The Star Tribune is becoming more irrelevant each passing day for this city dweller. I use this list, neighborhood newspapers and the Skyway News to keep up with local issues and various national newspaper websites to keep up with national and international news. The Star Tribune mission is apparently to disseminate seven county news to suburban consumers who are interested in and can afford the products advertised in that newspaper.
Bill Dooley Kenny -----Original Message----- From: gemgram [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 12:33 AM To: Jay Clark; Minneapolis Issues Subject: Re: [Mpls] Star Tribune Pulls Steve Brandt Off Neighborhoods Beat Jay Clark raises an important issue and concern about StarTribune coverage. We can only hope that the paper will assign an equally or more aggressive reporter to do neighborhoods. The Star Tribune should realize that community schools are in fact in neighborhoods and what affects neighborhoods will affect schools. In the past the Strib was often very lax in its coverage of very important issues in Minneapolis that made national and inter-national news. The Phillips neighborhood asks to be declared a "National Disaster Area" because of crime and blight and it makes a small paragraph or so on a back page of the Strib. Yet the same story rates a half page above the fold first story in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post, is a featured half page in the Dallas Morning News, (two of the most prestigious newspapers in the United States) as well as a feature article in the London Times. The Pioneer Press features extensive articles on the subject. You would think that even if the Strib did not think the issue was news worthy it would have run a story on the national newspapers doing a story on a poor Minneapolis neighborhood. At this time a Federal Judge in Federal Court is hearing a case that may be of national importance, yet it has rated almost no coverage by the StarTibune. The Ventura Village lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis and PPL may set the precedent that Minneapolis and other cities may no longer engage in institutional patterns of discrimination by concentrating Supportive Housing in small containment zones in poor and minority neighborhoods. That Minneapolis ordinances and laws that apply to the rest of the city may not be arbitrarily and capriciously ignored in poor communities of color. A ruling of such could possibly force Minneapolis to affirmatively act to apply its own existing law and disburse such publicly funded quasi-public housing equitably to all neighborhoods of Minneapolis. One would think that this would be a hot story, but not one reporter from the Strib was in attendance a preliminary hearing last week. Clearly this is an important case with major ramifications, but one is compelled to ask will it be first read about in the New York and Washington newspapers before the StarTribune covers it? It is the classical situation of the poor neighborhood finding a champion in Zelle&Hoffmann to fight the rich and powerful Project for Pride in Living (PPL) with their expensive law firm of Dorsey and Whitney. The wealthy Non-Profit can often afford to buy more justice than poor people. Even the honorable judge seemed to address this at the hearing. Even if the StarTribune has no interest in the social justice issue one would think they would do a story on the willingness of Zelle & Hoffmann to step forward to assist a poor neighborhood in its fight to stop discrimination. What a marvelous human-interest story even without the legal ramifications. Think about how empowering it would be if other high quality law firms were to contribute some legal time to cases where neighborhoods and community residents were suffering under institutional discrimination. Imagine how empowering it would be if poor communities could afford to seek the same quality legal representations as the rich powerful organizations like PPL can afford to buy. With a little more coverage of Zelle&Hoffmann's efforts (and their good example) other reputable firms and lawyers might step forward. What a concept. Someone might read the story and say, "Who Knew"? Well darn few people know if our own newspapers and TV media do not adequately cover it. Jim Graham, Ventura Village >"If you would not be forgotten, >as soon as you are dead and rotten, >either write things worth reading, >or do things worth the writing" - Benjamin Franklin REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ 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
