We saw the streets of Minneapolis, and the whole country, become militarized last summer as peaceful protests were met with weapons of war by police. Now militarization is occurring again, this time through fences, concrete barriers, and barbed wire that seek to cut residents off from street spaces. For the community to heal and stay […]
Until we can change the city charter, we must pay the salaries of about 730 police officers. However, nowhere in there does it specify what is necessary equipment for the officers to have. I will argue here that police cars are not only unnecessary but also actively harmful, and should no longer be funded by […]
Your friendly Saint Paul Crank here. It’s time for some late summer cartoon shout-outs. This first one goes out to the organizers of the Minnesota State Fair Crop Art competition. If not for the pandemic, you would have been able to see this piece hanging in the horticulture building with all the other excellent seed-art […]
I was on 6th Street, carefully navigating three lanes of traffic and construction. I signaled my turn as I eased into the left lane, aware of drivers moving urgently around me. Suddenly I bounced, failed to reestablish grip, and tumbled. I rolled off my bike and onto concrete. Something hit my knee bad enough to […]
The shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, by police officer Mohamed Noor could have happened in many contexts, but the fact that it happened in a car tells us a lot about the problem of car culture in our society. Ruszczyk, an Australian living in a fairly affluent neighborhood in Minneapolis had called the police to […]
Welcome to December on streets.mn. Aiming to provide some twinkling lights in the darkness this winter, streets.mn’s annual fundraiser and all-around FUNdraiser is coming up fast. Get tickets here, then join us December 19, 2018 for an evening of fun with The Theater of Public Policy, sparking conversation, cool people, and delicious eatables and drinkables. […]
Being undocumented and in public is a precarious place to be. As transit advocates, we need to step up. I cannot speak on behalf of non-Western European immigrants. But I know this: what Ariel Vences-Lopez experienced on May 14 on the Metro Transit light rail is exactly what transit equity advocates have been fearing. This […]
It has been a busy week on streets.mn as our writers have begun to respond to recent events from the the horrifying to the fun, plus the usual assortment of posts about our cities. Streets.mn welcomes new writers and would very much like to publish posts about current events (or any other transportation and land […]
Well, there was an interesting discussion on fivethirtyeight.com this week about resiency requirements for police officers. Minneapolis used to have a residency requirement until 1999. Today, they’re one of the lowest cities in the country in terms of percentage of police officers who live in the city. (at least, this is true for white officers.) Here […]