Neighborhood safety? (Minneapolis, Corcoran, Grant: affordable apartments, crime, co-ops)

[LMM22]

Hi --

I'm going to be a postdoc at the U of M in the fall, and I'm in the process of looking for housing. For personal reasons, I'm particularly interested in the Seward area.

Here's my question: How safe is the Seward neighborhood? Specifically, as a 20-something female, will I be safe walking around at night? If not, would you suggest any other areas of the Twin Cities instead? (I'm interested in a fairly walkable neighborhood with good public transit, ready access to the University, and fairly affordable apartments.)

Thanks!

[smith21]

seward is a quiet neighborhood. i dont think you have much to worry about even on lake street in that area. it is worse on the other side of hiawatha. you would have access to the 21 bus and the lightrail in that neighborhood.

[Isabel_009]

I am a relative newbie to Minneapolis - I'm a first year graduate student and have been here for just under a year. I'm not sure why you have zeroed in on Seward, but you might want to consider Uptown. Uptown is very safe, walkable, convenient, and although not super close to the U it is very accessible (express buses). I think it's a great alternative for a postdoc. I'm not sure, but I imagine you might have a lot of undergrads in Seward, since it's so close to the university, which may not be a great thing. There are parts of Uptown that are a bit too noisy for my liking (being an older grad student) so I'm thinking about moving a little bit south of the action. Uptown also has the amazing benefit of being right beside the lakes... Chain of Lakes

You might also want to check out the crime maps and do your own analysis of the crime patterns, rather than relying on people's subjective opinions, since how safe you feel will depend a lot on what you are used to. Crime Statistics and Reports

Good luck!

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I could be wrong but to my knowledge Seward isn't an overly popular neighborhood for undergrad students. Most tend to concentrate on the other side of the river in the Dinkytown area.

For whatever reason Seward seems to have a better reputation than nearby neighborhoods such as Longfellow, Corcoran, Standish, Hiawatha, etc. I don't really see much of a difference. There is a very apparent difference between Seward and East Phillips, but all the other mentioned neighborhoods are similar, quiet, and family-oriented.

[Unclero2003]

I'm researching buying a house in Minnesota soon so I performed a google search using "crime in Phalen park" as a search title and located this forum. I agree with you 100% in regard to the way people behave. I've lived in neighborhoods with $1,000,000 homes as well as areas where there are lots of housing projects, and its true that there are "bad seeds" everywhere.

A lot of the blame definitely falls on the upbringing of children by their parents, guardians, etc. If children are not taught morals and values they will become the problems that society is currently facing on epidemic levels. I have family members that I wonder how we're even related because of their behavior!

I hope that the area I relocate to when I buy my home in Minnesota will be a place where my "Light" shines brightly be an example to others who have accepted the "defeated follow the losers crowd" mentality that is prevalent throughout communities across the globe.
Thanks for the invaluable insight!!

K.W.
[EMAIL="Unclero2003@yahoo.com"]Unclero2003@yahoo.com[/EMAIL]

[Isabel_009]

Any idea why Seward has a good rep? What have you heard?

Originally Posted by Slig

I could be wrong but to my knowledge Seward isn't an overly popular neighborhood for undergrad students. Most tend to concentrate on the other side of the river in the Dinkytown area.

For whatever reason Seward seems to have a better reputation than nearby neighborhoods such as Longfellow, Corcoran, Standish, Hiawatha, etc. I don't really see much of a difference. There is a very apparent difference between Seward and East Phillips, but all the other mentioned neighborhoods are similar, quiet, and family-oriented.

[uptown_urbanist]

Granted, I don't spend a lot of time in that area (used to spend more), but Seward to me always feels like there's more going on (in terms of restaurants and businesses, I mean) than in Longfellow, etc.. It's also so close to both the U and to downtown. I knew a number of faculty members who lived in Seward. (I agree that it doesn't seem to be an undergraduate neighborhood, at least nowhere like what you find in Dinkytown, Stadium Village, etc.) I like the other neighborhoods like Hiawatha and Standish and think that they are excellent choices for many people, but they lack the convenience factor. Some of that has obviously changed quite a bit over the past decade or so now that there's the light rail line. Seward also possibly benefits from a bit more name recognition due to places like the co-op, as well as the neighborhood's fairly prominent (locally, that is) reputation as being ultra-liberal. Also, Seward seems like it's more defined than some of the other neighborhoods; that might make it easier for people to think of it as a separate entity. Some of those other neighborhoods flow together more, and for the outsider it's not as clear where one stops and another picks up.

My perception isn't that the other neighborhoods listed have a worse reputation than Seward; if anything, I'd say the opposite.

[audadvnc]

Seward has long been a halfway market for students and young adults. There is poverty there, but not the soul-grinding despair you run into at, say, Franklin and Portland. Lots of U grads and young families take up residence in Seward on their way to adulthood, and as they move out they're replaced by other students. Co-ops and coffee shops abound.