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The South Side has its not-so-good qualities but I also think it's an excellent place to live, and I really enjoy living here. If I do move it could be hard for me to leave. Truthfully I love it here, I'm really just following job offers for now. The North Side is..................OK. But I'm black and so maybe I just feel like I fit in a lot more on the South Side than the North, you know?
Yeah I'm interested in St. Paul, you always hear about Minne but not St. Paul. And like I said, bring on the cold!
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It'd be interesting to follow up in a year if you do actually move to the Twin Cities. I'd like to hear how things go for you. My wife's from Chicago, and her closest family are all there. Aside from the downtown, I pretty much hate the city. It's like a big version of the Twin Cities, but uglier. The weather is only marginally different.
I hate winter, but I guess the older I get, the less it bothers me. (I'm 29, so it took a long time to get to that point!) I even ride my bike to work with temps below 20 if there isn't ice.
It'd be interesting to follow up in a year if you do actually move to the Twin Cities. I'd like to hear how things go for you. My wife's from Chicago, and her closest family are all there. Aside from the downtown, I pretty much hate the city. It's like a big version of the Twin Cities, but uglier. The weather is only marginally different.
I hate winter, but I guess the older I get, the less it bothers me. (I'm 29, so it took a long time to get to that point!) I even ride my bike to work with temps below 20 if there isn't ice.
I will if I do move there. I've been to the area once, and that was in the summer. It looked really nice. I like the upper Midwest in general. People in that part of the country are really friendly (Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota). I'm from the South and we're known for our friendliness, but Midwesterners seem to be more genunienly friendly, as opposed to the fake back-stabbing smile in your face at church but still talk about you the next day attitude of many Southerners.
In any case, I was impressed by the Twin Cities. I couldn't believe how clean the Mississippi River was! It was sparkling blue and people were playing in it like they do at Lake Michigan here in Chicago during the summer. Being from the South, the first time I saw the Mississippi was in Memphis, and it is muddy and dirty as all hell down there. It's even worse if you go to New Orleans. And even in St. Louis, the mighty Mississip' ain't exactly clean either. But to see that same nasty, filthy river that goes through Memphis and New Orleans sparkling blue and clean in Minneapolis really took me aback, I couldn't believe how clean it was. The whole city seem to be really clean and just overall a nice place to live. If I hadn't had those positive impressions of the Twin Cities i probably wouldn't even consider the move in the first place.
Anyway, as for Chicago. Part of me really wants to stay here, because I love it here. And yet part of me is tired of the "big city" life. The Twin Cities are by no means small (probably about the size of Atlanta, if not larger) but they're no Chicago either. This city is HUGE, and to move here from Alabama was a pretty big jump. It's not one that I regret, but i do kind of step back and say to myself maybe it's time to move to a smaller city. Even Atlanta (the "big city" in the South) is small compared to Chicago, I could go to any city in the U.S. (except for New York or Los Angeles) and I would be moving to a smaller, more managble, easier to get around city.
Also..................one little tidbit worth mentioning - I have a friend who is an actress working in a local black theatre here in Chicago. I told her about the Twin Cities and my possible relocation plans and she mentioned a well-known (well, at least it's well-known in the black theatre community) theatre in St. Paul called the Penumbra. I keep hearing on these boards, from blacks and others, about how there's no black people in Minnesota. But a black theatre is a pretty strong indication of a black population, and not just that, but an *educated* black population, a black population that patronizes the arts.
I have a feeling maybe the Twin Cities are not as white as I thought. That was actually a pretty big concern for me that there would be very few black professionals or black people in general to mingle with and socialize with, but I mean..................come on. If I go to Salt Lake City, I'm not going to find a black theatre. Also i found out that Minneapolis had a black female mayor a few years back, she was the first black female mayor of a major U.S. city (eat your heart out, Shirley Franklin). So perhaps the Twin Cities are a little more chocolate-y than I thought.
One more thing - my friend (the actress) lived in the Twin Cities for a while before coming back here, and she said there was a lot more blacks in St. Paul than Minneapolis. Anyone else find this to be true? If so maybe I'll look for an apartment there instead of in Minneapolis.
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Last edited by AQUEMINI331; 11-08-2007 at 05:29 PM..
You asked about blacks in the area...there's actually a bit more black people in Mpls that St Paul. Saint Paul has a larger Asian population (mainly Hmong and Vietnamese).
You might want to check out the Uptown area where you'll meat more of the crowd who is into theater and of the professional type.
Mpls will resemble Chicago a lot more than St Paul (st paul feels like an eastern city). In some ways, a lot of the St Paul neighborhoods feel like suburbs with small lots; I mean this in a good way. Most, but not all, of the entertainment/theater type stuff will be in Mpls.
For what it's worth I've met a few people from Chicagoland who have relocated here, and they all liked it enough to buy houses here. They were thinking along the same lines you are--Chicago is huge; it's easier to get around the twin cities. You'll be used to the weather. It's slightly colder and gets darker maybe 1/2 hour earlier.
Oh yeah, if you move here, you will probably think people drive way to SLOW :-)
What is this North Minneapolis talk??.. The OP is graduating with a Master degree, therefore he doesn't have to live in that bad area.
I say Welcome to Minnesota. Yes, the winters are colder up here, however if you have been living in Chicago, it won't be that much of a shock. The Twin Cities are pretty quiet and you would probably like it better here than Chicago if you are looking for a less stressful pace. Plus the cost of living is less here too.
You asked about blacks in the area...there's actually a bit more black people in Mpls that St Paul. Saint Paul has a larger Asian population (mainly Hmong and Vietnamese).
You might want to check out the Uptown area where you'll meat more of the crowd who is into theater and of the professional type.
Mpls will resemble Chicago a lot more than St Paul (st paul feels like an eastern city). In some ways, a lot of the St Paul neighborhoods feel like suburbs with small lots; I mean this in a good way. Most, but not all, of the entertainment/theater type stuff will be in Mpls.
For what it's worth I've met a few people from Chicagoland who have relocated here, and they all liked it enough to buy houses here. They were thinking along the same lines you are--Chicago is huge; it's easier to get around the twin cities. You'll be used to the weather. It's slightly colder and gets darker maybe 1/2 hour earlier.
Oh yeah, if you move here, you will probably think people drive way to SLOW :-)
Hope that helps!
When you say St. Paul is more like an eastern city, what do you mean? Boston, Philadelphia, what cities specifically does it remind you of? What makes it that way, the architecture, the demographics, etc?
I'm intrigued by St. Paul because I always hear about Minneapolis, that's why I'm asking. And yes, I would much rather live around middle income whites than poor blacks. As someone pointed out, I am about to earn a Master's degree so though I'd like to live around blacks, I don't want to live in the ghetto either. I grew up in the hood, my father was a steelworker and my mother worked in a daycare, I came from modest means and that's a big reason why I decided to pursue a college education in the first place, so I wouldn't have to live like that, so I could have a better opportunity and not be forced to live in less than desirable neighborhoods. But then again if it's one of those situations where the neighborhood is percieved to be a ghetto simply because it has a lot of minorities when in reality it's just a working class neighborhood with relatively low crime, then that's a different story. But of course i don't know - i'm not from minneapolis. I've never perceived Minneapolis to be a high crime city, but I could easily be wrong.
And as I also said earlier, the weather does not bother me. I love the winter, it's summer I can't stand! Even a brutal Chicago winter is better than a sticky Alabama summer. I haven't been away from home for too long, I'm still a southern boy at heart and I'm still fascinated every time it snows, it's so pretty. Even here in Chicago when I had to shovel the snow away from my car (lived in the city so it's not like I had a driveway to shovel), I didn't mind the snow or the cold. Even when I had to push my car out of a snow bank (never did that until last winter), I still loved it every time it snowed. Even when the roads got a little tricky to navigate and grab hold of while I'm driving, I still like the snow. So I say bring on the cold and the snow, Minnesota! And anyways, I always saw winter as a relief from oppresive summer heat. Maybe if I move to Minnesota I'll find some friends who like to go ice fishing, I've fished before but that was back in Alabama and that's quite different from ice fishing in Minnesota
BTW how are summers in Minnesota? I find Chicago summers to be quite mild compared to back home. People here think anything over 85 degrees is hot, even in July or August. Back home, you'd thank the Lord if the high temperature was 85 during the middle of the summer. Are the summers in MN comparable, or is there a difference?
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Last edited by AQUEMINI331; 11-08-2007 at 09:49 PM..
I'm glad you asked about St. Paul, it is often underrated. The two cities do border each other, so in some places if you didn't have a map you wouldn't know you crossed over.
Mainly the architecture and personality of people. St. Paul feels older, more bookish, and relaxed...like a Boston or Philly; Minneapolis is hipper, trendier and flashier maybe like a Vegas or LA. Probably because more colleges are in St. Paul and more businesses are in Minneapolis.
* You hear about Mpls because it's the most populated
* Generally more crime happens in Mpls, but you're not going to find anything like Cabrini Green anywhere
* Mpls is for partying, Mpls has 4 distinct nightlife areas: Northeast, Downtown, Uptown, and the University area (southeast)
* St Paul has 2 nightlife areas: Grand Ave, which is its hot spot, and downtown, which has a more "underground" nightlife--everyone jokes that it closes at 4:00pm
* St Paul has the Xcel (hockey arena), Ordway, and a few other things
* Incidentally downtown St Paul has the best jazz club in the area
* Uptown Mpls is the most artsy
The east side of Saint Paul is a blue-collar area and rather different then the rest of STP and the metro area. I wouldn't go there except to visit a friend who lives there, I mean there's nothing to do there...it's really a bunch of neighborhoods. All the colleges in STP are west of its downtown, so that side is much more livelier.
On the other hand, I suppose the two cities are really more similar than a lot of the locals will lead you to believe.
More posters quoting the news regarding north minneapolis. There are pockets that do have concentrated crime and poverty but I would say if you look at the whole of North (which is a very large geographic area) there are much more "nice" neighborhoods than bad ones, the neighborhood I live in North is better than probably any neighborhood I've lived to date (which includes many central and south minneapolis neighborhoods, various cities in the midwest, and some small towns, etc.).
Regarding the comments about the black population in the cities. A recent report that came out showed the very fast growing black population in Minneapolis and that it is upwardly mobile - there are more black students than white students in the Minneapolis Public School district and Minneapolis has one of the fastest growing up-and-coming black population (e.g. wealth-building; middle / upper class). Of course when you talk about the black population regarding statistical surveys here you are talking about both African Americans as well as a large number of immigrant populations (not just Somalis), of the African immigrant groups here there is a very sizable Ethiopian population (Amharic, Oromo, Tigre), a substantial number of Liberian immigrants/ refugees, as well as a smattering of Sudanese, Congalese, etc. When you factor in other nonwhite groups in Minneapolis (Hmong, Hispanic) you find that Minneapolis really is a very diverse place - persons saying otherwise are living in the suburbs or some of the whiter areas of south Minneapolis.
Good luck with your decision, and if you're a theatre fan - other good theatres to check out that have an afrocentric flavor include Pillsbury House Theatre on Chicago and 35th and the Jungle Theatre in Uptown.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by AQUEMINI331
Anyway, as for Chicago. Part of me really wants to stay here, because I love it here. And yet part of me is tired of the "big city" life. The Twin Cities are by no means small (probably about the size of Atlanta, if not larger) but they're no Chicago either.
The core cities of the Twin Cities are larger (when combined) than Atlanta:
City of Minneapolis: 387,970 (2006)
City of St. Paul: 287,151 (2000)
City of Atlanta: 486,411 (July 2006)
City of Chicago: 2,873,321 (2006)
but the Atlanta metro area is a lot larger than the Twin Cities:
Twin Cities metro: 3,090,377 (April 2005)
Atlanta metro: 5,138,223 (July 2006)
Chicago metro: 9,505,747 (2006)
Source for all data: various articles on Wikipedia.
Atlanta has 5 million people? I was thinking that they had about 4 mil and the Twin Cities had about the same amount. I knew Chicago was a big one though - we have almost as many people in the city of Chicago alone as what the entire Twin Cities metro area has. This is a pretty big city.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,004,590 times
Reputation: 3990
Quote:
Originally Posted by AQUEMINI331
Atlanta has 5 million people? I was thinking that they had about 4 mil and the Twin Cities had about the same amount. I knew Chicago was a big one though - we have almost as many people in the city of Chicago alone as what the entire Twin Cities metro area has. This is a pretty big city._
The Atlanta metro is a big, thirsty amoeba. It's sprawly like the Twin Cities, perhaps more so, but its growth rate has been phenomenal. That's one of the reasons we have a water issue right now.
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