Where to live - working downtown, using public transportation (Minneapolis: rental, crime)

[babymango]

My little family will be moving to Minneapolis in September for my husband's work. We're trying to figure out where (in which neighborhood) to rent a 3 bedroom place. He will be working at 2nd south street/13 ave south and will be taking public transportation to work. He would like to keep the commute under 30 minutes.
I will be staying at home with our son and im hoping to live somewhere that has easy access to groceries/stores (either walking or bus).
Neither of us has been to Minneapolis for more than a day before and we really don't know the city well. Schools are not an issue as we won't be staying in Minneapolis long enough for our son to start school. The main things we are looking for are accessibility and safety. Our budget is about $1200/month plus utilities.
What areas should be avoided? Where do you suggest we start looking?

[MnMomma]

Take a look at a MetroTransit map (Metro Transit) and find where he'll be working. It looks to me like the only buses very close to where he'll be are the 14 and the 94--of course he could walk to another bus but since it sounds like you'll only be here a short time, I thought you'd want the easiest possible. The 94 goes to St. Paul, so I looked at where the 14 goes--either Robbinsdale (which someone else will have to give info about) or south.

I'd look for a rental somewhere around the west side of Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokomis. It's a family-friendly area and there are plenty of walkable places (book stores, coffee shop, restaurants, pharmacy grocery stores: Kowalski's and Super Value). There are tons of activities for a family with young children in the area as well--the community centers have a great variety of offerings and there are private music classes and good libraries as well.

[Ben Around]

I'll let the others tell you about Mpls, but I would recommend the Highland, the Macalester-Groveland and Merriam Park areas of St Paul. Both have great transit access to downtown Mpls, and lots of people in these neighborhoods work there. There are 2 express buses (134 on Cleveland/Cretin and 144 on Montreal/Snelling) that run very frequently and will get him downtown in about 15-20 minutes depending on how far out the line you would live. Also, good connections to the LRT via several buses that run on Ford Parkway and Marshall Avenue to the 46th St and Lake St stations. Once he's on the train, it's 10-15 minutes to downtown.

2nd St South & 13 ave. would be at the east end of downtown. Lots of University administrative buildings aroud there, I'm guessing that's where his job might be? Lots of buses go by there, and the Downtown East LRT station would be within a few blocks of there, as would stops for the buses I mentioned. As for the neighborhoods I mentioned, all are walkable and kid-friendly with lots of coffee shops, some grocery stores of various sizes, public libraries, and parks. Lots of young familes with little kids, particularly Highland and Mac-Groveladn. All are area very safe, often our crime stats beat those of many of the suburbs.