Specifics in uptown? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Lynd: apartments, safest area, live)

[Consideringmove]

So I'm moving to Minneapolis/St. Paul by the end of the month and am likely giong to have a 24 hour period sometime soon where I fly in to look for apartments. So I'm concentrating just on Uptown..someone had suggested Whittier to me, which looks good, but I'm also sort of just going for different apartments all on the east side of the lakes, but within several blocks (maybe 10?) of the lake. So with those sort of constraints...is there anywhere that I shouldn't live? Either because it's too boring (I like being able to walk to little coffee shops and stuff), or a little unsafe pocket for example? I know in NY you can be somewhere upscale and walk one block and suddenly it's shady.

[gweilo845]

I would say that Uptown is definitely one of the safest areas in Minneapolis. I'm around there quite a bit late at night walking or waiting for buses and I've never felt unsafe.

There was an incident a couple of years ago where someone was killed by a mugger even after he gave his money, and you'll hear occasinal stories about people being robbed around the lakes, but stuff like that isn't the norm by any means.

As for the excitement factor, Uptown is a fairly compact area and one of the better neighborhoods for being able to walk/bike around so you're not going to be too far from stuff like shops and restaurants.

[huckc]

If I was moving to uptown (and I wish I did when I moved to MSP 2.5 years ago), I would look for good access to the Hiawatha light-rail line.

In a few years this will also get you to downtown Saint Paul via the central-corridor light-rail line.

[uptown_urbanist]

There isn't anywhere unsafe within 10 blocks of the lake. There's a few areas along or right off of Lake east of Lyndale that are more shady, but that's a pretty small area, and there's no hard and fast rule. Even there it should be fine.

Anywhere in your parameters (east of the lake, 10 blocks out) you'll be able to walk to stuff, but for the most activity stick closer to Hennepin, Lake, or Lyndale (Lyndale and Hennepin are parallel, Lake crosses both of them).

My personal favorite areas would be the neighborhoods of the Wedge or CARAG, as those are within walking distance of the lakes but have easy access to both the stuff along Lyndale as well as along Hennepin. There are no bad blocks in those areas, although there are some buildings with loud obnoxious neighbors (probably more so in the Wedge than in CARAG).

You won't get easy access to the Hiawatha Line as it doesn't come anywhere near Uptown, although you can take a bus there and connect if you need to go to the MOA or airport.