Readers deserve better

I have turned to today’s Star Tribune to check out the editorial board’s take on Monday’s Minnesota Supreme Court ruling against the city in Spann v. Minneapolis City Council. The city is short some 100 police officers of the minimum imposed by its own charter and has no prospect of coming into compliance any time soon.

Even were it to achieve compliance, another 100 officers will leave the city short of the number necessary to restore civic order. Forgive me for repeating myself: Three hundred officers have left the force in the past two years, since the summer of Saint George.

The city is contending with the calculations of reasonable candidates to avoid the Minneapolis Police Department. It has proved unable to devise incentives to overcome these calculations. Generally speaking, no one in his right mind would choose to work for the department.

What is to be done? What accounts for this crisis (as I see it)? What do the editors have to say about this vital issue?

Silence is the order of the day. Maybe tomorrow the editors will find their voice and hazard their thoughts. It is certainly a rich subject, with many avenues yet to be explored. The Star Tribune’s own contribution to the crisis would be only one.

Today’s Star Tribune editorial addresses the national travel scene in “Airline passengers deserve better.” Subhead: “Carriers should offer fair compensation — not just excuses — for canceled flights.”

Residents of Minneapolis may deserve the sorry municipal leadership that afflicts the city, although that is a harsh thought. We need somehow to move toward a multiparty system with a viable conservative party challenging the left. One-party rule is not conducive to good government.

In the closing days of the Cold War Minneapolis named Novosibirsk its sister city, which it has remained since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was Minneapolis’s way of siding with the Soviet Union during the Reagan administration.

Perhaps we can draw on Novosibirsk for advice. Mayor Anatoly Lokot is a Communist, so there is that. He’s on our wavelength. Reelected in 2019 with 50 percent of the vote, he might have some thoughts on fostering multiparty competition. I am afraid, however, that the time is not quite right.

In any event, the Star Tribune is the Twin Cities’ major metropolitan daily. Minneapolis readers deserve better.

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