[Zack] > They way I see it the city of Minneapolis has two problems...Second, the city and Hennepin County must come together and address the undeserved and mistreated mentally ill. What has been happening to the mentally ill with Minneapolis is no less of a moral crime then some of the ungodly things that have happened to the weak and disoriented during war time, civil rights movements, or slavery? We can no longer permit our fellow citizens to be forgotten and allow the police department to have open season on them.
[Bob] I can speak to the issue of how the mentally ill are served (or how they are underserved) in our City and County. You have tax-cutting, political opportunists to thank at the County level for the underserving of the mentally ill and vulnerable in the City. Social services have been targeted as the way that our elected officials can "do more with less" while getting those that opt to cocoon themselves in their 1.5+ acre suburban lot to re-elect them. Those elected officals then hire a hatchet-wielding County Administrator whose only interest is the bottom line. You have social workers who are told to only focus on "bill-able hours" not on whatever the needs of the client are. Then, when social workers attempt to access medical/mental services for their client, their efforts to contact their co-workers within the same organization (County) are frustrated due to vacant caseloads (thank the HIGH turnover of workers in the County) and a phone system that has them on hold for 20 or 30 minutes (sometimes longer) only to reach a clerical person who is unable to help their client. This is the culture of "liberty" that right-wingers are demanding. "Oh, but were the fifth highest taxed state in the COUNTRY!!! We need tax relief!!!" Though this certainly isn't the entire issue, this is where it starts; when a resident who needs help can't get it from the agencies designed to help them. Bob Velez Shingle Creek Ward 4-1 _______________________________________ 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
