Coming from Louisiana!! Help!! (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartment, rentals, crime)

[rachkels0224]

My girlfriend and I are graduating college in December and are planning on moving to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota during the summer of 2010. We are extremely excited and terrified all at the same time. We really need some suggestions on which neighborhoods we need to seriously consider. We will both be 24(at the time we move), we are lesbians, and have 2 dogs. We enjoy outdoor activities and are well aware of the dramatic climate difference, but are completely sure that this is the place we need to move. Any advice or suggestions would be great. Thanks!!

[uptown_urbanist]

What kind of neighborhood do you like? What's your budget? Those are the two big questions (and, ideally, where will you be working).

Some sample questions: will you be driving or taking public transportation? Do you want a busy urban neighorhood, a quieter city neighborhood (lots of nice quieter neighborhoods in the Twin Cities with pleasant commercial nodes), neighborhoods with lots of bars or nightlife, with no bars, is walkability important, do you want to be able to walk to restaurants, does level of diversity (age/race/economics/any other combination) matter, what level of "safe" do you want, do you have a favored type of housing (apartment, duplex, single family home, older, newer), etc.

The Twin Cities offers a huge variety of neighborhoods, so you should have no problems finding something that fits. If you can give us some more details we'll be able to give you some better descriptions. Given the fact that you're both young and will be new to town I'd be inclined to suggest sticking with a city neighborhood, but that's going to depend on personal preference as much as anything.

I have lesbian friends in both the city and the suburbs, and I doubt you'll encounter any problems anywhere on that front (if that's something you're concerned about). Some neighborhoods have a greater concentration of gay and lesbian residents than others, though, if that matters.

[rachkels0224]

Thanks for your questions! We didn't even know where to get started.

We would really like a college neighborhood that has young adults ages 21-35, and that is located near the city and in walking distance of things such as bars/nightlife and restaurants. We would also like the neighborhood to be near parks, nature trails, or lakes, as we are very active and we love the outdoors. We both have cars, so we will be driving, not taking public transportation. We are looking for a single family one or two bedroom house that has a fenced in yard (since we have dogs), and we can't spend more than $1100/month. We would like the neighborhood to be as safe as possible, with little to no "bad" foot traffic. We have had problems with theft at our current location since we live on a busy street corner that is a highway for local vagrants and other shady types.

My girlfriend plans on attending Le Cordon Bleu School in Minneapolis, and the closer we are to that, the better.

[uptown_urbanist]

I looked up Le Cordon Bleu and it looks like it's in Mendota Heights; someone else here can probably give some more site-specific advice (I don't know what the commute out there is like) but I'm guessing that from a quick commute standpoint you'll probably be better off living in St. Paul than in Minneapolis. Your budget sounds reasonable, and you shouldn't have trouble finding something that fits your needs. There are a lot of colleges in St. Paul, and you could find rentals in your budget even in areas like Mac-Groveland. You'll be arriving at a good time; there will be lots of turnover with students leaving, although there will also be competition.

[Haver]

Hennepin Tech, Minneapolis Community College and (I think) Dunwoody also have pretty decent catering and culinary arts programs and may be cheaper. I know the MCC campus and Dunwoody are downtown so that could be more convenient. Dunwoody has generally an excellent reputation (speaking of the school, not the culinary program which I can't speak for or against - they're more of an industrial school but have branched out quite a bit). The Hennepin Tech programs are in Eden Prairie and Brooklyn Park which would be a bit of a commute but are state schools so affordable, and have weekly fine dining experiences open to the public. Not trying to steer you or anything but I have heard that some cooking schools can be a real money sink, so I want you aware of the local alternatives.

As for where to live, most of the neighborhoods bordering downtown would be a good fit, although you'll want to check out the crime maps put out by the Minneapolis police department to know which areas to avoid. You'll also generally want to avoid neighborhoods immediately in the campus area for reasons of both noise & traffic, and because some of the housing stock is run by slumlord types that take advantage of naive students and you probably would want to avoid living next to a fire code violation.

[New2NE55413]

Hello! Just moved up from Louisiana myself. Wondering how you settled in.

[vcvc]

What brought you here from Louisiana? What part of the metro are you living in? How are you adjusting? Has it been total culture shock? Answers!!!

[GBCommenter]

I am not going to be the best person to answer for a reason...I would expect you will find people tend to be "Minneapolis" people or "St. Paul" people, depending on where they grew up (our cities seem to have a larger proportion of people who grew up and stay in our cities than perhaps other large cities), and that affects what people do or don't like. Minneapolis and St. Paul do tend to have different characters...Minneapolis tends to be more "west coast oriented" in terms of more buildings of modern design and layout whereas St. Paul tends to be more "east coast oriented" and historic - and I say this all as a "Minneapolis" boy...it's the side of the river I grew up more on so what I'm more familiar with... ,

That said, I would be inclined to agree Uptown's suggestion of looking to St. Paul neighborhoods will be a good suggestion. That side of the metro area will be closer to Cordon Bleu for you. St. Paul does tend to be relatively quieter, however... the downtown is less vibrant than perhaps Minneapolis' and the city overall tends to be more family oriented and/or **slightly** blue collar, but there are neighborhoods that life a more urban and young vibe. You might check out the Grand Avenue area - note because of its relative "hipness" might be somewhat more expensive.

In St. Paul, other than perhaps the busiest street corners, I don't think you'll have that much problem with the foot traffic you mention.

Hopefully others will give more insight...