Re: [Mpls] Electing city DFL delegates the same year as the
I'm happy to hear my DFL brothers sisters in the Mill City are making progress on the same year precinct caucus constitutional ammendent. However be careful what you wish for! This change has been attempted a number of times in Mpls and always gets shot done. The present system favors incumbents and makes uprisings harder to organize. The people seating in the delegate seats and voting on the ammendment at this years city convention will be people who are supportive and beholden to the present city power structure to a certain degree. That doesn't mean it can pass, it just means it is going to take an organized effort. In the Saintly City there is still a lot of debate about reforming our caucus/convention process and even though we elect city delegates in odd numbered years to paraphrase Yogi Berra, if people don't want to come to the precinct caucuses nobody's gonna stop them. ;-) This year the City of St. Paul DFL has really outdone itself by combining the caucus / convention meeting and holding them on the same day, and moving that day from March to one of three days in April, Tuesday the 17th, Saturday the 21st or Sunday 22nd. The "official" reasoning for this change was that it would increase participation by reducing the level of time commitment needed to participate. I'm still one very sceptical old guard DFL'er that believes we never should have combined the caucus convention meetings or moved the date but I'm currently in the minoirty over here on this issue. So, as you prepare to advocate for the change, be prepared to address some of these issues. Will the caucus and convention meetings be on the same day or be held on different dates. Who will decide the dates, Ward organizations or the city organization? What will the dates be, March, April or later? Dennis Hill Ward 2 DFL Co-coordinator St. Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/23/01 11:51AM This is a brief update for those who are interested in this issue. My motion to consider at the City DFL Convention an amendment to the City DFL Constitution providing for odd year caucuses passed at the City DFL CentralC ommittee meeting last night. Amendments to the constitution will be considered under "other business" which will provide for discussion of andv oting on the amendment while ballots are being counted in the Mayoral race. Hopefully, this will assure that a quorum is maintained for consideration of the amendment. Scott Benson Chair, 5th Congressional District DFL ** This e-mail and its attachments have been scanned for viruses. NDIS/ADCS University of Minnesota **
Re: [Mpls] Electing city DFL delegates the same year as the
I would certainly oppose a mail-in or online vote for endorsement. This would undercut the speeches, question-and-answer periods, seconding speeches by people I know, discussion with other delegates, and the rest of the personal interaction that goes on in a caucus endorsement system. Delegates at these events learn a lot about the candidates there, and I think it helps them make better decisions. This personal interaction of the caucus endorsement system, vs. the TV sound bites of a primary system, is the main reason I support a caucus endorsement system. I think allowing mail-in or online voting would just make this into an in-party primary system. If you want that, just join all the news media in trying to kill the caucus system and go directly to a primary system. (Note that they all would make money off a straight primary system.) Why not a city-wide mail-in/online vote from party members for endorsement? You could add in ranking per the fairvote people. Everyone from the past precinct caucus could vote and you could add an additional party membership process for others. The process would actually build the local party instead of narrowing the window for paticipation. Steven Clift Carag Resident
Re: [Mpls] Electing city DFL delegates the same year as the
I would certainly oppose a mail-in or online vote for endorsement. This would undercut the speeches, question-and-answer periods, seconding speeches by people I know, discussion with other delegates, and the rest of the personal interaction that goes on in a caucus endorsement system. Delegates at these events learn a lot about the candidates there, and I think it helps them make better decisions. This personal interaction of the caucus endorsement system, vs. the TV sound bites of a primary system, is the main reason I support a caucus endorsement system. I think allowing mail-in or online voting would just make this into an in-party primary system. If you want that, just join all the news media in trying to kill the caucus system and go directly to a primary system. (Note that they all would make money off a straight primary system.) Tim Bonham, Ward 12 Why not a city-wide mail-in/online vote from party members for endorsement? You could add in ranking per the fairvote people. Everyone from the past precinct caucus could vote and you could add an additional party membership process for others. The process would actually build the local party instead of narrowing the window for paticipation. Steven Clift Carag Resident
RE: Ventura tax reform Mpls. schools
As a school board member, resident of Minneapolis and mother of 2 school children, I have some concerns over this proposal. The tax change Ventura is proposing is a shallow tax and is subject much more to the whims of the economy. Property taxes tend to be more stable as housing stock is not as subject to great swings as sales and income tax. If the economy goes on a larger downturn, and it will (history bears this point out) then I fear public education will face massive shortfalls. In Minneapolis, we, as you all know, deal with many huge educational and social chanllenges not really experieinced by the more affluent areas. We are very fortunate to have strong community support for our schools. The extra money we raise helps us to some interventions such as reduced class size that really benefits students. With the political reality that the city no longer has the power base it once had at the legislature, the power base of the outer ring suburbs and affluent districts puts us at the mercy of policymakers who think Minneapolis and St. Paul are treated too well by the legislature. I fear that any opporutnity to reduce our ability to ask for community support of education and to become so very reliant on the state leaves me somewhat concerned. Also Ventura proposes a 2% cap on education spening this biennium. With the current utilities and fuels costs up siginificantly from this time last year, the school district is faced with utility bills that have doubled and fuel for transportation half again higher than what was projected. We are no different in that respect from every home and business owner who is facing the same dilemma. Yet we are to become, under Ventura's tax plan, much more dependent on the state. If he is serious about funding public education, then I would like to see more of an effort on the part of the Gov. to help school districts right now. There are programs to help low income families with heating costs, maybe right now we need to consider this for school districts on a short term, emergency basis. I don't see the state or the Federal govt. fully funding their many mandates now, so I feel uneasy at this point about a proposal that makes our schools more dependant on the state. Audrey Johnson 10th Ward MPS BOE Director
Olson re-appointment hearing
I just came out of the Olson reappointment hearing. Everytime I go to one of those things I feel debased by the entire process. First of all, you're given two minutes to speak. Hell, I could speak for an hour and still feel like I had not given the subject full consideration. There is so much disinformation floating in the air that it would take just one hour to clear the fog much less propose any solutions or speak in a positive vein. It's like going to the Natl. Convention of Sycophants, that's ass kissers to those perhaps turning to their dictionaries. O.K. So Amy Mayron in the PiPress today writes that the MPD spent $500,000 on ISAG. God bless her and her paper for writing something while the hometeam pumps orange smoke into the room, but her data comes from the MPD reports. Look at the budget of the city! MPD missed the mark by $1,765,900. I'm guessing the $1.15 million figure people have bandied about is conservative and who knows if that covers the costs associated with prosecution which by the way is put on hold til all the appellate issues have been worked out. Then you have Deputy Chief Greg Hestness on radio this morning talking bout the crime rate being the lowest in Minneapolis since 1966 like Olson is responsible for all of it. I called my brother this morning to ask what figures there were on growth in the private security business. It's booming. About 15% growth per year. What efect do you think that has on crime rates. I mean when Allina has a small force that patrols its facilities that has an effect on crime. Believe me, I know. How about the fact that you can barely go to the john anymore without having a camera poking you in the face. Once again how do you think that affects crime. How about police intelligence. Remember a story in the Strib one sunday that showed arrest rates of African Americans relative to charges being filed and cases being dropped. Ever been in jail? What's the first thing they do when they take you out of holding before booking you. That's right! get your prints and picture. When you hear the next puff piece on the great police work of MPD catching a guy who has been filmed beating up an MTC driver, think about how they did it. Hell, who cares about all the niceties. The important part is they took the guy off the street. It's a tempting thought to entertain but when you have falsely imprisoned a person who may not have done anything and surreptitously started a file on him and subsequently busted him that's a little like cheating on a test. Yes? Most people don't care about this because they think it will never happen to them. Sam Grabarski and Kent Warden from the Downtown Council and Downtown Bldg. MGRS. Assn. respectively dont care. They think the Chief did a great job with ISAG. Dario Anselmo thinks the Chief and the Downtown Command are doing a great job fighting crime in the Warehouse District. Well when I hung out in the Warehouse District and silently sipped coca-cola at the New French there was no crime downtown. It didn't star occuring til Dario Anselmo and the like started opening sports bar, pseudo hip joints, and tittie bars that crime appeared. Pour that much booze down people's gullets and anything is bound to happen. Don't get me wrong here. I'm no prohibitionists. Quite the contrary I think repression creates more problems than it will ever solve. I think bars downtown ought to be open til the cows come home if they choose. If we did that we could probably cut the downtown command in half by removing the frantic nature of the scene. Gotta get a drnk quick, gotta get a girl or boy by one, all that stuff. But I've digressed. As usual. I have more to say. I must sound like a broken record but I lived through the late 60's. The images of police beating people, turning their dogs on them, and conducting intelligence activities against citizens stay with me. Being in the Washington D.C. office of the Black Panther Party and seeing sandbagged walls stays with me. The death of Mark Hampton in Chicago stays with me. The image of Al Sanders stays with me. But most of all, the image of sister Barbara Schneider, naked and terrified, shouting Satan's Squad above the din of her radio, backed into the corner of her bedroom, HER BEDROOM FOR GOD'S SAKE, being shot nine times will never leave me. And for that, if for no other reason, this whining mealy mouthed Police Chief ought to be fired for putting his officers in that position by not providing anything more than four hours of "mental illness training" and instilling a wild west, charge at all cost, attitude. And if your mayor and your council won't do it, I say throw the lot of them out of office. That's what I'll be working toward the next ten months. You ain't heard nothing yet! Tim Connolly Ward 7 __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/
Re: General Mills water issue EAW comments due 10-Jan
Andy Driscoll raises some important issues regarding environmental review. EAWs and EISs are usually prepared by consultants hired by the public or private enitities that have a vested economic or political interest in completing of the project being studied--an airport, road, landfill, power plant, etc... These statements, without public critique, analysis, or involvement are limited in mitigating environmental impacts and rarely stop projects. In the General Mills/Bassett Creek case, however, environmental review does present some important avenues to raise public awareness, and create change. At yesterday's meeting of the Metropolitan Council's Livable Communities Committee, Council staff presented an excellent and cogent critique of the EAW and requested that the City of Golden Valley conduct an EIS. Issues concerning drawing down of water in the Prairie Du Chien aquafir, the impacts of chemical dischages into Bassett Creek, and the overall wisdom of the need for this project should be questioned and critiqued by the public at hearings, in the media, and in meetings with public officials. The role of an organized public in stopping the MACs dewatering plan last summer offers a good example how environmental review provided an important mecahanism for citizen involvement. This is an important issue for Minneapolis as Bassett Creek flows through several urban neighborhoods and into the Mississippi. Communities surrounding Golden Valley including St.Louis Park, Minnetonka and Plymouth use groundwater from the aquifir for their drinking supply, which make this a vital regional concern. Between now and February 6, (the date of the public hearing on the EAW) elected officials in Mpls and the impacted communities need to hear from the public about the local and regional impacts of the General Mills plan. Kudos to Dave Stack, the Mpls Park Board and others who are working to raise awareness of this critical issue! Frank Hornstein, Linden Hills Metropolitan Council Member, District 6 SW Mpls, St.Louis Park, Golden Valley
Re: Bus Driver Beating
The driver, who was probably scared s***less, was trying to do his/her best to keep anyone from being harmed. Driver had no training in dealing with this kind of thing. He/she had been trained to push the panic button which would identify a situation--without any details--and get transit police there to deal with it. Transit police work is considered "gravy work" by the officers. They are, by report, quite lazy. WMarks [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A little true story: Five years ago, my son, then an 8th grade student at Ramsey, decided to nip out of school early with a friend. They decided make their escape via MTC #18 since it passed right by the school on Nicollet and 50th. They boarded and a block down the street a young man boarded the bus armed, showed the weapon and threatened another passenger. The MTC driver told the passenger to take cover and proceeded up Nicollet, stopping at the regular stops and advising new boardees to take cover too. At about 35/36th Street, the transit police showed up and when the bus stopped, the armed guy simply left the bus and walked away down Nicollet. The Transit Police made no effort to identify or detain him. When I tried to find out what had happened and why, the incident report just mentioned a passenger "disturbance" but made no mention of weapons or a suspect. If it weren't so scary, the ineptness of the whole thing would be funny. Sounds like things haven't changed much, what with these "routine beatings". Ann Berget Kingfield 10-10
re-use old cell phones and Harriet Tubman Center
Sure, cell phones don't relate to Mpls Issues but how about the Harriet Tubman connection? I just upgraded my family's cell phone service and ended up with two no-longer-needed analog phones. Not wanting to add to the trash pile (those things must have nasty stuff in them, anyway) I tried to find a recycler or re-user. Maybe some folks already knew this but I didn't. Many women's shelters can use unwanted cell phones, analog or digital. Apparently they're always good for emergency 911 service, even without subscribing to a provider. I checked with the Harriet Tubman Center and they are happy to take any kind of cellular phone you want to get rid of. I suspect others will too. Incidentally, I'm just curious. Anybody know where you would recycle these phones, say if it were totally unusable? Keith Ford King Field
Re: bus driver beating
I think that I replied in private rather than posting about the lrt security issue. The transit police force is expected to expand by about 1/3 when the trains start. That means, if I remember correctly, 30 police officers to handle 10 2-car trains, as opposed to about 90 for 900+ buses. Looking at Tim's posting, while a full lrt train might carry 250 riders, the ratio above means that each train could have a police officer at all times, while each bus could have an officer about 1/30 of the time, if all officers were riding at all times. Those figures are based on round-the-clock operations with all officers riding instead of doing other things, so maybe the bus figure (given shorter hours and fewer buses operating off-hours) could be about 1/10 of the time. To me and to a bus driver, the trains will have more than 10 times the protection of transit police. Passenger miles aren't a good measure for security. Vehicle miles might be. Remember that rush hour figures predict 2,500 trips per peak hour in the peak direction. So if you use 2.5 hours of rush am and pm, that means that about 15,000 of the daily trips will be to/from downtown during rush hour and the other 10,000 predicted for 2020 will take place during the other 15 hours of operation, or no more than 670 per hour in both directions combined. Dividing that by 4-6 trains per hour in each direction, might make you believe that each non-rush train would be carrying 50-85 riders. You'll look hard to find that when you stand by the tracks. It's actually fewer when you factor in reverse commute traffic during rush hour. Of course the starting year figures are about 3/4 of these figures. Bruce Gaarder Highland Park Saint Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tim Bonham wrote: It seems obvious to me that the bus drivers riders will come out much better than LRT in this. After all, you will have 1 LRT driver for several hundred passengers, vs. about 2 or 3 dozen passengers / driver on the bus system. So based just on these numbers, the bus system is likely to be spending much more per passenger mile on security.
Re: re-use old cell phones and Harriet Tubman Center
You can also buy a used cell phone for about $5 at a pawn shop and use it for 911 without subscribing to a service (according to my local Radio Shack). Seems to me it would be a good idea for all drivers to carry them in their cars for safety purposes, for calling in accidents and especially when stranded in extreme weather. (Speaking of cooperating with police and others). I am NOT advocating driving and chatting on cell phones. But, just think how having all our eyes able to report serious trouble could boost the safety of the roads in Mpls and everywhere. Barbara Nelson Seward "Ford, Keith" wrote: Maybe some folks already knew this but I didn't. (. . . ) Apparently they're always good for emergency 911 service, even without subscribing to a provider. ~~ Barbara Nelson EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED] I wish you all manner of prosperity, with a little more taste. Alain-René Le Sage
RE: Ventura tax reform Mpls. schools
Oops, meant to post that one under my own name...not the administrative List Manager designation. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of List Manager Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 1:17 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Ventura tax reform Mpls. schools Doug Grow had an informative column Sunday on Ventura's tax reform plan. Now as we all, ahem, know, purely state matters are not germane to Minneapolis-Issues. But Grow included a particularly Minneapolis aspect in his piece (which is at: http://www.startribune.com/viewers/qview/cgi/qview.cgi?story=83286723templa te=column_grow_a), or go to columnists on the Strib's Metro-page site. Anyway, Grow wrote: "And, in perhaps his scariest 'reform' proposal, Ventura said that owners of businesses, farmland and vacation homes should not have to pay for excess school levies. That burden would fall totally on homeowners. Think of how a proposal such as that could gut excess-levy programs such as the one overwhelmingly passed by Minneapolis voters to maintain small class sizes. More than half of the $40 million levy comes from business and commercial property." As I recall, when we debated the referendum on the list last year, there was a subsection about state property-tax reform and how it pushed a greater share of the levy onto homeowners. If Grow is right, Ventura would lift the burden entirely -- presumably in exchange for the state picking up more education costs and reducing our property taxes. A levy cap sounds mighty dangerous to a city with most of the state's social problems, that has nevertheless been willing to surtax itself. From the Minneapolis resident's perspective, levy-caps sound like the fatal flaw in Ventura's plan. Can list members on the school board, city government, or even on the state/governor side weigh in with their perspective? (And of course, the rest of us...) David Brauer Kingfield - Ward 10
Re: Chief Olson Rant
How true, but the mayor and city council, being good elected officials, must be risk-aversive. In my opinion, they are willing to tolerate an autocratic police bureaucrat rather than to suffer through the upheavel of hiring a new chief and all the associated dislocation. Like Clinton in 1972 inheriting the political economic conditions of an economic boom ready to break out, Olson benefited from the economic and demographic conditions that led to a big reduction in crime. Unlike Clinton who appointed smart cookies and implemented smart economic policies, Olson is probably more than willing to sit back and take credit for the major reduction of crime. David Wilson Loring Park . On Mon, 8 Jan 2001, Andy Driscoll wrote: Steve Minn's extraordinary missive is an eye-opening supplement to what's been said from several political angles now. If all of this opposition is substantive as it appears to be, why would this City Council cave to a re-appointment? Seem strange to me, someone who doesn't live with his system day-to-day, but whose only contacts with and information about his department have been negative. -- Andy Driscoll 835 Linwood Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105-3325 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Steve Minn" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 19:47:14 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Chief Olson Rant I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE FOR THIS RATHER LONG RANT ABOUT CHIEF OLSON. Chief Olson, in my opinion, is one of those technocrat/politicians that give police management a bad name, but reinforces how politicians can manipulate or control departments to the detriment of the public good. By means of disclosure...I never supported Olson, and in fact voted against and and objected to his predecessor, John Laux. I was always supported by the Police Federation in my elections, but opposed them on issues important to me like off-duty work, compression of promotion and certain pension issues. I guess my standards for a Chief are/were different that SSB's. I believe she passed over several good internal candidates, many of whom have left the department and are managing suburban departments in the metro area. To me, the measure of a good chief is someone who both inspires and motivates the troops on the street, while instilling public confidence in programs or practices that assure balance in law enforcement. Olson misses on all counts. He is uninspiring as a policy thinker. In fact, he is nothing better than a yes-man copy cat. SSB told him to get a NYC-type program after William Bratton and Rudy Guiliani turned NYC around. CODEFOR...is really nothing more than a rip-off of New York City's program. Typical Olson implementation though...he implements the street action first, without getting agreement from, or putting into place any of the infrastructure in the court system that made the NYC program so successful. All COEFOR did in Minneapolis was choke our courts and booking units, without the resources or prosecutorial agreements to expedite the arrests and put the repeat offenders in jail or prison for extended periods of time. (Want to read how the program really was supposed to work? Read: Turnaround by William Bratton) Olson is a terrible judge of people and managerial talent,and can not stand to be questioned by his troops. Rather than work to learn what good there was on the force,and who could motivate and help him professionalize the department's weak areas; Olson focused immediately on who would take orders from him and who would not oppose him. Two Deputies, Schultz and Jones fit this profile, as did two key Inspectors, Morris and Lubinski Only Deputy Greg Hestness...a great Chief candidate himself has had the guts over time to oppose the Chief internally. He was banished from the Patrol Division to the Administrative assignment. Olson retains him because Hestness has the loyalty of many senior commanders on the street, those that are left. Capable Inspectors have been punished for speaking freely. Olson demoted Inspector Bill O'Rourke, (he held an interim rank of Captain, too) because O'Rourke openly complained of CODEFOR implementation and the purpose of the Lake Street gimmicks. He punished Inspector Brad Johnson -- beloved by his troops at 5th Precinct -- by transferring him to Third Precinct in O'Rourke's place. Johnson's crime was to half-heartedly implement CODEFOR @ 5th, but on his own, initiate MOBILEBEAT...a much more effective resource allocation tool. O'Rourke is now Chief in Prior Lake. Johnson... probably will be the next suburban Chief somewhere. To punish outspoken Council Members like myself and Lisa McDonald, Olson sent Christine Morris to 5th Precinct. An incompetent fool if there ever was one. Another political directive. Morris' performan
Re: Chief Olson Rant
--part1_1e.fae4fa9.278bad16_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The response to your post, Andy, is that it takes courage. Something lacking in a number of Council Members. It's "easier" to go along. Karen Collier Linden Hills --part1_1e.fae4fa9.278bad16_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit HTMLFONT FACE=arial,helveticaFONT SIZE=2The response to your post, Andy, is that it takes courage. nbsp;Something lacking BRin a number of Council Members. nbsp;It's "easier" to go along. BR BRKaren Collier BRLinden Hills/FONT/HTML --part1_1e.fae4fa9.278bad16_boundary--
Re: Bus Driver Beating
It seems obvious to me that the bus drivers riders will come out much better than LRT in this. After all, you will have 1 LRT driver for several hundred passengers, vs. about 2 or 3 dozen passengers / driver on the bus system. So based just on these numbers, the bus system is likely to be spending much more per passenger mile on security. Tim Bonham Ward 12 Just wondering if anyone happens to know the budget per passenger mile spent for security in the bus system? My next question is - how does this amount compare to the expected spending on security, per passenger mile, for the new Hiawatha LRT. The numbers may be equal, I have no idea. I just want to make sure that bus riders and drivers are treated fairly and equally, at the same rate as LRT riders and operators. Dave Stack Harrison
Re: Watering hole reminder
I was there at 6:30 The music was great. Clark Griffith 7th Ward
Re: Bus Driver Beating
I suppose there is a certain amount of security gained by the presence of a bus or LRT operator. However, bus drivers are usually pretty busy paying attention to their driving to have a whole lot of time for security duties. To what extent are operators trained for, capable of, or expected to perform security duties? I was thinking more along the lines of security measures, like real, trained security personnel, used to protect both riders and operators. Just curious and posing the question. Dave Stack Harrison From: Tim Bonham It seems obvious to me that the bus drivers riders will come out much better than LRT in this. After all, you will have 1 LRT driver for several hundred passengers, vs. about 2 or 3 dozen passengers / driver on the bus system. So based just on these numbers, the bus system is likely to be spending much more per passenger mile on security.
Re: Watering hole reminder
Truly sorry I had to miss it. Conflicted by a meeting. How was the smoke in there? Andy Driscoll Crocus Hill/Ward 2 Saint Paul The Driscoll Group.Communications 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "craig miller" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:22:50 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Watering hole reminder Last notice. We are gathering @ the Viking Bar. 1829 Riverside Ave. 7:30 PM Tonight. See you all there. Next time up north Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Watering hole reminder
The smoke wasn't bad, but since I'm a smoker, I might not be the best judge. The band was great. It was hard to talk and hear while they were playing. The Viking is a cool bar, it's hard to imagine any franchise bar ever achieving that kind of atmosphere. Dean Lindberg Minnehaha neighborhood Andy Driscoll wrote: Truly sorry I had to miss it. Conflicted by a meeting. How was the smoke in there? Andy Driscoll Crocus Hill/Ward 2 Saint Paul The Driscoll Group.Communications 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "craig miller" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:22:50 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Watering hole reminder Last notice. We are gathering @ the Viking Bar. 1829 Riverside Ave. 7:30 PM Tonight. See you all there. Next time up north Craig Miller Former Fultonite [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Dean Lindberg 5335 39th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55417 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Watering hole reminder
Sorry you missed the soiree. I did take pictures. Smoke: Tolerable. Music: Good. Company: Great. Ann Berget Kingfield 10-10
Re: Bus Driver Beating
A little true story: Five years ago, my son, then an 8th grade student at Ramsey, decided to nip out of school early with a friend. They decided make their escape via MTC #18 since it passed right by the school on Nicollet and 50th. They boarded and a block down the street a young man boarded the bus armed, showed the weapon and threatened another passenger. The MTC driver told the passenger to take cover and proceeded up Nicollet, stopping at the regular stops and advising new boardees to take cover too. At about 35/36th Street, the transit police showed up and when the bus stopped, the armed guy simply left the bus and walked away down Nicollet. The Transit Police made no effort to identify or detain him. When I tried to find out what had happened and why, the incident report just mentioned a passenger "disturbance" but made no mention of weapons or a suspect. If it weren't so scary, the ineptness of the whole thing would be funny. Sounds like things haven't changed much, what with these "routine beatings". Ann Berget Kingfield 10-10
Re: Bus Driver Beating
My eldest daughter is a new bus driver. She is just 5'2" and 110 lbs - guess how big of a person she could physically handle? I suppose there is a certain amount of security gained by the presence of a bus or LRT operator. However, bus drivers are usually pretty busy paying attention to their driving to have a whole lot of time for security duties. To what extent are operators trained for, capable of, or expected to perform security duties? I was thinking more along the lines of security measures, like real, trained security personnel, used to protect both riders and operators. Just curious and posing the question. Dave Stack Harrison John Ferman Harriet Avenue Kingfield Neighborhood Minneapolis Ward 10 Pct 10 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Get-together at the Viking
Valerie asks about parking for Viking get-together on 8th... a busy neighborhood... park anywhere you can... on-street nearby, or in U of M ramps within a block or two... we're in for a treat if Willie Murphy is playing... a living legend of the West Bank... and I'd be remiss not to point out that the Butanes will be at the Cabooze Jan 20th, and Buddy Guy at Medina March 29th... I'll be the guy in the orange 'Glacier' baseball cap! Be sure and say 'hi'! Michael Hohmann Mpls. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 8:48 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Get-together at the Viking One question: where should we park? Valerie Powers Ward 10
Re: Get-together at the Viking
There are all kinds of meters spots on Riverside, there are two MCDA lots on that block- one to the west,one at an angle across the street behind buildings, there's the big ramp for the Univ - Carlson School and Humphrey Institute. Do not park in the service station lot - they tow. There's a small lot down by North Country Co-op. There's nothing really special about just plain old finding a parking spot and park and walk down or over to the bar. See you all soon, Annie Young Ward 6 - East Phillips in Minneapolis Citywide at-large Park Board Commissioner Working to build a sustainable community
Re: Parking near the Viking
In her suggestions for parking near the Viking Annie mentioned the small lot near North Country Coop. Please! Please, DO NOT park in our parking lot if you are not shopping in our store! Please. One of the most difficult aspects of our move three years ago was negotiating enough parking. We still don't have enough. Our small parking lot turns over many times an hour and even one or two cars of non-customers has a negative effects on our sales. -- In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward Member, North Country Coop since 1981. Board member 1996-1999. ~~ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~
Re: Get-together at the Viking Parking Info
We can park in the following manner. 1. On Riverside. Meters. What an issue to discuss. 2. On 19th Ave. Free, but only one hour. 3. Across the street in a U of M Ramp. 4. Kitty corner in a U of M lot. See you there Cruise Director Craig Miller [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sunday, January 07, 2001 9:03 AM Subject: Get-together at the Viking One question: where should we park? Valerie Powers Ward 10
Re: Parking near the Viking
Sorry about that - I was thinking about the late night crowd - not taking over spaces during store hours...my humble apologies... I was just rattling off. Annie How good a red hot idea is usually depends on how much heat it loses when somebody throws cold water on it. Quotoon
Re: Chief Olson
When the mayor, Sharon, set out to choose a chief of police, there was a medium-sized hoo-hah about it. People of color and anti-racism, anti-police brutality folks met with Sharon at Sabathani one night. I remember Sharon saying, "Let me choose the chief of police." The audience did. Was he the best choice of the candidates? Who knows. I've got a rather jaded attitude toward chiefs, so I'd be hard pressed to try and choose one. He did have a couple of "books", almost pamphlets about community-based policing to his credit. Back door reports from the cities where he had been chief or a ranking officer were that he was a schmuck, but since no one signs a name to those reports, is it real or is it memorex? I do know that his notion of community-based policing does not impress me. I do know that his failure to keep his promise about Lake and Chicago really honks me off. I know some other stuff that makes me really resist the idea that this guy is a good chief. And, of course, we always have our next door neighbor chief, Corky Finney as a constant reminder that there are strategies which have the advantage of effectiveness. Prominently, in my mind, is the absolute overkill of both the Highway 55 debacle and the ISAG paranoia. MPD based those strategies (at ISAG) on reports from police in Seattle. However, there was a huge amount of e-mail from people at the "riots" in Seattle which led me to believe that the police instigated a donnybrook in Seattle. I remember thinking at the time that Seattle reminded me of the way the 68 Harlem Riots began--Tactical Police Force "practice" assault on Harlem--and I remember that the 68 Democratic Convention in Chicago was finally, after many moons, determined to be a "police incited riot." My fear is that police departments all over are becoming more and more steeped in an after-the-bomb/dissolution-of-civilization bunker mentality. Further, however testing is done to choose new police officers, too many of the people currently on police forces are people who are only comfortable with people who think exactly like they do and very strong and para-military trained to boot. That paarticular combination makes me much more than nervous. Wizard Marks, Central ferma001 wrote: Tim -- Thanks for commenting on the posts of Rich McMartin and Jack Ferman. What really scares me is that there are probably many others in Minneapolis who would echo their sentiments. So what is the problem - if no one likes Olson and he is dumped what makes anyone confident the next chief would be any better. My point is the MPD has come a long way. Did I infer anywhere that the MPD is perfect - I do not believe so. And the sad truth is that I might have been among them if it hadn't been for my move this past year to the Phillips neighborhood. Prior to that move I lived in SW Mpls. and didn't have a clue as to what was coming down in "poorer" neighborhoods in Mpls. From that sheltered vantage point I simply couldn't 'connect the dots,' so to speak. CODEFOR is just the sort of Orwellian policy that we must be vigilant about because of the legitimacy it lends to police actions that are abusive -- which have, and do, occur, regardless of whether Charlie Stenvig -- or Charlie McCarthy in St. Paul, now THERE was a character who loved taking the law into his own hands! -- or Chief Olson is on the watch. There is a young black "salesman" who stands on the corner of 16th Av. and 25th St., near where I live, almost every day -- late at night and in the early morning hours -- looking for and waving down those who look the most likely to be interested in his product(s). Because I've seen him and his associates on or near that corner for many months now, I'm perplexed as to how he continues to get away with what he's doing without getting busted. I assume that either a) he's an undercover cop, b) he has bought off the neighborhood MPD patrols, and/or c) he has bought protection from someone else in the MPD. Yet, right down the block from my home, there is a single mother with 5 daughters ranging in age from toddlerhood to teenager, whose home was literally broken into by five MPD cops who refused to show their badges, and who, in fact, claimed they did not have their badges with them because they were doing CODEFOR work, nor would they show a search warrant when asked for one. They said they had received an anonymous call about the home at this address being a front for drug dealers -- simply not true. They ransacked this woman's home for over an hour, all the while making terroristic threats, terrifying her and her children. And I want to assure you that this sort of action by the MPD is not rare in my part of town. Why does this happen in Phillips? Why does it NOT happen in the Linden Hills or East Harriet neighborhoods? Connect the dots... poverty = powerlessness = easy prey. These people, for many of whom English is a second language, are the least likely
Re: Chief Olson's reappointment
Even though Tony Bouza could talk the hind leg off a dog, often to no particular purpose that I could see, he did make one succinct remark during the nine years in office which explained the police perspective quite well, roughly, 'we're here to protect the haves against the have nots.' That's the paradigm is sorry want of a shift. Choose your city council members and mayor accordingly in November. Wizard Marks, Central Andy Driscoll wrote: I think Mr. McMartin is too kind to the current police action scale. Many of us remember the Stenvig era, and the brutality now is simply more targeted and protected. Charlie Stenvig was a blowhard, but the police culture has softened little, especially in Minneapolis. Frankly, even when I was living for ten years in detroit, during the 70s, the Minneapolis department was legend for its violence. We are under a very real threat from police departments everywhere. For some reason, the public is too forgiving - in complicity with media outlets - of the vehement and rampant resistance to free speech and assembly demonstrations, but the Minneapolis cops are especially mean - that's mean - like vicious dogs - when given the license to beat heads during legitimate protests. The ISAG demonstrations betrayed the Minneapolis law enforcement community for the increasingly fascist-like behavior of its officers toward legitimate expression. These are sad days for democracy and the Constitution. Andy Driscoll St. Paul From: "Rich McMartin Rich McMartin" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 12:31:00 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Chief Olson's reappointment Yes - anyone who lived through the Stenvig era is from a different universe than those who are complaining about the current police problems. If there were a Richter scale of police brutallity the force during the Stenvig era was a "7.5" and what we have now is a "2.0" and that takes into account the logarithmic aspect of the Richter scale. It is true that CODEFOR was not invented here - we were about the 3rd or 4th city to adopt this methodology. So maybe that isn't his innovation. Both New Orleans and New York preceded us. Without CODEFOR we could have the old Minneapolis from 1995 that we all knew and loved - 8 crack houses on my block in one year, gunshots 20 out of 31 nights in May, 4 murders within a block of me - 95 in all of Minneapolis. Perhaps you would like it that way again. I want nothing to do with it. If you are comparing management and control of the troops between Stenvig and Olson you are standing on very shaky ground. Olson Is s much better that Stenvig. Probably not perfect but certainly the best that Minnepolis has had in 25 years. Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood. Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. ... ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention.
Re: coverage of beatings
Aghast is soft for what I feel. Is rage better? What in hell is this about "routine" and "if-we-carried-every-beating-of-a-driver story, we'd-have-no-room-for-anything-else bullrot. What overstatement, and what a callous attitude for a newspaper to present. This is urban journalistic cynicism and arrogant news management at its worst (except when the paper plays footsie with police officers beating the heads of legitimate demonstrators). Steve Brandt - and obviously others - waste a lot of time defending their lousy coverage and presume that only they have the value set to determine newsworthiness of events. As a working journalist, I am ashamed for my industry for a refusal to see the worth in stories that truly touch people, but worse, which threaten the very 1st Amendment they'd go to the wall defending if anyone attacked their right to publish anything they damned well pleased. I would defend the latter to the death, why don't they defend the former? Andy Driscoll -- "Whatever keeps you from your work is your work." Albert Camus The Driscoll Group/Communications Writing/Graphics/Political Consulting/Communications Strategies 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Russell Wayne Peterson" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 16:04:06 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: coverage of beatings Steve said (although I think these are the words of the Strib and not Steve's): "We rarely report routine beatings of anyone, much less drivers, and if we did, the newspaper would have room for little else." The fact that "routine beating" is actually a phrase we use and then say we don't have room for anything else because it is so prevalent just FLOORS me. I am aghast. Isn't anybody else? Or do we just want to continue to accept this kind of activity in our city?It is the institutional behavior of places like the Strib and the City of Minneapolis government that accepts a certain level of criminal activity and poor delivery of city services that helps create this "problem city image" we have. And many of us have bought into this low standard. And we wonder why good people move out of the city. I have mentioned this before and this is a perfect example of why we need to raise the bar in this city. And if the Strib is looking for story ideas, how about a story on "monthly, routine beatings of bus drivers?" Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Chief Olson
Well, I have not wanted to get into the "Police" discussion but after Wizard's remarks which rings home of many facts I've thought or knew of over the years I did come to realize that there is another alternative besides the "ranting, raving and protesting" about Olson which probably will not get a change of heart inside the great walls of City Hall this year. But this is the year we get to ask the candidate's all kinds of questions... so as Wizard states, the Mayor chooses the Chief. Question to candidates for Mayor: will you consider a change from the current Chief if you are elected - and what kind of a Chief would a new "Chief" person be? This should give us a pretty good clue as to the kind of City we want Minneapolis to be as we live, work and play in the new century and millennium. I plan to use the seventh generation as one of my measures for who I select to govern our beautiful city - how about you? That's my two cents worth on this topic for the moment. Annie Young Ward 6 - East Phillips in Minneapolis Citywide at-large Park Board Commissioner Working to build a sustainable community
Re: DFL Caucus Rules
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 00:46:51 -0600 From: ferma001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Bad DFL caucus rules Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] As a practical matter - unless some delegate can convince a majority of delegates that the caucus system is sorely broken I doubt constitutional fiddling would get to first base. This years city convention has much business to conduct and given the pre-convention rhetoric going around it could be a long one. Any one remember the convention when Sharon Sayles Belton was endorsed for the first time - it adjorned at around 2 or 2:30 am. Sharon was not endorsed at that convention. It ended at that time in the morning with no candidate having received the required 60% needed for endorsement. Sharon won the Primary Election in September, and was endorsed by the DFL party after that.
Re: Chied Olson's reappointment
--part1_de.e752271.278747a8_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm sure that the reappointment of Chief Olson will be a polarizing event. Many Council Members will feel that it's just not worth opposing the Mayor. It takes a certain courage to do this. The same thing could be said for the reappointment of David Sonnenberg as Public Works Director. David has done a fine job in the department. He has a very difficult job because many of us feel that one of the the main jobs of the City is to clean streets, pick up garbage and snow plow. Because David doesn't always do what the Mayor would like, I'm sure he's on her "hit list" when it comes to reappointment, and that's a shame. Their differences were clearly visible during the budget discussions. He deserves reappointment. Karen Collier Linden Hills --part1_de.e752271.278747a8_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit HTMLFONT FACE=arial,helveticaFONT SIZE=2I'm sure that the reappointment of Chief Olson will be a polarizing event. nbsp;BRMany Council Members will feel that it's just not worth opposing the Mayor. nbsp;BRIt takes a certain courage to do this. nbsp;The same thing could be said for the BRreappointment of David Sonnenberg as Public Works Director. nbsp;David has done a BRfine job in the department. nbsp;He has a very difficult job because many of us BRfeel that one of the the main jobs of the City is to clean streets, pick up BRgarbage and snow plow. nbsp;Because David doesn't always do what the Mayor would BRlike, I'm sure he's on her "hit list" when it comes to reappointment, and BRthat's a shame. nbsp;Their differences were clearly visible during the budget BRdiscussions. nbsp;He deserves reappointment. BR BRKaren Collier BRLinden Hills/FONT/HTML --part1_de.e752271.278747a8_boundary--
Re: Bus Driver Beating
Kare(less) 11 didn't cover it either. Not a word. This may be one of those instances where the news media are trying not to cover a violent news worthy event because it could be construed as inflamatory. The only violent events ever covered for my neighborhood are murders. Shootings where no one dies are virtually never covered. On the other hand, a drive by shooting in St. Louis Park would be all over the news for days. The media may actually feel like they are doing Minneapolis a service by avoiding some of these incidents, or maybe they are doing us a service. Coverage of these events can be a double edged sword. On one side publicizing these events is bad for marketing Minneapolis as a nice place to live. On the other side NOT publicizing these events lets our councilors and legislators forget that problems like this exist, so nothing gets done about the problems. http://www.wcco.com/ has a link to a video of the whole event. Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood, about a 5 minute walk away. Thursday, during daylight hours, an MTC bus driver was severely beaten by a young man in south Minneapolis. Television carried the story (thank you WCCO) and KNOW ran a 15-second sound bite on the arrest. But our wonderful Star Tribune carried not even one word. Doesn't that just make one wonder how much is not thought important enough to report either. Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Chief Olson's reappointment
Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. Jenny Heiser Minneapolis Ward 6-8 ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention. Council member McDonald stopped by our Kingfield neighborhood board meeting on Wednesday and announced she would vote against Chief Olson's upcoming reappointment. She cited the ISAG conference spending as one factor, and also went into some detail about the police department's failure to produce a policy to deal with "critical events" such confronting those with mental health problems. I suspect - and I'm only guessing - that McDonald will be in the minority when the council votes. Does anyone have a reading on the tea leaves - which council members are and are not supporting Olson? If the chief is reappointed, he should become an election issue because McDonald is running for mayor. I wonder if the pro-ISAG-protester votes McDonald will pick up will be offset by the conservative law-and-order votes she might lose by making the Top Cop an issue. (Yes, it's 2001 and time for political analysis!) Then again, McDonald mentioned that the rank-and-file cops were upset the administration had not produced the critical events policy. Perhaps she, and others with inside connections to the police department, could give us more details about the evolution - or lack thereof - of the critical events policy. David Brauer Kingfield - Ward 10 Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Bad DFL caucus rules
David, I believe what you are proposing with regard to the election of delegates to the Mpls DFL City Convention requires a constitutional ammendment to theM pls DFL Constitution. I'd start by getting a copy of the constitution from the chair of the Mpls DFL. Each election cycle the local party unit, (Mpls DFL) usually sets up a constitution committee for the city convention that is charged with reporting to the convention any proposed constitutional ammendents for consideration by the city convention. I believe that might be the proper course of action to pursue to achieve your goal of changing the delegate election process. Of course I could be wrong, but that's how you would go about it if you lived in St. Paul. P.S. to supplement the attempt to change the constitution you could also draft a precinct caucus resolution in support of the proposed constitutional ammendment. It couldn't be decided at the precinct caucus level but it would be a way to build support and visibilty for the ammendment. Dennis Hill St. Paul DFL Ward 2 Co-Coordinator Second, Fredric hits on a longstanding major gripe of mine: that the DFL locks in its 2001 delegates at its 2000 (presidential or legislative year) caucuses. This means any candidate not organized two years before election day (i.e., many non-incumbents) can't influence the party endorsing process by getting their grass-roots supporters to become delegates. (St. Paul, on the other hand, picks new delegates during the city election year.) Although at the major-office level, the DFL endorsement process is wheezing like a dying man, it still has great influence at the council level. It has always seemed to me a violation of the DFL's alleged grass-roots ethos to lock in its selectors so far in advance. I suppose the argument FOR doing so is that attendance is higher during even-numbered years. But in a state that's justifiably proud of its same-day voter registration, it seems ridiculous to shut down city council delegate selection 11 months before a city election year even begins, and 21 months before the election itself. (I've always hoped some new Democratic voter who just hit town arrival would sue the party for disenfranchisement, since the rule is also in effect a residency requirement mandating that you live here in February 2000 to decide the party's nominee in 2001. But I admit this is only symbolic, since the party has wide latitude to make its own rules.) I've always believed these restrictive rules exist to protect incumbents and insiders who show up annually. I think it is one reason the DFL is not as in touch with the electorate as it should be. I'm pondering offering a resolution at my local caucus to change the practice. Of course, one resolution at one caucus won't do much. Anyone have advice about how to make a bigger impact? David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 ** This e-mail and its attachments have been scanned for viruses. NDIS/ADCS University of Minnesota **
Re: Chief Olson's reappointment
Yes - anyone who lived through the Stenvig era is from a different universe than those who are complaining about the current police problems. If there were a Richter scale of police brutallity the force during the Stenvig era was a "7.5" and what we have now is a "2.0" and that takes into account the logarithmic aspect of the Richter scale. It is true that CODEFOR was not invented here - we were about the 3rd or 4th city to adopt this methodology. So maybe that isn't his innovation. Both New Orleans and New York preceded us. Without CODEFOR we could have the old Minneapolis from 1995 that we all knew and loved - 8 crack houses on my block in one year, gunshots 20 out of 31 nights in May, 4 murders within a block of me - 95 in all of Minneapolis. Perhaps you would like it that way again. I want nothing to do with it. If you are comparing management and control of the troops between Stenvig and Olson you are standing on very shaky ground. Olson Is s much better that Stenvig. Probably not perfect but certainly the best that Minnepolis has had in 25 years. Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood. Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. ... ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention.
RE: Bad DFL caucus rules
Dennis Hill's response is essentially correct: the change that David Brauer suggests would take an amendment to the Minneapolis DFL Party's constitution. There are three ways to go about proposing such an amendment: First, through the existing Constitution Commission, which is currently reviewing the constitution with a view toward a comprehensive overhaul. That Commission can propose an amendment for consideration at the upcoming City Convention in May, but it is more likely that it will identify multiple possible solutions to each problem identified, and then seek input from delegates at this year's Convention without a formal vote, so that the new Commission that takes office at the Convention can frame proposals based on that input. Those proposals would then be circulated for comment through the senate-district organizations, and offered for a vote at a special City Convention this year or next year or at the regular biennial Convention in 2003. Second, through the incoming Constitution Commission, whose members will be elected at the upcoming ward conventions and will take office when the upcoming City Convention adjourns. Any amendment proposed through the new Commission can be considered at the regular biennial City Convention in 2003, or at a special City Convention before then. Third, by a motion from the floor at the Convention, if the Central Committee indicates in issuing the call that the constitution may be considered. The Central Committee will be meeting on Monday the twenty-second, and I will be preparing the agenda today and tomorrow, including a proposed call. I will be happy to work with anyone who is interested in proposing an amendment so that it can be brought before the Central Committee. BRM Brian Melendez (Ward 3), Chair, Minneapolis DFL Organization E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph. 612.336.3447 Fax 612.336.3026 -Original Message- From: David Brauer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 10:24 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Bad DFL caucus rules Lots of meat in Fredric's recent post, but I'm only going to touch on a couple of things: First, the item about Barb's list mishap is toward the bottom of: http://checksandbalances.com/MN/players-page/pp001221.htm. There is also an interesting item on Lisa McDonald gunning for union support via city low-voltage wiring inspection...see "Over Extending Authority" at http://checksandbalances.com/MN/players-page/pp001227.htm. Second, Fredric hits on a longstanding major gripe of mine: that the DFL locks in its 2001 delegates at its 2000 (presidential or legislative year) caucuses. This means any candidate not organized two years before election day (i.e., many non-incumbents) can't influence the party endorsing process by getting their grass-roots supporters to become delegates. (St. Paul, on the other hand, picks new delegates during the city election year.) Although at the major-office level, the DFL endorsement process is wheezing like a dying man, it still has great influence at the council level. It has always seemed to me a violation of the DFL's alleged grass-roots ethos to lock in its selectors so far in advance. I suppose the argument FOR doing so is that attendance is higher during even-numbered years. But in a state that's justifiably proud of its same-day voter registration, it seems ridiculous to shut down city council delegate selection 11 months before a city election year even begins, and 21 months before the election itself. (I've always hoped some new Democratic voter who just hit town arrival would sue the party for disenfranchisement, since the rule is also in effect a residency requirement mandating that you live here in February 2000 to decide the party's nominee in 2001. But I admit this is only symbolic, since the party has wide latitude to make its own rules.) I've always believed these restrictive rules exist to protect incumbents and insiders who show up annually. I think it is one reason the DFL is not as in touch with the electorate as it should be. I'm pondering offering a resolution at my local caucus to change the practice. Of course, one resolution at one caucus won't do much. Anyone have advice about how to make a bigger impact? David Brauer King Field - Ward 10
Re: Chief Olson's reappointment
I think Mr. McMartin is too kind to the current police action scale. Many of us remember the Stenvig era, and the brutality now is simply more targeted and protected. Charlie Stenvig was a blowhard, but the police culture has softened little, especially in Minneapolis. Frankly, even when I was living for ten years in detroit, during the 70s, the Minneapolis department was legend for its violence. We are under a very real threat from police departments everywhere. For some reason, the public is too forgiving - in complicity with media outlets - of the vehement and rampant resistance to free speech and assembly demonstrations, but the Minneapolis cops are especially mean - that's mean - like vicious dogs - when given the license to beat heads during legitimate protests. The ISAG demonstrations betrayed the Minneapolis law enforcement community for the increasingly fascist-like behavior of its officers toward legitimate expression. These are sad days for democracy and the Constitution. Andy Driscoll St. Paul From: "Rich McMartin Rich McMartin" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 12:31:00 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Chief Olson's reappointment Yes - anyone who lived through the Stenvig era is from a different universe than those who are complaining about the current police problems. If there were a Richter scale of police brutallity the force during the Stenvig era was a "7.5" and what we have now is a "2.0" and that takes into account the logarithmic aspect of the Richter scale. It is true that CODEFOR was not invented here - we were about the 3rd or 4th city to adopt this methodology. So maybe that isn't his innovation. Both New Orleans and New York preceded us. Without CODEFOR we could have the old Minneapolis from 1995 that we all knew and loved - 8 crack houses on my block in one year, gunshots 20 out of 31 nights in May, 4 murders within a block of me - 95 in all of Minneapolis. Perhaps you would like it that way again. I want nothing to do with it. If you are comparing management and control of the troops between Stenvig and Olson you are standing on very shaky ground. Olson Is s much better that Stenvig. Probably not perfect but certainly the best that Minnepolis has had in 25 years. Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood. Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. ... ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention.
RE: coverage of beatings
Are you saying it's OK to bruise a bus driver as long as you don't smack his head hard enough to give him a concussion? I certainly hope riders assaulting the driver is not a commonplace occurrence on Minneapolis buses. If a reporter gets shoved, we hear about it for weeks, but the driver went to the hospital and there is no mention of it. A paragraph in the metro section certainly seems to be in order. If a bus driver gets beaten, and the Strib doesn't report it, did it really happen? Rich Chandler - Ward 9 -Original Message- From: Steve Brandt Jack Ferman raises the issue of why some TV stations covered a "serious beating" of a bus driver and the Star Tribune didn't. First, although getting beaten isn't fun, the seriousness of this one is debatable. According to TV, the driver was treated and released at the hospital for bruising. That's not as serious as a concussion or a broken skull. Beyond that, it was a threshold decision by the paper. I'm told by people who monitor these things that drivers get attacked monthly. We rarely report routine beatings of anyone, much less drivers, and if we did, the newspaper would have room for little else. Undoubtedly there would be fresh criticism of the paper for portryaing an even more distorted picture of Minneapolis or (fill in your favorite city here) as a crime-ridden place. People who are familiar with how television news works know that the availability of film footage plays a major role in deciding what's aired. There was footage available here, and that transcended news judgment. As for J Burn's criticism that the Star Tribune and other news media like to perpetuate the stereotype that violent crime happens only north of Hwy 55, here's a challenge: Tell me one murder that's happened elsewhere in the city, or the entire metro area, that wasn't covered in the Star Tribune. Steve Brandt - Star Tribune
Re: Chief Olson's reappointment
So Olson is better than Charlie Stenvig. In relative terms that is a weak endorsement for Olson. Anyone who returns phone calls, doesn't appoint relatives to ghost jobs, and doesn't use a blackjack is better than Charlie Stenvig. In is on Olson's watch that we have seen the tremendous public expenditures on technology and the surpression of political expression. After the mental health deaths, the public relations fallout shows that Olson doesn't know how to lead. Surely there are models elsewhere that he can draw on. This issue and the racial profiling is, for now, swept under the rug. Do we have to wait for more instances or do we get some kind of action to correct these problems? I think that the reappointment process is the appropriate forum to question Olson's abilities and leadership. On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Jenny Heiser wrote: Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. Jenny Heiser Minneapolis Ward 6-8 ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention. Council member McDonald stopped by our Kingfield neighborhood board meeting on Wednesday and announced she would vote against Chief Olson's upcoming reappointment. She cited the ISAG conference spending as one factor, and also went into some detail about the police department's failure to produce a policy to deal with "critical events" such confronting those with mental health problems. I suspect - and I'm only guessing - that McDonald will be in the minority when the council votes. Does anyone have a reading on the tea leaves - which council members are and are not supporting Olson? If the chief is reappointed, he should become an election issue because McDonald is running for mayor. I wonder if the pro-ISAG-protester votes McDonald will pick up will be offset by the conservative law-and-order votes she might lose by making the Top Cop an issue. (Yes, it's 2001 and time for political analysis!) Then again, McDonald mentioned that the rank-and-file cops were upset the administration had not produced the critical events policy. Perhaps she, and others with inside connections to the police department, could give us more details about the evolution - or lack thereof - of the critical events policy. David Brauer Kingfield - Ward 10 Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Bus Driver Beating
Forward on behalf of list member Barbara Daenzer: I rode the bus this morning with a producer from WCCO. They received the tape of the beating just before the news was on. I believe they were the only station that received the tape. I don't think the stations that didn't report it were leaving anything out---they just didn't have the story. Barbara Daenzer Lynnhurst Kare(less) 11 didn't cover it either. Not a word. This may be one of those instances where the news media are trying not to cover a violent news worthy event because it could be construed as inflamatory. snip Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood, about a 5 minute walk away.
RE: coverage of beatings
Steve said (although I think these are the words of the Strib and not Steve's): "We rarely report routine beatings of anyone, much less drivers, and if we did, the newspaper would have room for little else." The fact that "routine beating" is actually a phrase we use and then say we don't have room for anything else because it is so prevalent just FLOORS me. I am aghast. Isn't anybody else? Or do we just want to continue to accept this kind of activity in our city?It is the institutional behavior of places like the Strib and the City of Minneapolis government that accepts a certain level of criminal activity and poor delivery of city services that helps create this "problem city image" we have. And many of us have bought into this low standard. And we wonder why good people move out of the city. I have mentioned this before and this is a perfect example of why we need to raise the bar in this city. And if the Strib is looking for story ideas, how about a story on "monthly, routine beatings of bus drivers?" Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Chief Olson
Tim -- Thanks for commenting on the posts of Rich McMartin and Jack Ferman. What really scares me is that there are probably many others in Minneapolis who would echo their sentiments. And the sad truth is that I might have been among them if it hadn't been for my move this past year to the Phillips neighborhood. Prior to that move I lived in SW Mpls. and didn't have a clue as to what was coming down in "poorer" neighborhoods in Mpls. From that sheltered vantage point I simply couldn't 'connect the dots,' so to speak. CODEFOR is just the sort of Orwellian policy that we must be vigilant about because of the legitimacy it lends to police actions that are abusive -- which have, and do, occur, regardless of whether Charlie Stenvig -- or Charlie McCarthy in St. Paul, now THERE was a character who loved taking the law into his own hands! -- or Chief Olson is on the watch. There is a young black "salesman" who stands on the corner of 16th Av. and 25th St., near where I live, almost every day -- late at night and in the early morning hours -- looking for and waving down those who look the most likely to be interested in his product(s). Because I've seen him and his associates on or near that corner for many months now, I'm perplexed as to how he continues to get away with what he's doing without getting busted. I assume that either a) he's an undercover cop, b) he has bought off the neighborhood MPD patrols, and/or c) he has bought protection from someone else in the MPD. Yet, right down the block from my home, there is a single mother with 5 daughters ranging in age from toddlerhood to teenager, whose home was literally broken into by five MPD cops who refused to show their badges, and who, in fact, claimed they did not have their badges with them because they were doing CODEFOR work, nor would they show a search warrant when asked for one. They said they had received an anonymous call about the home at this address being a front for drug dealers -- simply not true. They ransacked this woman's home for over an hour, all the while making terroristic threats, terrifying her and her children. And I want to assure you that this sort of action by the MPD is not rare in my part of town. Why does this happen in Phillips? Why does it NOT happen in the Linden Hills or East Harriet neighborhoods? Connect the dots... poverty = powerlessness = easy prey. These people, for many of whom English is a second language, are the least likely to understand the U.S. justice system, least likely to know their rights as citizens, and least likely to have the financial means to go to court to sue their case against an organization that claims to "serve and protect" them. Needless to say cynicism abounds in my part of town regarding the agents of civic obedience. Wake up my fellow citizens of Minneapolis: the truth is that ALL of us have seen a steady erosion of our civil rights over the last decade, but it has been in small enough increments and in "other parts of town" so perhaps we have not noticed like we would if there are had been an all-out assault. AND, it's taking place in neighborhoods that many people find easy to ignore. Am I saying that real crime does not exist in Minneapolis? No. Am I saying that a consortium of actions and services need to be brought to bear against the underlying causes of a lot of this crime? Yes. Is one of those actions CODEFOR? A resounding NO is my answer. My urgent, my fervent hope, is that enough of us will wake up, in time, in all the various racial communities, in all the various faith communities, in all of the various social service communities, to help our neighbors, and ourselves, reclaim not only our rights, but our dignity, and our lives. Jenny Heiser East Phillips Ward 6-8 timothy connolly wrote: A couple comments relative to posting by Rich McMartin and Jack Ferman. I too remember the days of Charle Stenvig. Just another evening I ran into the Police Chaplain, Terry Hayes, at GJ's on Hennepin. I was surprised to see him there with some officers. I would have thought he was long since retired. I remember that he used to hang out around midnight at the old Fair Oaks Motel with the guys from the infamous TActical Squad soaking up free coffee and pie. They never paid much attention to me. I was just the guy who cleaned the kitchen and cafe. But I paid attention to them or rather the things they said. A cruder, more racist bunch of knuckle draggers...well you get the picture. I remember how they laughed telling stories of how their dogs, Rex or Caesar,etc., took bites out of this and that niggers ass down at Lake Calhoun. Mind you this was on 4th of July night. Ah, America! Ain't it great. Some things don't change much. Our police force is still overwhelmingly male and caucasian and I suspect has many of the same attitudes which might explain anecdotal evidence of profiling which appears to have increased under Chief Olson's reign. I get a kick out of
Re: Bus Driver Beating
This afternoon, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office charged Adrian Louis Lattin, age 20, of Minneapolis, with one felony count of Unlawful Interference with Transit Operator (using force or violence). He is in custody, with bail set at $20,000. First appearance in Hennepin County District Court will be Monday. Ross Corson Hennepin County Attorney's Office Thursday, during daylight hours, an MTC bus driver was severely beaten by a young man in south Minneapolis. Television carried the story (thank you WCCO) and KNOW ran a 15-second sound bite on the arrest. But our wonderful Star Tribune carried not even one word. Doesn't that just make one wonder how much is not thought important enough to report either. Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN
RE: Chief Olson's reappointment
I covered the police department in the late 70s and early 80s and I can tell you these are not new issues. But that makes it even more important that we realize that several decades of wrongs have to be made right...right now. (BTW: If I remember right Stenvig was a ranking member of the department, and he was central to the politicization of the police department, but never Chief. He became Mayor.) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Rich McMartin (Rich McMartin) Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 12:31 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Chief Olson's reappointment Yes - anyone who lived through the Stenvig era is from a different universe than those who are complaining about the current police problems. If there were a Richter scale of police brutallity the force during the Stenvig era was a "7.5" and what we have now is a "2.0" and that takes into account the logarithmic aspect of the Richter scale. It is true that CODEFOR was not invented here - we were about the 3rd or 4th city to adopt this methodology. So maybe that isn't his innovation. Both New Orleans and New York preceded us. Without CODEFOR we could have the old Minneapolis from 1995 that we all knew and loved - 8 crack houses on my block in one year, gunshots 20 out of 31 nights in May, 4 murders within a block of me - 95 in all of Minneapolis. Perhaps you would like it that way again. I want nothing to do with it. If you are comparing management and control of the troops between Stenvig and Olson you are standing on very shaky ground. Olson Is s much better that Stenvig. Probably not perfect but certainly the best that Minnepolis has had in 25 years. Rich McMartin Bryant Neighborhood. Mr. Ferman -- Would you care to expand on your statement about the "innovation to MPD - CODEFOR..."? I fear that we must inhabit very different universes. ... ferma001 wrote: Those who find fault with Olson have apparently not read Minneapolis police history. Given the long pull of my memory, I would have to rank Olson as either the first or second best chiefs that MPD has ever had. Anyone remember Charlie Stenvig, for example. Olson has worked to bring innovation to MPD - CODEFOR, for example. It will be interesting to see how McDonald's opposition will play out at the upcoming Minneapolis DFL city endorsing convention.
Re: Bus Driver Beating
I think you're jumping to conclusions here -- look at the time this happened, the time it appeared on police paperwork, and the printing deadline for the newspaper. Several of the other TV Radio news shows didn't have it last night, either. But they all have it today, including the arrest of the person responsible. If it doesn't appear in either Saturday or Sunday papers, then you can ask why. But give 'em a chance. (And the driver wasn't THAT severely beaten -- he was released from the hospital and felt well enough to appear on the TV news shows. He seemed quite calm about the whole thing -- stated that his attacker 'seemed to have some problems and may need some help'.) Tim Bonham, Standish Erickson neighborhood Thursday, during daylight hours, an MTC bus driver was severely beaten by a young man in south Minneapolis. Television carried the story (thank you WCCO) and KNOW ran a 15-second sound bite on the arrest. But our wonderful Star Tribune carried not even one word. Doesn't that just make one wonder how much is not thought important enough to report either. Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Coverage of Bus Driver Assault.
I drove for the MTC, now renamed bus company, from 79 through mid-85. During that time there were numerous assaults on drivers by passengers who were whacked out on alcohol, drugs, or rage. On the 5 line alone (Chicago Av.)one driver was knifed, one thrown off his own bus at gunpoint, one driver was attacked in the washroom of Butler Square (o-ficial potty break site), etc. One driver was highjacked. One bus was stolen while the driver stopped for a bathroom break. Those are the ones I remember. I was assaulted with a malted on the 21 once, another guy came after me for asking for a fare and I took him to court. Two passengers came to court to speak for him, saying I hit him back and it was racist to do so. The verbal assaults, of course, were routine. The flashers were fairly routine. The no pays were beyond counting. Shortly after I left a driver was raped at the end of the line by a passenger. By report of friends still driving, assaults have risen exponentially during the last 10 years. Even if the news media wanted to report all the assaults, the bus company would not be likely to assist since it would cast a bad light on the company and make people nervous about riding. Passengers, too, are assaulted. My kid came home last week saying a guy had put his hands on her on the bus and harassed her verbally and followed her off the bus to continue harassing her. Luckily, he picked the wrong kid. She decked him but good and came home to change her clothes because his blood was all over her. She didn't have a mark on her. Towanda! But it scares me, the next sorry geeker could have a gun or a knife or be bigger and stronger. WMarks, Central Dennis Hill wrote: Steve Brandt posted: "Beyond that, it was a threshold decision by the paper. I'm told by people who monitor these things that drivers get attacked monthly. We rarely report routine beatings of anyone, much less drivers, and if we did, the newspaper would have room for little else." Steve please define "routine beating". From what I saw on the videotape, that was no routine beating, that was a professional assualt. Maybe when irate newspaper readers start routinely beating Star Tribune reporters when they don't like the way a story is or is not reported these beatings will start getting some ink in the papers. Personally I think the paper discounted the worth of the man beaten because after all he's onnly a bus driver. Dennis Hill Only a bus rider St. Paul ** This e-mail and its attachments have been scanned for viruses. NDIS/ADCS University of Minnesota **
RE: Bad DFL caucus rules
As a practical matter - unless some delegate can convince a majority of delegates that the caucus system is sorely broken I doubt constitutional fiddling would get to first base. This years city convention has much business to conduct and given the pre-convention rhetoric going around it could be a long one. Any one remember the convention when Sharon Sayles Belton was endorsed for the first time - it adjorned at around 2 or 2:30 am. Dennis Hill's response is essentially correct: the change that David Brauer suggests would take an amendment to the Minneapolis DFL Party's constitution. There are three ways to go about proposing such an amendment: First, through the existing Constitution Commission, which is currently reviewing the constitution with a view toward a comprehensive overhaul. That Commission can propose an amendment for consideration at the upcoming City Convention in May, but it is more likely that it will identify multiple possible solutions to each problem identified, and then seek input from delegates at this year's Convention without a formal vote, so that the new Commission that takes office at the Convention can frame proposals based on that input. Those proposals would then be circulated for comment through the senate-district organizations, and offered for a vote at a special City Convention this year or next year or at the regular biennial Convention in 2003. Second, through the incoming Constitution Commission, whose members will be elected at the upcoming ward conventions and will take office when the upcoming City Convention adjourns. Any amendment proposed through the new Commission can be considered at the regular biennial City Convention in 2003, or at a special City Convention before then. Third, by a motion from the floor at the Convention, if the Central Committee indicates in issuing the call that the constitution may be considered. The Central Committee will be meeting on Monday the twenty-second, and I will be preparing the agenda today and tomorrow, including a proposed call. I will be happy to work with anyone who is interested in proposing an amendment so that it can be brought before the Central Committee. BRM Brian Melendez (Ward 3), Chair, Minneapolis DFL Organization E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph. 612.336.3447 Fax 612.336.3026 -Original Message- From: David Brauer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 10:24 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Bad DFL caucus rules Lots of meat in Fredric's recent post, but I'm only going to touch on a couple of things: First, the item about Barb's list mishap is toward the bottom of: http://checksandbalances.com/MN/players-page/pp001221.htm. There is also an interesting item on Lisa McDonald gunning for union support via city low-voltage wiring inspection...see "Over Extending Authority" at http://checksandbalances.com/MN/players-page/pp001227.htm. Second, Fredric hits on a longstanding major gripe of mine: that the DFL locks in its 2001 delegates at its 2000 (presidential or legislative year) caucuses. This means any candidate not organized two years before election day (i.e., many non-incumbents) can't influence the party endorsing process by getting their grass-roots supporters to become delegates. (St. Paul, on the other hand, picks new delegates during the city election year.) Although at the major-office level, the DFL endorsement process is wheezing like a dying man, it still has great influence at the council level. It has always seemed to me a violation of the DFL's alleged grass-roots ethos to lock in its selectors so far in advance. I suppose the argument FOR doing so is that attendance is higher during even-numbered years. But in a state that's justifiably proud of its same-day voter registration, it seems ridiculous to shut down city council delegate selection 11 months before a city election year even begins, and 21 months before the election itself. (I've always hoped some new Democratic voter who just hit town arrival would sue the party for disenfranchisement, since the rule is also in effect a residency requirement mandating that you live here in February 2000 to decide the party's nominee in 2001. But I admit this is only symbolic, since the party has wide latitude to make its own rules.) I've always believed these restrictive rules exist to protect incumbents and insiders who show up annually. I think it is one reason the DFL is not as in touch with the electorate as it should be. I'm pondering offering a resolution at my local caucus to change the practice. Of course, one resolution at one caucus won't do much. Anyone have advice about how to make a bigger impact? David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 John Ferman Harriet Avenue Kingfield Neighborhood Minneapolis Ward 10 Pct 10 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Chief Olson
Tim -- Thanks for commenting on the posts of Rich McMartin and Jack Ferman. What really scares me is that there are probably many others in Minneapolis who would echo their sentiments. So what is the problem - if no one likes Olson and he is dumped what makes anyone confident the next chief would be any better. My point is the MPD has come a long way. Did I infer anywhere that the MPD is perfect - I do not believe so. And the sad truth is that I might have been among them if it hadn't been for my move this past year to the Phillips neighborhood. Prior to that move I lived in SW Mpls. and didn't have a clue as to what was coming down in "poorer" neighborhoods in Mpls. From that sheltered vantage point I simply couldn't 'connect the dots,' so to speak. CODEFOR is just the sort of Orwellian policy that we must be vigilant about because of the legitimacy it lends to police actions that are abusive -- which have, and do, occur, regardless of whether Charlie Stenvig -- or Charlie McCarthy in St. Paul, now THERE was a character who loved taking the law into his own hands! -- or Chief Olson is on the watch. There is a young black "salesman" who stands on the corner of 16th Av. and 25th St., near where I live, almost every day -- late at night and in the early morning hours -- looking for and waving down those who look the most likely to be interested in his product(s). Because I've seen him and his associates on or near that corner for many months now, I'm perplexed as to how he continues to get away with what he's doing without getting busted. I assume that either a) he's an undercover cop, b) he has bought off the neighborhood MPD patrols, and/or c) he has bought protection from someone else in the MPD. Yet, right down the block from my home, there is a single mother with 5 daughters ranging in age from toddlerhood to teenager, whose home was literally broken into by five MPD cops who refused to show their badges, and who, in fact, claimed they did not have their badges with them because they were doing CODEFOR work, nor would they show a search warrant when asked for one. They said they had received an anonymous call about the home at this address being a front for drug dealers -- simply not true. They ransacked this woman's home for over an hour, all the while making terroristic threats, terrifying her and her children. And I want to assure you that this sort of action by the MPD is not rare in my part of town. Why does this happen in Phillips? Why does it NOT happen in the Linden Hills or East Harriet neighborhoods? Connect the dots... poverty = powerlessness = easy prey. These people, for many of whom English is a second language, are the least likely to understand the U.S. justice system, least likely to know their rights as citizens, and least likely to have the financial means to go to court to sue their case against an organization that claims to "serve and protect" them. Needless to say cynicism abounds in my part of town regarding the agents of civic obedience. Wake up my fellow citizens of Minneapolis: the truth is that ALL of us have seen a steady erosion of our civil rights over the last decade, but it has been in small enough increments and in "other parts of town" so perhaps we have not noticed like we would if there are had been an all-out assault. AND, it's taking place in neighborhoods that many people find easy to ignore. Am I saying that real crime does not exist in Minneapolis? No. Am I saying that a consortium of actions and services need to be brought to bear against the underlying causes of a lot of this crime? Yes. Is one of those actions CODEFOR? A resounding NO is my answer. My urgent, my fervent hope, is that enough of us will wake up, in time, in all the various racial communities, in all the various faith communities, in all of the various social service communities, to help our neighbors, and ourselves, reclaim not only our rights, but our dignity, and our lives. Jenny Heiser East Phillips Ward 6-8 timothy connolly wrote: A couple comments relative to posting by Rich McMartin and Jack Ferman. I too remember the days of Charle Stenvig. Just another evening I ran into the Police Chaplain, Terry Hayes, at GJ's on Hennepin. I was surprised to see him there with some officers. I would have thought he was long since retired. I remember that he used to hang out around midnight at the old Fair Oaks Motel with the guys from the infamous TActical Squad soaking up free coffee and pie. They never paid much attention to me. I was just the guy who cleaned the kitchen and cafe. But I paid attention to them or rather the things they said. A cruder, more racist bunch of knuckle draggers...well you get the picture. I remember how they laughed telling stories of how their dogs, Rex or Caesar,etc., took bites out of this and that niggers ass down at Lake Calhoun. Mind you this was on 4th of July night. Ah, America! Ain't it great. Some things don't change much.
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases
I just talked to one of the folks who are getting recharged for the ISAG protests (who is not on e-mail to post this themself), and the charges were released November 20th (judge Hopper) due to lack of evidence, but with a statement that said they could be recharged later. The recharge was filed on November 29th (Judge Bransford), but was not mailed out until the postmark of December 29th, and was received on December 30th. Court date is January 10th, for the recharge. So they ate up a full thirty days waiting to mail out the notice. Why? You know it always helps with situations in which you must line up a lawyer so you can defend your basic right to protest (hey, it's only in the Constitution-should this even be in court?) and gee, isn't it nice that the court date happens to land on the same date as the public hearing of Police Chief Olson's performance. Helps to keep the most vocal folks busy away from those hearings. Of course that is probably a coincidence, it was filed on the 29th. I, having been stopped and told that I don't have the right to walk down the street without the express permission of the Lieutenant, even though I took no part in any protest, do find the police work to be over zealous. So I suppose I could be a little biasBut not promptly mailing court summons, that's just wrong. This is more than issues with the police chief. It's lots of little things adding up. We have laws about illegal assembly based on if you have more than three people present. Then selectively enforce those laws at will. We need to not only look at the command of the officers, but look at what exactly we ask them to do as well. I think it's what the city asked and allowed the police to do with the ISAG conference that played a large part in bringing in the situation in the first place. Remember initially the Star Tribune article that stated in part; Minneapolis police, fearing that violent protests could erupt during an animal genetics conference that begins Friday, plan to screen pedestrians on a two-block stretch of Nicollet Mall to ensure that people have a "legal reason" to pass, a police inspector said Tuesday. Inspector Sharon Lubinski said the screening, which might involve stopping, questioning and even searching people, will happen on the mall between S. 12th and Grant Sts., near the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where the six-day International Society of Animal Genetics conference will be held. Or The police briefing paper also refers to Minneapolis's recent May Day protests, where 34 people were arrested. "These groups used advanced counter-intelligence and tactics including the use of shields, their own radio networks, human chains, and the placement of obstacles in the street," it notes. "Many protestors wore masks and were armed with gas masks." Remember shields are advanced, counter intelligence radio networks? try calling them walkie talkies and cell phones, Human chains? oh the non violent horrors...placement of obsticals in the streets?, it's those scary puppets again. They arrested 34 people, it was just a MOB! Yes they can stop it, but what's the cost? It's all of our freedoms. The world would be a lot safer if they did house to house searches, but do we really want that? I for one would rather see some protesters, that get stopped for the crime of walking down the sidewalk by myself because some dickwad in a squad car decides he dosn't like the way I look. Now we are prosecuting people for the crime of speaking their minds and witholding court summons for a month, seemingly just to mess up the protesters preperations. Minneapolis needs to take a serious look at what it's doing. Tom Holtzleiter King Field On 31 Dec 00, at 14:51, Rosalind Nelson wrote: Date sent: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 14:51:16 -0600 Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Rosalind Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject:Re-charging of ISAG cases According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases
Hello the list: The response from our list to these recent posts is somewhat alarming. Could it be that we are all staring slack-jawed at our screens unable to believe what we are reading? Are we worried to post on this issue for fear of sounding like apologists for criminals? Do we feel that sinister forces are behind these actions and fear retribution? I don't know what to believe. First comes Rosalind's post referring us to a story on the re-charging at: http://www.minneapolis.indymedia.org/ Then, based on her reading of the story, Carol explains that Hennepin County has plenty of attorneys in its offices. Jordan, somewhat snippily, explains why Carol is incorrect. The _independent_media_center_ site seems short on facts and long on rhetoric and continues to assert that Hennepin County is charging these people on their front page. I've looked, in vain for reporting on this in the Strib in the past few days. In fact, a search of the Strib web site turned up mostly articles about foreign governments when I looked for "city attorney" or "protest" near "charges." Meanwhile, the list, usually a source of fervent discussion of hot topics is, strangely silent. (A button I caught sight of in my wife's drawer says "Silence is the voice of complicity") I know! ! We're all still dumbstruck by events on the national stage. Let's get over it. Most of know how little influence the federal government has in our lives anymore. We need to stay focused on important issue here in Minneapolis. What is happening with this re-charging of the ISAG protesters? Can anyone give a reporting that is not so "ideologically charged"? Is it true that the ISAG protesters are being charged again and their court date is January 10? Is it true that the charges were filed on November 29 but not mailed until December 29? -- In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward, 9-1 Proud to support Gary Schiff for 9th Ward Councilmember. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Response to Mr. Kushner
Mr. Kushner is right in general - Minneapolis Attorneys generally prosecute misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors. There are times, however, when these cases are turned over to other jurisdisctions like Hennepin County or Ramsey County, especially when there may be accusations of conflict of interest. Not having called the City myself, I went on the article's statements that the County would be prosecuting. As to the staffing issue, the City Attorney's Office has 105 FTE. Again, the small number of cases which this represents to the overall case load of the City would not substantially affect the workload. Carol Becker Longfellow - Original Message - From: Jordan S. Kushner [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 11:48 PM Subject: Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question Response to Ms. Becker: First off, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, not the City of Minneapolis Attorney's Office will be prosecuting these cases. Incorrect!!! (as usual Ms. Becker) The Minneapolis City Attorney's office IS prosecuting the ISAG protest cases referenced by Rosalind Nelson. Points of information - the City attorney's office prosecutes misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors with a very few exceptions (such as malicious punishment of a child), and the protesters are charged with misdemeanors. The County Attorney handles felony cases and charges involving juveniles. Second off, the County Attorney has 160 attorneys, and over 400 staff total and it is doubtful that these few cases would cause any overtime or other things sliding. The City Attorney's office has substantially fewer attorneys. There is one attorney (Assistant City Attorney Michael Hess) offiicially handling all the cases. I do not know how many staff and police are doing work on the prosecutions. It is obvious, however, that the hundreds of hours being spent on prosecuting political activists could otherwise be used for other purposes. (I do not know that the other ways that their time would be spent would necessarily be much better - eg discriminatory prosecution of people of color for minor offenses arising out of discriminatory arrests). Third off, this article does not provide any information as to why these cases are being brought back. There are good legal reasons that they could be brought back. Does anyone have information on why this is? The charges are being brought back on the basis of allegations that the accused persons participated in the ISAG demonstration. It is as simple as that. The city alleges that the demonstration was unlawful, and is therefore prosecuting people whom it believes participated. It is my admisttedly unobjective opinion that not only are there no good legal reasons for the proseuctions, but the prosecutions have the intention and effect of repressing free speech. I have yet to hear any refutation of this opinion. The other underlying motive for the prosecutions (and I feel comfortable stating it to be a fact) is the political pressure from the police department to pursue the cases based on reasoning that the fact of criminal charges somehow justifies all of the violence and money ($1.15 million) that they spent to repress 150 peaceful protesters. Carol Becker Longfellow Happy new year! Jordan Kushner Powderhorn - Original Message - From: Rosalind Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 12:51 PM Subject: Re-charging of ISAG cases According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question
If the City of Minneapolis prosecutes these cases, they'd better damned well prosecute the 40 Saint Paul police officers who participated undercover and may have helped incite this clash with overreactive Minneapolis officers. Whatever happened to the judge's ruling that the lack of willingness to identify those St. Paul cops was enough to dismiss these misdemeanors. Jordan Kushner is correct in his understanding of jurisdiction over levels of offenses. If the county attorney gets involved, then a felony must have been charged. Andy Driscoll -- "Whatever keeps you from your work is your work." Albert Camus The Driscoll Group/Communications Writing/Graphics/Political Consulting/Communications Strategies 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Jordan S. Kushner" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 01:34:29 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question Response to Ms. Becker: First off, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, not the City of Minneapolis Attorney's Office will be prosecuting these cases. Incorrect!!! (as usual Ms. Becker) The Minneapolis City Attorney's office IS prosecuting the ISAG protest cases referenced by Rosalind Nelson. Points of information - the City attorney's office prosecutes misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors with a very few exceptions (such as malicious punishment of a child), and the protesters are charged with misdemeanors. The County Attorney handles felony cases and charges involving juveniles. Second off, the County Attorney has 160 attorneys, and over 400 staff total and it is doubtful that these few cases would cause any overtime or other things sliding. The City Attorney's office has substantially fewer attorneys. There is one attorney (Assistant City Attorney Michael Hess) offiicially handling all the cases. I do not know how many staff and police are doing work on the prosecutions. It is obvious, however, that the hundreds of hours being spent on prosecuting political activists could otherwise be used for other purposes. (I do not know that the other ways that their time would be spent would necessarily be much better - eg discriminatory prosecution of people of color for minor offenses arising out of discriminatory arrests). Third off, this article does not provide any information as to why these cases are being brought back. There are good legal reasons that they could be brought back. Does anyone have information on why this is? The charges are being brought back on the basis of allegations that the accused persons participated in the ISAG demonstration. It is as simple as that. The city alleges that the demonstration was unlawful, and is therefore prosecuting people whom it believes participated. It is my admisttedly unobjective opinion that not only are there no good legal reasons for the proseuctions, but the prosecutions have the intention and effect of repressing free speech. I have yet to hear any refutation of this opinion. The other underlying motive for the prosecutions (and I feel comfortable stating it to be a fact) is the political pressure from the police department to pursue the cases based on reasoning that the fact of criminal charges somehow justifies all of the violence and money ($1.15 million) that they spent to repress 150 peaceful protesters. Carol Becker Longfellow Happy new year! Jordan Kushner Powderhorn - Original Message - From: Rosalind Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 12:51 PM Subject: Re-charging of ISAG cases According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question
Andy Driscoll wrote: If the City of Minneapolis prosecutes these cases, they'd better damned well prosecute the 40 Saint Paul police officers who participated undercover and may have helped incite this clash with overreactive Minneapolis officers. Whatever happened to the judge's ruling that the lack of willingness to identify those St. Paul cops was enough to dismiss these misdemeanors. The city appealed the judge's ruling to the Minnesota court of appeals. The case is on hold while the appellate court considers the issue. (FYI - Most of the 35-40 undercover cops appear to be from the Minneapolis police dept, but included several St. Paul police officers state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents, and it is unknown if there were undercover law enforcement officers from other agencies. This might be part of the information that the City is so desparately trying to hide) Jordan Kushner Powderhorn
RE: Electric Car Shuttle System, Buses, et al.
Russell Peterson says, in part: I guess I just wanted to see if anybody else had some "out of the box" ideas regarding our bus and transit possibilities. Ok, a few thoughts: It's tough to talk transit options absent fossil fuel inputs. In general, it requires about three units of fossil fuel input to get one unit of electricity in conventional, stand alone applications. There's talk of local electricity shortages in the not too distant future. How about a combined cycle, relatively small-scale power production facility in downtown Minneapolis; one that uses waste heat for expanded district space conditioning (heating/air conditioning) for planned riverfront development projects (i.e. commercial office/retail, hotels and residential developments), while supplying electricity for local businesses, electric buss/trolley, light-rail or commuter rail transit. The certificate of need process for such a power facility would require five years minimum, plus a couple years construction time. Combine that with a downtown casino built in combination with a multi-purpose stadium-- the stadium to be funded in whole or in part with Minneapolis' portion of casino profits over about a three-ten year time frame in exchange for an equity position in the professional sports teams involved (there is talk of $100 million a year from a proposed casino's profits going to state coffers... what's the local government cut on such a revenue stream- it should be significant? Who adds value to such a business endeavor in terms of local municipal services, etc.?) The casino would be privately financed- no TIF funding. Gambling tax revenues would bolster the City general fund indefinitely, while allowing offsets or no-growth in property taxes/sales tax levels, etc. The state's portion of such gambling tax revenue funds could be allocated to improve transit options, toward k-12 education, health care, etc. Expanded transit options (i.e. North Star line to St. Cloud via Anoka, Elk River, Monticello, etc.) could radiate outward from the central Minneapolis casino/stadium district, drawing visitors, consumers and workers to and from the downtown area without use of automobiles. Reverse commutes would allow downtown residents to get to jobs and leisure activities in the suburbs/outlying cities without reliance on automobiles. In ten years time we could see commuter rail/LRT/expanded diesel or electric bus options available to link Minneapolis with Minnetonka, St. Paul, Apple Valley/Eagan, Blaine, Forest Lake and elsewhere. In twenty years we could commute to the Mayo in Rochester, the Twin Ports of Duluth/Superior, Mankato, Madison and Chicago-- without use of automobiles, on new or improved rail options. Let the private sector bid to build, own and operate the transit systems. Watch higher-density, affordable housing and commercial development grow along transit routes- people value time and convenience. With a deregulated electric market, investors and independent power producers would bid to supply power to operate such transit options-- trains where riders could sit at desks and plug in their laptops (or rent them) while enroute to Duluth or Rochester for example. Independent power producers could supply electricity with traditional fossil-fueled technology, wind or biomass conversion technologies. It's the new millennium... what do you want to see in ten, twenty years? Lets be sure our elected leaders are on board. Michael Hohmann, Principal Michael A. Hohmann and Co. (MAHCO) 4100 Ewing Ave. So. Minneapolis, MN 55410-1021 612-922-1490 http://www2.visi.com/mahco ~Market research, financial analysis, business plans and writing~ -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Russell Wayne Peterson Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 7:52 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: RE: Electric Car Shuttle System, Buses, et al. How about gondolas from the airport to downtown and from downtown to St. Paul. Good now, that I've got your attention ;-) The system that Jack cited, taxicabs, relies on a driver and fossil fuels in order to work. I don't think those things are needed to necessarily envision a different system. As far as the "rider ship definitions," I don't think we have our targets defined very well, otherwise we'd have figured this out a long time ago and wouldn't have such an unfriendly system in place. I'd still like to see smaller buses that were electric instead of diesel powered, some smaller shuttles running more frequently and some sensitivity to cross town and neighborhood destinations. And some amenities as I'd mentioned before like coffee, books, or wireless internet access on the bus. And I still like that lotto idea, everybody puts their ticket into a lottery and at the end of the year one is pulled worth a million dollars - I bet you'd see rider ship go up and you'd spend less on building road
Re: more movie theaters on horizon
"craig miller" writes: I think Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale bit the dust also. I could be wrong. No, you are quite right, the Terrace is done. I used to go there ALL the time. (It was only a buck, and had awesome stadium seating.) Connie Sheppard Ward 6 - Ventura Village GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
Re-charging of ISAG cases
According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question
First off, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, not the City of Minneapolis Attorney's Office will be prosecuting these cases. Second off, the County Attorney has 160 attorneys, and over 400 staff total and it is doubtful that these few cases would cause any overtime or other things sliding. Third off, this article does not provide any information as to why these cases are being brought back. There are good legal reasons that they could be brought back. Does anyone have information on why this is? Carol Becker Longfellow - Original Message - From: Rosalind Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 12:51 PM Subject: Re-charging of ISAG cases According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: Re-charging of ISAG cases - Couple of facts a question
Response to Ms. Becker: First off, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, not the City of Minneapolis Attorney's Office will be prosecuting these cases. Incorrect!!! (as usual Ms. Becker) The Minneapolis City Attorney's office IS prosecuting the ISAG protest cases referenced by Rosalind Nelson. Points of information - the City attorney's office prosecutes misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors with a very few exceptions (such as malicious punishment of a child), and the protesters are charged with misdemeanors. The County Attorney handles felony cases and charges involving juveniles. Second off, the County Attorney has 160 attorneys, and over 400 staff total and it is doubtful that these few cases would cause any overtime or other things sliding. The City Attorney's office has substantially fewer attorneys. There is one attorney (Assistant City Attorney Michael Hess) offiicially handling all the cases. I do not know how many staff and police are doing work on the prosecutions. It is obvious, however, that the hundreds of hours being spent on prosecuting political activists could otherwise be used for other purposes. (I do not know that the other ways that their time would be spent would necessarily be much better - eg discriminatory prosecution of people of color for minor offenses arising out of discriminatory arrests). Third off, this article does not provide any information as to why these cases are being brought back. There are good legal reasons that they could be brought back. Does anyone have information on why this is? The charges are being brought back on the basis of allegations that the accused persons participated in the ISAG demonstration. It is as simple as that. The city alleges that the demonstration was unlawful, and is therefore prosecuting people whom it believes participated. It is my admisttedly unobjective opinion that not only are there no good legal reasons for the proseuctions, but the prosecutions have the intention and effect of repressing free speech. I have yet to hear any refutation of this opinion. The other underlying motive for the prosecutions (and I feel comfortable stating it to be a fact) is the political pressure from the police department to pursue the cases based on reasoning that the fact of criminal charges somehow justifies all of the violence and money ($1.15 million) that they spent to repress 150 peaceful protesters. Carol Becker Longfellow Happy new year! Jordan Kushner Powderhorn - Original Message - From: Rosalind Nelson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 12:51 PM Subject: Re-charging of ISAG cases According to the Independent Media website (www.minneapolis.indymedia.org) the city is re-charging ISAG protesters whose cases had been dismissed in November (apparently the ones that were dropped by the judge because of "no probable cause"). So are they hoping for a different judge? Trying to make extra work for the protester's lawyers? It seems as though the City Attorney's office must have some responsibilities other than conducting a war of attrition with protest groups. So are they hiring extra staff, working lots of overtime, or letting their other normal duties slide? Rosalind Nelson Bancroft
Re: more movie theaters on horizon
I just have to say, as a downtown resident who used to go to the Skyway Theater, it seemed strange to me that the City did nothing (that I was aware of) to subsidize or save the Skyway. The Skyway was a venue for (relatively) inexpensive entertainment for downtowners and city youth, esp. near north side youth whose only other close option would be the less well bus serviced Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale. Think of the money the City has put into downtown entertainment venues with high ticket prices while it has done little or nothing for "affordable" downtown entertainment. Think of the (once and future?) money put into the Schubert. If we can save the Schubert we should have been able to save the Skyway--or kept it going until other affordable MOVIE theatres opened for business downtown. Alan Shilepsky Downtown now walking over the bridge to the tony St. Anthony Main district
Re: more movie theaters on horizon
I think Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale bit the dust also. I could be wrong. Craig Miller Rogers MN [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Alan Shilepsky [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Saturday, December 30, 2000 12:51 PM Subject: Re: more movie theaters on horizon I just have to say, as a downtown resident who used to go to the Skyway Theater, it seemed strange to me that the City did nothing (that I was aware of) to subsidize or save the Skyway. The Skyway was a venue for (relatively) inexpensive entertainment for downtowners and city youth, esp. near north side youth whose only other close option would be the less well bus serviced Terrace Theater in Robbinsdale. Think of the money the City has put into downtown entertainment venues with high ticket prices while it has done little or nothing for "affordable" downtown entertainment. Think of the (once and future?) money put into the Schubert. If we can save the Schubert we should have been able to save the Skyway--or kept it going until other affordable MOVIE theatres opened for business downtown. Alan Shilepsky Downtown now walking over the bridge to the tony St. Anthony Main district
Re: more movie theaters on horizon
Michael Hohmann wrote: Looks like Block E will have some added competition from a new 16-screen movie theater with stadium-style seating, plus two new restaurants (with full liquor licenses) to be added at Southdale in late 2001...snip...and all seemingly without a TIF subsidy from Edina. But will the Edina theaters have the plush nay, palatial interior that Ms. Cherryhomes (you know her, the affordable housing advocate who works tirelessly for Minneapolis' working families) and company cited as that which differentiates a "Block E" multiscreen motion picture complex (which promises to have the panache and necessary filigree to hearken even the most casual movie goer back to the days of the grand movie multiplexes of Hollywood's golden age) from your run-of-the-mill suburban multiplex? I say, not a chance. A Block E movie experience could have bulk candy in velveteen bags, plush red carpet not just on the floor, but on the walls too, posters promoting the next Adam Sandler/Pauly Shore buddy cop effort hanging in a really ornate ersatz-gilded frame, ferns in knock-off Erte vases. Let's see Edina match that! And, don't forget, the Block E movie goer, after departing from the darkened bathroom-sized theater surging with the adrenaline that goes with a Jean Claude Van Damme vampire flick, has the option to head to Gameworks** and have a Long Island Ice Tea, a plate of onion rings and the chance to pretend they are racing in the Indy 500 (the very game played by Blair Underwood and David Schwimmer at the Gameworks grand opening in Vegas). Plus don't forget that the City Center and all the fun that goes with it is right across the street. I say to Edina, get out now, before the Block E steamroller buries you like a turd in a cat box. **(remember, the Cherryhomes coterie said that the Block E deal had to get done because Gameworks is the MOST sought after entertainment venue in the country, oh wait, that was ESPN Zone. I forgot, Gameworks stepped in after the 'Zone, which was a slated major tenant and a cornerstone for rubber-stamping this project fell off the table because the ESPN Zone folks had never actually committed to building here- in fact rumor has it that they have never even heard of Minneapolis, a rumor I believe to be false)** richard carney st. paul
Re: busses
In response to Matthea Smith objections to my bus plan: I think parents with small children were accounted for in the "other special exceptions" clause that I made. Meaning that, parents with small children would warrant a special stop if they requested one, or flagged a bus down. If we seperated bus stops by four blocks, the absolute maximum possible addition to any trip would be two blocks. I can illustrate this. Firstly, the traveller goes to the intersection where the nearest bus stop once was. Secondly, the traveller chooses the nearest bus stop. The nearest bus stop would be where the person is currently standing; if they where facing the street, one to two blocks to their left, or one to two blocks to their right. Thirdly, the traveller would walk the extra distance, if there was any. Not too much to ask. If this is too radical, perhaps the bus company could have special rush hour rules that implemented this. Douglas desCombaz Whittier = Douglas DesCombaz, Goodwill and Peace [EMAIL PROTECTED] TheChronicler www.dugrocker.com go.to/dug __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/
Re: busses
Unless a rider is a "regular", the bus driver has no idea who is a special case and who is not. He/she cannot take the time to ferret out which group is which. In rush hour, on Sunday and Holiday schedule, the driver's job is to pick up whoever stands in the stop, regardless of mobility. On Lake St., for example, the stops are generally two blocks apart and designed to line up with transfer points (Lyndale, Blaisdale, Nicollet, 4th Av, etc.) That means there are 119 stops from Lake and Hennepin to downtown St. Paul. A driver can expect elderly, handicapped, and moms with groceries and toddlers and infants and each stop. Your plan would make the system less accessable to all. WMarks, Central former MTC driver Douglas desCombaz wrote: In response to Matthea Smith objections to my bus plan: I think parents with small children were accounted for in the "other special exceptions" clause that I made. Meaning that, parents with small children would warrant a special stop if they requested one, or flagged a bus down. If we seperated bus stops by four blocks, the absolute maximum possible addition to any trip would be two blocks. I can illustrate this. Firstly, the traveller goes to the intersection where the nearest bus stop once was. Secondly, the traveller chooses the nearest bus stop. The nearest bus stop would be where the person is currently standing; if they where facing the street, one to two blocks to their left, or one to two blocks to their right. Thirdly, the traveller would walk the extra distance, if there was any. Not too much to ask. If this is too radical, perhaps the bus company could have special rush hour rules that implemented this. Douglas desCombaz Whittier = Douglas DesCombaz, Goodwill and Peace [EMAIL PROTECTED] TheChronicler www.dugrocker.com go.to/dug __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/
Re: Electric Car Shuttle System
I would like to add a third kind of person who uses transit (there are also probably many other types of people who use transit). I choose to use transit and don't own a car (but I could afford one if I chose) because of global warming and the environmental impact of automobiles. I know that I'm not the only one like this, and I also think this type of transit-using people will be growing in number as folks realize how dangerous the overreliance on car transport is to life on earth. Caraholics always say they need their cars because they need to make all these side trips, and I do feel pity for them. But if you don't drive you find that you schedule and arrange things differently (call it linear living), so you don't have to be running back and forth so much. People around the world really are coming to their senses and giving up cars. This will catch on in Minneapolis, the city will change, and if someone needs to go just a few blocks a pedicab, a streetcar, a scooter, a pogo stick or a nice pair of walking shoes will be so much more convenient and planet-friendly than an electric car shuttle system. Here's to 2001! John Akre Sheridan Neighborhood www.sheridanneighborhood.org PS: Basing a transportation system on the presumption of traction between rubber tires and asphalt roads just seems silly in a place with winter days like this one. I'm looking forward to rail transport in Minneapolis. Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 23:15:13 -0800 From: "Carol Becker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Electric Car Shuttle System Message-ID: 000d01c0709d$ec776d40$[EMAIL PROTECTED] Part of the answer lies in why people ride transit. There are two kinds of people who ride transit: people who have no other transit option (mainly the poor, disabled, and elderly) and those who are going to work. In the Twin Cities, 32% of riders have no other transit option and 81% of people are going to work. Also, 75% of persons riding transit are doing so during the rush hour. For the people going to work (the majority of riders), they usually are not making multiple stops. They are going from work to home or home to work. If they need to make multiple stops, they usually drive (70% of folksing taking transit have access to a car) or they use pool cars provided by their employer. Carol Becker Longfellow
Re: Electric Car Shuttle System
Us "caraholics" sometimes have other reasons, particularly female caroholics. For example, in the good weather, I'm out in my car late at night. The busses are running at greater intervals at that hour and waiting for a bus in many places in this city--or any city or small town or even totally rural areas--are not safe places for women to wait for a bus. i.e. Lake and Chicago, Lake and 4th Av., Lake and Bloomington, anywhere on Nicollet Mall now that they've torn down the Times Cafe, 103rd and 3rd Av. Those places are not all that safe for men either. I received commendations when I drove because men called in to say that my being there (at Hennepin and Lagoon, for example) saved them from a mugging or worse. I gave free rides to young girls who were being harassed by ghouls in cars looking for a female to abuse. Men and women both have been pulled off bicycles by gang bangers who take pride in the fact that they always have a bicycle, but have never bougfht one. My foster kid was harassed by a passenger who got off the bus behind her just to continue harassing her because he didn't like how she looked. Being a caraholic has a lot to do with trying to stay safe in a hostile world. WMarks, Central John Akre wrote: I would like to add a third kind of person who uses transit (there are also probably many other types of people who use transit). I choose to use transit and don't own a car (but I could afford one if I chose) because of global warming and the environmental impact of automobiles. I know that I'm not the only one like this, and I also think this type of transit-using people will be growing in number as folks realize how dangerous the overreliance on car transport is to life on earth. Caraholics always say they need their cars because they need to make all these side trips, and I do feel pity for them. But if you don't drive you find that you schedule and arrange things differently (call it linear living), so you don't have to be running back and forth so much. People around the world really are coming to their senses and giving up cars. This will catch on in Minneapolis, the city will change, and if someone needs to go just a few blocks a pedicab, a streetcar, a scooter, a pogo stick or a nice pair of walking shoes will be so much more convenient and planet-friendly than an electric car shuttle system. Here's to 2001! John Akre Sheridan Neighborhood www.sheridanneighborhood.org PS: Basing a transportation system on the presumption of traction between rubber tires and asphalt roads just seems silly in a place with winter days like this one. I'm looking forward to rail transport in Minneapolis. Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 23:15:13 -0800 From: "Carol Becker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Electric Car Shuttle System Message-ID: 000d01c0709d$ec776d40$[EMAIL PROTECTED] Part of the answer lies in why people ride transit. There are two kinds of people who ride transit: people who have no other transit option (mainly the poor, disabled, and elderly) and those who are going to work. In the Twin Cities, 32% of riders have no other transit option and 81% of people are going to work. Also, 75% of persons riding transit are doing so during the rush hour. For the people going to work (the majority of riders), they usually are not making multiple stops. They are going from work to home or home to work. If they need to make multiple stops, they usually drive (70% of folksing taking transit have access to a car) or they use pool cars provided by their employer. Carol Becker Longfellow
Re: Electric Car Shuttle System
Methinks we already have the system envisioned below - they are called taxicabs. Perhaps we need a system of cars that are available for people to move across town once they are at work: Does anybody know of such a system in the world? -Original Message- snip Jack Ferman Minneapolis, MN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Electric Car Shuttle System
Part of the answer lies in why people ride transit. There are two kinds of people who ride transit: people who have no other transit option (mainly the poor, disabled, and elderly) and those who are going to work. In the Twin Cities, 32% of riders have no other transit option and 81% of people are going to work. Also, 75% of persons riding transit are doing so during the rush hour. For the people going to work (the majority of riders), they usually are not making multiple stops. They are going from work to home or home to work. If they need to make multiple stops, they usually drive (70% of folksing taking transit have access to a car) or they use pool cars provided by their employer. Carol Becker Longfellow - Original Message - From: Russell Wayne Peterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 7:09 AM Subject: Electric Car Shuttle System I read the article RT forwarded about how in California people are taking the rail into the city to a point and then getting a car they've parked there to drive in the rest of the way. I've always wondered how an LRTsystem works where many people need to go to meetings at different sites. Our bus system really doesn't serve that very well and neither will LRT. I know that PRT would serve it, but since we haven't gone down that venue quite let, I've kind of put that aside in my thinking. Perhaps we need a system of cars that are available for people to move across town once they are at work: kind of a park and ride in reverse. You could take a bus or lrt to your work place and then once you get to work, let's assume downtown for now, you would have a place with rental electric cars that you could drive and shuttle yourself around to meetings if need be. We could use a card coded system to log miles and who uses the cars. It might get complicated, but could be worthwhile. Does anybody know of such a system in the world? Or does anybody have any thoughts on this kind of system working with LRT and a better bus system? Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Steve Sumner (home) Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 12:01 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Mr. Wellstone needs an k-12 education I've support publicly the referendum, and wrote an article that was published in the local newspaper stating such. The referendum brings that school budget under more local control, but the next step in this is to remove the same amount from the state funding. Regarding the numbers... Two things need to happen here : 1. Separate the ELL and Special Ed student numbers from overall test score numbers. This would be a more fair representation of comparison numbers. 2. The school administration needs to be serious about addressing the real issues that the standards report points out, instead of looking for excuses. There are real problems in the Minneapolis school system, and they won't get solved with excuses. Some of the issues aren't seen as much in other school districts. The cities generally face these issues more than the subs. The school system needs to address itself to how to deal with these issues instead of looking for excuses. Steve Sumner Ward 1
Re: Mill City - School Funding
And herein lies a main problem with schools: few people get the funding mechanisms. Few people understand that the school boards of independent districts possess the power to levy property taxes without direct voter approval up to a certain percentage of property values. Excess levies come by way of school board referenda presented to voters when the districts feel they need or want more than the regular levy plus the state's aid fail to meet those needs or wants. This is a nation and school funding system that links its education of children to the fluctuating values of its residential and commercial properties instead of on a more equitable and reasonable tax structure - like the income tax, paid only to the state at this time. Aside from the fact that the entire idea of independent school districts was a disaster to begin with - we should never have divided our education system from all the other aspects of human existence in the policy arena - the funding of schools has too often boiled down to the distorted view that education is controlled by a union people despise instead of adequately and fairly paying teachers to prepare our children to assume the leadership of tomorrow, to become productive and knowledgeable citizens of their community and of the world. The debate, then, is misplaced. It should be over one thing: how do we provide the finest education system that realizes the next generation's survival and ability to thrive in an increasing complex and self-centered culture depends solely on our willingness to supply the human and financial resources to prepare the children for it. We should be ashamed for using our disdain for such things as unions and science to prevent our kids from getting their due in school. They go through but once. This is not something we can remedy later. Once through our children either have it or they don't. And we will pay dearly later for creating that which we deny today: Poor, uneducated and desperate chunks of our community preying on their fellow humans and costing billions in well-being and money to either care for them or incarcerate them. Let us this holiday season and the (real) entry to the millennium re-dedicate ourselves to the so necessary sense of community the rejoin education with the rest of our human institutions. Focus on the children - not with lavish consumerism, but with a set of community values they can carry to their children and generations after. Happiest of holidays to all Andy Driscoll -- "Whatever keeps you from your work is your work." Albert Camus The Driscoll Group/Communications Writing/Graphics/Strategic Development 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Carol Becker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 07:03:17 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Mill City - School Funding The main source of funding traditionally for schools has been the property tax, as that is the main source of funding for most local governments. There has been a shift, however, for the state to take over more and more of the funding of K-12 education. (Ventura has a proposal to increase this for the 2001 legislative session). For the 1999-2000 school year: Per Pupil Spending $9,692 State per pupil $6,695 Even with this infusion of state funds, the School Board levies the largest property tax in the City. Percentage of property taxes paid to each levying jurisdiction in the City are approximately: 28% Hennepin County 7% Park Board 3% Library Board 25% City of Minneapolis 30% School Board 7% Other There are seven members of the School Board in Minneapolis. They are all elected. Carol Becker Longfellow - Original Message - From: Duke Powell [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 1:29 AM Subject: Re: Mill City Broadly speaking, schools are funded from 3 sources. 1. The state - Through your property taxes; by far the biggest chunk. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70%. 2. Feds - Urban schools get significantly more federal money in large part due to larger numbers of children at risk. 3. Excess levy referendum - This is money that the Districts levy over and above what they get from the feds and the state. Capped by law and subject to voter approval. Comes from property taxes. In Burnsville our levy limit is about $1000 per child. Now, the above sources provide monies for operating expenses. Bricks and mortar and other capital projects are funded in a different way. But to answer your question, city or county governments do not have anything to do with funding or overseeing the schools. Duke Powell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I guess I'm lost. If the city do
Re: Mr. Wellstone goes to school
I have to agree with all the Catherine Shreves wrote. As I said this am on MPR, we need to look at growth over a period of years. We assess our kindergarteners to evaluate many basic school readiness skills. If the state were to expand the reporting to measure children when they enter a school system, and assign that child a record that follows them anywhere in the state, then look at growth over a period of time, say from K to 3 and then to 5, we would have a much more accurate picture of growth and progress, both for districts, schools and individual children. But at this writing, it is my understanding that the state has refused to look at that type of assessment, even though researchers across the country are recommending testing that shows more accurately growth over time. When we take one year's 3rd graders and compare it to last year's second graders, now third graders, we only see a very tiny piece of the puzzle. As list members know, many of our children lack the social capitol of those in more affluent schools. Children from affluent areas come to school with the skills to begin learning. We have children who have no stable housing, family life, healthcare or adult relationships. We have children who have never held a writing tool or had a book read to them of have never spoken english. So we take children from a much lower level of school readiness. That's why early education funding is so critical. The MCA tests on which the Title 1 report is based, have 4 levels. The top levels range from 75% up. The bottom level is from 0% to 33% and the biggest level is the second one up, it goes from 33% to 75%. The number of chilren in MPS doesn't seem to have gone up in the very limited manner it's reported. But in fact there have been tremendous gains for kids going from the bottom level to the second level and kids going from 33% to 70%, close to the 1420 mark imposed by the state. So even the state is now looking at breaking the 4 levels into 5 because they are beginning to see that it is not an accurate way to evaluate progress. I also believe Minneapolis should be compared to like school districts with similar demographics. The current system will always mean, in this state, Mpls and St. Paul will never look as good as Minnetonka, or Apple Valley or North Oaks. Our demographics are completely different and the system is skewed to make the affluent school districts look successful and urban centers as failures. I say compare us, if we are to be judged at the national level, to Charlotte-Mecklenburg or Seattle, etc. I understand that this information is to be used to help school districts in need, but that hasn't really been the case in the past. It's mostly been used or threatened to be used in a punitive manner. In DC, this kind of information that is so limited, is used to bash and undermine public education. And who is keeping the test makers and test scorers accountable? That isn't foolproof! Audrey Johnson 10th Ward MPS BOE Dir.
Re: Wallace Swan's future
That's too bad. Wally has been very good in this post. He was treated horribly by the DFL when he ran for State Treasurer. I still remember his testimony before the DFL executive committee after the 1998 elections. Eva Eva Young Mpls., MN At 08:43 AM 12/22/00 -0600, List Manager wrote: Mr. Swan requested this be forwarded to the list. -- David Brauer, list manager -Original Message- From: Wallace Swan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 4:28 AM Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT--Please forward to Other Interested Friends My Dear Friends, It has been my great honor to serve as a member of the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation for 2 four year terms. I do not plan, however, to run for an additional term during the upcoming election cycle. I am of course planning to continue with my full-time job for many years to come; I will continue to serve as Candidate Development Director of the Stonewall DFL Caucus, and as a member of the First Unitarian Society Foundation Board. I am serving as the editor of a symposium on the status of gay,lesbian,bisexual,transgender public administration and policy around the world in the "International Journal of Public Administration" which will be published within the next year. And I am pleased to announce that I have been selected for inclusion in the Year 2001 edition of "Who's Who in America". I wish all of my DFL friends and colleagues, as well as talented city employees, the best of luck in maintaining the fiscal stability of the City of Minneapolis, which has been my primary goal as an elected official. Have a Happy Holiday season! Wallace Swan
RE: Mr. Wellstone goes to school
I thought I would toss my oar into the rather turbulent waters of the school issue. While I have never been able to claim the space of being a 'concerned' or even a 'committed' parent (or even a parent for that matter.) I have spent my time in schools. The thing that always has disturbed me about the 'standards' movement is that they have been for the most part the people who seem to want to disconnect the educational process from other parts of life (ie race, economics, etc.) I think that a lot of the 'extras that Mr. Summers speaks of such as the YMCA and other extracurricular activities are important to the pedagogical process. I don't know Mr. Summers views on this topic, but frequently issues such as second language programs and school breakfast and lunch programs are sighted by many as extras as well. (If Mr. Summers is a supporter of such programs, I apologise in advance.) The only problem that I see with many of these programs is the simple fact that they aren't properly funded. The second issue I have with the testing program is that is seems that many schools have begun merely teach for the test. Our schools should be in existence to create good, critical thinking democratic citizens, not test recipients. I think there can be a compromise between these two issues, but it's something that I think we should give some thought. The last issue I would like to bring up is the fact that the educational process does not create jobs, and change the other systematic issues of poverty, and underemployment (I was about to say unemployment, but for the city at least, it is not a serious issue). School reform always needs to placed in a larger reform context (thank you Mr. Driscoll for bringing that up.) Robert Wood anti-authoritarian marxist intellectual, green party member, St. Paul resident, employee and student of the university of minnesota PS A fellow worker of mine at one point worked for target (in 1996 or 1997 I believe, and his wages were $6 w/o benefits, perhaps they have increased, but I suspect not dramatically)
Re: new year's resolution for the ciy
Mark - What a great idea! And for starters, why don't you send this one in to the Strib to get the ball rolling? Ann Berget Kingfield 10-10
Re: olson/racial profiling
This is my first post to this discussion group. I have been following your very interesting threads for a while. I have to stop lurking and start posting. Tim Connolly induced me to. I have to applaud him for being honest and saying what most people in Minnesota are afraid to say in public. We all profile and we do it every day. I am white, 53 years old, Jewish, and not born or bred in Minnesota (although I've lived here for over 20 years). Culture is learned behavior that is passed down from generation to generation. Part of culture is the evaluation of behavior which is based on values, attitudes, and mores. I learned how to view the world from my parents, who learned from their parents etc. My first critical social distinction was between jews and gentiles. We evaluated jews' behavior differently from gentiles' behavior. This was from a people who lived in ghettos and did not have civil rights in the wider society. I went to school with my parents' prejudices. They grew up in the crucibles of eastcoast immigrant neighborhoods that had distinct boundries. I learned how to evaluate the "other" through stereotypes but (and this is a big but) I had day-to-day interaction with the "others" over a long time. I weighed the stereotype against the sustained contact. Then came the Civil Rights Movement and the 1960's. We tried to trancend our prejudges. This is what I do everyday when dealing with people: are they Jewish or not? what is the stereotyped view? what is the transcended standard? Are they meeting this standard? This is my cultural calculus. We have to take this for granted or else we would go crazy with minute details. But this is how I see the world and I admit it. The police don't admit this. Certainly Chief Olson doesn't own up to his embedded prejudices. Most Minnesotans don't either. Yet daily social interactions are profoundly affected by these cultural categories and attitudes. When you overlay political correct attitudes over your imbred cultural attitudes you increase the gap between reality and expectations. I would like to hear from others what they think about this cultural evaluation and how it plays out for them here in Minneapolis. The Yiddish phrase for being candid is "shtell tuchis afim tish" which translates literally into "put your ass on the table." Thank you Tim for putting your ass on the table. David Wilson Loring Park On Wed, 20 Dec 2000, timothy connolly wrote: let's be honest here. i am a caucasian male, 51 years old, partially reared by an afican-american woman. i live mostly with african-american men. i've spent my share of time on the street with all that entails. i have lived here and in virginia. i racially profile. i stereotype. i may do it less than others but i do it. black people also profile and stereotype though the effects may not be felt by whites the way the majority's profiling is felt by blacks given the majority's use of police to do their dirty work. i still believe olson should not be reappointed. i hold no illusion that this will be a panacaea to the problems our city faces vis a vis profiling, police over-reliance on force, etc. it is only a beginning. tim connolly ward 7 __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
RE: Mill City
Maybe I'm just nuts here, but it seems to me that there IS a link between a for profit (very for profitable) deciding to discontinue sponsoring a public school for "business reasons" while they are willing to take our tax dollars on the other end to build their downtown corporate digs. Perhaps I'm just out of the loop in public policy thinking in this city, but as a parent and taxpayer, I'd say we just don't have our priorities straight. I can't understand how we are so short money for our schools, especially the physical environments, but we have a ton to give to for profit corporations. And then when they make a business decision to withdraw their support from a public school our elected officials are either silent or supportive of the situation - this blows my mind. Where is the public advocacy? Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: MCDA and STA Associates news release
Can someone decode this release? The MCDA was ready to foreclose on STA, who looked like they would beat the MCDA to the punch by selling to a Chicago developer who would provide fewer jobs. Who forced whose hand here? Did STA checkmate the MCDA and force the agency to back down? Can anyone read tea leaves and say if the project is going in the direction of fewer jobs, or whether STA can pull a rabbit out of the hat and produce a project like the MCDA thought they were getting? David Brauer Kingfield - Ward 10 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Haugen, Elizabeth Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2000 3:47 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: MCDA and STA Associates news release Sears foreclosure is on hold while MCDA and STA Associates discuss redevelopment options. Please click on the following link to read the joint news release from MCDA and STA Associates. http://www.mcda.org/Content/Org/Newsreleases/STA.htm Elizabeth Haugen, Public Information Minneapolis Community Development Agency 105 5th Ave. S., Suite 200 Minneapolis MN 55401-2534 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (612) 673-5121
Re: Mill City School/target
maybe related to this: This year the Target Foundation changed it's funding criteria. While they previously funded a variety of nonprofits and grass roots arts projects, the word on the street in the nonprofit community is target's new funding criteria is: "Programs to keep poor people poor (emergency service programs only) and large splashy arts projects they can put their name on." I am surprised that nobody mentioned the pull out from Mill City School by one of our esteemed local companies. The quote in the paper said it was a "business decision." I wonder if they weighed that against the huge subsidy they got from the taxpayers of this city to build their new downtown digs. With our impending debt burden, maybe we should make a "business decision" and withdraw our TIF funding. I'd love to hear the reaction from some of our elected officials including city council and school board. Russ Peterson Standish Ward 9 . sheldon mains, seward neighborhood, minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] the shameless agitator in the electronic town square
Re: Mill City
I guess I'm lost. If the city does not fund schools, according to Ms. Collier, who does? I seriously want to know how it breaks down. Does the state or county fund public schools? If so, than why aren't urban schools as lavish as the suburban schools. Oh, and by the way, there is absolutely nothing admirable about a corporation that can't draw it's employees by offering a decent living wage, or that uses public tax dollars to increase it's profit margin. Especially when that same corporation pays its CEO an annual salary of tens of millions of dollars. A company that knows it has a city's leaders in its pocket to cover building expenses so it can use the saved dollars for publicity and tax write offs is anything but admirable. In fact, such a company is despicable. wade russell longfellow
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go!
. . . 5) Senate District 62 Convention: Eight undercover police officers hired. The fear! The voice of the community might be heard! Minneapolis City Hall greatest fear! Democracy! . . . Ken Bradley Ward 12 Could Mr. Bradley please tell us where this ABSOLUTE NONSENSE came from? I am the Treasurer of Senate District 62, I write all the checks and pay all hired people, and I can assure you that the district did NOT hire "8 undercover police officers". As far as I can remember, I saw 5 police officers at the convention; none of them were 'hired undercover officers': - There were 2 officers who live in the district, are active DFL'ers, and who have been elected delegates from their precinct caucus for at least the last 4 years or so. - Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton was there, with her driver/bodyguard, who is a Mpls. police officer. He was wearing his usual dark blue sportcoat rather than a uniform; I suppose you could call that either "plain clothes" or "undercover". But he certainly wasn't paid by District 62! - South HS required us to hire 2 off-duty police officers for the convention; they said this is their new policy (since Columbine) for all non-school events. District 62 argued quite strenuously against this pointless expense, with no success. But these officers were in full police uniform, and they spent most of their time out in the commons area, outside the convention floor. They were certainly not 'hired undercover officers'. I don't know who dreams up this kind of nonsense, but I would hope the readers of this list have enough sense to recognize it for the farce it is. Reminds me of the 'Bill-Gates-will-pay-$1-for-every-time-you-forward-this-email' hoaxes that float around the internet regularily, thanks to gullible people who pass them along unquestioned! Tim Bonham Standish-Erickson
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go! (fwd)
Among Olson's other accomplishments: * Keeping uppity city department heads in their places (Ken White). * Turning a mundane scientific conference into an exciting made-for-TV extravaganza * Taking MPD crime-fighting efforts into neighboring cities (those slackers in the St. Paul police haven't shot anybody all year--Why aren't people demanding Finney's resignation?). * Relieving burdened families of their difficult, mentally-ill relations. In the spirit of this holiday season, we should encourage Olson to keep up the good work and so, as Scrooge would say, "decrease the surplus population." Rosalind Nelson Bancroft Carol Becker: Complaints at all these bodies are down. Payouts from the City down. Facts simply don't support the allegations made in this post. In fact, we have a police chief who has both improved public safety and reduced inappropriate actions by the police at the same time.To my mine, we should be writing in support of Chief Olson.
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go! (fwd)
There's a misstatement in here. In the case of Mr. Saunders, the police who answered the call did not know the history of Mr. Saunders. The connection was made later. The fault here lies, I think, with the hospital who let Mr. Saunders out before he was ready to cope with whatever he had on his plate. WMARKS Eva Young wrote: Matthea's got some interesting points. I'm much more concerned about the police killing the two mentally ill people-the woman with manic depression, and the African American man. In both cases, they knew they were confronting mentally ill people. At the same time, I resent when these cases are compared to the police treatment of the protesters at the Animal Genetics conference. The protesters there were intending to push the envelope as far as they could go, just to get arrested as a way of making a political statement. I think the issues are different. I think that the Star and Tribune article was instrumental in the statistics they gave that people of color don't make up the majority of the criminals, but they do make up for the majority of the arrests. It we look one step further, those arrests, many times comes from complaints from neighbors that have done the initial targeting or racial profiling. Now who do we target and hold accountable for their behavior? Interesting point. I'm not sure how you can hold citizens accountable for this type of behavior. The police are public servents and can be held accountable, because we, the taxpayers in the city are paying their salary. I also think that it's too bad when these things happen because all police officers suffer for the actions of a few. Eva Young Central - Click here for Free Video!! http://www.gohip.com/freevideo/
Re: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position
My information is about 6 months old. However, vacancy rates shift very slowly. The national vacancy rate is 9.5%. This belies the shortage nationwide theory. There are many cities with a low rate. Overall though, it is not the same issue as it its here. Craig Miller Rogers MN -Original Message- From: Tim Bonham [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sunday, December 10, 2000 12:43 PM Subject: Re: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position I must disagree with my friend neighbor Ms. Becker -- this DOES have a place on this forum. As this 'attack on Cherryhomes' is entirely an attack on her positions, I do not think it is a personal attack of the kind that is prohibited on this forum. (David can respond, if he wishes.) I think that was indicated by the title Ms. Becker gave to her post. I would say that if we can not argue about the positions taken by an elected official on this board, it's a pretty useless forum. That said, I would have to agree the Ms. Cherryhomes (and the Mpls city government as a whole) has done little if anything to increase affordable housing in the city. In fact, I would suspect that city actions over the past years have resulted in a net loss of affordable housing. However, lack of affordable housing is a problem all over this country, so it is asking a bit much to expect local officials to fix a nation-wide problem. Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 22:43:19 -0800 From: "Carol Becker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position Message-ID: 001401c06274$7cdc13a0$[EMAIL PROTECTED] . . . PS - These personal attacks do not have a place in this forum. - Original Message - From: timothy connolly [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 7:58 AM Subject: cherryhomes announcement
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go! (fwd)
I think the drug problem HAS to be dealt with as a chemical dependency issue NOT a criminal issue. We have been trying to "lock up" addicts for how many years? I would appear that we all agree that we haven't made significant progress. Rather than blame Chief Olson for the drug problem, I would suggest we develop a realistic plan to deal with the addiction issues. My understanding is that chemical dependency treatment is less expensive than incarceration. Matthea Smith Powderhorn Park 9-4 __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go! (fwd)
While racism is certainly an ongoing and systematic issue, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't people accountable for perpetuating. No Chief Olson didn't invent racial profiling, nor is he the first one to try the solve the problems of the world with more arrests and bullets and tear gas, but that doesn't mean that he isn't responsible for his actions. The man is the chief of police. It entails a little power and responsiblity. The act of firing and holding accountable an irresponsible police chief may not solve the problems of racism, but it can take us down the right path. The other people we need to hold responsible are the mayor and the city council and we need to ask serious questions of them as well. Perhaps if those actions are taken, there could be a new relationship between the police and the citizens (particularly citizens of color) that will be more healthy. It is encumbant upon the police to create this relationship. They created this atmosphere, and they need to make the first move to solve it. Personally, I don't think they're capable of it... not in this society at least. Robert Wood anti-authoritarian marxist, green party member, and resident of St. Paul who works at the University of Minnesota.
Re: Chief Olson's Got to Go! (fwd)
Matthea's got some interesting points. I'm much more concerned about the police killing the two mentally ill people-the woman with manic depression, and the African American man. In both cases, they knew they were confronting mentally ill people. At the same time, I resent when these cases are compared to the police treatment of the protesters at the Animal Genetics conference. The protesters there were intending to push the envelope as far as they could go, just to get arrested as a way of making a political statement. I think the issues are different. I think that the Star and Tribune article was instrumental in the statistics they gave that people of color don't make up the majority of the criminals, but they do make up for the majority of the arrests. It we look one step further, those arrests, many times comes from complaints from neighbors that have done the initial targeting or racial profiling. Now who do we target and hold accountable for their behavior? Interesting point. I'm not sure how you can hold citizens accountable for this type of behavior. The police are public servents and can be held accountable, because we, the taxpayers in the city are paying their salary. I also think that it's too bad when these things happen because all police officers suffer for the actions of a few. Eva Young Central - Click here for Free Video!! http://www.gohip.com/freevideo/
Re: Parking meters
Jordan writes: I believe that in reality the increase for downtown parking meters is another regressive tax which will hurt people who have to drive downtown for work or personal business but cannot afford some of the outrageously expensive parking ramps (I noticed tonig a parking ramp downtown that charges $6 for the first hour with a maximum of $17 per day). Question to recent jury duty conscripts: Does Hennepin County pay for parking when you are on jury duty? Rich McMartin Bryant
RE: Parking meters
This continues to be governance from the desert perspective. It seems that our leadership wants to drive citizens with a hard wind and sand storm to try and get them to do what they want. Increasing parking meter fees is not the solution to increasing bus ridership! If the ultimate goal is to increase use of public transportation more than we need to re-invent the bus system because the one we have isn't doing it. So, how about smaller buses, running more frequently in more areas of the city. On specific runs you could hitch up with Caribou Coffee or another local coffee retailer like Cafe Tempo or Riverside to provide drinks on the route. Or we could set up a system whereby you order a magazine or book from the library and it's on the bus when you get there in the morning. And I've even heard of the proposal to put everybody's express bus ticket into a lottery drawing to win a million dollar prize once a year with other prizes. I bet people would get on the bus for that prize. These would be the kinds of creative ideas we need to look at that respect people, not restrict them. As I've said before, if we raise meter fees, people will stay away because Rosedale, Southdale and the Mall of America all have FREE PARKING! Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Parking meters
Hennepin County gives the jurors bus passes. Rich Chandler - Ward 9 -Original Message- From: Rich McMartin Question to recent jury duty conscripts: Does Hennepin County pay for parking when you are on jury duty? Rich McMartin - Bryant -Original Message- From: Jordan Kushner I believe that in reality the increase for downtown parking meters is another regressive tax which will hurt people who have to drive downtown for work or personal business but cannot afford some of the outrageously expensive parking ramps (I noticed tonig a parking ramp downtown that charges $6 for the first hour with a maximum of $17 per day).
RE: truth in taxation
Just want to set the record straight on this issue. The Mayor didn't actually support full-funding of the Park Board Infrastructure package. There are three pots of money that could have been allocated for the Park Board. The first was their CLIC or net debt capital money that is about $2.5 million a year, the second pot is the levy money that the Board of Estimate and Taxation approved and the third pot was the capital gap money of $325,000 that the mayor DID NOT include in her budget. The levy money this year is immovable, if the Council wants to make any changes it has to been done with the CLIC money. Several of us are concerned about this allocation in the Mayor's budget because this aggressive closure of the Park Board's infrastructure gap corresponds with a tremendous lessening of the financial commitment to the Public Works infrastructure gap closure. The Park Board's total funding in four years goes from a $2.2 million base to an annual total of $7.7 million or a 250 percent increase, while Public Work's 2001-2005 net debt funding level is reduced from the currently adopted capital by $19.6 million and the infrastructure gap closure will only reach 29 percent closure in 11 years as opposed to the adopted 50 percent closure target. What does this mean in pragmatic terms? While the Park Board takes care of all their infrastructure and probably adds some new facilities, on the city side, new bike lanes, parkway paving and lighting and street paving in the city will remain undone and we will slip further back in our planned gap program. Some of us felt that a more prudent approach would be to shave some money from the CLIC Net debt amount (approx. $700,000) to bring our infrastucture gap amount back up closer to 50 percent. Would this set back the Park Board program somewhat? Certainly. But it wouldn't do any good to have every Park totally fixed and have the streets falling apart. Three years from now citizens certainly wouldn't be happy with us. As council members we have to look at both sides of the financial ledger and be fiscally responsible. Plus last year we took on several services for the Park Board which freed up another million in their budget for extra park staffing and we took on responsibility for their sewer infrastructure which has NEVER been updated and has the potential to run the city another $1 million a year until it is updated. Lastly as to the issue of the deal that the Mayor cut with the Park Board. I find it interesting that the "consensus building" Mayor never bothered to discuss her actions with her colleagues on the council..only with the majority leader and the council president. That really isn't the way to build support for initiatives like this. I personally would have preferred that the Park Board would have gone out for a referendumYyes it would have cost a little more, but I think the Park Board needs to make the case to the public, as an elected, responsible body, why they need more money. And the best thing about a referendum is that is guarantees that the money gets spent on what it is allocated for. It is clear, given the success of the library referendum, it would have passed. The Park Board chose to take the deal the Mayor offered and didn't question whether the rest of the Council was on board. A referendum would have insured that the money couldn't have been touched by any other entity. Now the Park Board will have to deal with the fact this money will be on the table for the next few budget discussions. Lisa McDonald Tenth Ward Council Member -Original Message- From: Dean Zimmermann [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 7:17 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: RE: truth in taxation Re: Park Board Funding Tim: Perhaps some people didn't, as you say, see why the mayor supported full funding of the Park Boards infastructure - perhaps it is because the mayor didn't support the Park Board's desire to fully fund its infastucture. Let me see if I can explain some of this funding stuff - it is complicated, so please bear with me. The Park Board sets its own property tax level - as does the City Council and the Library Board. The Park Board was created by the legislature in 1883. It was not created by the City of Mpls. However, even though all three of these bodies (PB, LB CC) all set their own tax levy, that levy can not exceed the ceiling that is set by the Board of Estimate and Taxation. The Board of Estimate and Taxation is made up of 7 people; the mayor, the pres of City Council, the chair of the City Council ways and means committee, a Park Board Rep, a Library Board rep, and two others elected by the citizens in the General Election. The Park Board felt that it needed to have more revenue to support our expanding system. In case you don't know, the Park Board is the largest daycare provider in Mpls, we operate 50 (up from 15 just 25 years ago)
RE: City Council and MCDA Meetings in 2001
I have been asked to inform those who may choose to attend City Council meetings in 2001 that to enter the Federal Courts building you will have to pass through a security checkpoint and a metal detector. Also, the use of cell phones is prohibited within the Federal Courts building. Forewarned is fore armed. But if you are, you will be stopped... :-) Robert Cooper Minneapolis Community Development Agency NRP/Citizen Participation Department 155-5th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55401 voice: (612) 673-5239 fax: (612) 673-5259 web: http://www.mcda.org -Original Message- From: Cooper, Bob Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 9:19 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'; '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: City Council and MCDA Meetings in 2001 For those of you who may wish to attend City Council and MCDA meetings in the coming year, please note the following: Starting in January 2001, all City Council, MCDA Board and Committee meetings will be held in different locations because City Hall will be undergoing reconstruction on third floor to update the heating and ventilating systems. All Committee meetings, including Community Development , Ways and Means, and the MCDA Operating Committee will be held in City Hall Room 132. These meetings will be telecast. All City Council and MCDA Board Meetings will be held in Judge Rosenbaum's courtroom on the 15th floor of the Federal Courts building across the street from City Hall. These meetings will be telecast for broadcast at a later time. Committee of the Whole (Caucus) meetings will be held on 12th floor of the Federal Courts building. There will be signage directing everyone to the new locations. The reconstruction is scheduled to start immediately in January and will last approximately six months. Robert Cooper Minneapolis Community Development Agency NRP/Citizen Participation Department 155-5th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55401 voice: (612) 673-5239 fax: (612) 673-5259 web: http://www.mcda.org
RE: truth in taxation
--- Dean Zimmermann [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Re: Park Board Funding now, certain council members have been making noises of unilaterally changing the agreement, and to keep part of the Park Board.s share. Dean, Please disclose for the list which council members have made these noises. Thnaks Jon Kelland Bryant __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
Re: viruses
i heard these type of messages can actually give you a virus. what is the story behind that. is this an urban legend in the making? mark wilde windom park --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -- Forwarded by Terrence Matula/Homebuilders/DRHorton on 12/12/2000 05:33 PM --- Colleen Johnson 12/12/2000 03:51 PM To: All-Homebuilders cc: Subject: DO NOT OPEN "PRETTY PARK" It is a virus that will erase your whole "C" drive. It will come to you in the form of an E-Mail from a familiar person. I repeat a friend sent it to me, but called warned me before I opened it. He was not so lucky and now he cant even start his computer! Forward this to everyone in your address book. I would rather receive this 25 times than not at all. Also: Intel announced that a new and very destructive virus was discovered recently. If you receive an email called "An Internet Flower For You", do not open it. Delete it right away! This virus removes all dynamic link libraries(.dll files) from your computer. Your computer will not be able to boot up. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!! __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
RE: truth in taxation
Re: Park Board Funding Tim: Perhaps some people didn't, as you say, see why the mayor supported full funding of the Park Boards infastructure - perhaps it is because the mayor didn't support the Park Board's desire to fully fund its infastucture. Let me see if I can explain some of this funding stuff - it is complicated, so please bear with me. The Park Board sets its own property tax level - as does the City Council and the Library Board. The Park Board was created by the legislature in 1883. It was not created by the City of Mpls. However, even though all three of these bodies (PB, LB CC) all set their own tax levy, that levy can not exceed the ceiling that is set by the Board of Estimate and Taxation. The Board of Estimate and Taxation is made up of 7 people; the mayor, the pres of City Council, the chair of the City Council ways and means committee, a Park Board Rep, a Library Board rep, and two others elected by the citizens in the General Election. The Park Board felt that it needed to have more revenue to support our expanding system. In case you don't know, the Park Board is the largest daycare provider in Mpls, we operate 50 (up from 15 just 25 years ago) recreation centers, 53 miles of both biking and hiking trails, 29 ice skating facilities, provides after school activities for thousands of kids, maintains all of the cities boulevard trees, and hundreds of softball and soccer fields, to name just a few things. Many of these things were added or greatly expanded without a basic change in the tax rate. Everybody, from the legislature to NRP wants to give the Park Board money to build new things, but it is much harder to find money to maintain these facilities once they are build. Maintainance is just not as glamorous as building new. Thus the need for new reliable monies. The Park Board could get the money from the people of Mpls in one of two ways: 1) put the matter on the ballot and let the people vote for it, i.e. a referendum, or 2) use the taxing authority that was given to the Board by the legislature in 1883.(a side note: because of some complicated reasons I don't know how to explain, the first method would put a larger burden on home owners and a smaller burden on downtown business than method two.) Because, the mayor used her power on the Board of Taxation to keep the tax ceiling low, the Park Board had no choice but to go directly to the people for a referendum to get the needed money, and made preparations to do so. At this point, the mayor got a little panicked at the thought of 3 referendums on the ballot at one time, since the Library and School Boards were already doing referendums. The feeling was that if there were too may referendums on the ballot at once, they would all fail. Therefore, the mayor relented and used her influence and her vote to get the Board of Estimate to approve a ceiling high enough for the Park Board to raise its tax levy to its desired level. Please note, that this is all Park Board doing, and has nothing to do with City Council money. It in no way increases or decreases City Council money. And now, all is well that ends well. No, no, no not so fast. Certain City Council members feel that somehow all of this added up to the mayor doing a secret deal with the Park Board and are looking for a way to punish her and the Park Board.Because the tax levy is set by the Park Board there is nothing the Council can do about it, but: All cities, including Mpls, get state aid to cities A normal regular kind of thing. There has been a long standing agreement that the money that comes to Mpls is divided up between the City Council and the Park Board according to fixed formula - it is something like 87% to 13% -- but I am not sure of the exact split. So, now, certain council members have been making noises of unilaterally changing the agreement, and to keep part of the Park Board.s share. This is possible because the money passes thru the City Council's books. Now, there is a totally unrelated thing going on that some people get confused with what I just outlined above. Over the past couple of years Public Works (read City Council) and the Park Board have looked over what each is doing in order to see if we could save any money by exchanging some tasks. For example, the Park Board has taken on the task of maintaining certain green spaces owned by Public Works and Public Works has taken on the task of maintaining certain parkways. There are a few more areas being looked at and some others agreed to, all in the name of saving the taxpayers a few dollars thru increased efficency. I hope I have clarified this some, and not just made it more confusing. Sincerely, Dean Zimmermann Commissioner Mpls Park Board. Dist 3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 612-722-8768 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of timothy connolly Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 4:01 PM To: Multiple
RE: Schools kudos
Corrections and amplifications: Dean observes: Nice post, and Tom Streitz and the King Field and East Harriet folks do deserve a pat on the back. However, I take slight offense to David's shot at those of us who choose not to send our kids to public School. No offense meant, Dean. I was taking my shot more at people who WANT to send their kids to public school, don't do anything to improve the system, and give up and go private. If you think private is the best place in the first place, do what you gotta do. Russell sez: Well I have to thank Tom Streitz and Catherine Shreves who both seemed to listen to me and others in our open area school district. But it really is too late to be of much use to my family. It is now the middle of the holiday season. We have already toured our schools and entered our two top choices. (We've toured, had a re-tour and certified our tours. O.k., probably a bad joke.) And it is really too late in the game to start looking all over at schools again - especially since MPS put a caveat on the new criteria that says two of the three choices must be community schools. Sorry, I should have noted that parents in open districts who have already made their picks in this year's lottery will be contacted and allowed to add a third choice. That's precisely because the decision was made too late to add to this year's material. (And yup, should have noted the two-community school requirement.) Russ, if you did all that searching, and are in an open district, there must have been SOME school that came close to being one of your top 2. Now, you can add it, if you choose. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10
Re: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position
--part1_69.e3caf81.27668ac9_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I keep getting the feeling that different people have different interpretations of what affordable housing actually is. It is not public housing or subsidized housing. It is housing for individuals within the median income range and the rents could range from $800 on up. While affordable housing is a real problem right now, so is low-income subsidized housing. That would take some help from the federal government and right now they don't seem want to do anything about that. Karen Collier Linden Hills --part1_69.e3caf81.27668ac9_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit HTMLFONT SIZE=2I keep getting the feeling that different people have different BRinterpretations of what affordable housing actually is. nbsp;It is not public BRhousing or subsidized housing. nbsp;It is housing for individuals within the BRmedian income range and the rents could range from $800 on up. nbsp;While BRaffordable housing is a real problem right now, so is low-income subsidized BRhousing. nbsp;That would take some help from the federal government and right now BRthey don't seem want to do anything about that. BR BRKaren Collier BRLinden Hills/FONT/HTML --part1_69.e3caf81.27668ac9_boundary--
Re: Public Works budget controversy
--part1_f5.5720783.27668bf5_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Good question, Scott. That was what I thought when I read the article. Without specifics it sounds to me like "you either do what I say or I'll find someone else to do it." Personally, I think Mr. Sonnenberg has done a pretty good job. Karen Collier Linden Hills --part1_f5.5720783.27668bf5_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit HTMLFONT FACE=arial,helveticaFONT SIZE=2Good question, Scott. nbsp;That was what I thought when I read the article. nbsp;BRWithout specifics it sounds to me like "you either do what I say or I'll find BRsomeone else to do it." nbsp;Personally, I think Mr. Sonnenberg has done a pretty BRgood job. nbsp; BR BRKaren Collier BRLinden Hills/FONT/HTML --part1_f5.5720783.27668bf5_boundary--
RE: Electricity Supply Demand Mtg.
I do not know if "The Massachusetts experience" was purposely or inadvertently left off, but the two states experiences have been dramatically different. California has had dramatic rate increases and shortages while Massachusetts has had modest rate declines. Personally, I want power privatization so I can buy no-nuke power. I am willing to pay a premium to do so, but believe that an honest accounting including all the costs of nuclear power will show no-nuke power being cheaper. Currently, we can either buy NSP power or no power, so we are forced to buy power made using a nuclear reactor with the attendant waste. Rich Chandler - Ward 9 -Original Message- From: M Hohm FYI... for those interested in electricity supply and demand in Minnesota under a deregulated environment-- the Twin Cities represents the major market in the state. What are our business/government leaders planing to keep the economy humming smoothly along? What does Xcel forecast from their perch on Nicollet Mall? Will we need battery storage systems to keep our computers reliably tuned to mpls-issues??? Electric Reliability Forum to Feature National Experts; Minnesota Faces Potential Electricity Shortage Within Five Years The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will host an Electric Reliability Forum on Tuesday, December 12. The conference will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton and Towers and will address options for avoiding a looming electric supply shortage by restructuring the electric utility industry in Minnesota and spurring investment in power plant generation. ``This is an issue of great importance not just for Minnesota's businesses, but for all Minnesotans. We're headed for a dramatic change in the way we use electricity unless we explore some of the options available,'' said David Olson, president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Other focus areas at the conference include: *Changing demand for energy in Minnesota *The California experience *Comprehensive solutions that promote future investment in generating facilities while encouraging conservation and management *What investors are looking for in deciding where to build plants and what environment will best attract the investment Minnesota will rely on in the future For more information or to register for the forum, contact Carole Keller at 651-292-4676 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Electric Reliability Forum Tuesday, December 12 7:30 - Noon Minneapolis Hilton and Towers 1001 Marquette Avenue South
RE: Electricity Supply Demand Mtg.
Not a Minneapolis issue. A Minnesota one, at its smallest. An announcement about a meeting in Minneapolis, well perhaps (even though the focus is clearly not the city). But an ongoing discussion about this topic needs to have Minneapolis at the center of the debate. So far, there is nothing about this topic that affects the city uniquely. David Brauer List manager, Minneapolis-issues
Re: Electricity Housing
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. --MS_Mac_OE_3059395279_2503418_MIME_Part Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Killing a couple of birds in the same post: 1.. Affordable Housing: I think all of us who speak of affordable housing know what we mean: any housing that falls within the ability for residents' ability to pay and be sheltered. This may or may not mean subsidized or public housing, or it may simply mean something many other could pay for - or all these categories. The problem these days - and it should surprise no one - is that affordable housing - like diversity - is a code word - especially in the suburbs where "those people" are not wanted. This presumes - incorrectly - that affordable housing constituents are predominantly of color or of such reduced economic means that they are likely to drag down property values and threaten the very stability of these communities (or neighborhoods). This is utter nonsense, of course, but, as our previous discussion reveals, most measures taken to "preserve" a way of life heretofore untouched by these untouchables is to patrol their new neighbors with a vehemence and presumptuousness that automatically makes their fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is the isolation and segregation that only the most flagrantly subtle racism can produce and it is this isolation that produces the very result the put-upon residents wanted to avoid by preventing people that don't look like them from living next door. These are the not-so-subtle barriers that the law and policymakers must pull down, even at the expense of re-election, if necessary. And those that show the political courage to do so will forever be the debt of those communities whether their residents recognize it now or not. 2.. As for the energy deregulation mess: have we learned nothing from deregulation of other regulated industries? Already the pre-dereg conferences warn of an energy shortage - which can only be prelude to massive price increases at the expense of the poor and middle class and to take once more the burden of energy costs off the businesses who waste millions in inefficient energy use. Deregulation will remove all capitalization of equipment and generation capability from stockholders and insidiously saddle ratepayers with those costs in addition to paying for their own consumption - the only price they should be paying. As with airlines, banking and broadcast and telecommunications, we will seriously suffer for the loss of quality, reliability and reasonable pricing of these critical commodities. Andy Driscoll -- "Whatever keeps you from your work is your work." Albert Camus The Driscoll Group/Communications Writing/Graphics/Strategic Development 835 Linwood Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 651-293-9039 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 13:52:53 -0600 To: "Multiple recipients of list" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Electricity Supply Demand Mtg. FYI... for those interested in electricity supply and demand in Minnesota under a deregulated environment-- the Twin Cities represents the major market in the state. What are our business/government leaders planing to keep the economy humming smoothly along? What does Xcel forecast from their perch on Nicollet Mall? Will we need battery storage systems to keep our computers reliably tuned to mpls-issues??? Electric Reliability Forum to Feature National Experts; Minnesota Faces Potential Electricity Shortage Within Five Years The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will host an Electric Reliability Forum on Tuesday, December 12. The conference will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton and Towers and will address options for avoiding a looming electric supply shortage by restructuring the electric utility industry in Minnesota and spurring investment in power plant generation. ``This is an issue of great importance not just for Minnesota's businesses, but for all Minnesotans. We're headed for a dramatic change in the way we use electricity unless we explore some of the options available,'' said David Olson, president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Other focus areas at the conference include: *Changing demand for energy in Minnesota *The California experience *Comprehensive solutions that promote future investment in generating facilities while encouraging conservation and management *What investors are looking for in deciding where to build plants and what environment will best attract the investment Minnesota will rely on in the future For more information or to register for the forum, contact Carole Keller at 651-292-4676 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
Re: Personal attack on Cherryhomes
I believe it is important to hold our elected officials to their word and to critique their activities. I do not believe it is necessary to talk about how their positions give you nausea or how you arn't able to hold down solid food after reading something they wrote. That is the part of Mr. Conally's post which is the personal attack and that is unnecessary. It sometimes seems that some folks believe that elected officials by virtue of their position don't even deserve basic respect. And when we treat elected officials like that, it allows us to depersonalize and dehumanize them, making them into some monolithic force instead of a group of folks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, who are doing their best to better Minneapolis. All I'm asking for is that everyone treat everyone else with respect and decency. Carol Becker Longfellow - Original Message - From: Russell Wayne Peterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2000 10:25 PM Subject: RE: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position There is nothing wrong with holding our elected officials to their word and to what is in print. We have a serious affordable housing crisis in our city and the current administration and council leadership has spent most of their time on corporate welfare instead of addressing basic issues such as higher paying jobs, affordable housing and basic street maintenance just to name a few. That is not a personal attack, it is illumination of the facts via citizen advocacy through direct experience or observation. And that debate is what this forum is all about. Perhaps if our leadership would start participating in forums such of this on a more regular basis, it might just make our democracy rise to a higher level; instead of a constant negative critique of their performance. Russ Peterson Ward 9 Standish R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID Founder 3857 23rd Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612-724-2331 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Carol Becker Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2000 10:36 PM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Attack on Cherryhomes due to affordable housing position To quote Woodstock (from Peanuts) "Every time someone comes up with a good idea, someone else brings up the budget." The Niland affordable housing proposal would have cost as much as the City currently spends for the Fire Department, an amount of money it simply doesn't have. It was much more responsible to put together a program which is financially reasonable than to approve a program which was completely out of the City's ability to fund. It also would have made the issue of affordable housing a problem of the City of Minneapolis, rather than a problem of the whole region. Affordable housing has to be a regional issue with regional solutions and Minneapolis needs to respond but only as part of a much larger response. Carol Becker Longfellow PS - These personal attacks do not have a place in this forum. - Original Message - From: timothy connolly [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 7:58 AM Subject: cherryhomes announcement what gives? i thought i could look forward to comments about the city council president's candidacy for a fourth term. shocked, i'm shocked! my favorite part of the strib's story was the line " a big part of her personal decision was the North Side housing development and her work on afffordable housing." happily i had only imbibed juice and coffee and no solid food when i read that. what work on affordable housing was that to which she was referring? was that leading the council in a 7-5 vote against councilman jim niland's affordable housing resolution which came directly out of the work done by and recommendations from the mayor's task force on ah? or was it her leadership in passing a watered down affordable housing resolution that has resulted in only a 3% increase in housing for those most in need, those whose family income is less than 30% of MMI (median metropolitan income) and a 79% increase in housing for those at 80% (MMI)? i would have thought ms cherryhomes would have pointed to her work on making "the block formerly known as block e" a showcase of inner city redevelopment in which we all may take great pride. enough. my nausea has passed. momentarily. tim connolly ward 7 __ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
