Readers Write: Downtown Minneapolis, authoritarianism, Gaza, foreign policy coverage

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Kudos to David Feehan and Carol Becker for taking a stab at fixing downtown. (“To save downtown Minneapolis, we need more than doors,” June 7, a counterpoint to Minnesota Star Tribune columnist Eric Roper’s recent collection of thoughts about Nicollet Mall). Their solution to what ails downtown is to attract people with “Fun, unique experiences that bring joy.” Unfortunately, it’s just a new version of “how to draw people downtown.” They mention that 60,000 people live downtown, more than the populations of Edina or Minnetonka. How about in addition to attracting people downtown, we activate the suburb-sized population that is already here?

First, downtown needs retail and services that cater to us residents. We all need haircuts. Pre-COVID there were two Great Clips and a Juut salon that I frequented; now I need to leave downtown for those services. We all buy groceries. We’re blessed with a Lunds, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, but they are higher-end or specialty grocery stores. How about opening a Cub or Hy-Vee downtown? Cub has a store in an apartment building in south Minneapolis, so I know the chain is capable of operating in an urban setting. We all need everyday items. Why not have a Home Depot? I visited one in a densely populated neighborhood in Chicago, so I know it can be done. All that’s needed is a contiguous large space with underground parking for those bulky items. I’m looking at you, City Center.

Second, retailers and service providers need a change of perspective. Catering to the 9-5 crowd is so yesterday. Those office workers are never coming back in full force. I dropped off my watch for a battery change around noon at a skyway level store in Gaviidae Common. When I returned at 2 p.m., almost all the stores were closed (they are all closed on weekends). Maybe they should look beyond the barely existent office workers and attract the 60,000 residents right in their backyard by being open when residents want to shop. The Chipotle on Nicollet Mall near my condo is closed on Sunday. Believe it or not, downtown residents eat on the weekends.

Attracting people downtown will help it thrive, but people who just visit downtown come and go. We residents are here 24/7 and have massive potential to enliven downtown, if only retailers and service providers recognize that potential by providing for our everyday needs.

Steve Millikan, Minneapolis

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Feehan and Becker have some good ideas about how to make trips to downtown Minneapolis desirable and fun, but they’re missing one point — at least I didn’t see it mentioned. The metro area is still heavily dependent upon cars. If you look at other commercial areas — such as Edina, St. Louis Park, Richfield, Grand Avenue in St. Paul — they all have ample and free parking available. And they’re thriving. But parking in downtown Minneapolis is very expensive and discouraging. And using public transportation to get there is not always easy, and can be expensive if paying multiple fares for family members. Free parking, or pay? Seems a non-choice.

Naomi Peterson, Minneapolis

I have recently been reflecting about my experience studying abroad in Madrid in 1971. This was during the era of Gen. Francisco Franco’s rule in Spain (1939-1975). It is commonly viewed as a fascist dictatorship. Although the regime did not explicitly align with fascist ideology, it exhibited several defining features of fascist systems, including a strong emphasis on national unity, authoritarian control, suppression of opposition, and the use of propaganda to promote the regime’s image.

While in Spain, I knew the fastest and safest route to the American Embassy (safe harbor). I witnessed students in the university cafeteria being clubbed by Guardia Civil (essentially a Gestapo) and leading them away to who knows where and for how long and what may have ultimately happened to them. I learned to be very cautious and never speak negatively about the government. Alarmingly, I see so many parallels between this experience as a 20-year-old and now as a 74-year-old living in the United States. The difference, fortunately, is I’m older and wiser and no longer afraid to speak.

Beverly J. Fritz, Richfield

Recent calls to end antisemitism, following attacks on Jews in the U.S., are necessary. But we must consider the broader context for success. The term Semite refers to both Jews and Arabs. In the current crisis, both are victims of violence.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,139 Israelis and injuring 8,730. In retaliation, Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including 15,600 children, and have left more than 113,000 injured. There remain 56 hostages held by Hamas. Israel holds more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners in harsh, abusive conditions.

While the Hamas attack was inexcusable, it did not occur in a vacuum. The roots of this violence stretch back decades. Israeli settlers, numbering more than 700,000 today, occupy Palestinian land in violation of international law. Many thousands of Palestinians have been displaced, more than 50,000 homes destroyed and 22 new settlements approved. The United Nations and Amnesty International have condemned Israel’s actions as illegal, with the latter organization calling them a “crime against humanity.”

Before the October 2023 attack, 2023 was already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank, with more than 450 killed, including 106 children. Yet, the focus has largely been on the antisemitism directed at Jews, while the plight of Semitic Palestinians is ignored.

True peace can only come when all Semitic peoples are treated with empathy and fairness. Judaism’s Golden Rule wisely teaches, “That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” Before condemning others, we must all first look within ourselves for the wisdom to apply this rule universally. If we don’t, we will continue to perpetuate the very violence we seek to end.

Basim Sabri, Shorewood

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The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s plan for relief of hunger in Gaza is failing. World experts in hunger relief predicted its failure, because GHF is using a small number of sites in a limited area to serve 2 million people. GHF’s director and the Boston consulting group who planned GHF have left the organization because of its failure to follow humanitarian principles.

Since U.S. media are restricted from Gaza, they struggle to report who is responsible for the chaos around the feeding sites. To understand the chaos, ask yourself: “What would I do if my family was starving?”

There is a solution: End the restrictions of sites and routes for entry of aid. Get Israeli troops out of the way and allow adequate relief to enter through all crossings, including to northern Gaza. This plan worked during the ceasefire that began in January (and ended March 2). When adequate food enters Gaza, violence subsides. No one can exploit shortages by stealing and selling food.

The root of the current problem is the plan to displace the people of Gaza to a small band in the south end of Gaza. Israel and the Trump administration have both proposed exiling the people of Gaza. Americans need to insist that our government reveal its plans, as well as its involvement in the failing GHF. Has the U.S. abandoned any search for a two-state solution? Is the U.S. policy to starve and displace Palestinians? Our president, while recognizing that the people of Gaza are starving, has not stated any vision for Gaza other than depopulating the territory.

We are grateful that Minnesota’s U.S. Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum are cosponsoring resolutions for adequate aid to Gaza. Minnesota’s other members of Congress should join them. The means for adequate relief are available now.

Jim Haefemeyer, Minneapolis

John Rash’s opinion piece on national security (“At home, Jake Sullivan reflects on events abroad”) should be required reading. With all the fires going on internationally in Ukraine, Gaza and the Middle East, and China’s obvious ambitions in all parts of the west half of the Pacific, our clown car of neophytes in the Defense Department and various intelligence services are certainly not up to the task.

Randy Sainio, New Hope