The question was asked "Why downtown?" 1) Because downtown is a city income generator. Because of Block E, 1st Ave No., Downtown Target, Lower Hennepin, the Mall, the Library, and including the riverside housing development sprouting on both sides of the river and on down the street to Loring Park and the Walker/Guthrie complex, DOWNTOWN REPRESENTS INCOME to the city. It also just got the OK to stay open an extra hour at night.
It's wise to keep that source of income safe and safer and let them know you've done your best. If the river bank area is truly going to be revitalized it MUST be perceived as a safe place to live, work and play, all the time. This will pay off in plenty of benefits to the rest of us. One Hennepin Avenue mugging at the right time and place to the right person could undo months of nightlife promotion. 2) Because downtown is a pretty finite area. I'd consider this a test case area. If people can get a good cost-benefits image out of the surveillance cameras, they have fuel to start looking for more money to increase the surveillance area. This is going to mean tapping the state eventually, looking for more and other corporate financing, possibly trying to find grant money. None of those sources of future financial support is going to ante up unless the smaller test case has proved something good happens when you have the cameras. 3) Because that's where Target Corporation said they wanted the cameras. As the adage has it: he who pays the piper calls the tune. 4) So far, someone reported that cameras in drug-dealing areas were too expensive to maintain, only shifted the drug sales around the neighborhood, other problems. OK: so the smaller area was not well-enough funded, was not large enough to count, was too hard and expensive to maintain, fell into disuse. I think that's more reason to look at the downtown area as a test, and keep watching for reasons to expand the surveillance. The next step is to start looking for corporate money. 5) Again: on private property, be it commercial stores, parking ramps, high rise buildings (apartment or office or condo) with security, it's extremely difficult to move anywhere downtown (or elsewhere) without going on camera. This is just a public extension of what private companies are doing all over the city and have done for decades. (Does anyone else remember being warned to adjust your underwear and blow your nose before you got into the dressing rooms at Dayton's or Harold's or Y-Q? or maybe that was before your time and I'm older than dirt--that could be too.) Emilie Quast SE Como TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
