Why don't people like Bloomington and Richfield?

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I'm not convinced. I know many people who moved to Richfield because they couldn't afford southwest Minneapolis, and they are active and involved in the Richfield community. Granted, most of them don't yet have school-age kids, but these are the kind of people who are committed to community-building, and who believe in the goals of public school. I think Richfield is well-poised to capitalize on the preferences of younger people to live in the city and inner-ring suburbs, and many of them are of the age that they'll be having kids soon. I've heard of some research about Richfield and its demographics and trends; if I have time I'll try to find it, as I think Richfield is a fascinating suburb that has a LOT of potential. It's still a majority white city, and has a long way to go before it becomes anything near majority Mexican (or Hispanic in general).

A LOT of potential, for what? It was never very nice to begin with, a second choice community perched next to the airport/freeway for those who wanted to escape South Mpls but couldn't afford the nicer suburbs. The housing stock will never be great. It IS still very safe though, parks are nice too, location is close to everything, but the majority white is the 65+ demographic and aging out rapidly as the school data suggests.

I've lived in Latin America for 18+ years, my wife is Latino, our kids are ESL students & we speak Spanish in the house. I not trying to rip on Mexicans, but the school data speaks for itself and that arc is not reversing itself. If a handful of white families move in and get active GREAT, but they'll be the vast minorities in the Richfield school system moving forward. In 10 years Richfield will be known as "A Mexican area", my .02 and I'll leave this thread on that note.

Best of luck to all....Mason

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

A LOT of potential, for what? It was never very nice to begin with, a second choice community perched next to the airport/freeway for those who wanted to escape South Mpls but couldn't afford the nicer suburbs. The housing stock will never be great. It IS still very safe though, parks are nice too, location is close to everything, but the majority white is the 65+ demographic and aging out rapidly as the school data suggests.

I've lived in Latin America for 18+ years, my wife is Latino, our kids are ESL students & we speak Spanish in the house. I not trying to rip on Mexicans, but the school data speaks for itself and that arc is not reversing itself. If a handful of white families move in and get active GREAT, but they'll be the vast minorities in the Richfield school system moving forward. In 10 years Richfield will be known as "A Mexican area", my .02 and I'll leave this thread on that note.

Best of luck to all....Mason

I disagree on a lot of this. I think the housing stock is fine (although I prefer older); the city has done a great deal of work to maintain it and to encourage renovation/remodeling where appropriate. The city has also done some good work adapting to changing demographics, as well as with building more apartments and assisted living places to ensure that the older residents are able to "age in place." Wood Lake is nicer than ever, there's some interesting plans in place for both "downtown" Richfield (near 66th and Lyndale), the 66th and Penn area has a plan in place to make it more pedestrian-friendly and give it a general face-lift, etc. Richfield has already weathered a lot of changes, and unlike the second-tier suburbs that are just now dealing with it, they've been there, done that. By "potential" I meant potential for being overall a nicer place to live, with (since this is a hot issue for me), being even more pedestrian-friendly and with good public transit. It's location is excellent, and that alone is going to make it a desirable location for people of all ethnicities. The growing ELL population is definitely putting strains on the schools, and yes, the schools have had to deal with a huge demographic shift in a short time.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by Mason3000

A LOT of potential, for what? It was never very nice to begin with, a second choice community perched next to the airport/freeway for those who wanted to escape South Mpls but couldn't afford the nicer suburbs. The housing stock will never be great. It IS still very safe though, parks are nice too, location is close to everything, but the majority white is the 65+ demographic and aging out rapidly as the school data suggests.

I've lived in Latin America for 18+ years, my wife is Latino, our kids are ESL students & we speak Spanish in the house. I not trying to rip on Mexicans, but the school data speaks for itself and that arc is not reversing itself. If a handful of white families move in and get active GREAT, but they'll be the vast minorities in the Richfield school system moving forward. In 10 years Richfield will be known as "A Mexican area", my .02 and I'll leave this thread on that note.

Best of luck to all....Mason

I sort of think it may become majority Mexican too. I also am starting to see a trend of Latinos really filling into neighborhoods in a LOT of South/Southeast Minneapolis (not high numbers per se, but high percentage growth), and that area may become majority Latino someday in the not too distant future as well. This city has TONS of jobs, relative to the rest of the nation, and it sounds like the jobless recovery is not going to happen any time very soon, and the Twin Cities will continue to attract people who want to work. I can see the POTENTIAL for the area to attract an exponentially-increasing number of Latino's/immigrants over the next 5-10 years......we'll see!

As far as Richfield's "potential", I think its location gives it all the potential in the world. In my not too humble opinion, I think much of Richfield should be leveled and rebuilt with higher-density homes/townhomes/apartments and mid-rises. They wanted to do something like this when the MAC noise pollution problem was being workshopped, but I think it was far too expensive.

[MSMCGirl]

I think Richfield is VERY nice. I looked at 50+ homes and saw some VERY nice neighborhoods in Richfield. The homes have more character than ANYTHING I saw in places like EDEN PRAIRIE (which are all cookie cutter/look the same) or Maple Grove. Plus, lots of mature trees...and VERY centrally located. Granted, I would not want to live right around the airport but, for the most part, Richfield is very nice and well cared for.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by MSMCGirl

I think Richfield is VERY nice. I looked at 50+ homes and saw some VERY nice neighborhoods in Richfield. The homes have more character than ANYTHING I saw in places like EDEN PRAIRIE (which are all cookie cutter/look the same) or Maple Grove. Plus, lots of mature trees...and VERY centrally located. Granted, I would not want to live right around the airport but, for the most part, Richfield is very nice and well cared for.

I agree. Richfield is still a little too quiet and too car-centric for me in the long-run, but I really like it. I think the diversity is a plus, and I think many of the houses are very cute. Granted, many of them probably did look a bit "cookie cutter" in their day, but they've had the time to mature.

To Min-Chi-Cbus's point -- I don't think Richfield needs to be leveled to be rebuilt; there's tremendous potential for urban infill and increasing density in ways that preserve its more residential neighborhoods. To some extend that's already begun happening; many of those apartment towers around 66th and Lyndale are all relatively recent, and it sounds like there's been some actual movement on the Lyndale Garden site lately. There's definitely room for more density around there and on the Kmart site, etc. I also saw some proposals for the area around 66th and Penn, which sounded like it was poised for more mixed-use, higher density buildings as part of their larger area plan. There's also some newer, denser townhouses along Penn (and some other locations, too) that look nice.

Some people have mentioned Silver Spring, MD on other threads -- I can see Richfield becoming the Silver Spring of the Twin Cities. Diverse (although Richfield is still far whiter than Silver Spring, but I agree that the percentage of Hispanic residents is still likely to go up), a mix of older suburban with new development, convenient central location. I really like Silver Spring, and I think it's partly for the same reasons that I really like Richfield. Richfield still has a long way to go before it catches up to Silver Spring, but I think the potential is still there.