Florida to Minnesota, anyone else do this? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: home, schools)

[kandj48]

Are we crazy to be thinking about re-locating from Phoenix to the Minneapolis area? Phoenix has terrible crime stats and the housing is unaffordable for us. Plus, the illegal immigration problem has essentially become an invasion. Some people may feel that is a racist desription, but live here for a little while. We both work for the county probation department, so we are well aware of the tax dollars that are spent on providing the illegal community with services that citizens are unable to receive. We just can't wait to get out of here, and quite honestly, that is one of the biggest reasons. Crime is such that everytime you leave your vehicle in a parking lot, you have to worry about whether or not it will be there when you return. Home invasions are common and graffiti is literally at plague proportions. Meth is killing this place, and a police officer was killed this week by 2 addicts. A police officer is killed about every 6 months here. I hate to disillusion anyone wanting to move here, especially to escape cold weather, but these are the realities of Phoenix living. I realize every place has its societal ills, and Minneapolis has its share, but we think it might be a better fit for us. Sorry about the ramble, but wanted to give some explanation for a move that some people might think is off the wall. By the way, we will both be retiring in 2 years. We are in our 50's and don't have medical problems where cold weather would present problems for us. At least I don't think so yet.

[bella561]

I just moved to MN from South FL 19 months ago and it is was a very big change, full of pros and cons. The people are very nice in MN, unlike south FL, and the summers are very nice because there not as humid as FL. The winters are absolutely HORRIBLE here though, I've only experienced 2 now and I hate it. Driving in the winter is not easy to do either. I am up here for college, and plan to move back to FL right when I graduate. ..

[Lereca]

Originally Posted by monti

Wait a minute, wait a minute...

Florida is beautiful - have you considered moving to Miami? It's beautiful there all year round, great party scene, plenty of creative work, can go water skiing/swimming all year round on the coast..

Minnesota - GREAT but only for 3 months in the summer and uh oh yeah if you have bugspray OH and I forgot housing costs are through the roof, uhm but ya know... we have *TREES* and uh... hmm

*think positive*

uh well we have uh PARKS ...

but you dont get to use those for 9 months out of the year due to the frigid cold winds... but THEY'RE THERE...

lakes...

just make sure you don't swim in any of the polluted ones (all of them)

yep, so if you want to sit inside and post on message boards in the winter, get drunk at bars with a bunch of no-name no-ambition look alike (everybody wears the same @$#@$% outfit here) losers - go outside and sit around during the summer all while paying super high rates for your house then MINNESOTA IS THE PLACE FOR YOU

If you don't like it, move.

[looking for warmth]

Originally Posted by monti

Wow ran out of space, only allows 5000 characters, 1 second...


++++++++++++++++++++++++

"maybe lardo is that person's lifestyle,,but some of us have made the effort to enjoy life"

Eek wow, not only am I not out of shape in any way but what frustrates me is you make the assumption that I haven't made an effort to "enjoy life"

I grew up on welfare and foodstamps, and have moved around Minnesota my whole life, constantly. In my 18 years I've moved 17 times. This not only hinders me from having any close circle of regular friends but also has kept me on edge and freezing many times when we couldn't pay the bills for heating in the winter.

I never enjoyed the priveledge of going to places where it took money to enjoy like.. well every single thing you mentioned on that list. The gist of my life in the winter would be sledding and hanging around my mom's college. Constantly freezing.

I was given the opportunity to go to a fairly exclusive highschool without paying any fees (Minnehaha Academy) so I got to see how the other half lived. I would watch as kids pulled up in their dad's Hummer or Porsche, and I watched from even closer in these same kids basements watching them sit and simply drink and do drugs every weekend. They have all the ins and the resources but they don't use them and it kills me.

I see the kids who are poor, like me - and it's the same story with them, no ambition.

Then I go out to LA and meet people who - surprise - actually give a **** about creating things - about money - about image. I get to do the EXACT SAME THINGS i can do here in the summer except all year round and better.

Rollderblading in Santa Monica along the beautiful beach. Volleyball. Shopping in Melrose for a much wider variety of clothes (everything isn't disgustingly boxy Abercrombie and Fitch Polos) being able to see actual professionals working on set, the ocean, surfing, much tastier restaurants than I've ever eaten at than in Minnesota, and on top of it all I cannot fathom the amounts of money being thrown around.

Same thing when I went to Miami a month ago, I was in bliss, I didn't feel depressed and unhappy, the warmth and the sun refreshed me and my appearance, my skin felt hydrated and smooth, sporting a matte finish. My hair and nails felt similar benefit.

I take pride in being able to come from the bottom and go straight to the top, and if there's one thing I want to do it's spread the word about how this state almost got the better of me, it's quite horrid and I've nearly frozen to death on 2 occasions in my life. This state is a horrid place to grow up with no money, no connections no nothing.

Being in the same situation in Hawaii for example wouldn't be nearly as bad, I'm quite sure of that.

Now maybe you understand where I'm coming from...

Obviously Monti, is lacking some Vitamin D (try a tanning bed for a little while)??? hahahaha

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by monti

Eek wow, not only am I not out of shape in any way but what frustrates me is you make the assumption that I haven't made an effort to "enjoy life"

As much as your story is touching and makes me want to feel bad for you, it really doesn't mean anything.

My family grew on the wage of a father who made $4 something an hour at the local YMCA as a janitor. I can't imagine raising a son, buying land and building a home on that kind of money. You're not the only person to grow up poor and less privileged, and yet, I was NEVER cold (other than when building my snow forts!), not once. We had no Porsche, no Hummers, no anything. Just a Geo Metro to get around. Nobody is born with connections. You make connections. My family certainly had none to help me, and yet here I am, *gasp* successful in Minnesota (and Duluth of all places) as a web application programmer.

People go from null to something everyday. The difference between my family and some bum on the street is that we kept trying, putting money away, working on the credit rating and not buying crap we don't need, until we could buy some land.

I don't get how people expect things to be handed to them, it's ridiculous. Maybe that's why in the bigger picture, Minnesota is known to have very traditional, hard working people? I'd have to agree.

[nitpick]

I had to keep my town home vacant during winter for three months (Oct to end of Jan) . I do not have any one to look after my home during winter for heating failures etc.

One of my friend mentioned that i will have to winterize it before leaving the home for three months.

My questions are
1. Are there any agencies to take care of homes like this when no one is present at home during winter?
2. How much do they charge.

Thanks in advance!

[rcsteiner]

Our family had a cabin out on the main point at Breezy Point before the condo builders (and their renters) got rather aggressive, and we used to winterize it ourselves every year since we didn't heat it at all during the winter months.

The main steps we took were to thoroughly drain the water pipes (being made of plastic, they didn't take kindly to freezing water), and we also filled the toilet bowls with anti-freeze. Not sure what else was done -- that's mainly what I remember.

[acrylic]

Originally Posted by kandj48

Are we crazy to be thinking about re-locating from Phoenix to the Minneapolis area? Phoenix has terrible crime stats and the housing is unaffordable for us. Plus, the illegal immigration problem has essentially become an invasion. Some people may feel that is a racist desription, but live here for a little while. We both work for the county probation department, so we are well aware of the tax dollars that are spent on providing the illegal community with services that citizens are unable to receive. We just can't wait to get out of here, and quite honestly, that is one of the biggest reasons. Crime is such that everytime you leave your vehicle in a parking lot, you have to worry about whether or not it will be there when you return. Home invasions are common and graffiti is literally at plague proportions. Meth is killing this place, and a police officer was killed this week by 2 addicts. A police officer is killed about every 6 months here. I hate to disillusion anyone wanting to move here, especially to escape cold weather, but these are the realities of Phoenix living. I realize every place has its societal ills, and Minneapolis has its share, but we think it might be a better fit for us. Sorry about the ramble, but wanted to give some explanation for a move that some people might think is off the wall. By the way, we will both be retiring in 2 years. We are in our 50's and don't have medical problems where cold weather would present problems for us. At least I don't think so yet.

Maybe you're just in a bad part of town. I don't see how moving to Minneapolis is going to be a bunch better. Every metro area has their share of crime, and all that.

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by acrylic

Maybe you're just in a bad part of town. I don't see how moving to Minneapolis is going to be a bunch better. Every metro area has their share of crime, and all that.

Every metro area has a share, but some have a MUCH bigger share than others. The Twin Cities metro area feels like Disney World to me after a couple years in the Charlotte and Jacksonville metro areas.

[fromupthere]

I've heard that Phoenix has a very high crime rate, one of the worst in the country. So I'd say Minneapolis is probably better than Phoenix.