[Mpls] Murderapolis: Time to Move Beyond Triage - IT IS TIME FOR RYBAK TO DO HIS JOB

[gemgram]

When a person sees something as "Impossible" there is very little chance of 
that person actually working hard to accomplish it.  Such would seem to be 
the case with public safety for people in Minneapolis.  The present Mayor 
believes that it is impossible to get the required funds to make adequate 
public safety "Possible" for what has been the  residents of our poor 
neighborhoods.  That failure now threatens the quality of life in other 
areas of Minneapolis.  Thinking there is NO possibility, the Rybak 
administration does NOT engage in the every day work needed to bring in the 
small and sometimes LARGE amounts of money to make things "Possible".

The purpose of a real Mayor is to go out and work to get Minneapolis the 
funds to provide adequate public safety.  That is his only real power and 
real duty in a "Weak Mayor" system.  Everything else is providing 
"leadership".  But if a Mayor does not do the one job he is absolutely 
responsible to do, then how can he possibly provide meaningful leadership 
for that "strong council" who clearly must see that RT has no clothes on. 
Barb Johnson, Natalie Johnson Lee, Don Samuels, Robert Lillegren, Gary 
Schiff, and Dean Zimmerman each represent districts and neighborhoods that 
are feeling the pain of Mayor Rybak's failure to perform on his one true 
job.  Is it any wonder that his leadership on other issues is questioned by 
the employees of every department of the City?  Mayor Rybak appears to 
believe that it is impossible to perform his one true job responsibility. 
So he simply does not do it?  RT fiddles while gunpowder in Minneapolis 
burns.

David Braur's request, on the Minneapolis Issues, for a Peter McLaughlin 
finance plan to hire police officers fails to acknowledge that for months 
Peter McLaughlin has offered a proposal for badly needed new revenue; State 
aid worth $24 million for the City's closed police pension fund.  That's 
REAL money that would be available over time to provide REAL  relief to the 
City's General Fund.  The primary source of funds for the Police Department.

As some readers might remember, the Mayor's supporters at the Washburn 
debate hooted at this idea.  Rybak himself claimed that if there was 
actually money available, as Peter McLaughlin claimed, he would crawl to get 
it.  Well folks, there is, and was money available and it would help fund 
police officers on the street.  And the Mayor didn't need to crawl to get 
it, he only had to ask for it.  He just needed to act responsibly!  RT Rybak 
failed to do that in 2004, leaving us without sufficient police officers on 
our streets.

Finally, after the city convention in which Peter McLaughlin soundly 
defeated him, the Mayor changed his position on the pension relief, telling 
the city's lobbyists to get the deal done.  RT Rybak will undoubtedly claim 
that he has gained major improvements in the deal.  These modifications 
would have been available in the 2004 legislative session, but Mayor Rybak 
didn't engage until late, and then opposed the relief from the state.  And 
then when the money was sitting on the table to be used for police officers, 
he told the City Council to turn it down. It now remains to be seen whether 
Mayor Rybak has dithered for far too long.  I hope the plan is approved in 
the special session.  There are, however, no guarantees.

As the murder rate mounts, it's too bad we didn't have the money to hire 
officers this year.  Peter McLaughlin has strongly advocated for these funds 
since he started his campaign.  It's only one of the pieces of his plan. 
Peter McLaughlin seems to believe it is "POSSIBLE" to do the work to go get 
those needed funds!

I think David Brauer  needs to ask the Mayor what he's going to do about the 
spiraling murder rate, since the Mayor's last plan (not engaging in 
"dangerous behavior") has proven to be such a failure. As I typed I heard 
there were two more shooting victims on Lake Street last night. Perhaps 
Mayor Rybak believes that we ALL should move out of Minneapolis because he 
believes we are engaging in "dangerous behavior" by staying in our own 
homes. Perhaps it is the Mayor who is engaging us all in his "dangerous 
behavior"!

Stay tuned to your "Issues List" for a new public safety and tax issue: The 
Mayor's refusal to apply for federal funds to hire adequate numbers of fire 
fighters.

Jim Graham,
Still "engaging in dangerous behavior" by living in Ventura Village

>"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in 
>the other direction."<