Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: Just fine, is it? What's your thought? Is crime a big problem in the city of Minneapolis? Is it, in fact, something people should be so concerned about?

SPEAKER 2: I think it's a major problem. And I disagree with-- I agree, but yet, I disagree with them-- Ms. Martin's statement, where she said that it's just totally a perception problem. I think there's also a very real reality problem there. And I think what people are looking for is they want to get to a community where they feel safe and where their children are going to be safe. And they feel they can live in a crime-free, drug-free neighborhood.

SPEAKER 1: Are all neighborhoods in Minneapolis crime-infested?

SPEAKER 2: No. No, they're not. No, they're not. But the question the question becomes is, do-- I think what's happened, is that when we've had a problem, we have had a tendency to ignore it until it became a major problem, rather than dealing with it in the infancy stages of it. I mean, I continuously hear from people is, well, Minneapolis or Minnesota is really not that bad compared to other cities. Well, I really don't care how we compare to other cities. What I'm concerned about is that we deal with the crime problem.

If we're going to say, well, we're not going to have to worry or do anything until we become like the other major cities, why would you do that? And so I believe you need to deal with problems swiftly, surely. I mean, I look at some of the areas that I think have led to this is the gang problems in Minneapolis.

We had under former police Chief Tony Bouza. We were told we didn't have a gang problem in Minnesota. I think that simply wasn't true. We had a gang problem. We just didn't want to admit it, and we allowed it to grow to the point where then we couldn't control it.

SPEAKER 1: What about--

SPEAKER 2: with our drug laws.

SPEAKER 1: What about your neighbors in Maple Grove? A lot of those people leave Minneapolis because of crimes, as far as you can tell.

SPEAKER 2: are a lot of people that have moved to areas that I represent, and when I talk with them, I would say that there were probably two of the major reasons why people left-- crime was the number one. School systems were number two.

SPEAKER 1: Quality of the schools or fear of crime in the schools.

SPEAKER 2: I think that they were related. I think that they are directly related, that they wanted their children to be able to go to school in an atmosphere where they felt that their children would be safe and where they would be in a good learning environment.

SPEAKER 1: Is it all that great in the suburbs?

SPEAKER 2: I think we've got a great school district. I think the Osseo School District is an excellent school district. Do we have problems? Sure, we do. We would be naive to say that we don't have problems.

But I think, again, I go back to how do you deal with problems once they occur. And that's where I see a difference. And that's where I see a difference with the people, citizens just getting involved. I mean, you talk to people and how many people go downtown in Minneapolis at nighttime?

And why don't they go? Because their fear of-- is it a major crime of being murdered? I don't think it's a crime of being murdered. Are they a fear of getting beat up? Are they going to get beat up?

Yeah, it goes on all the time. Our robberies have increased significantly in Minneapolis, the sexual assaults. What people are looking at, they just don't want to be accosted by anybody. And what constitutes, I mean, people would look and say, is it a crime for you to walk down the street or somebody else to walk down the street and have one, two, or three people approach you and just physically intimidate you to the point where that you just say, I don't ever want to come back here again.

Has there been a crime? There may not have been a crime, but what has it left you with? What's the impression? What is your what is your reality feeling of if you're going to come down there again. And that's what you have to do. You have to deal with those situations to make it where people feel comfortable.