If I can, I would like to clear up a couple of what seems like misconceptions regarding the drug dealing, gangs, and solutions and ongoing efforts.
First an observation was made at a meeting this morning by someone else (who I will leave nameless unless she wants to take credit) that I agree with and that is that primarily what we're dealing with is gangs and territory, and for that reason it will not just "pick up and move to another neighborhood." The reason being is because of territory. Gangmembers deal inside their "territory" and as such are not going to move into someone else's because of police pressure or street patrols. They may move within their territory, but to do the other brings gangwar along with arrests. Dealing may increase, but it's in a place that has already had these problems, the gangs are not moving out to Eagan all of the sudden. If, however, you really believe that the increased patrols and such are going to move all the activity to your neighborhood and are going to make the claim of being the neighborhood of the "displaced crime", I would ask you to consider that this crime came and still comes to Jordan from other parts of the city, state and country. Jordan is the original home of the "displaced crime". I say this not to shut anyone up, but to really make the point that this is a group effort and that we do have to attack it from a unified approach. Yes, the patrol is starting in Jordan, and yes many of the resources are coming to Jordan, but the longterm approach is to have a mechanism in place that will "leave no neighborhood behind". Sorry, couldn't resist. In all seriousness, we've started this in Jordan, but don't plan on ending it in Jordan. We want to develop in the long term a network of people who can go where they're needed. To join together with Hawthorne and McKinley and patrol our streets together. To be ready when Phillips and Powderhorn call to send a group of patrol members down south. To learn and work in connection with established experts like Stevens Square. Give us time to get going though. And so the ideas and meetings are starting. We're looking at multi-neighborhood strategies at the same time we're organizing this group. We're taking suggestions and pulling together meetings of different neighborhood and civic leaders to develop multipronged approaches. So call or email me if you've got an idea, want to be at the table, or most importantly want to help out. We've gotten a lot of attention and assistance over the last week, and instead of getting in a contest over who has it the worse, let's work together on how we can make this work to everyone's advantage. Jonathan Palmer working in Jordan and living in Victory 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, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
