What do you hate most about Minneapolis? (neighborhoods, buy)

[Beenhere4ever]

My thought is: If people find the lifestyle and surroundings "satisfactory", they should definitely live there so as not to dilute the standards we try to maintain here.

[MnMomma]

Hate: My property taxes. I pay more for property tax then I do for two kids in private school. But, I do appreciate the services and that the school are very good..even though I don't use them.

[Beenhere4ever]

My school tax for a year is barely more than my food budget for a month. At least the property tax part. Schools get funds from a bunch of sources. Property tax is probably the smallest part. Certainly wouldn't begin to pay for private school tuition. Remember to break down the property tax into its components. City, county, schools, and parks each get a bite. Our total property tax weighs in at less than our yearly mortgage interest. The mortgage lender is getting more than all the local governments.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by MnMomma

Hate: My property taxes. I pay more for property tax then I do for two kids in private school. But, I do appreciate the services and that the school are very good..even though I don't use them.

Either you live in a very large, very expensive house or your "private" school doesn't cost much.

[jayhopethismeeturstandard]

I hate the severe depression that peaks in about February and wanes in about July...

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by Mr Spock

I hate that there is so much distain for how Minnesota used to be and so much political correctness to hide the truth. The mix of people living there now is not as high quality as it used to be.

Is this some veiled reference to the fact that as a metro area we're significantly less white than before?

Originally Posted by C-Chelle

Hate winters and this new tobacco tax they are trying to shove at us with their propaganda.

Have there really been any propaganda? I thought they made their rationale pretty clear: they get more money, fewer people smoke. Smokers might not like it, but then again, we pay for plenty of uninsured smokers to get care for their self-inflicted problems, so I don't tend worry too much about these taxes.

Originally Posted by gearedtowardsalad

If you live in the rural parts of the state, for instance, most of your tax dollars are probably being used to fund and subsidize things going on in the twin cities. For instance, people get on MetroTransit in Minneapolis without paying. Well, guess what? The bus drivers document every person who gets on without paying their fare, and at the end of the fiscal year, for unpaid fare, the state of MN fully reimburses The Metropolitan Council, who is a completely private, self-governing entity who is handed tax money by the state to basically plan and build anything they want without any oversight from any elected official. Fair? I don't think so.

If you live in rural parts of Minnesota, you're actually more likely to be subsidized by the enormous wealth generation in the metro area.

I don't know who you've seen get on the bus without paying, but I've seen approximately zero people do that. I'm sure people do on the light rail, though they've found compliance to be about 99 percent during fare checks (and you usually can't get just get away from them as they do it between stations). As for the Met Council, it's certainly not private. It's a public entity. People are appointed by the governor, who is elected. Many government positions are appointed positions, not elected positions. And really, I've never understood the huge uproar about it (especially if you live outside of its area of influence) not being elected. Do I really want the people who manage sewage treatment, water, transportation, etc. to be playing politics? Not particularly. And since it's a nonpolitical appointment (that is, if there was an election, they probably wouldn't be on a party platform), do you really think people would choose wisely? I know I had no clue who to vote for with the Watershed District on the ballot.

[MnMomma]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Either you live in a very large, very expensive house or your "private" school doesn't cost much.

True..a bit of both. Why my taxes irk me is that they have increased 150% in 8 years. We haven't remodeled anything and the house value hasn't gone up much either. If we had bought the house with a high tax rate, it wouldn't bug me nearly as much. But, like I said in my original post on this thread, my taxes help support making my area a great place to live.,.so I'll take it.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by MnMomma

True..a bit of both. Why my taxes irk me is that they have increased 150% in 8 years. We haven't remodeled anything and the house value hasn't gone up much either. If we had bought the house with a high tax rate, it wouldn't bug me nearly as much. But, like I said in my original post on this thread, my taxes help support making my area a great place to live.,.so I'll take it.

A decline in state aid to cities and a poor economy probably haven't helped anyone's tax bills. Hopefully they'll level out the next few years, but I suppose we'll see.

[Beenhere4ever]

What is interesting to me about Minneapolis is that their share of the bill has something like quadrupled. Meanwhile, Hennepin County has grow so much slower. At one point I said "let the county manage the city, it seems to know how to be somewhat frugal". Funniest part is that the taxes went up DESPITE the county taking over city programs. Something extremely haywire down at Minneapolis City Hall.

[Globe199]

The asinine liquor laws here are terrible. Yesterday was nice and hot, and I thought I'd really like a gin and tonic. I have neither gin nor tonic at home. Oops! Stupid me! It's a Sunday and I wasn't smart enough to "plan ahead!" All you smug native Minnesotans win again!