Ghettos in Minnesota (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth: high crime, mortgage, houses)

[tvdxer]

Where are the "ghettos" in Minnesota?

By "ghetto", I mean a neighborhood or block of streets that is:

1) Built-up (usually, but not always, located in a big city and very dense);
2) Has a high violent crime rate, or is perceived to;
3) Has a high poverty rate, or is perceived to;
and
4) Is known for drug dealing, prostitution, and/or other "unwholesome" activities.

I can think of certain neighborhoods in South and (especially) North Minneapolis that meet all of these characteristics. Any others? Any in out-state Minnesota?

[Radical_Car]

No. Most likely not.

[northstar22]

South and North Minneapolis. Brooklyn Center and parts of Brooklyn Park. Maybe the North End of St. Paul.

[uptown_urbanist]

I'll first say that in general I hate the use of the word "ghetto," but I'll try to roll with it here. Second, why the "high density" definition? And what does that mean? I wouldn't call many of the more crime-ridden neighborhoods to be all that high in density; more so than a rural town, obviously, but many of the higher crime spots in Minneapolis are not in its highest density areas. I know this isn't what you're directly asking or saying, but there does seem to a perception out there that density = high crime, and that's simply not the case.

I know there are parts of Duluth that probably fit all of those categories. Doesn't Central Hillside have that reputation?

And of course there are plenty of smaller towns or suburbs/exurbs with gangs, drug dealing, and high poverty, although I don't know which ones would fit the vague density requirements. Parts of Chaska, maybe?

[audadvnc]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

South and North Minneapolis. Brooklyn Center and parts of Brooklyn Park. Maybe the North End of St. Paul.

Having lived in Mpls for many years, and currently living smack dab in the middle of Near North Minneapolis, my impression is that "ghettos" exist mostly in the minds of frightened suburbanites. Perhaps the crime/safety situation was worse twenty years ago during the crack epidemic, when a whole generation of young black men was exposed to a new health threat. And today, the lack of decent jobs is a plague on our society - but unemployment is everywhere. The ghetto is spread into society.

[uptown_urbanist]

^ I took the whole question to be one of perception, not of actual fact, but it's true that there are many people who do believe in these mythical Minneapolis "ghettos" where one can't walk down the street without being witnessing a shooting.

I think there are definitely neighborhoods that have higher levels of crime and problems than do other areas, but patches of poverty and crime are not exclusively an urban problem, and generally not so neatly contained in one spot.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

South and North Minneapolis. Brooklyn Center and parts of Brooklyn Park. Maybe the North End of St. Paul.

Yes, thank you for pointing out the ethnically diverse and lower income areas of the Twin Cities. We live in South Minneapolis and like it very much. I might add that we don't commonly see and don't take part in any prostitution, drug dealing or "unwholesome" activities and I will go on to say that to my knowledge the neighbors we know and interact with don't either.

Most people won't admit that a large contributer to an area being "ghetto" or a crappy area is based on seeing concentrations of ethnic diversity. Another factor is seeing older buildings and cars that aren't well kept (AKA lower-income). These two things basically do nothing else except scare sheltered people from the suburbs and small outlying towns...it doesn't necessarily equate to the life portrayed by the movie Menace 2 Society.

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree that most people seem to use "ghetto" to mean either non-white people live in the area, and/or that there are poor people living in the area.

Case in point: one of my relatives (who stopped short of using the word "ghetto") who described the neighborhood around the Southdale Library (border of Edina and Richfield) as "sketchy." For those who don't know that area, I think almost everyone would have a very, very difficult time describing it as "sketchy," unless your definition of sketchy exclusively revolves around perceived income level (those houses are mostly on the smaller side), because, as we all know, people who choose to live in a smaller, older homes or drive an older car are probably out there selling drugs to make the mortgage payment, when they're not mugging their neighbors or taking the bus to more expensive neighborhoods to commit burglaries.

My old neighborhood had a brothel busted above a Dunn Brothers recently; bet you didn't realize that the East Calhoun neighborhood in Minneapolis was a ghetto! (a ghetto of middle to upper class, highly educated, mostly white people, perhaps) Or, for that matter, wasn't there some madam busted for running a BDSM "dungeon" in Stillwater recently? That sort of thing can happen anywhere.

[audadvnc]

Indeed; the ugliest Minnesota neighborhood I've seen in the last 3 or 4 years was in the country, outside of Winona, where some trashy types were stripping the aluminum siding off their doublewide as part of some meth lab misadventure. The rural road leading to their property was witness to random gunfire, and a high amount of traffic, primarily pickup trucks driven very fast by wild eyed and disturbed looking young white men. Not a colored person in sight...

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by Slig

Most people won't admit that a large contributer to an area being "ghetto" or a crappy area is based on seeing concentrations of ethnic diversity. Another factor is seeing older buildings and cars that aren't well kept (AKA lower-income). These two things basically do nothing else except scare sheltered people from the suburbs and small outlying towns...it doesn't necessarily equate to the life portrayed by the movie Menace 2 Society.

Just this past spring I was at the stoplight on 28th and Nicollet on my way to the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage campus just on the other side of 35w when some of the "concentration of ethnic diversity" that was standing around a porch at 28th and Stevens started shooting at each other hitting a school bus in the process.