Mosquitos, rude drivers, barking dogs in Fargo? (house, neighborhood)

[chromy]

Dear forum members who know about Fargo,

We are thinking about relocation to Fargo and would like to know about the mosquito situation...or if there is one, along with how the drivers are in regard to speeding, cutting in and tailgating? In general are most drivers polite or do you have a lot of road rage and rude drivers?

Also, we were wondering how quiet the neigborhood are in regard to barking dogs? Are dogs allowed to roam freely and bark incessantly or are they well trained and well housed?

Thank you to anyone who can give us a heads up on these questions.

[dutchinnd]

I can make some generalizations, but as with many things, individual situations may vary widely.
Mosquitoes: The City of Fargo and neighboring jurisdictions have become much more agressive about fighting mosquitoes since West Nile virus has become known as a threat. There is usually a public awareness campaign every year about getting rid of standing water, keeping grass mowed, and the other things that homeowners can do to keep the population down. When the counts that are officially taken get too high, they do spray in the evenings. A truck with a mister will slowly drive up and down all the blocks in a region of the city. There have been a couple of times when the whole metro area has cooperated with aerial spraying, which has been really effective.
Drivers--it's not so much an issue of rude drivers or road rage, as it is of thoughtless or clueless drivers. I've talked w/ people who have lived on the coasts, and overall they would say that drivers in busier urban areas are much, much better. Perhaps it's due to the fact that a driver, in SoCal for instance, knows that there will _always_ be other cars present. Here, you defintely have people merging in without looking at all.
Dogs--in my neighborhood they tend to be small house dogs. I haven't ever encountered dogs just roaming--cats, yes, but not dogs. There are leash laws in Fargo. There's more official info at the City's web page on pets and strays: Pets and Stray Animals - City of Fargo

[Fischer_girl]

I agree very much with the comment state above. I think if you stated where you are moving from we'd have a better idea how to answer the question.
I spent all of last summer living in S. FL. Now...TALK about mosquitoes! All the questions you ask have to be relative to sometime else. For example..I used to think that we had bad mosquitoes in ND..until my trip to FL. Now..I think ND has so few its crazy! But as stated above, the city does a great job with spraying and educating the public on how to keep the bug population down.
Another relative situation- dog. Just yesterday moring I was driving to work N. of Santa Fe NM...and two dogs darted infront of my car... like...an inch away from being hit! I asked around at work to see if they knew the owners..and the general consesus was that no one cared...it happens all the time. Now..you would never find that happening in Fargo. I think the reason for that is because there is a high public focus on the local animal shelters, and most everyone does a good job keeping their pets leashed or in yards as to not lose their pets of have them taken away.
As far as drivers go... I would say they are really pretty good in ND in general. Of course you have the typical dummy...but you get those everywhere. As with most places..if you just hang out in the right hand lane until you know where you're going, people generally let you be.

[chromy]

Thank you both for your kind replies, that answers my questions.

[JACK SAWYER]

welcome to every other larger city in the country!i think this goes on everywhere?more like human and dog nature than a city issue?