David Brauer wrote: "..........I'll bet a lot of people on this list worked really hard last year and two years ago, etc. to fight a much larger dynamic that results in fewer cops, more crime, fewer prosecutors and public defenders, and financial pressure against incarceration/rehabilitation. They lost. "
Wrong again David - they won! Steve Minn got his Stone Arch Apartments, and a mighty fine management contract for his wife. The Park Board got its lavish headquarters - already over budget. Brookfield Development got $37.5 million. McCaffery got Block E. NRP and its paid activists got funded - with debt. CSM got its ice skating rink back to convert into a corporate conference center. Target Corp. got its property taxes reduced. Glen Taylor got a free ride on taxes, plus renovations. The theater crowd got a new Guthrie. If you look at the City's financial statements, you will see that Police and Fire expenditures are at the bottom of the totem pole. Minneapolis spends more on INTEREST expense than it does on Police. Your argument reminds me of the family, having just bought a new Mercedes, demanding food stamps because it has no money left for groceries. Now that the 2004 budget is in play, it would be nice to see the 2002 financial reports. I keep checking the City's website for the 2002 CAFR (comprehensive annual financial report) -- but its not there yet. [Note that the largest companies in the world must file their tax returns by March 15th.] A bit of good news: I have found a journalist who doesn't suffer from that embarrassing ailment of "premature opinionation." He's not arrogant, he's hard-working and wants to ferret out the truth. What a joy! The issue we're working on is the vast UNDERreporting of Minneapolis crime. You see, when my caretaker was attacked - there was NO police report - until I raised a stink. A month ago, there were SIX shootings in Phillips - NO police reports. All of these violent crimes, because ambulances were dispatched, were recorded as "medical" calls - right up there with heart attacks and insulin shock. If the VICTIM doesn't specifically request a police report, IT IS NEVER RECORDED!!!!!!!!! Did you know that only 4 criminals, OUT OF 1,200, were prosecuted by the City Attorney's office? I was shocked when Luther Krueger (CCP Safe) told this to the Cedar-Riverside Business Association last month. And get this - the City Attorney's office "doesn't know how that happens." I asked Luther if someone forged an attorney's signature on the other 1,196 dismissals. More on these subjects later.......I've got work to do and criminals to catch. Vicky Heller North Oaks 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
