Never Let Them See You Sweat

Minneapolis Downtown leaders are worried, as the Red Star reports: "Block E is safe, City Hall leaders insist".

As Minneapolis police study the shooting death of a man socializing downtown, city leaders said the Block E area doesn't have a violent culture.

Is perception reality?

Visiting Block E can result in being accosted by street thugs, bums, and other people most of us would simply rather avoid. Sure, most of the time nothing happens, but the perception is that something bad could go down at any time.

People don't want to feel threatened when they're out to have fun.

"The perception of safety is a very fragile asset," said Greg Ortale, president of the Greater Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association. "People wanting to come here feel we have a very safe city, but this was a really unfortunate situation."

Very unfortunate. One could almost say it was a "horrible moment".

Block E is no stranger to violence. The city leaders were telling us back in December 2005 that all is well at Block E, despite this prior shooting and other incidents.

City Council member Don Samuels has the understatement of the year:

"This certainly seemed to be a random act of unkindness," Public Safety Committee Chairman Don Samuels said.

So is perception reality?