Despite Petty Acts Of Vandalism, Renovation At 1209 25th Ave. N. Moves Forward, Fabulously...

Photo contributed by John Fena, blog post by John Hoff

Yesterday, I reported on the petty vandalism at a property being renovated by John Fena, an unstoppable force for good in the neighborhood. My blog post, click here, didn't mention the address but it's 1209 25th Ave. N.

In following up, it seems good and right to illustrate how well things are going at that beautiful property despite the minor frustrating setback of the vandalism. That house was, incredibly, once a source of neighborhood blight. But the photo above shows what John Fena, et al, have been accomplishing at renovating, revitalizing and transforming the property. 

John Fena...you are Johnny Northside's hero. 

From A Source Connected To An Organization In Washington D.C., JNS Blog Has The Gun Trafficking "Burnes Indictment" Naming Angela Carter, Keniko Bland, Jacquelyn Burnes, Diontre Hill, And Raheem Abdul Lee Watkins, Pictured Below...

MN DOC mug shot, therefore public domain, Raheem Watkins, blog post by John Hoff 


Click here for a copy of the federal grand jury indictment.

"The Burnes Indictment"

Shocking charges of gun trafficking leveled against five people have been the subject of coverage in local mainstream media, and more granular in-depth coverage by JNS guest blogger Jordan North. Now, quite unexpectedly and without a lot of effort on my part, the federal grand jury indictment has fallen into my hands, see the link above.

The document provides some...

Can Anybody Identify The Two Juvenile Suspects Throwing Rocks In This Surveillance Camera Video From The Jordan Neighborhood?

Contributed YouTube embed, blog post by John Hoff

A regular reader thought this might be a matter too small for my blog, to which I respond: no, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing this blog focuses upon. Can anybody identify these juveniles in the videotape above before they transition from minor property crimes to a wasted life of violent felonies? 

This surveillance camera video, which was uploaded to YouTube by Northsider John Fena, at about the 59 second point begins to show a couple of juveniles who...

City Council President Kicks Off "Houses For Heroes" Program, Now On Memorial Day 2014 Information About This Blogger's Minor Role In Starting The Program Can Be Declassified And Revealed...

Contributed photo, blog post by John Hoff


Small Group of Key Stakeholders 

Some days ago, at a small kick off event inside a spiffy new handicap-friendly house at 5200 Penn Ave. N., the City of Minneapolis and its partners formally launched "Houses For Heroes." The program was spearheaded by City Council President Barb Johnson who, under our city's "strong council, figurehead mayor" system of government, is arguably...

The Story Of Melvin And Brandy Continues....Melvin Michael Jones, 20. This Young Man Was So Full of Promise. A Life Allegedly Taken By A Drunk, Old Enough To Be His Father. A Mother's Words....

Blog Post By Jordan North.....

Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism

I'm almost never speechless but sometimes a heavy sigh is all that can be mustered. If you've never been a Mother of a wonderful son with a golden smile, you may not relate. One of our greatest fears is losing our child in the streets. It never crosses our mind that it will be at the hands of a reportedly 55-year-old drunk man, behind the wheel of a car, going in excess of ONE HUNDRED miles per hour. Allegedly...allegedly according to highly trained police accident investigators...

Larry Jermaine Jones, 41 years of age, "Coach El," Officially A Homicide Victim TODAY And The Natives Are Restless!

Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism

Blog Post By Jordan North

On November 4, 2013 officers from the Minneapolis Police Department were called to North Memorial Medical Center on a report of a person who had been shot.

The shooting took place on  2000 block of Irving Avenue North. The victim was a passenger in a car was otherwise known as Coach El. The police allegedly felt it was drug related.

The victim, Larry Jermaine Jones, 41 years of age, Coach El, was paralyzed as a result of the shooting and died May 22nd, 2014. This is now a homicide. Another unsolved homicide, with no leads...

JNS Blog Tries To Uncover Why Blogger Don Allen Was Terminated From His Post As "Second Vice President" Of Minneapolis NAACP, Oh, It's Not Pretty, Folks...

Photo from Don Allen's Facebook, used under First Amendment Fair Comment
and Criticism, (OMG check out this NAACP member hanging with the GOP) blog post 
by John Hoff

For those who don't want to read my entire, detailed article below, here's the skinny from an informed source about why IBNN blogger Don Allen was really kicked out of his Second Vice President position with the Minneapolis NAACP:

He tape recorder (sic) NAACP Regional managers and played there (sic) conversations on him and Ron's blog radio show... Posted lies about executive board members and bashed NAACP and other leaders... it was just never ending.... but you know Don. Why do you REALLY care???????? What has he done now

And now settle in for the rest of the story, folks...

The divide between the citizens and the police grows a little wider (Editorial by JNS blog guest author "Forseti")

Stock photo provided by John Hoff for this blog post by guest author, the officers
depicted are actually St. Paul police officers. 

Blog post by guest author "Forseti"

While there are many frustrations with the police on the north side, I find many of them should belong with the city management (council, mayor, police chief).  Recently however, I observed something that was a complete lack of judgment on the part of the responding officer.  Several calls to 911 had been placed by residents reporting a loud party complete with 4 people in a vehicle parked in front of the house next door. Several people came from the party with glasses in their hands, got into the vehicle and were lighting and passing something around. There was one individual who urinated in the middle of the street. 

When the police showed up around 20 minutes later (not a bad response time for that time of night on a non-violent incident), they proceeded, from their squad to tell the people from the car that they “should go back inside as their neighbor was pissed at them.”  Now since the speakers in the party house were on the side of the house they were parked in front of, they quickly placed the blame on that neighbor for making the call...

Investigative Journalist Blogger Marinka Peschmann Has Dug Up Something Very Interesting In Mega-Bankruptcy Case In New York, If Her Facts Pan Out It's Hard To Believe This Won't Impact Us, Somehow, In North Minneapolis...

Honorable Judge Martin Glenn, original source of photo is reportedly Cornell 
University, photo was obtained from article by Marinka Peschmann, blog post
by John Hoff

Click here to read the article discussed in this blog post.

A regular reader often sends me interesting stuff by email. Even though I rarely make use of the stuff on my blog, (well, sometimes I do!) he keeps sending and I keep looking it over. Tonight he sent me something interesting enough to share with readers.

There is a huge bankruptcy case in New York, so huge it may be the largest bankruptcy case in American history; the simultaneous Chapter 11 filings of 51 residential mortgage companies. Normally this kind of geeky mortgage stuff is handled by bloggers like Jeff Skrenes (Hawthorne Hawkman) or Behind The Mortgage Dot Com but...

Three Young Gang Members Locked Up And The Women Who Made It All Possible Allegedly. A Mother, School Employee And A Corrections Officer. Diontre Ramone Hill, 20; Keniko Bland, 20; and Raheem Abdul Lee Watkins, 21, Are Facing Counts Related To Illegally Possessing Firearms. A Good Woman Is Hard To Find...

 Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism. 

Blog Post by Jordan North

Federal Judges felt that that Angela Carter was not a flight risk, perhaps because she is caring for her child who underwent a second, reportedly unsuccessful surgery to save her eye. The middle aged, STILL employed school worker and mother may not be a flight risk but is definitely a HUGE risk to the safety of North side residents.....

"Color Me Alarmed," JNS Blog Attempts To "Follow The Money" As Georgia-Based HavenBrook Homes Snaps Up 40 North Minneapolis Properties...

Stock photo of a now-demolished North Minneapolis house, does not depict a HavenBrook
Home, blog post by John Hoff

An article in the May 9 STrib discusses neighborhood concern as a Georgia-based entity called HavenBrook homes has snapped up some 40 homes, intending to turn these houses into rentals or, indeed, already at that point. 

The author of the article, Eric Roper, doesn't write fluff. I've checked his history of recent articles. So I'm rather confused by the fact Roper appeared to make no effort, while talking about this mighty 40-houses-snapping-up-entity, to flesh out the full picture of who is behind HavenBrook Homes...

Hey, Who Can Parle Vous Some Francaise, Here, And Go Tell These French Folks On YouTube The Lower Court Decision In The Johnny Northside Case Was OVERTURNED ON APPEAL?

YouTube embed, blog post is by John Hoff

I was doing a little "vanity searching" on YouTube to keep myself entertained on a Sunday and, incredibly, I came upon this video discussing the Johnny Northside defamation case (I call it The Blogosphere Trial of the Century) and it's COMPLETELY IN FRENCH!!!

Well, I get along well enough in Spanish (and a smattering of Pashto and German) but I sure don't speak French, except that one line from a song, we won't be mentioning that right here and right now...

JNS Blog Puts Out The Call For New Guest Authors, Foresees A Day When Content On This Blog May Be MOSTLY Guest Authors...

They are sirens, can you hear them signing a song? John and Alex's summer road
trip, 2013, blog post by John Hoff

In the not-too-distant future, I hope to be very successful and very busy. But since February 21, 2008, this blog has been my contribution, my gift (wanted or unwanted) my contribution to the struggle for Northside neighborhood revitalization...a struggle toward what I have dubbed "Urban Utopia."

What is Urban Utopia? I have defined it as the moment when the most pressing issues Northsiders have to be concerned about is whether artisanal cheese sold at the local gourmet food store was produced overseas with child labor, gasp, THE HORROR. 

When it comes to Northside (NoMi) neighborhood revitalization, I would like to think this blog, to a degree, has helped to...

Sometimes North Minneapolis Residents Just Want To Go Home. The Problem Is When Other North Minneapolis Residents Decide To Shoot Each Other Up. One Must Navigate The Many Different Crime Scenes, To Simply Go Home. Shooting Last Night Outside Of 1623 26Th Ave North, A Few Feet From The Jordan Peace Garden...

                                                    Photos taken by Jordan North

Blog POST by Jordan North…

Very often I drive by the blight of the home at 1623 26th Ave N, filled to the brim with people and pit bulls.  I'm usually driving at a fast clip because I'm not interested in purchasing anything. The home is apparently owned by Home Rentals of Excelsior.

Last night the entire area was lit up with so many police and emergency vehicle lights; it reminded me of time in my childhood. We would get in the car and drive by the big houses, all lit up at Christmas time and ooh and aaah.  Sadly this is the Jordan equivalent.

HOWEVER, do not bring your children!

You won’t find any real coverage of the incident due to that fact that the victim was only allegedly shot a couple of times in the...

New 2818 Colfax Ave. N. Thread, Feel Free To Add Your Interesting Fresh Info About Paul Bertelson And Mission Inn Minnesota, Inc.

 Creative stock photo, John and Alex's 2013 summer road trip, blog post by John Hoff

A prolific behind-the-scenes communicator seems to have hit a vein of interesting information about Mission Inn Minnesota, the entity controlled by Northside property baron Paul Bertelson; owner of the Colfax Ave. N. duplex where five children of Troy Lewis died in a fire on Valentine's Day.

The "communicator" tells me if there's a new thread on Paul Bertelson, he or she might have a lot to say. Well, how can JNS blog resist a thing like that? Here's your new thread, baby. And as you can see, I've even set out some "virtual treats."

ENJOY! AND COMMENT!!!!! 

North Minneapolis Resident Wants To Put Landlord Donald Swensrud On The Radar, Turns Out He's Already There, But Now I Have A Property List...

 Photo contributed from an earlier incident at a Donald Swensrud Property, blog post by John Hoff

A Northside resident who is having issues with a property owned by Donald Swensrud at 3418 Bryant Ave. N. started Googling the aforementioned Swensrud, and in no time at all ended up at JNS Blog, reading about (inter alia) the SWAT team incident depicted above, click here for earlier story.

Many a Northsider has reached out to this blog for help, not knowing where to begin, and it's my practice to send those persons to helpful contacts in the city's political power structure and the neighborhood organizations. 

But everybody has to start somewhere, right? And this blog is often the "second stop right after Google" when it comes to information about troublesome Northside landlords. 

So...

In North Minneapolis it's not just the thugs that die. Every so often life has that single moment that takes your breath away and the old song comes to mind ‘’only the good die young.’’ Brandy Banks was one of the good ones……

Blog post by Jordan North…

Brandy Banks aspiring model.

                                                  Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism.

She attended MacPhail Center for Music, college, worked and had her own business until a REPEATED drunk driver allegedly took her life as he was traveling at over a hundred miles an hour. Did I mention he’s out on bail living in his Golden Valley home? Philip S. Bertelsen, you allegedly DRUNK buffoon. The good citizens of North Minneapolis will make sure justice is... 

JNS Blog Desperately Trying To "Cut Through The Chaff," Find Out Background On Angela Carter, Age 34, Cook At South High School Accused Of Being "Straw Buyer" In A Felonious Gun Purchase, And Don't Get Me Going About That Little Daughter Who Might Lose An Eye, Meanwhile Censorship And Insanity Break Lose On North Vent Facebook Forum...

Stock photo, blog post by John Hoff

Why Can't We Have Stories Like This Every Day Between The Endless Ads For Weight Loss Products? 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is all over the story of a fired Hennepin County guard and a school cook who were allegedly straw gun buyers and helped arm a gang, click here for STrib story. 

But the fact the STrib has the story isn't the END of the story. Feathers are being ruffled and kerfuffles are a-bloom all over, including quite a little controversy on the pages of the highly popular North Vent Facebook forum...

"Fighting Judge" Fred Karasov Lowers The Boom On Deontray Vershon Tate, Who Shot A Four-Year-Old Boy In The Leg, Judge Dishes Out Maximum Sentence!

Mugshot, therefore public domain, Deontray Vershon Tate, blog post
by John Hoff

Deontray Vershon Tate graced the pages of this blog in July of 2013, in a story about a triple shooting that injured a four-year-old boy in the lower leg; so badly the little boy required surgery to realign the bones. The argument that led to the triple shooting was revenge for a fight between two women. 

Recently, according to a widely-disseminated press release from the office of the Hennepin County District Attorney, (regurgitated at a mainstream media outlet near you!) Mr. Tate had the misfortune to appear before Honorable Judge Fred Karasov.

Regular readers will well remember the name of this judge from...

City Department of Civil Rights Claims It Doesn't Have Jurisdiction To Investigate Claims Of Level Three Sex Offender Concentration In North Minneapolis, And Why, Incredibly, This Admission Is Some Kind Of Weird Bureaucratic Progress...

Photo that has been passed all over Facebook, no copyright is assumed. 

Creative stock photo, Hawthorne EcoVillage circa 20008, "Apartment Complex Of Anarchy," blog post by John Hoff 

Move Like Your Pants Are On Fire

I believe it was about 45 minutes after the City Council passed a resolution on Level Three sex offender concentration in North Minneapolis that I filed a complaint with the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights about, well, what was it?

Oh, yes...

Christopher Bahtuoh Helped Commit Drive-By Shooting Of Kevin "K Top" Parker, But Who Keeps Trying To Push That Fact In Front Of Johnny Northside?

MN DOC mugshot, therefore public domain, blog post
by John Hoff

Click here for court document: http://mn.gov/web/prod/static/lawlib/live/archive/supct/1312/OPA101584-122613.pdf 


Kyle Parker, also known as "K Top," is one of the names which keeps coming up in the ongoing violent street war and war-of-words-set-to-music between 19 Dipset Gang and their enemies the YnT and Taliban gang. 

For example, in the recent and oh-so-controversial Mental Mid music video "BackFlip," at about 1:34 an individual is visible wearing a hat bearing the street names "K Top," "D Nice" and "Bossman." These names represent dead gang members. So as JNS blog examines the controversy, I do see the name "K Top" emerging in the conversation. Well, recently an anonymous commenter THRUST a court document in front of me that references Kevin Parker...

Prince Kibbie, Who Was Shooting Victim, Now Accused Of Being Shooter, As JNS Blog Welcomes Fox 9 To The Party, Fashionably Late As Usual...

Facebook photo montage used under First Amendment Fair Comment and
Criticism, blog post by John Hoff

Readers can click here for Fox 9 article and don't worry, it's not very long and contains relatively little detail, as befits a story on a television news blog, so it won't take you long. 

But where are my manners? WELCOME, Fox 9, to the little soiree we have going here! We've been at this for quite a while, since about late January. What do you mean, why didn't you get an invitation? When does JNS blog ever send out formal invitations for these virtual events? Usually people just show up. 

Let me take your overcoat (very fashionable! very mainstream media looking!) and you just come in here---watch the cord on your camera, don't get hung up there.  

OK, you're fine. 

We have some party snacks. Have some chips. Have some KIBBIE. 

So, yes, Fox 9, I see from your recent story you're just catching up on news of the street war between 19 Dipset and YnT, but I say better late to the party than never at the party at all...

Stunning Court Development With 1564 Hillside Ave. N. "Imposter Foster" Mortgage Fraud Civil Case, District Court Ruling Appears To Let Insurance Company Off The Hook, Plaintiff Says "We Will Appeal."

MN DOC mugshot, therefore public domain, blog post
by John Hoff

Click here to view the recent court ruling.

Today JNS blog has learned of a disheartening development in the civil lawsuit spinning out of the mortgage fraud which happened at 1564 Hillside Ave. N., a case readers of JNS blog know well and which involves a cast of characters like Larry "Maximum" Maxwell, who went to prison over the identity theft at the heart of the mortgage fraud. 

Pictured above is Jerome KingRussell, a petty criminal with a drug history who impersonated John Foster (a mild-mannered suburbanite, a productive and moral person all his life with sterling credit history) to accomplish the infamous mortgage fraud in the heart of North Minneapolis. 

BUT ENOUGH BACKGROUND. Regular readers know all about this case and JNS bog has reported on every development for years, sometimes seemingly the ONLY media that cared. 

So here is the latest shocking twist...