News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Friday August 21st 2026
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from the series Peace House Community Journal…
By MARTI MALTBY
On July 2, the City of Minneapolis announced a new effort to deal with the open-air drug markets that plague the city, especially the neighborhoods served by the alley. By the time you read this, the announcement will be a month old, and we will hopefully have some idea of how the effort is going. My prediction is that current problem areas will get safer, but currently safer areas will become more dangerous.
I can’t pretend that I could solve the problems that drugs cause in Minneapolis, even if I was given an unlimited budget and power, but I can anticipate some of the hurdles that will trip up this effort. Some are inevitable, such as the addictive nature of drugs. There is no way to remove the attraction of drugs, especially among those who already use them. There’s also no way to remove the profit motive from dealing drugs. No matter what the City does, there will always be buyers and sellers.
However, there are hurdles that can be overcome, but only through thoughtful planning and diligent execution. One of the biggest of these is the need for decision makers to face what is not working, and to admit that the decisions they have made in the past have contributed to the current situation.… Read the rest “Prove Me Wrong, Please”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
Damage Done
from the series Something I Said…
By DWIGHT HOBBES
ICE, the curse that keeps on giving. Operation Metro Surge was ostensibly called off, though as of June, hundreds of agents stayed, keeping a lower profile than committing outright assault and cold blooded murder. The damage is still done. On top of lousing up immigrant lives, actually dragging people away from work and worse, ICE cost Minnesotans somewhere around 5,700 hospitality jobs and 4,400 construction jobs from December of last year to this February alone. This is verified by federal data. North Star Policy Action researcher Aaron Rosenthal told The Minnesota Reformer early estimates for the same period were $46 million and $106 million in lost wages across Minneapolis and St. Paul.
This is not just about dollars and doesn’t make the first bit of common sense. Nor does Minnesota GOP lawmakers refusing state aid to compensate Minneapolis’ revenue losses. They cited DFL pro-immigrant policies for Operation Metro Surge being there in the first place. With the Minnesota House of Representatives reporting East Lake Street businesses along what’s dubbed “Little Mexico” experiencing 80% to 100% losses, this passing the buck sounds suspiciously like color coding and amounts to blaming victims for Democrats being socially progressive.… Read the rest “Damage Done”