Is The City Of Minneapolis Dysfunctional?

My impression of how the rest of the country (excluding provincial New Yawkers and elitist Californians) views Minneapolis is that it's an urban area that really has its act together. Were it not for the five-month long winters, they say, Minneapolis would be a great place in which to live and raise a family. It has most of the amenities you'd want in a metropolitan area, but without the scope and depth of many of the problems faced by a megalopolis. However, certain events have occurred recently to make me question whether Minneapolis is really what it's cracked up to be.

The handling of the Vikings' situation is a good example. Everyone in town has known for at least the last five years that the team's Metrodome lease was going to expire at the end of the current season. While the Vikings spent months working with Ramsey County to be a financial partner in the effort to build a new stadium, the city of Minneapolis did nothing to keep the team downtown. It was only after the Vikings struck a deal with Ramsey County and formulated a plan to take the Arden Hills proposal to the state legislature that Minneapolis finally got off its duff and became serious about stepping to the plate, just like they did for the Twins. And even after Minneapolis finally got the wake up call, the city big shots still could not quickly choose among three prospective downtown sites. As one out-state legislator put it, "You may think you have three sites, but [until you decide on pushing for one] you really have none." Eventually the city settled on the current Metrodome site as its favorite. The mayor and his pals acted as if they were surprised that the team was not willing to wait forever for some movement on the city's part. Where was the city leadership? Just what is on the mayor's desk that is more time-sensitive?

Several weeks ago the public found out that the city disregarded the laws requiring it to pay to car owners excess money received from the auctioning of impounded cars. Instead, after impounded cars were auctioned off, the city retained all of the proceeds, not just the monies to which the city was entitled, without notifying the owners of their rights. Once this dishonest practice was brought to light, we learned that the city's decision makers were aware of the relevant law but decided to simply blow it off. Now the city owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the affected owners, and may have a class action suit on its hands.

Last week the case of southwest Minneapolis resident Elizabeth Howell came to light. Over the last three years the city has been harassing her to repair a deteriorated retaining wall that is totally on city property. Howell's property line is a good eight feet from the wall; her property does not abut the wall. The city's best argument to justify its demand appears to be that, traditionally, a private property owner pays for repair work performed on walls adjacent to such owner's property, but that is clearly a different set of facts than what we have here. Meanwhile, the city has not undertaken any restoration work as the wall continues to fall into the sidewalk below. Rather, city hall's preferred course of action is to issue threats and "final warnings" to Howell.

In 2006 the city was faced with a sex scandal involving its lesbian Fire Chief, Bonnie Bleskachek. Female firefighters alleged that Bleskachek sexually harrassed several of them, and discriminated against them by favoring her partners over women who were not. After spending thousands of dollars on legal fees and settlements, the city, amazingly, not only kept Bleskachek on the payroll but allowed her to hold onto the position of Fire Captain. City leaders assured the public that, notwithstanding Bleskachek's retention on the city payroll, she would not be allowed to apply for a promotion within the department. That assurance lasted less than six years, as we found out earlier this month that the current Fire Chief, Alex Jackson, has appointed Bleskachek a fire investigator. According to some reports, Bleskachek's yearly compensation will likely increase approximately $100,000 with that appointment. Doesn't that sound like a promotion?

Finally we have the sad news involving Rickia Russell. In 2010 Russell was a guest in a city apartment near the airport. Minneapolis police broke down the apartment door while executing a search warrant, and accidentally caused a flash-bang grenade to explode under Russell's leg. She was severely injured and had to be rushed to the burn unit of HCMC, where she spent two weeks of agony before being discharged. The police had the audacity not only to arrest her for "having a disorderly house" (even though the apartment was not hers), but took a position that essentially said that you can't expect each and every one of the approximately 275 search warrants executed each year in the city to go off without a hitch. That stance by the police did not satisfy Russell, so she hired a lawyer, Robert Bennett. A few days ago, the Minneapolis city council agreed to a settlement on the case which will cost the city $1 million, $600,000 of which will go to Russell and the remainder to Bennett. Along with the announcement came the revelation that for the three year period which ended in April 2009 (the latest period for which completely accurate figures are available), the average payout for each misconduct claim made against the Minneapolis Police Department was over $153,000. Partial data for 2011 indicates that payouts for police misconduct will set a record. By the way, the police never found the suspected narcotics in the apartment where Russell was burned.

After reading these stories, do you still think Minneapolis runs like a well-oiled machine?