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It’s easier for local politicians to put a patch on a challenge rather than actively engaging sound logic and problem solving skills. To the people: “The world is hindered must by the disinterested tyranny of its well-wishers” ~ Rabindranath Tagore.
By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/The Independent Business News Network
“We need more people speaking out. This country (lets say Minneapolis) is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It’s overrun with sheep and conformists.” ~Bill Maher
"If there is no help from state government for businesses, we change state government in 2014."
Minneapolis, MN (IBNN/Editorial Opinion/Business/April 16, 2012)…I guess my point is “our” – “your” elected officials are not businessmen or businesswomen. When you want them to create opportunities and jobs – they throw money into a non-profit program. If people are losing their homes due to foreclosure, the local city government lobbies the federal government for funds, designs flashy presentations, hires people who don’t look like the most affected, do a couple of “community meetings” and the item the people need the most, help or “money,” never gets it. If the money was truly grant dollars, the only group that sees it is the group who controls it. In all the cases, it’s never the individual who needs it.
If one-time these non-businesspeople could look at engaging capacity building through business rather than waiting for someone to come up with a RFP for a non-profit agency to create summer jobs, foreclosure programs and other misguided attempts for the people, we – (us), could start down the road to a sustainable building of jobs and opportunities in north Minneapolis and across the state.
The irony of it all is not really about fried chicken and your personal experiences at a restaurant. The irony is about sustainability of businesses on the north side without having to route everything through a non-profit or depending on a miracle from people who have never ran a shoeshine shop.
If our local politicians acted on behalf of the people in north Minneapolis – I feel West Broadway would look more like Grand Avenue in St. Paul and the Uptown Area in Minneapolis. Don’t get me wrong – sometimes people that don’t get it must go. What some call a change in the community could also be an attempt at gentrification. If an area such as north Minneapolis has suffered neglect in education, opportunities and economic options at the hand of a few little non-profits that control major stakes for large populations of the poor, unemployed and uneducated how can businesses expect to have a crop of qualified candidates to pick from?
Training hasn’t created any jobs.
If you ask General Mills to open a plant to make the bags and boxes for its products in north Minneapolis – their out is public safety. If you ask a major retailer to locate stores on Broadway Avenue – their out. The lack of Public Safety has taken a back seat to celebrated programs that have obviously failed while the pretty-presentations and the paper they are printed on live forever.
The cycle of the same commitments and promises keeps repeating itself with no results. For example, if the mayor of the city says his focus is to make better a particular area of the city and each month someone is the victim of random violence that results in death, it’s the responsibility of that elected official to seek out new ways to address that violence. Granting a quarter-of-a-million to an organization that has no experience in youth violence means that neither the politician nor the granting agency has the intellectual capacity to understand the complex macros involved in intentional problem solving.
If you make a big deal about a new bike shop on Glenwood Avenue that will assist community members and youth to secure bikes to ride while promoting a healthy lifestyle – why did someone have to die over a bike? The information is not reaching those who need it the most. If someone is mental and gets caught carrying a weapon, who is responsible for that person never carrying a weapon again? What program did he go through? What agency dealt with him? The reports from our politicians are incorrect. If a little chicken shack can create 57 jobs in a year – and Congressman Keith Ellison, Bobby Joe Champion, Senator Linda Higgins, Minneapolis Ward 5 councilman Don Samuels can’t figure out how to engage big and small businesses by addressing public safety with cordial and diplomatic relationships to attract possible new businesses, residents are thrown out the window from a system that is absent of all common sense.
Again, we have a huge challenge.
Just think if the city wanted to build the Viking Stadium in north Minneapolis – they (the politicians) would have thrown EVERYONE UNDER THE BUS.
