Thanks to David Strand for his post of 1/31/01 regarding the advertisements for the city's "Bait Car" program. (David points out the placement of an advt outside the Orpheum Theater that seems primarily aimed to scare suburban tourists on route to the theater.) I have raised the question with the MPD regarding billboards outside of major commercial corridors in my neighborhood. Shoppers who enter the Minnehaha Mall are greeted with a billboard that screams "Somebody just stole our car: COOL!" Location, location, location. Placing these billboards in the vicinity of struggling neighborhood commercial nodes can't be great for business. Of course neither is car theft, but let's try to take one step forward without taking two steps back.
For the record, the advertisements are paid for by a state grant that comes through the Minneapolis Police Department. Accepting this year's grant was one of the first items I got to vote on while temporarily sitting on Public Safety and Regulatory Services last year, and I am already regretting my vote. I placed a call to the MPD regarding these ads in December and my office will have a meeting about the next batch of advertisements this month. Gary Schiff City Council Ward 9 www.garyschiff.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
