RE: [Mpls] Where do you (NOT) buy your groceries, vcr, fridge, computer cd's
No, Dyna is not at all a typical Northsider --- And I hope there aren't many more like her either. As I've stated before, it's hard enough to constantly be deflecting the negative stereotype of our neighborhood from outsiders, but to get it from other residents is really frustrating. And I think there are plenty Northsiders who'd love another place like Destination X where Daina DePrez fans gathered every Friday night. And Peter Ostroushko was a regular customer. Some nights there was a palm reader or a masseuse. It was one fabulous hangout in it's day. Changed my life, that's for sure :-) But I digress . North Mpls has lots of great places to spend your money! C'mon Over! Connie Beckers Proud Folwell Resident and GODDESS OF GLASS www.goddessofglass.com You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. ~John Lennon TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Brutality issue comes up in Olson's job review
Brutality issue comes up in Olson's job review David Chanen, Star Tribune Published June 26, 2003 Minneapolis Police Chief Robert Olson wasn't surprised that the use of force and officer accountability would come up during his midyear job review Wednesday morning with Mayor R.T. Rybak and other top city officials. http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3957047.html 6 Minneapolis police officers sued over deadly shooting http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3957048.html Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Whites in denial over local police brutality
Whites in denial over local police brutality By: Pauline Thomas Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 6/25/2003 Judges need to face realities of the Black Experience As you know from my last column, I sent a survey to all of the Hennepin County judges, and I already have some input that non-minority county judges do not believe that they have enough knowledge to understand the Black Experience what it is like to grow up Black in Minneapolis. What a great place to start the exchange of information. I have been reading a very interesting report from the Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force on Racial Bias in the Judicial System, published in 1993. It says, Whites, especially in more affluent communities, take for granted a certain level of benign service and protection. People of color, however, are confronted by a model of policing that police trainers and administrators themselves call paramilitary in nature. This is crucial to understanding the Black Experience in the courts. White suburbanites may see a squad car drive by now and then and feel safer because they are patrolling the streets. For most Blacks, particularly those of us who live in less affluent areas, the sight of a squad car causes instant alarm. Are we going to be hassled? Falsely arrested? Beaten? When the police interact with Blacks, they are verbally abusive, often using racist language. They are on a power trip to teach us who is boss, just like the plantation owners did many years ago. They often beat Blacks, even if the stop is only for a speeding ticket. Black men get the worst of it. Do you know that Black mothers have to teach their Black sons how to avoid being killed by police? Do you think White suburban mothers have to do that? Police pick up Black youths and take them under the bridges in Minneapolis to beat them. Now, can you think of any legitimate reason why police would ever need to do that? Black women are beaten, too. And we suffer daily indignities from police. They tell us to shut up when we ask a question, or threaten to arrest us. If we are so naive as to tell them we have rights, we are punished by beatings or arrests. We dont have any First Amendment rights, not where police are concerned. Part of the Black Experience, part of what we know and live with every day, is that police regularly beat members of our community. Every day we fear getting in a car and driving. We fear getting pulled over for an expired license plate and then getting beaten. We fear getting pulled over for a headlight being out and then getting beaten. We fear getting pulled over for no reason at all and getting beaten. But we have to live our lives, so we have to drive. Now, this is something that happens in all major cities. If you think it isnt happening in Minneapolis, you are naive. But there is a kind of denial in the dominant culture that Minneapolis has a worse problem than some of the biggest American cities. They just cant believe these things are happening on a regular basis because it is so far outside their own experience. http://www.spokesman-recorder.com Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] I've had ENOUGH elitist prattle too.....
In my experience there's an inordinant amount of white men with forestry degrees in upper level city government. Jill Harmon Cleveland _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Hippies, Yuppies
I think that the Hippies became the Yuppies and now they are becoming HOSERS. Hairy Old Seniors Entering Retirement. Barb Lickness Whittier"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
Re: [Mpls] A little Sigapore Restoritive Justice might help.]
gemgram wrote: [Jim wrote about several interesting ideas for better punishment and justice.] Minneapolis can address the crime problem in poor communities if it wishes. But it has to Affirmatively address the problem by affording Equal Protection Under The Law for poor neighborhoods. The pretence that protection is equal and that containment zones do not exist is hypocritical and actually promotes the criminal sub-culture. Maintaining Containment Zones maintains the criminal industry that flourishes in Minneapolis. Jim Graham, Ventura Village I would guess that the vast majority of people opposed to trying something radically different are afraid of the risk of two things: (1) that the effort would fail, resulting in more crime, or more widely-spread crime, or large amounts of wasted money (which then makes fixing the problem even harder); and (2) that the effort would reduce crime in the containment zones but result in an increase in crime in other neighborhoods. Because of (2), most people who live in Minneapolis are not going to be in favor of efforts that might move some of the crime from where it is concentrated now to their neighborhoods. There is no completely safe neighborhood in Minneapolis. Why would anyone voluntarily choose to make their street magnitudes more dangerous by supporting an effort which resulted in the export of crime from the containment zones? I am not saying any and all creative solutions will cause such a displacement of crime, only that a large number of people fear such a thing -- and it may be justifiable. People who live outside the containment zones are the majority, both in number and political power. They have invested considerable financial and personal resources in choosing to live where they do. Solutions will have to address their concerns and fears, as well as those who live in the containment zones, if they are going to ever see the light of day. Lastly, things have changed dramatically over the 24 years that I've lived here. In 1979, I was unafraid to go to just about any location in Minneapolis, day or night, and often did so. Now, there are places I wouldn't even drive my car during the day time on a bet, and more such places at night. It's a crying shame. Chris Johnson Fulton TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Big and Little Boxes;Coercion
The irony is that the real economies of scale don't happen at store level, they happen at the wholesale purchasing level. That is what Wal-Mart has accomplished. It has total control of the purchasing for thousands of stores. Consequently, it pays its suppliers only a very razor-thin profit, reserving more for itself. It is an illusion that it is accepting a razor thin profit when it sells. The same economies redound to companies like Super Value that sell to many, many stores, only a few of which it actually owns. So, the big box has no inherent advantage over the little one. By the way, the repeated charge that prices in Minneapolis co-ops place them beyond the reach of normal incomes is only made by people who don't have a lot of experience buying at co-ops. As a frequently unemployed person, my income has seldom risen above normal, and yet I've afforded co-op food the whole time they've existed in Minneapolis. So people shouldn't think they are able with unsupported charges to pull the wool over my eyes. And I'm sure there are at least a few others who can see through these charges. The one really bad part of the big box chains is that they constantly pull less-profitable stuff off their shelves to replace them with other things that generate more margin. That is why you so often cannot find what you used to buy at the five and dime, which attempted to have things in stock which people were looking for. At the big box, you constantly settle. A lot of us go to independent hardware stores for that reason. They are the ones still carrying the useful, if oddball, items. Oh, and the old-fashioned drugstores. Long may they live. Am I in favor of social coercion such as used in Saudi Arabia and Singapore? Being an anarchist or Jeffersonian Democrat at heart, absolutely not Which makes that argument a red herring. A method which is out of bounds is not a serious thing to talk about. Plus, until you really understand the culture of Singapore, you can't even say with any certainty that that was the CAUSE of the desired result. What we need is some proof that any method in the scale between where we are and some people's desired result will be any better than what we have now. I'm pretty sure the southern states are more brutal than we are. Have THEY totally eliminated the targeted street vices? The question I have is why these are the ONLY options being considered. Is it old-fashioned prudery? Is it Drug War brainwashing? I don't think Jeffersonian Democrats traditionally let government programs limit the options they'd consider. I'm not afraid of having the street vice move to my neighborhood. I just think it is incontestably STUPID to spend MONEY in a time of AUSTERITY for something like that. One of the real attractions of Minnesota for me over the last 35 years has been my perception that it is cultural here to use your mind, not your emotions, to choose solutions. This hunger for coercion is not an example of that. It is people letting their gut make their choices. I think Minnesota would do well to steer away from that if they don't want to become more culturally similar to those states in the southern tier that never solve any problem. Look at the Middle East. Look at Northern Ireland. Those areas, too, like solutions that give a temporary sense of emotional release. I say if that is what you need, punch a bag or something. But when you're deciding things like use of coercion, do NOT consult the primitive areas of your brain. It wants to rule you, but we didn't become humans by doing that. Homo sapiens differs from lower species by having the ABILITY to use our enlarged brain to think beyond our emotions. So we are misusing our human abilities with suggestions to experience revenge and excite fear in others. Mark my words, the more you do that, the more you are a fit subject of a tyrannical state. Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community In The Great and Wonderful City I Call Home, Minneapolis TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] OBEY
This LICK NUTS guy likes to scratch bus shelter glass which makes mass transit more expensive because of repaired/replaced glass. I recently removed Gangster Disciples graffiti and that F word from several locations in Seward. Either one could be defended and placed in a gallery as art. Thanks, Scott Vreeland Seward I am not defending Gangster Disciples graffiti, but I am defending the OBEY signs. It is a subtle distinction I admit, but one that needs to be made. It is easy to make blanket negative statements, but it is more difficult, and more important, to stand up for the power of art to transform. I think Mr. Vreeland is stretching the argument to make a point. We are all against willful destruction of private property, but fortunately life is not so black and white. Art is the expression of those gray areas in life that need to be thought about and discussed. Mark Wilde Windom Park __ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Thursday Community CODEFOR Meeting
Minneapolis Police Department is having a community CODEFOR meeting on Thursday. The meeting is at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, 3355 4th Street North, starting at 1830 hours. Refreshments will be served prior to the meeting - starting at 1800 hours. This is an opportunity to learn how and why the department deploys personnel and resources to current crime trends. CODEFOR is the department's philosophy of crime enforcement: Computerize Optimized Deployment Focused on Results. Lt. Gregory W. Reinhardt MPD CODEFOR Unit TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Blooming boulevards awards
Here are a list of adresses that won awards. All of them won Garden of Merit awards except one first place (Not bad!). If you have any questions you can reach me at 673-2615 until slightly after four today. Thanks, Andy Johnson 2538 McKinely St NE (1st Place) 2535 Benjamin St NE 2536 Arthur St NE 2547 Ulysses St N attachment: PFTD220.TMP.scr
[Mpls] Resident leaving Minneapolis due to deteriorating livability
Submitted by Matt Dufresne to the Central-chat list on June 20. David Piehl Central ** June 20, 2003 Dear Mayor Rybak CM Lilligren, It is with great sadness that I am writing to you to inform you that after having lived in Minneapolis for more than 16 years, that my family and I are leaving Minneapolis. This decision hasn¹t been made so much out of our own volition as it has been due to the continuing deterioration of the city and community of Minneapolis. I don¹t consider myself a quitter and it pains me deeply to leave our home, neighbors and community in Central Neighborhood, but given recent cutbacks to basic city services, as well as, a continuing decline in the functioning of this city, we do not see another way out. I consider myself to be a fairly active community member here in Central Neighborhood and in the City of Minneapolis. I am a block club leader, I was on the MPD¹s 3rd Precinct 3-PAC Committee, on CNIA¹s Board, on various task forces, Weed Seed¹s board, worked with Heritage Neighborhood Homeowner¹s Association, was one of the major participants and organizers of the Bryant-Central Community Policing Project. I have also worked with the Peace Project, the James Ford Bell Foundation, I attend numerous City Council meetings and have been highly involved with organizing neighbors to make their neighborhoods theirs¹ again. Obviously the problems of Minneapolis, such as the budget crisis, are not wholly by your doing. Unfortunately, you inherited these issues, in part, from previous administrations and you are now charged with fixing them. Minneapolis¹ slow decline since the mid-sixties is also not of your doing, but also needs to be addressed by you and your staff. The fundamental job of any city is to provide basic city services such as police, fire, schools, libraries, parks, road maintenance, street cleaning, garbage pickup, proper licensing of businesses and housing code inspection and enforcement, among other things. As far as I can tell, the City of Minneapolis is sorely lacking in all of these areas. These problems aren¹t due to uncommitted city workers. For instance, the Minneapolis Police Dept., although it has had its difficulties, is a very committed group of people. Officers such as Inspector Sharon Lubinski, Lt. Val Wurster, Officer Chris Bishop, Officer Steve Kingdon and CPS Karen Skrivseth are some of the most dedicated people I¹ve worked with. There are also others like Susan Young, AKA ³the Garbage Lady², Director of Solid Waste, who consistently work with neighbors and neighborhoods to tailor their services to the needs of the community. These people also go above and beyond the call of duty to attend community events on their own time to help promote better relations and understanding between the City of Minneapolis and its communities. These people deserve, and should be given, the highest commendation for their continued commitment to the citizens of Minneapolis. So where is the problem you ask? It¹s with the administration of city funds and resources. For example, instead of paying for extra, let alone the minimum, amount of police officers, fire fighters, housing inspectors, teachers etcthe city pays for corporate welfare for building buildings in the City of Minneapolis or funding projects that don¹t really benefit the good of the city, just a given CM¹s district. Obviously there is more to it than just this, but you understand what I¹m getting at. So who wants to live in a city that is dirty, crime infested, has poor public schools, unmaintained parks, libraries that are hardly open, that has numerous houses/buildings with numerous code violations that have been ongoing, sometimes for years, whose streets are in disrepair and whose elected officials seem to care more about themselves than the good of their communities? I don¹t! And neither do many others! We are just one family amongst many in Minneapolis, but we are not the only ones who share our concerns. After nearly two decades of residency in Minneapolis, of working hard to improve our community and making numerous sacrifices, we have had enough. So I¹m taking my family, our tax dollars and commitment to another community that will better educate our children, that will provide more safety and better overall city services and that will better appreciate our dedication and commitment to the community. Good luck in getting Minneapolis back on course. I wish you well and I¹ll be watching your progress. You should feel extremely lucky that you STILL have such good people keeping the City of Minneapolis propped up. If it weren¹t for people like them Minneapolis would just be another Detroit of the 80¹s. You may want to contact people such as Al Kelly of Heritage Neighborhood Homeowner¹s Association, Ron Hick of the Bryant Village Initiative, Mel North and Philip Miller of Weed Seed and many others who are out there fighting to make Minneapolis a better place. They have the answers if you¹ll just
[Mpls] CNIA Audit Statements Untrue
Wizard Marks posted the following statement on the Minneapolis Issues List regarding the CNIA annual meeting: *** The piece de resistance, though, was the announcement by Art Erickson, President of the Board, that CNIA had satisfied the state auditor, the books are in proper order for both the auditor and the NRP and whoever else does the checking. It was great. Ying Lee of the state auditor's office, though, said this: 1. CNIA stands for Central Neighborhood Improvement Association. This is a Minneapolis neighborhood organization that we have audited for several years now. In recent years, our reports have indicated several problems. Our last audit was for the year ended September 30, 2000. We declined to audit their financial statements for the year ended September 30, 2001 due to the absence of sufficient records. This condition also caused their funding from the Minneapolis NRP Program to be stopped. Since that time, neighborhood leaders have attempted to come up with sufficient records for the 2001 year, so that we would agree to perform an audit. By having an audit, it is their hope that funding will be restored. 2. Ms. Young's quotes from Art Erickson are apparently correct. That is, Mr. Erickson did make remarks at CNIA's annual meeting to the effect that the neighborhood has satisfied the state auditors with the sufficiency of their records. That statement by Mr. Erickson is not true. Recently, we were provided with some records from CNIA and asked to assess them, relative to their sufficiency for an audit to be performed. Our conclusion was that there was not sufficient records for an audit to be performed. I would appreciate hearing commentary from our elected officials, as well as CNIA leadership regarding this issue. For all that comment, just the facts please: no unsubstantiated stories full of metaphores, embedded accusations, and less than germaine visual imagery. David Piehl Central __ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Bugbear virus on list
Folks, I apologize, but I let a post get through that contains what I'm told is the bugbear virus. It was in a post from Andrew Johnson. Don't open the attachment, and delete the message. If you have opened it, use a virus-checker on your system. My apologies. I don't think many of you will be hit, but I wanted you to know. This is why we ask everyone to post in plain text, without attachments. Please do that in the future. Sincerely, David Brauer List manager TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Thursday Community CODEFOR meeting
The community CODE FOR meeting is today at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, 3355 4th @ Street North, starting at 1830 hours. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Resident leaving Minneapolis due to deteriorating livability
This is Matt's public screed on why he's moving, but he told the Green Central Weed Seed Steering Committee athat he's worried about his daughter who seems intent on disobeying her parents and hanging with the gangbangers. WizardMarks, Central Dave Piehl wrote: Submitted by Matt Dufresne to the Central-chat list on June 20. David Piehl Central ** June 20, 2003 Dear Mayor Rybak CM Lilligren, It is with great sadness that I am writing to you to inform you that after having lived in Minneapolis for more than 16 years, that my family and I are leaving Minneapolis. This decision hasn¹t been made so much out of our own volition as it has been due to the continuing deterioration of the city and community of Minneapolis. I don¹t consider myself a quitter and it pains me deeply to leave our home, neighbors and community in Central Neighborhood, but given recent cutbacks to basic city services, as well as, a continuing decline in the functioning of this city, we do not see another way out. I consider myself to be a fairly active community member here in Central Neighborhood and in the City of Minneapolis. I am a block club leader, I was on the MPD¹s 3rd Precinct 3-PAC Committee, on CNIA¹s Board, on various task forces, Weed Seed¹s board, worked with Heritage Neighborhood Homeowner¹s Association, was one of the major participants and organizers of the Bryant-Central Community Policing Project. I have also worked with the Peace Project, the James Ford Bell Foundation, I attend numerous City Council meetings and have been highly involved with organizing neighbors to make their neighborhoods theirs¹ again. Obviously the problems of Minneapolis, such as the budget crisis, are not wholly by your doing. Unfortunately, you inherited these issues, in part, from previous administrations and you are now charged with fixing them. Minneapolis¹ slow decline since the mid-sixties is also not of your doing, but also needs to be addressed by you and your staff. The fundamental job of any city is to provide basic city services such as police, fire, schools, libraries, parks, road maintenance, street cleaning, garbage pickup, proper licensing of businesses and housing code inspection and enforcement, among other things. As far as I can tell, the City of Minneapolis is sorely lacking in all of these areas. These problems aren¹t due to uncommitted city workers. For instance, the Minneapolis Police Dept., although it has had its difficulties, is a very committed group of people. Officers such as Inspector Sharon Lubinski, Lt. Val Wurster, Officer Chris Bishop, Officer Steve Kingdon and CPS Karen Skrivseth are some of the most dedicated people I¹ve worked with. There are also others like Susan Young, AKA ³the Garbage Lady², Director of Solid Waste, who consistently work with neighbors and neighborhoods to tailor their services to the needs of the community. These people also go above and beyond the call of duty to attend community events on their own time to help promote better relations and understanding between the City of Minneapolis and its communities. These people deserve, and should be given, the highest commendation for their continued commitment to the citizens of Minneapolis. So where is the problem you ask? It¹s with the administration of city funds and resources. For example, instead of paying for extra, let alone the minimum, amount of police officers, fire fighters, housing inspectors, teachers etcS(the city pays for corporate welfare for building buildings in the City of Minneapolis or funding projects that don¹t really benefit the good of the city, just a given CM¹s district. Obviously there is more to it than just this, but you understand what I¹m getting at. So who wants to live in a city that is dirty, crime infested, has poor public schools, unmaintained parks, libraries that are hardly open, that has numerous houses/buildings with numerous code violations that have been ongoing, sometimes for years, whose streets are in disrepair and whose elected officials seem to care more about themselves than the good of their communities? I don¹t! And neither do many others! We are just one family amongst many in Minneapolis, but we are not the only ones who share our concerns. After nearly two decades of residency in Minneapolis, of working hard to improve our community and making numerous sacrifices, we have had enough. So I¹m taking my family, our tax dollars and commitment to another community that will better educate our children, that will provide more safety and better overall city services and that will better appreciate our dedication and commitment to the community. Good luck in getting Minneapolis back on course. I wish you well and I¹ll be watching your progress. You should feel extremely lucky that you STILL have such good people keeping the City of Minneapolis propped up. If it weren¹t for people like them Minneapolis would just be another Detroit of the 80¹s. You may want to contact people such as Al
[Mpls] Parkway Closures
List Members, A reminder that some of the Minneapolis Parkways will be closed to automobile traffic the last Sunday of each month this summer (June through September), from noon until 4 pm. Both East and West Calhoun Parkways (excluding Richfield Road and Lake Street) will be closed, and a section each of Dean Parkway and Victory Memorial Drive. The intent of these closures is to enhance the pedestrian/biking/rollerblading experience around our parks for a few short hours each month. Cars, and their accompanying noise and pollution, are asked to concede to foot traffic. Park Commissioners John Erwin, Vivian Mason, Bob Fine and a few residents of East Calhoun proposed and refined the idea. Due to the budget crunch, and to increase neighborhood participation, the Park Board has asked residents near the closure points to put up and take down the barricades. A mailing was sent to all Minneapolis residents last week outlining the times of the closures and asking for cooperation from all drivers and parkers along the parkways. Hopefully this experience of quiet and less congestion will benefit the many who use our parks on Sundays, and hopefully the closures will not create parking or navigation headaches for those wishing to enjoy the parks by car. I encourage all List members 1) to partake in the calm this Sunday (June 29), and 2) to post and offer their insights as to the success of this proposal. Enjoy! Tracy Nordstrom Avid Stroller Pusher and Resident of East Calhoun TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Breakfast With Gary!!
Please join Council Member Gary Schiff for breakfast this Friday, June 27th. The breakfast will be located at the Café of the Americas, which is located at 3019 Minnehaha Ave.$5.00 buys Breakfast This month we will spotlight local Minneapolis history. Hear from local historians Jean Johnstead Chair of the Seward Archive Project and Phillip Koski from the City of Minneapolis Historic Preservation Commission. They will talk about popular education efforts to increase awareness about Minneapolis history and learn a thing or two about your neighborhood's past. I hope you can join us! Jeffrey Hayden Council Member Aide Ward Nine 350 S 5th Minneapolis,MN 55415 WWW.ci.Minneapolis.MN.US. (612)-673-3196 [EMAIL PROTECTED] TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Resident leaving Minneapolis due to deteriorating livability
Matt Dufresne to the Central-chat list on June 20. Dear Mayor Rybak CM Lilligren, It is with great sadness that I am writing to you to inform you that after having lived in Minneapolis for more than 16 years, that my family and I are leaving Minneapolis. This decision hasn¹t been made so much out of our own volition as it has been due to the continuing deterioration of the city and community of Minneapolis. WM: I'm reresponding to this e-mail a second time, because the first answer doesn't really say anything. Matt has a Latino wife and three kids from an infant to a mid-teener. He has lived in the 3300 block of 3rd for 5 or 6 years. Central Neighborhood went incredibly downhill, probably starting earlier, but I can personally date it back to February 4, 1973 when I moved into 3300 Portland Av. at which point Central was experience old, old problems with some families, but was basically a very decent neighborhood, but a little bit too white, from my perspective which was formulated by coming from a city farther East and South where the population was much more diverse or where the population was virtually all African American and whites were a 10% minority. I'd also lived in some down and dirty ghettos where we stepped over 10-year old heroin mummies on the nod at 9am on a school day to get into apartment buildings when visiting friends. I'd been raised in a neighborhood that was not only all white, but 97% Catholic and virtually all either Irish or German immigrants or one generation away from immigrant status. Matt moved here, like many others, to find an affordable house for a family and five years ago houses in Central were very, very affordable. At the point when Matt moved in, things were in recovery, but were still at a pretty pass in terms of gang behavior. In 1997 we were just beginning to feel the positive effects of devoting megabucks of NRP money to 83 vacant/boarded houses and all the woes that go with that picture. The easy part was tearing down and fixing houses. The hard parts are working their slow way to change. I mark the neighborhood's response to Tyesha Edwards as a turning point--it was a first time that neighbors ratted out the alleged killers. That was very, very recent. It takes bucketloads of patience to see through changes that take many years to come to full fruition. Getting our library back and in good, working condition took over 10 years. Getting our kids back is taking even longer, but the rewards are so incredible it's worth the work. So Matt doesn't have the patience to wait, and maybe that's true when one has teenagers and infants. Is it the crime in the city, really? Cities always have more crime than outer East Smalltown. Inner cities always have more street crime while more affluent neighborhoods more often have white collar crime, whether there is less or more of it, I couldn't say. Poor neighborhoods' residents don't usually have access to the means of committing white collar crimes. Too bad he feels he needs to dump in the recycling box on his way out. WizardMarks, Central Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Summer Get Together
There was an article in the strib today about Delmonico's Deli. My fav hole in the wall deli in three counties. The 2nd Mr. Delmonico passed away, and the deli is for sale. Check it out if you've never been there before. The old world is disappearing before our eyes. Sunday July 20th. Let's get together at the Bocce Ball Courts at Beltrami Park, right next to Delmonico's. Fillmore and Broadway. Goto Mapquest or yahoo.com for a map. 1112 Summer Street is Delmonico's. The park is big, lots of trees. Playland for the kids, no noise, two or three bocce courts. Some one bring the bocce and pickolinas. I have none. Bring your cooler, better bring your bread. The deli will sell you the meats and cheeses. Hows about 1:00PM? I'll tie down the balloons with lead this time. I'll bet the park is smoke free ;=(( If you need directions from the southside, email me off list. Craig Miller Buffalo MiniStorage 930 Calder Ave NE Buffalo MN 55313 763-682-4320 Boats, Household, Office 10X11 $50 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Guppies and Buppies
Minneapolis has long been a strong draw for guppies (gay urban/upwardly mobile professionals) being the second city in the U.S. to have a gay rights law in the U.S.in the earlier 70's trumping San Francisco and located in MN which has a statewide law since '93. Despite the fact that on a national level in the late 90's numerous studies found that gay men made a third less income than heterosexual men with the same level of education and income, the relatively tolerant environment in Minneapolis has resulted in a high concentration of so-called Guppies that has resulted in glbt households in the metro actually having a significantly higher income on average than non glbt households. Minneapolis is rapidly loosing it's edge in this regard now that CA, NY, NJ, NM, HI, WI, NV, NH, CT, MA, VT, RI, MD, MN have statewide laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and many other states including IA, KY, AZ ban discrimination in government employment and/or by government contractors. Also, cities like Lexington, KY, Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA, Kalamazoo, MI, Dallas, TX and the state of Iowa all offer domestic partnership benefits to their employees while Minneapolis has trouble competing equally for public employees with most other comparable cities in the country as it cannot offer domestic partnership benefits like most sizeable municipal governments in the U.S. due to state law forbidding them from doing so. The conservative slant of our current state legislature may be killing the tolerant goose that laid the golden egg and making Minneapolis a less attractive place to live when compared to other metro areas for up and coming gay professionals. Local queer cultural infrastructure is still advanced compared to many other metro areas as such quality organizations as Outward Spiral GLBT Theater Co., Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, Hot Bed, Gender Blur, and the 13th annual Dyke Night at the Walker this weekend attest. One good sign is the increasing racial/ethnic diversity reflected within the local glbt communities' organizations. Note that the glbt pride guide this year is in English Spanish. Also note the growth in Soul Essence/African American Glbt Pride Festival that occurs in August in Mpls and the emergence of Flayva Cabaret(queer people of color cabaret). Minneapolis has long struggled to have an environment that could be said to be desireable(let alone highly desireable) for buppies(black urban/upwardly mobile professionals). Critical mass is part of the problem. Young people of talent tend to want to go where they have the broadest social as well as professional opportunities thus the drawing power one finds in Atlanta. Penumbra Theater and other institutions in the community that make the metro area more attractive to buppies are important and need community support to encourage and grow broad economic diversity within the local black community and thereby strengthen the community as whole. Such economic diversity within the local black community has to be part of increasing the economic and social health of the community overall. The local african american community experiences the inverse situation of the local glbt community. The metro area continues to have one of the greatest disparities in incomes between blacks and whites in the country and certainly the community's seeming inability to address basic justice issues such as racial profiling and brutality by the police does not help the situation much. Programs such as the African American Men's Project and others are extremely important to the future of Minneapolis. What can we do as a city and community to make Minnepolis a much more welcoming and desireable place for young buppies? How can we continue to make Minneapolis inviting to young guppies and over come those obstacles put in the way of the city doing so by the relative intolerance of our current state legislature/government? David Strand Loring Park __ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] lawsuits against the city
Today's Star Tribune reported a meeting where police Chief Olson reported, and citizens spoke out against police brutality. At a time when the city has cut many services - and schools, arts organizations, parks, public works, etc. are all facing cuts, it is troubling to read of suits against the police by their own officers and by citizens alleging brutality.Having offers accused of these acts is a serious concern. Also, if we looked back at what such suits have cost the city in the past, I suspect that we'd find that the amount is significant. As a city, we can't afford lawsuits like these. We have better uses for the money! Jean Johnstad Seward
Re: [Mpls] Summer Get Together
I think John Delmanico should retire from the Police Federation and run that store with the rest of his family. I hate to see it close or go into new ownership. My nephew is going to Italy this weekend to marry an Italian girl from Northern Italy. I was looking forward to bringing her into Delmanicos when she arrives here so she could get a little slice of home. Looks like I will have to drive her to Lillydale to Bon Giorno. This is truly sad. He was such a wonderful man and well worth coming over the bridge for. Barb Lickness Whittier"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
[Mpls] Spend your Independence Day with the Rats!
Just got home a little while ago from watching another fun water ski show performance by the Twin Cities River Rats on the Mississippi River at Broadway Ave. and West River Road. I wanted to let folks know that next week, in addition to the regular Thursday night show at 7pm, there will be a special Independence Day show on Friday, also at 7pm. All shows are FREE! So pack a couple lawn chairs and come on out to the riverfront to see some amazing water ski stunts! The team runs a concession stand for those who don't want to pack their own picnic basket - offerings include hot dogs, brats, chicken sandwiches, pop, bottled water, candy and chips. Hope you can join us! Mark Snyder Windom Park River Rat since 1997 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
[Mpls] Quitting
Well, I've been in Minneapolis a lot longer than these people who have quit. I've lived through Charlie Stenvig, the riots, and who knows what else. And every time the question was: Move to where? The fact is that there AREN'T a lot of green pastures out there. Whoever moves out will next fact the insane commutes to get wherever they want to go. Better education? My friends have kids going to U of Chicago. Winnning National Merit Scholarships, with the SAME teachers that supposedly are failing other parents' kids. And I ask myself, just who exactly is REALLY failing here? I'll tell you I am quite disappointed with staff cuts in the police department. But I hold Pawlenty and Sviggum guilty for that. They dealt the hand that Olson and the City Council tried to play. And when you move out to the other cities, you'll find them trying to play that hand, too. That being said, I do want the city government to make some improvements. I've often expressed my wishes about that. Of course, I've gotten heated opposition from other city residents, so that is going to be a hurdle for the city government to clear if it is going to try to MAKE those improvements, but I'm just mentioning that I, too, find city policies imperfect. But I'm not expecting that to be different if I move to other cities. = Jim Mork Cooper-Longfellow-Minneapolis (L'Etoile du Nord) --- Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power. Benito Mussolini ... __ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Where do you (NOT) get equal protection under the law
In a message dated 6/26/03 8:46:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: You forgot something, Dyna. If Northside were to fund it's own police, then it would mean that only Northside's tax base would be available for that funding. Given the picture you paint of limited retail options and fleeing homeowners, it's probably safe to presume that Northside doesn't have the tax base that other neighborhoods do. Combine that with the high crime rates you complain about so much, and that would mean that your costs for funding police can be expected to be quite high. So high cost divided by low tax base equals way higher tax rates than you pay now. Keith says; I am not going to wade into the BIGBOX discussion, right now. I do wish to comment on this hypothetical 'pay your own policing' , jazz. If the Northside hadn't been used as a garbage can, criminal containment zone, and red light district; and, had not been held in poverty by fortress neighborhoods, we would easily be able to finance, and maintain, our own police services. And we would be instructing our police to enforce the law, on the street: If you sell, or buy a drug or sex, or if you thieve or are disorderly; you will be busted or ticketed, as appropriate for our public safety. Keith Reitman NearNorth TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Brutality issue comes up in Olson's job review
It appears there was a lot of phoney posturing from on all sides during Wednesday's evaluation of Police Chief Robert Olson and the Open House that Mayor Rybak hosted afterwards for some dubious activists. Rybak and four members of the City Council give token mention to brutality during Police Chief Olson's tenure, but by gutting the Civilian Review Authority, they're every bit as responsible as Olson for every incident of police brutality that has occurred since the beginning of their terms. Plus nothing was mentioned in Olson's evaluation in regard to public perceptions of crime containment in the poorest neighborhoods of Minneapolis. And as one list member recently mentioned, the city now has a law suit to contend with by a police officer shot by one of his colleagues. Again, the Mayor and City Council are every bit as responsible for this mess as Olson. After all, they're the ones who advocated and secured pay raises for Minneapolis police officers earlier this year while every other city employee went without a raise in pay. Spike Moss, who was hired and anointed by Olson last summer after rioting broke out in the Jordan neighborhood, calls for an independent investigation of the police department by a black prosecutor working with the Urban League ( a club that Deputy Chief Greg Hessness belongs to, according to a posting on this list a few months ago). While Mr. Moss is at it, why doesn't he ask Mitch Pearlstein and the Heritage Foundation to investigate George W. Bush's claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Nice cover, Spike. Then there's the law suit against the Police Department by Barbara Schneider's family. After Ms. Schneider's death I believed the police department was acting in good faith to improve how they deal with citizens with mental illnesses. Then I started hearing stories about how homeless people (many of whom are mentally ill) were being beaten and harassed by our police. Even the Star Tribune, for God's sake, expressed its dismay in February at the treatment of homeless people by Minneapolis police. I suppose it's the fault of homeless people for having no relatives working for City Hall or a socially sanctioned civil rights organization. In the past I've mainly blamed Mayor Rybak for all the problems we've been having lately with our rogue cops, but now I see that there are many folks, inside and outside of City Hall, who are just as culpable as he is. BTW, whatever happened to the Protect And To Serve slogan I used to see on police cars? Has the city of Minneapolis reached the point of abandoning all pretenses of caring?--Peter Schmitz CARAG TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
