There must be no misunderstanding about the meaning of November's vote rejecting the proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department: It was not a vote in support of the MPD.

I and most of the people I know desperately want serious changes in the policing of this city, but the proposal was too unclear about what it would do. Before the next election we must have a clear proposal for ending present abuses.

Ruth Cain, Minneapolis

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Regarding the no-knock warrant ban: Too little, too late, Mayor Jacob Frey ("Halt on no-knock raids," front page, Feb. 5). The voters of Minneapolis have given you the power to lead. Leadership is not responding the day after — it is courageously setting into action what is needed to prevent the tragedy in the first place.

Frederick Law, Minneapolis

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Dana Smyser, Coon Rapids

The writer is retired from the Minneapolis Police Department.

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Thanks to the Star Tribune for publishing the front-page article "MPD's new top trainer once fired" (Feb. 7). It's hard not to view several of interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman's recent promotions, including their announcement, as anything other than poor judgment. Here's a Police Department under intense public scrutiny, and interim Chief Huffman decides to: 1) promote "several officers with blemished records"; and 2) announce to the public only those newly promoted officers with seemingly unblemished records, excluding these more questionable promotions from her announcement (the promotion of these latter officers disclosed "in an internal e-mail circulated within the department").

The Minneapolis community and its citizens deserve better — sensitive, thoughtful and transparent MPD leadership.

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I voted for Frey in the last election, thinking that he was prepared to actually do something to fix the Police Department. In the space of one week we witnessed another police killing and the simply outrageous actions of interim Chief Huffman to appoint previously disciplined officers to department leadership positions. This includes not just any leadership position, mind you, but a trainer, someone to whom new recruits look for guidance as they learn the expectations and unwritten rules that guide any organization.

Mr. Mayor, have you lost your mind? Have you taken leave of your senses? Have you been huffing spray paint?

Voters rejected the proposal to fundamentally reform the Police Department and start over. Apparently the majority was swayed by the promises Mayor Frey made to address the deeply embedded issues and by the calculation that it was better to have a flawed police department chasing the carjackers. Now we have these abuses, rising crime rates and a mayor who has appointed an interim chief who apparently represents the Police Federation instead of the best interests of the citizens. A trifecta of trouble.

George Hutchinson, Minneapolis

The world has changed since the Southwest light-rail line was planned. Some people will never commute to downtown Minneapolis again, and others will do so much more infrequently under hybrid work arrangements. The assumption that this project is still necessary absolutely needs to be re-evaluated. It was of questionable value to begin with, as some of the most successful commuter bus routes already ran from the southwest suburbs to downtown Minneapolis, and the current and highly problematic route was only chosen because of a severely flawed federal cost-effectiveness formula that didn't fit well with the metro's unique situation. It remains a significant question whether the Twin Cities are — or ever will be — dense enough for large-scale commuter rail (inclusive of the Green Line and Blue Line extensions) to be a judicious use of taxpayer money.

John Grimes, Minneapolis

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Contrary to what Tuesday's editorial states and attributes to Zelle, the decision to put the Southwest light-rail line below grade in Kenilworth was not driven by "nearby neighborhoods." It was driven by the failure of the Met Council to insist on the original plan that would have avoided co-location of freight and light rail. Political opposition from the city of St. Louis Park and the railroads overcame the original and largely noncontroversial plan. Since there is no room for both at grade, light rail had to go underground for part of the route. Seemingly forgotten in the recent discussion is that there were two options for doing this between Lake Street and the area to the northeast of Kenilworth. The better option would have been to bore a deep tunnel starting at Lake Street, emerging northeast of Kenilworth Channel. This option would have gone beneath the water table and therefore have avoided all the destruction, environmental damage, legal challenges, safety concerns and now the very serious engineering issues that were predicted to occur if a cut-and-cover tunnel was chosen.

Ironically, the deep tunnel plan was rejected based on cost as the cost projections were up to $300 million higher vs. the cut-and-cover tunnel — but the total projection at the time even with a deep tunnel was more than $1 billion cheaper than where we are now! Detailed engineering plans for this deep tunnel were created. A very good case could be made for pausing work now in the Kenilworth corridor and re-examining this plan. It could well be that abandoning the cut-and-cover plan and building a deep tunnel at this point would actually be less expensive and able to be done in less time, while preserving the work already done west of Lake Street and northeast of Kenilworth. It would also be far better for the environmental and residential future of the areas around Kenilworth and East Cedar Lake.

Is it true that "There are no heroes in the Neil Young-Spotify saga"? (StarTribune.com, Feb. 1.) Let's review. In the wake of Neil Young removing his music from Spotify, Spotify announced it would add a content advisory to podcasts discussing COVID-19 and be more transparent regarding its COVID-19 content policy. In addition, Joe Rogan promised to "balance things out" with differing opinions. In my book, these things qualify Young as heroic. Heroism doesn't require perfection.

Paul A. Stearns, St. Paul