University of Minnesota - News & General Topics

[phop]

Some development-related silliness from a high position within the University of Minnesota:

http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 48161.html

The crimes this fall are evidence of changes in the neighborhoods near campus, which are more densely populated than before, said Wheelock. That, along with the valuable electronics that students carry or are expected to be carrying, has driven some of this year’s crime surge, she said. Even as winter break promises to empty out campus after Friday, officials say they’re not expecting any immediate solutions.

Of course, this statement is refuted by the actual facts found in the same article:

This fall’s crime spree is not an increase over previous years, with robbery reports roughly the same or fewer than the past 15 years, according to records kept by U police chief Greg Hestness.

According to article, Pat Wheelock is vice president of university services.

[min-chi-cbus]

In related news, ice cream sales -- which everybody knows causes crime -- are up.

[FISHMANPET]

So wait, if there's not an actual increase in crime, why does it seem like there is? I feel like I get 1 or 2 crime reports a week, whereas before I'd get that many in a month.

[talindsay]

For one thing, the University used to only issue crime alerts for crimes that happened on campus; they're now issuing them for all events within a certain distance from campus.

I will point out though that while the actual rate may not really be changing, we appear to be seeing more brazen behavior - thefts occurring during daylight hours, in public parts of campus buildings. At least a few of these have presumably been armed. That's a change for the worse even if the numbers aren't worse.

[RailBaronYarr]

And, if the population is increasing (which it has over the past 5-10 years) with a roughly constant crime rate, the absolute numbers would be going up.

[phop]

I don't mean to minimize any crimes that are happening. It's just that greater density/population growth doesn't explain why incidents may be more brazen.

[Viktor Vaughn]

Crime hysteria is up, but the stats show robberies are no more prevalant? It wouldn't be the first time officials and the media blew the perception of danger out of proportion to accomplish a goal.

The extra officers are a start, she said, but extra security, surveillance cameras and lighting are coming, too. Wheelock said the university has electronically controlled door locks on 158 buildings on the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses and plans to do more by the end of the academic year. More surveillance cameras are coming, too, to the fringes of campus, she said.

Although this theory, which I have zero evidence for, would suggest there was some actual opposition to turning the whole campus into a middle-school-style-prison-fortress. I'm certainly not aware of any. On the other hand, I'd be easier to discount these ulterior motives had it not become known that our government's sweep and monitoring of every aspect of our lives has dwarfed the scale of anything alleged by conspiracy theorists.

Would University officials hype a safety threat to receive more funding for survelliance and security? I'm really not saying they would, but maybe we should keep an eye on their bonding requests this session.

[Tom H.]

The new Physics and Nanotech Building is 100% card-key access (outside and interior doors), although I believe the outside doors will be unlocked during normal business hours. I'm pretty sure that this is SOP nowadays.

[talindsay]

The west bank is all card access overnight and on Sundays, and some buildings are additionally card access on Saturdays. My old external door keys no longer work anywhere on the west bank. This change was quite a while ago. It makes a lot of sense from an auditing perspective.

[Nick]

I think I was pretty keenly aware of crime on campus when I was a student (2008-2011) because I led campus tours for prospective students. This latest wave does seem like a bit of an outlier, to be honest. Regardless of what the charts say, there's quite a bit more stranger danger going on, particularly with that cop impersonation sexual assault and people getting mugged in campus buildings. There's always crime happening on and near campus, and also in Coon Rapids, but this stuff is pretty brazen and public. When I was a student I think we might have had one "rough semester" with lots of crime alerts, but otherwise this does seem out of the ordinary.

I'm not saying this to intentionally take the conversation off the rails, but if this continues much longer, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a confrontation between a mugger and student/other carrying a weapon. Bad stuff.

P.S. You know what else is scary? Those intense NDSU commercials.

[Didier]

Statistically, doesn't a guy swiping a laptop from the library in 2008 count the same as a guy mugging a guy on the street and swiping his smart phone?

[Nick]

Does the guy in the library get his face kicked in?

[Didier]

If so, he probably deserves it.

[Didier]

U of M wrestling, volleyball and women's hockey are doing aight at the gates. You'd never know it based on local media coverage.

http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2013/12/ ... other-ways

[TheUrbanGopher]

In other news... Mesa Pizza is expanding into stadium village. They are opening shop next to the Burger King in that mini strip mall between Washington and University. The last thing that was here was Leo's Burritos, a very short lived joint that had burritos better than chipotle but service slower than the Library on a Saturday night.

[FISHMANPET]

Sounds like they're prepping to get kicked out of Dinkytown for a while... Pretty good deal for them. Gives them a location to keep the business and employees at the University while Doran builds his hotel, and also let's them take advantage of all the stadium village bars.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

[Didier]

Is this in addition to the Dinkytown location? It's physically not very far but in practice a totally different area with different clientele.

Before Leo's was a place called Paninos that has a big following up in Shoreview. I'm kind of surprised it didn't stick here given all of the nearby students and accessible parking. There's been a lot of failed restaurants in this little stretch though, including, somehow, a Quiznos.

[Silophant]

Cool! While Stadium Village does have a lot of pizza places, none of them sell quick slices, at least as far as I'm aware.

[Nick]

http://www.continuum.umn.edu/2013/08/ca ... plain-fun/

[woofner]

The Community Development Committee meeting tomorrow mentions a project called Brickhouse Lofts being explored for the full block between Delaware, Essex, 26th & 27th:

http://www.minneapolismn.gov/meetings/c ... S1P-118476

They're looking at renovating the two existing buildings for 400 units (!) on the 2.5 acre site. One of the buildings is a quite beautiful old factory that really is the classic urban loft template. The other, though, is a windowless box that will presumably need extensive alteration to accommodate residential use. The RCA says they're considering putting parking on the second level of the latter building, which is a bit disconcerting given this project's potential for livening up a sketchy stretch of 27th.

Also this block must have been the last user of the (MN Commercial?) rail spur through Prospect Park. It looks like they still park in the small yard south of Franklin, but if that could be abandoned there might be a redevelopment opportunity at Luxton Park and/or a nice little bike/ped shortcut.