Shawn L wrote, in part:
Ok, candidates for public office, what plan do you propose for solving this
problem?
<<<<<
Shawn, as you know, citizens have been asking this question for years as the
DFL has controlled Minneapolis, posed as the "liberal" or "progressive"
party, and yet allowed poverty and violence to increase. It is about time
for real citizens to ask why it is that a political party can stay in power
in a city for so many years while civic life steadily deteriorates and
multinational corporations pay less in wages and taxes while also sucking
more tax-dollar subsidies from the city.
I oppose using homeland security money to pay for local police, as that
creates even more direct federal control of our local police as well as a
very real dependency on the growing and increasingly intrusive federal
government.
I suggest the following:
1. Why not call out the National Guard to patrol in high crime areas? This
would send a clear signal that many of our citizens live in neighborhoods
which are in a real state of emergency, and that the response is an
emergency response. If enough Minnesota National Guard troops could be
deployed, couldn't they help to prevent violence?
2. While the NG helps to patrol the city, our city, county, and state
officials could hold emergency meetings to determine why we are sending so
much money to the federal government to bloat the budgets of the Pentagon,
Halliburton, Bechtel, and so forth. These local political leaders could
discover how much it will cost to effectively police Minneapolis, and find
that money.
3. The first place to look for money? Perhaps instead of subsidizing the
billionaire's bauble of a new Twins stadium, we could levy that new tax
(which the Democrats tell us people will hardly notice at all) to pay for
adequate policing!
Who knows, there might be enough money to pay for adequate police presence
on the streets and also to begin to address the real issues of poverty,
addiction, mental illness, and despair that impact so many people,
especially who live in poverty.
Do any of the candidates for Mayor have the courage to quit spitting into
the wind and address real issues?
So far Hakeem Farheen and Don Johnson have shown courage, but the DFL party
is bogged down in give-aways and subsidies to party-connected billionaire
ball clubs and religious groups connected to churches with more cash-flow
and more assets (in precious objects of art) than Minneapolis will ever see.
The DFL is obsessed with how to give away public tax money and public assets
to DFLers, while children are being shot in the streets.
-- pedaling off to work in Lynnhurst, wondering if I could run a bike-based
business safely in Phillips of on the northside -- Gary Hoover
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