Burnsville (Minneapolis: insurance, violent crime, houses)

[mj88]

Are there any areas in Burnsville to avoid? (unsafe, etc) If so, where at?

[Minnehahapolitan]

Avoid out of concern for your personal safety? No.

[Binky .357]

Burnsville is okay. Not a whole lot of violent crime to worry about. While there was a fight and a hit and run leading to a death at the Event Center in the same little strip mall as Shooters (pool hall), that's about all that happens.

That and the occasional murder that occurs in the city.

Not much else. It's a lot safer than the cesspoool that Minneapolis is becoming; just make sure you lock your doors at night or you could find yourself a victim of a home invasion like one guy did.

You can always check the most recent crime map (http://gis.co.dakota.mn.us/ve/burnsville/crime.html - broken link)for the area; you don't have to take my word for it.

[wil45]

Originally Posted by Binky .357

Burnsville is okay. Not a whole lot of violent crime to worry about. While there was a fight and a hit and run leading to a death at the Event Center in the same little strip mall as Shooters (pool hall), that's about all that happens.

That and the occasional murder that occurs in the city.

Not much else. It's a lot safer than the cesspoool that Minneapolis is becoming; just make sure you lock your doors at night or you could find yourself a victim of a home invasion like one guy did.

You can always check the most recent crime map (http://gis.co.dakota.mn.us/ve/burnsville/crime.html - broken link)for the area; you don't have to take my word for it.

Mpls as a "cesspool"? LOL. Spoken like a true suburbanite. Most people with average intelligence that live in ANY part of the metro area lock their doors at night .

[Binky .357]

Originally Posted by wil45

Mpls as a "cesspool"? LOL. Spoken like a true suburbanite. Most people with average intelligence that live in ANY part of the metro area lock their doors at night .

You're right, but why is that?

I grew up in a rural community where the doors never needed to be locked when we went any where, nor did we need to lock the door at night. Crime in the neighborhood was virtually non-existant. Everyone knew thier neighbors, and looked out for them. We would routinely talk to them and knew at least a little about them.

Not so much any more. Several subdivisions have been built in the last 15 years. Houses sell so rapidly that you don't have a chance to learn anything about the neighbors. The community spirit is gone (*Except for the one time we all got together and collectively b***h-slapped that idiot animal rights activist and sent him packing a few years back...).

[Minnehahapolitan]

It may come as a great surprise to you...but neither Mpls. or Burnsville are rural communities. l
That gives you two choices -- A) Stop living in the Cities like you were in a rural community and take basic precautions against crime ____or_____ B) Move back to a rural community where you don't have to take those precautions. You do not get to bad mouth these cities because you have some nostalgia for not locking your front door.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by Binky .357

You're right, but why is that?

I grew up in a rural community where the doors never needed to be locked when we went any where, nor did we need to lock the door at night.

I grew up in an 'urban' (as much as you could call it that) neighborhood in Sioux Falls - we locked our front doors, but I never locked my car doors when parked on the street. Funny thing was, in the summertime about every other night I would get into my car and realize that it had been rifled through, but it still didn't cause me to feel the need to lock it...not only did I hardly ever have anything in it at all worth any type of value, but it was also an 80s buick lesabre (which studies backed me up was the least likely car to be stolen), so the worst thing that ever happened (besides ocassionally an old casette tape, bottle of cologne, or some other random odd or end) was a dead battery from the interior light having been left on - what sucked was the occassional drunk driver that plowed down the street hitting dozens of cars parked on the street (I still don't know how none of us ever heard this as it was happening).

Nowadays, I see a bunch of my neighbors get up in arms over some ocassional minor garage break-ins - I can see where a burglary would be upsetting due to the feeling of your home having been invaded or having lost sentimental items/ heirlooms, etc, but losing some tools or a bike that will get covered by your insurance policy? Not that big of a deal IMO...

[Minnehahapolitan]

.

[Binky .357]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

It may come as a great surprise to you...but neither Mpls. or Burnsville are rural communities.
That gives you two choices -- A) Stop living in the Cities like you were in a rural community and take basic precautions against crime ____or_____ B) Move back to a rural community where you don't have to take those precautions. You do not get to bad mouth these cities because you have some nostalgia for not locking your front door.

I get it. I get it. You work for some "Move Back to the Cities (maybe you won't be killed, robbed, raped, carjacked, etc... ) Initiative". Good for you. I get it. Run off to your utopia now, where the glasses are always rose colored, the flowers are always blooming, and the unicorns are always friendly.

I, myself... I get to do whatever I want, even if it includes "bad mouthing" communites that have real crime problems.

Murder is a crime problem. Burglary is a crime problem. Theft is a crime problem. Assault is a crime problem as is rape, robbery, and arson.

While the proof has been pointed to more than once, I will say it over and over until I'm blue in the face... any time even one of these types of crimes is committed, it's a problem... and these crimes are committed pretty much daily in Minneapolis. Burnsville's better in that the crimes are mostly crimes you can survive, but you still might lose property for having the audacity of having it in your locked car on your property. Your life can still be at risk if you make the mistake of dozing off on the couch in the afternoon with the door unlocked.

In my community, I'm still able to take a nap with the door open (although I wouldn't leave the house for any ammount of time nor would I go to bed for the night) and the only barrier to the outside a screen door.

I can leave my GPS, plus $5K worth of other electronics gear in my vehicle in my driveway (granted I do have an alarm system that's pretty much always on) and I'm not worried about a broken window; sometimes during the day, I don't even lock my vehicle in the driveway, and living out here I've never had anything stolen for my efforts.

So you can run along back to your candyland fantasy where rape, assault, murder, theft, burglary, exploding meth labs (*okay, I added that last one), and other crimes are the norm and that's not a crime problem () and be a good little victim-in-waiting, and I'll continue to bad mouth candy land and all of its perils from relatively rural security. Good luck to you; I make my own.

I've already said that Burnsville is comparatively safe when it comes communities, as they go. I didn't say it was some kind of Eden, just comparatively safe. Minnehahapolitan is right, though. It's strictly your fault (for some inexplicable reason ) if you leave your expensive electronics in your car and someone breaks a window to steal from you. Best not to kick up a fuss and either allow the criminal element to dictate your lifestyle, or suck it up and let the problems blend into the white noise.

[Binky .357]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

Nowadays, I see a bunch of my neighbors get up in arms over some ocassional minor garage break-ins - I can see where a burglary would be upsetting due to the feeling of your home having been invaded or having lost sentimental items/ heirlooms, etc, but losing some tools or a bike that will get covered by your insurance policy? Not that big of a deal IMO...

As well they should, for two reasons:

#1: Insurance isn't cheap. And every claim for every theft drives everyones premiums up. It's an inconvienience, yeah, but not a huge deal. Not to mention the deductible.

#2: More importantly, I work for my stuff. I work hard for it. I go out to my job for forty hours a week so that I can get paid money to buy stuff. That stuff is mine. Part of me. Paid for with my time, time taken from my life.

When somebody steals a fifty dollar item from my garage, they've taken time from my life that I will never get back. Not only X number of hours I had to work to earn the money, but the time to call the police to file the report, the time to file a claim with the insurance company, the time waiting for my reimbursment, the time spent shopping to replace the stolen item... it all adds up to time. Time I will never get back. Time stolen from my life... like being stabbed to death with a tiny. little. knife.

That's really what it ammounts to... being murdered for only one day. Or one week. However long you had to work to accquire that posession and then replace it.

Very big deal, as far as I'm concerned. Very goddam big deal indeed; there's nothing "minor" about having property broken into (Whether it's a home or a garage). Out where I live, if a person breaks in to the house, they're just as likely to be shot whether they're planning on taking a $10 DVD or a 32" Television. We don't take surveys about the hypothetical criminals intent, we just take aim.