Saturday, July 5, 2008

"Pushback" From The Prostitutes And Drug Dealers On 6th Street North (Photo One)

Photo by Joy Teachout

Before I left town for the 4th of July weekend, I told Hawthorne Area Community Council Chairman Peter Teachout to keep an eye on the vehicle in my driveway...

...and I said he should call 911 if it was set on fire or, I joked, blown up with a "plasma grenade." (This alludes to my son's repeated defeats of Peter while playing Halo 3)

The drug dealing and prostitution is so bad in the Eco Village area, and the few decent people trying to improve the area are forced to call 911 so often, that I seriously worry about leaving my car on my own property, unattended, and I had to agonize over which vehicle to leave, calculating whatever vehicle I left would be torched. (I finally decided to leave my crappy white car, figuring I would do better with an insurance settlement on that one)

Peter's wife, Joy Teachout, called me early the morning of the Fourth of July to let me know as eerie as my prediction was, it was not entirely accurate. It was their vehicle which was torched and not my crappy white car.

We discussed a robust media response instead of cowering in fear. I assisted, putting the Star Tribune in touch with Peter. The Strib did a small story on Page B2, "North Side activist awakened early by a fire raging inside his truck." (It was right next to the blurb about an intoxicated North Side mother leaving her baby on a "random doorstep.")

Fox 9 made its way to Peter's house, too, but I haven't been able to confirm any story was done.

The Star Tribune article, as usual, requires some serious "talk back." (And, as usual, I won't be posting a link because I refuse to work with Strib links scheduled to go dead)
First of all, the article alludes to the evacuation of 3101 6th Street North, the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy," and seems to suggest any "revenge" on Peter may have come from the direction of former tenants (squatters) at 3101. HOWEVER, there are drug dealers and prostitutes a-plenty on 6th Street. The evacuation of 3101 didn't cause an end to all our problems, and it's not the only source of people walking around with an unfulfilled longing for revenge.

I seriously doubt somebody from 3101 6th Street waited all this time to set Peter's vehicle on fire. The Star Tribune article is written as though anything relevant to the current story must have been in the PREVIOUS story quoting Peter Teachout, as though any pertinent information out there in the universe must already be in a Star Tribune article. Their narcissism is amusing and childlike.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The headlights are on, doesn't that seem strange for an arson job?