Some good news from North Minneapolis – violent crime has dropped:

But serious crime incidents in the North Side precinct are down about 15 percent this year.

That’s good news.

Of course, the numbers are not the whole story:

 The North Side has accounted for about 21 percent of the city’s serious incidents this year, with 17.5 percent of its population.

The North Side, of course, is a big place; it includes gang strongholds like the Near North and Camden, as well as placid near-suburban areas like the big swathe above Dowling and into the forties and fifties. 

Which means, I suspect, thatmost of that “21% of the city’s serious incidents” are taking place in the part of the North Side below Dowling and above Highway 55.  What percentage of the city’s population is that?

The piece seems to have the wrong headline, though – while a paragraph or two are about crime numbers, the piece largely seems to be about…marketing: 

Think of the North Side of Minneapolis and what comes to mind? Crime and foreclosures? Or parks, clubs and gathering spots?

A new marketing strategy for north Minneapolis is designed to get you to think more of the latter.

The strategy has been rolled out for North Side community leaders. Organizers plan to launch their marketing push more broadly by March after seeking business, foundation and public money to finance it. A campaign incorporating a website, street signs, brochures, postcards and print ads is planned. The budget is still undetermined.

The campaign focuses on four strengths — consultants called them chest-pounding topics.

Those selling points, identified in meetings with residents: the area’s breadth of community organizations, its varied businesses, a solid housing stock and an abundance of opportunities for recreation.

On the one hand, as conservative bloggers we well understand the imperative to counter relentless, one-sided bad news. 

And there is value to this sort of effort; Saint Paul did plenty of the same in its epic battle to turn around Selby-Dale; thirty years ago, the neighborhood was a complete toilet.  Today, it’s a largely decent place – allowing the city to fight the ongoing battle to reclaim Frogtown (hopefully before Light Rail destroys it again) and arrest the deepening blight on the East Side. 

But I digress.

I don’t live in Minneapolis, of course.  For Minneapolis crime news, I always turn to the Minneapolis Crime Watch blog, the single essential stop for crime news (since the late, lamented Rambix departed the scene).  Margaret Martin – who lives on the North Side – responds to the piece, noting that the group cited in the story may be talking a bigger game than they actually play:

I’m on some of the e-mail lists and, aside from a rejuvenation of the neighborhood organization in my neighborhood, a group of people has come together to create “a marketing plan” for North…The reality is that something’s got to replace or supplement the NRRC, which has spearheaded many of these types of initiatives in the past, because the NRRC is broke and although NRP got a stay of execution, funding will not be at the same level. It’s a fine time to start looking elsewhere, for development funding.

She also notes the story’s incongruity:

The problem I have with the story is the headline. “Serious crime in north Minneapolis falls 15%.” But the story isn’t about crime, it’s about these activists’ desire for a better future for North. The headline conflates the desire with the reality. The reality may be that “serious crime is down” it doesn’t mean that North is safe, the schools are good and that if we build it “they” will come…I know that the stats have been improving and I don’t deny that they are…The problem is that crime is not just about numbers. It’s about perception.

Perception is, indeed, reality.  You knew that the effort to revitalize Selby-Dale was succeeding when people stopped perceiving that you could get killed for no good reason in the neighborhood; when people perceived that people weren’t getting stabbed every weekend outside the People’s Choice club, or that they could let their kids play outside.

And the North Side isn’t there yet, says Margaret: 

So homicides are down. If you knew that a few blocks away on a “safe” block, a driveby just took out a some people at a barbecue last weekend, would you feel safe? If you had 3 houses on your block that were vacant and deteriorating, would you feel good about the direction that things were going?

Here’s something to think about it. If people in South Minneapolis are concerned about crime and worried about their future in the city, and it’s got all the attractions and amenities that South has, what does North have to offer in comparison?

I’m no expert.  As near as I can tell, the best thing an area can do is “be a place where young families – by definition, low-to-middle-income, for the most part – can afford to live and raise kids without worrying about their safety”. 

So what does the North Side offer? 

I’m genuinely interested.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 11:10 am and is filed under Minneapolis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.