Admitting to the crime problem

From time to time, local Minnesota media will mention how deserted downtown Minneapolis has become.

The local CBS affiliate, WCCO, ran a story today under the headline, ‘It’s Just a Different Place’: The Uncertain Future of Downtown Minneapolis. The piece opens with,

It’s hard to deny that the COVID-19 pandemic has put a stop to the hustle and bustle of downtown Minneapolis.

It then proceeds to run another 400 words, with none of those words being “crime,” “riots,” or “mask mandate.” Yes, the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 marked the emptying out of downtown — and it hasn’t recovered since.

Today, Minneapolis (along with St. Paul) imposed a vaccine passport scheme that is said to be met with grim resolve and temporary closures. The new mandate begins the same day the United Kingdom cancelled face masks, vaccine passports, and work-from-home orders in their nation.

Everyone recalls the George Floyd riots of late May 2020. Downtown Minneapolis was hit with a separate set of riots in August of that year, triggered by false reports of a police shooting.

It’s not that WCCO isn’t aware of the crime problem in Minneapolis. The outlet also ran this heart-wrenching story today about a local delivery driver who was carjacked, kidnapped, and assaulted. She is now raising money to leave the city. Who could blame her? The initial attack took place a few blocks from downtown.

Yesterday, a motorist driving on the I-94 freeway through downtown was shot. The downtown area has seen its share of murders, carjackings, robberies and burglaries over the past year. The downtown block hosting the neighborhood’s Target store on the pedestrian Nicollet Mall is well known as the host location for an almost daily fight club.

Downtown Minneapolis, like the rest of the city, won’t start to come back until the city reverses its misguided COVID policies, gets tough on crime, and takes seriously the quality-of-life complaints of both residents and business owners.