Twin Cities place 5 suburbs in top 22 of 2012 Best Cities List (Minneapolis: crime rate, how much)

[nrogers1122]

Didn't Plymouth make this list a few years ago? If that's so, I find it odd that it doesn't appear at all anymore.

[nrogers1122]

Originally Posted by golfgal

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.

What you're actually seeing is moreoften actual transportation relating to deployments. "Mobility drills" are a bit of a thing of the past. Unless you see a bunch of guard guys out on weekends driving in a convoy completely decked out in LBEs and K-Pots, you aren't seeing a drill. Today's active military bases are huge, and that's where most of the "mobility drills" get done.

That being said, I think that the user you quoted might be seeing guys in black pajamas in the middle of the night. Eisenhower may have had a valid point back in the 50's when the cold war was going on - a war inside the US was more of a reality at that point and the bases were smaller, so they could very well have been used for mobility drills. Hell, consider the autobahn that we used when we invaded Europe in WWII, and how useful that was. It's not unfathomable that Ike would want something similar here in the US if we had to get supplies from the mid-west to the east coast quickly & safely.

Moreover, even if the oil companies did lobby for the interstates, this is perfectly legitimate. Interstate systems provide a common public use interest that justified their expenditure; plus, they created/expanded an industry in the private sector which created a multitude of jobs. Right there is enough of a reason aside from national defense purposes to build the interstates.

[kurls]

Originally Posted by stolafs69

Besides, many of the older close inner ring suburbs now have turned to to crap such as brooklyn park, brooklyn center, parts of New Hope, Columbia Heights etc.

I would love to hear you elaborate on how these communities have gone to crap. Is that your code word for being too diverse? Please elaborate on your opinion as I would think that many of the suburbs south of the river have gone to crap considering their long commutes, relatively homogenous demographics and cookie cutter designs. Brooklyn Park is not really an “older” suburb considering it has homes that are still being built on its north side.

[stolafs69]

Originally Posted by kurls

I would love to hear you elaborate on how these communities have gone to crap. Is that your code word for being too diverse? Please elaborate on your opinion as I would think that many of the suburbs south of the river have gone to crap considering their long commutes, relatively homogenous demographics and cookie cutter designs. Brooklyn Park is not really an “older” suburb considering it has homes that are still being built on its north side.

Lets start with City Data Crime indexes (higher means more crime)

Brooklyn Park - 387
Brooklyn Center - 536


Compare to your cooke cutter suburbs-

Eden Prairie - 123
Minnetonka - 141
Woodbury - 151

Hmmm...I wonder where I would rather live (unless of course you like living around violent crime). I'll take my 30 minute commute with a safe neighborhood over your 15 minute commute from your "diverse" neighborhood. BTW, many of the "cookie cutter" suburbs have plenty of diversity, you just don't happen to see our diverse residents on the evening news every night after another shooting.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by stolafs69

Lets start with City Data Crime indexes (higher means more crime)

Brooklyn Park - 387
Brooklyn Center - 536


Compare to your cooke cutter suburbs-

Eden Prairie - 123
Minnetonka - 141
Woodbury - 151

Hmmm...I wonder where I would rather live (unless of course you like living around violent crime). I'll take my 30 minute commute with a safe neighborhood over your 15 minute commute from your "diverse" neighborhood. BTW, many of the "cookie cutter" suburbs have plenty of diversity, you just don't happen to see our diverse residents on the evening news every night after another shooting.

Those numbers are fairly high, but they might not tell the whole story.

For example, the suburb north of my house (Smyrna, Georgia) has a crime index of 355.7, but what that number doesn't tell you is the fact that most of the crime happens in two places:

(1) Along main roads lined with businesses, and
(2) In the poorer northernmost areas of the city adjacent to the Air Reserve Base where property values have dropped due to aircraft noise.

Most of that City of Smyrna is much safer than the raw city-wide number would reflect.

I suspect the above is somewhat true for the Twin Cities suburbs you cite. Some areas might be problem areas, while others might not be.

[kurls]

Oh wise St Olaf, I see you don't actually drill down into the underlying crime stats and then throw out a statement about violent crime. Yes, BP had 5 murders this year which came out 3 separate incidents and I won't point out that for a city of 76k with our demographics that is not off the charts on a national level.

That great if you know where you want to live but just running your mouth about a whole set of communities "going to crap" based on your worthless opinion doesn't mean much.

[kurls]

Originally Posted by stolafs69

Lets start with City Data Crime indexes (higher means more crime)

Brooklyn Park - 387
Brooklyn Center - 536


Compare to your cooke cutter suburbs-

Eden Prairie - 123
Minnetonka - 141
Woodbury - 151

Hmmm...I wonder where I would rather live (unless of course you like living around violent crime). I'll take my 30 minute commute with a safe neighborhood over your 15 minute commute from your "diverse" neighborhood. BTW, many of the "cookie cutter" suburbs have plenty of diversity, you just don't happen to see our diverse residents on the evening news every night after another shooting.

Pulling crime stats from 2005 (City Data) makes you look well informed on this matter

Here are the violent crime figures for BP:
Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Murders 2 0 1 2 2 2 1 2 3 1 0 per 100,000 3.1 0.0 1.5 2.9 2.9 2.9 1.5 2.9 4.3 1.4 0.0
Rapes 30 22 37 31 40 47 47 N/A N/A N/A N/A per 100,000 47.0 33.5 54.3 45.1 58.3 68.8 68.8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Robberies 81 89 95 84 68 75 81 155 118 118 109 per 100,000 127.0 135.5 139.5 122.2 99.0 109.7 118.5 224.6 168.3 164.1 151.9
Assaults 177 200 161 122 156 154 180 168 169 154 147

Read more: //www.city-data.com/city/Brookl...#ixzz24lXkVTgG

mod cut

[stolafs69]

Ok...if you don't like crime stats...lets look at High School test scores.
Park Center ranked #346 out of 483 Minnesota High schools in 2012 (School Digger)
Woodbury HS - #17
Minnetonka - #9
Eden Prairie - #39

So lets see the Brookyln's have high crime rates and poorly performing schools. I'm sure if I pulled up per capita household income or % of residents with college degree....the stats for the Brooklyn's would look equally abysmal.

[kurls]

What is not to like about the crime stats- higher than some places but not outrageous on a national level when compared to true peer cities in the US.

School performance is a somewhat valid measure. However, it only takes a few underperforming students to impact the scores. Also, you should control for immigrant/foreign born populations amongst your sample set. I would assume someone who would be as educated as yourself would have taken a statistics class at some point in your life.

FYI, the number of adults with a BS degree or higher is above the national average in BP at 29.6%.
American FactFinder - Results
Median Household income just over $62,000.

Still, you have yet to fully quantify your comments where you state these areas have gone to crap. I am sure that for people coming out of Chicago or Detroit that actually want a better life for their family will find this a great place. Believe it or not there are plenty of people who have bigger dreams than welfare checks. Hopefully, they are given opportunities to succeed and prove themselves instead of having to battle pre-conceived views.

[stolafs69]

I love you compare BP to the national average. That includes wonderful places like alabama and mississippi and the worst places in LA and chicago. So being above average is really nothing to brag about. Thats saying thier slogan should be"Brooklyn Park...we are a better place to live then Mississippi."
Especially in Minnesota, being around the national average means that you are well below average compared to other Minnesota cities.

And why is living in a city with a bunch of transplants from Detroit and Chicago a good thing? We all know why most of them move here. Eligible for free MinnesotaCare curtesy of Minnesota taxpayers and thanks to Dayton removing the waiting period to be eligable for MinnesotaCare and some of the country's most libral welfare benefits. Just the type of people I want moving in as neighbors.