When a person sees something as "Impossible" there is very little chance of
that person actually working hard to accomplish it. Such would seem to be
the case with public safety for people in Minneapolis. The present Mayor
believes that it is impossible to get the required funds to make adequate
public safety "Possible" for what has been the residents of our poor
neighborhoods. That failure now threatens the quality of life in other
areas of Minneapolis. Thinking there is NO possibility, the Rybak
administration does NOT engage in the every day work needed to bring in the
small and sometimes LARGE amounts of money to make things "Possible".
The purpose of a real Mayor is to go out and work to get Minneapolis the
funds to provide adequate public safety. That is his only real power and
real duty in a "Weak Mayor" system. Everything else is providing
"leadership". But if a Mayor does not do the one job he is absolutely
responsible to do, then how can he possibly provide meaningful leadership
for that "strong council" who clearly must see that RT has no clothes on.
Barb Johnson, Natalie Johnson Lee, Don Samuels, Robert Lillegren, Gary
Schiff, and Dean Zimmerman each represent districts and neighborhoods that
are feeling the pain of Mayor Rybak's failure to perform on his one true
job. Is it any wonder that his leadership on other issues is questioned by
the employees of every department of the City? Mayor Rybak appears to
believe that it is impossible to perform his one true job responsibility.
So he simply does not do it? RT fiddles while gunpowder in Minneapolis
burns.
David Braur's request, on the Minneapolis Issues, for a Peter McLaughlin
finance plan to hire police officers fails to acknowledge that for months
Peter McLaughlin has offered a proposal for badly needed new revenue; State
aid worth $24 million for the City's closed police pension fund. That's
REAL money that would be available over time to provide REAL relief to the
City's General Fund. The primary source of funds for the Police Department.
As some readers might remember, the Mayor's supporters at the Washburn
debate hooted at this idea. Rybak himself claimed that if there was
actually money available, as Peter McLaughlin claimed, he would crawl to get
it. Well folks, there is, and was money available and it would help fund
police officers on the street. And the Mayor didn't need to crawl to get
it, he only had to ask for it. He just needed to act responsibly! RT Rybak
failed to do that in 2004, leaving us without sufficient police officers on
our streets.
Finally, after the city convention in which Peter McLaughlin soundly
defeated him, the Mayor changed his position on the pension relief, telling
the city's lobbyists to get the deal done. RT Rybak will undoubtedly claim
that he has gained major improvements in the deal. These modifications
would have been available in the 2004 legislative session, but Mayor Rybak
didn't engage until late, and then opposed the relief from the state. And
then when the money was sitting on the table to be used for police officers,
he told the City Council to turn it down. It now remains to be seen whether
Mayor Rybak has dithered for far too long. I hope the plan is approved in
the special session. There are, however, no guarantees.
As the murder rate mounts, it's too bad we didn't have the money to hire
officers this year. Peter McLaughlin has strongly advocated for these funds
since he started his campaign. It's only one of the pieces of his plan.
Peter McLaughlin seems to believe it is "POSSIBLE" to do the work to go get
those needed funds!
I think David Brauer needs to ask the Mayor what he's going to do about the
spiraling murder rate, since the Mayor's last plan (not engaging in
"dangerous behavior") has proven to be such a failure. As I typed I heard
there were two more shooting victims on Lake Street last night. Perhaps
Mayor Rybak believes that we ALL should move out of Minneapolis because he
believes we are engaging in "dangerous behavior" by staying in our own
homes. Perhaps it is the Mayor who is engaging us all in his "dangerous
behavior"!
Stay tuned to your "Issues List" for a new public safety and tax issue: The
Mayor's refusal to apply for federal funds to hire adequate numbers of fire
fighters.
Jim Graham,
Still "engaging in dangerous behavior" by living in Ventura Village
"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in
the other direction."<
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