Back in the summer of 1967, our family drove from Wisconsin to Minneapolis-St Paul to catch our first major league game in person. I remember reading something in the motel that Minneapolis was known as the “Mill City,” a reference to the city’s flour milling industry.
Well, what’s going on in the Twin Cities today?
A Minneapolis manufacturing company has decided to leave the city, with the company’s owner saying he can’t trust public officials who allowed his plant to burn during the recent riots. The move will cost the city about 50 jobs.
“They don’t care about my business,” said Kris Wyrobek, president and owner of 7-Sigma Inc., which has operated since 1987 at 2843 26th Av. in south Minneapolis. “They didn’t protect our people. We were all on our own.”
Wyrobek said the plant, which usually operates until 11 p.m., shut down about four hours early on the first night of the riots because he wanted to keep his workers out of harm’s way. He said a production supervisor and a maintenance worker who live in the neighborhood became alarmed when fire broke out at the $30 million Midtown Corner affordable housing apartment complex that was under construction next door.
“The fire engine was just sitting there,” Wyrobek said, “but they wouldn’t do anything.”
No, they did not do a thing — we saw it on TV.
At any level, this is local government at its most irresponsible state. What is the point of paying local taxes if the mayor will not allow the police or fire department to protect citizens or their property? What about paying state taxes so that a governor calls for a curfew and then does not back it up with troops?
Many more will leave, as happened in Baltimore. I’m just hoping that the citizens of Minnesota remember all of this in November when they finally have a chance to settle scores with bad leadership.
