T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
www.mplsobserver.com
Vol. 1, No. 46
July 15, 2002
This is a preview issue of The Observer. To subscribe to the full-text version ($12/yr.) e-mail us at the address above and we'll set you up. To see a sample
The impact of gang violence on one south Minneapolis
family!
One by one, young men from the Milon family of Minneapolis migrated to the Bloods gang.
They weren't all hard-core members,
police say. But the violent deaths of
one brother or cousin after another
weren't enough to scare them
The Mayor and most of the City Council want an 8% each year for the
next decade. At 8% per year, city spending doubles in just 9 years.
How many of us expect our income to double in the next 9 years? If the
city takes twice what they do now, where will each of us spend less?
Doubling again in
Victoria brings up some interesting ideas, some of which I support. But, I
want to know how many non-profits in Minneapolis actually own physical
property. Although I don't have the figures in front of me, I am sure if we
compare the tax revenue lost by tax exemptions granted by the city, faulty
Last Friday I had my car broken into and my wallet stolen as I was jogging
around Lake Nokomis. I believe I was watched the entire time as I arrived,
put on my shoes, dropped my things in my trunk, and then left to run. This
is the second time in three years this has happened to me at
If your neighbor's grass is too long and his yard's a mess, call your
neighbor instead of your Council Member. Better yet, offer to help him
solve the problem.
I like it when my neighbors are slow about mowing their lawn, it makes
mine look comparatively better. :^)
Scott McGerik
Please Help if you can! Here's what and how!
What: Healthy Seniors Benefit Charity Service Jam.
When: Sunday, July 21st
Time Noon - 6 p.m.
Call for an appointment 651-696-8700
Salon Details Spa donates all proceeds in the Charity Service Jam to
our very own Longfellow / Seward Healthy Seniors
To make way for demolition of the old and construction of the new,
the Minneapolis Central Library at 300 Nicollet Mall is moving to temporary
quarters nearby at Marquette Plaza, 250 Marquette Ave. S., beginning
Saturday, August 3. Until the move is complete, there will be limited
The park and library boards themselves have no direct responsibility (as I
understand it) for the financial health of the city overall. It seems to me
that some entity needs to be the stop gap - monitoring when spending is out
of line with the city's ability to raise revenue.
There is
I also jog around Lake Nokomis. This is a habitual problem. I
regularly see the glittering green rubble of another smashed window
courtesy of the wallet and purse snatchers. I am sure that they are
watching and waiting until you get halfway around the lake. and then
they do the smash-and-grab.
Even though I personally didn't put a whole lot of energy into supporting
the new Fort Snelling Complex because I wouldn't want my kid playing under
that noise and fumes coming out of airplanes but for those who really
wanted this complex they continued to provide compelling information that
The MN department of Children, Families Learning (CFL) is rewriting
rules and regulations which, if approved, will authorize the CFL
commissioner to further relax enforcement of the Individuals with
Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA). Toward that end the CFL is using a streamlined
Rule-making
For the record: Erroneous info here: Robert Wedl has been director of
Policy and Planning for the last year and 1/2 and retired as of June 30
2002. The current Director of Special Education is Dr. Colleen Baumtrog.
The administration of the Minneapolis
Public Schools is hot-wired into the MN
Oh my goodness. You are so right! I have been
complaining to my friends for years about all the tax-advantaged property.
How many churches are downtown for one thing; I think downtown property taxes
would bring in significant dollars. I am not advocating tearing down any
churches.
However,
According to the MPS web site, as recently as a few hours ago, Wedl is
executive director of Special Services, not Special Education Services. Is
Special Services
what you call the policy and planning dept, or is the staff directory more
than 1 and
1/2 years out of date? As I recall, Wedl
Tune in to On CUE and explore our urban environment. Sponsored by the
Minneapolis Committee on Urban Environment (CUE), the program looks at the
diverse people, issues, trends and physical elements that influence-and are
affected by-our built and natural surroundings. August's guests include Nick
David Strand wrote:
"While the proximity of all these services add to
therichness of city life, there is also alot of costborne by city
residents and businesses to help covercosts of sidewalks and road
maintenance and otherservices provided around and to these
properties."
As a point of
Thanks for this info Kelly. This is different than
where I lived in MI and helps balance that burden.
Thanks, David Strand
--- Kelly O'Brien [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
David Strand wrote:
While the proximity of all these services add to
the
richness of city life, there is also alot of cost
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Annie Young writes:
While I can sit here nicely and rise above the fray on getting money from
the Park Board lawyer for campaigns, I want to leave that subject alone as
written in the Southwest Journal this week.
What I do want to say though is that above and
I have noticed on the web page of Hennepin County
(http://204.73.55.30/electres/filing/candidates.htm) there are 2 others
besides Mark Stenglein who have filed to run for the County Commissioner -
District 2 seat.
They are:
Kathleen Murdock, from Plymouth and Terry Sutton, who's location of
Terrell Brown gets at one concern that I had, one that Bob Fine had raised
last week as well:
By demanding cuts of the Park and Library Boards as part of the 8% levy cap,
the city is hiding the actual amount of their levy as opposed to being
straightforward with us citizens and voters.
I also
In a message dated Mon, 15 Jul 2002 7:06:01 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I went to the Taxpayers for Trainor website, looking for enlightenment.
After reading the usual fair I got to education...I lifted this from the
website:
My opponent talks a lot about
In a message dated 7/15/2002 8:20:23 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
They weren't all hard-core members,
police say. But the violent deaths of
one brother or cousin after another
weren't enough to scare them into quitting
The time has come to seriously ask the question:
In a message dated Mon, 15 Jul 2002 7:06:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, Mark Snyder
writes:
I visited the Trainor site, too. Clicked on education and found lots of
ranting about unions opposing merit pay and as long as they control the
political party making decisions, there would be no merit
Mark Snyder wrote:
Inflation may be down to a percent or two, but things like
health care premiums continue to rise at double-digit levels
each year.
The problem with this logic is that even though health care costs
continue to rise in ridiculous leaps, the percentage that health care
Sorry about that last post - sent before I wrote a thing.
I did want to say that the SW Journal article provides some very useful
information for the public to know about issues they should understand. It is my
hope that as the mayor's Ethics Task Force completes its work on re-writing the
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Environmental issues take a distinct back seat in this district
to issues of economics, education, and crime, in my opinion.
WM: Actually, that is far from the reality. It's not by accident that the Green
Institute is in Phillips. It was residents of Phillips who
In a message dated 7/16/02 12:08:17 AM Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
The notion behind the Green Ins. is that green industries could produce
new jobs for Phillips residents and that a green conscious Phillips would
improve health and economics at the same time.
Could
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