Minneapolis City Council is moving to rescind a 40-year-old agreement over jail fees.

Well, when you can’t balance your budget I guess the thing to do is stop paying bills. Great policy, not! The charges for Minneapolis jail fees are estimated to exceed budget estimates by $700,000 this year. I look at this as bad budgeting. This action is being taken only after they did an internal audit and it looks as if Minneapolis is being charged more that the state law allows. It took them 40 years to discover this? According to Paul Ostrow they are only looking for a written contract. The Minneapolis City Council is looking to force the County into renegotiate a contact that has been in place for 40 years because they are paying too much. They are paying so much because of the crime in the city. The city council is tihnking about not paying more that the state law amount if a new contract isn’t agreed upon by July 1. I’m paying too much for gas, can I stop paying more than state law allows? There isn’t one, so I guess it’s free! Cool…fill her up!

St. Bonifacius officials are considering seceding from Hennepin County

The officials of the town of St. Bonifacius are considering seceding from Hennepin County and into Carver County. Between the high taxes and having to push to get county services completed, it just doesn’t seem worth staying.
According to the Startribune Mayor Rick Weidle said, "Our tax dollars seem to find their way, very quickly, to Minneapolis and its pet projects”.
The Minneapolis Shadow has pointed out before that the problems Minneapolis officials create don’t stop at the boarders of Minneapolis. Here you have a town that is part of the same county as Minneapolis, and finds itself questioning why they should have to pay for the freight brought on by the reckless decisions made on behalf of Minneapolis. The folks in St. Boni have it figured out. A well run affordable government is better for the citizens. Take a hint Minneapolis and city bound Hennepin County officials.

Should Minneapolis have trust issues? See a Political Psychologist

The Mayor with his speeding ticket issue, and questionable belief that he didn’t realize the correct amount to send in, may be some cause for questioning if he is really telling the truth. When pressed on the ticket issue by Fox 9 news he was quoted as saying “How did you find out?”. This is a typical response from someone who is trying to hide something. I’m not saying he is trying to hide something or not telling the truth, but it is very curious.

R.T goes speeding thru the wilderness. Somehow thought he’d make it thru..without paying the fine?

The Speedy Gonzales of Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak, gets a speeding ticket and didn’t pay the entire fine. His license has been revoked since February 14th. He claims that he accidentally paid the wrong amount, and was never notified that his license had been revoked. I find that a bit hard to believe, since the government is so good at that sort of thing (not). However, it does sound like the typical copout that most people give when avoiding something. Too often have we seen elected officials trying to get out from under situations by throwing their position around or taking it for granted that they won’t hear about the problem because of their position. Remember when the Mayor got into hot water for using government employees and resources for his campaign lit? He claimed that it was just a mistake as well.
He did say that he would pay the fine right away, so the Minneapolis Shadow will give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

Government Arrogance

Last night I attended the Waite Park Community Council meeting. One of the hot topics over the last few months has been the opposition to the Stinson Parkway bike path. Three neighborhood Boards have formally voiced their opposition of the idea of a bike path down Stinson parkway on several grounds. All three have voiced concerns about safety, loss of trees, and loss of green space. These concerns have formally gone to the Citizens Advisory Board, which didn’t pass the motions from the neighborhood groups. This results in basically saying “we don’t care what you think, and will go ahead with our plans any way”. Who are these people serving?
The next level to bring these points to is the Park Board, which has been playing a game of cat and mouse with the issue. The Park Board hasn’t taken a formal position on this, because it is at the stage of being only the recommendation of the advisory council. However, the Park Board has proven itself not reactive to the concerns of the neighbors in similar situations, so there is a lot of mistrust that they will listen this time.
The straw that broken the Minneapolis Shadow’s back was the response received by the representative from the Park Board at this meeting last night whose name is Nick. When pressed with the question on why the recommendations of the neighborhood groups got just dismissed, he responded with “the Advisory Board decided they wanted to move forward, but the opinions are noted in the meeting minutes”. Well that does a lot of good. He also stated “we [the Park Board] are working towards the greater good and know what is best”. Totally outrageous! Government 101 states …. Government for the people, not government knows what is better that you. We are talking about a bike path loop of just a few city blocks long, that doesn’t really fill in the missing link of the Grand Rounds, and there is a lot of opposition from the people affected by the action. They are talking about putting in a bike path that is going over seven or more intersections, poses safety issues, takes mature tress away, takes green space away, and cuts into people’s property. These people’s government is basically telling them that they don’t care what they think. Sounds to me like there is something a major miss here.

Pet Peeve Time

One of my Pet Peeves is people that don’t know how to cross the street at the lighted intersection. I watch people cross in the middle of the block, 10 feet away from the intersection, and against the light. I grimace every time I see this, and think “oh my gosh that person is going to get hit”.
I harken back to my childhood and can hear my mother saying “little Minneapolis Shadow (uh yea) remember to always cross at the light”. I do notice that most of these folks are immigrants. Now before you go ape sh_t on me here; I encourage legal immigration. This isn’t an anti-immigrate rant!! However, I realize that a lot of today’s immigrates are not accustom to the American way of life, and may not understand some of these basic concepts. Where is the nanny state on this issue? Doesn’t the government have a responsibility to tell these folks when they arrive not to cross against the light? Hilary Clinton the other day said that we need to choose a president that will take care of us and our families so why hasn’t “big mama” government told immigrates to cross at the light?
Ok, I’m having a bit of fun with you here. Seriously, we should be setting standards for immigrates to follow upon getting to our shores. We don’t owe these people anything, but a great deal of them act as if we do. Issues such as learning English, treating women with respect, and not expecting a handout are just a small example of ideas that we should hold people up to. We would experience a lot less problems if there were basic expectations that we held people up to. In the long run everyone, even the new Americans, would benefit from simple expectations. Even if it is as simple as crossing at the light!

For the Downtown Business District…It’s time to come and meet your Neighhhhhbors

The business district in downtown is getting increase horse police patrols and beat cops thanks in part to a public-private partnership. Why is the city of Minneapolis teaming up with businesses to provide basic city services? The Minneapolis Shadow loves public-private partnerships, but for crime fighting on the basic level? Seems to me that someone hasn’t been doing his or her job!


“it's usually livability crimes such as loitering, drug dealing, aggressive panhandling and urinating in public that contribute to the perception of an unsafe downtown” Janee Harteau head of the downtown police precinct tells the StarTribune. The Minneapolis Shadow has a few things to point out here.
1) I’m glad someone points out the crime is a livability factor.
2) Downtown isn’t the only place in Minneapolis to enjoy a good pee while checkin in with your dealer on speed dial just to be annoyed by a dude wearing a torn up pair of Air Jorden high tops while you are hanging out with a few buds.
What about the rest of the city? Foot patrols in North, maybe?

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!

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.

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.

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.