The suggestion was not that the "Singapore Circle" be used for graffiti in Minneapolis. Heck I think it should be any property owners right to go out and beat the living crap out of any graffiti artist caught defacing ones property. And if not up to it personally to be able to contract another to do it. But that is more of a personal issue, not something I would support being legislated.
My suggestion was more for more of an institutional rather than personal one for drug dealers. My comment was a comment about the success of applying police to a problem and I used graffiti as an analogy about success. The actual suggestion was to possibly use the method as an alternative to prison for street level drug dealing and possession. Clearly prison is not a deterrent to selling drugs. It is simply part of the criminal sub-culture. Some might say canning is inhumane, but it certainly seems more humane than spending a few months in jail and possibly destroying the potential the person might have. Such a punishment incorporated into a restorative model seems very cost effective as well as much more humane. Wizard, you keep at them on the prostitution business. While I may agree with the concept of legalized prostitution I absolutely disagree with the notion of differential treatment for Johns, from other child molesters. I also would not mind seeing some application of a law about drug induced sexual acts to the prostitution world. Maybe bring in both the Pimp and John on such a law. I, like Wizard, had to laugh at the concept of aggravation when applied to the crime situation in impacted neighborhoods. Clearly someone has never seen many who were so "aggravated" that they were willing to administer a good old butt whipping. I believe that better describes Wizard. I am also aggravated that supposed good liberals couldn't separate the abuse and torture of women and children from out call girls and professional hotel sex downtown and on the strip. I am aggravated that politicians feel that our daughters and wives and sisters and mothers are not as important as their own. Look at the rape rate that is tolerated in our same neighborhoods where street prostitution is tolerated. Sometimes I feel my fellow liberals are more of a problem than those supposed non-caring republicans. At least republicans are not supposed to care. Some liberal politicians profess to care deeply the plight of poor women, and yet do nothing. No, aggravated does not express my mental state when thinking of this. Mad as hell is a much more accurate statement. On a more friendly note. Thanks to Tim Bonham for his suggestions on legal liability in posting of the license plate numbers of those acting in a manner that appears to be soliciting prostitution in a neighborhood where that is prevalent. Thank you to Peter Schmitz for his post about the use of our neighborhoods as containment zones. Peter says, >"So why do neighborhoods like yours continue to experience drug dealing >and prostitution and all the bad things that come along with it, like >gang wars and shootings and hookers defecating in recycling bins? >The answer is: City Hall's unwritten policy of CRIME CONTAINMENT. >Tolerate crime in the poor neighborhoods as long as it doesn't touch the >more affluent regions of the city." The other reason Peter is that "they" just frankly do not give a damn. Or at least NOT enough to do something about it. We have indeed fought this war for sometime with different administrations in the Mayor's Office. We have had those meeting with every Mayor going back to Fraser and every Police Chief going back to Bouza. We received National and Inter-National news coverage when we asked the Federal Government to declare us a "National Disaster Area". The problem is that the Mayors and City Councils have just had other priorities. Such as subsidizing their large corporate buddies (We all know about Target, Brookfield, Brighton, and the long list of others). The politicians just have never placed enough value on our women and children and poor communities to be really bothered by the issue. In addition their "better" neighborhoods place pressure to keep the crime contained so it does not get out into "good" neighborhoods. Yes Peter is so right. It is time that the "containment zones" and "Impacted Neighborhoods" became the major issue for a political campaign. For that to happen you will have to have caring people from other more affluent neighborhoods also making it an issue. But that is what good caring ethical people have always done; care enough for others to put aside self interest and push for justice even if it does not affect one's self. I would welcome many more like Peter to get involved now in such political "pushing" for justice. Sure we are making slow progress in this fight at the neighborhood level, but it would be so much faster and the number of women and children saved would be so much greater if our own political leaders really cared what was happening in poor communities of Minneapolis. Sure the neighborhood has fought hard and Franklin Avenue is coming back and in this next year will be a truly marvelous place to walk and shop. BUT, we still have those drug dealers between Chicago and Fifth, we still have young girls selling themselves for a rock, (yes Jim Mork they will tell you the price and what it is for). We still have that rape rate that rivals anyplace in the "civilized" world. We still have our girls and women propositioned on the streets as hookers because a generation of Johns has grown up with the notion that Lake or Franklin was where to go for hookers and not get much police attention. Politicians and their ordering the police to create "containment zones" created that culture. Jim Graham, Ventura Village The attempt to close the gap between what is known and what IS, is the temptation behind the apple in Genesis. - Barry Lopez 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
