"Riot" The Light Rail Line Dog Is Anything But A Stray!

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Some weeks ago, I thought I witnessed a kind-hearted woman helping an extremely skinny stray dog that had been limping around the Warehouse District light rail station. I wrote a quickie blog post about what I saw, click here. The post generated some commentary, including a detailed factual dispute. The facts in the factual dispute were so incredible I thought NO WAY. This must be one of the trolls who come here--sometimes all the way from Monroeville, Pennsylvania--and say outrageous things that aren't true.

Well, one of the reasons this blog receives annual awards and has such consistently high readership is that I am absolutely dedicated to printing the truth. So if it comes to my attention that something I have printed is incorrect, I strive to correct it.

It turns out that, yes, I did witness a kind hearted dog lover in action. But the dog is anything but a stray...

The dog's name is "Riot" and he is owned by the woman who runs Rosenthal Contemporary Furniture, situated at the Warehouse District light rail station. Riot is a "shelter dog" obtained from Faribault, Minnesota. Two different people gave her up for adoption. Riot had lived outside and was not housebroken.

It turns out the reason Riot limps and is skinny and has missing patches of hair involves a disorder called Cushings Disease. This disease--which is not contagious--effects people, horses, and dogs. It's an overstimulation of the adrenal glands. Some of Riot's symptoms come from the disease, and some are side effects from medication.

Riot's owner has spent about $15,000 on medical costs for her dog, which she describes as a protector and buddy. Riot has had two knee surgeries at the University of Minnesota. Riot has attended benefit events at the store which raise funds to help animals. For however much longer Riot lives, his owner is determined to provide him with a good quality of life.

Riot hangs around all the time at Rosenthal Contemporary Furniture. I'd urge animal lovers to drop by and visit him, and check out the store.

Emaciated Dog Finally Gets Help In Minneapolis Warehouse District...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

It must have been a full month ago when I first saw "Bones," a mixed breed dog so emaciated he appears to be a doggy skeleton. He also hobbles around on three legs, with his right rear leg appearing completely inoperable. As was the case a couple days ago, I spotted Bones from the light rail.

I don't know his real name, or if he ever had a real name. "Bones" is just what I've named him...

It's odd that a stray dog like Bones would become so skinny in the bar district. There are garbage cans aplenty, there are kind strangers made even more jovial by liquor. A dog that thin must have some kind of sickness making him so skinny. A month ago I reached for my cell phone to call Animal Control, but my cell phone was dead. I thought, well, somebody else will see the dog and make the call.

I hate calling Animal Control. Most times I just won't do it. My personal code is "I will only call when the animal has a license hanging off its collar or if it's obviously injured." But a dog that skinny...? What kind of "quality of life" does it have?

I had forgotten all about the bony dog I saw a month ago from the windows of the light rail. Until yesterday, when I saw him again, almost in the same spot. This time, somebody was helping him. A woman who seemed to be a worker from one of the stores gently led the dog inside a doorway. I pulled out my camera and managed to get a photo.

I hope the dog got some help. I am sure many people--probably some readers of this blog--have noticed the same dog. I write this blog post because I want to know...

Does anybody have information about this dog and his fate?

Beyond The End Of The Line...Riding The Light Rail Past Target Field Toward North Minneapolis

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Weekend before last, I was with my 13-year-old son on the light rail and we experienced an accidental taste of what it would be like if the train continued beyond Target Field and ran into North Minneapolis...

Normally, an accident with a train is a very bad thing, but this was just a small funny accident. We were getting our gear together--winter clothing, backpacks, newspapers, etc.--and the train operator didn't realize we were still on board. Maybe we forgot the doors don't open automatically in extremely cold weather and didn't quite realize we were all the way to Target Field. In any case, the train continued past the last stop but we were still aboard!
 The train operator was a little embarrassed. But my son Alex thought it was cool. I pulled out my camera and took his picture so we could record the day we road the light rail past Target Field northbound.

Imagine that day, if we ever get there. Imagine getting on the train at Mall of America and riding all the way to Penn and West Broadway. Working people in North Minneapolis will be able to get easy access to jobs. You won't have to wait outside at a bus stop so long, or hit so many stops before reaching your distant destination.

Our neighborhood deserves good things. We must all make sure the gravy train doesn't go around North Minneapolis.

The Battle Begins Over NoMi Light Rail Options...

Photo And Blog Post By John Hoff

A couple nights ago at UROC, a large community room was packed to standing room only capacity during a neighborhood meeting about light rail options in North Minneapolis. Most of the main city, state and neighborhood movers and shakers were there, as well as assorted political wannabes who--thankfully--didn't shout and disrupt the proceedings.

As complicated as the issue of NoMi light rail may be, the debate really boils down to two main options...

Will the light rail come through the heart of North Minneapolis--along Penn and Broadway--or will it skirt the areas with people and businesses, going along the existing rail corridor at the edge of Theo Wirth Park?

There are trade-offs for either option, which are labeled D1 and D2 by the transit geeks. D1 is "Theo Wirth" and D2 is "Broadway and Penn." Rather than using alpha-numeric gibberish to talk about something tangible and real which will impact human beings, I'm going to insist on using the terms "Theo Wirth Route" versus "Broadway/Penn route."

IF THE LIGHT RAIL AVOIDS THE HEART OF NORTH MINNEAPOLIS and goes along the edge of Theo Wirth Park, it will be cheaper initially, but will have little positive economic impact because there are no people and businesses located in the park and putting the rail there won't spur anything to develop. This route will also be marginally faster by a minute or two because there would be less stops. People who live in North Minneapolis and want to access this route will have to use "feeder buses." (In this way, we will become the "chum" which is "fed" to the "feeder buses.")

Going along Theo Wirth park will allow suburbanites from Maple Grove and the affluent part of Brooklyn Park to avoid passing through North Minneapolis while sipping their Starbucks latte and reading their morning paper. One can't help but note there is no push from the suburbs to RAM THE RAIL THROUGH THE HEART OF NoMi. No, rather, the suburbs seemingly want the light rail to themselves and wish to share it with North Minneapolis as little as possible. They would prefer lovely arboreal views of Theo Wirth Park over, for example, stores along Penn and Broadway where one could buy a nice bottle of wine to take home for dinner. Things conveniently located at Penn and Plymouth include UROC, Urban League, Northpoint Health and Wellness, and a lot of vacant land for development. There is also talk of a Minneapolis Public Schools Headquarters near that spot, with a grocery store. Some of this talk came up recently at a WHO meeting, according to one of my sources.

IF THE LIGHT RAIL RUNS DOWN BROADWAY AND PENN, it will spur tremendous economic development in areas where such development is needed the most. Planned rail stops would include Broadway and Penn, Penn and Plymouth, plus Van White Boulevard and Highway 55.

At the meeting, some individuals brought up the ghost of St. Paul's Rondo Neighborhood and talked about how light rail would somehow cut neighborhoods in half. Of course, a light rail is nothing like an interstate highway. You can walk right across the tracks. Any property lost in the course of widening streets, any parking sacrificed for the sake of mass transit would be made up for many times over by the increase in property values and the business revenue generated from potential customers riding the light rail. Some in the audience expressed worry about the light rail going through the heart of NoMi, but one member of the audience--Matthew McGlory--urged listeners to read "Powernomics" and to see the light rail as opportunity, not something negative.

One woman expressed a fear that if light rail came down Penn Ave North that "children won't be able to play in the street." To which I respond as follows: if your children are playing in the street on Penn Avenue North, you have much worse problems than light rail coming through. I'm just saying. Another participant at the meeting passed out a news release invoking the ghost of the Rondo neighborhood and announcing a recently filed lawsuit over the Central Corridor Light Rail Project.

State Rep Bobby Jo Champion put things well by saying, "Even if something was not intended for our good, we can MAKE it for our good."

Knowing the final light rail route will impact the development of our neighborhood for the next century, this blog will go all out to inform readers and relay information about the light rail. Getting the best option for our neighborhood will take a massive effort to be louder and more organized than the poverty pimps who want to keep NoMi from changing for the better, and also the suburban crowd who want to hog the light rail all for themselves.

Some revitalizing neighbors have started public conversations about how to begin organizing and lobbying to make the Broadway/Penn route become the reality. One neighbor, Jordan neighborhood super-volunteer, Megan Goodmundson, has sent emails to several active list servs to drum up interest and help in organizing the movement for Broadway/Penn.

Any JNS readers who want to get involved, want to express their thoughts, interest and support for the Broadway/Penn route should email Megan at goodponyz@yahoo.com so that a broad list of supporters can be built.

This is an extremely important issue and NoMi needs all hands on deck to pull this one through the governmental red tape bureaucracy.