When you see "what do you mean we" rather than a comment on the substance of the issue, you know that somebody is trying to make their involvement the issue. Too bad. The FACT is that Minneapolis, the POLITY, has taken the position that NOT ALL BUSINESSES ARE DESIRED. Moreover, not all saunas are located within Philips or districts west. Longfellow closed three of them, too. And I have to doubt that our Philips warriors were the reason. In fact, in my discussions of it with residents in my area, I was TOLD that it was neighbors who caused them to be closed. Moreover, I support the notion that I only want business owners who respect the needs of the residents of the city. I don't think it wise from any standpoint to grovel before business out of some MISGUIDED belief that we are beggars and therefore must never be choosers. Even though business would certainly enjoy that sort of groveling. That is why we have some of these huge debts to pay off, our fiscal handcuffs. Ergo, if the landlords cannot abide by the city ordinances that are there to be read, then let them rent to suburbanites. Though, frankly, I can't see Edina or Bloomington groveling before landlords, either.
Violence
Some of those here who didn't make it to Don Samuels' session on violence will probably be disappointed or at least reinforced about how we "Fortress Neighborhood" people think. Because we didn't, so far as I could tell, suggest the solution "build affordable housing in Fortress Neighborhoods. Don set up some of the scenarios so that the central character could NOT move on her income. The apartment she had was what she could pay for. We were left to solve her issues with that constraint. We COULD have said "Well, if there was subsidized housing in Kenwood, she could move there and BINGO! her other problems go away." Don might have called that "one-dimensional thinking". I would have called it "fantasy". The thing is, not ALL the problems could be solved that way. One was a boy who had no realistic goal in life. How would a change of address GIVE him one? Probably couldn't. Part of the reason impacted neighborhoods are the way they are is the condition people are in who fall into them. And you just can't run away from dysnfunctional patterns. When I moved, my wife and I were doing rather well. In fact, THAT was why we COULD move. Had we been addicted, lazy, depressed, or any of a host of other personal problems, it might have trapped us where we were. But at Don's workshop, most of us didn't try to change the person, we just tried to see what could be fixed given the person needed some security in situ. Don said people his color seldom come to community meetings. As a result, the Jordan neighborhood leadership consists of people who come, namely, the white minority. Needless to say, it creates a problem for Mr. Samuels. These leaders are fired up about neighborhood improvement, but when he tries to give his perspective, he sometimes loses their involvement because they get insulted. It made him say "What a COMPLEX thing this racism thing is!"
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Jim Mork
Cooper Neighborhood
No bonds for colonial wars. Say "no pay no play" and spare the grandkids from a life of poverty.
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