Twin Cities place 5 suburbs in top 22 of 2012 Best Cities List (Brooklyn Park: transplants, crime rates)

[uptown_urbanist]

I've never seen that assumption stated on this (Twin Cities) forum.

I have seen critiques of some local suburbs as boring, but that's a very different thing than saying that the residents of said suburb are themselves boring.

And I don't recall anyone ever saying that those who live in Minneapolis are automatically sophisticated based solely on their street address, but perhaps I missed a post somewhere.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

I bet the minimum population is 50,000, which may be why SLP, Edina, Hopkins, Roseville, etc. aren't ever on these lists.

It's kind of sad, since most of the suburban areas here in Atlanta (including some of the best like Vinings and East Cobb) aren't incorporated at all. The county provides all of the most common services like police, fire, water, public schooling, etc.

[Beenhere4ever]

Lakeville may be a rural town that the Metro grew out to, but we also have "neoburbs" that are primarily subdivided farmland convenient to freeways, created from whole cloth by construction companies and developers. They may look pretty in brochures, but they are mostly places to be from, addresses. Targets for strip malls. The whole postwar era started with Levittown on the eastern seaboard, which was then replicated clear across the country. I don't think having 50,000 people makes them any more inviting. We have places like Osseo, Stillwater, Lakeville, Hamel, places that have history. I think maybe these magazines are just touting places that have big money behind them. I'm convinced that the freeway system was a grand project by the auto industry, oil industry, and real estate development industry. They got Eisenhower to make it a matter of "national security", but when did you ever see military columns doing mobility drills that Eisenhower said was the point? Never. It was a sham. Combine those three industries, and you can get anything done, without reference to anything but more business coming their way.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Lakeville may be a rural town that the Metro grew out to, but we also have "neoburbs" that are primarily subdivided farmland convenient to freeways, created from whole cloth by construction companies and developers. They may look pretty in brochures, but they are mostly places to be from, addresses. Targets for strip malls. The whole postwar era started with Levittown on the eastern seaboard, which was then replicated clear across the country. I don't think having 50,000 people makes them any more inviting. We have places like Osseo, Stillwater, Lakeville, Hamel, places that have history. I think maybe these magazines are just touting places that have big money behind them. I'm convinced that the freeway system was a grand project by the auto industry, oil industry, and real estate development industry. They got Eisenhower to make it a matter of "national security", but when did you ever see military columns doing mobility drills that Eisenhower said was the point? Never. It was a sham. Combine those three industries, and you can get anything done, without reference to anything but more business coming their way.

Actually, if you drive north you see that frequently around Little Falls and even along 94...

Again, they do a list for smaller towns too.

[Pisces69]

Soulless is the feeling you get in the urban sprawl in areas designed for cars, not people. It's the difference between 50th & France and Southdale.

Urban sprawl is everywhere (the strip malls near the quarry in NE, the strip malls on University Ave in Midway, the entire city of Blaine, etc.).

Nothing wrong with cars, but urban sprawl is a cartoon of a real place. Urban sprawl makes for meaningless places.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Pisces69

Soulless is the feeling you get in the urban sprawl in areas designed for cars, not people. It's the difference between 50th & France and Southdale.

Urban sprawl is everywhere (the strip malls near the quarry in NE, the strip malls on University Ave in Midway, the entire city of Blaine, etc.).

Nothing wrong with cars, but urban sprawl is a cartoon of a real place. Urban sprawl makes for meaningless places.

Considering all of the Burb's far exceed the population of MPLS and St. Paul, I am willing to bet that many people disagree with you.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Considering all of the Burb's far exceed the population of MPLS and St. Paul, I am willing to bet that many people disagree with you.

Not necessarily; well, most would perhaps consider "meaningless" to be an overstatement, but I've come to believe that a lot of people don't care very much about neighborhood or sense of place. They want a nice house in their budget (and with schools that they like, if they have kids) in a safe neighborhood. They're not choosing their house because they have a burning passion for suburb X, but because that's where they find the right house. Just that once certain criteria are met specific location doesn't make that much of a difference. That's not to say that they don't like their neighborhoods or their suburbs, and of course once you live somewhere, anywhere, it takes on personal meaning. I'd guess that people living in neighborhoods typically slapped with the "soulless" label are more likely to be of the belief that the physical environment is not very important to creating community.

To be fair, I think that's true in plenty of city neighborhoods, too. And in neighborhoods (whether city or suburb) that are safe and nice and do have a distinctive identity/sense of place, houses tend to come with a premium price tag. And a lot of people aren't willing or able to pay the premium just for neighborhood "character."

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Considering all of the Burb's far exceed the population of MPLS and St. Paul, I am willing to bet that many people disagree with you.

Not all suburbs sprawl, and not all cities are dense.

[rcsteiner]

I would rather live in Minnetonka or Bloomington than Eden Prairie, and I've lived in all three.

I like Eden Prairie, too, but the list seems random. Dart board?

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Most of the people that claim the suburbs are so bad have never actually been to these places or have only seen them from the highway. It's pointless to try to convince them otherwise because there is a false assumption here that if you live in Minneapolis you are automatically "sophisticated" and if you live in the suburbs you are soleless and boring.

Who are these people, could you please provide me with their names? If you're referring to people who post on this message board how are you able to substantiate that they have only seen the places from the highway and have never actually been to them? Do you know these individuals personally or something?