‘Miscellany’ Archives
Homeless Crisis Requires Common Sense Solutions
Something I said By DWIGHT HOBBES There comes a point at which even bleeding heart liberalism must yield to common sense and things at Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis have passed it. There”™s been a great deal of carping about how the city owes the homeless a place to go, the parks ”“ not just Powderhorn ”“ should be their sanctuary, so on and so forth. This would hold water if the encampment in the middle of a decent, peaceful neighborhood had not sordidly and violently disrupted the surrounding quality of life. The inhabitants didn”™t even have to contribute to communal well being, just not drag it down into the gutter and literally endanger it. As of this writing, crime there has gone from bad to worse. A teen aged girl was raped on June 26. Two days later, so was a woman. All told, there have been three sexual assaults; at least three that were reported. A man was shot in the face recently. Drug use [...]
Where Are We Going?
METRO TRANSIT By JOHN CHARLES WILSON Even though our buses and trains are still running on a greatly reduced schedule, Metro Transit is hard at work behind the scenes building and planning for a COVID-19-free future. That said, I wish to interrupt the good news to tell everyone that Cub Foods is running a FREE shuttle bus between its temporarily ruined Lake and Minnehaha location to their Quarry location at 1540 New Brighton Blvd. in Northeast Minneapolis. Buses leave the Lake Street Cub every hour between 10 AM and 5 PM and leave the Quarry store one half-hour later. Each bus will transport up to 20 people, allowing for social distancing and room for shopping bags. Other rules are similar to Metro Transit. Now, for what is in store for us when this debacle is over: The Green Line Extension (Southwest Light Rail) construction is continuing as normal. It is planned to be ready for use in 2023.The Blue Line Extension (Bottineau Line Light Rail) is anticipated to be done [...]
Corona Crisis Exposing Minnesota Racism Against Asian- Americans
Something I Said By DWIGHT HOBBES For a place touted as a bounty of multiculturalism, Minnesota can be downright reactionary and racist. It is doubtful, for instance, that had the corona virus originated in, say, Sweden or Switzerland, blue eyed blondes would be targeted for harassment. Yet, the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has had to denounce increasing racist attacks and xenophobic profiling of Asian-Americans, backlash for the pandemic against people who, for all they know, had never even been to China much less caused this crisis. Consider. A St. Paul-based nonprofit held an online discussion on discrimination against Asian Americans during this pandemic, but scrapped it due to the overwhelming presence of derogatory remarks posted. Hardly in keeping with locale known for being socially progressive and ethnically inclusive. Xaria Vang, 23, bought a Taser gun after a stranger confronted her in a St. Paul butcher shop. Vang isn”™t even [...]
