Uptown Insurgency: People Are Angry

Reader John F. Miller sent this fine letter to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak:

I sent the following letter to Mayor Rybak, Council Member Ralph Remington, and several owners of prominent Uptown businesses.

20 March 2006

Mayor R. T. Rybak
Room 331, City Hall
350 South 5th Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415

Dear Mayor Rybak,

My wife and I have lived in Uptown since 1974. We have owned a house in Uptown since 1978.

One of our warm weather pleasures has been taking an early evening stroll through the Uptown business district.
Sometimes we just walk, people-watch, look in store windows, and then return home. Other times we might have dinner, buy some books, or purchase the latest problem-solving kitchen gadget.

At 10 PM on Saturday, March 18th, 2006, a young man, accompanied by his mother and sister, was robbed and shot in the head at West 31st Street and Girard Avenue S.

As a result of this crime and because of the overall, unchecked increase in criminal activity in Uptown, I no longer feel safe walking in Uptown after dark.

As a result, my wife and I will be spending our entertainment and shopping dollars in Saint Louis Park or Edina, two close and convenient communities that still have effective police forces.

Yours truly,
John F Miller 03.20.06 - 9:10 pm

Thanks, John. We should all follow suit.