I have lived in Mpls all my life of 40 years. I never thought that crime areas would become so entrenched. It must be hell living in a crime activity neighborhood. I'm concerned that open air drug dealers have no fear. As far as killings, we all suffer so greatly. --Shawn Lewis
Last update: July 30, 2004 at 11:56 PM Minneapolis crime, up close and personal Rochelle Olson Star Tribune Published July 31, 2004 As the tour bus rolled south on Bryant Av. N. at 33rd Av. in Minneapolis, Sherman Patterson pointed out the notorious spots on his block. A pregnant woman was stabbed in one house, an ice cream truck driver shot on the corner, a pizza delivery man the victim of an attempted robbery and a gang member shot at a nearby house. Two houses on the corner had been boarded up to shut down drug dealing and prostitution there. Patterson's impeccably maintained home sat amid the crime scenes, a peacefully perfect white house on a flawless green lawn with neat rows of flowers he tends with his wife. He spoke of how he and some neighbors mow their lawns and pick up trash at an appointed hour to send a message to thugs. "The work is paying off, but it's a battle," Patterson said. He was one of a handful of current and former residents in the Phillips, Central, Hawthorne, Jordan and McKinley neighborhoods who spoke of the constant vigilance required of inner-city living. City Council Member Don Samuels and his staff organized the rolling council study session. While the tour focused on certain troubled areas, there was a dual message of hope and concern that if the city doesn't work harder, the cancer of crime will metastasize. "Quite frankly, I believe that a lot of the reasons things stay the same is because a lot of people are not informed or intimate with the problems," Samuels said. "It's going to boil over to the point where the rest of the city cannot sustain or contain it," Samuels said. If hard-working residents leave, the tax base will erode and institutions such as schools and police will crumble, he argued. "Minneapolis will not be one of the best places to live. The burden will be too heavy." http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4904211.html Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm 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
