I'm a bit surprised that there hasn't been much discussion of this topic on the list in the wake of Tyesha Edwards death.
First of all, let me thank the police and praise them for their outstanding work in this case. Now, it will be time to watch the courts and see what happens to the alleged perpetrators of this heinous crime. I'm wondering what strategies the neighborhood organizations deploy in the face of this kind of activity in their midst? And, what do individual neighbors do? Is this something that Block Clubs have addressed? It seems to me that sharing their strategies, what has and hasn't worked, would be one way of bringing the community together around this problem. Is this already happening and I'm just out of the loop? I think the drug trade will continue to be concentrated in the central location of the city unless it is made extremely inhospitable and dangerous (meaning they will get caught) for gangs to operate there. I mean, one can decry the fact that many of the customers are non-local, but you can't stop them from coming into the city -- it's a free country afterall. It seems that the court system needs to be involved too -- the penalties for this type of behavior have to go beyond harrassing the perpetrators. I remember some discussion of this earlier on the list, has there been any progress in keeping these people off the streets once they are arrested? I remember that when I lived in Seward the staff at the park kept a close eye out for gang activity. As soon as any was spotted they worked with kids and parents to identify who was involved and then worked with their family to resolve the problems. I remember once that a child was threatened walking home from school and the parents flyered the neighborhood and had a meeting with the police present where they devised strategies to ensure this never happened again. As I remember it, the parents took to the streets enmasse from when school let out until nightfall. What else can be done in the face of gang violence? Barbara Nelson Burnsville Once and future Minneapolitan _______________________________________ 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
