It's true that several years ago, the city passed an ordinance requiring all new staff to be Minneapolis residents or be prepared to move into the city. It's true that the legislature was lobbied and overturned that ordinance. Because I wasn't a newly hired person, I (and all other existing employees) were exempt from the residency requirement anyway. We did however, have many discussions with residents and fellow employees about the issue of residency.
Many of us felt a great deal of anger and resentment when the residency idea came up. First, it presumed that because an employee doesn't live in the city, we therefore don't care about our jobs; don't care about the community we work in; don't care about the residents of this city and the problems we face; and that we are not professional enough, and don't have enough integrity to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Believe me, that vast majority of us do care. If a city employee truly doesn't give a darn about his/her job or this city, forcing them to live in the city isn't suddenly going to make them exemplary employess. If anything, it will only make their attitudes worse. If an employee of this city is not doing his or her job, it is a disciplinary concern, a management issue. Another way to look at this is from the point of view of the many, many Mpls. residents who commute to other cities/suburbs to work. How would they be expected to react if told that in order to have or keep a job they had to move to that suburb? At least in my opinion the issues are much larger than where someone lives. The whole residency discussion misses the real point which is how do we find ways to improve relations between the police and the community, how do we reward and reinforce the many city employees - police and otherwise, who are out there doing their jobs everyday effectively. Most importantly, how do we get through to those few members of the Minneapolis community, who because of their criminal behavior are making life miserable for everyone - their families, neighbors and the police who must respond to those complaints. What can be done to change that particular dynamic. Don Greeley Crime Prevention Specialist 3rd Precinct CCP/SAFE Minneapolis Police Dept. _______________________________________ 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
