Crime Trend: Please Explain Mr Mayor (Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park: foreclosure, renters, credit)

[Beenhere4ever]

Wow, great arguments for RT. "We've got less crime than Detroit, so RT is obviously doing a great job". Someone seems to have amnesia about RT's original political platform. Why he thought his predecessors weren't doing a good job.

And I love the notion that "it doesn't matter what happens with armed robbery and rape just so long as the number of murders is less". I can't believe this is really said by people who actually LIVE and PAY TAXES in Minneapolis. Me, I've done that for 40 years. And I expect better. Plus, I expect RT not to be running up debts that I have to pay when something as basic as crime is permitted to slide. That was good enough to rid the city of the Sayles Belton-Cherryhomes regime. Which, coincidentally, was RT's doing. Now he's safe and warm in the pockets of the rich. Where he always wanted to be?

[Drewcifer]

I've been here since the 80s and live in Minneapolis proper. I don't get the feeling that crime is out of control, and don't feel unsafe, it is certainly much better than it used to be.

[ManBearPig1]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Wow, great arguments for RT. "We've got less crime than Detroit, so RT is obviously doing a great job". Someone seems to have amnesia about RT's original political platform. Why he thought his predecessors weren't doing a good job.

And I love the notion that "it doesn't matter what happens with armed robbery and rape just so long as the number of murders is less". I can't believe this is really said by people who actually LIVE and PAY TAXES in Minneapolis. Me, I've done that for 40 years. And I expect better. Plus, I expect RT not to be running up debts that I have to pay when something as basic as crime is permitted to slide. That was good enough to rid the city of the Sayles Belton-Cherryhomes regime. Which, coincidentally, was RT's doing. Now he's safe and warm in the pockets of the rich. Where he always wanted to be?

There's usually a spike with the warmer weather. The weather got warmer sooner this year, so you'd expect that spike to be longer lasting, causing an increase in the numbers relative to last year. I haven't noticed any "slide" other than that expected effect.

[Toronto416]

I know the reference to Detroit isn't literally about Detroit, but it's interesting, as downtown Detroit has really turned things around over the past five years after redeveloping Woodward Ave., the Book Cadillac Hotel, etc...unlike Minneapolis, which is very affluent and highly educated (and thus the downtown isn't a top priority), Detroit has a LOT to lose if the investment in downtown starts to crumble. So what you see is a security/police presence that has no problem going up to anyone who chooses to disobey laws, harass people, steal things, or any other activity that deters people from coming downtown. For the first time in decades the Pride parade was held downtown in Detroit. The marathon starts and finishes downtown. These are just a couple of things that never would have been possible five years ago. There's a lot at stake to keep downtown safe and clean.

With Minneapolis, there's too much 1992-politicaly correct-YWCA-'womyn' types who have never spent one DAY in southwest Detroit or west Buffalo or other cities that once had a lot going for them, but the 14-year-olds who get pregnant and raise kids that do nothing besides cost taxpayers money have ruined it for everyone. Minneapolis has a lot going for it because there's so many Fortune 500 companies and people with incredible amounts of education starting out there - and that's fine. But much of downtown and the outlying area has no sense of community or lifelong residents that make downtown a place that is home to proud lifelong residents who won't stand by and tolerate these kids in flash mobs robbing 65 year old women on Nicollet Mall. These things happen because the affluent can't be bothered by such things. The hipsters don't want to be seen calling black youths on their behavior because God forbid they do anything that Anti-Racist Action would frown upon. So these kids are acting out because they can. In Detroit or Chicago, there would be two cops/security per kid who would yank them up from under the kids armpits and throw them out. 'Not here to buy anything? Too bad. Get out'.

Nobody in MN knows how to say that to non-white kids because these kids have been taught by generations that you earn respect by appearing angry and behaving as if you are entitled to whatever you want. Being that most of these single mothers are 28 raising 14 year olds, I'm assuming they don't have it together either, so these kids do what they want, when they want. This has been the case for the last 50 years in their community, it's just that Minneapolis/St. Paul and now Duluth hasn't witnessed that up close until about 20 years ago. Now that the waiting lists for Section 8 high rise housing in Minneapolis is nearly 5 years long, a lot of this activity has spread to downtown Duluth, where there is currently no wait at all. None of these people are here to 'start over', they're here because the wait lists for free housing and other 'gimmes' are considerably less than their home cities.

Mind you I am not confusing crime with race, or crime with income. What does seem to be apparent is, when very low-income young people are living in these Section 8 high-rises, suddenly the pressure is off in terms of working hard to come up with rent - rent is only 30% of your income. They now have a lot of extra free time, and since these high rises have so many people like this all in the same building, it doesn't take long for a lot of people to hang out together and make bad choices. I'd actually go a step further and say that it's not necessarily the tenant's fault in these Section 8 high rises (when it comes to crime), but it's their guests. I did my summer internship at one of these buildings and time and time again, over half of our criminal activity had been caused by guests of residents - guests who, because of their criminal history, would never qualify for an apartment or in some cases even a job. So it's a tough call - yes, many people choose to continually break the law to the point where they have no way of supporting themselves, but that only sends them back to illegal activity. On the other hand, violent crimes against strangers (what we see with these flash mobs downtown), sex crimes, etc.; these offenders appear to be very hard to rehabilitate. I don't know what the solution is. Social service agencies in Minneapolis/Saint Paul have to stop giving these people free bus tickets to Duluth though. It's obvious as you drive down 2nd Street downtown and see these people walking around with hefty bags full of clothes that they just got dumped off the Greyhound and the social services in Minneapolis are thrilled to finally be rid of them.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

^I really like what you have to say and agree for the most part. I CAN'T STAND IT when people let "political correctness" or safeguarding one's feelings get in the way of good old fashion morals and common sense! "No, I do NOT like the way you are treating me and I AM angry with you" (whether that person is black, gay, President, young, or whatever). And yes, you see this kind of attitude more often in cities where people have dealt with one-another long enough to put a stake in the ground and stand up for yourself and your things, but please don't think this doesn't happen in Chicago or Detroit either -- it just happens moreso in the suburbs or the Northside (of Chicago). Those cities are also notoriously racist, so perhaps there's a happy medium that can be achieved? Having roots helps, obviously, which often comes with having a large middle class that can't afford to flee at the first sense of discomfort, but having sound morals and self respect matter most, I think. But then again, isn't that a big reason why areas with high concentrations of rentals are less desirable.....because people don't treat it like their own home and that sense of "place" isn't as noticeable?

Going back to crime in Minneapolis during Rybak's tenure.....it's gone down and down and down since he's been in office, so if for some reason it's up slightly during one part of one year I don't think that's call for concern, personally. I remember when my definition of a "good" year for violent crime in Minneapolis was if we had fewer than 60 homicides. Then 50. Then 40. I think the city is doing okay.

P.S. Minneapolis, like Chicago and Detroit, has destroyed nearly ALL of its public housing projects with high concentrations of HUD housing and Section 8 lessees....I'm not sure how many places like this still exist in the city actually.

[Beenhere4ever]

.it's gone down and down and down since he's been in office, so if for some reason it's up slightly during one part of one year I don't think that's call for concern

False statement. You need to find a graph. It has fluctuated up and down. And right now, violent crime is fluctuating UP. It'll be no cause for concern till it happens to you. While it is happening to people you don't know, the head in the sand attitude will comfort you.

[Beenhere4ever]

Uniform Crime Reports - City of Minneapolis

Total for 2001: 4139
Total for 2011: 3811

If you compare Minneapolis vs comparable statistics for the entire nation, 5 percent of the country is less safe than Minneapolis. Rybak ran on crime reduction. He's had a decade and with crime dropping everywhere, he's made very little progress. Armed robberies are way up over last year. But what is his "priority"? Keeping the Vikings (and Target Corp) happy. What is the real impact on the average family of either of these profit-making enterprises? Compared to safe streets? Rybak has his gaggle of dependable apologists, but most people in the city aren't so charmed by his threadbare act.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Uniform Crime Reports - City of Minneapolis

Total for 2001: 4139
Total for 2011: 3811

Where precisely did those numbers come from? And what do the years in between look like?

I found a lot of tables with numbers that don't seem to match the above. Is that a total of some sort, or a calculated index?

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Uniform Crime Reports - City of Minneapolis

Total for 2001: 4139
Total for 2011: 3811

If you compare Minneapolis vs comparable statistics for the entire nation, 5 percent of the country is less safe than Minneapolis. Rybak ran on crime reduction. He's had a decade and with crime dropping everywhere, he's made very little progress. Armed robberies are way up over last year. But what is his "priority"? Keeping the Vikings (and Target Corp) happy. What is the real impact on the average family of either of these profit-making enterprises? Compared to safe streets? Rybak has his gaggle of dependable apologists, but most people in the city aren't so charmed by his threadbare act.

This is starting to take a political turn...

Meanwhile, I heard a 5 year old boy was killed while sleeping on his couch this morning. It's one of the saddest things I've ever heard! No crime is acceptable, which may be your point BeenHere4Ever.

[DannyBanany]

Can't Rybak just focus on crimes that pertain to me? You know, like door dings at the MOA ramp and people who don't clean their dog poop when I'm running the lakes.

I think Toronto416 stole the show with that post, but I will add that I would much rather see a heartless downtown full of Fortune 500 companies and people in suits drinking martinis before they drunk drive back to their houses on Summit (typical, Saint Paulites), than a "close-knit" community that shoots at me when I'm just trying to find out how to get back on 394 after a Vikings game in a stadium that people are up in arms about because God-forbid the construction company that I consult land a gig so they can keep that martini in my evil hand, or a member of that "close-knit" community a job taking tickets in a booth.

Sorry to get smart, but really?