City Hangouts

From what I can gather from living in my community of Osseo, MN from only being a resident for 5 months is that there is many places where people get together to socialize and talk about their community and their lives. The places where I have visited thus far and noticed a sense of community would be Dehn's Market, Duffy's Pub and Perkins.

Dehn's Market being the only grocer within the city's boundaries get alot of traffic though it's doors. It is a grocery store of the past. It has the lay out and the smell of a store can only have from being there for quite sometime. Beyond that the store serves its residents who are mostly an older population to bump into neighbors and friends they might not, due to the winter months.

The people are friendly, they bag your food for you and last time I visited I brought so much food they offered to help me carry it to my car for me. I kindly rejected. The thing is the this place is center to the community much like markets in the past they are the heartbeat of the city and without them a sense of community is lost.

If a market is one of the essential places where the community gathers then another would have to be the local pub. Duffy's pub located on main street is an Irish Pub where many local gather. The get together to have a drink get some home cooked food and converse. People of all ages gather and in the winter months football games offer a pack shared experience.

It to has a interesting character to it. It is not flashy but offer some substance. You feel at though you can kick back and not take yourself to seriously. The pubs offers itself and a meeting and gather place where catch up on each other, celebrate and enjoy one another company.

Last week I has breakfast with my cousin and her child and the local Perkins. So having breakfast at much later then normal, around 11:30 is was surprised to see how busing it was. We were sitting to the side and notice in the back room that there was a group of women having a get together. They were all wearing celebrating something. Again we see that local places that we frequent alot can offer residents the chance to get together and become a stronger community.

Can I check your ID please?

Working as a cocktail server in Maple Grove, I have daily interaction with the public. So when I became aware of how the city of Maple Grove was starting to crackdown on liquor license violators, I was very interested on how with would impact the community. I personally have the responsibility in my job to enforce laws that our government has put in to law and is effected by this news of crackdown of violators.

By talking to people in the community and my fellow co-workers I began to see a very similar concern. All parties agreed that violators should face hefty fines for violations. They believe that fines would in the future deter future offenders and make the community safer. Also that it is each establishments own responsibility to enforce the laws.

So enforcing more strictly the liquor license violations in Maple Grove the community gets to hold on to one of their values, safety. I know that I can make sure on a daily basis when I am at work that I can contribute to that ideal by doing my job properly. By effective monitoring and enforcement the city of Maple Grove will achieve their goals of making it a safer community.