Secondly, you clearly have not read the posts I've put on the list in the past. One of the biggest police issues is withholding of services. I know of at least three serious assaults that occurred on the WB in which police told the victims "nothing I can do for you, you should move." I do not feel that this is an acceptable answer to a person who is attempting to report a crime to a police officer.
Some of those same officers who won't take complaints are plenty busy harassing kids on bikes, hurling insults over their loudspeakers to people waiting at bus stops, and taking Somali men down to the river bank to beat them up. But, hey, what do I know? I'm only basing this on what I've seen with my own eyes and on first hand reports I've received while spending lots of time on the WB.
Yes, poverty and crime (including crimes by the boys in blue) are serious issues on the WB. Maybe the high concentration of low-income housing is part of the problem. I can't say, since that's not my area of expertise. If that is at least a contributing factor, maybe a federal lawsuit would be a good way to tackle the issue. Are you working on one and, if so, how can people support your efforts?
The bottom line to both Dennis and Barbara: If people have concerns they should work to address them. Condescending, classist attacks on me and questioning my work are not going to improve your lives in any substantial way. IMHO your energy would be better spent actually doing something about the issues that you've raised.
Michelle Gross Bryn Mawr
At 04:05 PM 7/23/03 -0500, you wrote:
Megan, Megan, Megan..........
You live in Bryn Mawr, that explains your idealism. Did you know the West Bank has a 46% poverty rate and only 10% of our housing is owner occupied ? Give me a break! The crimes are not being reported because the police are afraid of being sued for identifying the "immigrants" that are beating, and robbing people weekly, stealing and breaking into cars at lightning speed. We had 7 auto break ins on 1 block over one weekend this month! Are you aware of the riot about 6 weeks ago with about 40 nice little immigrant boys in front of Palmers' bar? They were armed with tire irons and 2 x 4's. They scattered to the high rises before the police arrived, but not before an employee of Palmers was hospitalized with head injuries. You can bet if it had happened in Bryn Mawr it would have been on television! My neighbors are too PC to report many of the crimes. The rest of the neighhood doesn't speak English and don't trust the police, and/or don't want to offend their neighbors who are committing the crimes! I wish we were just a little bit gentrified, nothing like a few long time homeowners to help keep crime down. You should spend a month in my "hood" instead of judging our crime rate as racist/anti-immigrant from your nice, little, low crime, mostly homestead, mostly white "in the city suburb"! Sending thousands of non-English speaking poor people to my little neighborhood was not a good idea. A concentration of poverty, combined with major cultural and languages differences was a foolish and perhaps criminal thing to do, remember the Hollman Decree? Some of us are thinking a Federal suit may be a solution to our problem.
Barbara Murray Riverside Park section 8 property manager SAFE block leader for 10 years & my neighborhood has gone to hell in the last 5 years!
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.)
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