Is it at all possible that more than just the Republicans are at fault for there not being sufficient resources to have adequate policing of our troubled and "Impacted Neighborhoods"? Could it be that the City Mothers and Fathers simply have other priorities for spending the tax payers dollars? Could it be that there is so much waste and fluff in our City's spending that there simply is not enough money left to pay for the additional 200 police officers that Minneapolis needs to give the same level of police protection for poor neighborhoods as the remainder of more affluent Minneapolis enjoys what is sometimes referred to as "Equal Protection Under the Law"?
Today I found such an overwhelming example of this waste that I was amazed. Who among the List readers has seen the new "Minneapolis Shines", the City of Minneapolis Annual Report 2003? The only thing that shines about this report is the glittering example it makes of flashy fluff and waste. In fact all fluff and no substance, and at what cost? I know it cost $1.75 just to mail, God knows how much 40 pages of slick four color printing on bound 81/2X11 costs? I do not mind, and am glad, for an annual report. But I did not need a "Shinning" example of it. What the report showed me was that the Minneapolis leaders (who we have entrusted our City) are more interested in fluff than they are substance. It showed me that Minneapolis leaders are willing to spend millions on irresponsible fluff and very little on their first obligation. The first obligation is to provide police protection for EVERYONE in Minneapolis. Now the strong emotional response I had may have been due to having just read Barb Lickness's latest and having driven by Park and Franklin before immediately before opening the manila envelope containing the report. I had just been thinking about Minneapolis not providing enough police officers to help Barb who was forced to send a child somewhere else for safety. And thinking about how to keep the drug dealers from continuing to openly sell their products on Park and Franklin. I am sorry if that colored my perception, but it made me mad as hell! Where in the heck are the City leaders priorities to spend so much on nothing but a self congratulating marketing piece of shinning fluff? Immediately I thought it must be graft; that a printer or marketing agency had bribed city officials to get such a clearly expensive printing piece. Then I realized that it was even worse than that. It was more than someone feathering the bed of their favorite marketing firm or printer. It was a group of leaders who simply did not give a damn about anything other than making themselves look good with fluff, rather than doing their legal duty. It wasn't malicious on their part, it was that they simply did not give a damn about the people in our neighborhoods! Then I was no longer mad. As I thought about the unbelievable indifference for the real needs of our poor communities and how low a priority they were for the supposed Minneapolis leadership I became disgusted. We can not afford adequate police protection for people like Barb Lickness and her neighborhood. We can not afford adequate money for neighborhoods to have strong citizen participation (The very reason the City gets CDBG funds)! Yet, the City can afford that sort of fluff. So Barb, as you go to sleep tonight afraid for the safety of your child and family, afraid that your house will be firebombed or shot-up, clasp one of those slick thick fluff books to your bosom and think that is the priority your City's leaders think you need. They think you need fluff! Now don't you feel secure and safe behind that "Shinning" example of their care? Proud of those leaders we elected to oversee the well being of our City. Now I am sure some Council people do, Clearly people like Don Samuels and Barb Johnson do care immensely about their communities and ours, but some others who also might have wards with poor neighborhoods simply do not give a damn. They say they do, but like the little old lady use to say "Where's the beef?" Where is the substance. As long as Barb is not safe in her home, as long as drug dealers can openly sell their product on the corner of Franklin and Park, or on Bloomington and 25th, or any family in Minneapolis has to fear for the safety of their children at night then we need a little more substance and a little less fluff and some City leaders should start acting like they are ashamed and not preening in fluff! Like my little old Cherokee grandmother use to say, "MY, OH, MY! What a mess!" Jim Graham, Ventura Village, Phillips Community Planning District, Sixth Ward, and City of Hope 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
