I support "reforming" the Minneapolis Police Department — how could anyone not? But the ballot question submitted by our City Council is beyond tortured and misleading, like: Shall we strike and replace orange juice with tomato juice on the breakfast menu but the menu could include orange juice if necessary ... and breakfast preparation will be administered in a fashion consistent with all functions in the hotel? (Like housekeeping and maintenance. No executive chef.)

Come on, guys! ("Council overrides Frey on fall ballot," front page, Aug. 21.)

You mean: "Shall the Minneapolis city charter be amended to eliminate all minimum requirements for police staffing, and if there are still police, the mayor won't lead them?" I don't think so.

The City Council can add medical and mental health responders now. It doesn't need a charter amendment for permission! As far as the MPD goes, if you believe crime statistics, we need more, not fewer, officers. Those officers should be humane and professional with skills beyond assault and bullet placement.

Nathan Viste-Ross, Minneapolis

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I think it's telling that the City Council reduced the amount of explanation available to voters for a proposal as important to the city as the charter amendment. Among other changes, the council plans in this amendment to remove the minimum requirement of police per capita in the city charter, and it has offered no specifics on the number of "peace officers," if any, that it intends to keep. In addition, it has offered no detailed information on how this new Department of Public Safety will work, exactly how it will maintain public safety and how people will be trained to handle the calls.

Nat Robbins, Minneapolis

I am so grateful to learn of the action taken by the St. Paul City Council and city and county service providers to address the needs of unsheltered neighbors ("St. Paul, county find homeless solutions," Aug. 23). As they "stopped blaming each other and started pulling together to solve a very serious and complex problem," they reset the process we can all use to find our way back to a common life — from political leaders to the common person. Imagine the anti-racist, publicly healthy world we could live in!

Katia McDonough, Richfield

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Congratulations to Ramsey County and St. Paul for the hard work and impressive results in moving homeless people into safe and supportive indoor housing. It proves that innovative thinking implemented through public-private partnerships will still produce significant results even for our most challenging social dilemmas.

As a big fan of the Minnesota State Fair, I was especially looking forward to volunteering at the Eco Building this year since last year's fair was canceled. However, when news came out that there would be no mask mandate nor a vaccination required to attend, I concluded that it was not safe to go ("State Fair fumbles COVID policy," editorial, Aug. 20). I am almost six months out since receiving the Pfizer vaccination, and medical reports now indicate that the effectiveness starts to wain after several months.

It is a health care tragedy and catastrophe in terms of ongoing sickness, death and astronomical costs for hospitalized COVID patients who refused to get vaccinated. Help us understand why there can be a clamor for a voter ID card but producing a vaccination card for entry is considered an infringement on our rights.

Mike Menzel, Edina

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I am simply disgusted the State Fair let "Minnesota Nice" win and have decided it just couldn't enforce mask wearing for vendors or attendees. A recent letter writer suggests the fair couldn't be expected to make the young (perhaps first-time) vendor workforce enforce mask-wearing and that it would be unfair to them ("It's realistic and actually doable," Readers Write, Aug. 21).

Heather Miller, Sartell

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I read in this Saturday's paper that the Minnesota State Fair spokesperson said the reason the fair is not requiring face masks is it "just don't have the capacity to enforce a mask mandate" ("Caution in the air for start of fair," Aug. 21). Huh? Should we take down speed limit and stop signs in Minneapolis because we can't catch everyone who doesn't obey them? Put a mask mandate in place and most of us will obey it, and enforce it the best you can.

Patrick Geraghty, Minneapolis

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Patricia Ann Engen, Sauk Centre

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Many of us are skipping the State Fair this year due to lack of any sort of mask mandate, vaccine requirement or proof of negative COVID tests at the gate. I know this comes as a huge disappointment for those of us who were looking forward to the Great Minnesota Get-Together. For those of us who are staying home from the fair this year, I have a modest proposal: Take the money you would have spent on a ticket, food, beverages, shows at the Grandstand or rides on the Midway and use it to buy a ticket to a local concert venue, theater or museum that requires either proof of vaccination or negative COVID test, along with a requirement that patrons wear a mask while there. Use it to support a local restaurant or a brewery that has a service fee in place of a tipping system to pay for health insurance and time off for their staff. Use your resources to support the establishments in town that are making an effort to ensure the health and safety of their staff and patrons. Not only have they earned it, but you still get to have some fun.

Kara Greshwalk, Minneapolis