Since nobody else seems to have picked up the slack

It's been about two weeks since Minneapolis crime blogger Rambix put down the mouse and went back to his life. I loved reading Rambix daily because living as I do in Minneapolis and being surrounded by crime, I was frustrated at the lack of attention paid by the Star Tribune to this topic. Living here, it often feels like Minneapolis residents carry the burden of fear and the costs of victimization, while the paper, the Mayor and the city council (with few exceptions) try to explain crime away.

I am hoping to restart some of the discussion on crime. I also hope that others can help out, either by joining me as authors of this site, guest posting or just sending me links that I can post, so that at least we can get the clearinghouse aspect of Rambix' blog covered again.

On the nature of crime in Minneapolis itself, personally, I don't believe in pointing fingers in any one direction. There is enough blame to go around. For increased crime in Minneapolis, you can thank:

1. Mayor RT Rybak for telling us awhile ago that nobody had anything to fear unless they were engaging in a "high risk lifestyle." It was right after that that Tyesha Edwards was killed at the family dining room table doing her homework.
2. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar for allowing her office to become a revolving door for criminals who can plea bargain their way to continual freedom.
3. The State legislature and the Governor, that did away with funding for the Gang Strike Force. We now know that increased Gang activity isn't just a city problem. As minority groups begin to populate the suburbs and some rural areas gang business has followed.
4. The Minneapolis PD under the thumb of Mayor Rybak and the City Council. They've been more concerned about diversity and mau-mauing the various race baiters and poverty pimps than getting criminals off the street. The Police Community Relations Council has been an abject failure. It has become a debating society, not a place where people take responsibility for problems and try to solve them. Fortunately a new consensus may be forming around people who actually want to be part of the solution not just get media attention off of the problem.
5. Groups which have sponsored large numbers of refugees from Africa and South East Asia. The issue is not about immigration. These people did not choose to leave their countries; basically they were forced to leave. The problem is that now with two and three generations from the homeland, they are still having some trouble ajusting to life in a modern city in a developed country. Cultural differences aren't just colorful expressions of Life's rich pageant. They are a problem when you have no concept of rights, no respect for women or for people outside your ethnic group and little regard for human life that isn't directly related to you. It may be a temporary problem, as it was with many immigrant groups. Nevertheless, we are living it now.
6. Gangs from other cities. They've prospered so much in those places that they've saturated the market there. They've been moving steadily into middle sized and smaller cities where they can get a better price for their wares.

Those are the main ones that I can come up with at this hour. Feel free to fill in the blanks.