I can empathize with a longing for rural simplicity - I spent a good deal of time in northwestern Wisconsin dairy country and really liked the rural flavor of Nicollet Island. I've also found a happy home in Charles Horn Terrace, a small town in effect. Note: illegal drug use impacts all three of these venues and we are nowhere immune from crimes against persons and property.
I can't say I'm unhappy with my years in Whittier, although getting into housing that insulates me from market pressure is a welcome relief given the inexorable realities of the aging process. I still have many friends in Whittier and in Phillips, too, and elsewhere in South Minneapolis for that matter. I can easily compare Council Member Dean Zimmermann to a town constable I knew of in Clayton, Wisconsin, who had to deal with a drunken lout who was shooting buckshot through his farmhouse kitchen ceiling and threatening the wife and child who took refuge with my friends and their children and me on our farm elsewhere in the county. When Dean got roughed up by some vicious kids in the middle of the election campaign, it was because Dean was willing to put himself in harm's way - maybe not the wisest course of action in retrospect, but emblematic of a willingness to take responsibility for the peace of his immediate neighborhood even at some personal risk. That's how we felt in our rural farmhouse when we didn't know whether a crazy guy would show up shooting but we were willing to defend these terrified folks - by force if necessary! - but we trusted in the good judgment of the Clayton constable who in fact talked the drunken guy into surrendering his weapon. The locals sorted things out. End of drama. It is annoying to read on this list "for some reason the only politicians that get elected are the ones who promise to do something about drugs and prostitution under the general "tough on crime" rubric. That's not how Dean operates - and you don't have to take my word for it, we've been reading about his activities for some time now. Nor is that the impression I have of Mayor Rybak, or Council Members Niziolek, Lilligren, Schiff, Zerby, Johnson Lee, or Ostrow. If I don't add the rest of the city council to this list, it's only that I haven't had as much contact with them. I can certainly add my state legislators Berglin, Walker and Clark to the list of people I know personally and trust implicitly on these weighty matters and while I'm at it, I have a seriously warm spot in my heart for County Commissioner Dorfman. After 30-odd years, Minneapolis is also my small town and I can't stereotype these "politicians" that I know personally and trust implicitly any more than I could knowingly denigrate the negotiating skills of that savvy lone constable in a town of 316 souls in rural Wisconsin. Housing's still pricey and bad things still happen but I'm here because I feel a part of this place and I like working on solutions with lots of other well-meaning people. I admire values that obtain in rural AND urban settings and there's a lot of that going around. Fred Markus, Horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood _______________________________________ 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
