[Mpls] Gunshots Last Night

[Connie Beckers]

Anyone else in North Mpls, specifically the Folwell neighborhood, hear a lot
of gunfire last night between 9 and 10 pm? Followed by lots of sirens? It
sounded like war had broken out! Then around 10:40 we heard what might have
been fireworks .... after the Twins Game?

I know I've posted to this list in the past -- seems like a lifetime ago --
about how much I love North Mpls and everything else the city has to offer a
working artist like me BUT the quality of life I knew even just a couple of
years ago is gone. Every day I pick up baggies, condoms and other assorted
trash from my front yard. I see hookers and drug dealers on the street every
day. The rental units at the other end of the block always have hoards of
people hanging out in the front yard with the kitchen table and chairs out
there and trash laying all around. People walk in the street instead of
using the sidewalks. They stop their cars in the street to talk to someone
and we have to wait until they're good and ready to move on. I've even seen
people beat their children.

I'm told to be vigilant and call 911 when I see suspicious behavior and to
report crimes I witness. But when the operator deflects my calls to another
department for drug activity or argues with me about whether or not what I'm
reporting is suspicious, I get frustrated and quit wasting my time calling.
And this happens time and time again. I've reported many of these
experiences to my neighborhood office and city council member, too, but
nothing seems to change.

As if the gunshots and constant drug and hooker traffic isn't enough, that
stinkin' basketball hoop is out front again and when the kids who live there
aren't playing, every other unsupervised and ill-behaved child from a 3
block radius is there playing -- in the street! Someone else called on it
last year and they came to my door in a fighting mood right after the police
left asking if I had a problem with their kids playing in the street. "No,"
I said, "but I'm surprised you don't." I park further down the block so my
van isn't used as their backboard and will invest a hefty chunk of change to
get a fence and motion light for my front yard. Maybe the neighborhood will
help pay for this. Parking in the driveway isn't any safer as several people
I know have been attacked in their driveways. There's some kind of bravado
out there that scares the hell out of me.

Being another eye for law enforcement -- at least in my part of town -- is
nothing short of a very demanding full-time job. I don't get paid for it nor
do I get satisfaction from it. I could spend hours getting license plate
numbers of drug buyers and johns. I could call 911 a dozen times a day to
report suspicious activity. I could spend hours calling inspections for
trash violations. There are scads of things I could do -- and have done. But
when the criminals find out that I'm the one who's calling, they reciprocate
by vandalizing my car, or harassing me or like a few years ago, they
murdered my dog. And sometimes the cops who eventually respond are sarcastic
and uncaring. So yeah, I caved to their threats and I'm hiding out in my
home afraid of the people who are right outside my door.

And you know what? I never wanted to be a cop or to spend my time as a
citizen reporting all the illegal behavior I see. I just want to live
somewhere peaceful and do my work. So what's the solution? I don't' know a
lot but I DO know that eliminating cops ISN'T even a step in the right
direction. I think the problem is multi-faceted and solutions it will take
as many generations to repair the problem as it did to get this way. Do I
want to wait around for this and risk losing life or limb in the meantime?
Not really .... I'm thinking it over ...... this isn't how I want to live,
that much I know.

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Connie Beckers - Folwell
THE GODDESS OF GLASS
www.goddessofglass.com
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." John Lennon