Does "same level of protection" equate to "same level of safety"?
I might argue that I get the same level of protection in Windom that you get on the north side. I could also say that the north side does not have the same level of safety, for a variety of reasons that does not necessarily have anything to do with the level of protection. Just wondering if you're mixing metaphors. I appreciated this impassioned post. But I think you're up against a brick wall when you discuss "non-essential" services. Taking your argument a step further, eventually, if we cut "non-essential" services to pay for more police, for example, somebody, sometime, eventually is going to have to define "non-essential." One of the biggest problems in this city is that nobody wants their ox to be gored. Everybody wants everything, and they want it funded at or above the level it was funded at previously. Hell, people call budgets "cuts" if their pet project's budget is raised by only 2% instead of 4%. My point here is this: many, many people in this city consider everything "essential." They will commiserate with you about the north side problems, but if their kids summer arts camp budget gets cut to pay to help the north side, there will be hell to pay. Mike Thompson Windom ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Plante" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 11:39 AM Subject: Re: [Mpls] Vigil Sunday for N Mpls murders > I have lived in Jordan since August of '97 and lately, I am left scratching > my head wondering as to what exactly I am doing here. > > For me, it is enough that a candidate for mayor would say that they are 100% > committed to accomplishing more appropriate staffing levels (for public > safety) within a specific period of time, to offer myself and my neighbors > the same level of protection that my fellow residents in more affluent > neighbors enjoy and expect. > > We speak in wonderment of the "silent majority" that exists on the > northside. The overwhelming majority that WON'T come forward and report > crime when they see it happening. They WON"T get involoved when they > witness an injustice occurring. Lately, I have come to hold this "silent > majority" in a higher regard than I do the even larger "silent majority" > that exists everywhere else in our fine city. > > It simply amazes me that we've had 8 fellow citizens murdered in a 2 > square-mile area in the first two-months of this year. And for every one of > these 8 murders, there's been probably 50 near misses where shots were > fired, as even the police will tell you that these thugs don't shoot very > straight. Think about that for a moment. Would that be tolerated in > Kenwood or Kingfield? Yet an issue like Dutch-Elm disease that is killing > our trees receives ten-fold the attention AND immediate attention from both > our city administration AND the larger "silent-majority". It appears that > we, as a collective group do in fact value life and safety. It is simply a > matter of which lives and what safety we hold in the highest regard. > > In the late 80's and early 90's, we collectively "buried our heads in the > sand" and denied that a gang problem existed amongst us. We now > collectively choose to deny that there is a very real and very significant > public safety issue in one of our neighborhoods. I have lately come to > believe that the larger silent majority silently believes that everything is > okay on the northside. The unwritten belief is that given a choice this is > how "they" want to live. Have we really progressed that far frm the way > things were done in the not-to-distant past. The time when collectively, > communties in our country allowed segregated minority to "plice themselves" > and only intervened when something that could not be ignored, happened. > Like a homicide. Then we'd send our police to the "other side of the > railroad tracks" and impart social justice. > > I sat and talked for about 1/2 hour with an officer on 26th Avenue and Knox > Ave N on Friday evening shortly after the most recent tradegy. According to > this officer, the feeling of many of his co-workers (in the 4th) is > frustration and poor morale. Imagine showing-up to work one day and having > your boss tell you that the company you worked for could no longer afford to > staff itself at the same level it had in the past. Yet, he expected you to > do 20% more work (for the same pay) and produce the very same results as you > had in the past. Currently, from my perspective anyway, we are getting more > from less with our officers in the 4th. It is NOT enough. > > As a city, maybe we should take the same approach with the construction of > the new public library downtown. Let's approach the General Contractor for > the project and tell him revenues are 20% lower than they were when he > agreed to construct this fine building for us. Therefore, he needs to build > the same product for 20% less. Or, let's approach the tree services that > will be removing the diseased trees and ask them to remove 25% more trees > for the same money. > > Somehow, I just think it's easier for everyone to cut basic services to the > smaller "silent majorities" living throughout our city. > > Maybe a more relevent question at this point in time would be for someone to > ask - In light of the bedget crisis, have we cut non-essential services > over-all by a percentage that is significantly higher than that which we > have cut essential services. Of course, it is highly likely that the data > could be "massaged" to support any conclusion you'd like to portray. > However, we've decided to spend more funds immediately to "fight the war on > dutch-elm disease" in our city, yet I have not heard a comparable movement > on the part of the city to "fight the on basic public livability" on the > northside. > > I do believe that this list represents a fair and accurate portrayal of the > "pulse" of out fine city. I have witnessed numerous very impassioned and > very heated debates on everything from leaf-blower ordinances, to the > dysfunction of our Park Board, to whether or not we are taxing businesses > fairly. While these are all very important issues that need to be > addressed, I wonder what it says about our priorities when we feel the need > to question "how we are going to pay for more police officers", when we so > easily and quickly find the funds to combat the "war on dutch-elm disease". > Yes, the benefit to this decision is that we will all continue to be able to > drive the boulevards in more affluent neighborhoods and view the magificent > foliage. And continue to keep the "dirty little secret" of the northside > out-of-sight and out-of-mind. > > dennis plante > jordan > > > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil 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. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact 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 Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
