But to elaborate a bit to HockeyDude:
The thing with this suburb (still not naming it since it should be REALLY obvious by now) is that it's actually about equal distance from "cool" part of Minneapolis as I am, and actually has a lot of new urbanist design and pretty walking friendly (not true of just it, but also the area right to its south, it seems that's a big thing in the southwest metro in general.) However it's also probably at least 25% more expensive across the board than if you just lived in the city. Where I live is perfect since it's basically where the border between the "hipster area" and the ghetto gets blurred, so it's overall pretty cheap, is not too dangerous (whether its the ghetto or hipster filled depends on who you talk to I've noticed, no one except the people who live here seem to realize it's actually an interesting mix of both) AND has easy access to both uptown and downtown Minneapolis. I can walk to both comfortably 9 months out of the year and have easy bus access as well. Living there would mean being far from downtown and paying more. I suppose it wouldn't be bad if you had the money and cared mostly about all the upscale stores to shop at and luxury apartments instead of the concrete box style that I live in but it's not really for me.
It is however a good reminder of something I said earlier about how rich Democratic areas have better aesthetic taste than rich Republican areas. A bunch of luxury condos in immediate walking distance of a shopping district of overpriced clothing and jewelry stores isn't exactly my thing, but I'll take it any day over a bunch of trashy McMansions sprawling around in an area where you have to drive a half hour to go shopping anywhere.
Also I'm still confused by memphis' comment. Said suburb isn't going anywhere or making massive changes.
Well said. A lot of people give those types of Democratic areas a bad rep because people in general tend to respond very negatively to perceived smug and snootiness. But hell, at least they are voting for progressive candidates, buying from small business, and probably giving to charity or causes. And obviously, they aren't afraid to live near people different from them and well-cultured.
The parasites that live in the McMansions do all of their harm from afar because the sight of anyone dissimilar to them makes their conservative butthole tighten to the nth degree. At least it keeps them away from us until the RNC decides it's convention time in the city proper.
