News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Friday December 19th 2025
Transit – Politicians and Light Rail Safety
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON
The Minnesota State Legislature is finally trying to do something about the rising tide of crime and harmful behavior on public transit, particularly on the Light Rail system. While many members of the community are saying, “It”™s about time!” it looks like what should be a universal issue is rapidly becoming partisan.
Republicans from rural Minnesota and the outer Twin Cities suburbs have one vision of how to make urban transit safer, while Democratic politicians including the mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul have different ideas on how to achieve the same thing. Unfortunately, given Minnesota”™s history of gridlock at the Capitol, this may well mean nothing will get done, as it happens: another robbery, another stabbing, smoking on trains, loud and boisterous disturbances, etc.
I have a friend who was robbed in broad daylight as he got off a Green Line train in Saint Paul a few months ago, so this is personal to me. He called the police, and they said they would look at the video surveillance tapes to try to find the culprit. Unfortunately, as far as we know, they didn”™t find him, so he”™s going to get away with preying on a vulnerable old man.… Read the rest “Transit – Politicians and Light Rail Safety”
Peace House Community”“A Place to Belong “Relatives are in Danger!””¦Native Community responds with speed and determination
By MARTI MALTBY
After over 20 years of working with social services agencies that serve the homeless, I have seen many different responses to ending homelessness. Some have been more successful than others, while some have benefitted from having good salespeople promoting them as the next big thing. Recently, I have been encouraged by the work of the Native American community, especially with efforts around Franklin and Bloomington. In the last couple of months they have opened two overnight drop-in centers, coordinated overnight street outreach efforts, made sure the issue of homelessness doesn”™t slip to the back pages, and generally made a positive difference to the homeless and the greater community.
Most of the responses to homelessness that I have seen haven”™t started at this level. When homelessness first became a national problem in the 1980s, this was how people addressed it. Churches, community associations, and similar groups saw the problem growing and took action. As homelessness escalated and overwhelmed what neighborhoods could do, government programs began addressing the crisis. (This is an oversimplification, since homelessness and the federal department of Housing and Urban Development predate the current housing crisis, but it gives you the general outline of the situation.)
Over time, homelessness became an institution, with children who grew up in homeless families becoming homeless as adults, only to see the cycle repeat with their children.… Read the rest “Peace House Community”“A Place to Belong “Relatives are in Danger!””¦Native Community responds with speed and determination”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
He Has His Own Mind
By MIKE HAZARD and MARTI MALTBY
“As you can see, I”™m part Irish American, part African American, and part Native American,” said Vernon. I asked what nation. “My brother says Cherokee.” He thumbed through his cellphone texts looking for a picture of his Irish American great grandfather, Henry O”™Killian. He never found it. We talked.
“I was a cook in the military, a biscuit burner. Sister Rose (the founder of Peace House) hired me to cook. I cooked at Peace House for two or three months, and then I got a job as a machinist. Machinist paid more, but I liked cooking more. I cook everything. I learned a lot about cooking from ex-girlfriends. (Laugh.) Italian, Spanish, Asian… I cook it all.”
“I”™m a Christian, but there is no honor and distinction in killing people. People can think what they want to think. My Dad was in WWII, my Grandfather was in WWI.”
“I followed the model of Muhammad Ali during the Vietnam War.… Read the rest “He Has His Own Mind”