Congratulations to Minneapolis for another tourism recognition! ("Take a trip to … Minneapolis?" May 17.) Too bad many article commenters disagreed.
I've had great U.S. vacations from Las Vegas and New York City to Springfield, Ill., and Mount Horeb, Wis. Yet we're proud to be regular "tourists in our own town," as we call it, to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Museums, orchestras and theaters. Restaurants, breweries and distilleries, and diners. Parks, lakes and trails. Historical churches and modern architecture. Professional and amateur sports. Never mind art and church festivals, community events and other transient celebrations. We're often happy to reserve a hotel room and plan a weekend to enjoy them, even though it's just a 30-minute drive home.
Everyone measures a good vacation against a different rubric, but I think someone would have to work pretty hard to be bored here.
Kelly Sullivan Noah, Maple Grove
MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE
Not on the agenda: The greater good
Once again, the Minnesota legislative session was a disaster. The finger-pointing has started, but I don't honestly care if the fault was with Tom, Dick or Mary. There were simple things with broad support that were never even voted on. There were important issues that should have been debated and resolved as stand-alone issues. However, it appears that no one in the Legislature could agree on the time of day without adding additional language from their personal or party agenda. To me, that is not compromise; it is blackmail.
Rochelle Eastman, Savage
FREEWAY-PROTEST LEGISLATION
A proper veto. (Shudder to think if Editorial Board had its way.)
Gov. Mark Dayton was right to ignore the Star Tribune Editorial Board's suggestion to sign the highway protest bill ("Protesters go too far in blocking highways," May 19). Framing this issue as a safety concern misses the mark and takes the disingenuous bait set by the sponsor of the bill.
Those concerned with highway safety should turn their attention toward our Legislature's failure to enact meaningful distracted-driver laws. Further, we close our roads for marathons, parades and construction regularly. How much more important is civil disobedience to our society?
The obvious way to clear our highways of protesters is to address the real concerns Minnesotans have about police violence against innocent and unarmed people. Instead, a legislator crafted a bill that amounted to retaliation against those who speak out against a system he would rather celebrate. Their cries for proportional justice for police who kill innocent and unarmed people were met with a proposal for disproportional punishments against those resorting to civil disobedience as a bullhorn for justice.
Thank you, Gov. Dayton, for seeing this bill for what it is: an extension of the strife between our justice system and people of color. If we can put an end to this kind of political posturing, we might find our government is capable of much more than what is currently being offered.