I think Dyna's post has some merit with regards to the need of the city to invest in housing redevelopment, small business development, etc. And, anyone who has lived in Minneapolis for the last twenty years can see that Minneapolis has most defintaley come a long way in terms of inner city rebuilding, etc.
But, I believe Dyna is way off base when it comes to identifying the economic problems in this city with crime. For the last ten years most crime statistics in Minneapolis have dropped and dropped steadily. Why? Because the general economy had been in an upswing, people found less reason to turn to a life of crime in order to feed their families. Now that the economy is in the proverbial outhouse thanks to George Bush, the crackpot spending schemes of Jesse Ventura (how many of you who supported his lame idea to send all Minnesotan's 200 dollar checks in tax rebate money are still happy?), September 11th, and whole list of causes, crime will most likely be on the rise again. Minneapolis doesn't have a reputation for being lax on crime. And I don't believe Minneapolis is lax on crime. But what we have done is dismantle almost every safety net that we have to sustain our communities. For those of you who believe that welfare is just handing out checks and folks are able to live and thrive on that system are seriously delusional. Povery leads to desperation. This in turn leads to crime, which in turn leads to a decrease in property value and assessed taxes, which then results in less revenue for our city and adds to our budget woes. Provide jobs and support for our communities and our communities will support the city. If we want to sustain our city, then we need to STOP giving out enormous subsidies to corporations (and for those of you who believe that subsidies to corporations create jobs...please show me one example in recent history in Minneapolis where the value of the subsidy has or will been returned to the city in the number of jobs created, and I'll point you to the current article in CityPages about Norm Coleman's failed experiment in St. Paul). We need to stop crowing for public financing of sport entertainment projects, and we need to redirect our spending to where it counts. We need to focus on small business development, improved tranpsortation infrastructure, decrease of urban sprawl, job creation, debt reduction, education, affordable housing, and mixed use development. How many jobs could have been created with the financing that went into Block E Development and Target's downtown store? How about the money to move the Shubert Theater? We can only scapegoat people living in poverty for so long before we start to wonder about the circumstances that create poverty and maintain people living in poverty for generations. Treat the syptoms, cure the disease. -Brandon Lacy Campos -Powderhorn Park >From: dyna <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Mpls] City budget woes- a microeconomic view from Crack Street >North >Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 11:54:25 -0500 > > Much has been written on this list lately about our city's financial woes, >largely concentrating on cutting the budget to varying degrees. The problem >is that large government and private sector entities, be they Amtrak, the >Postal Service, International Harvester, or Minneapolis have substantial >infrastructure investments to make and pension liabilities. In other words, >you could lay off half the employees of these organizations tomorrow and >the cost would barely drop. This leads one to a logical conclusion- big >budget cuts won't work, the only solution is to grow our way out of this >problem. > > So let me take this down to a macroeconomic level, namely my little corner >in Hawthorne: > > My corner once contained 4 homes, built in 1887. One burned down shortly >thereafter, so for most of the 20th century there were three homes on my >corner. Until the 1960s the adjoining 3 corners were on the tax rolls. >Interstate highway 94 took one whole side of the street off the tax rolls, >and another of the remaining corners was taken off the tax rolls to build a >public housing "low rise". So as the 1960s closed we had lost all the >property taxes from the adjacent corners. > > None the less through the 1960s and 70s this was still a decent working >class neighborhood. The aging owners of the 3 remaining homes could not >afford to upgrade their properties, but at least they were still paying >taxes. > > Then the neighborhood literally went to hell in the 1980s and early 1990s. >The elders on both sides of my home died, and their homes were rented out >to a succession of criminals. In 1995 my dear grandma Gertrude died, and I >inherited her home on the corner and moved in during 1996. By then the >homes on either side had been torched, and mine was the sole remaining on >the corner. The city spent about $20,000 tearing down the burned out hulks >of the neighboring homes, assessed against their lots that were going tax >forfeit anyways. When they went tax forfeit I bought these two unbuildable >lots for $100 each. I then built a garage on one with $4,000 in NRP help, >adding $9,000 in property value. > > At this point we have another crime epidemic of early '90s proportions >starting, and I and my neighbors are unlikely to add to the property values >when we wonder if our homes will still be standing unmolested when we come >home at night. > > Time to do the numbers. Before the crime wave of the 1980s and early '90s >their were 3 houses here. If the city had fulfilled it's responsibility and >rid this neighborhood of crime we would have 3 homes here yet. They would >have passed from the elders to young folks who would be investing in them. >With a location 2 miles from downtown and shopping, parks, and the river >within less than a mile these 3 homes would be worth about $200,000 each. >This would give my corner over a half million dollars in assessed value, >and had not the freeway and public housing taken the adjacent corners we'd >be looking at a couple million dollars in assessable value here. > > Instead, after eating $20,000 in assessments on the tax forfeit lots and a >further $4,000 grant for my garage this corner now has less than $50,000 >assessed value. After "circuit breaker" and such tax limiting laws this >corner pays only about $600 a year in property taxes, > > With a drug/party house next door and plenty more crime up the street I'd >be crazy to make any further investment in this property. So thanks to our >city's tolerant attitude to crime my corner pays less than 1/10th the >property taxes it is capable of. > > My corner is typical of my Hawthorne neighborhood and the Northside. As >property values continue to fall while the demand for city services in >these troubled neighborhoods increase, our city is headed for the same >fiscal death cycle that has all but consumed cities like East St.Louis and >Gary. > > I think that's the bottom line here- make this city a safe place and it >will flourish. Leave the citizens to duck bullets and hide behind locks and >bars and it will die a slow and painful death, > > peace, > Dyna Sluyter, hanging on on the Northside >-- >_______________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
