Date:

Dear Members of City Council:

We, the people of Northeast Minneapolis, are writing as representatives of Northeast ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), a national organization concerned with various community issues, including rising crime, fair taxes, affordable housing, living wage jobs, better educational systems, and affordable health care. We have joined together to organize our neighborhood and work on issues to better our community.

We are aware that other Minneapolis neighborhoods, such as Uptown, Downtown, Northside, Jordan and Phillips have all received extra police and/or bicycle patrols because of the rise of crime in their neighborhoods. The entire Northeast area is also experiencing a significant rise in crimes such as drug dealings, muggings, shootings, gang-related activity, and young kids causing trouble on the street. On Friday, May 26, and Saturday, May 27, 2006, two bicycle cops patrolled each evening, along with one extra unmarked police car patrolling on Central due to the rise in criminal activity. We request that you make this available to us on a consistent basis every week to decrease crime. It is necessary to do the same on Johnson Street to reduce the problems in this area as well.

What we have heard from speaking to area residents door-to-door, along with ACORN organizers, is that the response time of the police department seems to be slow. This is understandable when more pressing issues occur at the same time; however, response times are consistently slow. We all know that certain situations can take a bad turn very quickly, so a quick response time by the police is vital to diffuse potentially dangerous situations.

In speaking to numerous concerned police officers in the area, they are aware that the above issues must be addressed more aggressively to decrease the criminal activity in the area. Although they also believe safety is the number one priority, they are unable to be available in all areas when it is necessary. We ask that our city council members step up and demand more police officers in times of higher criminal activity.

Thank you. Sincerely,

Northeast Minneapolis Resident and ACORN member