Is Minneapolis a good place to flee Portland to? (Warning: a rant)

In My Humble Opinion
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I’m personally tired of paying out the nose for everything, unfriendly people (can’t stand “hipsters” or the sarcasm and passive aggression here … IMO people here are NOT nice for the most part and making friends is very hard), awful weather, prefer 4 seasons over 9 months of cold damp and 3 months of windless heat, even if it means a Minnesota winter it’s still a more normal climate than here.

I live in the most dangerous part of Portland and pay the cheapest rent possible in the city and I freeze my ass off because I can’t even afford to heat my bedroom (50 year old buildings in Oregon are about as comfortable and well-insulated as tents). Some days I’m relegated to eating bread because I can’t afford to live in a neighborhood with a grocery store. The job market here is atrocious and the only jobs I can find are ones I can’t tolerate, I have a disability that makes working retail or a kitchen job (I’ve had to quit two because I started having nervous breakdowns) a special psychological hell and those are the only jobs here that don’t require 30 years of prior experience and a 12 year degree in rocket psychology. Only thing I could tolerate would be a graveyard shift and honestly I’d NEVER want to work at night with all the aggressive weirdos and desperate people in this city.

There is really no way, I’ve decided, to improve my situation without leaving Portland altogether, and really the whole West sounds just as bad if not worse. I can’t just “work harder” and “make sacrifices” and thrive in this city, I already live the most bare bones and uncomfortable lifestyle I can without being homeless like so many people. And there is no work for me here.

That’s another thing - I live 5-6 miles outside of the city center and there are STILL tons of homeless people here. It’s very sad and people are being denialists when they say it’s only the “mild climate” or “liberal culture”. Get real, people are homeless because many people cannot pay the required 3x the rent. I don’t think most people choose homelessness, especially when it’s literally a crime in America. Even here in utopian, progressive Portland, the cops are extremely cruel to the homeless and most people are uncharitable. One was even shot under a bridge by a police officer for no reason aside from sleeping there. I give them money whenever I can spare it and sometimes when I can’t because I know I might be one of them next month if I lose my SSI income (that’s a whole other rant).

I’ve done a lot of research and I think Minneapolis fits my bill the best. I’m going to get drivers’ lessons next month and hopefully move out there late this year or early next year, as soon as I get a car. I really wish I could just leave now, but I suppose I’ll have to spend the rest of the year suffering since I have nowhere else to go.

I have some questions about Minneapolis though - is it a LOT cheaper, rentwise and in general? Or is it still a complete ripoff just a little bit less so? Is the job market, particularly for entry level/lower end jobs more healthy than Portland? It seems like pretty much everywhere would be better, but then again this is 2015. I know here it takes months to find even the worst condition, lowest paying jobs.

Also are people in Minneapolis less anti-social than people in Portland and Seattle? I’ve heard that Minnesotans are friendly but some people have countered that by saying they are just as standoffish as people here. I find that kind of hard to believe, but I really hope I’m not wrong.

I’ve seen videos of Minneapolis and it seems like a much more beautiful and functional city in general than Portland. The parks look way nicer, and it seems overall like it’s less unequal and pretentious. The things I’ve heard about Minnesotan people are 80 percent good news.

I just want to be able to live in a city where eking out a decent living is possible, and the people aren’t ignorant (this excludes places like Indiana and Kansas, no offense to any nice people who live there but their war on the poor is disgusting). Is that possible in the Twin Cities?

With the drought in California combined with continued “Portlandia-style” hyping of this city, I know that it is going to become increasingly unaffordable and hostile towards people who are on lower/fixed incomes as more and more people move here. I only moved here in 2011 and the traffic and transit are already much worse, the people seem more aggressive, and it feels like crime is getting worse too. It might as well be called Portlandifornia at this point.

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I know it’s easy to tell me “it’s not Portland, it’s you” but I’ve tried to love this city, and thrive in it, but it keeps beating the hell out of me. I think it’s a good city for people who already have money and friends but for everyone else it can be a miserable and inhospitable place to live.

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good luck. i’m on SSI also. i had a similar experience in Queens NY.

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Move.
That bad? Been there done that, hiking, biking, leaving all my crap behind.
If it’s that painful…leave.
Just my honest opinion.

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This. Not the place it once was, definitely.

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As a rule of thumb, the Midwest/South are much cheaper than the coastal cities.

This may help–

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I live in Minnesota, about 45 minutes from Minneapolis in a small town/suburb, so my experiences may not apply.

Minnesotans are nice, polite, and sincere. On the other hand it is difficult to actually get to know us and be invited over to dinner.

I’ve traveled extensively, and the only city I’ve ever been in and thought “I don’t have to come here ever again” was Portland. Hated the vibe, hated the 20 year old meth heads, the downtown was ugly, and just ugh. I’ve been to some real shitholes, and am an optimist by nature, so that’s really saying something.

The cost of living is cheaper here. The park system is fantastic. There’s a lot of hiring going on at all levels. We’re getting better at public transportation, but really, you’ll want to drive. Not having a car here would make things difficult. Not impossible, just difficult.

Winter can be cold and long. Summer is gorgeous.

Life is what you make of it, and sometimes that means move.

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You are jumping from the frying pan into the other frying pan.

Let’s start with the term “Minnesota Nice”. This is passive aggression perfected and is so common that it even has its own wikipedia page.

Hipsters? We’re awash with them here. Northeast Minneapolis (Nordeast) where I live was just named the best arts place in the US. And you can’t walk two blocks without walking by a new craft beer company here. You also will be swimming in a wonderful theater/theatre community that borders on relentless.

Making new friends here? Forget about it. Seriously. We’re a tight knit community and treat friendly folks with suspicion. We have had a couple Dopefests here though.

Homeless people exist in pretty much any metropolitan area, but due to the harsh winter climate, it’s not as prevalent.

Job market? Well, that’s where we are great. Lots of Fortune 500 companies and opportunities.

Affordable housing? Doing a perfunctory search on houses on zillow and you’ll get more bang for your buck in Minneapolis than Portland (and even more so in St Paul). The rental market is a bit tighter than it was a couple years ago with more higher end apartment buildings being built than middle income kinds.

Spring, Summer, Fall? Wonderful. Winter? Fucking brutal. Mid December through and of February test the mettle on a daily basis. If it’s not snowing it’s breathtakingly cold.

The city, county, and state park systems are wonderful. We really celebrate nature in its fullest with our lakes and rivers taking most of the focus.

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That’s fine, I mean, I’m probably not even like that myself, but it’s more because I never have money and I’m not the best cook. :smiley: I find in Portland it goes far beyond that, people are downright rude and hostile here if you smile at them or try to even be courteous and polite. I hope Minnesota isn’t like that.

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Interesting. Is there anywhere you’d counter-suggest moving? I’ve thought about the South, but I’ve heard people there are ignorant and hate people who are on government assistance, even if they genuinely need it like I do. Another issue is that I’m an atheist.

Personally I think welfare fraud is quite rare, but the mentality in this country is that everyone who has a disability is just a lazy liar. :rolleyes:

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Unless you are in a big city the south is exactly the way you described

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Moderator Action

This is more of an advice and opinion thing than a factual question.

Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

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Don’t get me wrong, we love it here. It’s just got its quirks.

One similar place would be Madison, Wisconsin. It’s the capital and a big university. Very liberal, Wisconsinites are more social (and more into the bar scene too). The one major drawback is Scott Walker and what he’s doing to the state.

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The grass is always greener, as they say, but perhaps the Portland in my neck of the woods would be more to your liking. Fewer people, less traffic, and you can be in the wilderness in less than an hour. :smiley:

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Like pretty much every other city is when you are broke and friendless.

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I’m assuming when you say “Ignorant” you mean “Conservative”?

Despite constantly saying we need to be “more like Portland”, the cities themselves may be too your liking. In the suburbs you have a lot of conservatives, remember Bachmann is one of ours. There’s thus a degree of polarization between the cities and suburbs, especially over allocation of resources. This goes as far as the impression I get that some people think the suburban lifestyle is “wrong” and we need to be “fixed”, rather than a different preference than people that like the city". The suburbs want more and more roads and the cities want more and more transit, for example. Quite a few jobs are out in the suburbs; I haven’t been in downtown since last fall, so you really will need a car.

Generally speaking the rough neighborhoods are immediately south of downtown, the northwest, and some areas of the northern suburbs. There are bums, beggers, and drunks downtown but not as many as other large cities. The area is doing better economically than the rust belt, so rents will be higher, but not as much as on the west coast.

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Yeah I’ve heard Wisconsin is becoming more conservative and hostile towards the poor and the economy is a lot worse than Minnesota. I did consider Madison though, it sounds like a pretty damn nice town. I think the Twin Cities would probably be better for me, but I’d really have to ask around more.

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Yeah, I’m going to get my license next month hopefully. Honestly you can’t really live well in Portland without a car either. It’s not impossible like in some cities, but people vastly overrate Trimet. There’s been times I’ve waited nearly an hour for a bus, and I’ve always lived in Southeast west of 82nd Ave and within a mile of Burnside in the more “hip” part of the city. It’s far worse in other parts of Portland. The only American city where not having a car is really not a handicap is New York City.

That’s true, but in Portland there’s really no opportunity to ameliorate this circumstance… Do you think you’d still prefer Portland over the Midwest if you made $700 to $1000 a month like I do?

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Not necessarily, liberals can be bigoted and ignorant too. I think in this country though the GOP supporters are the main ones that hate the unfortunate, though some liberals do deep down as well. I actually think in a lot of ways the “liberal” West Coast is just as ignorant as the South, maybe moreso even. Especially when it comes to the denial about the poverty here, a lot of people seriously seem to think everyone on the West Coast is rich and there isn’t any poverty at all.

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You could move to someplace like Tonopah, Nevada with a much lower cost of living (as are all small towns in similar situations), though I don’t know what sort of social services they have. You could move to Rachel, Nevada and get a trailer for cheap - the population is only 60 people so the job market isn’t very big of course.