What are the biggest flaws about Minneapolis that don't have to do with the weather? (Woodbury: university, income)

[svicious22]

My two cents:

--Cold weather of course.
--Rather spread out, I'd hate to not have a car there. Doesn't feel very dense.
--They do have some "hood" there, no question. Even downtown has some sketchy parts.
--Single biggest attraction is a mall. I find that a highly questionable trait.
--Vikes are perennial also-rans.
--its location is rather isolated.
--The people there can seem uptight to me.

Anyway, there are lots of good things too, one could do a lot worse in many regards. But you aren't looking for those, just the bad.

[treemoni]

Originally Posted by svicious22

--Rather spread out, I'd hate to not have a car there. Doesn't feel very dense.

Yes, this is a big one. I can have only three errands to run, and I often feel like I've driven hundreds of miles. It's exhausting.

[avan2]

Well, I just moved here from St. Louis. My complaints about St. Louis are that it is riddled with pollution, poverty, racial segregation, and violent crime-- and the governor recently resigned after being investigated for ethics and other charges of a personal nature. And there are a lot of gun fetishists and as soon as you step outside of the outer suburbs rural poverty and (rumor has it) opioids and meth.

We really love it here, even with the rogue cyclists.

[InnovativeAmerican]

I won't argue with anyone about the suburban sprawl of the Twin Cities. There are WAY too many suburbs there, and the outer exurbs are even expanding even more outward (Prior Lake, Lakeville, Blaine, etc.) and that's likely going to exacerbate as older millennials increasingly migrate to the suburbs. I know some people will defend their reasoning for living in the suburbs based on better quality schools, less property taxes, etc., but I think Minneapolis-St. Paul schools would be better if more middle to upper-middle class suburbanites opted to live in the cities. As for high property taxes, I really don't mind paying them if it means a more superb quality of life.

[Thedosius]

The sprawl turn in the conversation brings to mind for me something that i think is one of the 'sleeper' flaws of Minneapolis: there is little to no pedestrian/street life in so much of the city. There may be areas with pedestrian traffic but there aren't street 'living areas'. I thought such things only existed in very large or European cites but I visited Boulder several years ago and they have a pedestrian area that was quite lively with restaurants and the like but also public benches and other places for people to just hang. Though our fantastic park system in some ways are public living spaces, there really isn't much urban expression of a similar idea and experiencing street life has often been the high point in my travels so it's rather a sad thing to lack.

[Ursicinus]

Originally Posted by Thedosius

The sprawl turn in the conversation brings to mind for me something that i think is one of the 'sleeper' flaws of Minneapolis: there is little to no pedestrian/street life in so much of the city. There may be areas with pedestrian traffic but there aren't street 'living areas'. I thought such things only existed in very large or European cites but I visited Boulder several years ago and they have a pedestrian area that was quite lively with restaurants and the like but also public benches and other places for people to just hang. Though our fantastic park system in some ways are public living spaces, there really isn't much urban expression of a similar idea and experiencing street life has often been the high point in my travels so it's rather a sad thing to lack.

Interesting... My first thought is that we do (kind of) have some specific areas like this, but it's not very widespread. It's just that I guess not having been to Boulder, I'm not 100% sure about the point of comparison. I have lived in Europe though, so I think I have some idea.


Anyway, I'd argue that spots like Uptown, St. Anthony Main, Linden Hills, and parts of Northeast have that kind of feel, it's just that since they're spread throughout the city, you don't get quite the "street life" you do in more centralized European cities.

[Thedosius]

Originally Posted by Ursicinus

Interesting... My first thought is that we do (kind of) have some specific areas like this, but it's not very widespread. It's just that I guess not having been to Boulder, I'm not 100% sure about the point of comparison. I have lived in Europe though, so I think I have some idea.


Anyway, I'd argue that spots like Uptown, St. Anthony Main, Linden Hills, and parts of Northeast have that kind of feel, it's just that since they're spread throughout the city, you don't get quite the "street life" you do in more centralized European cities.

I would say Uptown especially has pedestrian 'traffic' but not so much pedestrian 'life'. What I mean by that is it's really just sidewalks that are designed to get people from place to place. There are almost no spaces meant for what I guess we would call 'loitering'. Sure there are some outdoor cafes but no open to the public hang out places. I think it has a lot to do with how we've designed the city - there are little to no public squares.

I remember in Boulder there was a mix of outdoor cafes like we have here but there were also public benches and a pedestrian zone where pedestrians could just 'be'. It's really quite pleasant and seems like we could achieve it here with minimal effort. I haven't been to Peavy Plaza for years but that is one of the closest things I can think of to what I'm talking about in a local setting. Rice Park in St. Paul might also be a good candidate...if people actually went] there (it's pretty sparsely populated most of the time. Europe obviously has a ton more examples with its public squares ringed often by cafes and businesses where people can mill about, meet, have lunch or just sit and people watch. We don't have many spaces here that are conducive to that dynamic.

*Someone DM'ed me that I must be thinking of Pearl Street...that does sound right but ummm....it was several years ago and my memory is a sad, feeble thing...

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by Thedosius

The sprawl turn in the conversation brings to mind for me something that i think is one of the 'sleeper' flaws of Minneapolis: there is little to no pedestrian/street life in so much of the city. There may be areas with pedestrian traffic but there aren't street 'living areas'. I thought such things only existed in very large or European cites but I visited Boulder several years ago and they have a pedestrian area that was quite lively with restaurants and the like but also public benches and other places for people to just hang. Though our fantastic park system in some ways are public living spaces, there really isn't much urban expression of a similar idea and experiencing street life has often been the high point in my travels so it's rather a sad thing to lack.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have been to Boulder (and yes it is the Pearl street mall), this type of setup is also in Iowa City, Charlottesville, Burlington VT, and Marietta/Roswell/Woodstock GA just to name a few more. I noticed in the suburbs, MN almost has sooooo many parks that no ONE park becomes a space for the community to congregate.

[Astron1000]

The plain, demonstrable truth about the city of Minneapolis is that, despite "belief" or "experience," Minneapolis is the 2nd-densest major city in the entire Midwest after Chicago. Minneapolis has 7,692 people per square mile (ppm) as of 2018. The only other city in the Midwest that remotely comes close is Milwaukee, at 6,190 ppm, followed by St. Paul, at 5,948 ppm.

This includes cities like St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati or Columbus.

Outside of the Midwest, Minneapolis is denser than San Diego, Houston, Portland, Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix or Dallas. Yes, it is. The data is there for everyone to see. Calculate it yourself.

[Justabitoff]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

The plain, demonstrable truth about the city of Minneapolis is that, despite "belief" or "experience," Minneapolis is the 2nd-densest major city in the entire Midwest after Chicago. Minneapolis has 7,692 people per square mile (ppm) as of 2018. The only other city in the Midwest that remotely comes close is Milwaukee, at 6,190 ppm, followed by St. Paul, at 5,948 ppm.

This includes cities like St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati or Columbus.

Outside of the Midwest, Minneapolis is denser than San Diego, Houston, Portland, Denver, Atlanta, Phoenix or Dallas. Yes, it is. The data is there for everyone to see. Calculate it yourself.

I don't think anyone is talking about people (maybe they are, but I'm not). I think we're talking about city planning, as in, how the commercials districts are zoned and laid out, and the distances between them. Yes, there are a lots of people in Minneapolis, but the walkability is still lacking.