Lisa ask another astute, perceptive question: "Why is it the cuts are mostly in fire, police and public works (which have been cut so much in the last eight years they squeak)?" And, as Jim Mork says, "But I'll tell you one thing: The 'constituent service' that matters most to me is fire and police. If the council keeps all its members but the MFD and MPD lose theirs, then I'm losing the service I DO want just to keep the one I DON'T want." The first thing cut in Oregon's similar budget problem was state police, sending a signal to the cities and towns. The perception is that it is to purposefully endanger the voter so s/he will vote more taxes (the last attempt to raise them failed earlier this year) if safety is first out but, with new taxes, first back. I remember in the early 90s living in Fridley being told an Anoka school district tried that tactic earlier in their budget battles (in their case sacrificing the kids).
The Black Police Association, and their spokesman Ron Edwards (about which Ron speaks in his book The Minneapolis Story, Through My Eyes), met Thursday night with the Urban League to strategize how to address this and more significantly, how to sue to stop it if the "solution" is to fire Black police officers. Why? Because there is something else far worse that is also afoot: it won't just be police that are laid off but Black police. For liberals, this is bad as it hurts "diversity" (who would sacrifice quality for quantity for their political position), whereas for conservatives who don't like "quotas" this is good (who would sacrifice safety for their political position). Making Black police the first to go is wrong on many levels. People in rural areas carry their own guns. People in cities with gun control laws pass such laws as they pay public servants, the police, to carry their guns for them. Cutting the police is cutting public safety. The Governor has warned against cutting police and fire. Why is Minneapolis cutting police and fire? The other issue is the number of Blacks on the police force. The issue is not diversity or quotas but community. The reason that the police force (and fire) should be one quarter Black is not because this meets some mythical sense of diversity by proportionality (the liberal perspective) or is bad because it is a quota system (the conservative perspective), but because it would support the foundational point of citizenship: that our city workers are citizen-workers reflective of their community. A community implodes when it solves the problems at the expense of its safety (police and fire), water and sewers (public works) and raising up the next generation (education). Unlike many nations, we are a nation of participating, voting citizens. We have citizen police and citizen council members and citizen teachers and citizen public works persons providing us with water and sewers and roads. All participate in the political process. The public is best served when citizen government reflects the citizens it serves. A jury of peers may seem different than a neighborhood of citizen city workers but it is not: all need to be filled with peers if citizenship is to work. This is why citizens of each neighborhood are served best when the citizen police, citizen firemen, and citizen public works workers reflect all the citizens of the city, not just the White citizens. When non-Whites are not members of these citizen groups as the Whites are, we are saying that they are not really citizens and that we don't want them to participate or have equal access or opportunity as citizens. This is discrimination not only against non-Whites, it is discriminating against the concept of citizenship itself and against the most basic of American freedoms: to be ruled not by rulers but by fellow citizens. The plan to fire Black police to save the budget is an attack on the concept of citizenship for Blacks in the Minneapolis polis, and is to be avoided for both the current and future good of the city. Thus, politicos are also citizens. Look at the word Minneapolis. It ends with "polis," which is the Greek word for city. From this comes the word "politikos" which means member of a city or a citizen. But it is more: it is also the root word for police and for policy. We are a republic and not an empire because every city and town is ruled by the polis, the citizens. The contemplated policy/polis of laying off Black police/polis, is to deny our responsibility of citizenship, and it is citizenship that is the prerequisite for self-government. Part of those citizens are Black. What a shame it will be if they have to resort to suing the city for the right to be citizens, something all Whites take for granted. But if sue they must, then sue they should, for no city should be allowed to take away a groups' citizenship on the basis of color, which this would be, a group which is already woefully underrepresented by Blacks that make up part of the citizen base of the city. Not appropriately including all groups is to deny their citizenship, an overt act of discrimination. Therefore, do not lay off citizen police, citizen fire fighters, citizen public works workers, or citizen council members. Do not take the wheels off of the government bus. Peter Jessen, Portland -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lisa McDonald Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 2:15 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Cutting size of the City Council I guess I'm wondering why we're not hearing about cuts in finance, inspections, the Civil Rights Department (a totally duplicative function that the state currently has),ITS and a shift in CDBG from small grant programs to funding certain public service functions in targeted neighborhoods (trust me this can be done and has been done in the past). Why is it the cuts are mostly in fire, police and public works (which has been cut so much in the last eight years they squeak). Is this a political ploy since they think this will make citizens complain to the state or is it just the easiest cuts to make. Also how come this administration (which bills itself as throwing the doors open at City Hall" hasn't had any public hearings on what the citizens would like to see cut. The School Board has done an excellent job of surveying their constitutents, on just this point, in their last two budget cuts. Lisa McDonald East Harriet >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [Mpls] Cutting size of the City Council >Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 10:07:38 EST > >I'll just on this band wagon in a minute. As I look at how the City is >proposing to meet the challenges of the cuts in LGA all I can see is "same >old, same old." Threaten to cut police, fire, and maybe even remove stop > _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
