Talking Back To The Star Tribune Article About The Apartment Complex Of Anarchy

Photo by John Hoff

Above, lest we forget, another picture of little children playing on the sidewalk for the first time in memory, safe under the gaze of numerous police officers as the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy" is evacuated across the street. I went there late last night...

And saw this information posted to the door, directing evicted persons to various shelters and resources. Out front there was a chair, a coffee table, two straggly plants...like somebody had just made the sidewalk their livingroom. Notably, there was a 5-gallon jug of bottled water. No doubt some residents had to obtain water because COPPER PIPES HAD BEEN RIPPED OUT OF THE UNITS.

The residents talk about the drug dealers being in the lobby like, oh gee, these scary dealers just appeared and sold drugs there. Constantly.

No, those drug dealers were residents. Those were friends and associates of the people living in the building.

I'm not going to post a link to the Star Tribune article for this reason: their links go dead after a certain period of time. There is no point in posting a link which is scheduled to go dead, unless you want a lot of annoying busywork on your blog. But, alluding to that article, I am going to post some...

Big Media Whoppers In Need Of Correction And Comment

First of all, the Star Tribune story was much better than Channel 5, but when ISN'T that the case? All the same, being close to the story I can't help but bring up these points.

First of all, the Star Tribune reporter says residents paid their rent through the end of May. According to who? According to some of the residents? Show me the receipts, I say.

Shirley Guevera attempted to collect rent, but the resident called "Johnnie" rallied the other residents and refused to pay Shirley. (I wonder if "Johnnie" is "Johnnie McLaughlin," quoted in the newspaper article?)

So nobody paid Shirley after somebody--probably Johnnie McLaughlin--rallied the residents in a united front against Shirley. (Kudos to Johnnie. Shirley had no right to be attempting to collect rent after the period of redemption had ended)

Reportedly, a company called "Castle Rock" then tried to collect rents, but met with no success. But that was NOT in May. That was earlier. Also, the mortgage company is far away and may as well be on the moon. So they didn't collect rent, either. Community Justice Partners (who wanted to throw these people out just as much as the City of Minneapolis, yet who gets the heat?) applied for a rental license, but either was denied or hasn't been issued one, yet.

So CJP is not qualified to collect rent, either.

So to whom was this rent to the end of May supposedly paid to? Huh?

All the evidence available shows people were living there RENT FREE after Shirley Guevara could no longer collect rent. If Shirley somehow managed to collect rent far in advance (rumor has it she picked up people living in shelters and threw them in that building) then she managed to take advantage of those folks, but the question is how much she could have managed to charge them, anyway? Not much, one suspects. Though apparently enough to have that one woman at 3119 4th vow to KILL HER.

Next, in regard to 1,100 police calls about the building since 1999, that's useful info, but it's pretty old. Better to focus on the last month or so. I seem to recall hearing there were 29 calls in one week about that property. I've already said plenty about the 7 recent drug arrests. Did I mention the 16-year-old hiding crack cocaine up his butt?

Oh, yes, I think I did. Repeatedly.

Recently I turned up a court case about a firearms arrest at that property, and I hope to get that on the blog soon. Some fascinating Fourth Amendment issues. Memorable quote from the court case: "I got my heater, y'all."

One of the guys in the article said people in the building called 911 on the drug dealers. This is bull, at least for the last few months. If the 911 record could be accessed it would show who was making those calls and it sure wasn't people inside the building.

You know that old horror movie where the cop tells the babysitter "the phone calls are coming from inside the same building!"

Well, in this case...they weren't.

The article also mentions how the building was "clearly posted" with notices. It doesn't mention how tenants RIPPED THE NOTICES DOWN, like ripping down notices will make the problem go away, rather like not opening an overdue bill will make THAT problem go away. (Pictures of the notices posted at 3119 were on my blog, though the ones at 3101 6th were ripped down before I managed to take a picture)

Next, the article mentioned the folks who wanted to take control of the building, which is Community Justice Partners. I knew about this entity a few days ago. I avoided saying anything on this blog because it was prudent to avoid publicly criticizing this entity. All I'm going to say is their hearts are in the right place, but they don't have the resources to run this property and keep drug dealers out. This appears to be a "shoestring social services organization" concerned with helping felons. Like we need more felons in 3101 6th Street North!

In regard to the building being in "deplorable" condition and eligible to be condemned: Tell it to the listing agent. They think this dump is worth $300k!

In regard to the resident who called herself "A.J." and left with the wooden urn full of ashes from her dead son. First of all, A.J. looks quite a bit like a woman I saw attempting to solicit johns on Lyndale Avenue near the old Wafana's store. Secondly, I wonder how it is her 21-year-old son was "killed" in 2005? These details would have been helpful.

In all the time I kept 3101 6th Street North under observation, I never once saw a little child enter or exit that building. I am of the opinion some of the children who were in the area during the eviction didn't live there at all, but dramatic claims were made of children being thrown out on the streets. Furthermore, even if children did live there, the building was full of drug dealing (even by the admission of the residents) lacked plumbing in some units, and had fallen into a state of anarchy. Children did not belong in that building. If worse came to worse, those children would be better off in foster care.

Oh, in regard to the drug dealing: see earlier blog posts. This involved crack cocaine, mostly, but there were arrests with weed, Ecstasy AND prescription drugs. This place was basically a one stop shop for all your addiction needs. Oh, and prostitution was coming out of the building, too, but that wasn't mentioned in the article.

Considerable commentary on this issue

There were (at last count) 177 comments posted to the Star Tribune article. Certain comments on the internet should be pulled up like useless weeds and automatically deleted, such as any rhetorical argument saying "Why are people so focused on THIS issue? Why don't they focus on THAT completely different issue, i.e., the war in Iraq?"

Somebody posted a great response: because some of us like to stick to the point and debate the issue at hand instead of going off on unproductive tangents, or words to that effect.

Oops, I just got led into a tangent myself...in any case, the comments were OVERWHELMINGLY IN FAVOR of the eviction, and brought up some really good points, though many shockingly mean things were said.

I have to wonder if there will be an article in tomorrow's paper about the eviction of 3119 4th Street North?

What Is In The Future?

Considering the mess left at these two properties by absent, neglectful mortgage companies, maybe it's time for the neighborhood council to think about another lawsuit.

All in all, not such a bad article, but it's all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking sympathy should be automatically extended to somebody who is thrown out on the street. From the point of view of the people who had to live next to the Apartment Complex of Anarchy, this is a wonderful day.

However, in the meantime we will have to watch out for copper thieves to break inside and get what's left of the copper, and theft of the meager personal possessions left inside. I hope the city will hurry up and condemn the place. I hope when I check 3119 4th in the near future, it is also empty and boarded.

Yesterday I saw a semi-trailer sitting there which said "Cedar Box Company" on the side. I thought how a "cedar box" truly spells the end. In this case...the end of drug dealing, lawlessness and disorder emanating from those two properties.

Or so we hope.

Compassion and Mercy

Peter told me he was trying to get help from his church for the people evicted. I told him, "Yeah, they're in a tough spot. How will they find another place to live with such a perfect combination of vehicular traffic, isolation and lack of property management supervision for their lucrative drug sales?"

I hope the word goes forth to all the dealers on the North Side: this is what happens when you deal drugs out of a residence. The building gets boarded, and everybody gets thrown out. EVERYBODY. Yeah, little babies, too. The mother with the urn full of ashes. And, the pink hobby horse. (The pink pony is not as innocent as he looks)

EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING GOES OUT IN THE STREET.

If the people in those buildings are angry, let them take it up with their friends and associates, the drug dealers. Or, in some cases, they can just be angry at THEMSELVES.