"I didn�t trust Rybak when he made that weak statement. More telling, however, than his dodging the issue was the fact that as soon as he got into office, Rybak scrapped the Civilian Review Authority (CRA) as an agency and made it an appendage of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. I decried that action then and denounce it now as a move which showed his hand as a veritable proponent of racial profiling" ---Dwight HObbes
Reorganization of civilian review makes one a "veritable proponent" of racial profiling? Me thinks there's some implied ESP in this. I don't know just how good a job CRA had been doing, but if there was conflict between police and the black community, that would be a mark against, not for, CRA. Ideally, CRA shouldn't be an agency for prosecuting police but for bridging any gap between them. If it wasn't doing that job, wouldn't a responsible mayor have to look for another way? And I'm not endorsing his approach, just saying trying a different approach can be a logical step. By the way, Dwight, don't you mean a VIRTUAL proponent, not a "veritable" one? I wish some of these discussions could be a little more pragmatic and rational. Is there any sign that the ENTIRE force goes out and clobbers people of color at the first opportunity? Maybe the best thing Olson could do is find those who seem the most mature, the least likely to be on a power trip, and assign them to sensitive posts. ____________________________________________ "Attract money". Well, before I start working on that, I'd love to see some sign that we know how to USE money once we've got it. You have to be careful of flushing more down the swirling hole. It is too TOO American to think you just have to get more money. Give money to a compulsive gambler and what problem do you solve? Or do you merely make the problems worse? And I think it'll be a cold day in the global warming cycle before some of us sing "I want you, I need you, I love you to business". We're still scratching our heads about what happened to the money given to AOL, Worldcom, and Enron. Besides, Vicky, you don't really like cities to TAX business, so of what use is it to us if they make money off us? The whole POINT of getting business is to rake off a percentage. And if we try that, you will think it injustice. You have to understand that it is our intention to develop business in ORDER to tax it and relieve the homeowner. In fact, in the Pioneer Press article on the ranking of property taxes in the metro, it is the presence of taxable business that helps determine how much the residential payer pays. Businesses that want a free ride might as well set up elsewhere. ___________________________________________ I just spent some time reviewing the CODEFOR reports for 2002. According to those reports, Minneapolis should have ANOTHER reduction in violent crime statistics for the year. So, those who want to make a case against the mayor and chief will have to argue with the statistics. Crime is RISING elsewhere. If they are reducing it here, they must be doing something right. Minneapolis had a total of 43 murders in 2001 and CODEFORE reports a total of 35 through October 2002. That is with the worst months behind us, so it is virtually guaranteed that they will improve on that record for this year. As top Rybak's "get outta Dodge" comment, come on. That is ABSOLUTELY SOP for American politicians. The kind of politicians who stand up and make those statements are EXACTLY the kind that American voters re-elect over and over. Rybak knows it, and you know it, too, if you've been paying attention. The people who object to that are the counter-culture who make considerable noise but seldom elect anybody to any office (though they often give "endorsement" to people who then lose primaries or general elections). Maybe it is gratuitous, but it isnt the kind of thing I'd fault Rybak for. Substantial failures is what I'll hold out for, and then I'll give him heck (though I have no lightning bolts cached away or any other weapons of mass destruction). _____________________________________________ I was delving into web resources on murder, and what they seemed to say is that for cities over 100,000 population, our murder rate is rather low. For the late 90's, the rate hovered in the mid 20's. Divide your 43 2001 murders by 3.82 and you get 11. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a good rate for a city our size. Well, not a "good" rate (that would be zero) but a good report card for our police force. ____________________________________________ Can some explain to me why the map of neighborhoods maintained by Minneapolis city government doesn't show a "Ventura Village"? http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/about/maps/neighborhoods.pdf According to this map, Elliot Park and Philips share a boundary, just like I always thought. ===== =================== Jim Mork----Cooper Neighborhood "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God" ---Matthew 5:9 United for Peace http://www.unitedforpeace.org/new/ __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.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
