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| Contributed Photo of Johnny Northside playing the "telephone" game |
Today, an opposing version of the story emerged from a source close to NRRC. So in true Johnny Northside fashion of publishing all sides of a story here is the alternate version:
NRRC has been forced to lay off all the staff members (my commentary: presumably due to lack of funds although the source did not state this reason). The board member volunteers have been trying to keep the organization going, but have had some challenges (my commentary: understandably so, going from full and part time staff to no staff and volunteers who likely have their own full time jobs is a major challenge). The volunteer board members have been going through paperwork that is, in some cases, decades old and no longer needed. This is where the shredded documents rumor comes from; documents were shredded because they were old and no longer needed, not because someone did something nefarious.
One computer that was rarely used was sent off to be donated, by some misunderstanding by the last staff member on the last day of employment. This decision was quickly reversed by the board members and the computer was returned the next day. NRRC had a policy to store electronic documents on a web-based server and not on a hard drive, so the computer should not have had any documents on it anyways. ~NRRC volunteer
As always, anyone with additional details, information or commentary should feel free to use the comment section. You know, it's completely anonymous.
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16 comments:
Well, the fact that NRRC has finally succeeded in throwing away every last penny that was intended to help the Willard Hay neighborhood certainly explains why Ray Dehn has suddenly decided to pretend like NRRC is "interested" in what block club leaders have to contribute.
The one interaction that they have ever enjoyed having with block clubs is cheating them out of NRP block club funds--making sure that after block club members shell out their own funds for approved projects, that they have to come back to NRRC week after week after month after month BEGGING to be reimbursed for the funds NRRC says they will pay, but never quite have the "time" to do. There's nothing NRRC enjoys more than sticking it to block club leaders.
Recently, they've been spamming block club leaders with "invitations" to come do their staff's work for them, even though they never, ever had the slightest interest in contacting us before.
I can't imagine why Ray Dehn and the other NRRC scumbags feel like they need volunteers to do the "work" that Sherrie had been pretending to do for all these years--how many hours a day does it actually take to go out to lunch and pretend to be somebody important and laugh at how you're screwing over the neighborhood?
I should think that Ray Dehn can take care of that all by himself.
What's the point of concocting this lie that NRRC has, completely out of the blue, developed this sudden interest in "grassroots" organizing? Does Ray feel like there's more city money for NRRC to steal and throw away? Is he afraid that, somewhere, something good might be happening in the neighborhood and he needs NRRC volunteers to go around trying to stamp it out?
If Ray Dehn had even one tiny grain of concern for the neighborhood, he would be trying to close the chapter on the unmitigated evil that is NRRC.
Unfortunately, it is of utmost importance to Ray that the neighborhood continue to waste ALL of its energies covering up for NRRC's failures and massive debts and that we never, ever move forward.
You seem to have some insights into this. What else do you know?
Anon 150pm, write more.
Huh. I've met Ray Dehn and he's never seemed like the slacker-villain type he's portrayed as in the first comment. But hey, everybody gets to have an opinion.
If I were stuck in a broke, seemingly dysfunctional organization--and I've avoided NRRC because of NOT wanting to be stuck in a broke, dysfunctional organization--I'd probably be grasping at straws for support from the community too. Seems to me that's what the group, however belatedly, is trying to do.
Whatever the motivation, this all kinda begs the question(s) of what is going to happen (if anything)to NRRC and what the ever-neglected folks of Near North can do to get some grassroots community organizing done. (Sorry, WH, you've got WHO; to me it looks like you're swimming in the lap of grassroots luxury over there, as grassroots luxury goes, anyway.)
Is NRRC going to live or die? Is someone looking for city money to rehabilitate it? If rehabilitated, will it have a grassroots organizing mission?
Johnny, can you or any of the commenters here provide insight into what could/should/shouldn't/ will actually happen to organizing in the, uh, middle kingdom? (Also known as the Not-H Neighborhood: North of Harrison, East of Hay, West of Heritage and South of Hawthorne....)
I can't be the only one who really wants to know.
Why are you guys always looking for handout's from the city for this or that. No wonder the taxes in Minneapolis are sky high relative to any surrounding city. You don't see HOA's in the suburbs going to the city for welfare benefits. Maybe your city wouldn't be so dependant on LGA if you would stop giving money to all the neighborhood "organizers".
'Ya know anony. 8:23 Minneapolis is a net tax contributor to the rest of the ho-dunk towns in Minnesota, and we don't ask for much back. We hold our own and then some. So, thank you, but we'll spend our money as we damn well please. And thank God HCMC doesn't have to foot the bill for the cheap-ass suburbs anymore!
Isn't HCMC in Robinsdale? A suburb of Minneapolis?
Shout out to Folwell Fox,Hennepin County consists of surrounding Suburbs such as Brooklyn(Little Chi')Park and'i guess enough is said on that point.I always thought that people came here for the weather but when a single male can get off the bus and be almost automatically given upwards of roughly 400 dollars a month and get it without worrying that they are a wanted felon from another state,and that is for at least five years'.Our whole system is fucked up and geared towards giving any sorry lazy ass piece of body waste that walks or talks a goddamn handout.Even wanted felons with Felony bench warrants.Hey,Hennepin County,clean up your handout rosters and exclude all of the criminals that come here and hide without worrying about being caught.PURGE your goddamn rolls and save the legitimate citizens the trouble.Do your jobs,you enabling idiots.
WHO is just a vanity organization for Al McFarlane to use when he needs to create the illusion of grassroots support for one of his cronies' scams, as with the ill-fated "Uncle Lenny's" convenience store. Although WHO used to meet on the third Thursday of every month in a set location, the first thing Al did was put a stop to that.
WHO does occasionally meet whenever Al's in town and doesn't have anything better to do (since it's all about him!), but he never notifies anyone except his cronies of the meeting time and location until the afternoon of the day before, to cut down on the unwelcome possibility that anyone from the general public might actually try to attend.
In other words, WHO has very carefully been set up to function exactly like NRRC--the only difference is that WHO serves a different clique of poverty pimps.
@ Anon 4:09:
NRRC will continue limping along just as it always has, because no board member has the courage to speak the truth about it, and no city leader can do anything until that happens. NRRC board members who could speak honestly about the years of financial mismanagement and cover-up, like Ray Dehn and Brian Bushay, have made the decision to never, ever do so, and nothing is going to shame them into taking the needs of the neighborhood into account now.
Like a fat toad, NRRC will continue to occupy the place that a functioning neighborhood organization should occupy, and to devote its energies to the single-minded objective of protecting itself from any accountability.
The only harm that NRRC can really do now is siphon off residents' creative energy into it's vast energy-sucking pit of dysfunction. Just pretend like it doesn't exist.
If you think that there is some organizing to do in your neighborhood, then start talking to your neighbors and get it going. No one is going to do it for you--that's not how it works. There isn't any "somebody else" out there with "lots of time" to do the work that you want done.
@Anon 10:33pm - you are thinking of North Memorial Hospital in Robinsdale.
HCMC = Hennepin County Medical Cener = Downtown Mpls near Metrodome.
I think what the commenter who mentioned HCMC not having to foot the bill for the suburbs anymore referred to some very recent decision that HCMC did not have to serve the uninsured who did not live in Mpls. Is this an accurate summary, anyone? Bueller?
@Anon 1:05pm - you've mentioned a couple of names of prominent community members and allegations of not addressing, or covering up financial mismanagment. Is there something specific you can give as an example or are you just disgruntled?
Any one else reading who has additional info, or rebutting info is highly encouraged to comment here.
"...allegations of not addressing, or covering up financial mismanagment. Is there something specific you can give as an example..."
Karamu.
"poverty pimps"
That is excellent. A Perfect description of many black leaders in this neighborhood.
taking advantage of the system in the name of social change/social justice/racial equality, black pride, whatever... and driving home in a $75,000 Mercedes.
Awesome.
Mr. Dehn's not a bad guy. He just has bad friends.
Organizing the neighborhood in a respectful, grassroots, fiscally responsible manner would really cut into my blog commenting. I don't know if I could find the time to do it.
Well, given that Ray Dehn's position has always been that Northside residents are best served by a contemptuous wall of silence, I wouldn't expect him to lower himself to providing a rebuttal here, or anywhere.
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