> I am sorry Mike, but it is necessary to raise the issue, or it will never be > addressed. Just swept under the rug as an embarrassing inconvenience. > > Your "practical advice" about "What areas to avoid" is interesting. BUT to > interject a little reality, what about the women who have to live in those > areas? Should we just avoid the reality that they face in "OUR" City? The > City already does that, it "Avoids" the impacted neighborhoods and uses them > as containment zones. We should be ashamed to "Avoid" and discriminate > against any area of Minneapolis. > > We should measure the quality of our City by the way we provide for our > children, our women, our elders, and our handicapped. It should be the > intent of Minneapolis to build community by laying a foundation on such > principles and to organize its structure to guarantee the safety and > happiness of our most vulnerable. > > Do we want to live in a "Quality City" or not? We can't have one by > avoiding any where in the City. We must strive to make every area of > Minneapolis safe for our most vulnerable. And to be a truly "Quality City" > we should care about the people sleeping outside tonight. Under a bridge if > they are lucky. We simply do not have any people or places in this City > that we should "Avoid". > > Jim Graham, > Ventura Village, Phillips Community, and the Sixth Ward. > MN: Never said the issue shouldn't be raised. Just wanted a little more than Jimmy Graham preaching at me. I've heard the sermon before. Actually, we do have people and places we should avoid, for good reason. Damn right I avoid your neighborhood. I know it intimately. In the past 20 years,I've lived on Park & Franklin, 5th & 22nd, 18th & 26th, 24th & Elliot. The number of times I have been harassed, physically assaulted, or had my car and house broken into got to be more than I am willing to put up with. To stay would've just been stupidity on my part. Some people choose to live there. Some live there because the rent may be cheaper than other places. To interject a little reality of my own, every city has neighborhoods like these. It's not fair. It's not pretty. But it's reality. You want to live there, fine. You want to "be ashamed",fine. You can't tell me that I have to think like you, act like you,or live where you do. You can't tell anyone what they "must" do, or not do. My not coming into your neighborhood isn't discrimination against it. Your neighbors discriminate against me when I can't go there and be left alone. I can't afford to live in Linden hills, but I'll live in a van down by the river before I come back to live in that area or any like it. I wasn't happy living there, so I found a way out. I'm not a saint,I'm not a crusader,I'm not ashamed. I'll brighten the corner where I are, you do the same. Go fight the good fight. Good luck. I mean that sincerely.
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