"Hot" Shoe Deals At Two West Broadway Locations...

Contributed photos, blog post by John Hoff

A good citizen in North Minneapolis shared this info with me, after also sharing it with police and public officials. It appears that suspiciously good $5 shoe deals have been popping up on West Broadway. It's not known if the two "street shoe outlets" are related, or a coincidence. However, the shoes are name brand, new shoes NOT used. One can't help but think, "How is name brand footwear sold profitably for so little money? Did these shoes FALL OFF A TRUCK, mob style?"

In one instance, the red hot $5 shoes are being sold from a U-Haul trailer parked near West Broadway and Aldrich Ave. N., near Cub Foods. The license plate of the vehicle towing the trailer is TWL 674.

In the second instance...



...the shoes are being sold under a tent located next to J&H Used Furniture, a notorious "thug store" which has often been mentioned on this blog.

However, on a positive note: it appears J&H Furniture finally fixed their roof. Citizens only had to call 311 like, what? About a dozen times?

Ugly Ass Blue Tarp Building Continues To Haunt West Broadway...JNS Blog Story Recycling Project!

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

It was back in early November, 2010 when I wrote how the "ugly ass blue tarp building" continues to haunt West Broadway, having lost its roof By The Hand Of Almighty God as Divine Retribution for all kinds of awful stuff going on inside the store, click here for that story.

Well, everybody knows how much Johnny Northside loves to recycle. So I'm recycling my headline and pretty much recycling the original story about the blue tarp building haunting West Broadway, just replacing the photo with a new photo I took a few days ago.

When will it get fixed? Nobody in the city seems to know.

Calls have been made over the course of months to public officials but there is no visible sign of progress.

(Do Not Click "Read More")

BREAKING NEWS: Urban Exposure Exposed!

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, photo by John Hoff

Thank goodness for the active residents on the WHOmail listserv. The message below (after the jump) came my way a few moments ago. After a concerned citizen reached out to a business with facade improvement info and found illegal gambling instead, follow-up work was done by the MPD.

The comments on the previous blog post ranged from calls to shut down the business entirely, to saying we should mind our own business, to looking for ways to reach out to the offenders and work together. Based on what was just revealed today, it looks like the business ought to be shut down.

The email from the MPD that was posted on the WHOmail listerv said...

...In response to your complaint regarding the incident at 2421 W. Broadway we conducted an investigation of the activity there. Below are the results of the investigation and follow-up.

* You notified us of the incident last Wednesday, March 24th at Urban Exposure.
* On March 25th I drove by the business and obtained the address of 2421 W. Broadway. I also asked you and everyone else who was e-mailed to not take any action and let us look into it. That would keep us from tipping our hat and allow us to see if they were conducting illegal business out of there.
* That same day, March 25th, our Community Response Team sent an informant into the business and made a controlled buy of marijuana from one of the employees.
* Officers from the Community Response Team drafted a search warrant and presented it to a judge and continued to conduct surveillance and investigate.
* You then went to the business and met with the property owner and the downstairs folks. This alerted the upstairs folks that they were being watched and delayed our investigation slightly.
* The Community Response Team continued surveillance until the drug dealing resumed.
* Yesterday – one week after the initial complaint the Community Response Team executed a search warrant.
o They recovered marijuana that was being sold by the employees.
o They recovered 2 replica firearms.
o The business appears to be a money-laundering front for the narcotics sales.
o The merchandise the are selling is counterfeit (knock-off) clothing and pirated DVD’s and CD’s. There does not appear to be any legitimate business taking place.



Thanks. I hope this helps solve this problem.