the recent week in Jordan

[mellowtigger]

My neighborhood of north Minneapolis is called Jordan, and Jordan has had a rough week. It's "bad summer" levels of nonsense out there, even though it's still freezing here at night. I can only guess that its cause is heightened tension due to economic hardship?  I want to document some of the issues here. Not to complain, as such, but to use it as a reference point in later writing.

Last night, there were 7 gunshots outside my house, about 11:53pm. I think it happened in the alley behind my house, although the police ShotSpotter map this morning shows it on the street 1 house north of me. I ran upstairs to sit in the bathtub (again), because it's the only bulletproof part of the house to shield me from any stray bullets. Then I called 911, who said something about there already being "plenty of resources" (I think?) in the area now (maybe for a 24-shots incident 3 blocks east?). When I looked outside the bathroom window after the phone call, I saw flashlights zooming light cones around, but I never figured out who was shining that light.

I finally got to sleep shortly after 3am. I was woken again around 6:40am for a 15-minute shouting match (pictured here from my bedroom window) at the usual problem house south of me. Then a few hours later, an ambulance and fire truck showed up a few houses south on my block. I didn't see them take anyone away. I have no idea what that incident was about.

And that is only a 12-hour window into my life. It is ridiculous, obviously.  I have been nowhere near "productive" in my work-from-home situation this week.

I've been using the Citizen app to track daily issues recently. It's more reliable than waiting on volunteers at a particular Facebook group to record police scanner audio then post their snippets online. The app is also very local news, with incidents reaching my attention only if they occurred within 1 mile of my home.  Here are screenshots from notices on April 4th (Saturday) and April 7th (Tuesday).

• That "person stabbed" report (with even the victim disappearing afterwards) was at the intersection where I use the laundromat.
• That "delivery person assaulted" report is why companies stop delivering food here. I haven't had pizza delivered to my doorstep in the 4 years that I've been here, because local fast food simply won't do it.  I'm guessing this delivery person was from InstaCart, which nearby Cub groceries are using for home delivery during stay-at-home restrictions.  Maybe it was UPS delivering Amazon packages, which would also be a bad precedent.
• That "armed people" report is troubling, because it suggests (like the 24-gunshot incident last night) that gang violence is increasing.

What are the solutions to this intractable problem of violence?  I have my favorite theories that I'd like to try.  That's a discussion for a later post.