Having Trouble Understanding How the Twin Cities Neighborhoods Work (Minneapolis: crime, university)

[Milesperhour]

I'm currently living in Chicago, but am moving to Minneapolis this August for a job. I've been to the Twin Cities a few times now, but am having trouble getting a handle on how their neighborhoods work. I'm used to Chicago's culture of neighborhoods, where upon meeting for the first time people ask one another from which neighborhood they hail, and different hoods have clear (if disputed) boundary lines. When I moved to Chicago I used the Chicago Cultural Center neighborhood guide and Domu extensively to gain an understanding of the city.

Chicago Neighborhoods | Explore Chicago

Chicago Neighborhoods | Domu Chicago

So far I have not been able to find a good neighborhood guide for the Twin Cities. The Live MSP guide is alright, but a bit lightweight and opinion free. Is there another source? How does the neighborhood culture of the twin cities differ?

Minneapolis Neighborhoods

[Glenfield]

I don't know about St. Paul or the suburbs but neighborhoods are precisely defined in Minneapolis. Neighborhoods usually take the name of a large park within the neighborhood, or vice versa. Neighborhoods are grouped into larger, more loosely defined "communities." Other places are sort of areas that are neither communities nor neighborhoods. Uptown is an example of that. What is sometimes confusing is that a larger community may have the same name as a specific neighborhood, e.g. Longfellow. Now the neighborhoods are really, really important because they have boards and they have money. They used to have more through the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, but that's another story for another time. In many ways, the neighborhoods are like small towns. I'm not sure about the rest of the city, but in SW Mpls. people are very aware of their neighborhood and the issues there. I'm sure others will weigh in on the pros and cons of the different neighborhoods and the cultural implications. Meanwhile, here's a handy map to get you started.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/abou...ghborhoods.pdf

[Laggard]

Neighborhoods are clearly defined. I find that asking people where they live will half the time get you near what intersection they live in and half the time you'll be told what neighborhood they live in.

In general if someone asks me where I live I say South Minneapolis. If they press further I tell them Stevens. If they still look confused I say Nicollet/Franklin.

I don't see any type of neighborhood rivalry or nationalist pride. A couple neighborhoods (Marcy Holmes, Whittier) seem to like to blown their own horn often.

[uptown_urbanist]

I think people in Minneapolis are very aware of where they live, although that doesn't always translate into the "official" city-defined neighborhood. Actually, my impression (which could well be wrong) was that it's more similar to Chicago in that sense than to many other cities; when we thought we were moving to Chicago we found that there was "Lincoln Park," for example, and then sub-neighborhoods within that (Sheffield, etc.) I think that may be similar to "Uptown" (in Mpls) as the broad category, "CARAG" as the sub-neighborhood.

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

I think I know what you're getting at. I always found the neighborhoods of Minneapolis to be a little artificial. "Main" streets tend to be boundaries of neighborhoods rather than the heart of neighborhoods. I lived on 31st Street, in Powderhorn, for example. If someone lived on 29th Street they would have lived in Phillips. Yet, we all did most of our business on Lake Street - which is the equivalent of 30th Street, and is lined with businesses throughout all of South Minneapolis. Almost all neighborhoods are very rigid boxes blocked off by larger streets.

The Midtown Global Market, a pretty big attraction in South Minneapolis, is in "Midtown Phillips" but directly across the street from either West Phillips, Powderhorn, or Central neighborhoods, for example. People from all of those places went there, and I'd consider us all neighbors and part of the same neighborhood. No?

There are some exceptions to this rule, I guess. But when I think of a neighborhood, I think more of something like Uptown, with its main streets of Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street, with a slightly more fluid definition. But in actuality, there are several neighborhoods that are sort of "uptown" and these neighborhoods are actually divided by Hennepin and Lake.

I'm not sure if that's what you're getting at or not. In other places I've lived (Mainly, New York City and Philadelphia), neighborhoods often (but not always) have more geographical boundaries, wildly different architectural styles at times, and have their own main streets serving the middle of the neighborhood. I have no idea how that compares to Chicago though.

That being said - even with what IMO are artificial barriers, when I lived in Powderhorn, it was very clearly understood to be Powderhorn and people seemed to be proud of their neighborhood. Same goes for probably all of the neighborhoods. With the exception of my wife, who grew up near Hamline University in St. Paul, and I was never clear what exact neighborhood that actually was...

[Glenfield]

I don't find much awareness of Minneapolis neighborhoods outside of the city, with maybe a few exceptions like Linden Hills, so if I'm telling another Minneapolis resident where I live, I'll say Kingfield. To someone in the Twin Cities area, I might say South Minneapolis or give a nearby major intersection. To someone outstate, it would be The Cities.

[uptown_urbanist]

FamousBlueRaincoat -- my impression (at least based on the research I did when we came very, very close to moving to Chicago) is that it's more like Minneapolis as far as neighborhood organization goes, as in clearly delineated formal "community areas" and then more informal neighborhood names, which don't necessarily exactly align.

Back to the OP: It may help to remember that the formal neighborhoods have generally (with some exceptions) been more focused on the interior, more residential portions of the neighborhood. In other words, the official city names do not focus on the commercial business areas. As a result you get the informal neighborhood names (Uptown, Lyn-Lake, Dinkytown) that can be used to describe both the business core as well as the surrounding area, although those definitions get more contested.

As far as additional resources go, if you have any questions about specific neighborhoods feel free to toss them out here! And if you're into policy documents (some of them very accessible to the general public, and filled with tons of useful information), lots of small area plans are available online: Approved City Plans There are some neighborhood ones on that list, including Lyn-Lake, Uptown, and Cedar Riverside. (and others, but I haven't read most of the others)

Most, probably all, formal neighborhoods also have active websites, some with their neighborhood newspapers available online, with blogs, photos, email lists, etc. If you're researching crime statistics all neighborhoods also have formal community police plans available online.

[Glenfield]

The formal boundaries of the neighborhoods of Minneapolis were formalized in the early 1990s as a way to allocate Neighborhood Revitalization Program funds. It was at this point that the neighborhood boards were formalized. This may explain why some of the neighborhoods had an artificial feel to Famous Blue. Some of neighborhoods were centered on well established commercial nodes, such as the Linden Hills shopping district. Most neighborhoods contain several smaller commercial nodes, such as 46th and Grand or 54th and Penn. Larger commercial nodes, like Lyn-Lake and Uptown will be a resource used by many neighborhoods. Most of the neighborhood organizations are aware of the importance of their commercial nodes and I think those tend to receive more attention, and certainly more funds, than residential areas.

The neighborhood organizations and boards have sometimes sprung from activist groups addressing different issues. I know CARAG started this way, though I can't recall what the issue was at time. This may be another reason why some neighborhoods seem to have a stronger identity than others.

[uptown_urbanist]

True, but many (maybe even all?) of those neighborhoods and their boundaries existed earlier, I believe perhaps by the early 1980s? I have a map from around that time that has the labeled neighborhoods listed. NRP certainly further cemented those boundaries by giving neighborhoods access to LOTS of money -- something you don't see in many cities.

I'm not sure I agree that the commercial districts receive more attention and funds than the residential areas. I guess it depends on the specific area. The neighborhoods in Uptown, anyway, tend not to funnel their funds to the commercial core, and many people seem to interpret "neighborhood" to mean "residential streets," perhaps because so much NRP money is used for housing-related purposes.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

True, but many (maybe even all?) of those neighborhoods and their boundaries existed earlier, I believe perhaps by the early 1980s? I have a map from around that time that has the labeled neighborhoods listed. NRP certainly further cemented those boundaries by giving neighborhoods access to LOTS of money -- something you don't see in many cities.

I'm not sure I agree that the commercial districts receive more attention and funds than the residential areas. I guess it depends on the specific area. The neighborhoods in Uptown, anyway, tend not to funnel their funds to the commercial core, and many people seem to interpret "neighborhood" to mean "residential streets," perhaps because so much NRP money is used for housing-related purposes.

I just meant that the boundaries were formally established at that time, not that neighborhoods didn't exist.

We may just have a definitional thing going here on residential vs. commercial. Each neighborhood org decided how to spend their money. Might be street lights, might be park improvements might be facade improvements, might be bus shelters, might be extra cops, might be murals on businesses. These are all things that I am aware of that NRP money in Kingfield and Lyndale has been spent on. These are, I believe, typical NRP projects from the later phases. Early on, I think some money was granted to homeowners for residential improvements but, at least where I live, no NRP money was spent on that in the later years.