At the risk of repeating myself, if police arrest one person 110 times and come away with no convictions, that isn't a strike against the judiciary. It means that the law enforcement system has wasted an unconscionable amount of time and resources GOING AFTER THE WRONG PEOPLE. Besides the costs, that annoys me as a free citizen because it carries the implied threat that they could subject me to untold costs due simply to some wrongheaded belief that "I'm the guy". It argues not for a changed judiciary but for changed methods of investigation and arrest. I think all free men and women should realize this. I especially think Doug Grow has NO excuse for trying to bend this datum around to purposes of polemical demagoguery. Police should never abuse the power of arrest. They should have a better than even chance of a successful indictment when they arrest someone.
Home Upkeep
When you get tagged for an unkempt lawn, they will mow your lawn and charge you. I'm wondering why the same thing isn't true with upkeep on your buildings. In any case, I would maintain that Inspections needs to talk to the homeowner and then disclose the interaction if they issue a citation. It needs to be there on the record and the homeowner should get to read that record and correct it. We don't want slovenly owners and we don't want arbitrary city government. It serves neither the citizenry nor the government well. We DON'T want inspectors sent out with a quota, either. This thing can be done and must be done HONESTLY.
Starbuck
Once again, there's a REASON houses here cost more. It is market economics. If Starbuck were a "choice location", you'd be unable to get a cheap house. The Twin Cities are not "emptying out". If they were, home prices would be DROPPING. The market estimate for my house went up FORTY PERCENT in two years! It is unreal, but I guess that's just how badly people want to live here. One difference, though: These homes are maintained. If the general condition were like in Hawthorne, who knows what the price would be?
Illegal Parking
What if a paramedic vehicle had to get to a patient in cardiac arrrest and was block by a parked police car? And it seems bogus to me to claim parking in a parking lot somehow significantly affects response to a police call. That's kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel for "reasons".
________________________________________ Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community Minneapolis, MN We think. You'll like it here. And we're more fun than a barrel of Norwegians
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