Monday, January 25, 2010

JN-SPAN VIDEO: Fjelde House Demolition Hearing...




This video was shot some weeks ago, but I'm posting it for the completeness of the bloggy record under a theory of "better late than never." It concerns the demolition of the Fjelde House, a tragic event in South Minneapolis which has city-wide implications for historic preservation--or lack of it--in the Twin Cities.

This is my favorite of the series of videos, where the mealy-mouthed lawyer for James Schoffman takes the podium and--at one point--the chair tries to stop the VERY PUBLIC MEETING from being videotaped by a MEMBER OF THE MEDIA.

Moi.

Well, I just kept right on taping. But it's frightening how the chair of a city committee would not care about the right of the media and the public to get access to information about what is happening at a public meeting, and to record that meeting if so inclined. IT'S A PUBLIC MEETING. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 

Furthermore, there wasn't so much as a whimper from a single member of the committee about this budding fascism, rather it was somebody in the AUDIENCE who boldly spoke up in defense of the media's practice of periodically attending and recording PUBLIC (stomp stomp) meetings held in that chamber.

Anyway, here are the rest of the videos, recommended viewing for acute insomniacs and anybody obsessed with the tragic destruction of the Fjelde House while the Heritage Preservation Commission stood by and did nothing.

Video One, see above

Video Two

Video Three

Video Four

Video Five

Video Six

(John Hoff, blogging from a cheap hotel in Bowling Green, Kentucky)

(Do not click "Read More")

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this, I found it quite facinating. I'm very pleased to see that the owners property rights were publically recognized as it relates to the rubble.