Dan Rother, A/K/A "Drother," Becomes Hero Of Nomi Anti-Littering Movement After Vigilante Action At CVS Pharmacy On West Broadway...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Daniel Rother, known as "Drother," has been a colorful force for good in the North Minneapolis neighborhood revitalization movement for many years. Drother is pictured above during the epic battle for control of the Jordan Area Community Council which happened a few years back. Drother is the guy in the blue dress shirt with the "WTF" look on his face as Steve Jackson, in the Northside For Life shirt, tries to hoodwink the hood.

Some of the things Drother's done, well, I can't even write about that stuff but those who have been in the trenches battling to turn the neighborhood around, WE KNOW.

We know you don't mess with the Drother.

This weekend, Facebook has been roiled by rumors of an incident at the CVS Pharmacy store on West Broadway involving Drother and a big container of litter...

A Visceral Back Alley Plea From An Outraged Resident...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

I saw these signs posted in an alley on Newton Ave. N. and I just had to wonder...did it work? Did people stop dumping crap in the alley for the resident to pick up?

You don't see signs like this in...

Trouble Waits For Johnnie B. Riggins Once The Cops Catch Him...

Stock photo and blog post by John Hoff

Johnnie B. Riggins isn't a very successful criminal. Loitering, littering, urination, and panhandling are apparently the best he can do in Hennepin County. And yet, because Riggins didn't appear on a bench warrant on November 8, 2010, the city is gunning for Johnnie...

Through Crime Prevention Specialist Tim Hammett of the Fourth Precinct, the City Attorney is requesting community impact statements for that inevitable day when Johnnie gets caught by the cops. Click here for a link to a sample Community Impact Statement you can forward to the City Attorney when various no-accounts are going before a judge, and keep in mind you don't need to PERSONALLY witness the livability crimes in question, merely their impact. This campaign against "urination poster boy Johnnie B. Riggins" is part of the West Broadway Court Watch initiative, and it's good to hear there is such a thing.

A year or two ago, I used to submit dozens of impact statements through the city attorney's website, click here for a link to that site, but the site doesn't seem to get updated anymore. One hears rumors of a new and improved site to submit Community Impact Statements, scheduled to happen sometime in a bright utopian future which will be upon us within our lifetimes, but so far that doesn't seem to be happening which is a shame...submitting these statements is like eating popcorn or dialing 311 on graffiti: once you start, it's addictive and very hard to stop.

So, yes, I've been missing the opportunity to submit community impact statements very much, something I used to blog about from time to time, click here for an example. But then an email hit my inbox with an opportunity to submit a statement about Riggins to Timothy.Hammett@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

And I thought, hey, I'll do that. But, really, a lot of us need to do THAT. And the system should be made very easy, very accessible so we can do exactly THAT.

In closing, allow me to make public the court records of notorious no-account Johnnie B. Riggins, as follows:


27-CR-94-028847
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
04/12/1994
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Brookdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
ASSAULT 5TH DEGREE (DOMESTIC)
ASSAULT 5TH DEGREE (DOMESTIC)

27-CR-94-044192
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
06/01/1994
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
3RD DEG BURGLARY

27-CR-95-075778
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
08/29/1995
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Southdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
ASSAULT 5TH DEGREE (DOMESTIC)

27-CR-97-024677
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
03/25/1997
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
THEFT

27-CR-97-113309
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
12/16/1997
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
THEFT

27-CR-02-103041
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
12/26/2002
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
CONSUMING IN A PUBLIC PLACE

27-CR-03-040562
2030065896
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
06/13/2003
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Brookdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
THEFT - $200 OR LESS

27-CR-04-016614
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
03/12/2004
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
LOITERING WITH OB

27-CR-04-048761
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
07/28/2004
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Brookdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
THEFT

27-CR-04-067406
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
10/07/2004
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
ASSAULT 5TH DEGREE/DOMESTIC
CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
DISORDERLY CONDUCT

27-CR-07-022624
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
04/09/2007
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
TRESPASSING

27-CR-07-024720
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
04/18/2007
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
Offensive Conduct Ordinance
TRESPASSING

27-CR-08-2175
2070351073
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B
10/22/1959
01/14/2008
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Brookdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
Theft $250 or less

27-CR-09-5979
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B.
10/22/1959
02/04/2009
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
OBSTRUCT LEGAL PROCESS-LAWFUL EXECUTION LEGAL PROCESS

27-CR-09-25318
1090078930
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B
10/22/1959
05/21/2009
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
Trespassing

27-CR-10-4443
1090615624
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B
10/22/1959
01/29/2010
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
Trespass-Occupy/Enter Dwelling/Locked/Posted Build

27-CR-10-35961
0090101841
RIGGINS, JOHNNIE B
10/22/1959
08/05/2010
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
Loiter with an open bottle

I only wish I had a mug shot of Riggins to post. Sigh.

I went for a walk in the Eco-Village and all I got was this lousy garbage

Photos and blog post by Hans

ALL of this trash came from walking around one square block. Most of it was in the street or jammed into storm drain grates, the rest was hidden in the tall grass and weeds of unkempt boulevards. It took less than an hour to collect all this garbage, call 311 on 3 different properties, call Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling on an out of control collection point, and eat a grilled cheese sandwich.

This begs the question... whose responsibility is all of this trash? Obviously the good citizens of Nomi are capable of picking up after those who don't give a flying expletive, and if that's what it takes to live in a decent neighborhood I'm willing to do it, but 2 garbage bags full of litter seems a little excessive for such a small area and makes me wonder at what point the city should start taking responsibility for the actions of it's citizens.

The only good thing I have to report about this round of litter cleanup is...

... I didn't find any diapers.


Click on the pictures for a more detailed view of the filth.

Water Clogged Streets In North Minneapolis--An Examination Of The Underlying Reasons

Contributed photo, blog post by John Hoff

I won't use the word "flooding" to describe what happened, a couple days ago, to a number of city streets in North Minneapolis. After you've seen the effects of real flooding it's hard to use the word "flooding" to describe what are merely water-clogged streets.

But however you describe it, there was a soggy mess Friday night in North Minneapolis, and elsewhere. Some of the water on West Broadway was so high cars stalled in it. It's a handy rule of thumb you should never go in water higher than your car's tail pipe, or your car will stall out from its own unvented exhaust. The problem is, of course, knowing how deep the water might be BEFORE you drive into it.

I do have two editorial notes to add about WHY this water mess took place...

First of all, many of the storm gutters were clogged with crap, and did not drain effectively. Leaves and sticks could have and should have been cleared by the city sooner, I'll admit, but it's hard to blame the city for all those (expletive) Flaming Hot Cheeto bags casually tossed into the streets by the perpetual litterbug thugs who pretty much live on the corner all day, eating junk food, and engaging in their independent recreational pharmaceutical sales to passing cars. Even the crews of kids in yellow shirts who go around picking up the litter can barely keep up with the waste stream. This stuff clogs up the storm drains.

And, honestly, what was the last time you heard of ANYBODY getting cited for littering ANYWHERE in this city? (I can actually think of one exception, click here, but I mean BESIDES Lamont "Litterbug" Nelson)

If the city needs revenue to pay city workers to unclog the storm drains, I would suggest CITING THE LITTERBUGS. And if the litterbugs can't be caught in the act, well, let's just assume they are the same no-accounts who walk down the middle of the avenues of our fair city as though the avenues were one big sidewalk. Litterbugs walk down the middle of the avenue, and avenue walkers drop their litter everywhere.

So if cops can't cite the litterbugs in the act, heck, just cite the "avenue walkers." (It's hard to call them "jaywalkers," since what they do isn't really jaywalking, and everybody knows a "street walker" is something else to be found on Penn Avenue North. So I propose the term "avenue walkers" and if somebody has a better term, feel free to suggest it)

Secondly, you have to wonder when Frito Lay and other companies are going to start using biodegradable corn starch polymer plastics for their packaging instead of the crap they're using now.

It's easy for me to vent at no-accounts who walk right in the way of automobiles and drop their Cheeto bags everywhere. It's much more difficult to hold big, rich, powerful corporations accountable for all their plastic packaging which is polluting the earth and--examine the evidence--clogging storm drains.

So, anyway, um...

There was some minor street flooding in North Minneapolis, and elsewhere in the city.

Deplorable Litter At The Lyndale Ave. N. Salvation Army...

A neighbor in Hawthorne made some calls to the Salvation Army about the deplorable litter situation at their Lyndale Ave. N. location. When the neighbor didn't get a satisfactory response from the Salvation Army, video got posted to YouTube and then I was told to "put it on the blog."

(I love the way Johnny Northside Dot Com is always referred to as "the blog," as though there is only ONE BLOG)

And yes, I was TOLD not ASKED to "put it on the blog." I notice how there is often an unspoken assumption I will always just go ahead and blog about a neighborhood issue when asked to do so, no matter how much heat I'll end up taking for it, personally.

In this case, possibly HEAT FROM GOD)

But can I say the assumption is INACCURATE? No, actually, I can't.

So here you go, neighbor. Here's the video on "the blog."

Oh, plus the customary editorial comment: the Salvation Army needs to CLEAN UP ITS PROPERTY on Lyndale Ave. N. And, hey, it's not like they don't have many, many low-paid employees who can take care of the litter.

If the liquor store across the street can take care of THEIR property and put all kinds of money into an improved fence, then the Salvation Army can certainly maintain their relatively small patch of lawn.

(Do not click "Read More")

More Images Of The Lowry Bridge Implosion... (Summer Visitation 2009)

Here are a few more images of the Fathers Day bridge implosion I wanted to share...

In the top photo, some spectator made a little boat out of a piece of wood and a feather, and sent it floating down the river. In the next image, workers at the scrapyard wait and watch for the bridge implosion.

In the third photo, a Hennepin County Sheriff's Department vessel, patrolling the river. There were many boats with spectators, including what appeared to be rented canoes, next photo.

In the next photo, my son holds shells found along the river. The next image captures some of the litter which was, well, everywhere. You really have to wonder why snack food companies don't use biodegradable bags made of corn starch polymer, but I guess the people who make Cheetos just don't give a rip about the environment. I picked up a few pieces of litter, but found myself wishing I'd brought a bag, so I could make myself productive while waiting for the demolition.

The last two pictures show my son right after the demolition. The demolition was VERY COOL.

My Son's Birthday Party Turns Into Public Service... (Summer Visitation 2009)

Photo By John Hoff, above, contributed photo, below

Some friends of mine in NoMi threw a little birthday party for my son, Alex, on the first day of our extended summer visitation. We also watched Game Seven of the Stanley Cup. Since we were cheering for the Red Wings, I guess the birthday party was the more successful aspect of the party.

Sitting around a bonfire in the backyard, messing around with some of Connie Nompelis' hula hoops (she's obsessed with hula hoops) Connie mentioned how there was a hoop stuck in a tree right in front of her house. How did it get there? Well, it wasn't exactly a long story: in an act of neighborly kindness she'd given some hula hoops to some down-and-out kids in the neighborhood, but in no time at all the hoops were trashed and one hoop was in Connie's own tree right in front of her house, where it had remained for quite a while.

My son asserted he could get the hoop down with a long branch.

"Go do it," I told him, remaining comfortably seated by the bonfire. "Bring me back a war trophy."

My son came back a while later and told me...

...the branch wasn't quite long enough to reach the hoop. So I went outside to help. Well, "not long enough" was an understatement. I stood on top of a trash can to get closer, with my son holding the trash can steady. I switched the branch for a rake. The rake could just barely touch the hoop, but the thin metal tines weren't sturdy enough to pull down the object down.

"Run and get that sharp metal hoe in the back yard," I told my son, and he dashed off to get the implement, completely "mission oriented." I see my own personality in him at moments like this. Given a job, he will do it to death. Even casual suggestions can turn into jobs which must be "done to death."

Taking the sharp hoe in hand, I pointed out to my son that we must be REALLY CAREFUL.

"Doesn't this look like something that would love to accidentally end up in a person's chest?" I said, running my thumb over the sharp edge of the hoe before getting on top of the garbage can, once again.

In a short time, the unsightly broken hoop came down, and Connie posed with my son and the urban revitalization "war trophy."

Litter Patrol Gets Exciting Near The Jordan Pond...

Photo By Megan Goodmundson

In the heart of the Jordan Neighborhood is a lovely, peaceful body of water called the Jordan Pond, and some very "Pro City" neighbors try to keep things nailed down tight so the "pond scum" won't take over the pond...

Part of keeping on top of things involves constantly picking up litter. Well, about a week ago, litter patrol got a bit exciting. Jordan Neighborhood "super volunteer" Megan Goodmundson sent me this photo.

Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! Photos of Neighborhood Revitalization Footsoldiers, MORE!

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

The 2009 Hawthorne/Jordan Neighborhood Clean Sweep had new faces as well as some very familiar long-time participants. (Standard stock sentence true of most neighborhood events, too early in the morning for literary creativity, possibly revise later, etc. etc.)

In the top photo, a declassified photo of the S.S. Minneapolis, the vessel used by the elite "Let's Roll" tire recovery unit. In the second photo... 

Housing Director Jeff Skrenes unloads beverages provided by the Pohlad Foundation, something like ten cases. The beverages were some kind of nutritional soda, and it was pretty good. The beverages had names like "Calm" and "Flex." In the next photo, Jeff poses with a can of the "Flex."

Next, another photo of SiSi Mitchell with her garbage grabber thingie. Below SiSi, one of the volunteers clowns around with a plastic bag, wearing it like a skirt. In the photo at the bottom, some participants in the Jordan cleanup. So many members of the "New Majority" Jordan board arrived to volunteer, I imagine somebody must have worried at some point about having an accidental quorum.

I'm sure Chairman Kip Browne didn't allow that to happen.

Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! Photos of Neighborhood Revitalization Footsoldiers

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

What is a neighborhood event without numerous photo opportunities? Here are some photos of the many participants in this successful yearly spring clean up. More to follow!

(Do not click "Read More")

Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! The "Let's Roll" Elite Tire Unit Makes The Rubber Hit The...Well, The Back Of The Truck

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

So here are a bunch of images from the Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" activity over the weekend. The job of picking up discarded tires isn't...

...harder than the other rubbish picking, but it does require a couple of the more sturdy volunteers. I did tire picking along with Housing Director Jeff Skrenes, and our truck driver, Elliot, who had a great sense of humor. Often we ran off to document some situation needing attention from 311, and at the end of the day I sent off an email to 311 about 13 different properties. 

I've logged a lot of 311 calls in the past, but I don't remember making 13 on any particular day, so....PERSONAL BEST.

From top to bottom: me and my friend Jeff. Second, our truck driver, Elliot. Elliot joined us for lunch after we recovered approximately 68 tires, not counting small bike tires and pieces of tires. (We'd estimate and add up fragments into one tire, for record keeping)

In the third and fourth photo, Jeff demonstrates his tire-throwing style. Any excuse to wear a tank top and show off his muscles.

Fifth, Elliot uses the truck radio to call in some kind of mess in the alley, something requiring pick up by another truck. We called in one mess after another. Lots of mattresses.

The second to last photo shows our catch. As we were turning around, and taking a brief accidental foray into the McKinley neighborhood, we found a few more tires and added these to our total.

The last photo shows me with the trophy catch of the day.

Ain't she a beauty? I think I'll have it MOUNTED.

Hawthorne Housing Director Injured In Phonebook Mishap

Unwanted phone book dumping--which up to now has been merely annoying and environmentally unsound--has finally caused a serious injury in the Hawthorne Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. A couple days ago Jeff Skrenes--Hawthorne's dedicated Housing Director--was hit by a flying mass of phone books one physics expert estimated to have the approximate force of a falling old growth tree 30 feet in diameter.

Skrenes was....

...reported to be in critical condition, but still conscious and lucid enough to vow vengeance on behalf of the neighborhood association against companies like Dex.

"Read...Ed...Kohler's...blog...The Deets," Jeff managed to whisper, through lips that were bloodied but still (according to one eyewitness) quite kissable. "Must...protest...must take...direct action."

In the wake of heated emotions in the neighborhood after the injury of Skrenes, there was loose talk of gathering up truckloads of phone books and taking them right back to where they came from, only in a much more rain-soaked condition than when they arrived, unwanted, on the steps of houses which have been vacant for as long as two years.

ALL OUT, ALL OUT, ALL OUT FOR SPRING CLEANING IN HAWTHORNE, JORDAN NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!

Photo By John Hoff

Tomorrow, Saturday May 9 is one of the most important events of the year in the Jordan and Hawthorne Neighborhoods: the spring clean up, which involves citizens going out in hardworking crews to pick up all the accumulated litter and trash they can find, some of it rather....er, interesting.

People wear gloves for this. Enough said.

Individuals who have obtained property in Hawthorne and Jordan--or who are actively trying to buy property and anticipate being super-involved in neighborhood activism, once they MEET everybody--should arrive with bells on to pull their portion of the collective burden and show their new neighbors what they are made of.

Hawthorne's event starts with a breakfast at the Farview Park building at 8 a.m., followed by everybody walking the streets at 9 a.m. And by "walking the streets" I mean in a good way, but did I mention people wear gloves? Yeah, I think I mentioned it.

The Jordan neighborhood's event starts later and ends later. Here is a non-live URL that will take you to the information about that event in Jordan.

http://jordanlivability.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/clean-sweep-this-weekend/

This will not only be a cleanup but...

...a "sister neighborhood" event with Jordan, which has in effect borrowed money from Hawthorne to pull off its event in the wake of (alleged) financial shenanigans with the "Old Majority" executive board and former executive director, Jerry Moore, now actively involved in the Kenya McKnight city council campaign.

In addition to picking up litter, participants walking around on the street are known to get very active calling 311. Last year, the tough and gritty aspect of the Eco Village area was obvious to volunteers, but this year we have seen two months with no reported crime in the wake of extensive demolition in that part of Hawthorne, so it is anticipated litter pickup will go easier since "pro litter forces" are now in what might be best described as panicked headlong retreat, with a triumphant revitalization army hot on their heels.

Be there tomorrow! And, in response to the inevitable question which will arise in the wake of this blog posting: No, we will not be serving Wild Irish Rose with the 8 a.m. Hawthorne breakfast event.

The Problem With Big Police Corruption STrib Stories In "Dead Tree Only" Format

Photo By John Hoff 

I hear people are buzzing about today's story in the STrib about a police corruption probe. I actually received an email from one guy who wanted to sit down and have a MEETING with me at Broadway Pizza JUST TO TALK ABOUT THIS BIG STORY.

Only one problem...

Where the heck am I supposed to get a copy of this bankrupt paper on its last legs? See, the newspaper rack in front of the building that I frequent on campus has FRIDAY'S paper in the rack. The one in front of Acadia Cafe--where I just concluded weekend visitation with my child a moment ago--has SATURDAY'S paper on the rack. If I walked to the little Somali-owned grocery store never Riverside Plaza, they don't sell the STrib. And the drugstore the OTHER way down the street is closed on Sunday.

I guess I'll have to wait until Housing Director Jeff Skrenes pawns off his newspaper recycling on me, or walk ALL THE WAY TO THE HARVARD MARKET EAST just to buy a freaking newspaper.

Great idea, Star Tribune. What's next, CARRIER PIGEONS?

Is it any wonder bloggers EAT YOUR LUNCH on a daily basis?

Sign, Sign, Everywhere A...Well, Actually, Not EVERYWHERE

Photo By Kip Browne

So a few days ago I was driving somewhere with Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss) and she pointed out a "DO NOT LITTER" sign. The sign was not on a utility pole, like the one pictured above, but on somebody's property.

"I love those signs--!" Connie gushed.

And I responded something like, well, I doubt...

...if the signs have much impact. I hardly think some no-account litterbug corner-hanger-out-all-the-timer walks down the street--the freaking MIDDLE OF THE STREET--and sees one of those "DO NOT LITTER" signs and he's all, like, "Oh, gee, I WAS going to throw my empty Cheeto bag on the ground, all casual-like, but now that I see the 'DO NOT LITTER' sign I will instead attain some minimum standard of social responsibility, shove it in my back pocket and take it all the way home."

(No, I wasn't actually THAT articulate in Connie's car. Whatever I said in Connie's car was sort of like the "first draft" of what I'm writing here, but I can do Connie's response the same favor)

Connie responded the point of the sign was it broadcasts a MESSAGE. The message is "somebody lives here who gives a damn, who is trying every day to make things better." It would be for the best, she thought, if house after house were to start sprouting signs like that, constant visual evidence that NoMi neighbors stand shoulder-to-shoulder, turning this place from something rough to something BUFFED.

Connie can convince me the moon is made of green cheese, if she likes, and send me scurrying for my crackers. I found myself agreeing about the sign and thinking, hey, where can I get one of those "DO NOT LITTER" signs?

Of course, first I'd like to have a sign that says "NO PHONEBOOKS" to put on a front door, right above the front step, until one blessed day foretold in prophesy somebody will look at the sign and say, "How quaint!" and a little child will ask, "Mommy, what's a PHONE BOOK?"

Interesting Curbside Fridge, Plus, Oh Yeah, Hearing Scheduled Over Kenya McKnight/Jerry Moore/Ben Myers Challenge To 5th Ward DFL Convention Results

Photo By John Hoff

So I saw this fridge just south of Farview Park, on "Desolation Row," and I thought it was pretty cool--even by fridge standards--so I snapped a picture of it. 

In other, purely lesser and secondary news...

Here's the unedited word on the challenge to the 5th Ward DFL Convention results, just the way this hit my inbox.

COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR PARTY

NOTICE OF HEARING


Pursuant to the 2008-2009 Official Call of the Minnesota State DFL Party, a hearing will be held on April 25, 2009, 1:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, Minnesota DFL Party Headquarters, 255 East Plato Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55107, before the three-person panel of the Constitution and Bylaws Commission.

Any written statements from the challenger, statements from the person being challenged, and statements from any other person(s) who wish to present relevant testimony on the matter must be submitted to the Commission on or before Monday, April 20, 2009, by e-mail to mrothman@gmail.comand vickiwright@comcast.netwith a hard copy by regular mail to Mike Rothman and Vicki Wright at the Minnesota DFL Party Headquarters, 255 East Plato Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55107-1623.

Parties and any interested person(s) will also have an opportunity to present live testimony and evidence on the date of the hearing.

Dated: April 13, 2009

Mike Rothman

Vicki Wright

Co-chairs of the Constitution and Bylaws Commission

Attachments: 2 challenge forms

cc: Kenya McKnight, Don Samuels, Benjamin Myers, Jerry Moore, Brian Bushay, Judy Baker, Brian Melendez

Note from JNS: I guess when Kenya McKnight was asked whether she would abide by the convention results, she really SHOULD have been asked whether she would BELIEVE the convention results, or whether she would prefer to believe evil, deeply hidden, malignant forces (Queen of England, cough cough) were distorting the results.

Meanwhile, Kenya hasn't OFFICIALLY announced whether she's still running, but a recent Insight News puff piece talks about McKnight planning to gather signatures on a "petition." Once again, it seems as though Al McFarlane is the one doing all the talking for Kenya McKnight.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Hawthorne Loans Funds To Jordan For Spring Litter Battle

Photo By John Hoff

At yesterday's meeting of the Hawthorne Executive Board, after some energetic discussion and respectful disagreement, Hawthorne Neighborhood came together unanimously and agreed to loan "up to $2,500" worth of funds to the Jordan Neighborhood to assist with their annual spring clean up...

It was agreed that "neighbors help each other out" and, in the future, Hawthorne might need help from Jordan. Disagreement expressed early in the morning was chiefly based on worries Hawthorne might not get repaid if there was further upheaval on the Jordan board. One Hawthorne board member said JACC members file lawsuits if somebody "crosses their eyes" at somebody else. Ultimately, though, even the most concerned Hawthorne board members weren't going to leave their neighbor twisting in the wind like, well, litter.

The funds at issue are NRP monies with Hawthorne and Jordan sharing the same NRP rep. So even if there were further executive board upheaval, dozens of frivolous lawsuits, fantasyland formal complaints, plus Blackberries growing feet and running away from home to live a prodigal life on the mean hard streets, Hawthorne could still have a high degree of confidence in getting paid once the Jordan Neighborhood has money.

The Fall Of The Apartment Complex Of Anarchy (And What Is Revealed)

Flickr.com Photo

First of all, don't get me wrong. I'm glad to see 3101 6th St. N. reduced to a hole in the ground. A few days ago, the demo crew was pulling up pieces of the foundation like you would rip out roots to keep a weed from growing back. And I was glad.

But there's something very wrong here, and it's what's wrong with our whole American culture, our whole economy...

WASTE!!!! There was so much waste evident in that demolition. All that steel hitting those two big dumpsters...will it be pulled out, made into new steel objects? Or is it not worth the effort, at $60 a ton? Lumber reduced to toothpicks...plenty of those 2 x 4s could have been useful. Is it only the lowest bid that matters? The guy with the right licenses? Is there no opportunity for green fanatics to go in there with a chainsaw, to recycle and reuse?

Oh...insulation. Yeah, plenty of THAT got wasted.

And, man, that stuff is EXPENSIVE.

A friend of mine named Roland (well, really more of an acquaintance because, well, it's better to call him that because of his, um, lifestyle choices) used to pick up every little scrap of insulation he saw at construction sites, or blowing around on the roadsides from who-knows-what; dump trucks, tornadoes leveling small towns, the pretty pink Fiberglass fairy, here to grant your energy-saving dreams.

Roland would save all those odd pieces in a big utility closet I dubbed "the insulation room," and one day we had enough to insulate the whole basement where I lived, rent free, year after year while attending law school. We insulated with a mixture of fiberglass--yellow and pink--and Styrofoam. It was all recycled.

This Is What's Wrong With Our Whole Economy

We talk about being in a recession, and yet most American homes have enough food in the cupboards to last for weeks, vegetables in the so-called refrigerator "crisper" that will be allowed to gently, peacefully wilt, then be discarded, we have drawers and closets full of unworn clothing, our children have boxes, piles, MOUNTAINS of toys.

Our economic habits are UNSUSTAINABLE. President Obama talks about revitalizing the economy, but who will revitalize the EARTH? We cut down more trees but don't bother to recycle paper, half the students at the University of Minnesota can't cause the flight plan of their plastic beverage bottle to deviate SIX (EXPLETIVE) INCHES to put it in a recycle bin, instead of a trash can.

How is it we are building an "Eco Village" in North Minneapolis, but in demolishing buildings we don't bother to pull out the useful components?

Well, some insulation from that building made its way to my hands. And I plan to use it in a future project. But it was like picking the cherry from a sundae and saying, well, the sundae did not go to waste, for I ate part of it!

So much insulation...wasted.

My frien--er, my ACQUAINTANCE Roland would slowly shake his head. But he'd say very little. Economy of words, that's how he is about such things. He saves his words for the seduction of desperate women from Third World Countries. In any case...

The idea of "spending yourself to prosperity" works, yes, in a wide-open economic system where abundant natural resources create constant inputs of new wealth. It's like the economy of a college student, living on student loans and credit cards. Want to be prosperous? SPEND! Buy a nice suit of clothing to get a job, a computer to make homework easier, a car to get to school and save your time, endless beer to make life grand. SPEND!!!!

So tell me what is the economy of a SPACESHIP, a closed system with finite resources? Is that a place where you eat everything at once, throw out what's left over, because this will create "prosperity" as more is manufactured?

We need to transition to a green and sustainable economy. And using the old economic theory of "spend yourself to prosperity" is not the way to do it. We need to develop new economic theories based on the FINITE AND LIMITED nature of all our resources.

Crack, Crack, Who's Got Some Crack?

These are the things I thought about as I watched 3101 6th St. N. demolished.

And then I saw crackheads going to make buys at 3101 6th St. N., and I thought how the end of the mortgage redemption period couldn't come fast enough on THAT place.

Yeah, sometimes the "spend like there is no tomorrow" mindset isn't all bad, and there is a silver lining in the dark cloud of the mortgage crisis, as we remake our neighborhood. Better to waste a little insulation than to allow that hellhole apartment complex to come back, and become a center of drug dealing, AGAIN.

But the world could be better, more perfect, more utopian...and I think there is a way to take down a building and salvage useful components, right down to scraps of insulation.

Not Worth The Paper It Was Printed On

Flickr.com Photo

So that Star Tribune story that I caught wind of, click here, actually did appear in the paper, talking about proposed legislation aimed at curbing (hee hee) unwanted phone books. But the lame article was, er, nothing to write home about...

First of all, the proposed legislation is nothing but a requirement the phone book companies would have to distribute "opt out" information along with the mounds of dead trees they deliver uselessly to our doors, including the doors of obviously vacant houses. I'd link to the article but, you see, it has always been my policy to refuse to link to Star Tribune stories because the links are scheduled to go dead.

Some may go dead sooner than planned. Every time I see an issue of the Star Tribune, I wonder if it will be the last. I used to love that paper...and I still do, kind of...but their current owner, Avista Capital Partners, is the devil and there's no way I will pay money or create links to support the devil.

In any case...the legislation is an inadequate half-measure. Under this proposed legislation, we would not only continue to get unwanted phone books, but--additionally-- yet another useless piece of paper about how to opt out; which the phone book companies will simply ignore. Worse yet, the article contained a link about how to opt out of phone books, but guess what?

The link didn't work. The link merely directed you to a website where you could, if you liked, get lost all (expletive) day looking for the specific part of the website to opt out of phone books.

Star Tribune...that was LAME. Ed Kohler called the article a PR piece, and he's right.

The article did mention Ed Kohler's consistent advocacy for "opt in" systems instead of "opt out," but I don't see what the point was of interviewing Ed...everything the article said about Ed could have been said without interviewing him, and what little they did say was just a backhanded critique of Ed's noble and revolutionary act of returning a Verizon phone book to the company's headquarters, right on their (expletive) putting green, baby.

(Should have linked to Ed's video, Star Tribune, then your article wouldn't be so LAME. But, hey, print is dead and guess what? That also means the Star Tribune, not just the phone book)

On the bright side, Ed's idea about "returning" phone books seems to be spreading, click here.