Environmental attitudes are things that can be changed, but it does take some effort to do an "Attitude Adjustment". The reason Connie's husband and many have different attitudes about poor neighborhoods is the "environment". In an environment where open drug dealing and street crimes are tolerated by authorities it is easy for the uncaring few to start throwing things on the ground, and for the new immigrants out of ignorance to clean out their cars into the gutters. Before long it is an expected thing.
To readjust such an attitude, all you need to do is ticket every person caught doing it. You do not have to clog up the courts, just write them a ticket like you would a traffic ticket. Those who do not pay should have to go to jail for breaking the law by contempt of court. (I do not believe in amnesty for traffic violations and parking tickets. Failure to pay or appear in court shows contempt for our legal system) By the way anyone allowing their dog to leave something on someone else's property should be given 30 days of jail with release time only after spending 25 of those days picking up dog feces with there bare hands while walking barefoot. Dog feces, and the parasites in it, is more than just a nuisance, they cause several thousand blind children a year in this country. So Connie ask your husband to treat MY neighborhood with the same respect he does that wealthy neighborhood. It is a far more important neighborhood because it is "OURS". Just because we do not get the same City services as those rich neighborhood people does not mean that the people living here do not deserve the same respect. Connie's husband may feel that the wealthy deserve more respect than he does himself, but I do not! Tell him to take a little more pride in himself, we are proud of him. (Well except maybe about the dog poop) Expectations may also be why yesterday American Indian Housing had to go out of our neighborhood to find a park pavilion to have a picnic and party for its staff and the handicapped and elderly of the community. Our parks do not have such facilities. Circle Pines has a great park with such pavilions and everyone had a great time. I guess we expect that parks where drug dealing is allowed would not be places people would want to have a community gathering, so our parks don't get those nice pavilions with tables and benches and barbecue stands where you can cook whole sides of ribs. Circle Pines apparently expects people to have great community gatherings and provides for it. Boy they sure got a great one yesterday. Wonderful food, wonderful companionship, and at the end wonderful music from Gordon Thayer's sort of country-gospel band. When speaking of the environment we must be doing something right; with the amount of urban wildlife coming back. At the end of the picnic yesterday everyone was thrilled to watch an eagle slowly circling the area. I can remember when it was a very rare occurrence to even see an eagle, but never in the city. After the picnic my wife had to stop on Franklin Avenue where she works. As she and I talked to one of the new tenants of Many Rivers a large falcon came zipping low overhead in an attempt to catch a squirrel. (Unfortunately she missed. Just like the good officers patrolling Franklin sometimes miss the "skunk"-dealer, sometimes the flying falcon misses the squirrel. Of course the squirrel fought his way clear and it is usually a judge who lets the "skunk" go.) Isn't it neat to see two such magnificent birds of prey in one day, but hey we have them on Franklin just as they have them in Circle Pines. Apparently the magnificent birds respect the neighborhood enough to live here, so we also need to have a little better expectations and respect for our neighborhood. We need to add "Expect" to that great Cherokee Feast of Days saying when we talk of our community. - We can only be what we expect and give ourselves the power to be.- Well the sermon is ended go in Pease. Go out and enjoy a truly glorious Minnesota weekend. I hope we get them, but don't "expect" many better ones. Jim Graham, Ventura Village "We can only be what we give ourselves the power to be" - A Cherokee Feast of Days 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
