May 2, 2008

Where is the Shadow



Last Week: West River Parkway North Minneapolis

How do you know when your city is crime ridden?

When the school district must put special programs in place to ensure the kids arrive safely to school. In a joint effort between Minneapolis Public Schools and Minneapolis Police, the city has another new program in place called “Safe Routes to school”. The intention of the program is to address the ”perception” that it isn’t safe for children to walk to school in some areas of the city, despite no major incidents in the schools this year (beside one non-school related incident at North High). Wake up people! It’s not the schools, but the areas around the schools. If I was a parent on the North side there would be no way that I’d ever allow my child to walk to school, so I understand where these folks are coming from. This is a very sad statement on the condition of the city, and I don’t see nor hear any of our “silly council” members out voicing this nor presenting any solutions. Of course, we don’t have a crime problem in Minneapolis. Silly me!

Apr 29, 2008

School Referendum … Hat in Hand

Here comes another school referendum drive. Wow, that takes guts! It takes a lot of guts to ask that taxpayers for more money in an era of economic instability and with the poor record of the Minneapolis Public School system. Whatever happen to at least attempting to address the issues? I don’t see any comprehensive plan or strong leadership coming from the school board or Superintendent. The Mayor and City Council need to make school improvement a top priority and focus. The Minneapolis Shadow cannot support any referendum unless it is accompanied by a plan to address the failing school system. As I’ve stated in previous posts Minneapolis needs to tackle:
Improve Student Behavior
Parent Involvement/Commitment
Focus on Basics and Upcoming Industry Need Areas
Access to Advanced Classes
Mentoring/Tutoring

Just to name a few.
It is irresponsible of the Superintendent, School Board, Mayor and City Council to even consider asking for a tax increase without a very comprehensive plan for improvement. These people are suppose to be leaders, and if they can’t provide leadership on getting a complete failure turned around they should not be in position of leadership.

Apr 28, 2008

How Do People Like This Get Away??

On April 8th it is reported that 3rd degree sex offender Timothy Ray Van Buren has not been meeting the conditions of his release, and had become a fugitive. This man was on Intensive Supervised Release in Hennepin County, and still he becomes a fugitive. How many times do we hear about these level 3 sex offenders that slip away or end up reoffending? When is the criminal justice system going to take these people seriously? This guy is a two-time offender, what is he doing on the streets? Of course they release him and he moves into North Minneapolis. Of course once you’ve done your time, and paid your debt to society you are free to live wherever within the confines of your release stips. The government has a duty to protect the public from people like this, and we should be requiring our government to better deal with people like this. The supervision system doesn’t work, and this is a good example. I know that I’d want someone’s head on a platter if my wife or daughter got assaulted by a guy like this.
It is the responsibility of the elected officials from the city to deal with issues like this. A great deal of these people get release and end up living amongst us in the city, and this contributes to the poor livability factors. Maybe they just don’t care! They are more concerned with bike paths, playing politics, and being green. That way they don’t have to deal with tough decisions.

Apr 27, 2008

Blockbuster Library

First we needed to invest in a new Central Library because there is such an incredible need for Libraries. Then the county must take over the city library system because the city can’t balance its books. Now, the public library is turned into a movie rental service. I can understand educational DVDs for rent, but what educational value does “Die Hard 2” have? Again, we have government stepping into an area that is serviced by the marketplace already. The big advantage here is the government is footing the bill with the tax dollars it collects from everyone. Once again I remind the “elected” that the function of government is to provide for the public that which the public can’t provide for itself. This doesn’t qualify! The Minneapolis Shadow is dumping the millions of dollars that it must cost to buy up DVDs into the waste bucket.

Where is the Shadow


Previous Week: 27th Ave and Stinson Parkway in Northeast.
This Week: This is the only remaining snow I could find. It's under the leaves.

The Minneapolis Shadow is back

Sorry for being missing in action the last few weeks, the Minneapolis Shadow was on special assignment conducting "Shadow" business.