Aren't Dyna and Wendy going over the top a little. The Minneapolis of the 1990s and 2000s in not the Newark, Detroit or Philadelphia of the 1960s and 1970s. First of all, don't many statistics tell us that more people are moving into downtown Minneapolis? Doesn't Minneapolis have a high percentage of home ownership? I have lived here for seven years and find Minneapolis is a great place to live on a middle class income. We have a great civic life (as evidenced, in part, by this forum), our DT core is booming (Nic. Mall, First Avenue, different types and prices of housing, even Block E) and the convention center business is pretty good, even in a slower economy. Newark, Detroit, et. al. were products of their times (fiscal crisises, high concentrations of poverty, corrupt city governments). That ain't Minneapolis past, present or future.
Do people in this area move to and live in the suburbs? Yes. Do Republicans talk to their concerns? Yes. What that means to me is that maybe the DFL should start talking to their concerns too. Living in the burbs' isn't inherently evil. Progressives in and out of Minneapolis have to stop bashing the suburbs if we ever want to have the opportunity and power to make things better in the future. Maybe if more moderate Democrats ran Minneapolis in the past we wouldn't be facing continuing increases in property taxes. I never could figure why property taxes in the city were always going up during the years of surpluses. Obviously past administrations could never say no. Why should legislators (Rs or DFLers) take all the blame? -----Original Message----- From: dyna [mailto:dyna@;mail.unions-america.com] Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 12:44 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Mpls] Blame the legislature - Darwinian Economics comes to Minneapolis Wendy, you speak the truth Minneapolis leaders refuse to acknowledge. >Certainly, it is easy to say "the chicken has come home to roost," >but, do these same people want Minneapolis to become the vast >wasteland that many other inner cities have become? Sure, they'll >feel safe out in the concrete-encrusted burbs for a while... but >will they then come into town to attend shows or to work? Anyone >besides me ever driven through Detroit? Been to Detroit, Philly, etc. I went through St. Louis and Memphis last week. That's where we're headed, the cycle is obvious. As jobs disappear, crime takes over inner city neighborhoods. The middle class is disappearing, and the working class is hi tailing it to the 'burbs. Given current trends, by 2020 Minneapolis will look like Memphis- a few islands of gentrification downtown and along the river gorge and lakes in a largely abandoned city. Who can blame the working class for leaving- when the city won't do anything to shut down the drug house on your block but hands you double digit rax increases? >Minneapolis is a beautiful city because of NRP and similar programs. NRP is all but gone. And while multi million dollar subsidies are given to big developers, the city still hasn't put in a curb cut for my driveway that has been here for decades. >This wave of Darwinian (survival of the fittest) fiscal policy >sweeping the nation... and now "coming home to roost" in >Minneapolis... scares me to death... it is so cold and uncaring >about anyone but oneself. How far will it go? If we don't help the >less fortunate to have even basic needs met... then, too, do we not >care when they are forced to send their children to work in >factories like in 17th & 18th century industrial days? Where is the >line drawn? Do they really think that people who are desperate and >resort to crime for income won't visit the burbs where there is more >to steal? Yep, that's what Minneapolis will look like a couple decades hence. Except that we'll have crack houses instead of sweatshops. I suspect our only chance for survival as a city may rest with the Republicans in power at the state and federal levels. In a perverse way, if they follow through on their agenda and repeal the Minnesota Human Rights Act and harass immigrants, Minneapolis may again be a sanctuary for folks fleeing bigotry. Minneapolis pioneering and sweeping Civil Rights Ordinance brought many GLBT and minority folks here who invested in and stabilized many neighborhoods. Dyna Sluyter from Hawthorne -- _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
