Shot in the Dark

I’m Sure It Will Be A Fair-Minded Airing Of Issues, Yessireebob

Mayor Carter, presiding over the worst murder rate in almost a quarter century (even as crime outside the metro continues to fall) is holding a series of meetings:

In the midst of an uptick in gun violence in St. Paul, Mayor Melvin Carter announced on Monday that he’ll host three community meetings about public safety.
Carter said last week he’s considering proposing a supplemental public safety budget to the City Council. The Council is slated to vote on next year’s city budget in December.
The community conversations will be at the following St. Paul locations:
Thursday, Nov. 7, 6:30-8 p.m., Central Baptist Church, 420 N. Roy St.
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 6:30-8 p.m., Rice Recreation Center, 1021 Marion St.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 1-2:30 p.m., Arlington Hills Community Center, 1200 Payne Ave.

I’m going to go out on a limb, and guess that ending pre-emption and “universal” background checks will be the only subjects seriously discussed.

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Mitch Berg

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9 responses to “I’m Sure It Will Be A Fair-Minded Airing Of Issues, Yessireebob”

  1. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    an uptick in gun violence

    Not to worry, citizens, it’s only an uptick.

  2. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Community meetings. Of course.

    Wypipul, kindly stay to the back of the room.

  3. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    A year ago, St. Paul added nine police officers to the budget. Those positions went unfilled.

    A month ago, Mayor Carter suggested scaling back from nine new cops to four. Those positions remain unfilled.

    Now he wants meetings to talk about the public safety budget. I’m guessing he wants mo money, same as every politician, but for what? Midnight basketball? Encounter groups? Drum circles?

    Is it just me, or is this guy not ready for prime time?

  4. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    I hope this gun violence thing in St. Paul can get resolved quickly so we can pay attention to the guy who got stabbed Sunday evening on the Green Line.

  5. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Interesting question, per Joe, is why nobody’s taking those police positions. Perhaps they need to adjust pay, working conditions, and the like?

  6. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    bubba, couldn’t someone describe being a police officer under Mayor Carter is enduring a hostile work environment? You’d think folks would be lining up for the settlement money.

  7. Bill C Avatar
    Bill C

    Is it just me, or is this guy not ready for prime time?

    JD, you say this as if his joke/crime of an administration was unintentional…

    I refuse to give leftists that much credit.

  8. Bill C Avatar
    Bill C

    Interesting question, per Joe, is why nobody’s taking those police positions. Perhaps they need to adjust pay, working conditions, and the like?

    Even more interesting to me, is why the current police forces of both St Paul and Minneapolis are not seeing an “uptick” in voluntary resignations, given their hostile work environment and unfriendly executive management (the councils, not the chiefs)

  9. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Bill C, part of the deal is that in 2014, the “richness” of PERA was reduced so that public employees cannot retire as young as they used to with as good a pension. So I’m guessing a lot of guys are effectively in “on the job retirement”.

    https://www.twincities.com/2014/05/29/minnesota-police-and-fire-pension-changes-how-they-work/

    If you poke around the Pioneer Press, it appears that departments have been understaffed for a while.

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