[Mpls] Bus strike

[timothy connolly]

Peter Bell has used the comparison between private 
and public bus systems as justification for not
budging against the striking drivers.

A compelling argument can be made that the private bus
companies pay too little.

This gambit is an old one.

What bothers me about the private bus drivers is that
as long as they  drive their buses they insulate their
riders against the hardships us city peons face. And
they are the constituents of Tim Pawlenty and many
Republicans. 

What the governor and Peter Bell have said to the ATU
members is that they make too much money and not only
are they not going to give them a raise they are going
to renege on past promises and take money back.

I would strike too!

This strike is causing me great personal hardship I
wont go into but I support the strikers.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Fundraising

[timothy connolly]

The Mayor has stated he holds to his promise to not
take money from those doing business with the city but
how are we to know if the names of donors are not
released because they slip through the $100 loophole.

Am I the only person on this list who remembers the
Mayor awarded a consulting contract to a campaign
contributor barely a month into his present term?

The Mayor promised to return that donation but did he?
Even if he did so would is that sufficient?

I agree wholeheartedly with the Hamline professor
quoted by Rochelle Olson in her Strib report on the
Mayor's fundraiser.

This Mayor adds to the cynicism felt by so many of us.

I have fewer qualms about politicians accepting
contributions from those doing business with the city
than I do with those who lie and sneak and then do it
anyway.

Our Mayor has real chutzpah and I don't mean that to
be a compliment.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Police Brutality

[timothy connolly]

I don't much jump into the fray anymore but I do want
to address some misconceptions about Barbara
Schneider.

If one reads the investigative report of the event it
becomes painfully clear that the police over reacted.
You won't find many police wanting to defend action
taken in this instance.

Much is made of a threatening woman with a knife. No
one has referred to the multiple gas containers
pitched into the apartment. It was so bad that the
first thing the police did upon breaking down the
front door was to run for the windows.

Barbara Schneider had retreated to the last safe place
she could find in her apartment; her bedroom. 

When police broke down the bedroom door she was
cowering in a corner with a knife supposedly in her
hand.

What violence took place there. I wonder what any of
us, even in our right minds might have done. Terror is
not too strong a word for what these police inflicted
on Barbara.

It rankles me no end to hear someone referred to as an
"edp" whatever that may be.

I am disgusted by the tone of many of these missives.

Say what you will about anything but know that when
you pick on the memory of Barbara Schneider you rouse
her defender.

TIm Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Re: First Avenue

[timothy connolly]

Making First Avenue South a two-way street between
28th and Franklin is an idea whose time should never
have come.

As long as any can remember 1st Avenue South has been
a one-way street from 40th Street through Grant Street
if not Washington Avenue. It has been a northbound
artery into the city. By timing the lights traffic
engineers can calm traffic. Isn't that what semaphores
are meant to do?

The problem is what so often happens in this city. A
cabal of neighborhood activistas decides they don't
like the way things are regardless of how much sense
things may mean in the context of a larger vision.

What we end up with is blocked arteries throughout the
city by diverting traffic from a system of streets
meant to handle an overall traffic flow into a series
of streets meant to satisfy parochial conerns.

When one group of shrill selfish people persist in
making their voices heard above all others they screw
up things for all people who then feel like it is
their right to have their way.

Absent are enough council representatives who say "NO"
to parochial interests.

Aside from streets the most obvious late example was
the debate on bar closing times. There were strong
neighborhood sentiments to limit boundaries where bars
could stay open 'til 2am. Thank goodness they were
voted down. 

The chaos that would have resulted if for instance all
bars around the campus closed at 1am could have been
disastrous for late night traffic not to mention the
unfair advantage neighborhood bars would be saddled
with.

Tim Connolly
Living kitty corner from Brits outdoor garden and
loving it. 

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[Mpls] Re: Rybak announces Police Chief selection process

[timothy connolly]

I am right there with Renee Jenson when she questions
whether the Mayor included in his advisory group
someone with mental health orientation.

It is my experience that the Mayor talks a good show
about the mentallly ill but when it comes down to it
he doesn't follow through for one reson or another.

Renee's point that a Police Chief ought to hhave a
very strong voice for the mentally ill is right on.
The death of Melissa Schmidt should have driven that
home if nothing else seems to have done that.

Tim Connolly
Minneapolis

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[Mpls] Insufficient Funds

[timothy connolly]

To thse of us who may have ever written a check
without sufficient funds in the bank I offer this
consolation from the Ways and Means agenda for 8/18.

Number 3 from Consent items: Reimbursement for
non-sufficient charges.

Authorize finance officer to reimburse city
employees(including Park Board, Library Board, MPHA,
Youth Coordinating Board)for charges resulting from
Agust 8 payroll issuance.


Apparently someone forgot to make the deposit!

Tim Connolly 

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[Mpls] Re: Mpls digest, Vol 1 #1644 - 22 msgs

[timothy connolly]

--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Send Mpls mailing list submissions to
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it
> is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Mpls digest..."
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> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>1. Re: Re: [Mpls] city purchased security
> equipment (Russell Sasaoka)
>2. Clearing background of color.
> ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>3. RE: Re: [Mpls] city purchased security
> equipment (Connie Beckers)
>4. Mendota Dakota Cultural Chair Bob Brown passed
> away. (ken bradley)
>5. Re: DDT- mosquito control? (Chris Johnson)
>6. Re: DDT- mosquito control? (Conor Donnelly)
>7. Drugs, repeat offenders, a reasonable solution
> (basia)
>8. Re: city purchased security equipment-Cabs,
> Safety (David Strand)
>9. Mayor Rybak to Deliver Budget Address Thursday
> (Sether, Laura S)
>   10. Cameras;Cab Safety (Jim Mork)
>   11. Re: Gang, Drugs, Patrols, Ebonics, List
> Management, Racism (Anderson & Turpin)
>   12. Re: Responds to own emails (Anderson & Turpin)
>   13. List members in the news (List Manager)
>   14. Ellringers leave Minneapolis (List Manager)
>   15. Re: Gang, Drugs, Patrols, Ebonics, List
> Management, Racism (Susan Maricle)
>   16. Man dies in apparent Minneapolis shooting
> (Shawn Lewis)
>   17. Homeless in Minneapolis, but not faceless
> (Shawn Lewis)
>   18. List Management, Racism (Allysen Hoberg)
>   19. Re: List Management, Racism (Susan Maricle)
>   20. Sabo Named 2002 NOISE Legislator of the Year
> ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>   21. See an hear this MPR report!
> ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>   22. Mpls spending and LGA (Anderson, Mark (GESM))
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 1
> From: "Russell Sasaoka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 01:45:13 -0500
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Re: [Mpls] city purchased security
> equipment
> 
> I don't think it should be up to the city or state
> to provide such equipment.  The state or city can
> require the companies to have them in their vehicles
> and have the companies pay for the equipment
> themselves.
> 
> Especially now with the state and cities are cutting
> funds to the Police, Fire and Public Works
> departments.  
> 
> There have been studies done on both in car cameras
> and Ballistic shields.  Additional information can
> be found here:
> 
> http://c.rathbone.home.att.net/facts.htm
> 
> However, New York does a reimbursment plan, but I
> believe that they can do that due to the number of
> taxis and the way they regulate and license taxis,
> which is not the way Minnesota is setup to do.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Russell Sasaoka
> Coon Rapids 
> (Formerly of Loring Park)
> 
> Get your free Web-based E-mail at
> http://www.startribune.com/stribmail
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 2
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 07:16:33 EDT
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [Mpls] Clearing background of color.
> 
> 
> --part1_50.20b4e8cf.2c68d511_boundary
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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> 
> 
> If you wish to clear background color in 
> Minneapolis digest messages, locate your cursor 
> on the body of the form, right click, then, left
> click 
> "clear background" in the resulting menu. 
> 
> Neal E. Simons
> Minneapolis
> 
> 
> 
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> --part1_50.20b4e8cf.2c68d511_boundary--
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 3
> From: "Connie Beckers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: RE: Re: [Mpls] city purchased security
> equipment
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 09:11:10 -0500
> 
> Frankly, I don't think cameras are the solution.
> They don't seem to deter
> folks from robbing and killing convenience store
> clerks.  Whatever the
> solution is, I don't support public money either.
> People here have said the
> fares are too low to even support the drivers so why
> not raise them to
> provide a better wage and some security equipment. I
> think the foot
> activated strobe light was a good one.
> 
> Connie Beckers -- FOLWELL
> THE GODDESS OF GLASS
> www.goddessofglass.com
> "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only
> one."  ~John Lennon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:32:13 -0700 (PDT)
> From: ken bradley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [Mpls

[Mpls] (no subject)

[timothy connolly]

If people are looking for ways to subsidize safety
measures for taxicabs need I remind folks that the
City accepted a substancial gift from Target for
cameras downtown, a measure many of us thought was
foolish or cosmetic at best.

Just think if they had put that money toward safety
for cabbies. Too bad one of our seven CM's who voted
to accept the gift had not given this consideration.

The city could do well without the River City trolley,
which is subsidized indirectly by the city through the
GMCVA,after first taking all the cabbies on the guided
tour.

When I'm visiting a city for the first time I will
often flag a cabbie for the guided tour. I remember an
especially fine evening in Washington, D.C. on such a
ride. 

Personally I love listening to immigants' stories.
They can be a balm for the cynicism of this society
and culture.

The city could also help with marketing for cabbies.
Get Clear Channel or one of the other conglomerates
who wants favorable treatment to pony up space. This
should be right up the Mayor's alley.

Start a campaign. Call it "Ask a Cabbie" or something
like that. Promote our cab drivers rather than
undercutting them with trolleys and courtesy vans and
Super Shuttles. Go back to previous cab levels before
Joe Biernat sold out the industry to accomodate his
campaign contributors from Green and White.

Make it possible for them to make an active
contribution to their own safety.

As for Wizard's suggestion, I'll never ride in a cab
with a barrier if given a choice. The cabs are too hot
in the summer and too cold in the winter and unlike
bus drivers collecting fares a cabbie relies on
personal engagement to garner tips.

This is all long overdue. I hope the cabbies hold out
for more than empty rhetoric from the Grandees at City
Hall.

Tim Connolly




 


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[Mpls] Heritage Park

[timothy connolly]

My curiousity was piqued by Zack Metoyer's depiction
of environmental conditions at Heritage Park so I
decided to take a look for myself.

Unfortunately someone nicked the rear wheel from my
bicycle so for the time being I'm on foot.

Since I was heading up Near North I stopped first at
the Farmer's Market to see if my old boss was there.
The few times I had been there this Spring he was
nowhere to be seen.

I grabbed a polish sauage for added sustenance before
heading out from the Farmer's Market. I can stil smell
the mustard on my hands.

I recalled seeing items on Ways and Means agendas over
the past year or so relating to additional monies
being budgeted for environmental work by Braun
Intertec in Heritage Park. 

I wondered to myself just how much was spent on
testing and soil remediation and if that was within
Budget on this project? Did the developers discover
early on the presence of unhealthy conditions and try
to finesse it through inspection?

I am no environmental engineer. I find myself wishing
I had been on the tour with Zach the previous day. It
was difficult looking for evidence when I arrived in
Heritage Park,

The one thing I noticed right away are the numerous
cracked sidewalks. This is a treeless plane in most
places so it's not as though roots have done the
damage. Either there is something going on sub-surface
or the Gunderson Brothers are the worst concrete guys
I have ever seen?

I don't encounter any visible ooze coming up through
the ground but I do find one of the playground areas
where there are a couple holes dug revealing a black
oily looking substance just inches below the surface.

If what I have discovered in a cursory investigation
is any indication I would guess they have some serious
problems with enviromental contamination in Heritage
Park.

It would not be that great a surprise to anyone with a
basic knowledge of geology and an inspection of the
properties upstream from the project. Beside the scrap
yard the city has used the Basset Creek watershed for
a dumping ground for years. Throw in a couple trucking
concerns, the train spur that runs along the creek and
who knows what else you have a pretty potent mishmash.
 
I wasn't there long enough to get a headache but it
doesn't surprise me that people living at Heritage
Park are experiencing medical effects like headaches
and diarrhea and perhaps worse.

Having satisfied myself as much as possible today I
headed out for the Wedge to buy my rice milk and water
crackers before heading home.

I would hope some enterprising reporter who monitors
this list would follow up on this story.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

 

  







 





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[Mpls] Walk for Barbara

[timothy connolly]

On June 12,2000 Barbara Schneider was experiencing a
mental health crisis.

When police, ill-equipped to handle a mental health
crisis, were called by a neighbor, six officers
appeared on the scene.

They broke down her front door after filling her
living room with CS gas. By this time Barbara had
retreated to what she thought was the safety of her
bedroom.

When the police kicked in her bedroom door, they
confronted a terrified woman in the midst of a mental
health crisis crouched against the back wall clutching
a kitchen knife.

When she moved toward the police with the knife in her
hand after being told to "drop the knife" she was shot
nine times in the chest, arm and head.

Join The Friends of Barbara Schneider on June 12th at
7pm in a commemorative walk from the triangular park
at 24th and Hennepin to Barbara's old apartment at
31st and Hennepin.

The mission of The Barbara Schneider Foundation, the
sponnsor of this walk, is to eliminate the
criminalization and abusive treatmnt of people with
mental illness by improviing public safety and mental
health systems through active training and public
education.


Tim Connolly
Downtown
Friend of Barbara Schneider




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[Mpls] Re: Poor image/Mpls sells itself badly

[timothy connolly]

I found this editorial pretty interesting in context
with our coming surveillance cameras. What sort of
image of downtown Minneapolis does it project?

I remember the first place I saw these sort of cameras
in use was 30 years ago in South Miami Beach. This was
long before its renaissance.

They had some serious problems. Not anything like what
we have here in Minneapolis. There, they had bad
actors robbing little old ladies from the Bronx on
their way back from the market.

I remember thinking it was a place I didn't want to
hang out past sundown. I would hate to think that
surveillance cameras in downtown would have the same
chilling effect.

In the editorial it mentioned three things to
advertise about our city. One of those was "a safe,
lively and hip downtown that so many cities lack".
This was the opinion of an independent observer.

Tim Connolly
Downtown




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[Mpls] Target downtown surveillance cameras

[timothy connolly]

This proposal has already been approved by the PS&RS
committee of the City Council. It was forwarded to the
Ways and Means/Budget committee which meets tomorrow
afternoon.

I'm not sure if this proposal had a public hearing but
if it did not it certainly ought to have. It may have
gone to the Downtown neighborhood group which probably
would have given it a positive nod.

Lets just say that some people are so uptight they are
in danger of turning themselves inside out.

>From Ways and Means this measure goes to the whole
coucil on Friday and then the Mayor's desk. I suppose
that means theoretically that there is still time to
lobby against this action.

Tim Connolly
Downtown 

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[Mpls] Re: Keep the ideas coming

[timothy connolly]

One year ago the Mayor came to the City Council with
$5.5 milion in cuts from the 2002 Budget.

Among those cuts was a reduction in Civilian Review
Authority to $100K specifically to study what to do
with CRA.

The more cynical of us said that the Mayor was paying
off on a campaign promise to the Police Federation.

When we squawked another $100K got put back into the
budget. 

Then various city staff and community leaders sat down
for three months to wrangle out a new Civilian Review
Authority.

Some time this past Fall the results of that work came
to light though they were nothing like what had been
recommended by a majority of the committee.

This past week a final ordinance came before Health
and Human Services and Public Safety & Regulatory
Services Committees.

In its present form the CRA has come to be a mockery
of what it once was which wasn't much itself. Who
could have thought it could get worse? But it did.

Seeing as how it has turned out this way it makes
perfect sense to eliminate it completely.

Believe me: To spend one penny on the reconstituted
Civilian Review Authority would be fiscal
mismanagement in the extreme.

Let people sue the city if they have issues with the
police and let the City Attorney's office fight them.

It may be bad policy but it might be cost effective.

This is where things like "No new Taxes" pledges lead
us. In the long run I cannot but believe they destroy
our social fabric.

Tim Connolly
Dowtown

Member of both CUAPB(Communities United Against Police
Brutality) and The Barbara Schneider Foundation

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[Mpls] Trojan Horse?

[timothy connolly]

On page B6 of Saturday's StarTribune Mary Abbe reports
that the City Council "approved without debate, a 
controversial gift to the city--a giant mural for the
Convention Center by artist Anthony Whelihan."

All the debate went on beforehand in committees and in
the Arts commission.

The Mayor was quoted as saying "it wasn't a perfect
process, but the end result is a gift to the city that
will allow us to turn a blank walll into a
celebration."

Why am I so leery? Is this a Trojan Horse that will
prove to be the muralistic equivalent of the Mary
Tyler Moore statue?

Furthermore, if the process was so imperfect, why
continue?

Do we want to be the Capitol of Kitsch?

Tim Connolly 
Downtown West 

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[Mpls] Exact change

[timothy connolly]

Really! Who in their right mind gets on a bus and asks
if anyone has change for a five?

I try to avert my eyes out of embarassment.

A woman in a front seat looks to her boyfriend for
guidance. A guy in the back pipes up "Whaddya need?
Four quarters?" I can almost hear him say "putz" when
the guy says he needs change for a five.

Meanwhile the woman has peeled five ones from the
wallet she has taken from the backpack resting in her
lap.

I cannot believe it. This yokel actually got someone
to pony up change. A charmed life.

Though the driver has continued on while this drama
took place, the episode points out an abiding problem
with taking the bus. A trip takes too long in large
part because riders don't have the exact fare READY.

Older model buses have painted next to the door "Have
exact fare ready" whereas the newer ones have a
"Welcome Aboard" sign next to the door. The bus
company just seems happy you're still riding the bus,
presumably because nobody is READY to get on the bus.

The system lacks fluid movement.

There was a time when there were signs everywhere on
the bus saying "Please leave by rear door." Note they
said PLEASE. The bus company even then was feeling
insecure.

Today the majority of those ahead of the back door(2/3
of the bus) feel the need to leave by the front door
so they can thank the driver, like he or she were
volunteering their services.

Consequently we have people either squeezing by each
other, no mean feat in winter when we've all donned
extra layers of clothing, or stopping the progression
of future riders who can't even use the extra time to
get their fare ready. 

This can only get worse with the news the bus company,
a public utility, will be cutting routes and raising
fares.

The most devastating cuts in this respect will be in
the city. Fewer buses mean greater numbers on existing
routes. That's an exponential increase of exact fare
fumblers.

So Metro Transit will do what it does and riding the
bus will become more expensive, longer, more crowded
and less frequent.

Go figure.

Tim Connolly
Downtown
Wondering whether it makes sense to buy another
monthly card or join the ranks of fumblers til the
weather turns.



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[Mpls] City Communications

[timothy connolly]

Talk about ham-handed. Could the Rybak administration
make itself look anymore incompetent and conniving by
messing with information dissemination?

It would be laughable if it weren't so chilling.

Happy News, we demand Happy News.

Tim Connolly
Downtown 

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[Mpls] City inspections of rental units

[timothy connolly]

Over two mmonths ago thhe city inspection department
made a call on the Continental Hotel. They caused a
minor uproar.

I resented the fact the city inspectors could come
into my domicile. I was asked to sign a consent form
which I could refrain from signing. 

Accordingly, if I refrained I was warned they could
seek a search warrant.

The reason given by inspectors was they were looking
for housing violations. I wonder if they inspect the
apartments and condos across the street.

The upshot of the inspection was that the city came
back and told the management they would need to remove
microwave ovens from all units.

The order from Continental managemeent was to take
effect December 22nd in order to insure a January
deadline set by the city. 

Merry Christmas!

We have managed to forestall tthe city from enforcing
the order so far but tomorrow is another inspection
day.

Why I bring this up is because there is an article in
todays Strib about a case from Morris, Minnesota going
before the State Court of Appeals this coming Thursday
at 11:30am challenging the constitutionality of these
inspections.

The original decision from the Stevens County District
Court went in favor of the city of Morris against both
landlords and tenants. 

This ought to be an interesting hearing.

Tim Connolly
Continental Hotel

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[Mpls] Five year financial projection

[timothy connolly]

I listened to an interesting and informative speech on
KNOW's Midday program. 

Fundamentally, the speaker(Mr. Moss of Cleveland, I
did not get his first name) talked of living in an Age
of Abandonment.

I cannot do Mr. Moss justice. I would recommend that
if folks are interested they listen to the Midday
repeat at 9pm.

It dovetails with thoughts I have on the five year
financial plan, Martin Luther King's birthday, Dave
Harstad's recent post and, the 35th anniversary of the
establishment of the Minneapolis Civil Rights
Department tomorrow.

In the five year financial workout of the Civil Rights
Department the average annual increase for the
department in the next five years is 1.8%. The only
departments with smaller increases are the Planning
Dept. at 1.2% and Health and Human Services which will
be totally eliminated.

To get even a clearer picture lets use actual dollar
figures for increases. The Civil Rights Department
budget willl increase by $200k over five years or
$40k/yr.

This comes at a time when Civilian Review of Police is
being folded into Civil Rights and the City is about
to start on a course of Federal Mediation largely due
to the perception in minority communities that they
are mistreated and profiled by police.

I want to be optimistic but do we really think this
increase will be enough to address the racial problems
that still affect our City?

Like Mr. Moss would suggest I am almost certain, this
is part of a much larger abandonment of the progress
of the mid to late 60's.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West 

  



So far most of the discussion on this forum has been
talk of the future of NRP.

Let  me bring to the attention of list members one cut
item I find unconprehensible.

Tomorrow is the 35 year anniversary of the Minneapolis
Civil Rights Commission.


=


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[Mpls] Saturday meeting at Logan Park

[timothy connolly]

While I was at yesterday's meeting I do not recall
mention specifically of the Internal Services Fund. I
left at 10:30 though when it seemed apparent to me
that the discussion was mostly about the survival of
NRP rather than the survival of the CITY.

As we know the city used to have a AAa rating from
three bond houses until the spring or summer of 2001
when one of the bond houses downgraded our triple A
rating.

The size of the city's Internal Services Fund was part
of the rationale for the lowering of the rate.

In the proposed five year workout, payments to this
fund will INCREASE by $17 million.

Currently, Fitch's has Minneapolis on its 'watch' list
and this measure of increase to pay down this fund is
meant in large part to maintain AAa ratings from two
houses. 

It also signals to the state very clearly that we are
taking care of business. I'm sure without this measure
and the budget decreases the state would entirely drop
LGA support for Minneapolis.

Maintaining our good bond rating is especially
important for the fact that the city needs to sell
bonds to cover addtional pension costs the city is
bound to cover by state law.

Without selling bonds the city would need to come up
with another $33 million in revenue to offset these
unanticipated pension costs, the major one being the
number of city employees taking early retirement.

These measures will benefit ALL of us and it is how we
need to be thinking at this time.

If NRP suffers in the funding process that might be
the price we have to pay as a CITY.

Losing funding does not mean we need to throw out iits
principles

The other day, at the end of a long post I only
scanned, Wizard Marks whimsically wished that NRP had
never been about the money but about neighborhood,
grassroots organizing alone.

That is where we might find ourselves. It would be a
shame if lack of money spelled the demise of NRP.

Strong neighborhood organizations help maintain strong
neighborhoods that will attract private investment.

We are already on that path. In this weeks SW Journal
there were reports of four new projects proposed for
three neighborhoods. These are infill developments.

I am heartened by the measures being taken by the
Mayor and City Council. I appreciate the unvarnished
truth and their relative gentleness in doling out the
bitter medicine.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West 

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[Mpls] Crass Commercial Plug

[timothy connolly]

For those of you living in Kingfield and/or readers of
the business briefs in SW Journal will have noticed
the soon-to-be opening of a remodeled bakery on the
corner of 38th and Grand.

After several delays this coming Saturday will be its
opening.

I write about this not only because my good friends
Doug and Jessica Anderson are partners in the business
but also because I have had the pleasure of helping to
remodel the place.

It's a lovely, charming space if I do say so myself.
Those of you who had frequented the previous bakery
will see a marked difference in both decor and food.

Don't look for kohlachis(sp?) or glazed doughnuts. Try
the currant scones or semolina rolls or the breads.

This will be a work in progress. The owners hope it
will evolve in time into a sweet little neighborhood
bistro and an adjoining space featuring a wood stove
turning out thin crust pizzas and roasted chicken for
take out/eat in.

If any of you wonder what my contribution to the job
was the most obvious examples are the painted French
windows and wainscoting and trim indoors and exposed
copper on the outside of the building.

I apologize for the roughness of the bathroom door but
I was stuck with medium sandpaper after the first coat
of polyurethane and didn't dare finish the job
correctly with fine sandpaper and a third coat under
the watchful eyes of my bosses who sometimes wondered
how much attention I was going to pay to a particular
task. Maybe later I can finish the job.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West






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[Mpls] Re: Is Police Chief tryng to stop mediation...

[timothy connolly]

I just read G.R.Anderson's story in City Pages.

I think David Brauer is right on when he takes issue
with the words "divisive trick" to characterize
Olson's refusing to meet with any group that does not
include the NAACP and the URrban League.

It is a conclusion not borne out by the facts.

On the other hand I don't think it is beyond the realm
of possibility for Olson to be playing politics. 

And we all know the theory of 'divide and conquer'.

I can understand his desire to meet with the Urban
League and NAACP, Jerry McAfee and Spike Moss. These
are people and groups that have worked through the
system; traditional politics whereby they go running
to the Mayor's conference room where they are met by
concerned nods from the powers that be and little
else.

The only thing these people and groups did to bring
about mediation was to whine at the Mayors, past and
present, about mediation or Civilian Review, etc.

Our present Mayor was quite vocal against the idea of
mediation until he had no choice but to accept it.

I'm not so much in agreement with David Brauer on a
couple points.

I don't find the article melodramatic. Believe me this
is pretty serious, dare I say, dramatic to those who
face the continual humiliation of racial profiling or
loss of life due to excessive use of force.

He also condemns the Community Negotiating Team for
holding only one meeting.

First of all they were under considerable pressure and
time restaints to get a list of mediators together.
Patricia Campbell Glenn had a window of opportunity
that was quickly closing. At least that was the word
at that time.

Secondly, I don't know how many meetings I have gone
to that were announced well in advance and a group
would pipe up at the last minute crying foul because
'they had just heard about it'.

My answer to that is always the same. You have nobody
to blame but yourself. 

This meeting was well advertised. Flyers were posted
in numerous locations.

Some groups or individuals think only those thoughts
or actions springing from their own head and hands are
the only valid statements.

I was at the meeting when the community mediation team
was chosen by those in attendance.

It was not a well organized affair in my estimation. I
think they did some things wrong. For instance I would
not have gone into such detail about their demands. 

I think some people were more interested in their own
process without due regard for their audience. When
people start filtering out it's time to start checking
your own process.

This was a democratic process; raw perhaps but fair
and democratic nevertheless.

Everyone had a chance to speak out, everyone staying
around to the end voted or could vote.

As to the makeup of the team I think a prevailing
sentiment among a large part of the African American
community in this town is that the NAACP, the Urban
League, and the usual suspects have sold out the
common man and woman. 

I cannot disagree entirely with that sentiment.

I spoke up in favor of keeping someone from the church
in the process. I would have liked a mental health
advocate, a homeless advocate and even someone from
the NAACP or Urban League involved.

As for Olson wanting to meet with representatives of
the NAACP and Urban League, I say NUTS to that. He
does not get to pick who sits across the table. His
organization may be top-down. Federal Mediation Now
was meant to be grassroots.

And even before this flap over representation there
was an article in the Strib saying that Olson had
picked a date to start mediation.

I wrote something about that at the time. 

All communications and decisions about time schedules
etc should have been jointly agreed upon and jointly
announced.

Olson still wants to act the Chief. He may be Chief of
Police but that is where his authority stops. He does
not get to control the process.

Melodramatic? NO. Deadly serious? Absolutely.

Tim Connolly
Downtown



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[Mpls] Minneapolis pedestrian killed

[timothy connolly]

I don't know much about Jenny Jones' death though I
did hear two people on a bus mention they knew her.

I thought Gary Hoover had all sorts of questions and
wasn't sure about any info he had. He clearly asked if
anyone had answers to his questions.

I don't have any answers. Nevertheless I am reluctant
to extend apologia to the police out of hand.

I will say that after years of cutting the traffic
enforcement to the bone the police now intend to
increase their numbers. Good.

As far as I am concerned reckless and careless driving
is the most prevalent quality of life crime. There are
way more people running red lights at Lake and Lyndale
on any given day than there are people urinating in
public downtown.

I mention this because I almost bought the farm today
at Lake and Lyndale when a speeding SUV careeened 
through an intersection narowly missing another car
and swerving in my diirection.

Last week it was a speeding VW cruising the shoulder
lane at the Uptown Transit Station as i stepped off
the curb to cross the street.

Summer before last there was a bill introduced into
the Legislature by a suburban legislator(I think he is
from Edina but I cannot remember his name)to install
cameras at intersections to catch red light runners.

I was opposed at the time for fear that we would end
up with a Total Intelligence Awareness society.

I have changed my opinion.

It would be great if we could install cameras that
have a radar gun attached as further deterrence.

My life is more valuable to me than any person's
'right' to be free of surveillance as they commit
crimes.

And think of the revenue stream.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West on the cusp of Loring Park

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[Mpls] Re: Minneapolis police chief lays out mediation schedule

[timothy connolly]

I hope Rochelle Olson's report is inaccurate. If not I
wouldn't give this mediation gambit much of a chance
to TRULY improve police-community relations over the
long run.

If this is to be a mediation based upon mutual respect
and equality, it's already gotten off to a bad start
if the Chief is unilaterally setting out the schedule.

Without Community Reps having been chosen, who stood
up for the community in negotiating even such a basic
factor as the day of the week the group would meet?

This comes off as an edict from the chief.

If he is acting in conjunction with someone, WHO? We,
speaking for the people, need to know before we go one
step further.

Our experience with the Civilian Review Authority
Redesign informs us as to how the powers that be in
City Hall like to have these things wired going in.

Once burnt, twice shy.

Even more troubling is the idea that "Olson and
Councilmembers Natalie Johnson Lee and Robert
Lilligren are expected to name the seven to nine
citizen representatives to the panel" before the
November 22 City Council meeting.

Huh? Do you think Henry Kissinger got to pick who
would represent the North Vietnamese in the Paris
Peace talks which brought an end to America's
involvement in the war.

If I remember correctly it took about two months just
to agree on the shape of a table to be used.

NO, NO, NO Chief! Take two steps backward.

Everything must be on the table from the very start if
these mediation talks are to bear fruit.

Equality and mutual respect are the watchwords. 

If anyone has an upper hand in these negotiations it
ought to be "We the People".

Police are invested with power and authority by "The
People", not the other way around.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West






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[Mpls] Re: Police behavior

[timothy connolly]

Mark Wilde writes "the police, fire, rescue and other
emergency responders do their job professionally and
effectively a great majority of the time, and they
don't receive enough positive recognition for it".

Nothing can be farther from the truth. 

Nearly every time the media shines its light on the
police, to name just one group, invariably coverage is
skewed in the favor of the police.

Aside from that, why should police be entitled to any
more positive recognition than the rest of us mere
mortals?

I wish I had a chorus of apologists when I screwed up
on the job or in life so I never had to confront my
own guilt.

Talk all you want about the danger of the job but keep
in mind officers back each other up in large numbers,
they wear vests, etc.

Keep in mind also that two Minneapolis police officers
have died at the hands of criminals in the past decade
(aside from an officer injured in 1957). How many
citizens have been killed by police in that time and
you have a relative idea of the danger they face.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] Claims against the city

[timothy connolly]

Everything the city pays out in claims and lawsuits
goes through Ways and Means. It's a convenient place
to go and find out what the city pays claimants.

All of these payments are accompanied by a written
request for action by the City which summarizes the
case.

They also note the fund from which the funds will be
paid.

For instance: Last Monday a consent item was filed on
what was essentially a police brutality case occuring
on November 1st, 1999.

The claimant was awarded $125,000 plus attorneys fees
(estimated to be $9000 to $12,000) as the result of a
settlement reached on October 16, 2002.

The plaintiff had originally demanded $250,000. 

It looks like the City finally wore him down.

It might be instructive if someone could figure out
yearly totals in claims plus billable hours on behalf
of the City Attorney and compare those figures to
other cities of roughly the same size.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] Re: Name the downtown library after a donor

[timothy connolly]

IMHO, I think naming the Minneapolis Public Library
after any one person, corporation, family, etc would
be a horrible idea.

On the other hand if a donor funded the Planetarium,
by all means, name it after the donor. Name a wing, a
bldg in a complex like the University but not the
institution.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Re:one and two way streets

[timothy connolly]

I get Bob Alberti's point about driving on Nicollet.

I must point out though that aside from the AMOCO at
Chicago, the grocery at Cedar, and a commercial node
at the intersection of Bloomington, there is nothing
in thw way of commerce that impedes Bob's progress.

The traffic is heavy on Nicollet because of people
shopping at the groceries lining the street.

I'm no traffic engineering whiz like Mike Monahan and
the folks at SRF Consulting but it seems to me a
partial solution to the problem Bob experiences would
be to put stoplights at 25th and 27th Streets.

The lights would create natural breaks in traffic
along Nicollet allowing people to turn into parking
lots rather than rely on "Minnesota Nice" drivers who
block the paths of left turners in their headlong
pursuit of moving four feet ahead to wait for a red
light to turn green.

A stoplight at 25th street would also make it easier
for Bob to reach Blaisdell where he can zoom to 28th
without encountering all those pesky shoppers.

Tim Connolly
Pesky Nicollet Avenue Shopper

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[Mpls] Civilian Review Authority

[timothy connolly]

The story began when the Mayor cut the budget of CRA
to $100K. A storm of protest erupted at which point
more money was put in their budget.

As part of that increase it was determined that a
group ought convene to map the future of CRA.

A panel of 24 citizens and public officials met over
12 weeks(?) this past summer.
I was not on the panel but did sit in for all but two
sessions.

After the first session I approached John Moir, City
Coordinator, who anyone with half a brain knew was the
pivotal person on the committee. 

My point to Mr. Moir was that Civilian Review needed
to be seen as a 'core' service, a term much in vogue
thanks to the present Mayor who seemed to include it
in every campaign debate of the previous summer. 

Mr. Moir's response to my assertion was that there
were numerous ways in which the city interacted with
the public and that we needed to avoid duplication in
the belief that we could realize savings.

In retrospect it seems obvious to me that the seed of
the idea to fold CRA into the Civil Rights Department
was already germinated.

In the process of the suggestion that we combine this
agency into the Civil Rights Department and the charge
to Vanne Owen-Hayes to come up with a plan, Mr Moir
deleted recommendations of the Outcomes Subcommittee
that would have widened its purview to make it more of
a watchdog agency over the police.

Civilian Review, by its very name, ought to have a
much greater scope than just cases of police brutality
and excessive use of force. Without a policy making
role it becomes a near empty vessel.

Seen in this light it is of little wonder the Mayor
thought to gut the CRA.

The flip side of police brutality is what Jim Graham
writes about. No police presence in the neighborhood
of Franklin Avenue between 35W and Chicago Avenue is
just as pernicious as police brutality.

Tomorrow at 1:30PM there is a Joint Session of Health
and Human Services and Public Safety and Regulatory
Services Committees of the City Council to review the
recommendations of Vanne Owen-Hayes regarding her
administration of CRA within the Civil Rights Dept. 

In light of the fact the City Council is looking into
the prospect of federal mediation, I think it makes
perfect sense to postpone action on this plan and
include it in the mediation process.

One point of correction here. The City Council in no
way can be said to have called in the Feds. They are
being pulled kicking and screaming into this process
and I suspect trying to forestall an investigation by
Federal authorities of the city Police Department's
relation to various minority communities.

I am not sure if this is a public hearing or not. It
might be citizens last chance to weigh in on this
subject before it goes to the whole council.

Be there or be square.

Tim Connolly 
Dt Minneapolis   

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[Mpls] Fwd: RE: Who is responsible for our Traffic Mess

[timothy connolly]

--- timothy connolly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 20:12:22 -0700 (PDT)
> From: timothy connolly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: RE:  Who is responsible for our Traffic
> Mess
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> Speaking non-rhetorically Public Works is
> responsible.
> 
> To be more specific, the consultants they hire are
> the
> reponsible parties.
> 
> Primary among them is SRF Consulting Group which has
> been milking the Minneapolis cash cow since 1961.
> 
> A former Assistant Director of Public Works/Director
> of Transportation Division left the city's employ
> after 31 years and realized every public servant's
> dream come true: a job with a private business he
> worked with as part of his public job. In this case,
> he even became a Principal of the firm.
> 
> In their literature it states his areas of expertise
> include municipal government operations, parking
> systems management, traffic issues(including traffic
> calming) and bike/pedestrian trail development.
> 
> I guess he's the guy to blame for the lack of shade
> trees on bike paths like the Midtown Greenway.
> 
> The only time I walked the Greenway I felt like an
> egg
> on a griddle.
> 
> This is what we pay for?!
> 
> I could go on but I won't. 
> 
> Tim Connolly
> DT Minneapolis
> 
>   
>  
> 
> 
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[Mpls] Re: HPC votes for plaque

[timothy connolly]

I come down on the side of those in favor of placing a
plaque on the site of the Gospel Tabernacle but only
if it tells the whole story of the preaching that
blared forth from the Tabernacle.

As a lover of history I think there ought to be more
plaques. This sort of information ought to be as
accessible as possible to as wide an audience as
possible. While they are in the neighborhood they
might install a plaque on the site of the Wonderland
Amusement Park.

While I understand the hurtful nature of the message
and the lingering sensitivity, I think to bury it only
honors it in a way.

Minneapolis has it's ugliness and we ought to confront
it.

In Duluth they finally publically acknowledges the
lynching of black citizens. How is this any different?

I see this as a healing. I would like to see it as a
mitzvah on the part of the city towards its Jewish
population.

While I'm talking history, does anybody know the
history of a red colored building on the corner of
Nicollet and 32nd. It has a Star of David on the
corner of the building.

And also while I'm talking history and plaques the
city or someone might think about putting plaques
outside all the synagogues on the Northside.

The Jewish population of Minneapolis contributed
mightily(and still does)to the growth and wealth of
our city.

Tim Connolly
DT Minneapolis

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[Mpls] Re: I'm scared of your police

[timothy connolly]

Renee moving back to the cities has good reason for
concern. In my experience police treatment of the
mentally ill is hit or miss, no pun intended.

I have experienced both extremes; base cruelty and
gentle concern.

David Wilson proposes a model other than the "Memphis
Model" to which we might give consideration.

It will do no good though if mental health pros at the
county level and higher up's in the police departments
approach this model arrogantly which is essentially
how they approached the Memphis model.

By arrogance I mean close-mindedness or the thought
that they can take an approach and tinker with it
because "we know best what will work."

Another arrogance is the sort I detected in Police
Chief Olson; while he can cite chapter and verse on
CODEFOR, mental health issues rate a much lower
priority. 

Instead the Police Chief whines about how society's
ills filter down to the police. DUH! 

This guy is supposed to be such a highly regadrded pro
in his field yet his department has an anti-deluvian
approach to serving the mentally ill in the community.

Yes! Serving the mentally ill. The mentally ill have
as great a right to fair, prompt, efficient service as
other citizens in society.

I can also tell you that people at the Hennepin Cty.
level are not much better. 

I feel comfortable saying that Dr. Gary Fischler at
Hennepin County is a large part of the problem. He is
involved in psychological screening for MPD as well as
the county person involved in CIT training for the
MPD.

For those reasons it is difficult for me to assess the
new training some MPD offiers have received in the
"Memphis Model".

 I also fear that the death of Officer Melissa Schmidt
who participated in CIT training may set back the
program.

CIT training along the Memphis model may not be the
best way to approach the problem but at least it was
something. Even though i think it was something the
Chief could point to and say "See I did something",
whereas really all he did was deflect the issue to
Gary Hestness, at least Gary Hestness cares.

As a good friend of mine forever points out to me "the
fish rots from the head down", I think until we have a
more engaged Chief we will continue to face troubles.

Likewise I believe the Mayor has missed the boat. As
another friend forever points out to me, "you have to
understand that R.T. basically sees everything as a
public relations problem."

After the shooting of Abu Kassim Jellanie in March the
Mayor was all over the issue of police treatment of
the mentally ill. 

In mid March he sought out the advice of mental health
people and the Friends of Barbara Schneider. On March
16th, 2002 the FOBS presented to the Mayor a 50 page
proposal of Action Recommendations for Minneapolis
dealing with crisis situations involving the mentally
ill.

While this document did not speak of the Ann Arbor
program David Wilson speaks of it did look at a number
of different approaches to handling crisis situations.

As a result the Mayor pulled together people from the
county, state, even someone from Sen Wellstone's
office to 'appear' with him at a State Capitol news
conference.

A panoply of Democratic officeholders.

It was great theatre but that was about all it was!

It was the same treatment he brought to the Civilian
Review Authority redesign.

What did Shakespeare say "A tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

One of the Mayor's aide sidled up to me in the hallway
outside the conference room and said "I think it went
pretty well in there, don't you?"

I guess he confused me with a P.R.Man. To say I was
revolted would be an understatement.

Since then: NOTHING! NADA! BUPKIS!

So Renee, you have good reason to fear. Nobody around
here in public service either really cares or can lay
aside their preconceptions or can organize a two car
funeral and get it moving.

Tim Connolly
DT Minneapolis  

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[Mpls] Clare Housing

[timothy connolly]

Just when you thought the discussion had ended some
pipsqueak sounds off!

I do not doubt Victoria's search of Strib ads saying
there are 394 apartments in the range of $500 to

Let us talk definitions here. What is affordable?

At one time I recall that affordable rent was thought
to be 1/4 of a person's net income.

If that were true today a person would need $2000/mo
net plus.

We have changed definitions though, haven't we? 

Now people are expected to pay 1/3, 1/2 or even more
of their take home pay for housing leaving little else
for a car or buspass, auto insurance or renters
insurance, food, an occasional movie or a restaurant
meal, etc. Not to mention ridiculous deposits of two
and three times the monthly rental fee.

Two or three years ago the Strib ran a story saying
that a living wage was $10.50/hr at the same time the
City of Minneapolis pegged a livable wage at $9.02/hr.

Let's say a person makes $10.50/hr even now; that will
be a gross of $1480/mo or about, let's say, $1125/mo
net.

So now a person pays 1/2 their pay on rent.

Throw in that person is HIV-positive and likely faces
limitations in earning capacity especially if their
condition deteriorates.

Now please tell me a project like Clare Housing and
others like it are not necessary.

And not just for those unlucky enough to be HIV
positive but for those taking orders in fast food
joints, swamping bars at night, cooking on a kitchen
line, laying sod in the suburbs, cashiering at Target,
...I could go on but you get the point.

Another point might be the anticipated growth in our
community.

Admittedly with the economy in the tank and layoffs
rather than hirings the order of the day it is hard to
imagine that those 394 apartments could be rented
quickly but it is not beyond the realm of possibility
if things heat up.

I hate the word proactive. I hate all jargonese in
fact but it seems to me that this project may be
proactive. YECH!

A bit of disclosure here: I am a member of the Board
of Directors of CCHT which will have a considerable
hand in this development.

Part of the problem is there is little or no
affordable housing being built in this city by private
developers. They are qite happy to build market rate
but not housing for low income folks.

When the legislature acted this past session to offer
incentives to builders of multi-unit housing they did
not specify for whom to build it so guess what: we
have projects like Grant Park going up while building
housing of a more affordable nature is left to
non-profits.

Even with all I've said I have empathy for Ms Heller
and the people in PRAC. They get squeezed from both
ends.

That's my take on this issue.

Tim Connolly
DT Resident

P.S. Another disclosure: I live in supportive housing
and thank god I do.   



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[Mpls] Clare Housing

[timothy connolly]

Just when you thought the discussion had ended some
pipsqueak sounds off!

I do not doubt Victoria's search of Strib ads saying
there are 394 apartments in the range of $500 to

Let us talk definitions here. What is affordable?

At one time I recall that affordable rent was thought
to be 1/4 of a person's net income.

If that were true today a person would need $2000/mo
net plus.

We have changed definitions though, haven't we? 

Now people are expected to pay 1/3, 1/2 or even more
of their take home pay for housing leaving little else
for a car or buspass, auto insurance or renters
insurance, food, an occasional movie or a restaurant
meal, etc. Not to mention ridiculous deposits of two
and three times the monthly rental fee.

Two or three years ago the Strib ran a story saying
that a living wage was $10.50/hr at the same time the
City of Minneapolis pegged a livable wage at $9.02/hr.

Let's say a person makes $10.50/hr even now; that will
be a gross of $1480/mo or about, let's say, $1125/mo
net.

So now a person pays 1/2 their pay on rent.

Throw in that person is HIV-positive and likely faces
limitations in earning capacity especially if their
condition deteriorates.

Now please tell me a project like Clare Housing and
others like it are not necessary.

And not just for those unlucky enough to be HIV
positive but for those taking orders in fast food
joints, swamping bars at night, cooking on a kitchen
line, laying sod in the suburbs, cashiering at Target,
...I could go on but you get the point.

Another point might be the anticipated growth in our
community.

Admittedly with the economy in the tank and layoffs
rather than hirings the order of the day it is hard to
imagine that those 394 apartments could be rented
quickly but it is not beyond the realm of possibility
if things heat up.

I hate the word proactive. I hate all jargonese in
fact but it seems to me that this project may be
proactive. YECH!

A bit of disclosure here: I am a member of the Board
of Directors of CCHT which will have a considerable
hand in this development.

Part of the problem is there is little or no
affordable housing being built in this city by private
developers. They are qite happy to build market rate
but not housing for low income folks.

When the legislature acted this past session to offer
incentives to builders of multi-unit housing they did
not specify for whom to build it so guess what: we
have projects like Grant Park going up while building
housing of a more affordable nature is left to
non-profits.

Even with all I've said I have empathy for Ms Heller
and the people in PRAC. They get squeezed from both
ends.

That's my take on this issue.

Tim Connolly
DT Resident

P.S. Another disclosure: I live in supportive housing
and thank god I do.   



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[Mpls] Brookfield

[timothy connolly]

As the September 30th deadline for Brookfield's
payment on a loan from MCDA approaches I recall a 
report on the back page of a recent Strib business
section noting Brookfield's purchase of part interest
in a World Trade Center building for a goodly sum.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] Dangerous drivers

[timothy connolly]

This past Sunday I was travelling in an automobile
northbound on I-35W at about 46th Street when a car
came flying by in the left lane well above the speed
limit and the flow of traffic.

My sister who was driving had seen the vehicle in her
rear view mirror and as she moved to the next right
lane remarked on the speed of the car. 

Within 15 seconds another car hurtled by followed by
two more autos. One, a Dodge Viper cut diagonally
across lanes missing our front bumper by mere inches.

These drivers were weaving through lanes, driving on
shoulders,etc.

At first I thought it was a case of one driver angry
at another and trying to catch him. My next thought
was that they were police in unmarked vehicles chasing
criminals.

Ultimately it bacame apparent that this was a very
dangerous game being played out by young men who
thought nothing of the consequences that might result
from their game of "tag".

I am perplexed at the mentality that thinks this is
acceptable behaviour.

Not wishing to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, I'll
admit to having been cited for speeding as a young man
several times. There were other incidents for which I
was tagged as well. But never would I have weaved thru
freeway traffic at great speed as part of some game.

I've noticed somewhat similar driving on the freeways
but never to this extreme. I have wondered at times if
these "weavers" thought they were stock car racers.

I appreciate Wizards suggestions but it seems a shame
that what was once a core city(police)service now has
fallen to citizens and neighborhood groups. 

And to think that neighborhood groups spend money for
enforcement rather than jungle gyms or art programs
while most malefactors go unpunished only increases
the sense of frustration law abiding people feel.

Tim Connolly
DT Minneapolis 

 

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[Mpls] Re: mayoral veto

[timothy connolly]

Then again, maybe the Mayor is just trying to lead the
revolution.

Did I say I agree with his reasoning and am supportive
of Vivian Mason's noble stand against a united Board.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] mayoral veto

[timothy connolly]

David Brauer, er the List Manager, asked who could
override the veto and if it is the Park Board what was
the percentage of their vote in favor of funding the
project.

If I recall correctly the only vote in opposition to
the Park Board action was that of Vivian Mason. If
that is the case it would seem likely the Park Board
has the votes to override the Mayor's veto.

Assuming the Mayor can count as well as others and
assuming he did not turn around anyone on the Park
Board's thinking in private budget talks preceding
this veto who might vote to sustain, one then has to
wonder why he would veto.

Normally politicians like their vetoes upheld. 

In this case it doesn't matter. Either way the Mayor
comes out looking good.

Already we've seen voices of praise on this list.

Imagine the real praise we could heap on him if his
opinion had prevailed upon the Park Board in private
negotiations.

As it is it just looks like self aggrandizement to me.

I bet that's not how the editors of the Strib see it
though. Look for a fawning editorial soon.

Tim Connolly
Downtown



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[Mpls] Elms and storm sewers

[timothy connolly]

The StarTribune wrote a particularly nice editorial
bemoaning the loss of another batch of elm trees.

There are very few places around town where you can
still see the canopy effect of these stately trees. It
is a beautiful sight.

I'm certain some have asked these questions but do
people know how much it costs the city to bring down
one of these trees and replace it with another?

I am told the chemical treatment for the diease cost
$300 per yearly application. I am not certain how many
years that would be necessary, if it be in perpetuity
or if it might not have a cumulative effect that would
mean, for instance, after four years you could stop
treatment.

The number I recall being taken down this summer is
300 trees. At $300/tree that would come to $90k for
one year.

How much is the city paying Asplundh? How much will
new trees and labor to plant them cost? How much can
we estimate the cost of new trees not making it will
cost the city?

I'm sure someone has all these figures.

You see where I'm headed with this line of reasoning.

What is the value of these trees?

Sometimes I wonder if we aren't moving too quickly. Is
this an extension of our municipal need to tear down
rather than preserve?

On the point about storm sewers, I had this startling
revelation today as I biked along 26th Street from
Seward into the Wedge.

Nearly every storm sewer in Phillips along 26th was
plugged up with sticks and leaves. Not litter, but
natural detritus that normally disappears from other
city streets in either fall or spring cleanup.

Magically as I crossed the bridge over 35W heading
into Whittier 90% of the storm sewers were free of
leaves and sticks, etc.

This was pretty much the case through Bryant where I
turned back to head downtown.

I'm not certain what the sewer grates in Seward look
like but I would be willing to bet a coupla bucks they
are more like those in Whittier and Lowry Hill East
than those in Phillips.

I'm certain others could point to similarly neglected
neighborhoods.

Are core services for all or just some? 

Or maybe this is another thing we can blame on
junkies, thieves, and poor people.

Tim Connolly
12th and LaSalle 

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[Mpls] To mediate or not

[timothy connolly]

Sunday's StarTribune contained a report that the U.S.
Justice Department was undertaking a preliminary
inquiry of complaints from members of minority
communities that the Minneapolis Police are guilty of
biased and brutal law enforcement.

As part of this process the Community Relations
Service of the Justice Dept. has offered mediation
services to the city.

St. Paul recently underwent a similar mediation
process between the NAACP and the St. Paul Police
Dept.

I am of the opinion that it would be a major mistake
to engage in mediation before there were a thorough
independent investigation of the Minneapolis Police
Department.

I'm certain that if the Justice Department conducts a
preliminary inquiry they will find probable cause to
proceed further with a full investigation.

It is disturbing that this story has been unfolding
for several months behind closed doors and only now
are we hearing of it.

The Mayor's office will churn out reams of happy news
but would they release a statement saying that the
Mayor has turned down the offer of the Justice Dept.
to mediate between the city and its minority
communities?

You can bet that if the Mayor engages the services of
the Justice Department's community relations service
we will see a press release leading us to believe it
is a good thing.

At the end of Sunday's report, Kenith Bergeron of the
Justice Dept. Mediation service said that "in general
he thought they(the Justice Dept. Civil Rights
Divsion)typically would not be investigating a city
involved in mediation."

He added, "they would see a city in mediation as going
forward. They would see a city working with the
community."

I would see a city wanting to skirt the issue.

I would see a city afraid to look closely at itself.

The time for mediation is AFTER an investigation, not
before.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West 

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[Mpls] Re: Brian Rice and the Park Board

[timothy connolly]

With all due respect to Fran Guminga et al, I'm not so
inclined to pat Brian Rice on the back for keeping the
Kondirator off the river for ten years.

That deal ended up costing the city $8.5 million and
is a sizeable part of the current city budget problem.

I do believe that the ten year struggle will mean a
better "product" but I'm not so sure that the same
outcome might have been achieved with more tact, less
acrimony and much less cost.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West

 



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[Mpls] Re: Block E, a deal undone?

[timothy connolly]

Ann Berget suggested Block E is criminally boring.

What a generous characterization!

Linda Mack's article referred to the material EIFS. At
a recent Z&P meeting where De La Salle High School was
proposing an addition to their building making use of
EIFS, they were shot down by the Heritage Preservation
Commission.

Beyond aesthetic considerations there are questions as
to how durable this material will be. It was referred
to as a "stucco like" surface. We all know what old
stucco in need of rehabilitation looks like. It can be
restuccoed though or painted. Can this be done with
EIFS?

The main benefit of EIFS(surprise, surprise)is cost.
On the De La Salle project I think the figure used for
covering two sides of the building addition with EIFS
as opposed to brick or stucco was $600k.

As Richard Damico said in a Strib article referring to
Block E, the best thing about the building might be
how easily it will be demolished.

Our List Manager asked "what can or should be done
about the circumvention of plans submitted to the
Planning Commission?"

Aren't there such things called Certificates of
Occupancy that would prevent the opening of the
facility? 

Are plans submitted to and approved by the Planning
Commission and Z&P of the City Council contractually
binding?

If McCafferty essentially wants to cheap out on the
construction I say let's play hardball. I'm not an
attorney but I'm thinking that if what was implied by
Linda Mack's article is true I would love to go into
court against McCafferty Interests if for no other
reason than the pretentiousness of their name.

Someone also said "is McCafferty pulling a Brookfield
on us?".

They must not remember that Dan McCafferty, prior to
establishing his own "Interests" was the Midwest
Regional Manager of the predecessor company of
Brookfield, BCED. He was well known around town in
development circles before Brookfield tapped him as
their white knight to "save" the Block E project. If
you will recall he was Brookfield's second or third
proposed partner.

These guys could make one feel positively warm and
fuzzy about Ray Harris. At least when Ray screws the
city the money stays here.

Wade Russell said we should look to the Mayor for the
lead on this deal; that he rode into office on the
promise to change the old way things are done in this
city.

Hah!

Does anyone read history in the city? 

As much as I might personally like the Mayor, he was
always part of the problem. The Downtown Council of
which he was Development Director for a time worked
hand in glove with Brookfield and you should read the
gushing words the Mayor had for Ray Harris.

To sum up my thoughts: "Screw McCafferty" and tie him
up until he makes good on the approved plans and find
the guy(s) who turned a blind eye and let McCafferty
move ahead and audit their bank accounts.

Approve the underground ramp and let it open in the
meantime and start filling the city's coffers.

Tim Connolly
Downtown West
Breathlessly awaiting the opening of Block E   

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[Mpls] New Park Board digs continued

[timothy connolly]

Mike Hohmann wrote in a post that he believes he heard
something to the effect that the savings to the MPRB
due to their proposed move will be quite meagre well
into the future.

That is only the half of it.

Beyond the initial purchase price of $2.9 million it
is estimated that remodeling and the costs of moving
will add another $2.5 million for a grand total of
$5.6 million.

What this means according to some people's estimates
is an additional $1/3 million in MPRB's budget until
the year 2011.

The public has been in the dark about this deal until
a purchase agreement was signed.

The only out it seems is if the land is polluted, a
not so indistinct possibility given the building use
as a printer of business forms.

It seems strange to say this but one can only hope it
is an environmentally degraded site.

To my knowledge the MPRB had no negotiations with the
Grain Exchange regarding lease payments. Given that
the city is experiencing a minor glut of office space
it seems to me to be a renters market. Draw your own
conclusions.

Neither did MPRB consider other properties on the open
market or in the city's portfolio.

Did MPRB work with MCDA? Isn't MCDA the city's agency
that deals with just this sort of thing? Or supposed
to be?

Did MPRB negotiate more favorable parking rates with
the city in the Haaf ramp?

There is no reason MRPB offices and Maintenaince need
to be in the same building though centralizing
maintenance in one location if that is an objective
may be sensible.

Furthermore, government offices ought to be located in
the core city where they are accessible to the
greatest number of people who may be dependent upon
public transit. How transit friendly is MPRB's new
site

Or how about this?

Does the City's Currie Avenue Maintenance facility run
at 100% capacity? (Please don't get me started on the
idea that it would have seemed to make greater sense
for the radio shop and the maintenance facility to be
in opposite locations).

When I was in business I remember the positively giddy
feeling when I knew one more of our trucks was running
a few more hours a day or when I came to the garage in
the middle of the night and saw mechanics at work.

I don't know the answer to a lot of these questions
but I get the feeling from what some have told me that
these sorts of ideas were not given due consideration
in light of the city's current financial conditions 
before MPRB signed a purchase agreement.

It all seems a bit arrogant to me. 

And finally why have we only seen mention of this now
in the Strib? I don't fault reporters so much as I do
editors and more importantly publishers.

There is enought work around City Hall and other areas
of government for many more reporters. Investigative
reporters! Watchdogs, not lapdogs who regurgitate what
an information officer or politician has fed them for
their own benefit.

How about a writer who could draw a parallel between
the Mayor of New York marching in the Pride parade but
starting after it passed St. Patrick's Cathedral with
our Mayor who dropped out of Critical Mass just about
the time people started doing what they intended to do
from the start: PROTEST!

Tim Connolly
Downtown West

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[Mpls] New Park Board digs

[timothy connolly]

Steve Brandt reports in todays Metro section of the
Strib that MPRB "has struck a nearly $3 million deal
to buy a riverfront building for a headquarters and
maintenance base."

In the second to the last paragraph he reports that
Commissioner Vivian Mason strongly opposes purchasing
the property and states her reasons.

I recall first hearing of this proposal and wondering
why buy on the riverfront which seems to me to be
fairly fancy digs for a maintenance base if nothing
else.

I assume this is more than a place to fix lawn mowers
and weed whackers. Maybe I am mistaken in which case I
am certain I will be corrected.

It wasn't so long ago the City of Minneapolis built a
new maintenance facility on Currie and a radio shop on
Royalston. Certainly someone must have been able to
foresee the needs of MPRB and could have consolidated
operations.

By no means am I suggesting MPRB lose its independent
status in the total picture of our city's governance.
But governance is one thing and good sense operations
is quite another.

Of course this is backward looking and we all know the
saying about hindsight.

The fact is though that we have not been served well
by departmental bureaucracies which have tenaciously
clung to their power bases.

So what is to be done?

I would suggest that MPRB take a couple steps back and
a few deep breaths before finalizing this deal if at
all possible and consider other more radical ideas for
solving their space requirements if they have not done
so already.

They might also examine their motives to see if they
are not guided in some degree by what I call "corner
office syndrome".

Tim Connolly
Back with a vengeance and still alive in Downtown
West.

 

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[Mpls] Re: Replace Dome with park

[timothy connolly]

Barb Lickness' point that whatever comes of possible
Dome destruction should take into consideration the
concerns of Eliot Park residents is well taken.  

One can only hope as well that the Eliot Park folks
had the foresight to consider the possible destruction
of the Dome in doing their study.

If that has not happened it is the most current best
example of the left hand not knowing what the right
hand is doing in the Minneapolis Planning/Development
game.

As such it speaks to the conclusions of the McKinsey
report as well as anything.

The whole Downtown East is undergoing an incredible
transformation. I recall a meeting of either the CD
committee or Ways and Means committee of the previous
City Council when funding or site approval of Grant
Park was being discussed.

Joan Campbell said something like "I hope we all 
understand that this project will start to change the
entire nature of this part of town.

Plans for Dome Destruction Development are another
step after Grant Park.

For those of you unfamiliar with Grant Park it is the
former Northland Electric site on 10th Street between
5th Av and Portland.

Whether or not this is good or not is for the citizens
of the city to judge.

Understand though that next to Loring Park and Stevens
Square neighborhoods the east side of downtown around
Eliot Park is an area where it is still affordable for
low and moderate income peolpe to live. 

It is also a neighborhood predominately of rental
property which is an area of development the city did
not foster thru the '90's choosing instead to
concentrate on home ownership believing
(mythologizing) that owning property necessarily meant
people would take greater care of it.

We talk a good game in this city about diversity but
the fact is that Minneapolis is pretty well segregated
along both ethnic, racial and economic lines. 

This is a part of town that can play against
stereotype as much as any neighborhood in town. It
already does ethnically and racially if not so much
economically. 

If this dome destruction development dream or other
projects like Grant Park lead us in a direction away
from diversity and inclusivity they ought not happen
in my opinion.

The fact that this proposed park in the center of a
housing development is a mere Tiger Woods drive away
from Eliot Park makes me wonder.

Are we establishing enclaves of exclusivity?

Tim Connolly
Downtown West 


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[Mpls] Re: Public Art

[timothy connolly]

If you want to read something unbelievable,
frightening, and humorous all at once, check out the
story "In Mary's wake, Mall group considers new art
rules" in this week's Skyway News.

Ruff,Ruff

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Re: Nicollet Mall Bus Free

[timothy connolly]

Bob Gibbons, Director of Customer Services for Metro
Transit, stated the Mall carries 11 routes and 930 bus
trips a day.

If I recall, one of the major justifications for the
Mall routes was that retail establishments(Dayton's et
al)felt it was necessary for their survival.

As it has turned out not even the Mall seems to have
been able to save retail in downtown Minneapolis.

Maybe it is time to try something new.

Why not a total pedestrian mall with bicycle paths and
real live grass, good art(of which I don't consider
MTM or the thing at 6th Street to be),taller growing
trees.

The whole nine yards.

Add in the sidewalk cafes, ban obnoxious speakers
piping bad music from each restaurant, a carousel
dedicated to Barbara Flanagan

That might bring people downtown at least through the
summer months.

When Metro Transit was considering running 576(?) plus
buses down Dupont from Lake to 22nd passing my wife's
house while they repaved Hennepin Avenue I became
concerned.

I suggested they might run half the 6 and 28 route
buses one way up and down Dupont and Emerson in
opposite directions and that they run the 12 and 17
route buses on Irving between Lake and 24th and 22nd
so that the burden was shared.

Furthermore I suggested that if they were determined
to continue with their plan I would need to know so
that I could have an inspector out to the house to
check the foundation before and after. Of course I
would file a claim to be reimbursed for inspections
and subsequent damages if there were any.

For good measure I think I said something about going
up and down Dupont suggesting other homeowners might
want to do the same.

These were mostly 90 year old houses and it stood to
reason their foundations may not have been as solid as
those of buildings along Hennepin.

I think the idea of broaching this idea to the folks
on Irving where the house prices were about $100k and
up over the houses east of Hennepin pretty much put a
damper on things.

Miraculously the city found a way to route buses(and
cars I believe) on half of Hennepin while they paved
the other side.

The man in charge of the project for Public Works
whose name I won't mention wasn't too happy and had
difficulty disguising his feelings when I
occasion-ally saw him at City Hall but what the
hey...it was not personal, it was only business.

The point is that there is little reason running buses
on Hennepin won't work if we just give it thought.
Isn't that why we have Traffic Engineers? Isn't that
why we've paid SRF hundreds of thousands dollars in
consultant fees over the years? To figure out these
very things.

Public Safety people, especially the Fire Department
people will sqwauk, that they would be too far from
buildings(isn't that one reason why they have
hoses)but cities where there are pedestrian malls must
have faced similar issues.
 
I'm told State Street in Chicago has a pedestrian mall
and that Denver has one as well. Does anyone know if
that is correct?

Those who might suffer the greatest adversity are
disabled people who currently benefit from bus routes
on the Mall.

Then again there are probably disabled people who will
benefit from a changeover.

Someone is always going to be on the short end of a
stick(they'll be two more blocks away from work,etc.)
but isn't it better to provide the greatest good for
the greatest number of people and make allowances or
accomodations for those who are truly in need.

I've never liked the Nicollet Mall. 

My sister asked me once why I would want to run for
office. I told her I wanted to be the guy to drive a
front end loader that took the first chunk out the
Mall.

Maybe I just should have applied for a job with Public
Works!

Tim Connolly
Downtown, one block off Nicollet Mall


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[Mpls] LRT/Baseball/Buses and Taxis/Necking

[timothy connolly]

Two Easters ago I had the pleasure of dining with a
friend and her mother. The mother was from NYC.

She made an offhand comment during the meal that I've
pondered since.

She said: "You have a very good bus system here."

Now this was one person's opinion but as I've ridden
the bus more since that day I've come to agree with
her.

On another occasion I chatted with a fellow in a bar
(The Loring Bar as it were). He was an older pol from
Minneapolis.

The conversation turned to LRT as it was on my mind at
the time.

I think I said something like I thought the Hiawatha
Line was a boondoggle. What do you think?

He lived out toward the Veterans Hospital.

He thought LRT was fine and that furthermore he would
jump on board in his neighborhood and ride, say, to a
baseball game.

It could have been either at the Metrodome or at the
preferred Rapid Park site for those Minneapolis new
stadium boosters. It mattered little more than a few
minutes.

I read the editorial in this morning's StarTribune 
about the Legislature's failure to pass a
transportation bill because of the polarization and an
inability on the part of some to have a vision of the
future that took into consideration ideas and values
the newspaper espouses one of which is LRT.

Bruce Gaarder of this list is forever trumpeting the
inefficiency and cost of trains relative to the lesser
cost and greater flexibility of buses.

I understand his arguements perfectly and agree in
principle though I am not entirely willing to relent
on the idea of trains in certain cases.

I like as many options as possible.

What I ponder endlessly as I ride the bus is why so
few middle class city people ride the bus. Certainly
there are many commuters coming downtown from the
nether reaches of the city or those in the city who
commute to work in the suburbs who could take the bus.

Instead of two car families we could have more one car
families.

When I owned a newer model car which is many years ago
now and I was shackled with monthly car loan payments,
insurance costs, garage fees, gas and maintenance, and
the occasional towing fee, I also drove a cab in the
city.

When I thought of owning that car I measured it
against taxicab fares and realized I could take a
surprising number of taxicab rides, at some distance,
for less than I spent on an automobile and that a cab
could satisfy my need for flexibility and personal
freedom.

It might even enhance it. It's a lot easier to neck in
a cab when you're moving or stuck in traffic. It's
easier to avoid disquieting moments that lead to road
rage. It's easy to concentrate on work or just sit
back and relax.

If one were to use a taxicab for every trip one took
it might not have a great effect in easing congestion
or wreaking less havoc on the environment but used in
conjunction with buses they would have a definite
effect.

Why does one rarely hear a mention of taxicabs, alone
or in conjunction with other modes of travel, when we
speak of transit options.

We have rarely used bike racks on the front of buses
and that is a conjoining of modes of travel.

So why won't people ride the bus and why will they be
more inclined to ride LRT? To save ten minutes?

I think it is about our discomfort with people that
are different from us. I think it is about race and
class and xenophobia.

It's about people's perception of the city as being
even more crime-ridden, violent and threatening than
it is. We're safe in our cars.

We are also alone and maybe listening to talk radio
which all too often reinforces those stereotypes and
perceptions we have constantly drummed into our heads.


It's about people thinking the buses are dirty. And
sometimes they are. It's about letting things like
loud and unruly kids get under our skin or bus drivers
who are less than amicable or too cheerful and perky.

I get the impression that people think this LRT will
be different. That it won't get dirty, that minorities
and poor people won't be on the train, that there
won't be unruly teenagers, etc.

I really don't think this is about saving ten minutes
travel time or even the environmental advantages. It
won't be too long before we have fuel cell technology
that could be used full scale for bus transit if not
private automobiles.

It's as much about being perceived as hip and cool and
progressive as a city whether or not we really are and
whether or not LRT serves any good purpose in this
case. 

Maybe the reason the Legislature is so polarized is
not because a bunch of Luddite Republicans will not
vote for the Northstar Commuter Line as it is that our
pea-brained Governor was sold a bill of goods by city
DFLers who wouldn't ride the bus if it came to their
front door.

Finally,

If my friend from the bar that Friday night were to
hop on the #7 bus three and a half blocks from his
house and got off at Chicago and Washington, two
blocks from the dome, or at the 5th Street garage
which is the northern terminus for both LRT Hiawatha
Line and the #7 bus and is ac

[Mpls] Re: The stadium that will never be

[timothy connolly]

Craig Cox wrote that the Metrodome only became an
abomination when the Twins started losing. He also
cites the 3 million attendance figure in one season
that the Twins reached before anyone else in baseball.

I quibble with the abomination statement.

The Metrodome was an abomination from Day 1.

I attended the last game at the Met and the first at
the Dome when the Twins played Philadelphia.

I got nosebleed near the roof and thought I would have
to sit down and take one stair at a time on my rump as
I descended.

No box seats, long rows where if you were in the
middle you had to knock knees with about twenty people
and if you could get a dog passed from a vendor in the
aisle it would have been cold by the time it reached
you.

Tap Beer. I didn't drink but if I were inclined toward
a cold one, give me a freshly poured Premium Grain
Belt. 

Where was the smell of cigars or the stain on concrete
from tobacco juice.

Artificial turf!! Puhleeze.

The only thing that made you feel you were at a
baseball stadium was when you went through the
turnstyle.

It was all downhill from there.

Tim Connolly
Down Town 

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[Mpls] RE: Suspensions/Dysfunctional center of the Universe

[timothy connolly]

Keith: 

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding
the possible homelife of children suspended from
school.

The reference to the poverty line also says it all.

As to comments regarding "certified dysfunctional"
people living in Loring Hghts/Stevens Square/Whittier
neighborhoods I would beg to differ and the idea Tom
B. is objecting to piling more junkies and alcoholics
into a very small space is equally unfair.

I daresay there are just as great a number of
dysfunctional folks(certifiable and latent) and
junkies and alcoholics, certainly alcoholics, in
neighborhoods throughout the city.

The very point of the existence of Lydia House is that
these "certified dysfunctional" folks as you refer to
them are trying to turn their lives around.

I do not want to suggest that other neighborhoods
might not "suffer the pain" as it were of the
establishment of places like Lydia House but the fact
of the matter is that prior zoning codes being what
they were precluded the siting of nursing homes, etc.
which are now undergoing an industry-wide retrenchment
and are becoming available for conversion.

Indeed, I believe the Kingfield neighborhood where
progressiveness seems to reign supreme, considered the
possibility of converting a unused nursing home into
affordable housing and would have looked favorably on
a "Lydia House establishment".

But perhaps I presume too much.

The point is and always has been that the LaSalle
Convalescent Home existed for quite some time in this
location, and has fairly recently become available,
that Plymouth Foundation purchased it either
ill-advisedly or with superior judgement as opposed to
venal instincts of profitmaking by an otherwise
non-profit organization depending on your point of
view, and that it is a site that places people with
few resources near growth opportunities that could
help them stabilize their lives.

Tieing the closing of Kowalski's to neighborhood
demographics rather than the store's limitations as
stated by the management without words to that effect
misleads and attempts to take an independent business
decision and mold it to one's own purposes.

I would suggest that since this question is in a court
of law and that we have hashed and rehashed this
subject endlessly for months and months we do what you
suggest and give it a break and say:

WE AGREE TO DISAGREE.

I'll await the fusillade.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7
Downtown resident who foregoes the pleasure of
shopping at Kowalski's on Nicollet for the less
convenient options of shopping at Lund's, Whole
Foods(Whole Paycheck), Wedge, Surdyk's, et al
depending mostly on price, quality, time restraints,
and just plain where I happen to be at the time, etc
though I have frequented Metro Ace Hardware and the
tobacco shop next door before I quit smoking 6 months
and 6 days ago.

But who's counting!

At this point, if you have read this far, I bet you're
wishing I would start smoking again.

In good humor!

TC

 



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[Mpls] Civil Rigts Department

[timothy connolly]

There was a report in Friday's Strib that the Human
Rights Dept. in St. Paul may be on the chopping block.

According to Tyrone Terrill he has heard rumblings
that St.Paul's HR Dept "will be scaled back or
consolidated with Mpls. or at the state level to cut
costs."

Laura Sether said that our "Mayor has not considered
consolidation or merger of the dept. to save money."

She went on to say in the report that "He's talking
about changing the department and refocusing it,
because they've done some duplicative stuff with other
Civil Rights Departments in the past and he wants to
focus more on employment and diversity."

I attended the Civilian Review Authority Redesign
meeting on Wednesday and it came to light that what
remains of the CRA and any new casework will be
handled temporarily by the Civil Rights Dept.

There has been much confusion on this matter. The
group spent over a half hour just trying to craft a
clear statement as to how complaints are handled in
the interim between now and when a new Authority is
established.

I see a dismantling of government services going on
and the weight of the loss is falling
disproportionately on the poor and the vulnerable.

Core services seem not to include those most
beneficial to poor people and minorities.

Truth in Housing which was a boon to poorer people and
would maintain the city's housing stock went bye-bye
basically because the monied interests in the real
estate industry lobbied, first of all for its total
elimination and when that failed they accepted a
compromise engineered by Dan Niziolek.

This was a capitulation, not a compromise.

It shifted responsibility for seeing that repairs are
done by sellers before a house sold and shifted it to
buyers who have 90 days to make repairs.

In the Public Hearing industry representatives assured
the Council that this would not be a hardship because
70% of home buyers are represented by realtors who
will strongly recommend independent inspections.

This begs the question of what happens to the other
30% who most likely are not as sophisticated and may
not know what costs they will be incurring and do not
make sellers give back or lower their sales prices.

This whole thing was such a bad idea.

The Council and our Mayor look more like Republicans
every day.

I suppose this is what the Mayor, or his spokesperson
means when they talk of refocusing.

When Laura Sether says the Mayor wants to focus more
on employment and diversity I'm not really sure what
is meant by that.

Personally I'm pretty sick of the word 'diversity'.
It's right up there with 'synergy' and 'proactive'.

I'm not sure what is meant by 'employment'. Is that
city employees? Is it making sure that contractors
doing work with the city comply with the spirit if not
the letter of affirmative action guidelines? Will the
Department look closely at Heritage Park? Will they
stop allowing waivers that relieve contractors from
meeting city minority employment goals?

So far I'm not encouraged by what I've seen.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7
 


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[Mpls] RE: Loring....Banner Ad

[timothy connolly]

Steve Clift brought to the list's attention a banner
ad on the City Pages website.

I encountered the same ad three or four weeks ago.

When Dara Moskowitz ran a short piece on the possible
closing of the Loring in the April 3rd edition of CP I
took that opportunity to write the editor of City
Pages.

In Dara's item she had quoted Jason McLean talking
about a "soft embezzling" of employees stealing from
him to the tune of 100k-200k/year as the reason he had
missed two rent payments(in his 13th year in
business-go figure) incurring the wrath of Joe Whitney
who took that opportunity to not renew his lease.

Being a former employee of the Loring Cafe/Bar and
being very close friends to a number of people fired
in September for supposed theft I wanted to present
another viewpoint.

I sent the letter on a Friday afternoon and almost
instantaneously I received confirmation of receipt and
a request to call Jen Boyles as she wanted to use the
letter in their coming edition.

By the time I called that afternoon I could only reach
her voice mail so I left a message confirming my name,
address, etc.

The following Wednesday the letter did not appear nor
the following week.

The second time it did not appear the Loring banner ad
was in place. There was also a full page ad and a 3rd
page ad running along the length on the outside of a
right hand page. 

I believe it was the next week there was a full page
color ad for the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown in City
Pages.

Somewhere over that two week expanse of time I talked
to Jen Boyles who reassured me saying the letter would
run.

What bothered me about all this was not so much that
my letter was not published (believe me, despite what
folks may think I am quite shy and insecure and each
time I launch a missive I shudder at what some might
say and how vulnerable I feel)as that Jason McLean was
given a forum to slander people who were not given the
opportunity to present their side of the story.

After I spoke to Jen Boyles at CP the first time I did
not bother contacting her again.

There are a number of possible explanations why the
letter never ran; it wasn't as good as Jen Boyles
thought after rereading it, the window of opportunity
passed and Dara's comments were long forgotten, etc.

I hesitate to suggest nefarious motives on the part of
City Pages given a previous experience with them. At
that time I was chided for not checking with them on
an item of gossip I had heard. 

Subsequently I retracted my statement and offered an
apology. 

I don't care to call them now; All the same the large
expenditure of dollars by the Loring in City Pages
makes me wonder if the bottom line outweighs what
seems to me an ethical imperative to provide an
opportunity to respond to the slanderous remarks by
Jason McLean beyond acknowledging former employees
deny the charges.

To Steve Clift's question as to whether there is a
story about Joe Whitney in all of this I'm sure there
is.

If I were Joe Whitney I could give you a hundred valid
reasons related to his tenancy to not renew the lease.

As for any juicy bits in Joe's life I cannot speak. I
do know most of us have some things we would rather
not have see the light of day. 

Someone suggested it sounded to him like Jason McLean
and Joe Whitney deserved each other. 

I've known Joe for 30 years and Jason for 10 and I say
that is a fair assessment.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

 






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[Mpls] Fwd: Same s**t, different day....

[timothy connolly]

This was sent to me by a friend. The story is now the
lead on www.kare11.com.

Tim Connolly
Downtown resident
Note: forwarded message attached.


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--- Begin Message ---

Reported May 9th, 10pm on corporate media KARE11 by reporter 
Bernie Grace, KARE website has not posted it yet as of 2:30am:


Eden Prarie(?) resident Kaymar Farahan filed suit today (May 9) 
against the MPD for the brutal treatment he suffered at the hands 
of two MPD thugs during a traffic stop.

He was stopped in downtown Mpls (didn't catch the date of this 
incident) for having license tabs that were expired. When one of 
the cops started rifling through the glovebox, Farahan asked why 
he was doing that. The cop responded by slamming Farahan's face 
into the pavement, breaking his nose.

The cops were making numerous racial slurs throughout - "diaper" 
remarks (presumably referring to arabic headwear), "Osama's brother" 
and "anthrax" comments, etc..  

Once they got tired of beating him outside the car, they threw him
handcuffed into the back of the squad car. Once there, while still
cuffed, one of them pulled his head back while the other sprayed 
mace into his eye from about 2 inches away and said "Here, take 
some anthrax"

BTW, Farahan isn't Arabic - he's Jewish, and American, his family 
having moved here from overseas when he was 2. Ah, that perfect
blend of hair-trigger brutality, flagrant racism AND mind-boggling 
stupidity! - what more could Amerikka ask for in a "good cop"?

He was initially arrested on numerous charges (news report didn't go 
into specific ones), but gee - ALL were DROPPED except the charge of 
not having his driver's license on his person at the time. And of 
course we have the obligatory dung from the MPD: "Farahan attacked 
outside the car and threatened inside the car"... 

Yeah, his face attacked the pavement, and he threatened to stay alive.
--- End Message ---

[Mpls] Re: wildflowers

[timothy connolly]

Texas highways also show the impact of Lady Bird's
campaign to beautify America.

It was a lot more than planting flowers though. 

For those who suggest we put convicts to work on the
roads, Hennepin County currently sends out low level
offenders in their Sentence to Serve program to do
things like collect litter, shovel walks, clear paths
at corners, etc.

It may cost Mn-Dot more to equip volunteers with
plastic bags, gloves, liability insurance, etc but it
has to cost the county less to put people to work in
lieu of incarceration.

Back to plantings. I am getting off on forsythia in
peoples yards. They are the first bit of visible color
to motorists as we drive down the streets.

This is my favorite three weeks in Minneapolis. I
recall travelling but making sure to get back to town
by May 15th at the latest.

Relative to flowers along the roadways, I will never
forget riding from the airport into Dublin on March
16th midst a riot of daffodils everywhere. Twas a fine
St.Patrick's Day that year.

Tim Connolly
Restless in the 7th Ward

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[Mpls] RE: Biernat editorial in North News

[timothy connolly]

Jeffrey Strand referred to the editorial about Joe
Biernat in North News as "balanced".

I have not read the entire editorial as yet but just
in the little that Jeffrey passed along I wonder about
the "balance".

In the paragraph beginning "The need for
credibility..." there is a factual error in that Tom
Heffelfinger has sought no elective office.

Small point for sure but nonetheless...

In that paragraph there is the thinly veiled inference
that the motivation for the indictment of Joe B. was
totally partisan politically.

Unless the writers are in possession of a smoking gun
I am unaware of, I think this discredits the idea that
this editorial is 'balanced' unless by 'balanced' we
mean accusing the plaintiff just because they had the
impudence to question someone of a different party.

More to the point, I would bet "dollars to dunuts"
that if Joe B. is in fact guilty, a DFL(Democrat) U.S.
Attorney would have swept this one under the rug.

This is as much a stain on organized labor as it is on
a City Councilman. The influence and power labor has
over the DFL would have made this go away.

There was no such power that could come to bear in the
case of Brian Herron.

Let's be frank. Who was being sacrificed? A Hispanic
with documented health inspection problems in his
stores, a Palestinian real estate developer in a blood
feud with a sitting Councilperson and a candidate for
Mayor to boot, and a Black Councilperson from a well
respected family in the community.

I bet not many tears were shed among the DFL hierarchy
in such a one-party dominated city, at least among
those members of the hierarchy who wanted a changing
of the guard who would not go peacefully into the
night.

I understand how conspiratorial this may sound but
it's a heck of a lot more interesting than the idea of
a Republican conspiracy to oust Joe Biernat and a
union official when everyone knows that if it should
come down that they are found guilty, they will be
replaced by another pro-labor DFLer and a DFL leaning
union leader.

If anything I think balance is slowly being restored
to a city that has stagnated under the influence of
one party rule for far too long.

Tim Connolly
Downtowner whose favorite party is a good cocktail
party. 



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[Mpls] Re: Olsen out?

[timothy connolly]

What I wanted to say about claims paid by the city
before I hit the wrong button was this:

First of all the guy's name is OLSON.

While it is true that the City Attorney has stepped up
as Lisa McDonald stated the city has still paid a good
number of claims.

I can recall a quite substansial one relating to a kid
who had his head bounced off the pavement just into
Edina where he had been pursued by MPD officers. I
forget the exact number but it was six figures.

Interestingly enough, one of the cops involved told me
this kid was a known car thief. 

There are many smaller claims that add up. 

For instance each time the city does defend a cop that
is done by outside counsel. Recently I've seen two
pay-outs totally about $9,000 to one attorney.

There will be others. Look for some sort of settlement
in the Barbara Schneider case.

Don't forget claims paid to the families of the two
guys who were on a White Castle run when the fuzz( I
ain't heard that term in a while) smacked them in
south Minneapolis.

Did they pay yet to the family opf the young woman
killied by a fleeing Rico Howard on 46th and 4th av 
s. That was a bonehead move by the cops.

How about the guys hurt in NE mpls after a short
police chase ended in them being hit by a fleeing
suspect(?).

There are numerous claims against the city because
there was not a reasonable procedure for chases. 

Wait til we settle with the family of this poor sucker
in Richfield hit by the woman who collided with the
police car?

If we could total it up it would probably be a sizable
amount.

Even so, saying we could save money by getting rid of
Olson might be a stretch. 

The time to do it was a year ago but there was little
sentiment on the Council for such an action.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



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[Mpls] Re: Olsen out?

[timothy connolly]

 
 

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[Mpls] Re: Olsen out?

[timothy connolly]

 
 

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[Mpls] Re: CCHT

[timothy connolly]

I cannot speak to Steve Meldahl's remarks about
occupancy rates at CCHT except for The Continental
Hotel where I live.

When an occupancy occurs as they do infrequently, the
rooms are turned very quickly. 

There is currently one vacant room. The only reason it
remains so is it was eight days ago the resident died
and some things need to be done before the room is
again habitable.

I don't know where Steve gets his information but I am
always a bit skeptical of vague unnamed sources or in
this cases "former residents we talked to".

As to the larger question of non-profits I share some
basic tenets of the philosophy I hear him, Keith
Reitman, Craig Miller, etc espouse.

In a perfect world the private sector ought to provide
housing of all types for all socio-economic levels but
this is hardly a perfect world.

Keith eloquently speaks of the destruction of housing
over the past decade and more. Much of that housing
was affordable to lower income people and they are the
ones struggling in the current market.

The city of Minneapolis fought crime by criminalizing
properties and tearing them down.

I would love to see every vote on every deolition and
every sale of vacant property with information on all
the buyers and contractors. I expect it would be very
revealing.

Developers want to build units for people of greater
means. They behave better. Maintenance and wear and
tear is less. Profit is greater. It is understandable.

When the Legislature passed tax incentives for real
estate developers recently they did not provide any
greater incentive for those who would build for lower
income people which was foolish.

This is why non-profits have moved in; to fill a gap.

At least that is how I understand the situation.

There is an enormous population of people working in
the service sector who make sub-par wages. Even when
there was a shortage of workers and wages increased
the availability of reasonably priced housing was not
as great as needed.

This is also a city that has worked very hard to
increase home ownership but that does not suit all
people. That development has come at the cost of
multi-unit housing that was rented.

How many duplexes, fourplexes, were bulldozed and are
now being replaced by single family dwellings.

I am no expert by any means and I welcome comments.

Tim Connolly 
12th and LaSalle




 
 
 

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[Mpls] Re: notes from a paranoid DFLer

[timothy connolly]

I think there is real danger in the accretion of power
in the hands of one party as happened in Minneapolis
over the past quarter century.

I think it will be much easier for a Republican
appointed U.S.Attorney to investigate Minneapolis
government.

I am first and foremost a citizen of this city.

I welcome all investigation.

It is already bearing fruit. Not in the imprisioning
of Brian Herron or the indictment of Joe Biernat but
in the sort of action which Paul Ostrow suggested.

I am not saying I agree with Ostrow's suggestion so
much as that anytime anyone can get past the idea that
"we have always done it that way and what was good
enough for our forebearers is good enough for us" is a
good thing.

Our city will become a much more dynamic place. Not
much has forced us out of complacency. 

Maybe the recent turn of events will.

David Brauer forwarded to the List a very good article
from the April issue of Governing magazine which
essentially asks the questions "Whither Minneapolis?"
and "What Happened Here to Put us So Far Behind?"

There are good things happening in this city.

For starters, I have not heard one person
self-righteously utter the phrase "we're nothing like
Chicago" as though we had no taint of corruption.

Tim Connolly
Downtown South?





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[Mpls] While we're talking of architectural gems!

[timothy connolly]

Did anyone happen to read Richard D'Amico's critique
of Block E in today's Strib Taste section.

First he says the most polite thing he can say about
Block E is that it is underwhelming.

Then he goes on to call it an embarassment to the city
of Minneapois.

His final comment was the best of all. Due to design
and construction I presume, he said something like 'at
least it will be easy to demolish'.

I have a few things to add to his remarks.

First: AMEN!!!

Second: Playing off the Strib's recent editorial about
improving downtown streetscapes, there are not enough
trees to soften this blow to the city's main street.
Any feeble attempt to mask this monstrosity(I like the
word so much Ms Berget I used it myself) will be
putting earrings on a pig.

Third: I suppose it's too early to be planning for its
demolition?!

Fourth: Realistically what were we to expect? This is
the work of the developer of a Schaumberg,Illinois
mall in partnership with the developer of our very own
City Center and Multifood Towers.

Fifth: The three ugliest buildings in downtown are in
a three square block line so one could argue the point
that "at least we've localized the pain".

Sixth: I wonder if Dan McCafferty and Joe Duffy know
each other?

Seventh: Is there a way to insure this never happens
again??

Tim Connolly
Misanthropic resident of Downtown Minneapolis



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[Mpls] Re: Rybak and Olson

[timothy connolly]

I concur with Wizard Marks except for the part about
Corky Finney. We tend to think of Finney as a panacea
for all our ills. 

If we were to just get rid of the Chief without an
entirely new framework for how we think of our police
and what we expect of them plus myriad other issues we
would be jumping the gun.

For instance do we continue with 3 year terms that do
not coincide with the mayor's or do we go to 4 year
terms running concurrently with the Chief.

There is one school of thought that concurrent terms
make the job too political.

Saint Paul has a 6 year term. LA has a 5 year term and
they are right now in a brouhaha because the Civilian
Commission does not want to renew the Chief's contract
and he is appealing it to the City Council.

How do we go about picking a Chief? Does the Mayor?
Does a Citizens Commission recommend three choice to a
Mayor? Two choices? Does the Commission pick outright?

What do we do when a political novice comes on the
scene who has zip experience with the cops? Someone
whose sole deviation in life is wearing different
colored socks? Someone who seems more interested in
reaching consensus when kicking butt is called for?

We need to look at 50 cities and see what they do, how
it works, etc.

This all ties into Citizen Review(you'll notice I
won't use the word civilian which only reinforces the
military model), recruitment especially of minorities
less intimidated by the urban environment if not
actually living here, mental health protocols so that
we don't have another situation where we have a CIT
officer(someone trained and recognized as
knowledgeable calling off a slow speed car chase only
to be overruled by a superior officer with inferior
training),etc.

I could go on but I think I've made my point. 

I think the story today was a big trial balloon sent
up by the Mayor's office. Come on, where else would a
leak this size spring from?

This is not a PR problem. This has that element only
in that Minneapolis has a reputation for being a force
of "thumpers".

And today I hear an interview with Paul Ostrow on MPR.

What's up? We're greasing the skids and this guy(the
Chief) ain't going nowhere at least until after he
hosts the convention of Police Chiefs coming to town.

Maybe if we peacefully picket we'll embarass him so
badly he'll quit of his own accord? Sick idea, Tim.
Cruel! Some might think he deserves it. Maybe the
threat would be enough? Then again it might just
provide another opportunity to dress up the force in
catcher's gear for which we paid beaucoup bucks.

The groundwork being laid is that the Chief is not
good with money. I think everyone was miffed that he
couldn't seem to come up with savings except through
incredible arm twisting and even then there were dire
predictions of the city losing ground on the "war on
crime".

Finally

I don't want to pretend to speak for Natalie Johnson
Lee but I suspect she doesn't want to spend money to
buy out the Chief's contract for one of two reasons.

A. Without anything in place that addesses root causes
it's a waste of good money that could be better spent
in her ward trying to generate community wealth and
infrastructure 

or

B. We ought to be able to find reason enough to fire
the guy due to just being a poor Chief.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7
Where the Elite Meet






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[Mpls] Redistricting public hearing

[timothy connolly]

For a number of reasons I was unable to attend public
hearings prior to last night.

I did attend a meeting at the Urban League where the
Commission had been invited by the NAACP and the Urban
League.

Robin Garwood made a good point last night in his
remarks before the Commission when he stated that last
night was the first of the public hearings where any
map was presented as a starting point for discussion.

I can see how the debate would have been difficult to
follow given its certain abstract theoretical nature.

Not everyone is a wonk or geek or geographer like our
List Manager and quite a few members on this list,
myself not included are lost without direction.

Given that a tentative map was only recently released
I can understand the frustration and sense of betrayal
many in the audience felt and voiced last night.

Another good comment was that made by Commissioner
Finch when he said he shared the opinion of those who
thought the manner in which the Commission is chosen
through the parties is a poor way to do it.

He suggested it was a challenge to him and like minded
people to bring the matter to the Charter Commission
and get a change made in the City Charter. 

I don't know when I've had a such a good time at City
Hall. I saw a lot of friends. 

Each time I thought I was ready to leave, I stayed a
little longer and was rewarded for my decision.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] Re: Loring Cafe/Bar

[timothy connolly]

As a former employee of the Loring off and on for 7
years I want to weigh in on this subject.

First of all I say off and on for 7 years because like
many others who worked at the Loring I traveled and
each time I returned I was welcomed back if I chose.

Another reason for it being off and on was because I
was known to have a disagreement or two with the Boss.
Even then, after a suitable amount of time for both of
us to simmer down, I was re-employed.

I was also re-employed after taking a better paying
job of indefinite duration and when it ended I was
re-employed.

I guess he liked me.

Grudgingly I think, but then I often have that effect
on people.

Though I do not work at the Loring any longer and will
never cross its threshhold again even were it to be
the property of Jason McLean, I understand the public
sentiment for its salvation.

On some level I wish for its survival as well.

On another I couldn't care less and feel no sympathy
for its owner.

In a recent story in Dara Moskovitz's column in City
Pages, Jason McLean laid the blame for his inability
to make two rent payments on employees who have stolen
$100k to $200k per year from his establishment over
the course of its life.

I know I got my $49k out of there.

Beyond the ludicrousness of his arguement, the owner
asks the public to believe that it just finally caught
up with him in the 15th year of his establishment.

I am not suggesting there was no theft, that it may
not have been widespread but to suggest that was the
reason for the loss of his space is ludicrous.

I know more about the place than i could ever cover in
this forum but let me assure you that is not the main
reason the Loring could not make two rent payments.

I suspect Joe Whitney has very good reasons why he is
renting the space to another. I could think of some he
may even have missed.

The place was a rathole. It wouldn't be so bad if the
mess were contained to the Loring's space but it spilt
over into common areas that for which the Loring paid
no rent.

A large part of my job was to contain the place within
its own boundaries and to keep those areas clean.

During the summers, I cleaned from the back door of
the kitchen in the alley around the outside of the
restaurant to the Hennepin Avenue door. That included
all the gardening to sweeping the gutter.

Best job I ever had!

Take an objective look at the place today. Think of
yourself as a landlord. Would you want such a lessee
for a tenant when you could rent to someone who, at
the very least, kept the outdoors presentable.

What gets my attention is all the people in this city
who expect landlords to police their tenants and here
we have one doing exactly that and we're all over him.

I cleaned the place and held it together at times with
spit and bailing wire and if anyone would know I
would.

The point I wish to make is that the demise of Loring
Cafe ultimately rests on the shoulders of one person
and one person alone.

Jason McLean.

Mourn the loss of the Loring Cafe and Bar, treasure
your memories but shed no tears for Jason and do not
villify the building owner for trying to maintain the
integrity of his property.

I may not entirely agree with Joe Whitney and I am not
sure I would have chosen this course but neither can I
blame him.

Tim Connolly
eccentric spendthrift millionaire former employee of
The Loring Bar/Cafe currently occupying a room at the
Continental Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. 





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[Mpls] Re: " necessary force"

[timothy connolly]

I think Scott McGerik's point is well taken.

This point pertains to the police action against
Critical Mass or "Criminal Mass" as one acquaintance
of mine has referred to them.

MPD has an Intelligence Unit. They have their eye on
some of the Criminal Mass group and it's no problem to
them when others who have done little but block an
intersection get whacked upside the head as long as
they can get the ones they feel are ringleaders or
more anarchistic than the rest.

Collateral damage is acceptable.

Order is of utmost importance.

Once again it is this rigidity that leads to abuse and
tragedy.

What is interesting is that there is greater concern
voiced for these infrequent episodes than there is for
the everyday abuses of power that this force is known
for historically throughout the nation.

Beside anecdotal evidence stretching as far back as
most of the people I know can remember there was a
report made on Minneapolis by Human Rights Watch
finished in 1998.

None of this is new.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7  



 








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[Mpls] Stone Arch apts.

[timothy connolly]

I was in attendance at the initial public hearing for
this project in the Planning Commission. I've also
been in attendance at a number of City Council
committee meetings where this project was the topic.

I have also walked this area numerous times from Dunn
Brothers on University to the bridge.

>From a personal point of view I would not be
interested in living at that location under almost any
circumstances.

I understand the concerns of Metal-Matic. Imposing an
overlay on this industrial land is a toe in the door.
It will be just a matter of time before pressure is
exerted to change zoning throughout this little corner
of Minneapolis.

It is just a matter of time before someone starts
complaining about noise pollution which is of little
concern to people at present.

The city will lose employment and employment of a kind
which is in short supply in Minneapolis. People who
work at Metal-Matic and could afford market rate units
in the building would not be around to rent. Only the
prized white collar workers of downtown need apply.

Given that the U of M steam plant will be around for
another four or five decades the likelihood that the
surrounding property is easily marketable seems to be
negligible.

Not only Metal-Matic, Marcy-Holmes, and the U of M
oppose this plan. So do all the nearby businesses.

The need for housing is indisputable. Whether this is
the place is questionable.

In my mind just a few blocks makes a great difference.

If for instance the project was planned for property
now occupied by United Rental(I think that is the
name)on the corner of 6th Av Se and 2nd St SE backing
up to Dunn Brothers and Cafe Alma we're talking a
another story.

This of course would require vertical construction to
achieve the necessary number of units.

I think this plan might win approval of Marcy-Holmes
given the concerns they expressed. Then again it might
change the marketing of the building away from
families to singles and empty nesters but families
possibly living in these apartments seem more like a
cynical ploy by the developers than reality.

The U of M would drop their opposition. United Rental
which also voiced disapproval would probably go for
the deal if they could move near to where the present
plan for apartments is situated.

Metal-Matic? I don't know. But if the people who own
on the blocks between University and 2nd St SE don't
complain about noise or truck traffic now I can't see
how this would be any different.

These are all hypotheticals I know but throughout the
parts of the process I have seen I've been struck by
the lack of long range policy and planning in
evidence.
Unless of course the plan is to further bollux the
city!

Now the city is up against it because of decisions
made under the gun by the departing council and I'm
sure the threat of lawsuits on the part of the Stone
Arch Partners hang over the city's head.

The only recourse to stop this plan in its tracks is
to offer no help to the developers and i think even
that opportunity has passed.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



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[Mpls] Re: Critical Mass and the Mayor

[timothy connolly]

I wrote a friend off-line that I wish I had not used a
reference to the master-slave relation. It is a poor
and disrespectful analogy.

I also wrote that there is no way I can ever relate to
how an African American feels in this society.

I can tell you that each time I hear of one of these
incidents I squelch the desire to pick up a stone, a
crow bar, a brick, or a coke bottle filled with gas
and strike out.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] RE:Critical mass and the Mayor

[timothy connolly]

Several people object to my use of the words "fascist
thugs".

How would you characterize these officers? What would
you say to police who grab people by the hair, pull
their heads back and pepper spray them in the eyes?

How would you characterize a policeman who bounces a
person's forehead off the pavement?

What bothers me is people who look at the participants
in Critical Mass or ISAG and see them as marginal and
therefore somehow not deserving of decency. 

One person suggested I have lost historical
perspective; i.e., Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's
Germany, etc. Not at all. It is because I know history
that I make these judgements.

Mussolini's party was a bunch of bullies and thugs,
plain and simple. 

Here is my perspective.

You have synagogues being burnt down in three cities
in France, Silvio Berlusconi's police rioting in Milan
to protect global capitalists, John Ashcroft's Feebies
rounding up suspects and holding them incommunicado, a
president taking office under suspect circumstances at
best, acts passing Congress that seriously compromise
personal liberty and privacy.

I heard some troglodyte(another name)utter "America:
Love it or Leave It" on the radio. I found that the
ugliest sentiment of the late 60's and it ain't any
better now.

Name calling? Let's consider names used to typify the
riders in Critical Mass.

A fringe element. Greens(as though being Green were a
crime). Someone from City Hall actually referred to
Critical Mass that way to me.

How about radicals? That's a good one. Conjures up all
sorts of unpleasant images.

Then there are references to physical characteristics.
That's always a winner. Multiple tattoos and piercings
etc.

During ISAG reference was made in the Strib constantly
to orange haired (fill in the blank). The editors of
the newspaper virtually fixated on that one. 


As to applying for a permit, well then you're into the
old master-slave thing. We should ask for permission?

How about automobile drivers asking permission of all
those who want to breathe clean air?

How about police actually issuing tickets to motorists
hurtling through red lights instead of looking the
other way and acting as if it's beneath them unless of
couse it happens to be a person of color.

To their credit, a few enforce traffic laws. Few being
the operative word.

The police knew exactly what would happen on Friday.

They had two choices.

Assign a three car detail to the ride. One car to
lead, one to pick up the rear and one stop traffic for
short periods of time as the riders went through
intersections en masse.

Number two was what they did. Bring in a flatbed
truck. Squeeze riders into the curb and generally
hassle them until they had the justification they
needed to 'impose order', wail on them, ticket them,
impound their bikes and generally strike terror into
their hearts and minds.

They chose the second option and we saw the results.
They were looking to beat some folks up. Payback for
the hubbub surrounding Abu Jeilail I figure.

This is exactly the problem with this force. When the
option to pull back and in some case even embrace the
situation is there they choose just the opposite path.

That's how we take the lives of mentally ill people.

You don't like the words I used to describe the police
vis a vis their actions last Friday, you tell me what
I should call them?

How can anyone take pride in a city that allows its
police to act in such a manner?

How can anyone take pride in a city that has had its
police (mis)conduct become the subject of Human Rights
Watch observation?

This is nothing new with this force. It is just the
latest chapter.

Ask people of color how they view this action? Ask a
young African Anerican male what effect this has on
your psyche?

Ask victims of police brutality in this city how they
feel.

Ask me how it felt to be closed up in the back seat of
a squad on a 85 degree day after I had asked the
police to crack the window because I am claustrophobic
to the point of panic.

Ask me how it felt to have these two cops driving me
to City Hall from Uptown slide open the window
separating front and back seats, ask me how I was
doing, and before I could say a word have them close
the window and start laughing.

It makes me spitting mad and I won't back down from my
characterization.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7


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[Mpls] Critical mass and the Mayor

[timothy connolly]

I just came out of the meeting the Mayor held with CM.

There are a couple things that need to be cleared up.

While it is true bicycles must be licensed in the City
of Minneapolis, we may be the only city in the state
that requires such licensing.

There is a state statute that enables cities to deal
with bicycle registration as they choose.

St. Paul does not require registration. I don't know
about Cloquet or Willmar, Wayzata or Eden Prarie.

The idea that we have registration so that one can get
a bicycle returned in the event it is stolen is
poppy-cock.

A serial number is more reliable. When my bicycle was
stolen two years ago and I came across it I verified
my ownership by registration number after I liberated
it.

I don't know what licenses are like now. The last time
I had one on a bike, probably 30 years ago or more,
they were pressure sensitive labels that could be
peeled off.

This license thing is one more way in which the city
constricts and controls and taxes to pay for things
like riot gear

The Mayor suggested Critical Mass do another ride soon
to keep the momentum going. He suggested applying for
a permit. He would join them. He suggested he could
help people register bicycles.

Did the Mayor, when he was just an untitled publicity
seeker with an eye to the future, apply for a permit
to protest airplane noise in his pajamas? 

This is not another opportunity for the Mayor to be on
TV doing nothing while appearing to do something.

Why don't we see the Mayor on TV announcing discipline
meted out to police officers for their brutal
behavior?

Instead we see our Mayor mollifying interest groups
like a guy trying to keep 15 plates spinning on the
ends of sticks.

I've seen this act before. Call meetings, get together
with interest groups, announce elaborate ideas that go
nowhere, plead budgetary constraints... 

The fact of the matter is that Critical Mass rides are
essentially political speech that challenges accepted
norms of behavior.

These policemen acted no better than a gang of fascist
thugs suppressing political speech. YES. FASCIST THUGS

Do not forget our country came into existence as the 
result of defiance and civil disobedience.

This was a non-violent demonstration until the police
started doing their thing. 

Tell me I'm being inflammatory. Go ahead. 

Make my day.

Tim Connolly
Downtown 




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[Mpls] RE; Critical Mass

[timothy connolly]

Not long ago I was in Lakeville. Don't ask me why.

It was a beautiful sunny, crisp day.

As I finished my errand and headed back to Minneapolis
I was astonished to see the amount of pollution over
the city.

I mean this was a large visible yellowish brown cloud.

I've known in theory for years that we are killing our
environment but that day it struck me especially hard.

Having said that, whatever the circumstances, I think
for our police department to be allowed to arrest,
much less brutalize, Critical Mass riders borders on
insanity.

Excuse me if I suggest that these people ought to be
given medals for their beliefs and their dedication to
upholding their principles.

Who is running this town anyways?

Tim Connolly
Ward 7


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[Mpls] shooting

[timothy connolly]

A number of years ago I spent six months in Negril in
the west of Jamaica.

Most every day I found a reason to ride my bike from
where I lived with a friend into town or farther up
the cliff.

I had one hangout down the road a piece that was no
more than a shack by the side of the road where a few
people could sit around and talk and down a beer and
play dominoes.

I liked the place because it was mellow. The owner was
a grandfather who had lived in Manchester, England for
thirty years and had come home to retire.

Jamaica can be a difficult place to digest at times.
We used to say "every ting a con, mon, every ting a
con."

I remember one day when I sat in the doorway of the
bar and watched a fight taking place between two men
across the road.

There is really no law to speak of in Negril. People
tend to settle their differences one way or another.
It's only when someone is shot in a settlement that
the police come around and sometimes not even then.

One of the men engaged in the arguement(i hesitate to
call it a fight)was wielding a machete. The other man
was defenseless or so it appeared.

Necessity is the mother of invention as they say and
when you are trying to defend yourself you look around
for what is at hand.

In this case it was rocks.

Each time the man with the machete made motions toward
the other, the other hurled rocks at him.

This went on for quite some time until it just sort of
petered out of its own accord.

All the time these men were dancing this way they were
also talking to each other, more like shouting really.

I wish I could tell you what was said or how it was
resolved but the patois was mighty thick and deep down
I'm just a white boy from Minneapolis who knows how to
say 'Thanks' in 15 languages courtesy of Lunds.

I am not suggesting for one minute that police go out
on the streets without guns and with rocks in their
pockets but necessity dictates we start thinking more
creatively about how we as a community deal with the
problems presented by mentally ill people in turmoil.

I would like to be optimistic but I fear things may
get even worse before they get better. I hope not.

I have no ready answers. I will say this though.

I was astounded this past September by the sacrifices
made by NYC firemen, especially, but policemen also,
in the World Trade Center tragedy.

The idea of saving lives was paramount for these brave
souls. Those men and women seemed to pay little regard
for their own lives though I'm sure they valued them.

The police have taken the attitude in the past that
nobody other than them can deal with these sorts of
cases like Rocco D'Andrea, Barbara Schneider, Abuka
Sanders, and Abu Jeilani.

I don't know that is true. And if they are not willing
to a little greater risk in these cases I suggest we
find others to do the job.

In all these cases the police controlled the clock. To
say otherwise is an untruth.

This was not so much a failure of Tasers as it was a
failure of attitude by a society that turns it's back
on the mentally ill and leaves it to the cops to deal
with it.

That may be the only thing on which I agree with the
Chief.

I fault him for lamenting the situation rather than
accepting reality and embracing the challenge to save
lives instead of taking lives like the aforementioned.

It's been my experience that attitudes filter down in
an organization. That may explain why we continue to
experience the shootings we do.

Think of this the next time you see the Chief laughing
on the front page of the Metro section as he shakes
the hand of a man wearing a bowtie: Not once has Chief
Olson met with the Friends of Barbara Schneider.

Greg Hestness has been there many times. So has Sgt.
Ron Bellendier. But never the Chief.

Cool runnings, mon.

Tim Connolly
Minneapolis Ward 7 

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[Mpls] Letter to editor In PiPress or Aren't you glad you don't live in North St. Paul

[timothy connolly]

>From Ray Stoltzman of North St. Paul in today's
PiPress

"Well, the city of Minneapolis and it's bleeding heart
Dfl political clique has finally reached the pinnacle
of success in making the city of Minneapolis America's
capital of diversity. After years of pandering to
every minority group on the planet, the city's DFLers
now have a city filled to the brim with hordes of
disgruntled Hispanics, Somalis, Hmong and
AfricanAmericans, all demanding more government
benefits and priveleged treatment from the police
department.

What else can one expect from a place totally
controlled by Wellstonian socialists who want to
equalize society by taking funds from America's
productive citizens and giving then to the Democrat's
do-nothing constituents."

Shall I translate.

"Well, the city of Mpls and its too sensitive and
caring communists clique has finally gone overboard in
this diversity thing. After pandering to every group
except White Male Heterosexuals like me, the commies
have a city filled with spics and wetbacks, muslim
terroists(not to mention arab camel jockeys no doubt),
slopes, and niggers, all demanding welfare and a free
ride from the cops.

What else can one expect from a place toally
controlled by russki kike socialists who want to take
the money out of the hands of Red White and Blue
Blooded American Capitalist Darwinian WASPS like me
and give it to a bunch of ever multiplying bums."

He forgot to mention faggots and dikes.

As a lapsed catholic of greasy wop and mick anarchist
roots I object to being excluded.

Tim Connolly 


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Re: [Mpls] news coverage or "Come on, Tim, get your facts straight"

[timothy connolly]

Steve is absolutely correct about the additional
stories on Barb Schneider. My point which I guerss I
didn't make clear was that the Strib ran stories for 4
consecutive days til they skipped two for a long
self-serving counterpoint from John Delmonico. Yes she
also was the subject of a long piece of good work by
Josephine Marcotty. And no doubt at least one of the
stories Steve B. mentiopns is about police being 
exonerated in her death.

Nowhere in any of the Strib reports will you hear the
scenario of Barbara's death. How the police filled her
apartment with gas before kicking in her front door,
how they forced her to retreat to the back wall of her
bedroom, how they kicked down her bedroom door and
shot her as she moved toward them with a knife.

Steve may be right once again about Abdullah Simmons.
I missed 8/5/01. But by 1/15/02 who remembers Abdullah
Simmons? On 3/15/02? Is his name mentioned in a story
about Abu Jeilani? I don't know because the Strib
website lists only three articles when I used the
keyword Abdullah Simmons as I go through the archives
and two are the same article.

Maybe I don't know the correct keywords. Should I have
used cold-blooded or asassination?

Yes Steve I guess I missed the story about the
plumber's union in the Strib. I try Steve but as a
person who is not paid and works at another job and
has two hours on a library computer except when I can
cadge an extra hour somewhere I do damn well.

The fact is that the MPD and the Mayor's office have
put on a full court press trying to defuse and coopt
and the mainstream press plays right along.

You guys don't know facts about the shooting of Abu
Jeilani but you are more than willing to pass along
the party line coming from MPD.

I'm not into conspiracy so much as I believe we are
experiencing the most pronounced and concerted effort
to squelch dissent since I was in my early 20's.

As far as facts, if would be welcome if reporters like
Steve asked more than one question. I would suggest he
practice saying the word WHY.

As far as conspiracies Steve: no conspiracy. 

You tell me if this country and this city are turning
perilously to the far right.

Tim Connolly
Mpls



-- Steve Brandt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I would like to correct the record on a number of
> points made by in a Tim Connolly post earlier today,
> at the risk of letting facts get in the way of a
> good conspiracy rant
> 
> Tim says:  The Star Tribune was dropped the Barbara
> Schneider story four days after her June, 2000
> shooting death.
> The facts:  Tim missed stories on the topic that ran
> on 7-2-00, 11-9-00, 12-17-00, 2-21-01, 2-24-01 and
> 6-13-01, the one year anniversary of her death, plus
> numerous letters to the editor and opinion
> commentaries.
> 
> Tim says: Abdullah Simmons got about four days of
> coverage after his 7-29-01 shooting death.
> The facts: Tim missed articles on 8-05-01, 1-15-02,
> 3-15-02, plus several letters
> 
> Tim says:  He guesses that Chief Robert Olson cued
> the Star Tribune to events leading to the Olson-Omar
> Jamal photo on Thursday's metro cover.
> The facts:  Our reporter, Terry Collins, heard of
> the meeting from Jamal and Jamal later faxed out a
> media advisory beforehand.
> 
> Tim says:  He's trying to figure out why the article
> of the Wednesdya khat bust was in Friday's paper
> instead of Thursday's.
> The facts: The restaurant owner didn't send a
> reporter here an e-mail about the bust until 1:32
> a.m. Thursday, long after the deadline for that
> day's paper.
> 
> Tim says:  The Pioneer Press had a small item in
> Wednesday's paper about the emergency trusteeship
> for Plumbers Local 15.  He says he must have missed
> the Star Tribune account.
> The facts:  Tim's right.  He missed the Star Tribune
> account.  That's because it was in the Star Tribune
> a day before the Pioneer Press story, and had three
> times the length and detail of the Pioneer story.
> 
> I could go on.   But why bother?  It would just let
> the facts get in the way of sloppy research.
> 
> Steve Brandt
> Star Tribune
> 
> 
> 
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[Mpls] news coverage or "Come on Jake, it's Chinatown."

[timothy connolly]

I am of the opinion that things happen for a reason.

I am by nature suspicious.

I have watched the progression of news stories since
March 10 when Abu Jeilani was shot by police.

First: I am impressed that 11 days after his death we
were still seeing stories in the dailies.

Previous shootings disappear from the news pages much
quicker.

Barbara Schneider was knocked out of the news after
four days by Greg Ortale wringing his hands about a
looming hotel strike closing down the city for the AA
convention.

Abdullah Simmons, the 15 year old shot by police on
July 29th, 2001 got about 4 days coverage. He's the
boy shot by the two policemen receiving awards today.

Second and more fascinating in my book are the stories
and the photographs we've witnessed over those 11
days.

I'll touch on a few.

Yesterday's Strib Metro front page had the picture of
Chief Olson and Omar Jamal sharing a good laugh and a
handshake for the ever present cameras.

I wonder if it was Omar Jamal or Cyndi Montgomery of
the Chief's office who cued the Strib? I'm guessing it
was the Chief's office.

Terry Collins covered this for the Strib. I think he
is about the fifth reporter on the case. No one person
knows the whole story from beginning to now.

I wonder if Omar would be yukking so much with the
Chief if this had been a little later in the day after
MPD and HCSD had busted the Somali restaurant on 32nd
and Cedar.

I'm trying to figure out why the article of the bust
was today instead of yesterday. Space probably. Too
many stories, too few reporters doing things like
being shills for MPD. 

Or why the announcement of a medals service at today's
council meeting didn't make last Friday's report of
upcoming agenda items for the Council meeting. I guess
MPD just decided it would be a good time for a medal
ceremony. 

Then there was the story on the front of this past
Saturday's Metro section about the deported Somali who
really was a felon you know.

The details were a bit sketchy on that story. numerous
charges but only two listed, one being disorderly
con-duct, something just about anyone who knows the
cops knows all you can be charged with for merely
breaking wind.

There was the absence of any coverage in the Strib of
a raucous meeting at Lucille's on Tuesday morning and
a meeting with the Mayor at City Hall afterward while
the PIPress does a piece by Dave Hawley.

By the way, in that same issue of the PiPress there
was a small item stating that "the international
plumbers union has put its Minneapolis local into
trusteeship while the local's top executive has
resigned."

I must have just missed the Strib's account.

Finally, I don't know why I can't find a record of
search warrants issued for wednesday's khat bust in
the warrants office unless they are those that are
issued on 3/5/02 and are sealed.

The timing seems all wrong though.

Do you think the police could be trying to discredit
Omar Jamal in the eyes of his countrymen or did they
just sympathetically believe it wouldn't look good to
execute this bust so soon after a shooting?

"Come on, Jake. It's Chinatown."

Tim Connolly
Downtown




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[Mpls] A funny thing happened on the way to the warrants office

[timothy connolly]

I went to the Courts information desk and asked the
woman behind the counter where the warrants office
was.

She directed me to Room 22 at City Hall.

I said "but I've gone to an office in this building
before."

She said "warrants are in room 22."

I queried her again  and she suggested they must have
moved over there, meaning Room 22.

So I schlep to City Hall, find Room 22, ask if they
have a warrant for 3205 Cedar. The woman behind the
glass says "warrants on properties searches are in the
Government center, we only do people." 

This time when I get to the Government center I ask
the main info person where warrants are. Without
hesitation she says "11th floor".

So now I go ask Ms helpful again where warrants are on
property searches. She say "11th floor".

So I ask as politely as I can "so why didn't you tell
me that before when I told you I remembered coming to
this building before?"

She says, "I guess I just fell down in mind reading."

So I says, "well as a citizen and a consumer of
services I would have to say you're pretty deficient
in customer service ability."

As I am saying this to her she starts itching the side
of her face with her middle finger and turns to talk
to a friend at the desk.

As I walk away i mutter "so now you're giving me the
finger."

Lovely.

Your tax dollars at work.

Tim Connolly
Downtown 

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[Mpls] Re: Mpls: a slaughterhouse

[timothy connolly]

while I would agree that the comment by Mr. Jamal and
even my reference to police having the "taste of blood
in their mouths" are inflammatory they are made in the
context of frustration at a Police Chief who cautions
us to withhold judgement and in the next sentence all
but declares the innocence of his officers.

Whether it is true or not their is at the very least
the perception of many(?)some(?)people that the field
is not level.

I tend to fall into that category but then I have been
lied to so often that i have become cynical.

how hard it is to say that. for the longest time I
wanted to portray myself as in possession of a healthy
skepticism.

The one comment that I have seen over and over again
in countless letters and editorializing and even in
the words of higher-ups in the Police Federation is
that these officers were acting in accord with their
training.

If I recall the same comments were made after all the
other shootings we have witnessed by police.

And therein lies the problem I think. There and in
attitude.

I'm told the Chief has a sign of some sort that says
something like "Attitude is Everything" on his desk. 

I apologize for not being exact or seeming unsure but
it is something my razor sharp mind recalls from a
Strib piece shortly after the Chief rode into town.

I think the Chief's attitude stinks not to mention his
inability to at least fake an open mind.

I've read the report on Barbara Schneider's death. It
wasn't pretty.

The incident would have been laughable were a person's
life not taken. I thought I was reading a script for a
Keystone Kops movie.

One week after her death the President of the Police
Federation said the officers were only following their
training.

As to attitude, all I know is that we sent an officer
and a psychiatrist to check out a CIT program in
Memphis that had been successful by all measurement
and they came back to Minneapolis thinking they would
just change a few things.

What do you call consulting experts and then thinking
you know better? Arrogance? Unteachability?

By the way one thing that changed: Memphis had stopped
using Tasers long before then and had gone to a foam
substance that immobilizes people. Why, I am not sure.
That is a question for someone else to ask.

I don't think for a minute the police enjoy shooting a
mentally ill person yet it doesn't help their chances
of not repeating the same mistakes over and over again
by circling the wagons and professing innocence.

Tim Connolly
Downtown






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[Mpls] Re: Seventh place

[timothy connolly]

I've been trying so hard to keep up with all the posts
on the list.

I seem to recall that in one subject there was mention
made of public relations hype.

To illustrate that point I offer this. 

I suspect most people read Vanam Pai's e-mail from
CITY HALL and took a quick look at the Ladies Home
Journal and after having checked out the rankings of
the big cities moved on or either they just took the
announcement as peachy keen, didn't check and went on
about their busy lives.

I did not read the whole article on the their website
nor did I run out and buy but I did notice something
about crime relative to the best cities in America in
which to live.

When LHJ looked at low crime they looked for violent
crimes, crimes against property and rape. They
included all 200 cities, big and small, that they had
ranked in their "best place to live" category.

In this ranking Minneapolis ranked 182 behind 50 other
large cities and behind 133 small cities.

I really don't know what conclusion to draw from this
except that we must have scored aces in all the other
categories or they give little weight to the crime.

Tim Connolly
Downtown



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[Mpls] Re: Mike Hatch

[timothy connolly]

I had never seen Mike Hatch in public.

Before going to the PRAC meeting I was well disposed
toward him.

It's that Crusader thing. The People's Advocate.

I'm a bit more sanguine today.

For those of you on this list at the meeting I'm the
guy who asked if the AG's office could investigate
police shootings if a city came to them.

The short answer was yes which was all I was asking
and all I wanted to know.

What came next was a chorus of people, including Mike
Hatch, who because i asked that question assume I
think the police are at fault and that I have already
judged them.

Or perhaps I am wrong about Mike Hatch and when he
cautioned people that all the facts are not known and
an investigation has not been completed he was warning
those in the room(darn near everybody) who reflexively
believe the police are not at fault to not count their
chickens before they hatch. Get it!

For the record Mr. Hatch said it's uniform throughout
the state that the county sheriff's investigate the
city police and when queried further if that because
that was the way it's always done means it is right,
he answered, a bit sheepishly I might interject, NO.

Then we talked about conflict of interest versus the
perception of conflict of interest and how the mere
perception can be as damaging as the actual fact of a
conflict. Mr Hatch agreed that might be so.

He's engaging. I'll say that for him. I think there
are other candidates just as good and maybe better.

And if he wants to use a party label he ought to be
willing to go through the convention process.

Tim Connolly
Downtown

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[Mpls] Re: police oversight

[timothy connolly]

While it is perhaps unfair to second guess individual
police officers at this point in time so soon after a
shooting, especially by us with scant knowledge, can
we agree that there is room for improvement in both
police performance and police oversight?

Unfortunately we will never know the truth. We will
never feel confidence in the judgements made behind
closed doors without the participation of the public.

It is no consolation that the Hennepin Cty. Prosecutor
and the Sherriff's Dept. will conduct an
investigation.

They hardly maintain "arm's length" relationships with
MPD.

Forget about Internal Affairs. CRA, even when it was
fully funded? Ditto!

Whether or not any of these agencies can perform an
unbiased investigation is beside the point. They will
be perceived by a large part of the populace as having
a direct conflict of interest.

Roseanne Campagnoli of the Sherriff's Dept. said for
the press: "Anybody who is brandishing a machete and a
crowbar in a public area needs to be taken seriously"

I agree. To do otherwise would be foolish. 

What the police officers did not take seriously was
the life of Abu Jeilani. To them he was just what
Roseanne referred to: a man swinging a machete and
crowbar.

They did not see him as a mother's son, a member of a
community, a woman's husband, a child's father, or
just a human being in need of consideration that is
not administerd through the barrel of a gun.

One person referred to the MPD as being
"trigger-happy". Another shot back "what need is there
for an investigation when that is the attitude."

Indeed! What need is there for an investigation when
we have a police chief who all but exonerates officers
while urging the public to withhold judgement before
all the facts are known?

The Mayor's announcement that the HCSD will undertake
an independent investigation is about as consoling as
Joe Duffy conducting a thorough investigation at City
Hall in Regulatory Services.

If past performance is any indication of the future, I
wouldn't hold my breath in expectation of a thorough
and unbiased investigation.

More importantly, there will be no meaningful reform
of police procedures, training, philosophy, reporting,
etc until citizens are able to participate on an equal
footing with politicians and police administrators in
setting policy.

If you accept the idea that you cannot understand what
its like to put your life on the line as a cop then it
must also be true in reverse for the cops.

They need to understand what it means to be stopped on
a daily basis for no reason other than the color of
your skin. They need to feel what it is like to be
made to lay face down on the pavement or told to sit
on a curb while you watch your car be towed away for
minor infractions.

It might not hurt for them to have the cuffs put on
REAL TIGHT and get yanked off the ground by the cuffs.

It might be helpful for lone officers, one by one, to
go into a setting where they are surrounded by eight
to sixteen people wielding guns and shouting commands
at them in a second language.

How to explain schizophrenia or manic depression? Is
talking about hearing voices that supercede anything
they might tell you make sense.

How do you explain the fact that every step and breath
you have taken is foreordained and has brought you to
this spot and you won't move for hell nor high water.

Would it change anything? 

If one held a machete or a toy gun or was in a slow
rolling car?

What scares me about this police department is that it
has the taste of blood in its mouth institutionally.

The Crisis Intervention Training is something foisted
on this Chief. He wanted this like he wanted a hole in
the head. That is not meant to diss the cops who have
taken the training. 

It's window-dressing to him. Public Relations. What he
wants is to buy a new hovercraft or full riot gear for
600 officers that sits in an armory when it might do
some good in a cop car's trunk on Chicago and Franklin
where a confused man might be saved.

We need new recruitment practices, new training, etc.
We need to start from the ground up and build a new
police force that reflects the community but first we 
need a vocal army of citizens who are sick of having
blood on their hands from shared silence and who will
speak for those who can speak no longer.

Tim Connolly
Citizen 



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[Mpls] Park Board decision

[timothy connolly]

My recent stroll down memory lane was not meant to be
a wholesale condemnation of the idea of contracting
out management of refreshment stands.

What troubles me is the trend over the past two
decades wherein we expect government to be money
making or at worst a breakeven proposition.

Ah, the legacy of the Reagan Revolution.

Many commented that the Park Board cannot be expected
to run a refreshment stand either efficiently or
profitably.

One person has mentioned the ridiculously low price
charged for a double scooped ice cream cone.

Hey! Portion control and food cost are not akin to
rocket science.

There may be something to be said for economies of
scale but you can bet if the MRPB is getting $200k out
of this deal the net profit is going to be a heck of a
lot more.

And maybe a company like Sebastian Joe's did not
respond because they are stretched as thin as they
care to be already but whose to say they might not
sell ice cream at wholesale as long as they could
regulate the retail price.

They may love it for no other reason than that it will
take the heat off their Linden Hills store and I guess
increase their market share rather painlessly.

Has MPRB employed professional restaurant management
type people to run these operations in the past.

DQ will.

Who knows? Maybe there are retirees who want to give
back to the community and we can keep down costs of
upper management.

There are a number of possibilities here.

I do also understand contracting out operations to a
private business.

No big deal. ASFCME and SEITU won't scream.

But if we are going to do this why don't we sell the
street paving concession to a company that only does
street paving.

We already have a consortium of waste haulers picking
up half our city trash. 

We could get Asplundh to trim all the trees for the
city and Park Board.

We contract with a private company to operate our
parking ramps and surface lots.

The possibilities are endless.

It could be like Robocop where the police had become a
private for profit company.

Government could become just a pass through agency
contracting for services.

We could probably condense City Hall into the Mayor's
office, City Council chambers, and purchasing. Maybe
rent some Class B office space, tear down this 112yr
old building, and...

Well, you get my point.

I don't know. Do you think I'm crazy?


Tim Connolly
Downtown

   

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[Mpls] Retraction and Apology

[timothy connolly]

This past weekend I suggested City Pages let Meleah
Maynard go for the reporting she had been doing on
Heritage Park.

I was wrong. 

Mr.Brauer challenged me publicly and accused me of
smearing City Pages.

Again I plead guilty.

The fact is that City Pages encouraged the reporting
on Heritage Park by Meleah Maynard and though it is
true she is no longer in their employ I think it would
be safe to say they miss the historical knowledge she
brought to the subject.

Mr. Brauer asked how I would feel if I were smeared.

I wrote to him off-line that I knew all too well the
feeling of a smear.

You do not go through two divorces and struggle with
manic depression for thirty years and not engender
some whispered untruths.

This past summer a list member wrote me off-list and
suggested I see a psychiatrist to treat my clinical
depression.

Prozac worked wonders for him he told me.

As happy as I was for him, I told him in no uncertain
terms that he was way out of line.

I think challenging a person's words or ideas as Mr.
Brauer did with me is acceptable.

To speak of one's physical characteristics whether it
be hearing ability or brain illness is legitimate if
that person is a candidate for office and those are
capacities one thinks are important as long as it is
done respectfully in a public setting.

To do otherwise is either misdirected concern at best
or malicious gossip at worst.

To run to the teacher is not much better in my book.

If someone should think I'm disruptive or behaving
poorly on this list that is why we have a List
Manager.

He does a good job.

Or one can make liberal use of the delete key. 

I'm certain many on this list do so already when my
name scrolls across the screen.

Tim Connolly
Downtown






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[Mpls] Losing a voice

[timothy connolly]

Speaking to a friend recently I came to find out that
Meleah Maynard had been fired by City Pages

This is unfortunate.

She was the media person most familiar with Heritage
Park.

I suspect this may have had something to do with
losing her job.

This project continues to emit a mighty fishy smell.

It has been a sinkhole of money.

Up until last summer this project was considered a
public project and was overseen by those citizens who
followed the Implementation Meetings.

The city handed over $10 million to McCormack/Baron
and in no time at all it became a private project.

There are some real heavyweights who would like to
drop a curtain around this project.

There are problems ahead. A work stoppage perhaps.

The folks in the community who like to motormouth are
finding fertile ground.

The city's Public Works Dept and private contractors
are not keeping their word about hiring practices. Are
we shocked?

Councilmember Johnson Lee was beating this drum all
summer and it is a good part of the reason she beat
the incumbent City Council President.

The former City Council President is one who would
like to drop that curtain. That is why her successor
found an empty file cabinet.

I'm non-plussed that it took until the end of Feb.,
nearly two months after Johnson Lee took office for
this story to come out to the public.

Meanwhile we have feel good stories about an outside
investigator finding no systemic corruption that he
could find in Regulatory Services.

On January 31st after Don Jorovsky had offered a link
to a Philadelphia Inquirer story about corruption, I
wrote in this forum that it was unfortunate that Joe
Duffy's purview was tightly circumscribed.

Former Councilmember Mead shot back that this was not
the truth and that Mr. Duffy had  a free hand to go
wherever the trail led him and that the constraint put
on him was the issue of money; i.e., that he check
back with the Council if he was approaching a certain
amount.

She said "Let's not handcuff the guy before he starts"

Mr. Duffy began his oral comments Monday by outlining
what the parameters were for his investigation. It was
pretty specific and very narrow.

I agree with Councilman Lilligren's comment in a Strib
article that he thought there was an overemphasis in
his Southside area.

I never had the feeling from what Mr.Duffy detailed
that he had covered the waterfront. 

I am not graced with the written report. I might think
otherwise if I could read it. I doubt it but one never
knows.

I believe there is a tendency to gloss over facts. You
have to read things carefully.

For instance; there was a story on page 2 of the Metro
Section of todays Strib about the light rail project.

The headline reads: "Audit shows light rail is running
below budget."

And yet near the end of the story we read this: 
"Thomas Donahue, an audit manager, said the auditor's
office was directed by the Legislature to provide a
'tracking' of light-rail costs and not an 'audit of
the cost'. Although the office did not find any
irregularities, he said, 'we did not apply any audit
test tosee if an [expenditure] was legal or not,or
appropriate." 

Small point perhaps though I think not.

Joe Duffy likewise was not empowered or expected to do
an audit of Regulatory Services. That was a parameter
of his investigation.

I don't mean to cast aspersions so much as to suggest
we look more closely at ways our government functions.

For instance: what happens when a job, say of soil
remediation in Heritage Park is put out for bid and
the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder but then
the contractor(s) comes back later and says they need
more money to complete the job. Presumably they have
found greater environmental damage? 

What if other contractors had taken those things into
consideration in their bid whereas the contractor who
received the contract had not though they expected the
job might entail more than they were letting on?

I know this is all hypothetical but I get concerned
when I see more money flowing through Ways and Means
for work on Heritage Park which was let out for bid
and awarded to a contractor late last summer.

I've wandered I know and I apologize for that.

The point I want to make is: there is a much greater
need for oversight especially on complex development
projects like Heritage Park and losing someone who has
historical knowledge, someone like Meleah Maynard is a
great loss.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

 



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[Mpls] Dairy Queen

[timothy connolly]

When I read about Dairy Queen being awarded a contract
to run the refreshment stands at Lakes Harriet and
Calhoun I shared the writer's consternation.

One more quaint amenity that differentiated our town
from all the others across America.

This is part and parcel of corporate dominance in our
society that leaves every town looking like the other
save for its geographic characteristics.

Put a USA TODAY newsrack right outside.

What drives this decision? 

Are we losing money?

Is the MPRB so hard up for money?

Is this some frustrated entrepreneurial urge of Walt
Dziedzic?

What role do ECCO, Linden Hills, and East Harriet
neighborhoods play in this decision?

I have many pleasant memories of the lakes. They were
like a private playground when i was growing up.

And some not so pleasant.

I was 12 when I saw my first dead body lying blue and
lifeless on the ground before lifeguards pushed us
away and the firetrucks arrived.

It was the coroner's attendant placing his foot on the
bag and pulling the strap tight for easy lifting that
sticks in my mind the most.

I must have purchased hundreds of boxes of popcorn and
thousands of slightly cold Coca-Colas in red cups at
Lake Calhoun.

The big treat though was finishing dinner in the
summertime to the suggestion from Mom or Dad that we
have taffy for dessert.

It had to be planned by them but they always made it
seem like it was a spontaneous thought.

We would go around the table and each person voiced
their preference for flavor.

When the choices were tallied, we decided who would
drive. I was too young to drive but I always said "Can
I come?"

It seemed like half my childhood I was saying "Can I
come?" The plight of being the youngest child of five.

Lake Harriet was beautiful on summer nights, the soft
yellow glow of the refreshment stand, the sky turning
pink, sailboats gently bobbing on the glassy surface
of the lake.

It was only the dawn of the jet age and air travel was
still something of which only the wealth and some
businessmen partook.
Planes were named not numbered: Stratocruisers and
Electras. They had props.

There were not the numbers of people there are now.
Fewer wheeled conveyances and fewer types. Everyone
fit on one sidewalk.

Lines for refreshments were shorter. No stressed out
arbitrageurs with cellphones to their ears, ignoring
their children.
 
Everyone was moving out of the city, raising kids in
Edina and St.Louis Park and way away in Bloomington?
Eden Prairie was still all farms.

We were the lucky ones whose parents stayed put in the
city.

Singles? What singles? There was no single subculture.

We didn't name generations with initials yet. We were
all baby boomers or adults.

These were special times for me and I would wish they
could be for other children. It will never be what it
was like but must it be like every other place in
America except for the lake. 

Does it have to be Dairy Queen? Was this put out for
bid? Who was sent RFP's?

What about signage?

What's next? Jamba Java over where the Creek flows out
of the lake?

Why doesn't the Park Board run it. Efficiently. 

Stop laughing!

I understand the impulse to outsource functions but I
think this is a bad idea.  

That and $1.85 will get you a single latte.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7


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[Mpls] (no subject)

[timothy connolly]

Just what we need: another article about affordable
housing.

Nevertheless, in the Business section of the Sunday
Strib there is a good essay by Doug Strandness.

Also: I was trying to recall where I had seen the
design feature everyone calls the "Bridge to Nowhere".

In the Sunday New York Times there is a photo of a
project Jean Nouvel worked on in Brooklyn. You'll see
a marked similarity.

The article by Herbert Muschamp that accompanies that
photo and others is a good read.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7

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[Mpls] wistful

[timothy connolly]

I spent an enjoyable part of yesterday viewing a show
at the Walker Art Center.

I am not sure of the show's name but it looked at the
period in American art just after WW2 through the
50's.

This was at a point in history when the center of the
art world was shifting to New York.

It made me positively wistful as I walked into ye olde
Central Library today.

This has not come on in a rush of exuberence though
today it was particularly poignant.

Some time ago a friend who lives in the Towers
Apts.(or are they condos now)said "I wish they would
keep the library we have right now and expand."

I thought her daft at the time; I had become so
accus-tomed to hearing nothing but criticism of the
library. I had chimed in as well on numerous
occasions.

I began to see the library more for the expression of
the culture at the time and less as a useless relic.

I am not Vladimir Horowitz oe even Paul Metsa and this
is not Carnegie Hall or the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre but
even so I will miss the look of this old place if not
its working parts.

I remember buying my first knives at a surplus store
across Hennepin and watching the building rise.

Though I recall the old library at Tenth & Hennepin
this is the place I've come to more frequently.

It has fulfilled a purpose in our community for 40
years and we ought not forget it when the wrecking
ball comes to do its duty.

Mourning would not be an inappropriate response to its
passing.

Tim Connolly
Downtown Resident and daily library user.


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[Mpls] Why not "porking up"?

[timothy connolly]

For those who may have missed the notice in the Metro
section of today's Strib, city officials are hoping to
beef up the arts and arts advocacy by urging citizens
to apply for the ten openings on the Arts Commission.

Here's a chance to step up to the plate and take a
seat at the table.

Maybe the advocates can do something about the use of
buzzwords and catchy phrases.

I suggest discounts on thesauri and dictionaries for
speechwriters, politicians. and reporters.

Deadline to apply for appointment is March 1, 2002 at
4:30pm.

Tim Connolly
Downtown, where you can end up paying 13% extra on a
bottle of beer.

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[Mpls] More Truth in Housing

[timothy connolly]

Councilmember Goodman was reported in the Strib as
saying that "real estate agents oppose the program in
part because of a backlog in inspections."

Why not add inspectors?

While we are at it we can eliminate some things that
Barbara Nelson and others may legitimately feel are
unnecessary.

Supposedly the program is revenue neutral. At least
the Mayor's office sees it that way according to their
handouts at Budget meetings.

If it's not revenue neutral, make it.

It is not as though the city doesn't spend big sums of
money inspecting restaurants, groceries, outdoor hot
dog stands that are not offset by license revenues.

The License Department just underwent a major change
to the fees it charges food establishments. Even then
the money they will receive will not cover costs and
they hope to garner enough revenue through fines to
pay their way.

Moreto the point, why aren't Truth in Housing
inspections seen as basic city services just as food
inspections are?

Perhaps we should do away with restaurant and grocery
inspection and rely instead on media food critics or
suggest to people that we cannot save them from the
foolish mistake of eating at say, The Loring Cafe,
where cosmetics are everything.

Should we say to those poisoned by salmonella: "Tough
luck, you should have known better."

Or how about we eliminate the Inspectors who cruise 
alleys citing homeowners for overgrown bushes that as
far as I can tell present no hazard except to refuse
workers hanging off the back of their trucks.

I'm all for that!

There were a couple developers around town years ago
who went by the names Benson and Mecay.

They restored historic buildings like Lumber Exchange,
Bellevue Hotel, and the Calhoun Beach Club. They
turned grain elevators into condos.

The problem with Benson and Mecay was that just about
every job they worked on either leaked water or in the
case of the Bellevue had so little insulation that the
condo owners shivered through the winters and couldn't
afford to pay astronomical heat bills.

They were pre-Truth in Housing.

They left a great number of well heeled and seemingly
sophisticated buyers queueing up in court to sue them
while they were headed to bankruptcy court.

I could go on. But the library is about to close, it's
Friday evening and believe it or not I do have a life!

Cheers!
Have a nice weekend.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



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[Mpls] City Budget battles

[timothy connolly]

It's getting right down to the nitty gritty in budget
talks.

The Mayor is eliminating more than just the Civilian
Review Authority.

The Office of Cultural Affairs is toast. That should
please all those who didn't like it anyway.

There is in a major fight over the Truth in Housing
program.

Joe Biernat is fighting hard to save it and the Mayor
wants to end it.

By coincidence he had planned a presentation on this
program in the next day's PS/RS meeting. He urged the
Mayor to attend.

The Mayor was unable to attend the next day meeting
being busy at the State Capitol but he did send Mr.
Takeshita from his office to take notes. Apparently
they were unimpressed. As of this morning the program
was still on the chopping block and Joe was hopping
mad.

When the Mayor sprung his budget suggestions Tuesday
before Ways and Means/Budget, Joe Biernat, who
authored this law, challenged the wisdom of cutting
the program.

I recall him saying "as much as the lakes and parks
and parkways were amenities in this city, the greatest
amenity we possess is our housing stock".

He sees Truth in Housing as instrumental to maintain
that stock.

When Joe introduced this idea he must have received
hate mail from his brother and sister realtors. Having
been a realtor at one time I suspect he was viewed by
many as a turncoat.

To his credit he saw a need for such legislation and
fought hard for it.

He sees this as a consumer protection program.

The Mayor says the program is duplicative of services
that already exist yet he has not come forward with
anything to document that.

This program may be less important in parts of town
where the median income and house prices are greatest.

Presumably these homes are better maintained and less
in need of government intervention.

The same may not be true in other parts of the city
where the housing stock may be poorly maintained and
in need of repair.

These inspections are the only time the city gets a
look and with this law they can mandate repairs be
made. By either buyer OR seller per their agreement.

Prior to this the Inspections Dept. testifies they saw
the same problems in the same houses year after year
only progressively worsening.

The program also helps shield less sophisticated home
buyers from predatory practices.

This is a hot button issue in real estate and I am
certain to get some heatbut,

I'm with Joe on this. I think it is good legislation
and is in the best interests of all citizens of the
city even if it inconveniences some realtors.

To wit, I recall listed contributions from realtors in
the Mayor's most recent disclosure forms.

Is this another inconsistency in the Mayor's previous
statements?

Tim Connolly
Ward 7 

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[Mpls] Ace Hardware

[timothy connolly]

On Monday, the Planning Commission approved the zoning
upgrade for Nicollet Ace Hardware's proposed parking
lot.

Our esteemed Moderator made a eloquent pitch for the
upgrade as President of Kingfield Assn.

I followed the thread about this project.

The committee struggled with the decision. It wasn't
that they were not sensitive to the needs of the Ace
Hardware owners. They just are leery of upgrading the
zoning, in this case from R2 to C2.

In the end Chairwoman Martin broke a tie and approved
the new zoning.

What weighed heavily in her mind was the absence of
neighborhood opposition to the change.

Indeed, all who spoke at the public hearing told of
the importance of the business to the neighborhood and
their quality of life. 

The only problem that remains is the structures on the
property.

The hope is that land can be found and the houses can
be moved.

Lyndale neighborhood was mentioned as a possible area
because the homes will become more reasonably priced
than if they were in Kingfield.

This might come as a surprise to the City Assessor.

When an old friend of mine appealed the decision of
the Assessor to increase the Market Value of her house
she was told categorically that it had nothing to do
with the neighborhood but only with the house itself.

Of course we knew that was a lie. It was the former
administration's way of raising taxes without raising
taxes.

The other factor that affects the cost of the houses
is the possibility they can be sited on land that is
held in trust.

I don't want to reopen the land trust discussion.

I would point out though the existence of community
gardens and that those may be perfect sites for just
these sorts of contingencies.

During the life of the last City Council, the ceding
to the neighborhoods of the sort of informal gardens
that had sprung up around some areas of town where the
bulldozers had been active make this a possibility.

I had real concerns when I saw this legislation in the
City Council. I saw these gardens as buildable lots 
taken out of circulation.

On a walk today I happened to notice such a garden on
the 3500 block of Grand close to 36th Street.

I don't know if this is a possible site being looked
at but it seemed made for one of the homes. 

It's close enough that it would be a short night ride
from 38th and Nicollet to 36th and Grand.

Speed is of the essence at this point in time.

Good luck to Kingfield which is committing energy and
money to make this happen.

This could be a great story and an endorsement, by me
at least, of the NRP.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7  

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[Mpls] Steve Berg's trip to Salt Lake City

[timothy connolly]

The picture Steve Berg paints of Salt Lake City and
LRT is too simplistic as he relates it to Minneapolis.


Often I think Minneapolis is building LRT because it
is the thing to do or the money is there rather than
it makes sense given our particular needs.

I say Minneapolis but I mean more so Minneapolis AND
Hennepin County for that is who I see driving the LRT
bandwagon.

Each city is unique despite the attempts of developers
and giant corporations to standardize.

Salt Lake City is primarily linear from north to south
with mountains as a barrier to the east.

Denver is similar to Salt Lake City in those respects
except the mountains are westward.

Whereas Salt Lake City area ranks 46th in population
and covers 4,190 sq. kilometers Minneapolis-St.Paul
ranks 13th in population and covers 15,709 sq.
kilometers.

Phoenix which is mentioned as another city looking at
LRT is 12th in population but covers approximately
38,000 sq. kilometers.

We're larger than both the Seattle and Portland areas,
two cities mentioned as examples we should follow on
the LRT track.  

As a development tool and a way to increase the tax
base of Minneapolis, LRT will be successful but as a
boon to suburban commuters, and hence the entire area
relative to air pollution, it will be a bust.

Minneapolis and its contribution to the decline of the
environment is the least of our problems and yet that
is where we are turning our transportation attention.

The greatest problems we face are in suburban areas
That is where you are most likely to find two and
three car families and the need for them, given
development patterns, distances, their densities of
population and the prevalence of children requiring
chauffeurs.

Interestingly enough, yesterday I saw a young mother
and an adolescent the spitting image of her catching
the bus with her bicycle to ride thirteen blocks on
Hennepin Avenue from Uptown to Downtown.

I'm guessing that is not a sight you'll soon see in
the suburbs.

Mind you, please, I am not trying to bash suburbs or
suburbanites. I am stating fact, I hope. Nor am I
trying to bash Minneapolis.

We have problems, conditions and factors here that are
specific to Minneapolis-St.Paul not the least of which
is two distinct downtowns of signifigant size.

We need solutions for our specific area and though LRT
systems in Salt Lake City, Seattle and other places
may fit their needs I'm not so sure they are of value
overall for our area.

And we need to bring outstate and suburban legislators
into debate and listen to there opinions. They have an
interest in the continued well-being of the metro area
and perspective we need.

Tim Connolly
Downtown Minneapolis
Ward 7 



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[Mpls] Donald Watkins reply to Souhan's articles in Strib

[timothy connolly]

I was happy to see Mr. Watkin's response to the recent
front page articles in the Strib on yesterday's op-ed
page.

The articles have made me queasy.

Someone somewhere suggested that nobody wrote stories
in a similar vein when a certain fast talking Texan
came to town to buy the Vikings.

If I am not mistaken, these stories in the Strib have
come after MLB has vetted Mr.Watkins and given him the
go ahead to talk to Carl Pohlad.

Unless MLB thinks it would be good to have a public
relations fiasco(not out of the realm of possibility
given the reign of Bud Selig) when it is revealed Mr.
Watkins does not have the do-re-mi to buy the Twins
and move on building a stadium, it seems out of place
to write such stories.

It has almost seemed like there is incredulity that a
black man can have so much money. And that if he does
have it, at least part of it came to him questionably
by association with the similarly black former Mayor
of Birmingham and other sources the Strib found to be
questionable.

I am not suggesting that the Strib is not justified,
indeed it is almost required as part of its civic
duty, in doing due diligence on Mr. Watkins.

If Mr.Watkins response is accurate it appears they may
not have been as diligent as they could have been.

One could argue that in a time when we witness the
collapse of the 7th largest U.S. corporation which
each day looks more and more like a giant ponzi scheme
that we ought to scrutinize Mr.Watkins.

I don't think the two cases are similar. 

Mr.Watkins is not asking for money at this point nor
is he offering stock and all we as a municipality have
to lose should this deal not pan out is some emotional
investment. 

Given the prevailing mood in Minneapolis I don't see
the emotional investment as being very great.

At this point we are talking about a purely private
business transaction between two people on opposite
sides of a deal.

Mr.Watkins will be the big loser if he turns out to be
a poseur as some seem to think he is already.

My best guess is that this deal will not come down. It
won't be because Donald Watkins doesn't have the cash
or the desire. 

It will be that Carl Pohlad's price will be too high.

There is a world of difference between the $99 million
Forbes magazine values the team at, a logical point
from which Mr. Watkins would start negotiating, and
the $150 million or up that Mr.Pohlad hopes to get
from a buyer or the reported number he will receive
from MLB in proposed contraction plans.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope Donald Watkins buys the
Twins.

And if I were Mr. Watkins I would be looking to build
my stadium east of the river where the Mayor says he's
inclined to take the man at face value and explore the
possibilities.

He might also look to St.Paul where the Mayor wants to
rename a major street after Martin Luther King instead
of Minneapolis where the Mayor chooses to cut office
expense by letting go of the only black on his staff.

Play ball!

Tim Connolly
Downtown Minneapolis



 

   


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[Mpls] city council coverage

[timothy connolly]

For those with an interest the Minnesota Daily ran a
front page report on Tuesday of the City Council Ways
and Means/Budget committee held on Monday.

Also on the front page, reporter Shira Kantor filed a
report on Hidden Beach and the resident's meeting that
took place Monday evening.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7 

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[Mpls] Barbara Flanagan's monthly column

[timothy connolly]

Ms Flanagan states in her most recent Strib column in
the section titled "A Happier Hennepin":

"Hennepin also will have more skyways--it now has just
one,near 8th Street--and that's important. It will be
possible,for example,to walk through Block E to the
Target Center."

In the next paragraph she states: "now I love the idea
of big bright signs on Hennepin. Put them everywhere
and anywhere. It's where billboards belong."

I'm with her on the idea of big bright signs. NEON!

I wish the Planning Department or someone at City Hall
would check off on some of the signs. The Michelob
sign at 5th and Hennepin is a might poor excuse for a
neon billboard.

Lest I start sounding like Ms Flanagan talking about a
carousel I wish someday we could find a way to light
the Grain Belt sign.

There's a similar sign in Portland by the Willamette
River that knocks your socks off.  

I feel differently about skyways.

I recognize their utility but they destroy sightlines
and work against the positive impression signs have on
the avenue.

The Eighth Street skyway from Carmichael-Lynch across
Hennepin to LaSalle Plaza will minimize the effect of
a restored Pantages Theatre marquee approaching from
the west.

Already it messes with the Orpheum and State Theatre
marquees

If someone were to go forward with the suggestion for
a sign atop the skyway it would further occlude a view
of the marquee.
 
Another consideration is the effect skyways could have
on street life.

While they insulate us from the ill weather they also
insulate against the reality of the street.

If others are anything like me, they tend to look to
their forward path crossing skyways, more interested
in people approaching them than on anything below on
the street.

This used to take place on the street. It worked to
create a greater sense of safety on the street that is
lost with the advent of skyways.

I also see skyways as further stratifying society on
socio-economic levels with poor, mostly urban people
dependent on public transit at street level and those
with the wherewithal to own a SUV, more often than
not, suburbanites, at skyway level.

This is by no means hard and fast as a rule but it is
there to a large degree nonetheless

I can imagine that if there comes a skyway connection
from the northside parking ramps through Target Center
into Block E and across Hennepin into City Center the
street will suffer.

Lyon's Pub, Murray's, Pickled Parrot, Gluek's, Lone
Star Grill, etc will have fewer pedestrians walking
past their windows and soon we will start seeing empty
storefronts or the blank walls of office buildings
we've come to see on other downtown streets.

I wish we could have one street downtown skyway free.

Hennepin Avenue! 

Tim Connolly
Downtown Resident
Ward 7
 




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[Mpls] Re: RE: Strib story on Rybak contributionreport

[timothy connolly]

Laura Sether was right in correcting the Strib for
what was a pretty bonehead report on a contribution by
Gerald Vanamerougen(sp?).It was $500.

There were are a number of items i found interesting
that never made it to the Strib report.

Mention was made of a $250 contribution from Carland
of CSM but there was no mention of a $250 contribution
from Gary Holmes, principal player of CSM.

Gregory Luce from this forum has repeatedly spoken of 
the appearance at the very least of a conflict of
interest vis a vis MCDA, NRP, and Jim Graham of
Ventura Village. Jim Graham contributed $400 to the
Mayor's campaign.

It was difficult at times to know exactly what I was
looking at.

There were 77 contributions where there was no info on
occupations of contributors. Instead there was "Info
Reguested" next to the donor's name.

Some I could figure out.

Stuart Ackerberg is a developer.

There was a contribution from someone with BDC
Management which if I am not mistaken is the property
management arm of Brighton Development, a major player
on the development scene for the past 25 years or so.

There was an attorney whose name I recognize who gave
$500. His main thing is being a lobbyist for various
and sundry interests.

I seem to recall him having employed by Time Warner
Cable in that capacity or perhaps it was some company
hoping to compete for cable business.

None of this is earth shattering news and would not
merit mention except for campaign promises from the
Mayor and the bludgeoning he gave the former Mayor.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7  

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[Mpls] Re: Investigations

[timothy connolly]

I appreciate Dore Mead correcting my erroneous belief
Mr.Duffy was only to look at Inspections/Licenses.

It was not my intention to tie anyone's hands.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



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[Mpls] investigations

[timothy connolly]

I want to thank Don Jorovsky for the link to the
Philadelphia Inquirer article from January 28.

Something that bothered me no end at the time of Brian
Herron's indictment and plea of guilty and revelations
of alleged bribes paid by Basim Sabri was the
sanctimonious and smug  attitude of Minneapolis
residents who flooded the media, including this forum,
with statements like "at least we are not as bad as
Chicago."

How do we know? 

What does that statement even mean except to release
us from the responsibility to look at our municipal
selves in the mirror. 

We seem to accept on faith the fact of clean hands at
City Hall when history and empirical knowledge of
man's behaviour would lead us to different
conclusions.

I was disappointed when Joe Duffy was picked as an
investigator and his territory was circumscribed to
just the Inspections/License Department.

Perhaps it is true there is less corruption in MPLS.
than in CHICAGO or PHILLY or L.A. but I'm always just
a wee bit leery of those who profess their innocence
so forthrightly.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



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[Mpls] North vs South

[timothy connolly]

Like a number of others I attended the last meeting of
the Implementation Committee. 

I stayed through the two votes. 

I've been to a number of these meetings, presentations
by architects, an afternoon with two architects from
Architectural Alliance and more.

I have also read some background information going
back to 1989 when this process began.

There are some concerns I have and some history behind
this process that may be germane.

I believe in the importance of this new library as a
civic statement.

Having said that, a concern of mine for some time is
the expectations we may have for this building.

Minneapolis has a well documented predilection for
tearing down buildings. One of those buildings was the
library farther south on Hennepin that preceded the
one we have presently.

I like to think I have a reasonable aesthetic sense. I
think high expectations are good. I am also practical.

I fear we may try to make up for all the sins of the
past with this one step. 

If the decision of the Implementation Committee is to
build on the south block, it is not unreasonable to
put expectations on the developer of the north block
for residential housing.

During the recent mayoral campaign, Lisa McDonald,
again and again, iterated the philosophy of Richard
Riley, Mayor of Savannah.

In essence, it was a guiding philosophy of his that no
thing that was not beautiful would be built in the
city.

Lisa says it much better than I.

One thing that should come out of this is some way to
insure we don't let junk be built in the city.

We have all manner of zoning regulation, too many or
wrong, some believe and I cannot entirely disagree. If
we can do that why not go one step further.

Of course then we get into subjectivity. All the same
I believe this thought may have merit.

Now I will segue into some historical info.

In 1993 a blue ribbon commission did a site analysis
of nearly a dozen downtown locations. Not that this
commission is necessarily the final or best arbiter of
these matters but when they ranked blocks the south
block was tied with the Powers block as the third most
desirable site behind the Physicians & Surgeons block
and the Ritz block. The north block was ranked seventh
of the final eight.

The deliberations of the '93 committee were guided by
previous studies in 1989 and '92 done by Ellerbe
Beckett, Faegre and Benson, etc.

As far as I can tell there were no members of library
staff on that board. I am not certain as to Library
Board members though I did not see any I recognized as
office holders.

There were representatives of the Planning Dept and
MCDA.

The committee looked at a number of  16 factors from
to library mission, to function and civic image. They
gave different weights to all the factors. 

The south block was preferred over the north block in
every category but two and those had a weight of one
out of a possible four.

The north block outranked the south block in access to
LRT by a slight margin. This leads me to believe that
at that time Washington Av was seen as a likely LRT
corridor.

Their has been an attempt I think to denigrate the
opinions of the staff and the Library Board by subtly,
and not so subtly, implying they are inflexible.

I think that may be a bad rap.

Not all of the ideas put forth by the staff and Board
are entirely theirs.

They conducted focus groups, they interviewed users of
the library, and they applied their collective years
of experience in Library Science, an actual honest to
g-d professional field, just like architecture.

Furthermore every member of the Library Board resides
in the city of Minneapolis and only if one were deaf,
dumb, and blind could one not be aware of preservation
issues and the desire to create a grand civic
building.

Honestly, I believe they probably have an even greater
desire than some others in seeing this library be a
great building. This is the culmination of 13 years of
study, dashed hopes and false starts.

And just as the blue ribbon committee of 1993 weighed
different factors I think we dishonor staff by not
giving their opinions greater weight.

I am one who argued strenuously for a north block site
in a Saturday afternoon meeting with architects from
Architectural Alliance. I walked into the meeting on
Wednesday thinking north block. 

When the meeting was over I was not so sure anymore. I
had come to see how much my previous opinion had been
guided by emotion rather than reason.

I understand well the desire to be on the north block.
Undoubtedly it will be a more visible location. There
is a theory of building though that suggest that the
partially obscured or sometime observed site affords
greater enjoyment.

I love the river. I think the idea of a view would be
great from the north block but i seriously wonder how
much of a view there will be. 

Right now from the second floor of the library you are
only at mid tree level in the leafless winter. You
would need to be on the fourth floor to see over the
trees acr

[Mpls] Can the thermometer be far behind?

[timothy connolly]

Yesterday in the Rotunda at City Hall the Mayor held
up a wooden box and implored city workers to stuff it
with their budget suggestions. 

She quoted him as saying "you know better than we do
what we should be doing to take these actions."

Then the Mayor announced that independent councilman
Barret Lane would lead his task force on long term
financial reform.

Presumably Councilman Lane was given the key to the
box and one of his duties will be to empty it daily
and chortle over the missives.

How long will this City Council allow themselves to be
a backdrop for the Mayor. Perhaps this is a topic for
discussion in their next get-together with the Mayor's
handpicked facilitator.

The reporter for the Strib actually used 'implore' to
characterize the Mayor's calling-to-arms to the 150
city employees attending.

Either the editors at the Strib really detest this guy
or his performance was mighty dismal. I'm guessing it
was some of both.

So much for symbols.

Tim Connolly
Ward 7



 








 


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[Mpls] Can the thermometer be far behind?

[timothy connolly]

 
 

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[Mpls] Chief Olson

[timothy connolly]

It was just last year about this time that the Chief's
reappointment to another three year term was before
the City Council.

We drew a mighty large crowd for the public hearing
before PS&RS committee of the City Council.

I was in the opposition camp at the time. Right now I
feel a little like Gary Schiff who was quoted in the
Strib as saying he was against any contract buyout. 

I've read Peter Dodge's reasons for wanting the Chief
out and I cannot say I disagree with any of them. I
would add to that list, and in the same vein, Chief
Olson's over-reaction to ISAG.

As much as I've studied the police force in the past
1&1/2 years I'm still not sure I entirely understand
CODEFOR.

The Chief likes to say it really is no different in
many ways from what police have always done but that
now the data is computerized and fresh and easily
understandable whereas before it was more like putting
pins in a map.

That's only part of the story though. What in effect
happens is that by picking up trends more quickly the
police are able to flood a particular area with more
manpower.

Sometimes we're talking about some mighty small areas
so that the concentration is proportionataly greater
than residents had been used to seeing.

This stategy also makes it much easier for police to
converge on crime scenes and if necessary institute
searches or chases which seem to invariably go awry.

The former Mayor would point to the crime stats over
the past six years(during the Chief Olson's tenure)
and say "See how good we are doing." 

It's pretty hard to judge the success or failure. The
stats relate the incidence of crime from one period of
time to another so to some degree you are comparing
apples to oranges.

A better comparison would be(have been)the incidence
of crime in similar neighborhoods at the same time,
one utilizing CODEFOR, the other using the old style.
Then we might have better data to inform our decision
of the Chief's crime fighting capabilities aside from
the issues Peter Dodge raises.

Another factor rarely mentioned is the growth of the
force between 1994-2000. Remember Clinton Cops for
which we are now paying full freight. More cops on the
street ought to have translated into lowered crime and
better performance one would think.

Ought to have. in some cases it just meant more cops
with little experience stumbling over each other as
they did on June 12, 2000.   

My opposition to the Chief really started after the
shooting of Barbara Schneider and as much as anything
spurred me to run for Mayor though I had no idea what
that meant in practical terms. I was to find out.

What I heard from the Chief were excuses. At one point
he was quoted by a reporter as saying about crisis
intervention training, "I had it in my mind at the
time" referring to the event of Barbara's shooting.

Well this was not the first instance the police had
tragic encounters with the brain diseased. Seven
months before Rocco D'Andrea was shot by police near
the Metrodome when it was believed he was brandishing
a real gun rather than a toy.

And subsequently another death, this one of Abuka
Sanders had to happen before the Chief finally got the
idea out of his mind, on to paper, and into action.

This was unprofessional and irresponsible and it made
me angry that here was a guy under whose watch the pay
for Chief had risen dramatically based upon his past
experience as professional and all I heard was whining
and excuses.

Another upshot of this was the toll it took on police
officers individually and as a force. Any supervisor
who puts their charge to work without proper training
and preparation does not deserve their job. 

In the end though I think the failure was at a higher
level and may not have been something that could have
been avoided.

Ultimately the performance of the Chief and for that
matter the entire force rests primarily on the Mayor's
shoulders and I don't think the Mayor had a chance
with the force.

The police do not like seeing any Mayor go outside the
existing force for a Chief.  Bouza made it tough for
Fraser I suspect and Olson made it tough for SSB. I
remember one of the things that former Mayor Fraser
said was that he approved of SSB because she had kept
the force out of the political mix.

At least I think I recall him having put it that way.

John Derus might have pulled off appointing Olson but
not SSB.

I don't think the force, and by the force I mean the
Police Federation, saw SSB as the Leader and as such
never really bought into the Chief as a leader the way
you would have liked and expected. Neither the Mayor
nor Olson seemed to have had sway over the Federation.

Of course I'm not in the culture so much of this is
speculative and opinion.

As to whether or not to force the Chief out and pony
up a couple hundred thou I think it's too early to
make that sort of decision. 

One of the comments I heard at the time of the hearing
vis a vis the perceived problems the community had
with the Chief was that ther

[Mpls] nomenclature

[timothy connolly]

Back in '78-'79 I was working for a local company that
was expanding into another city.

As the expansion took place, further investors came on
board, and everything became bollocksed.

It was decided that there was a need for a level of
organization and authority above the separate units.

The principals got together and hired a guy whose main
attribute as far as I could tell was that he played a
good game of golf and that he dreamed big dreams even
if he had no practical experience or knowledge of the
business.

His first accomplishment was hiring a secretary and
naming the new company. 

The name of the company was Courier Dispatch. Mind
you, this was 1978 and most people in Minneapolis or
Atlanta had never heard the word courier.

To them, what we did was what Ol' Jake did.

People would ask me what I did and I would say "I'm a
courier" or "I work for a courier company".

Invariably they would say "What's that? You say you're
a furrier."

You could see the problems we had establishing brand
identity.

Well while I was struggling to explain the concept of
what we were and what we could accomplish, the new guy
was taking a couple months coming up with the new
name.

Try this out. Courier Dispatch Group. Printed out on
stationary and cards they added a word. "THE". Cool
huh!

All of a sudden I felt like I had joined the RAF.

What a schmuck!

My point is this. The Mayor cautioned against reading
too much into David Fey's title as Deputy Mayor( not
Deputy to the Mayor which is allowed by City
Charter)but he wanted to send the message that "this
person is administering the office, but also is key
architect of policy".

Now we're going to have a lead administrative aide. Is
the lead administrative aide then Chief of Staff meant
to replace the Chief of Staff who became Deputy Mayor?

I'm trying not to read too much into the titles of the
Mayors staff. I'm trying not to ask why salaries in
the Mayor's office need to be unilaterally modified.

I'm having trouble reading too little into the title
and the function of Mayor when I see the Deputy Mayor
negotiated employment contracts and when caught in a
blunder said to a reporter, "While it looks like it
may still be possible, this may be a much more
political process than I had imagined."

It's all politics. 

That's not necessarily bad.

Welcome to the Big Leagues!

Tim Connolly
Ward 7
Former Furrier
 

 


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