No, Workers Do Not Need to Return to Office Just to Make Landlords Wealthier
I found "Minneapolis Economy is Struggling" an out-of-touch piece aimed at supporting entitled landlords over the well-being of everyday Minneapolitans.
In the article, David Wilson, a struggling landlord, argued that Hennepin County needs to mandate a return to office so that his rental properties can be profitable again. I’m sorry, but many of my friends can barely afford rent, medical care, and groceries despite working full-time or multiple jobs. Forcing them to waste money on record-high gas, childcare, parking, and hours in traffic will not help anyone (well, except the landlords).
When people cannot afford basic needs, they skip eating at restaurants, buying fancy things, and driving unnecessarily. They still shop locally for groceries, clothes and medicine, but they do it closer to where they live. Increasingly, they are moving away from pricey neighborhoods like Uptown.
The argument continues with an appeal to trickle-down economics while brushing aside the ICE surge, George Floyd’s murder, COVID, and veto-loving Mayor Frey. Instead, it hones in on the City Council. It is Mayor Frey who has shot down dozens of ordinances, more than our two previous mayors combined, but somehow council members are the ones who are unfocused and lack priority? The fact that the City Council has come together to override these vetoes multiple times was completely ignored.
I would urge these struggling landlords to sell their properties at a loss or to lower rates to encourage re-development, rather than trying to worsen the livelihoods of thousands of others. Furthermore, I would encourage them to stop trying to cater to the mythical "moderates and conservatives" in Minneapolis, when the vast majority of the population is left-of-center. And maybe reconsider renting to those THC shops, bath houses, or whichever other businesses do not cater to their vision of Minneapolis?
Igor Shults
Bryn Mawr
This letter was abbreviated last month due to space constraints, and its author felt the edited version did not accurately reflect the intended message. We are publishing it this month in its entirety and without edits.
Animales
I was happy to see Animales featured in your July issue, but the highlighted text is pretty off-putting. Referring to the Van White bridge as "that weird bridge over the impound lot" demeans not only Van White, our city's first black councilperson, but those of us who pushed for and celebrated a much needed north/south connection.
The writer then states that he has "no idea who will use" the light rail station on the bridge as if the folks in the Harrison neighborhood don't even exist.
Jenny Warner
Harrison
Socialism
Your recent article in the July issue, “A New Generation Revisits Socialism”, was well-intentioned, but the conclusion and some of the items brought up in the article cried out for additional discussion.
The article ends with a summary that frames the idea of socialism in America as being ahistorical, something only appealing to a generation without memory of the Cold War. I would argue relying on the Cold War as precedent is itself appealing to a generation too focused on themselves to remember the lessons taught by the Great Depression and the New Deal.
Socialists in American predated the baby boomers, and in many ways, “socialist” programs were the only reason they were able to grow up in a time of wealth and privilege for the middle class (which is currently going extinct). If Social Security was going to be proposed today, the people doing it would look a lot like the members of the DSA, and would probably meet with the same resistance and derision.
You quoted David Tinjum, whose arguments hold very little water for me. First, pointing our that a younger generation has unique challenges does not invalidate the challenges of other generations. That’s what “unique” means. If I wanted to invalidate the experience of someone from a previous generation, all I would need is an inflation calculator and a table showing the annual federal minimum wage.
If you think socialism is too severe a response, let me remind you wealth inequality has never been more severe in our nation’s history. And the argument that older generations have more because they’ve just had more time to accumulate wealth is facile. Millennials are in their 30’s and 40’s and a little beyond accepting they just need to be patient and wait their turn.
Equating an interest in radical politics with ahistoricism is, ironically, ignoring the last 10 years of politics in this country. Young people are becoming increasingly hostile to the status quo, and whether they lean left or right, whether you agree with them or not, these feelings are coming from their stark and daily confrontation with the world as it is now.
Tinjum criticizes socialism as being something countries either fail at or move away from in time, an argument which can also be levied at every economic or governing system ever invented by mankind.
Capitalism, for all the glories enumerated by its proponents, has been around for about 200 years. Capitalism did not invent labor, markets, or industry. So how about a compromise? We won’t be socialist forever – we’ll just try it for a while until it fails or moves into something else. We’re already doing that with capitalism, and it’s failing for most of us, and I for one am ready to move on.
Jenny May
The Wedge
Remembering Barbara Dow
Barbara (Ocken) Dow, 64-year resident of the East Isles, passed away on May 17 at age 100.
Barbara lived a very active and rewarding life. She grew up in south Minneapolis, graduated from Washburn High School and the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in Art History and a B.S. and M.A. in education.
Her career as an educator was launched when her professor asked her to teach Art History 101 in 1944 during WWII when most male teachers were serving in the military overseas. Her students numbered 400 and all tests were blue book essays. On a salary of $1 per hour, Barbara read, graded and delivered test results in an exhausting 24 hours.
In 1963, Barbara began her teaching career in Minneapolis Public Schools. At Waite Park Elementary, she taught Minnesota’s first high potential class.
Students were required to have an IQ test of 140+ and the ability to read two years above grade level. On one occasion, when a book dealer donated books to her classroom, a nine-year-old student asked, “Mrs. Dow, do you want these catalogued as Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress?” Suffice to say, there was never a dull moment — or dull student — in her classroom. Many of her students kept in touch over the years and will sorely miss their visits with Mrs. Dow.
Barbara was both an art and garden lover. For 28 years, she served as an educator at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, where she also led its Sunday Gallery Talks.
She helped information desk visitors at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for 22 years. And she was among the first 30 master gardeners in Hennepin County. Today, the number has grown to 470. She was also a 30-year member of the Minnesota Herb Society. Barbara will be sorely missed by family, friends, former students and neighbors.
Sandra Nelson, Kay Jurkovich, Valerie Arnold
East Isles
