I beg to differ with the person who says the air quality was not A basis of ending the inspection program. If we were out of compliance at the time, we would have taken a monetary penalty from the federal government. Moreover, I don't remember seeing a smoker on the road the whole time it was going on. But they were pulled out and driven very shortly after it ended. However, a nonlicensed smoker would have escaped the program, that is true. It certainly wasn't a good signal for state government to send to the city to end the program. But Dick Day and Jesse Ventura thought they could score political points by ending what was a MINIMAL inconvenience for drivers (I only had to have a car of mine to the shop maybe two times in all the years of inspections. And the charge to get in compliance averaged under $50. But maybe my cars were in better condition than Ventura and Day voters cars were). Anyway, the history of the politics of this thing show one reason Minneapolis can't solve its own problems. People want to drive through and to heck with our air quality. They'll vote against programs that will preserve it. We can't even pass ordinances to keep smokers out because the state legislature will simply override home rule as they have done in the residency requirement case. Keep that in mind when you think about problems that resist solution. All around us are hostile natives who MUST come into town and don't really care what mess they leave behind (Minneapolis is ALREADY "so dirty" what's a little more?) I'm sure this figures in the speeding problem on 1st Ave, Park, and Portland, too.
Later: I checked some of the history of the repeal of emissions testing. At the time that the Molnau bill was passed, she said the program was "ineffective" and now they would pass legislation to mandate "more effective" monitoring. Well, we're 125th, she's Transportation Commissioner, and no new legislation to be found. Guess it slipped her mind.
Overprosecution
Well, the study is there. But I'm wondering. Did the study adjust for the fact that police forces were going after the entire memberships of gangs to make them think they wanted to congregate in some other city in some other state? I know the Minneapolis police went after one family and pretty much decimated it in an attempt to crack one of the active Minneapolis gangs. Since there are no white gangs that I know of, just a campaign against gangs are going to impact the ethnic groups from which the gangs are drawn. Not that this explains the phenomenon nationwide. But when we became "Murderapolis", it suddenly was politically imperative to shove all considerations aside to show some real progress. So, I'm thinking the politicians were saying "Yeh, it'll screw up our prosecution balance, but who's going to REALLY question that if we knock a hole in this crime rate?" Maybe it is a sign of our relative comfort that now we ARE looking at these things in hindsight. I really don't recall there being any complaints back when the homicide rates were drawing national attention. By the way, in that regard, when I was doing city comparisons on that website I mentioned previously, some of the criminal violence categories looked pretty bad compared to some of the other cities. But then when I checked the other demographics, I realized the cities weren't comparable. It can be hard to get an apples-apples comparison.
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
Try lighting a few candles. The world is all stocked up with cursers of the darkness.
Air Quality
I beg to differ with the person who says the air quality was not A basis of ending the inspection program. If we were out of compliance at the time, we would have taken a monetary penalty from the federal government. Moreover, I don't remember seeing a smoker on the road the whole time it was going on. But they were pulled out and driven very shortly after it ended. However, a nonlicensed smoker would have escaped the program, that is true. It certainly wasn't a good signal for state government to send to the city to end the program. But Dick Day and Jesse Ventura thought they could score political points by ending what was a MINIMAL inconvenience for drivers (I only had to have a car of mine to the shop maybe two times in all the years of inspections. And the charge to get in compliance averaged under $50. But maybe my cars were in better condition than Ventura and Day voters cars were). Anyway, the history of the politics of this thing show one reason Minneapolis can't solve its own problems. People want to drive through and to heck with our air quality. They'll vote against programs that will preserve it. We can't even pass ordinances to keep smokers out because the state legislature will simply override home rule as they have done in the residency requirement case. Keep that in mind when you think about problems that resist solution. All around us are hostile natives who MUST come into town and don't really care what mess they leave behind (Minneapolis is ALREADY "so dirty" what's a little more?) I'm sure this figures in the speeding problem on 1st Ave, Park, and Portland, too.
________________________________________
Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
Try lighting a few candles. The world is all stocked up with cursers of the darkness.
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