David Brauer says: Let the discussion continue! Peter Schmitz responds: You bet!!!!
First of all, anyone who knows Margaret Hastings appreciates her aggressive activism on behalf of homeless people as well as her hard-earned cynicism. Activists have as much right to be aggressive and cynical (in a healthy way, of course) as journalists from the Star Tribune who write about councilmembers getting traffic citations. As for April Wooster's article, I thought it was a mixed bag. On the plus side, it made me aware for the first time of City Hall's unwritten HOMELESS CONTAINMENT policy. A mandate rather similar to crime containment in the poorest parts of North and South Minneapolis. April writes: Although police officers pay regular visits to the Island, they cannot legally arrest anyone for simply being on what is considered public property. According to police, the only way Islanders can be arrested or forced to leave is by committing some form of illegal activity, which is often hard to catch when officers do not supervise the area 24/7 . . . Downtown police community Crime Prevention specialist Luther Krueger says it's difficult to call someone sleeping under a tree camping . . . "Officers don't want to shag a guy off Royalston if he's just sleeping, " Krueger says. Peter responds: I've heard about Minneapolis police officers arresting homeless people for sleeping in parks and libraries. Several years ago, in fact, I, myself, was told by an officer that I had to wake up or leave the downtown library after I nodded off in a chair. Could it be that it's okay to camp on "the Island" , despite existing anti-camping ordinances, but not in other parts of downtown Minneapolis, especially the hoods represented by Councilmember Lisa Goodman? No wonder businesses around the Island are mad as heck, I would be, too!!! Not only does downtownTARGET get big subsidies from the City, but it seems to be afforded more police protection than Stark Electronics (whose owners probably have the bad luck of having no relatives by the name of Dayton). On the minus side, Ms. Wooster perpetuates many of the negative stereotypes of homeless people perpetuated in our popular culture. Consider the following detail about Martin, one of the island's citizens: "He growls when he gets mad." Nice job, April. From now on I'll think of poor Martin as an animal. Now David, in case you may be tempted to respond to my take on Homeless Containment (after all, good journalists report what they observe without imposing their conclusions on the reader) consider Ms. Wooster's remark: "Other Islanders claim they don't use drugs, yet their bloodshot eyes--and the smells--suggest a different story. Now I don't know about the rest of you folks on this list, but my eyes can get bloodshot for any number of reasons: hay fever, crying, being out in the smog, and finally, not getting enough sleep, which I'm sure is common among the Islanders given that April herself writes: "Double lanes of traffic whiz by on either side as up to 30 Island inhabitants sleep, read, talk and squabble among themselves." . . .squabble among themselves. The children!!!! Perhaps if Ms. Wooster described "the smells" she smelled, the different story she alludes to might have some credibility. Hard to say. Read on. Paragraph 3 of what Jim Mork rightly calls "Fantasy Island": A few blocks away from the well-to-do pace of Downtown, homeless adults have found an open-air haven on three consecutive\utive medians of well-trod grass along the Royalston Avenue. Several paragraphs later: "The garbage incinerator and city police garage are also nearby. This morning my eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. I was up all night worrying about Ms. Wooster. What a deprived existence this journalist must lead if she thinks "open-air havens" can actually exist next to garbage incinerators. But before I get too negative, I truly believe that Ms. Wooster's proud editor should send this article off to Steven Spielberg. I can see him making a blockbuster movie out of this material without changing a thing. Who knows. Jim Carrey might collect his long-overdue first Oscar playing Martin. Can't you just see him baring his teeth and growling!!!! --------------Peter Schmitz CARAG 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
