple Grove-- which grew rapidly in the mid to late 90s, through most of this decade.

Most of the homes on the south side of town, where I grew up, are your post war bungalow or ranch style homes. North side of town has more of the newer builds.

The actual lake is one of the largest in the metro-- and it really is the center of activty in White Bear. The marina is always packed in the summer-- a great place to go boating (with a picnic lunch from Kowalski's market across the street-- yum!). Lots of joggers, bikers, runners love to use the paths along Lake Avenue.

The downtown has really improved since my days in high school. It used to be run down, and kinda low rent. That's changed 100%. There are a decent number of good independent restaurants there now (Ingredients Cafe for example). They re-did the train depot, and even kept the old Cup n' Cone ice cream stand. (There was a big fight several years ago, as developers wanted to knock it down. It's where everyone takes the kids after baseball games).

Schools, at least when I was there 15 years ago, are good. Pretty big district, with 2 middle schools and a split high school. 9th and 10th grade go to the North Campus (north side of town), 11th and 12th go to South Campus (you guessed it, south side of town).

Politically, Minnesota is a pretty solid Democratic state-- even though there is a Republican Governor. In Minnesota, that means he would be a very moderate Republican (which is why he's on John McCain's short list of running mates). The state hasn't gone Republican in a presidential election in my lifetime (it was the only state to go for Mondale in 1984-- his home state!). No one would look funny at your Obama sign. In fact-- it probably would not be the only one on your street.
Minnesota is the state of 10,000 lakes-- and people are really into the outdoors, and preserving natural resources. You will fit in very well.

Good luck!

[taysantanamama]

I lived in White Bear Lake for 3 years and I loved it. If I were to move back to MN, I would definately move back there. It is a very nice town, has a wonderful, quaint downtown, close to big box amenities, lots of old trees, homes from turn of the century, mid-century to contemporary. I was very happy with the schools, my kids went to Lincoln, wonderful teachers, Central then North Campus. It was a decent commute to downtown St. Paul, and if you were to head "up north" just a quick jump on the freeway. I would highly recommend living there. I always had democrat signs in my yard, as did most people on my block.

[golfgal]

Any idea where you will be working? White Bear Lake is a nice area but if your job is in Minnetonka, you won't want to live there because of the commute. Luckily there are similar towns through out the metro. Stillwater is also on that side of the cities and would be another town to consider. It will have a larger offering of older homes too. If you end up on the west side of the cities Chaska and Wayzata are places to look into for older homes, quaint downtowns, etc.

[kristineh]

Thanks for the answers so far. My husband would be getting a master's at the University of Minnesota and I don't know where I'd be working, but I'm guessing it would be in the downtown Minneapolis area.

[Alt Dach]

Not hardly,check out Lake Forest or Winetta IL or Shorewood WI if you
want to see what UPPER middle looks like.
WBL is just a nice, solidly MC town.

[pcwette2]

[SIZE=3]If you perform a google search on WBL you will find that it is right in there with the surrounding areas, Forest Lake, Stillwater, and Mahtomedi. As far as income levels. Woodbury & Stillwater have a higher median income. School system, if I could, I would go private or home school my kids. Unfortunately, I don’t have the money or the patience. The schools are not White Bear’s selling asset. You have to be a VERY active parent and that can be hard when both families work full time. Our son didn't get help for a comprehension issue, until we pushed the school and actively started pursuing the services of Huntington Learning Centers. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I love the community, which is why I commute about 40 minutes to my place of employment. White Bear is a “small town” with “big town” amenities. Another community that is really nice is Vadnais Heights—just a few miles away. I believe it was voted 28 out of the top 100 places to live. It is still part of the White Bear Lake school district. Plus there is Hugo, a newer community when it comes to schools—they are part of the White Bear Lake school district. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Liberal, you’ll be at home in White Bear Lake. Living green—not as aggressive as Seattle, but definitely on the right track. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Lakes, Walking paths & parks are close. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I won’t move until my kids have graduated. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Best of luck! [/SIZE]

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by kristineh

Thanks for the answers so far. My husband would be getting a master's at the University of Minnesota and I don't know where I'd be working, but I'm guessing it would be in the downtown Minneapolis area.

I rented a townhouse in WBL this summer and drove into downtown Minneapolis. Commute is not bad now that they are done with most of the roadwork. 25-30 minutes is a reasonable guess on commute times.

I agree that it is a nice place. I found people to be laid back and friendly. I like the old town feel, but yet it is current at the same time. Everything you need is within 20 minutes in terms of shopping etc.

I would say it is a good mix of people overall. Not upper bracket by any means, except for lakefront property.

Lake is fairly large, and busy. Not great place to fish, but a lot of sailing and skiing and general pleasure boating.

One thing that suprised me a bit is the wildlife and birds. We attracted humming birds, had deer walking through the yard, and I saw some wild turkeys too.

Recently finished building our new house in Mahtomedi, but I would recommend WBL as a good place to live.

Dom't know much about the schools. From what I hear they are OK/average.

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by Alt Dach

Not hardly,check out Lake Forest or Winetta IL or Shorewood WI if you
want to see what UPPER middle looks like.
WBL is just a nice, solidly MC town.

Did you mean Winnetka, IL? Ah...Winnetka is one of the richest suburbs of Chicago. Of course WBL is middle-class compared to upper-class Winnetka. Almost every suburb in the Midwest is middle-class compared to Winnetka.

You have to be joking about Shorewood, WI. In 2005, Shorewood had a average household income that was actually lower than the Wisconsin state average, and considerably lower than WBL.

[tuneyjune]

I moved here over 20 years ago after living in MN, SD and OR. The only thing we knew about the city was that it was my college roommates home town. We love it! There is an active rec league for most sports as well as school teams. Our two boys loved playing soccer and baseball, and many of their friends played hockey and football. The schools are OK. One child excelled, one not so much. When we moved here, we were told our insurance rates would be low because of the lack of crime. That may have changed some with the drug situation rising everywhere. If you live here, you will quite probably find a job in the northeast metro that can easily be gotten to via freeways. I've never worked more than 15 minutes from my home. Wherever you end up living, WELCOME to Minnesota. We really are a pretty nice group of people.