I’m very bored and I live in twin cities and I don’t know how to look for activities .

In town for the weekend. Any bars hosting any cover bands? 90s-2000s rock, grunge, dad rock would be ideal. Wood paneling on the walls is a perk!

I've been a Florida resident all my life, but my wife was born and raised in Indiana. She hates Florida but evidently loves me more and has lived with me for 8 years, enduring hurricanes and terrible drivers in the Tampa area. Before, she was able to deal with the annual power outages from hurricanes, especially Irma that knocked out our power for 2 weeks when we lived in Orlando, but after having our daughter, Helene and Milton were the last straw. She made her pitch to leave and, frankly, she made some good points and got me to realize that I hate Florida too. The issue is, we bought our home in a super safe and established neighborhood at a once-in-a-lifetime rate during the pandemic, so if we decide to move, we want to make sure it's worth giving up these golden handcuffs.

My wife doesn't really want to go back to Indiana, and, to be frank, I pitched Minnesota because current VP hopeful Governor Walz is doing a pretty good job selling his state as a good place to raise a family. I chose Bloomington because I want to be close to places with lots to do and not be in a small and uneventful midwestern town. My wife's all for it, but I keep reading about the disproportionately high crime rate in the Twin Cities and even some parts of Bloomington. The interactive crime maps I've been looking at still show Bloomington as being less safe than many other cities in the country, with the exception of some areas within West Bloomington. Online articles and posts outside of those crime sites are mixed, from what I've seen.

With all that said, my question, primarily for families in Bloomington but open to any Bloomington resident, is if Bloomington is a safe area to live in and a nice place to raise a family? My general question is if Bloomington is also a pretty entertaining place to be with lots to do given its vicinity to the Twin Cities and MOA? Thanks in advance for any input, I really appreciate it. I searched the subreddits before, but some answers are years old and others are mixed, so I figured I'd ask in case things changed between now and then.

tl;dr: Florida sucks. Is Bloomington a safe area to live in and a nice place to raise a family? Is there lots to do given its vicinity to the Twin Cities and MOA?

Edit: All of you have been extremely helpful and my wife and I are pulling the trigger. We're going to do a long-term visit and start looking at houses. Thank you so much for all of the detailed responses, it's clear from them that Bloomington is a loved city by its community and certainly checks all of my boxes. Assuming all goes well with selling my home, I can't wait for my family to be a part of it.

Just saw a bunch of signs in Bloomington. What's up with that? Isn't ranked choice a good thing?

Free home gym equipment, Weider equipment with weights, pulleys, and all that. Everything is there but disassembled, free if you pick it up. DM me if interested and when you can come and I'll give you the address.

I’ve been looking for more Tekken friends that would be down to meet up to run sets and improve at the game together :) slash friends that are in to the FGC in general

I have a group of friends in town staying in the Bloomington area, and am looking for some great cocktail bars for them to visit.

I was going to recommend foshay/Prohibition.. but was looking for other places closer than that

There was a policeman who bought me ihop after I was racially profiled and at the Best Western by MOA, back in May or June.

He looked mixed with white & Asian(?), jet black hair, really light brown/golden eyes, maybe a foot taller than me (so 6 foot 2 inches), he was maybe mid to late 20s, longer oval face, calm demeanor, and seemed like he was a known officer at the ihop.

I wanted to pay him back when I get back to Minnesota next month, but I never got his name.

Help me out?

Hi all!

So I am looking to buy my own condo after renting for almost 30 years. The reason I need to buy is that I keep having to deal with housing discrimination based on my disabilities. Every single reasonable accommodation request I make is a fight with shitty landlord after shitty landlord. So I need to be able to just decide when people are coming into my home.

Here’s my question: how disability friendly would you say Bloomington is? Is there any paratransit? Are people generally nice when encountering someone who wears legs braces or uses a walker or a wheelchair? Or do they stare or yell slowly at us because they assume we have an intellectual disability? I mean—obviously some people are going to be like that, but is there any disability awareness at all? Will I be treated like a leper?

I cant do active stuff except swimming, and I figured I could just pop over to the southdale ymca for the pool. And I’m sure there are plenty of places I could just go sit and look at nature. I’m mainly concerned about the “culture” of the burb.

Thank you for any insights!

Has anyone ever tried Valeo's Pizza in Bloomington, MN? Heard they make everything from scratch with clean ingredients. How is it?

Anyone know if the Bloomington Social Security office on American Blvd is usually very busy? Thanks in advance for replies.

If you know of any Democrat friendly watch party for tomorrow Debate, could you please post it here. TIA

I used to work at the big Holiday Super Store on Lyndale Ave back in 1987. There was a home improvement store right across the street. Does anyone remember the name?

I heard that car again at 5am this morning. Anyone get that license plate?

We are traveling to Bloomington and visiting the mall of America. What else is there to do ? Both for family and adults. Will be visiting from 12/8 to 12/13. So far I have the mall, the aquarium in the mall, and we are staying at great wolf lodge. Thank you !

Average monthly cost of a studio apartment for 1 person including all utilities? I will likely only be in the apartment 2-3 times a week.

Anybody have any suggestions for good chicken wings with in a 10/15 min drive of south Bloomington?!

I've been getting a lot of people this summer knocking on my door trying to sell me crap I don't want. EcoShield is the worst, having been to my house 5 times already this year. I put up a No Solicitors sign, but they all ignore it like it isn't even there. I even had a guy claiming to be a pastor advertising his church who walked around my house, up onto my back porch, and knocked on my back door.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is anyone else dealing with this crap? Are they required to have a solicitors license or something? This is my third summer living in Bloomington and I didn't have this problem the last two years.

We recently moved to Bloomington and I'm having a hard time figuring out which gyms are geared towards families. I mostly want some weight machines for mild strength training, some activities for kids, and an indoor pool would be a nice bonus. Any suggestions?

Wondering what there's to do for adult entertainment in Bloomington. Gonna be there from the 21st until the 26th. Let me know.

I hope this finds the person reving his/her engine up and down Nicollet. I'm really close to stepping it up if you don't stop. You should learn the lesson not to shit where you live/eat. I've already talked to the traffic Sargent and just need your license plate. You own a black BMW. Please stop!

Any dispensarys near mall of america sell bud or pre rolls with out a medical card? I'm 21 plus just coming down for a trip.

Looking for recommendations for an Appliance repair tech to take a peek at my gas dryer that just started having issues.

My girlfriend lost a wallet this morning in the Normandale Village area. If anyone finds anything, please reach out to me.