It’s not just friends and family with opinions. My Uber driver in Savannah (black man in his late 50’s, retired truck driver) said “You guys are a mess” after I told him where I was from.
Another good article, Terry. Thanks for your dedication.
I just have two quibbles.
The first quibble. You said “…we need to work much harder at building a reputation as a city that is safe, effective, and open for business. We aren’t there yet.”
Actually, we once were there, in spades. In 1973, the cover of Time Magazine had a picture of MN Gov Anderson gleefully holding up a fish, with the headline, “Minnesota: A state that works”.
That reputation lasted for a very long time. In early 2010, I went to Cincinnati for a job at the Children’s Hospital, a place that attracts professionals in the tops of their fields from all over the world. In the five years I was there, I often met ppl who said they had spent a few years in MN (usually Mpls), and then they wistfully would express how amazing it was and if they ever had an opportunity to return they would take it in a heartbeat. I returned a little more than 10 years ago, not so long.
I felt that way too. But I no longer hear it or feel it. Recently I moved out of the city bc I could no longer take the idiotic nonsense coming out of the mouths of our “Progressive” elected officials. I put the word in quotes bc IMO they are regressive, not progressive. Worse. Many are illiberal totalitarians.
This leads to my second quibble. You said that the mark for being progressive was how loudly you could oppose Trump. Actually, as we can see in the Dem primary battles across the country, today the mark of being “Progressive” is how loudly and viciously you express your hatred of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.
Israel has occupies less than one half of one percent of the world’s land mass. It would fit inside MN seven times. Its population is 10 million, highly diverse, racially, ethnically, religiously, culturally. It is thousands of miles from here. Yet seething hatred of this one tiny place is at the center of public statements made by people who proudly proclaim how “Progressive” they are. It is a sickness, here.
Their sickness places the lives and property of their Jewish neighbors at risk. They don’t care, but beyond that, it undermines public service.
Do the “Progressives” really think that they will improve metro police conduct, or hasten the crime solving time, or improve water quality, by denouncing Israel? Yet that happens.
“Progressive” NYC Mayor claims that the IDF laces the boots that police place on the necks of minority suspects. He says that bc out of a force numbering in the thousands, every year, a few hundred offices visit other countries to exchange information. One of those countries is Israel, where perhaps a dozen officers go. THAT is what makes Israel responsible for police brutality in NYC and the entire US. So by loudly denouncing Israel, he will solve police brutality. Hmmm.
How many times have “Progressives” loudly rejected advanced technologies that can help solve real problems, because Israel also uses them, or worse, they were developed in Israel? To signal moral purity, and how “Progressive” they are, elected officials, candidates, and other prominent public figures, announce their intentions to deprive us of useful resources because there is some connection to despised Israel, this tiny country halfway across the world.
It is a sickness. I fully expect this comment to attract the usual denunciations of Israel, because after all, even those commenting are aspiring public figures, so must signal their virtue by denouncing the world’s only Jewish state.
Historians say that once places start turning on their Jews, that is the sign that the place already is in cultural decline.
Yes, the opposition of Trump, it's the great red herring, the excuse to not have to listen, improve or work at anything. It's seen as an absolute truth, like the sky is blue or the earth flat. If someone doesn't hate him then it's OK to dislike that person, not listen to them, take whatever they have earned or built. It's the center of it all and most people do not even know they carry it with them since it is so ingrained in what has become our speech, out textbooks and learning.
How do we get people to see around the hatred of Trump, accept that there are other, more important things in the world that need tending to. The world will not end because he is president and that not everything he does is evil or bad. That we can go on living even though he is president. It's like being stuck in the mud, so interested in getting out, that you don't see the helping hand. The hatred and fear is eating us up and it is not even real.
What's weird to me (among many things) is the support some people in our city have for DSA or DSA adjacent city council members. I disagree 80-90‰ with the Wonsley and Chavez contingent for example. But I am amazed at Minneapolis citizens who believe that the DSA flank in the council are making great decisions most of the time. It does not inspire me with hope for our city. I mean a handful of incompetent politicians could be gone after a term ( or 2). But a raft of voting citizens that keep on voting them in and not only supporting their policies but actively advocating for it is beyond me . Like I said, it does not fill me with optimism.
Businesses and wealth are moving to cities and states that are actually friendly to them. It's not rocket science and no amount of PR can convince someone they are welcome when they clearly are not. The city has been stating for years now that the buildings are empty because everyone is working from home but that is a lie, the businesses have moved or just closed. Many jobs are also no longer necessary with the introduction of AI. Accounting and customer service departments are no longer necessary with auto-pay and online payments.
What's the solution to the crime in Uptown, certainly not hiring new police, it's restricting bus service in and out of the neighborhood on Friday and Saturday nights. Do they really think the drive by shootings are related to the bus or are they afraid for the drivers safety? Why not care about all of us? It's like we have lost site of what caring really is. We have switched to what appears to be caring, the sound bite, the quick video, but not the actual help needed to improve anything.
I think the perception of Mpls is based on one’s own priorities and life experiences. If you understand basic economics, then you prioritize policies that support a business friendly city will attract businesses and jobs, assuming the city is viewed as safe, clean, and has good schools. Unfortunately, our DSA aligned council members prioritize social issues, and some are openly hostile to corporations/capitalism and never miss an opportunity to criticize law enforcement. Personally, I am not optimistic about Mpls if we continue down a path facing huge property tax increases, because we are not business friendly. Capitalism provides the funds for social programs,and I fear the DSAs will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and send the city into decay.
On my trip to Portland it was an unfortunate morning ritual on my way to get coffee in the morning. We stayed in the Pearll district. Minneapolis has fewer people in this situation but it’s still at least a weekly occurrence. I see them on the bus or at freeway exits. Often there is one person with a sign and one person in the grass behind them.
Sadly, on a recent visit to Meritage in St. Paul, we had to step around an unconscious man lying in front of the restaurant, while EMTs leaned over him trying to see if they could revive him.
I have been near quite a few. Spend some time around 46th Street and Hiawatha Ave, or by my favorite thrift store, St Vincent's, just off of Lake Street. Whether the person just expired or is so impaired that I just can't tell, for sure, I am left with the quandary, again, whether to call 911 to have our extremely short staffed police dept and EMTs respond. Same scenario being played out, over and over. That is my city.
It’s not just friends and family with opinions. My Uber driver in Savannah (black man in his late 50’s, retired truck driver) said “You guys are a mess” after I told him where I was from.
Another good article, Terry. Thanks for your dedication.
I just have two quibbles.
The first quibble. You said “…we need to work much harder at building a reputation as a city that is safe, effective, and open for business. We aren’t there yet.”
Actually, we once were there, in spades. In 1973, the cover of Time Magazine had a picture of MN Gov Anderson gleefully holding up a fish, with the headline, “Minnesota: A state that works”.
That reputation lasted for a very long time. In early 2010, I went to Cincinnati for a job at the Children’s Hospital, a place that attracts professionals in the tops of their fields from all over the world. In the five years I was there, I often met ppl who said they had spent a few years in MN (usually Mpls), and then they wistfully would express how amazing it was and if they ever had an opportunity to return they would take it in a heartbeat. I returned a little more than 10 years ago, not so long.
I felt that way too. But I no longer hear it or feel it. Recently I moved out of the city bc I could no longer take the idiotic nonsense coming out of the mouths of our “Progressive” elected officials. I put the word in quotes bc IMO they are regressive, not progressive. Worse. Many are illiberal totalitarians.
This leads to my second quibble. You said that the mark for being progressive was how loudly you could oppose Trump. Actually, as we can see in the Dem primary battles across the country, today the mark of being “Progressive” is how loudly and viciously you express your hatred of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.
Israel has occupies less than one half of one percent of the world’s land mass. It would fit inside MN seven times. Its population is 10 million, highly diverse, racially, ethnically, religiously, culturally. It is thousands of miles from here. Yet seething hatred of this one tiny place is at the center of public statements made by people who proudly proclaim how “Progressive” they are. It is a sickness, here.
Their sickness places the lives and property of their Jewish neighbors at risk. They don’t care, but beyond that, it undermines public service.
Do the “Progressives” really think that they will improve metro police conduct, or hasten the crime solving time, or improve water quality, by denouncing Israel? Yet that happens.
“Progressive” NYC Mayor claims that the IDF laces the boots that police place on the necks of minority suspects. He says that bc out of a force numbering in the thousands, every year, a few hundred offices visit other countries to exchange information. One of those countries is Israel, where perhaps a dozen officers go. THAT is what makes Israel responsible for police brutality in NYC and the entire US. So by loudly denouncing Israel, he will solve police brutality. Hmmm.
How many times have “Progressives” loudly rejected advanced technologies that can help solve real problems, because Israel also uses them, or worse, they were developed in Israel? To signal moral purity, and how “Progressive” they are, elected officials, candidates, and other prominent public figures, announce their intentions to deprive us of useful resources because there is some connection to despised Israel, this tiny country halfway across the world.
It is a sickness. I fully expect this comment to attract the usual denunciations of Israel, because after all, even those commenting are aspiring public figures, so must signal their virtue by denouncing the world’s only Jewish state.
Historians say that once places start turning on their Jews, that is the sign that the place already is in cultural decline.
Yes, the opposition of Trump, it's the great red herring, the excuse to not have to listen, improve or work at anything. It's seen as an absolute truth, like the sky is blue or the earth flat. If someone doesn't hate him then it's OK to dislike that person, not listen to them, take whatever they have earned or built. It's the center of it all and most people do not even know they carry it with them since it is so ingrained in what has become our speech, out textbooks and learning.
How do we get people to see around the hatred of Trump, accept that there are other, more important things in the world that need tending to. The world will not end because he is president and that not everything he does is evil or bad. That we can go on living even though he is president. It's like being stuck in the mud, so interested in getting out, that you don't see the helping hand. The hatred and fear is eating us up and it is not even real.
What's weird to me (among many things) is the support some people in our city have for DSA or DSA adjacent city council members. I disagree 80-90‰ with the Wonsley and Chavez contingent for example. But I am amazed at Minneapolis citizens who believe that the DSA flank in the council are making great decisions most of the time. It does not inspire me with hope for our city. I mean a handful of incompetent politicians could be gone after a term ( or 2). But a raft of voting citizens that keep on voting them in and not only supporting their policies but actively advocating for it is beyond me . Like I said, it does not fill me with optimism.
Businesses and wealth are moving to cities and states that are actually friendly to them. It's not rocket science and no amount of PR can convince someone they are welcome when they clearly are not. The city has been stating for years now that the buildings are empty because everyone is working from home but that is a lie, the businesses have moved or just closed. Many jobs are also no longer necessary with the introduction of AI. Accounting and customer service departments are no longer necessary with auto-pay and online payments.
What's the solution to the crime in Uptown, certainly not hiring new police, it's restricting bus service in and out of the neighborhood on Friday and Saturday nights. Do they really think the drive by shootings are related to the bus or are they afraid for the drivers safety? Why not care about all of us? It's like we have lost site of what caring really is. We have switched to what appears to be caring, the sound bite, the quick video, but not the actual help needed to improve anything.
I think the perception of Mpls is based on one’s own priorities and life experiences. If you understand basic economics, then you prioritize policies that support a business friendly city will attract businesses and jobs, assuming the city is viewed as safe, clean, and has good schools. Unfortunately, our DSA aligned council members prioritize social issues, and some are openly hostile to corporations/capitalism and never miss an opportunity to criticize law enforcement. Personally, I am not optimistic about Mpls if we continue down a path facing huge property tax increases, because we are not business friendly. Capitalism provides the funds for social programs,and I fear the DSAs will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and send the city into decay.
I must be living in a different city than you. I've never had to step over an unconscious body.
On my trip to Portland it was an unfortunate morning ritual on my way to get coffee in the morning. We stayed in the Pearll district. Minneapolis has fewer people in this situation but it’s still at least a weekly occurrence. I see them on the bus or at freeway exits. Often there is one person with a sign and one person in the grass behind them.
Sadly, on a recent visit to Meritage in St. Paul, we had to step around an unconscious man lying in front of the restaurant, while EMTs leaned over him trying to see if they could revive him.
I have been near quite a few. Spend some time around 46th Street and Hiawatha Ave, or by my favorite thrift store, St Vincent's, just off of Lake Street. Whether the person just expired or is so impaired that I just can't tell, for sure, I am left with the quandary, again, whether to call 911 to have our extremely short staffed police dept and EMTs respond. Same scenario being played out, over and over. That is my city.
It is not as uncommon as one might think, take the bus anywhere on a regular basis these days and you too will evrntually have the same experience.