Simple things that could save minneapolis from turning into another crime ridden city. (Albany: renting, crime rate)

[Anarchy4sale]

The "3 Strike law", Institute it now. It will greatly cut down on the undesirables from coming from the surrounding states who have 2 felonies on their records. For this to work, we would need to build more prisons to hold the offenders.

Restrict the welfare program greatly for those moving in from other states. Again this will stop people coming from the surrounding states, to leach off of our social services, and will reduce the unwanted elements from filtering into Minneapolis and the surrounding communities.

Crack down on homeless people. These people are a problem, and most of the time have mental illness problems that cause them to sit on the street, and not get a job that they could advance in life. They can become very violent towards people, and make the city look very dumpy. Either lock em up, and treat them for their mental illness, or at the very minimum enforce the no loitering laws, to keep them off the corners.

Fund the anti-gang programs, and task force. The police could always use more money in the department, to break up gangs, and the illegal activities they do.

Crack down on illegal Immigrants. Not much need to be said here.

Hire more police, and make the work they do on the street worth while by enforcing longer prison sentences, this starts with the judge's.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Basically, get Pawlenty out of office so Minnesota cities get more LGA. Libraries would be open longer, new programs could be instated, more officers would be hired. Technology is also a wonderful tool. The new Mpls. Wi-Fi system allows squads to recieve video feeds, and respond approprately. More population means more eyes on the street and a better tax base, cleaning up an area asthetically also does wonders. New York did it. The 3 Strikes law makes me a little nervous, but something similar would be good.

[pirate_lafitte]

I am going to state this as respectfully as possible. I have a different view on how to keep the crime down in Mpls. Chicago is already the murder capital of America and welfare has been restricted there. Atlanta's crime rate has been horrendous for years and Georgia is a difficult state to get welfare in. The three strikes law isn't that effective. Illinois has such a law and crime is still a big problem. The state of Georgia has the two strikes law. The city of Atlanta, not to mention Albany and Savannah are having problems with crime.This is my reasoning: Minneapolis became violent in the 1990's because of the crack epidemic. Mpls wasn't alone either. Minneapolis is actually getting safer. This is the solution I see:

Keep police in on patrol. There are instances where the police are scared to go into the crime-ridden neighborhoods. That is where they are most needed. A constant police presence could help. I would agree with that. As much as I have a weariness towards law enforcement, I know a constant police presence could help.

Restricting welfare, well, I don't see that as a good solution. I don't believe in living off of welfare, but I know what it's there for. Sure there are people who take advantage of it and do stupid things, but some people actually need it. Minnesota is a bit more humane compared to some states. If you get laid off in Minnesota(or Wisconsin), you have better benefits than most states. If welfare is needed, welfare in MN is more generous. Call me crazy if you want, but I know what it feels like when the main breadwinner of the family gets laid off and it takes a long time for him or her to get another job. I know what it feels like when the gas gets cut off(mulitiple times).

The best solution I can think of is keep the kids out of gangs by funding the programs that help with that. If people need jobs, why not have more job fairs and more recruiting sessions. If the emerging "Green Collar Economy" works out the way it should, it could provide jobs for people who don't have jobs. You can't outsource those jobs.

[Astron1000]

^Bravo to you, pirate_lafitte.

It's so easy to point to one or two things that seem to be the source of any "problem" with our society.

Society is far more complex, and thus, the solutions are far more complex than, say, restricting welfare or "cracking down" on homeless people. I mean, what do you mean by "cracking down?" Putting them all in jail and thus making them automatic "criminals" just because they are homeless??

The company I worked for was dissolved. Dissolved. Done. Caput. I lost my job and my income. The kind of work I do is very much a niche industry. I have a Master's Degree in a professional field, BTW. After several months of trying to remedy the situation I had to sell my house and am now renting a small room at a friend's house. If I didn't have my friend, I'd be homeless too. And some people do not have that safety net. They end up homeless. Right now I am facing the very real possibility of emigrating to another country that can provide me with work.

To make sweeping generalizations because you have some sort of preconception about what constitutes a homeless person is ignorant. And to allow that ignorance to be written into law could result in a nation that people would rather flee from than proudly call their own.

What has happened to compassion???

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

^Bravo to you, pirate_lafitte.

It's so easy to point to one or two things that seem to be the source of any "problem" with our society.

Society is far more complex, and thus, the solutions are far more complex than, say, restricting welfare or "cracking down" on homeless people. I mean, what do you mean by "cracking down?" Putting them all in jail and thus making them automatic "criminals" just because they are homeless??

The company I worked for was dissolved. Dissolved. Done. Caput. I lost my job and my income. The kind of work I do is very much a niche industry. I have a Master's Degree in a professional field, BTW. After several months of trying to remedy the situation I had to sell my house and am now renting a small room at a friend's house. If I didn't have my friend, I'd be homeless too. And some people do not have that safety net. They end up homeless.

To make sweeping generalizations because you have some sort of preconception about what constitutes a homeless person is ignorant. And to allow that ignorance to be written into law could result in a nation that people would rather flee from than proudly call their own.

What has happened to compassion???

I think compassion went out the window when crime went up. If think what some people forget is that in many cases, the victim of that crime might need the welfare system too. From what I see, cutting off welfare never worked. It might stop some(keyword:some) people from coming, but it won't stop people from committing crimes. When people are put into survival mode, crime rates will soar. Minneapolis never had horrible problems with crime until crack showed up on Mpls streets. Now Mpls is more peaceful.

[kuan]

A strong social safety net tends to keep crime at bay.

[MinnesotaBoy]

Judges already seem to be enforcing longer sentences. Nearly every murder sentence I have read about in the paper the last year or two has been life without parole. Before, a life sentence usually included the possibility of parole after 30 years.

[Slig]

I think legislation needs to be passed to improve prisons. The whole point of prisons is to rehabilitate so when the sentence has been served the individual can be released to start contributing to society in a positive way. The current system fails miserably at this, pretty clear to see when you look at how likely it is for somebody to be a repeat offender. If the correctional system is studied to see how it can be improved to help the rehabilitative effectiveness it would lower crime and keep prisons less full, hence saving taxpayers money.

[Clifford63]

It is not really clear to me that Minneapolis is in danger of turning into a crime ridden city. In fact it seems to me based on subjective terms, that things are getting better, not worse. That said, there is always a need to focus on improvements. If you are not moving forward, you are losing ground and status quoue is a pathetic goal.

Entitelments are a very large portion of the state budget. It does concern me that we have a tendancy of drawing people from other states because they can get more assistance. On the other hand, we do have some responsibility to make sure children have food, shelter and clothing. Some changes have been made in recent years, but not as dramatic as those made by Thompson in Wisconsin. Making instant changes to cut bennifits has a profound effect on peoples lives, so I tend to agree with moving in a general direction at a reasonable pace verses a harsh change.

Many states have the 3 strike rule. I am not opposed to this, but I don't really think it will significantly change behaviors either. Desperate people do desperate things, and hardened criminals are rarely rehibilitated. Drug addicts, addicted gamblers, alcholics etc are often able to turn things around if they can get the addictions in check and get themselves into the recovery process.

Couple things Minneapolis has done poorly with.
1. why did they spend millions on this camera system for stop lights, when this practice was previously struck down by the state supreme court. I agree it could be helpful, but spending millions on a solution that is not endorsed is and stupid and irresponsible.
2. how many law suits are we going to settle up on for millions of dollars before we learn our lesson and play by the rules. Police brutalty, descrimination .... Millions of dollars have been paid out.
3. Wi-fi system is operational to some degree, but funcionality of this system is a huge disappointment. People are not going to pay $20 a month for Internet service that does not work well, and this leaves the city on the hook for a big piece of infrastructure that will never be recovered without significant subscribers. This story is not yet finished but the beginning and middle part is a dark tale.

What could be done with those millions is a good problem to have. Perhaps we could keep the libraries open longer. That would be a good thing. I just think the city of minneapolis has wasted millions of dollars, so pointing a finger at Tim P because the library closes too early is weak and misdirected. Yes he has taken steps to move funding of many things back down to local government. This is not all bad in my opinion. Every level we move funding up creates a situation where accountablity of spending is weakened. Each county controls property tax, and very clearly some counties are keeping taxes lower than they should so they get more money from the state. Community services such as education and libraries and public works should be funded primarily at the community level by property taxes. I have heard people say it takes a village to raise a child and I do agree with that. At the same time, I can't blame the governer because city government can't manage projects and budgets without spilling millions into the toilet.

[pirate_lafitte]

I am seeing some good ideas. I believe that cutting off welfare and implementing three strikes isn't going to work. Look at Illinois and Georgia. I do agree that if someone is driven to desperation, fear of harsh punishment will go out of the window.