Does Minneapolis have an apathy problem? (unemployed, living in, cost of)

[Jim Stokes]

It comes down to who you hang around with. And your own attitude. What does bother me are the business closings! It is acute! Recall that Uptown was on the upswing until a couple of years ago. Nowadays, Calhoun Square is a nice quiet place to sit and read because the indoor mall is down to ONE kiosk: a guy selling hats. That mall area was FILLED with people three years ago. And Borders huge ookstore closed last year. And recently Orr Books. They were all part of the Calhoun Square Building. And Panera cafe folded. The big chain clothing store on the corner across from Cal Sq is empty. So it the clothing store down Lake Street.

Downtown is also a disaster area. The city is going to have to do a huge tap dance or throw a huge bunch of $$$$$$ to fill up the empty storefronts on Hennepin Avenue for the Republican Convention here next year!!! City Center looks like a merchants nightmare scene from a movie. NOTHING!!! What storefronts there are, are taken over by business promoters. Ironic! "Hey Mr. Businessman! It's great here. Sign a lease!"

City Center has lost it's main customer atrraction: the food court. Completely gone. In its place is the third floor food court across the street. And that has lost a food vendor or two. I see counter people bored to tears, wating for just ONE customer to show.

So the city will have to beg, borrow or steal some very, very big buck$$$$ for window dressing for the Republican Convention next year! That will be a hOOt! Maybe they can blindfold the Repubs. After all, the present Repub Prez mob has been leading us taxpayers around blindly!

And how dumb can the Repubs be???? Coming to Mpls!!! They should throw their whoodeedoo in Las Vegas.

[Isaysos]

So the city will have to beg, borrow or steal some very, very big buck$$$$ for window dressing for the Republican Convention next year! That will be a hOOt! Maybe they can blindfold the Repubs. After all, the present Repub Prez mob has been leading us taxpayers around blindly!

JimStokes, your statement is truthful, yet funny. I like.

[Minnesnowtan]

Definite problem. Despite what some of the lilly-livered liberals here will post, the Somalis are an issue to true Minnesotans. I've never met a group of unskilled refugees that have come in with more of a sense of entitlement. Somali rudeness is off the charts.

The fact that they already have the numbers and clout to elect a muslim representative is nothing but embarrassing.

Refugees are failed people from failed places. Let them rot in the hole they've dug.

[vinyl]

ah, another racist troll!

Since the vast majority of Somalis are not citizens, they can not vote. Furthermore among those that can, few do. Somali turnout, like the turnout of most new immigrants is awful. They therefore had virtually nothing to do with the election of Ellison, whose old state house district was located nowhere near the Somali population center I believe.

The only Somalis I have problems with are the ones refusing to transport people carrying alcohol in cabs or scan pork products at the grocery, though even this is no doubt a minority of the population. Hell, I've shopped at a Somali-ran liquor store before!

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Minnesnowtan

Definite problem. Despite what some of the lilly-livered liberals here will post, the Somalis are an issue to true Minnesotans. I've never met a group of unskilled refugees that have come in with more of a sense of entitlement. Somali rudeness is off the charts.

The fact that they already have the numbers and clout to elect a muslim representative is nothing but embarrassing.

Refugees are failed people from failed places. Let them rot in the hole they've dug.

Refugees are not failed people. The places they may have come from may be failed, but as far as being failed, I don't think so. Most persons are refugees, not because of what they have done, but because of the instability in government. As for Somalia's war problem, most refugees would be better off in the USA anyway. Perhaps the Somalians you ran into were rude. That doesn't mean all Somalis are rude. The issue with crime is mainly an interstate problem. You have people from the Rust Belt cities who want a safer place to live, better-paying jobs(and more employment in general), and in general, a better standard of living, one I may add probably isn't so attainable in the Rust Belt cities. Ironically, the gangs and many people who are unemployed go to Minnesota for its generous welfare benefits. The gangs from more violent cities such as Detroit, Flint, Gary,etc. are the main causes of crime in Minneapolis. You have two factions of recent arrivals:Those who want to work and get a better quality of life;and those who want to get more welfare. The problem is less from Somalis and more from people living inside the USA.

[golfgal]

Most of our friends that are Somalian were highly educated and had very skilled jobs before they left, mainly in fear of their lives from their own government. One friend was a Physicist and is now plucking turkeys for a living in order to keep his family safe.

[EugeneBKLYN]

New immigrants from Africa are some of the nicest, most peaceful people I've ever met. I say this from experience.

Guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Minnehahapolitan]

That "clout" you speak of is called Democracy. To a true American, that should matter.

[The Icy River Vagabond]

Pirate.

I don't understand why people would come here because of the "generous welfare program" Having spent the majority of my life living in Detroit and Flint, I can tell you that the cost of living is much lower there, and whatever more that your "welfare" program gives to people is easily more than taken away by the housing cost.

[Minnehahapolitan]

But, but Icy River, that logic doesn't allow me to rant against the liberal establishment. Waah Waah.