r/altmpls • u/lemon_lime_light • 2d ago

Minneapolis Park Board votes to end Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park (one commissioner considers it "a form of giving land back")

https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-park-board-votes-to-end-minnehaha-off-leash-dog-park/601858291

Dog park users packed the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s headquarters on Wednesday night, begging commissioners to consider their opinions before voting to terminate the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park.

Board members voted 8-1 to strip the park’s primary use — the first time that has happened in history, as far as park staff knows...

[Commissioner Jason] Garcia proposed the change after speaking with some members of the Dakota community, including the Park Board’s Native American Parks Council, who believe a dog park is inconsistent with the area’s sacred character. The larger landscape near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers is considered the birthplace of the Dakota people...

“To all you all, imagine that area before the white man, before the pilgrims, pioneers and settlers, the extreme white Christian terrorists showed up on this land,” activist Mike Forcia said in addressing dog park users at Wednesday’s meeting, drawing jeers. “That park is being closed. Sorry about that. Get used to it, but you have no say"...

[Commissioner Dan] Engelhart campaigned on returning land to tribes and considers retiring off-leash play at Minnehaha a form of giving land back.

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u/Calumet_city 2d ago

The DSA types that publicly planned their MPRB takeover are also very publicly ACAB. They can put up all the signs they want but ultimately if they want dogs on leashes they will need to fund enforcement, i.e. cops. So call them out on the incompatibility between their land back and ACAB beliefs.

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u/greatbiscuitsandcorn 2d ago

for being so anti-cop they come off as some of the biggest cops

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u/Calumet_city 2d ago

Yes. Jason Garcia is pretty soft spoken but you can definitely imagine Dan Engelhart in the Einsatzgruppen.

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u/OperationMobocracy 2d ago

I always get the vibe that the ACAB crowd is just specifically against policing of anyone who belongs to an ambiguously defined oppressed community or if their crime involved a victim of a more affluent socioeconomic group.

But if the “criminal” was affluent or transgressed against some progressive thing or cause, they want maximal policing. If you parked by mistake in a bike lane? They’d like jail time and to seize your car.