Misery Was A Pit Bull At 416 31st Ave. N.

"Patty Cake" told me some history about a month ago, which I'm just now getting around to writing up. I should emphasize THIS IS NOT HOW THINGS ARE NOW in the Eco Village area. We've cleaned that mess up. A couple weeks ago, a crime statistics map was generated showing NO CRIME in that area. But a few years ago...

...pit bulls were being raised for dog fights at 416 31st Ave. N. This was before 416 31st Ave. N. was owned by Ade and Nimmy Esuoso, who are the current owners. (They were the ones who got ripped off when tenants left, taking plumbing and aluminum window frames, documented on this blog shortly after it happened)

Patty Cake tells me nobody who owns that house has actually lived there in recent memory, it has been a rental for a long time, housing various forms of misery. Some years ago the renters were raising pit bulls and training the dogs for illegal dog fights. One pit bull was made to run, endlessly, on a tread mill. The renters at the house would parade their pit bulls around, with big chains on the dogs' necks, and barbell weights hanging off the chains. They would parade the miserable dogs around the neighborhood like that, proudly.

The old Polish woman, who lived right next door, would yell at the residents of "416" over their inhumane treatment of the dogs. "Patty Cake" wouldn't yell. She would call various authorities in charge of dealing with animal cruelty. She would call them over and over, she would call the office of her city council person and the office of the former mayor. "Patty Cake" would make these calls constantly, but never seemed to get anywhere, though periodically authorities would come by and make half-assed attempts at investigation.

Patty Cake remembers how there was one dog with many wounds, trying to get out of the heat, and it somehow got over the fence and laid on the roof of Dylan's dog house. (The Polish woman had a dog at that time named "Dylan." Now her dogs are "Sparky" and "Miko.")

The injuries on the dog looked like "raw meat," according to Patty Cake, and hoards of black flies would eat off the open wounds. Patty made her "good citizen" calls over and over, including calling a lobbyist who was considered the "go to guy" for pit bull investigations.

But Patty Cake didn't get anywhere, and the canine misery continued.

It ended, however. It ended, but not in the way anybody expected. There was a police raid for drugs, and police shot two of the dogs. After the raid, trucks were lined up on the street and they removed one dog after another from the property. One of the dogs they killed was not a pit bull, but a brown dog. The Polish Woman would often throw wieners to this brown dog, and because of this one of the guys at the house would complain it must be the Polish Woman calling the authorities all the time. But the guy's mother would tell him to shut up, the Polish Woman was merely feeding the dog.

And, in fact, it was "Patty Cake" making all the calls, not the Polish Woman. The Polish Woman would just yell about the mistreatment of the dogs.

After the raid, the tenants moved out. Patty believes the basement was where the pit bull fights were staged, the back yard was where the dogs were exercised. When I had a chance to tour 416 31st Ave. N., because it was on the market (still is, apparently) Patty asked me if I saw any "dried pools of blood" in the basement.

Of course, there was another interesting incident connected with this property. A kid was shot through both legs over a drug debt, as he tried to run away. The Polish Woman saw the shooting, and the Polish Woman's even-more-elderly mother was out in the yard. The Polish Woman shouted--in Polish, of course--for her mother to get down.

Both of the men who were involved in the shooting were apprehended. The Polish Woman said she would not be a witness--she was far too fearful of retribution--but both the shooters confessed because they were told there WAS a witness, so the Polish Woman was able to do her duty without actually having to risk her life.

According to Patty Cake--who heard it directly from the Polish Woman--"they shot him good, blood was really spurting."

This is how things used to be in the Eco Village. This is not how it is anymore. And when the drug-dealing residents of 3020 6th St. N. get evicted in the relatively-near future, we will be even further along in our revitalization progress.