Minneapolis now has a new position, the chief resilience officer, who will work proactively on a variety of issues such as aging infrastructure, racial inequities and climate change ("Ex-legislator Knuth hired as Mpls. chief of resilience," June 20). That sounds ambitious and potentially a worthy endeavor, but I would suggest the city start with something a little more basic. We've been struggling for months with a homeless camp in south Minneapolis. It's not the usual liquor bottles, beer cans and piles of trash — we're used to that. This is much more: knives, drug paraphernalia, numerous bikes in the area along with severed bike cables and bike locks, and the destruction of public property. We called the city's nonemergency number, 311, but nothing happened. We then tried calling the neighborhood police precinct's Community Engagement Team, but they never answered their phone or returned messages. Then we tried calling the head inspector of the police precinct. Again, calls were not answered and messages not returned. So we tried going to the top, sending an e-mail to Mayor Betsy Hodges' office, the Minneapolis Police Department and the Metro Transit police (not a city agency, but the camp is near a light-rail station). Not one of them even bothered to reply. It is now weeks later, and the situation has only gotten worse. So I would suggest that the mayor first try ensuring that city employees know how to answer the phone and respond to an e-mail, then maybe try the tough stuff.

Rick Groger, Minneapolis
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Regents' lack of public hearing on budget is unacceptable

For the first time in recent memory, the University of Minnesota's governing Board of Regents will not hold a public comment hearing regarding the system's budget ("U in-state tuition hike now set at 2%," June 21). Historically, the budget hearing has been the only time the floor was open to average university stakeholders. Staff, faculty, students and other members of the community have been denied the opportunity to be heard directly in a public forum.

The U is the sixth-largest employer in the state and one of the largest university systems in the country. The economic impact of its budget, both for its employees and students, will be felt in every corner of the state. Furthermore, as a public land-grant university, the university has a responsibility to the people of Minnesota. To deny average citizens the right to be heard on this important matter goes against the university's own guiding principles, which read, in part:

"In all of its activities, the University strives to sustain an open exchange of ideas in an environment that … sets high expectations for, and empowers the individuals within its community."

Without public comment, the free exchange of ideas is lost.

Brian Aldes, Minneapolis
JERONIMO YANEZ VERDICT

If you don't like our system, leave, some say. That's wrong.

In response to letters complaining about the result of the Jeronimo Yanez trial, a June 21 letter writer suggested that if people don't like our Constitution, our trial system and our system of law enforcement, they should find another country with a better system. Would he have suggested, instead of taking to the streets and protesting, that half our population should have left our country as the Constitution didn't let women vote in 1900? Would he have suggested to American blacks in the Jim Crow era that they migrate to Mexico because of the cruel racism of our trial system and our system of law enforcement?

The Constitution isn't a "like it or leave it" document. The Constitution is a living document subject to change. The 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th amendments entered the Constitution because of fierce protest, including many people laying their lives down for justice and change.

As for our trial system and our system of law enforcement, people's rights are protected equally by our Constitution, as expressly stated in the 14th Amendment. It requires equal protection for all people, including on the basis of race. When the protest is about demanding equal protection based on race, the protest is in fact demanding that our system of law enforcement and our trial system abide by the Constitution.

Paul Rozycki, Minneapolis

• • •

I agree entirely with a June 21 letter writer's suggestion that Gov. Mark Dayton should integrate the database for gun-carry permit holders with the existing databases for driver's licenses and vehicle plates. But possibly for a much different reason. If officer Yanez, before departing from the comparative safety of his squad car, would have been able to know for certain that Philando Castile actually did have the carry permit, rather than only Castile's unverifiable claim that he had the permit, Yanez would have been able to approach the vehicle having profiled him favorably — as a man who had lived his life without having disqualified himself from obtaining the permit and who had applied the diligence to fulfill the affirmative standards to receive the permit.

David K. Hackley, Minneapolis

The writer is a retired attorney.

LYME DISEASE

'Misdiagnoses' article continues push in the wrong direction

The article "Lyme disease misdiagnoses climb" (June 16) promoted the incorrect assertion that there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease and that longer treatment with antibiotics is dangerous. Unfortunately, the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease has become a political battle. Patients are caught in the middle.

There is growing evidence that the Lyme bacteria can persist in our bodies despite conventional treatment and can damage the brain, nervous tissue, joints and heart. An evidence-based approach to this question is on the National Guideline Clearinghouse website. The only guidelines pertaining to Lyme disease on the website are those of the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society, a professional organization that supports the concept of Lyme disease as more complex than recognized in the June 16 article.

There has been no study proving that short courses of antibiotics are adequate to treat Lyme disease. To the contrary, numerous medical articles support the concept of a stealth pathogen that is hard to diagnose and tricky to treat.

The article points out that there are side effects and potential dangers to extended antibiotic therapy. Any medical intervention has risks. Patients ultimately diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease have often been sick for years, have seen multiple doctors and have been told that there is no treatment that will make them better. They are willing to try something that has risks. In my decade of treating patients with disseminated, chronic tick-borne illness, I have seen many patients with no other treatment options respond to long-term antibiotics dramatically.

Given the fact that Lyme disease was first identified 43 years ago and that there are more than 300,000 cases a year, it is shameful that we have not come together to find answers and that we are still fighting over the most basic facts of this disease.

Dr. Laurie Radovsky, St. Paul
OUR TENSE SOCIETY

Don't give up

On Wednesday, the neighbor kids were selling lemonade. Every few minutes, it seemed, someone stopped and purchased a cup. Was it because the customers were honoring a summertime tradition? Was it because they were encouraging the kids' entrepreneurial spirit? Was it because they were showing kindness? Whatever the reason, I realized there may yet be hope for this world.

Galen Naber, Roseville