From: "Robert Schmid" responding to questions on the racial makeup of the Mpls Police Department compared to the city:
According to Minneapolis census data published on its own site; http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/Census2000/2000-Race-and-Ethnicity-by-Neighborhood.asp Minneapolis is 35% minority population: 18% Black/African-American 7.6% Hispanic/Latino 6.2% Asian 2.2% Native American on the same subject: From Jennifer Smith: A quick check of the US Census 2000 Fact Finder (http://factfinder.census.gov) turned up: MINNEAPOLIS 65.1% - White 18.0% - Black, African-American 6.1% - Asian 4.1% - Some other race 2.2% - Native American 0.1% - Hawaiian/Pacific 4.4% - Two or more races To which she comments: �Our CITY data seems like much more relevant information than the STATE census number used by SSB to evaluate the make-up of the police� [TB] Was it Winston Churchill who commented �There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics�? Every time we hear something about the Sayles-Belton website on this list she�s playing fast and loose with facts. The former US District Attorney called to our attention that she was (still) claiming or implying an endorsement from Paul Wellstone. Here she implies that a racial makeup of the police department of 15% minorities in a city with a 35% racial minority population is good because the entire state has an even lower minority population than the Mpls Police Department. Wouldn�t it be nice to have a Mayor we can trust? From: Barbara Lickness Teen pregnancy occurs most often between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. [TB] Correct me if I�m wrong, but I always thought pregnancy was a 24-hour a day, 7 day a week thing that has a natural length of about 9 months in humans (longer in whales and elephants, shorter in dogs, cats and rabbits) The Strib story ( http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/771288.html ) on gay and lesbian candidates in Minneapolis included this comment: Tom Pritchard, executive director of the Minnesota Family Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional, Judeo-Christian family values, said the large number of gay candidates reflects the radical nature of the Minneapolis DFL Party, which, he said, will continue to disenfranchise itself from more centrist ideologies. "The homosexual community is highly motivated, but it's a small percentage of the population," Pritchard said. "The effect will be to further marginalize Minneapolis from the rest of the state." [TB] Sorry Tom, but you lost me there. Ignoring that I�m not sure what �traditional Judeo-Christian family values� are, I always thought that the primary function of cities are police and fire protection, streets, sewers, a few parks and maybe picking up garbage. Now, I�m not sure that I understand how a person being gay, lesbian or something else effects their views on the primary functions of a city. Then I guess I hadn�t realized that Minneapolis had been �marginalized� from the rest of the state. Aren�t we the economic engine that drives most of it? In the same article Mark Stenglein (remember him, he ran in the primary for Mayor) said he was surprised by the influence he saw from the gay vote. "It seemed to be way out of whack with the size of the gay population. Everybody told me: The gays are out to get you, the gays are out to get you," he said. "But when I talked to gay people one-on-one, 10 out of 10 walked away saying, 'You're not such a bad guy after all.'" [TB] If Commissioner Stenglein is suggesting that gays vote, I always thought voting was a good thing. Same with participating in the electoral process. Maybe his beef should be with those who don�t bother. David Brauer in commenting on the story notes: I was really just trying to provide some additional context - the "wave" of gay general election finalists amounts to 15 percent of city candidates overall. Based on my observation of the city, that doesn't seem wildly out of whack with the population. It is significant given the under-representative number of gay officials nationwide. [TB] The sad part is that its news at all. Unfortunately the number of openly gay candidates (you only count once no matter how many times an individual was on the ballot) on the ballot this year is approximately equal to the number who have been on the ballot in all past elections combined. BTW, does anyone have a link for the Strib endorsements in Wards 4,5,6 and 7? Terrell Brown Loring Park [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
