Minneapolis is the single worst-run city I've ever been in. There are seriously no city services. And for once I'm not talking about how the city council spends two-thirds of its time telling developers that they can't build a four-story building on an empty lot because it's "too high". What got me going this time was the traffic signal on Hennepin and Lagoon. For those not in the know, it's a very busy intersection. It's also very important because it needs to work in step with Lake and Hennepin, just half a block away, to keep traffic moving, as it's part of the same one-way street system. Anyway, on Saturday, the traffic light at Lagoon was flashing red. The city said they can't fix it until Monday morning. That's fine, whatever, maybe they don't have anybody working weekends. Minneapolis isn't a 24-hour city, it's not a seven day per week city, and I don't expect it to act like one. It's a small little city with a 2:1 residents:cops ratio with an out of control violent crime problem. That's what's bothering me. With that 2:1 ratio (that's an exaggeration by the way, there aren't really 185,000 cops in Minneapolis, it just feels like it) you'd think they might be able to do something about something. On Sunday, there were four Minneapolice at 50th and James directing traffic for a church service, mainly for the pedestrians. I know the church probably payed the city for the service, but here's my point. When a traffic signal is causing traffic backups for eight blocks in four directions, why can't a city with too many cops send maybe just one of them out to direct traffic? Especially at a traffic signal that controls one of the four intersections in Minneapolis that actually has pedestrians (Q. What's Minneapolitan for pedestrian? A. Somebody who's car broke down). Maybe the answer lies in getting the Minneapolice to be useful. That is, stop harassing brown people and write a few traffic tickets. Of course if they did that, there'd be a huge backlash with groups accusing them of racially profiling because they'd end up with a majority of people stopped over North being brown people. You seriously can't win. Can some other city please hire me?
Comments (7)
so what's worse?
A city that doesn't work that thinks it does? coughminneapoliscough
or a city that works really well where the politicians are hellbent on convincing everyone that there is a rampant crime wave?
Posted by zakcq | December 14, 2005 4:10 PM
Posted on December 14, 2005 16:10
ps. boston has almost 1000 crimes less per 100,000 than minneapolis. there goes the big bad east coast city stereotype.
Posted by zakcq | December 14, 2005 4:13 PM
Posted on December 14, 2005 16:13
oh, yeah, and new york city has only 7 murders per 100,000. Minneapolis has 14.
Posted by zakcq | December 14, 2005 4:15 PM
Posted on December 14, 2005 16:15
oh, yeah, and new york city has only 7 murders per 100,000. Minneapolis has 14. overall, it has 3000 fewer crimes per 100,000 then either minneapolis or boston.
Posted by zakcq | December 14, 2005 4:16 PM
Posted on December 14, 2005 16:16
But they're so much more polite when they kill you here.
Posted by Josh | December 15, 2005 12:22 PM
Posted on December 15, 2005 12:22
I don't know what makes you so convinced that tookie was guilty when people have come forward to say they lied when giving testimony against him and evidences is as unsubstantial as it is. either way that's not the point. i don't give a shit if he's guilty or not. I agree with you that every death penalty case in our country deserves a hell of a lot of media coverage and that it's about time we do away with it when we're are being shunned by the global community and have ngo s like amnesty speaking out against it. so governments in countries like saudi arabia and the u.s. have this in common. hmmm.
Posted by patron saint | December 15, 2005 12:40 PM
Posted on December 15, 2005 12:40
http://patronsaintofulster.blogspot.com/ by the way, it's not random.
my point isn't his innocence, what he did from his cell, or that more media is deserved. my point is there was a random bandwagon for number 1004, which is both good and annoying. annoying because it's a bandwagon, good because capital punishment is finally getting some press.
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Posted by ryan | December 15, 2005 2:54 PM
Posted on December 15, 2005 14:54