[Mpls] Missing Minneapolis Crime Statistics

[Dyna]

	With a CD soon to mature I am attempting some due diligence 
in regard to buying rural property vs. fixing up my home in the 
'hood. I've thusly been comparing property values and crime rates to 
aid my decision making. Finding property values is easy, and the 
local realtor's database and the U of M Extension Service database 
show property values racing upward in both Minneapolis and most of 
rural Minnesota. I found that land prices in sleepy Pope County 100 
miles west of here have more doubled in the last 10 years to an 
average of over a thousand dollars an acre while here in the 'hood 
similar appreciation has occurred.

	Of course, that's macro data only broken down to the township 
or neighborhood level... it fails to explain why the same houses on 
my block keep slowly reselling for around $120,000, or why new condos 
along the river sell like hotcakes before their built but many of 
them are empty after completion. The data also fails to explain why 
people from the city pay over a thousand an acre for land then don't 
even bother to farm it. So I've had to dig a bit deeper, look and ask 
around the 'hood and townships to see what's really happening. What's 
happening is a lot of money has moved from the stock market to the 
real estate market. Thus in much of rural Minnesota any sliver of 
land with a shack on a lake is worth a six figure price, and even 
more without the shack. The more or less standard 10 acres with a 
view of the lake goes for about the same six figure sum, the retiring 
buyers happily plopping down two and three hundred thousand dollar 
houses plus fancy outbuildings to complete their estates. Fortunately 
prices in the rural cities haven't gone quite so crazy, and bargains 
can still be found. Commercial buildings are still in oversupply, but 
their going up in price too. Fortunately my friend still wants to 
sell me her 600 square foot brick ex-bank building with up to date 
utilities including air conditioning for $30,000. Meanwhile, our city 
assessor seems to think my 118 year old balloon frame abode with no 
basement nor central heat is worth damn near a six figure sum.

	Now I'd happily stay here in Hawthorne forever if the crime 
was under some semblance of control. Noting that much of said crime 
has moved of late from the southside to northside 'hoods after 
property values took off in the southside, I wondered if something 
similar could happen here in Hawthorne. The gentrification of 
riverfront development having advanced north of Broadway and within 
half a mile of my abode, I was getting somewhat hopeful. Perhaps if 
their was no space for the gangbangers in jail at least increasing 
property values and home ownership would push them out to the $500 a 
month apartments advertised in the northwest suburbs? And while my 
block has been more peaceful these past few months, the gunfire is 
clearly increasing but a few blocks to the west and north. So maybe 
gentrification is going to push crime from Hawthrone to Jordan and 
then on to the 'burbs... But when I lived in Elliot Park for a decade 
after the dome opened we fought it would bring the same development 
and relief from crime. The dome's benefits seemed to extend for only 
a block or so, and Elliot Park got a decade long crime wave that is 
only now abating.

	So I needed numbers- is crime in Hawthorne really dropping? 
Heading to the city's website and it's much heralded "Codefor" stats 
I found the latest were over four months old- for November 2004! The 
UCR stats are way behind too, and of course there is no annual data 
available later than 2003. Given that these monthly neighborhood 
level reports have to be complete before the annual stats are 
available, one wonders where a mayoral candidate who says that crime 
in Minneapolis decreased in 2004 is getting his statistics.... does 
he have access we mere citizens don't have or did he make up those 
numbers? Of course, in rural Minnesota more crime stats and details 
than you probably care to know can usually be found in the local 
newspaper.

	So lacking any current numbers for my 'hood I'm inclined to 
go with my own observations. For example, while my friend in Starbuck 
left her doors unlocked for years with nary a problem, I regularly 
find evidence of burglary attempts here in Hawthorne. And if 
Minneapolis cares to keep me and my fellow citizens here they'd 
better be more open about crime statistics or we are forced to assume 
the worst. Given the secrecy of Minneapolis, I'll continue my due 
diligence toward moving out of this 'hood.

	looking for a good reason to hang on in Hawthorne,

		Dyna Sluyter