#2 iin the Midwest: Twin Cities or Detroit? (living, cost, life)

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by Mr Maps

Impressive parks. I see that several of the larger parks you listed in fact lie outside the City boundaries. Which is likely why they weren't included in the rankings.

Thank you, we love them here. Some of the parks are spread over several cities, but all of the parks I listed are at least partly within the City of Cleveland borders, except for Washington Park and Garfield Park, which I was apparently mistaken on, as they lie just outside the city's borders.

[YIMBY]

Originally Posted by Bslette

That's doing almost exactly what he's saying.

It's deserved.

[Mr Maps]

With a park every six blocks, Minneapolis provides easy access to recreations for everyone. That is what makes it special to me.



What's special about the Minneapolis park system is that it is spread out over and encircles the entire city in an intricate series of interconnecting greenways and waterways highlighting the Chain of Lakes, the Mississippi Riverfront, and encompasses but is not limited to the Grand Grounds National Scenic Byway – the only urban scenic byway in the United States.

Minneapolis Chain of Lakes State Park:

Lake Calhoun:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)


(Flickr CreativeCommons)

Lake of the Isles:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)
Lake Harriet:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

Minneapolis waterfront:


(Flickr CreativeCommons)


Minnehaha Park:
(Flickr CreativeCommons)

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

Loring Park:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

St. Paul's Como Park & Zoo

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

(Flickr CreativeCommons)


There are dozens of small urban parks like Mears Park in St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood:

(Flickr CreativeCommons)

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by Mr Maps

With a park every six blocks, Minneapolis provides easy access to recreations for everyone.

Granted, the density and number of your parks may be greater, but I think our metro-parks are nicer. The parks in Minneapolis are built into the backdrop of a city, so you never really feel like you're not in a city. Cleveland's parks were designed in the style of Frederick Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, as places to escape the urban chaos.

[reppin_the_847]

When you think about it though, Minneapolis and Detroit are really on two ends of the Midwest. The travel time from Detroit to Minneapolis is probably as long as the travel time from Detroit to certain parts of the East Coast. If it wasn't for Lake Michigan in the way, however, it really wouldn't be as insanely far. The flight time probably isn't too terrible. I feel like Minneapolis is more independent from Chicago, whereas Detroit has greater ties to Chicago. A lot of the population loss from college grads in Michigan over the years was due to yuppies transplanting to Chicago.

[steel03]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

When you think about it though, Minneapolis and Detroit are really on two ends of the Midwest. The travel time from Detroit to Minneapolis is probably as long as the travel time from Detroit to certain parts of the East Coast. If it wasn't for Lake Michigan in the way, however, it really wouldn't be as insanely far. The flight time probably isn't too terrible. I feel like Minneapolis is more independent from Chicago, whereas Detroit has greater ties to Chicago. A lot of the population loss from college grads in Michigan over the years was due to yuppies transplanting to Chicago.

Detroit is in fact closer to New York than to Minneapolis. Detroit is also closer to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond.
Detroit is about as far from Boston and Hampton Roads as it is from Minneapolis.

[reppin_the_847]

Yeah, that's quite nuts when you really think about it. The only sizable Midwestern city IMO that isn't super far from Minneapolis is probably Milwaukee (WI), followed by Chicago.

Speaking of Detroit to the East Coast, I think it would be awfully nice if Amtrak had a route that code shared with VIA Rail in Canada and cut straight across Ontario (and Metro Toronto) to reach the Boston & NYC areas. It's too bad that the unfortunate events of 9/11 had to make customs such a complicated ordeal. Detroit at least used to have a train that ran to Toronto (originating in Chicago).

Originally Posted by steel03

Detroit is in fact closer to New York than to Minneapolis. Detroit is also closer to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond.
Detroit is about as far from Boston and Hampton Roads as it is from Minneapolis.

[steel03]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Yeah, that's quite nuts when you really think about it. The only sizable Midwestern city IMO that isn't super far from Minneapolis is probably Milwaukee (WI), followed by Chicago.

The thing about this, though, is that Minneapolis is surrounded by sizeable smaller cities like St. Cloud, Duluth, Rochester, Fargo, Sioux Falls, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Madison, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City (all within 3-4 hours or so). Rochester, St. Cloud, and Eau Claire are all less than an hour from suburban Minneapolis. Also, since there are fewer people overall, cities don't have to be huge to exert a lot of cultural influence - similar to Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. It's one of the reasons Denver, Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis can all easily compete with Texas cities twice their size.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

If you call a better art museum, better access to a true shoreline (i.e. can't see the other side of it), better urban and national parks, much better orchestra, better theater district, better weather, better architecture not positive, then sure I agree with you. Once again, the provincialism of Minnesotans rears its ugly head. Definitely not "Minnesota Nice" (or is it )

Wait, "better weather" too?

Sorry, having lived in both cities I do not agree at all! Cleveland is very cloudy and gloomy, and although cold Minneapolis has a lot of stuff you can do outside during winter. Summers are very similar, but it's a tad hotter in Minneapolis and there are bigger storms (which I like, but it may not be a positive for everyone). It's incredibly easy to find a nice beach to go to and here in Cleveland there are two primary choices (both great choices, but are far away): Huntington and Mentor Headlands. Edgewater is technically a choice but I've only heard bad things about it.

I DO like fall and spring more in Cleveland though, and I like how much it can snow here, but I'm thinking that's not a universal positive.

[Mr Maps]

To sum up, Minneapolis has the strongest economy and provides a more well-rounded experience in the Midwest.