Mayor Rybak's Proxy Responds

Since the Mayor is MIA, his proxy has responded in his stead to an email from Rambix reader Craig:

Dear Mayor Rybek,

I have been reading in the papers and the weblogs of the crime, murder and robbery spree by Somali Muslim Clan gangs in Minneapolis along with drug murders for the last several months.

You must do something about it with heavy police patrols and shooting first and asking questions later. The recent almost murder of a man with his family leaving an
Uptown restaurant and you Office doing nothing to stop this barbaric monsters roaming our streets has left me no choice be to close my business affairs in your city and any merchant residing in your city.

Do something or suffer the consequences about crimes in Minnapolis.

Craig [snip]

The response is from Jared Nordland of the Mayor's office:

Hello Craig,

Mayor Rybak forwarded by your e-mail and asked that I respond to your concerns about crime. Minneapolis faces few challenges as complex and challenging as violent crime. Yet nothing poses a greater threat to our quality of life. The mayor takes very seriously every act of violence and loss of life in Minneapolis. No level of crime in Minneapolis is acceptable. The recent shooting in Uptown is appalling and the Minneapolis police department is applying every available resource to respond to this
senseless attack.

Already, our robbery task force and homicide unit have more than a dozen officers working on the Uptown shooting. Our police officers are increasing patrols on residential streets to enhance police presence throughout the neighborhood. The Strategic Tactical Operations (STOP) division which last summer attacked crime in Uptown will continue to respond to emerging crime trends in Uptown and throughout the city. The citywide STOP team assists every police precinct on the north and south
sides of town. In the city's 2006 budget, we funded an additional 71 police officers and the first academy of new officers will begin hitting the street in June. These new officers will be applied throughout the city.

We are also strengthening partnerships that leverage our resources and intensify our presence in key areas throughout the city such as Uptown. These partnerships are critical, and include the Uptown business association's off-duty police officers in the area and the CARAG neighborhood association beginning volunteer "stroll patrols" by the end of March.

If we work together and target our resources, we can continue to make progress and reduce serious crime in all parts of our city. Public safety is and will remain our top priority so that we can realize our goal of everyone feeling comfortable walking down any street in Minneapolis.

Thank you, Craig, for e-mailing the mayor about your concerns and please feel free to write the mayor or myself again.

Thanks again,

Jared

Jared Nordlund
City of Minneapolis, Office of Mayor R.T. Rybak
Room 331, City Hall
350 South Fifth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 673-3363 phone
(612) 673-2305 fax
jared.nordlund@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

I fear that the ideas proffered in Jared's letter are band-aids on a gushing wound. There is a systemic problem with criminals in Minneapolis. You can squeeze them and push them down for while, but the pathology remains.