Photo By John HoffAs part of an ongoing email discussion--which is much more congenial now, I would have to say--Lennie "The Heckler" Chism forwarded some documents in PDF form. One of the documents...
...was produced by the University of MInnesota in 2006 and discusses a kind of distribution of monies in North Minneapolis. The other document is a map which shows, it seems, some of the same stuff.
I have not dug deeply into the documents but when Lennie sent them by email I thought, "Oh, this is the kind of stuff certain North Minneapolis policy wonks would think is ACTUALLY INTERESTING."
You wanna see the documents? Just go here to the JNS blog PDF support site.
http://sites.google.com/site/johnnynorthsidesite/documents-provided-by-lennie-chism
Sorry the link is not live. Regular readers have heard me gripe about Apples versus Dells. But I will say my Apple computer saved the day today at the Hawthorne Housing Committee meeting, so score one for Apple.
Anyway....have fun digging through Lennie's documents. The information contained in the documents probably isn't as delicious as Nyquil but might produce the same results.
I want to point out that one purpose of this blog is to be a conduit of information about North Minneapolis. People may think I have my particular angles--maybe I see Don Samuels as better than Kenya McKnight, or I see the North Side Marketing Task Force as being in need of revision and reformation--but, honestly, I believe, (more than I believe in any particular side of any particular issue) in the benefit of free-flowing information and discussion.
8 comments:
you mean score one for apple - bill gates is/was microsoft - not apple.
JNS, Hats off to you for building a bridge with Lennie!!!!! Lennie, same to you for being able to take what you dish out! A lot of folk out here in the blogosphere thought your heckling was uncivil, but, you are senting a good example for other to engage in the dialog if you really care about the northside. It would be great if others, like Jerry Moore, followed your example and blogged with Johnny.
Sometimes I think that the "usual suspects" actually cannot tell the difference between just putting together an aggressively stated demand with some random (but lengthy) paperwork as a sort of symbolic "documentation" of their non-existent point, and actually stating a problem and their proposed solution. Lennie: forget everything else. Just state clearly and concisely what your point is. If you can't do that, where do you come off heckling someone who actually can do that, like CM Samuels? I'm sick of this random bullying and heckling passing itself off as dialogue. We all are. Either contribute, or else step aside and let people who actually want to WORK do so.
To the first anonymous: Score one for APPLE. I've corrected the text accordingly.
To the second anonymous: I draw a distinction between somebody "blogging with me" (Nobody has ever done THAT on this blog) versus providing me commentary and information. But Lennie has indeed been responsive with info.
Info which reveals...WHAT? Big dreams in a very small building, now in foreclosure.
The point is that I've never heard a single substantive explanation of what it is EXACTLY that Lennie and others what CM Samuels to do differently, much less something that is so wildly different that it can't just be discussed with him in a rational manner instead of just attacking him and heckling him. When people have the same goal, they can work together to try different approaches--there is never a single quick fix. But Lennie and other McKnight supporters aren't interested in this dialogue--they never even get to that point. They just want to ATTACK. That leads me to believe that this is just all about a few people jockeying for personal gain (in some cases), and the heady pleasures of indignation and hearing the sound of one's own voice (in other cases), and has no relation to any substantive issue at all. I don't know how Lennie's sending you a public file without specific annotation as to what it means Don should be doing differently SPECIFICALLY changes that dynamic.
I do have to agree with the matrix red pill poster's comment. Lennie, I tip my hat to you for engaging in a discussion, even (perhaps especially) one that reveals public yet previously not widely known details about yourself. North Minneapolis would truly be better off if this kind of dialogue were more common.
To Jeff,
Most people wake up everyday - go to jobs they hate. I have the had the privilege to try lots of things. Here is a fact - The Twin Cities Black Pages is in the MN Historical Society - I did that. I never knew until someone told me, I created the directory to promote business growth for the Black community after moving here after college. It is still being printed now as the Minnesota Black Pages. People promote failures, find that great reading. People like to promote the failure of North Minneapolis.
I have always felt this was the richest part of MN - why then has the Twins, Timberwolves, and as rumored new Vikings stadium to be built in North Minneapolis. Have you seen the skyline of the city from North Minneapolis? Or strolled to the farmers market or perhaps downtown on a spring day?
Then why are we so poor in North Minneapolis? How many jobs did we get at the stadiums? When the houses were torn down by Bolander and Sons, Kamish or Veit how much of the $1.7 million dollars came to job seekers or contractors of North Minneapolis? My research was an astonishing $0 (Zero). When they build the new ones, how many will dollars will we receive?
Is talking about me to avoid the real issues?
Lennie
Talking about you to AVOID the real issues? Lennie, you jumped up at a political convention, derailed the proceedings, and shouted attention to yourself. Now you're all, like, "Pay no attention to the man in the blue shirt shouting at the top of his lungs...oh wait, that's me."
I think a substantive discussion about real issues is happening, here. You are not the sole decider of what is a "real" issue and what is not.
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