[KMKeller]

Well folks, it appears that my company indeed wants me to relocate, but instead of Salt Lake City, they want me to relocate to Eagan, Minnesota. Far and away not my first choice for relocation, but something I unavoidably have to consider.

That having been said, is there anyone here who can tell me about the Twin Cities area and Eagan in general? Any help is appreciated.

[jem375]

You should feel very fortunate in moving to Minnesota.......18,000 lakes, tons of hunting areas, lot of gun clubs and places to shoot......only problem are the do-gooders, but, they are rapidly losing influence in Minnesota...the last case was the conceal carry here, the do-gooders were against it of course, but, it happened.......we now have a Republican Governor, majority in the Minnesota house, and only a small minority in the Minnesota Senate, and are rapidly gaining ground there also......Mall of America, Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves, and really what more could you ask for?........

[ReadyontheRight]

KMKeller --

Depending on your interests, Minnesota can be a great place. It's an excellent place to raise kids. If you're single, there are lots of nice Scandinavian women here :).

There is good hunting and fishing within hours or minutes of almost anywhere in the state. I hunt turkey and pheasant between Owatonna and Rochester. I hunt grouse and deer just north of Elk River and up in Northern Minnesota. There are thousands of wildlife management areas and tracts of federal and state forests all over Minnesota open to public hunting. Just get a map from the Minnesota DNR and drive out and walk around with your hunting tool of choice.

I live in the uber-liberal city of Minneapolis, but Eagan is probably one of the better suburbs -- nice upper middle class with a lot of kids. Working in Eagan, you also have the option of buying/living further out on a some land or even living in one of the smaller towns south of the cities -- like Cannon Falls or Hastings. They are in the middle of renovating Highway 52 - which goes from Eagan to Rochester, so buying anywhere along this corridor will eventually be a nice commute and go up in value.

You can also live in the excellent (except for the politics) cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul and have a ~25 minute commute to Eagan. I suggest checking out southwest Minneapolis by the chain of lakes or the Highland area of St. Paul near the Mississippi river. The Lake Nokomis area in Minneapolis is a little less expensive than the lakes further west and also very close to Eagan. A house in either of these areas will continue to appreciate in value, but you will pay a lot more per square foot than you will in Eagan or anywhere in the 'burbs.

As far as shooting goes, there is a nice gun club just southeast of Eagan called Dakota County Gun Club http://www.dakotacountygunclub.org/. The club does not allow competitions, but it is a nice place to shoot. You have to be a member. New memberships start in April. There is also the MN Rifle and Revolver Association in Elk River (way on the other side of town) which has a 300 meter range with auto-scoring targets -- International competitions one Sunday per month. Armored Fire, Burnsville Pistol Range and Treasure Island Casino (!) all have good indoor pistol ranges.

Good things about Minnesota -- great place to raise kids, good public schools, a recent shift to the right in State politics, the snow STAYS and piles up all winter (no mud, great for kids and adults to play in), people acclimate to winter and actually get out and do stuff all winter, lots of outdoor events year-round, home and hub of Northwest Airlines - so it's easy to escape to anywhere, nice clean cities and roads, lots of lakes and boating opportunities, cold weather tends to send the riff-raff packing.

YOU WILL PAY HIGH STATE TAXES, SO NEGOTIATE THIS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER!

Things to do in Minnesota: Baseball -- St. Paul Saints (northern league) games are a blast, rollerblading or biking around the Minneapolis lakes, weekend trips up the North Shore of Lake Superior, weekend trips to the seaport town Duluth, MN, rent a pontoon or jet ski on Lake Minnetonka and go to Big Island to anchor out with the party crowd, ski or snowboard on weeknights at Buck Hill or Hyland Hills (~20 minute drive) or drive a few hours to Spirit Mountain or Lutsen Mountain (not really mountains, but better than most Miwestern states), icefishing, golf/snowmobile/boat/fish/camp up near Brainerd, MN, listen to Joe Soucheray's Garage Logic and Jason Lewis on AM1500 , listen to Michael Savage and others on AM 1280-The Patriot, join a softball/volleyball/kickball or broomball (http://usbabroomball.com/) league.

YOU WILL PAY HIGH STATE TAXES, SO NEGOTIATE THIS WITH YOUR EMPLOYER!

AND Minnesota just got CCW. :D

[Preacherman]

Don't forget to take plenty of anti-freeze to defrost your guns! :p

[USGuns]

I've read they have some of the best public schools in the nation as well.

[MrKandiyohi]

I used to work in Eagan and live in south Minneapolis(10 years ago), so it can be done. Since I was going against the traffic, I really didn't have a problem. People going the other way were stop and go. I'm not sure of the traffic pattern now.

Eagan is kind of directly south of the midpoint between Minneapolis and St. Paul, so you can consider both areas for housing. It's across the Minnesota river from those two, so that's the general traffic bottle neck. It's also south of the main airport, but most of the traffic goes over Minneapolis, and even the amount that would go over Eagan is still pretty high, so noise isn't a problem. The Mall of America is across the river.

Eagan is considered a bedroom suburb. Most people travel out to go to work. Schools are good in that area. It's mostly upper middle income families.

If you want a quieter neighborhood, and maybe a better commute, look to Apple Valley, Lakeville or Farmington. Even they are becoming more developed.

I used to shoot trap at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Lakeville. I don't know if it's still open. I've also been, once, to a private(undeveloped) shooting range in Cottage Grove (east of Eagan). There's also a Burnsville indoor gun range (southwest of Eagan).

Politics have definitely changed in the last 5-10 years as RoR pointed out. It used to be Democrats pretty much in every main office. Gov is Rep, MN House is Rep, and MN Senate is moving Rep. One US Senator is Rep and the US House members are about split among the two parties.

Twins suck, Vikings suck, the Wolvies get knocked out the first round of the playoffs, and the Wild did ok in hockey last year. Summer activities are great with 10,000 lakes. Ice fishing, snowmobiling, and downhill or crosscountry skiiing are the winter activities. The frigid weather just keeps out the riff-raff.

Do you mind telling us what company you'll be working for in Eagan? The main headquarters for Northwest Airlines is in Eagan, I believe, as is a defense military portion of Loral.

Good luck.

[Glamdring]

Do you have contact info for "MN Rifle and Revolver Association in Elk River"?

[Correia]

Bummer. We were looking forward to having you in Utah. Good luck up North.

[KMKeller]

I'd rather not disclose my employer at this point, but will sometime later on once I've decided what I want to do. Good info folks, keep it coming.

Larry - Thanks, I appreciate that. SLC isn't ruled out 100%, but very close to that. My wife and I would've said yes to SLC, but Eagan is altogether different. My wife has little or no interest in moving North (raised in Miami), but is considering it given the economy and employment problems with high-tech. It's easier for her to find another job than it is for me.

To that end, can anyone point me to a good local resource for "Help Wanted" ads for attorneys?

[dleong]

Come prepared for the 4 seasons (Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction), and you'll do fine.

By the way, I live in Apple Valley, which is the next 'burb immediately south of Eagan, and what others here have said about the rapid pace of development in this area is true.

DL

[dustind]

Cool, I live in Plymouth, a few minutes from Eagan. Temps range from negative double digits to over 90F. We seem to have great knife laws, good ccw, decent traffic laws(no smog or saftey checks, etc), but low speed limits, low crime. We were ruled by democrats but this state is a lot better than the others fared, I guess we managed to keep out the radical lefts, or maybe just keep them from spreading over the lesser populated parts of the state. check out www.mnccrn.org for our states pro gun group.

[KMKeller]

Readyontheright - Can you elaborate on the tax issues?

[goalie]

Taxes: If you make good money, you will pay about seven percent state income tax, so you should get a raise to compensate you, or you will end up with a net decrease in pay.

[Big_R]

I live outstate. All in all, Minnesota isn't that bad of a place to live. It used to be worse. The job market is pretty good, and you can't beat the recreation. Taxes are somewhat high. Sales tax is 6.5% and property tax will be going up since the sacred cows (education, welfare, etc.) didn't get the state funding increases they wanted. A lot of levy's were passed.

Minnesota is full of great people. Minnesota also seems to be the destination of a whole load of first generation immigrants, most of whom seem to be good people. The liberals are loosing power, but complaining all the way. It seems Minnesota may just become normal.

Ryan

[mpthole]

KMKeller - ditto what everyone else said above. Additionally regarding the tax issues, there is no tax on clothing.

I'm a MN native and even though I've moved over the state line to WI I still get up to the Twin Cities (otherwise known as just "The Cities") quite often. If you decide on Eagan, you could easily take hwy 42 west over to Burnsville to shoot at the Burnsville Pistol Range. Not too far of a drive, no membership required and reasonably priced compared to the other indoor ranges in the area... of which there are only 3: Bill's Gun Shop & Range in Robbinsdale (kind of the 'hood), Armored Fire in Circle Pines and the Burnsville Pistol Range (BPR).

I think the BPR hosts IPSC matches, but I'm not sure. If you shoot IDPA, there are a couple clubs in the area if you're willing to drive an hour or two. For any real rifle shooting you'll want to join a club like the ones mentioned above, or hook up with some folk who've got a farm/land outside of the Cities. I do the majority of my long-range rifle shooting at my buddy's farm down here in south-eastern MN.

Here are some links for you:

MN Job Links (not attorney specific)
MN Dept of Economic Security (http://www.mnworkforcecenter.org/)
MN Jobs (http://www.mn-jobs.com/)
MN Job Bank (http://www.mnworks.org/)
MN Job Openings (http://www.mnwfc.org/general/findjob.html)
Twin Cities Help Wanted.co (http://twincitieshelpwanted.com/home/160.htm)
Rochester Job Finder (http://www.rochesterjobfinder.com/)
Star Tribune - Working (http://www.startribune.com/working/)

MN Government Links
MN Dept of Public Safety (http://www.dps.state.mn.us/)
MN Secretary of State (http://www.sos.state.mn.us/)
MN State Legislature (http://www.leg.state.mn.us/)
MN State Govt Online (http://www.state.mn.us/)
Local Governments in MN (http://www.state.mn.us/local/)

Any other questions, just let us know! :)

[Standing Wolf]

I lived eleven years in Minnesota. The people are great, although there are lots of leftist extremists. The weather is okay five months out of the year, and of winter, the less said, the better. If you buy two or three top quality woollen sweaters a year and take good care of them, you'll be all right.

[thebaldguy]

Minnesota is not too bad a place to be. When economic times are good, they are usually very good in Minnesota. When times are bad, they are not as bad here. There's winter here - get a snowblower and a 4x4 and drive a bit slower, and you'll survive. Schools are pretty good, taxes are a bit high (I believe we're 2nd or 3rd), but the cold keeps most of the bad people away. Winter rocks - get a snowblower/skis/snowboard/snowmobile and you'll have some fun. Winter fishing in a nice fishhouse is pretty cool. Believe it or not, some of those fish shacks are pretty nice! Like fishing in your living room! A lot of outdoor stuff to do here too.

[carp killer]

Minnesota- home of FAC!:evil:

[Standing Wolf]

"WWSWS" What would Standing Wolf say?

He'd probably fire off his over-sized mouth, though whether he'd check what's behind his target remains to be seen.

[ReadyontheRight]

KMKeller -- Just be sure to realize that MN is 2nd or 3rd in the U.S. for state taxes -- I believe this is if you combine income, property and sales tax. Use this as a bargaining chip and try to get a little more $$$ from your employer to take the job. In exchange for those taxes, you get good roads, some good social programs, some silly governmentr programs and of course a lot of government waste (MN State Government has grown to be the #1 employer), but it seems to work pretty well here.

I agree that Burnsville Pistol Range is a great place. I was wrong about Treasure Island Casino having a range. I think it's Mystic Lake Casino that has a pistol range. Has anyone shot there?

Get some Sorels, good hat, good gloves and a couple 'o good parkas for you and your wife and you'll enjoy the winter. Spend some time on MN lakes and you might find road construction season (a/k/a "Summer") isn't so bad either.

[mpthole]

DOH! I forgot about the indoor range at Mystic Lake. I shot there once with a LEO acquainance of mine. Very nice facility for shooting indoors. I think you have to be a member to shoot there and I'm not sure how that happens or if there are any special "requirements" for membership. My buddy is a Prior Lake cop, so that's why we were able to shoot there.

[HankB]

I lived in the People's Republic of Minnesota ("The State Where Absolutely Nothing Is Allowed") for over 15 years, and didn't know I had it bad until I moved to Texas. ;)

High taxes, including a state income tax.

Roads - two seasons: winter and road construction.

High taxes, including a state income tax.

Shooting - Oakdale Gun Club (located in Lake Elmo, not Oakdale) has a number of outdoor ranges to 200 yards. OGC is just east of St. Paul. About 25 or 30 miles down I-35 from Eagan, there used to be - perhaps there still is - a place called the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club. When I lived there, they had one of the country's absolute BEST courses for Sporting Clays. The NW suburb of Anoka also had the annual Game Fair, with shooting, archery, dog stuff, etc.

High taxes, including a state income tax.

Cross country skiing - you need a license to ski on public land.

High taxes, including a state income tax.

Housing - word is, prices have risen sharply in the last 4 or 5 years. If you buy a house, get a steeply-pitched roof or you'll be "roof raking" snow drifts off. (Hardware stores actually carry "roof rakes" for this.) Beware of corner houses - when the snow plows whip around, they can put a LOT of snow at the end of your driveway. Also, try to get a house with a driveway facing generally south . . . what little sunlight you get in winter will help clear the ice off. It would help is your driveway isn't right next to your neighbor's, so you can snow blow it in either direction . . .

High taxes, including a state income tax.

Politics - improving. The democRATS, centered in Minneapolis, call themselves the DFL, for Deviants, Flakes, and Leftists, their core constituencies. But they're losing power . . . note that MN just got "shall issue" CCW.

And, just in case I forgot to mention it, Minnesota has high taxes.

[TXatty]

KMKeller:

I'm a former Minnesota resident and am still licensed to practice law in the state (my firm's main office is in downtown Minneapolis). Your wife may not like the cold weather (mine didn't, so now I live in Austin, TX :D ), but the legal community is really very good. Also, the Twin Cities area is a nice place to live -- lots of friendly people and things to do no matter what you are interested in.

You didn't mention the area of law in which your wife practices, but the best place to start looking may be the State Bar of Minnesota web site (http://www.mnbar.org/). The state bar magazine, Bench & Bar, has attorney wanted ads at http://www.mnbar.org/attorney-wanted.htm

Best of luck!

[KMKeller]

TXatty - She practices mostly commercial real estate and corporate law with a dash of residential thrown in on the side. She's been practicing for about 14 years and is a senior partner in her current firm. Good links, thanks. If you know of any specific firms she should focus on, please dish!

[dandean316]

I lived in Eagan for 7 years. Nice community, but I grew up in a town of 2000 people, so moving to 65,000 Eagan was a bit hectic to me. All my wife's family is there along with half of mine. Someone mentioned it's a bedroom community, but considering other suburbs don't see that as the case. Lots of smaller business' in Eagan. Its about 95% developed and they are rapidly developing the other 5%.

If you like big malls, I'd still stay away from the Mall of America. It's right next to hell in my book. Eagan has Walmart and Home Depot. What else do you need?

Lots of ranges near Eagan so as a gun guy you'll be happy. I was at the Mystic Lake range and it's nice. Someone mentioned the Dakota County club. I've seen it but never stopped in. I live near there now, anyone have experience with this club - membership fees etc? I shoot mostly pistol. I hear clays are steel shot only. Seems like an expensive way to go. I shoot trap at the Minneapolis Gun Club. I think the address is listed as Prior Lake, but it sure seems like Lakeville to me. Nice place, I think its a little more expensive than Oakdale, but still worth it.

Schools district 196 is highly rated, but I hear different things about 197. You will pay higher taxes in 196. Get into a good neighborhood. I was in a lower rung neighborhood and sometimes it wasnt the best. Cops didnt seem to care - kind of jerks if you ask me.

All in all I liked it, but I wanted a couple acres which would have cost me like 3 million in Eagan. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have left.

That's all for now. I'm sure I will think of more.

[Mornard]

Everyone who replied, (but especially HankB) is dead on - oh, by the way, did anyone mention high taxes??? Main unfortunate aspect besides the high taxes (and did I mention high taxes?) is that both newspapers (Star Tribune and Pioneer Press) are liberal mouthpieces, (the STar Tribune hideously so...) just ignore the damn liberals...

But - we got grouse, we got bear (lots and lots and lots) we got turkeys (lots and lots) and deer (lots and lots)

lots of forest land, timber land, etc. -public land has fairly good hunting - a fair number of places to shoot - just ignore the pain-in-the-??? lemme have your money liberals, listen to AM 1500, winter can be not so bad - last three or four have been mild - deer season can be either shirt sleeve or two feet of snow. (starts 1st weekend of November - season splits are weird but you get used to them...) Eagan is a good place.

[TXatty]

KMKeller:

My practice is in intellectual property law, so I'm not very familiar with Twin Cities firms that have commercial real estate and corporate law practices. I'm sorry I can't provide any solid leads in that area. You may want to try the FindLaw site (http://www.findlaw.com) to do a search for firms that might be of interest.

TXAtty

[dleong]

Someone mentioned the Dakota County club. I've seen it but never stopped in. I live near there now, anyone have experience with this club - membership fees etc? I shoot mostly pistol. I hear clays are steel shot only. Seems like an expensive way to go.
I am a member of the Dakota County Gun Club, which is located in Rosemount on a patch of land owned by the U of MN's agriculture school. Membership dues are $75 per year, with a first-year $25 initiation fee. In addition, each member has to fulfil a minimum 8-hour work commitment each year in the form of grounds maintenance, trash removal, facilities renovations, etc. Unworked hours are "billed" at $15 per hour and added to your next year's membership dues. Members are allowed to bring any number of family members, and up to two guests at any time.

The facilities are pretty decent. We have a rifle range with 25, 50, 100, 200 and 300 yard backstops; a recently renovated pistol range with 12 lanes separated into two 6-lane sections; a two-station bowling pin range; an archery range; and a shotgun range with two elevated throwers.

And yes, the shotgun range only allows steel shot.

DL

[dandean316]

So it's $100 and 8 hours of your time the first year? Sounds like a good deal. Are there any additional fees? Are there certain hours only you can shoot or is it a dawn to dusk thing? I live real close and would like to shoot outdoors sometimes.

[dleong]

So it's $100 and 8 hours of your time the first year? Sounds like a good deal. Are there any additional fees? Are there certain hours only you can shoot or is it a dawn to dusk thing? I live real close and would like to shoot outdoors sometimes.
It's $100 for the first year and $75 each year thereafter. The 8-hour work commitment applies every year. The club's range is open for shooting Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. till 8 p.m. or dusk (whichever is earlier).

Whereabouts in Dakota County are you located?

(Oops! I just realized we hijacked this thread! Please e-mail me at shimatta@masaka.com if you want more information about the club or if you want to go shooting there sometime as a guest.)

DL

[skippie]

So HankB are you a Garage logic fan?? Hail the flashlight king:D