More Drama-O-Rama With Northside Marketing Task Force...

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The drama surrounding Northside Marketing Task Force is not nearly as much fun as, for example, JACC drama or whore house drama or even a lowly crack house drama. But sometimes there's nothing else playing on the Johnny Northside blog channel, and you readers will just have to make do with dramas that are not as, well, dramatic.

So it is today...

Shirlynn LaChapelle fired off a letter to Susan Bendickson and Georgianna Yantos--cc'ed to Jerry Moore and Mike Kestner--proposing a "high noon" Friday meeting to take place today for a "hopeful resolution of this serious matter." (Oh, gee, that was today. I wonder if a meeting took place?)

LaChapelle styles herself as one of three "legal board members," the other of which would be, according to the letter, Moore and Kestner.

Here is the letter, dated July 23, 2009, as follows except boldface substituted for underlining:

Susan and Georgianna,

The Northside Marketing Task Force ("NMTF") was created and established with the intent to be an inclusive community effort, with the community-elected Board of Directors working off of standard, established and legal board procedures regarding elections, terms, bylaws, appointed responsibilities, finances, meeting notices, and minutes.

Since the beginning of this year, votes and decisions pertaining to and affecting the NMTF have been taken without quorum, without proper advance notification of date/time/location, without agendas being discussed and approved by the full NMTF executive committee, without meeting minutes distributed, and with persons voting whose terms have expired.

This has resulted in chaos and disrespect for due process, and an illegal current NMTF board making illegal decisions on behalf of this registered community non-profit.

All assets of the NMTF, which include marketing materials produced by the Carney Group and Amalgam, (website, case statement, public relations pieces, etc.) under contract with the NMTF, should be reviewed and discussed with all NMTF Board of Directors before they are released for public viewing and consumption.

The domain names, email addresses, and access codes releated to northminneapolis.com, northminneapolis.org, northminneapolis.net and insidenorthside.org are all the property of the NMTF, and are subject to full board approval as to who administers them and how they are distributed to the public.

The names Northside Marketing Task Force and NMTF are also subject to full board approval before they are used or distributed in any public manner.

It has come to my attention that the two of you, along with former board member Jim Wentzell, have decided that Board process need not be followed, and have begun to promote an unauthorized NMTF Annual Meeting, posted the unapproved website northminneapolis.com to the public, and have attempted to illegally access NMTF funds held by our fiscal agent Northway Community Trust.

This letter shall serve as a Cease and Desist requesting all Northside Marketing Task Force decisions and activities, until a proper NMTF Board of Directors meeting takes place, which would include me and the other remaining legal board members, Mr. Jerry Moore and Mr. Mike Kestner.

I am proposing that this meeting take place Friday, July 31, at 12:00pm (noon) at a location to be determined. This will allow time for the NMTF Board of Directors to gather all documents and be prepared for discussion and hopeful resolution of this matter.

In the meantime, please remove the current posted website at northminneapolis.com and northminneapolis.org, and postpone all NMTF communications until further notice and agreement of the full NMTF Board of Directors.

I would appreciate a rapid response to this request. Thank you in advance.

Shirlynn LaChapelle,
Northside Marketing Task Force

cc: Jerry Moore
Mike Kestner

For Whom Does The Bell Toll? For Northside Marketing Task Force...

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I previously reported on the most recent controversy associated with Northside Marketing Task Force in the wake of their new website going online, click here.

Today word comes that Wesley Walker, the Executive Director of Northway Community Trust (which pretty much holds the purse strings for NMTF and therefore their collective nuts) has given his assessment of NMTF, which is exactly as follows...


"For all intents and purposes, NMTF has ceased to be a functional organization."

One kindly assumes some kind of new NoMi marketing effort will be reborn out of the smoldering NMTF ashes, evolving from past mistakes. In the meantime, de facto North Minneapolis marketing has been left to ad hoc, volunteer efforts answerable to nobody like, oh gee, bloggers.

But that's OK, because lately even the mainstream media has been changing its dreary, tired tune about North Minneapolis. Violent crime down 40 percent! Housing bargains galore! And Lavender Magazine will declare NoMi a "gayborhood" on or about August 14.

NMTF Controversy Over New Website (Here We Go Again, But Where Are We Going?)

Stock Photo By John Hoff

After being up for less than a day, the shiny new Northside Marketing Task Force website (with the new website smell) has already generated controversy, and I'm not talking about nit-picky little remarks people are making on the comment threads of this blog post, click here. Mike Kestner, who believes himself to be still the Vice Chair of NMTF, with Jerry Moore as the Chair, has fired off an email demanding the website be taken down...

Here is the text of the email, sent to Susan Bendickson, as follows:

Susan,

Please remove the incomplete and unapproved website northminneapolis.com immediately. I am a current NMTF board member (as even the website lists me), and I was not given an opportunity to vote to approve this website. I do not want my name or the NMTF exposed to a lawsuit. In it's (sic) current form, it is a promotional site, not a news site. No release forms were signed with regards to any individuals who are pictured or mentioned on the site. This includes myself.

Mike Kestner
Vice Chair
Northside Marketing Task Force

On a roll, and completely innocent of the correct way to write a possessive "it," Mike then fired off a letter to Jules Inda, the notoriously smoking hot spouse of Pat Carney of the Carney group, as follows:

Susan Bendickson claims that it is The Carney Group that is responsible for posting this NMTF-unapproved website.

This is a formal request to take it down immediately. Only you and I had access to the site's domain administration, as I recall. No legal NMTF vote with quorum has changed this access. The current legal full board of the NMTF had not been consulted at all by The Carney Group, Amalgam, Georgianna or Susan prior to this action.

Until further notice, I ask that you allow for the NMTF (the owner of this site) to make it's (sic) necessary resolutions according to legal board policies, and forego The Carney Group's interest in seeing this work in the public eye.

Thank you,
Mike Kestner

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

In the meantime, IBNN blogger Don Allen continues trying to get his board seat back on NMTF. The latest word is Don's being told he filed his grievance too late. But you have to wonder...why would Don want his seat back anyway? Is he just a glutton for punishment?

Now, I know that some people think I shouldn't air all this NMTF conflict on my blog, but I think the colorful bare knuckle politics of NoMi is actually part of the fun of this neighborhood and attracts a certain creative and adventurous kind of personality.

And, hey, it's good for ratings! Not as good as video of a crack house burning, but still...pretty good.

NMTF Website Up And Running...

Stock Photo By John Hoff

The new website of the Northside Marketing Task Force is up and running at www.northminneapolis.com, click here.

Just in time for Art FLOW!

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JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Northside Marketing Task Force To Have Website "Up Within A Few Hours"

Contributed Stock Photo

A reliable source informs me that Northside Marketing Task Force (NMTF) will have a website up "within a few hours." The timing may be unrelated to this weekend's Northside Art FLOW, where the ever-increasing strengths of our NoMi neighborhood will be on display, but the timing does work out pretty well.

Meanwhile, in another NMTF matter...

...IBNN blogger Don Allen, a former board member of NMTF, reiterated by email his request to be reinstated to NMTF.

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

Where To Get Your NoMi Sticker...

Photo By John Hoff

Since I often talk about the NoMi branding effort in North Minneapolis, I'm sometimes asked where to get a NoMi sticker. Until recently, I had to admit I didn't know. Fortunately, when I made the inquiry through Facebook, Realtor and historical home preservationist Connie Nompelis (No-buhl-iss, it's Greek) came through.

If you want a NoMi sticker, just email mynewneighbor@gmail.com.

You can also make contact through http://glbtnorthsiders.blogspot.com/

Of course, if you do either of these things, you'll be told the following: send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to J. Breeggeman, 3900 Dupont Ave. Mpls, MN 55412. Say how many stickers you want, but limit 3. 

In the photo above, Brian "Thong Master" Mondl of the band "WATSON" holds up the NoMi sticker which now adorns one of the band's drums.

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Case Statement For The Northside Marketing Task Force...

Stock Photo, Jordan Community Garden

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

It was Don Allen of IBNN who drew my attention to this. A slide show document called "A Case Statement For the Northside" hit the internet. Click here for a link.

At this time, I do not have any explanation as to why this material hit the internet without some kind of announcement but, as often reported here on JNS Blog, there is a lot of roiled-up water under THAT particular bridge.

Those who are obsessively interested in marketing NoMi (North Minneapolis) follow these kind of developments closely. Of course, my theory is called "Market and Romanticize The Struggle" and it can be found by this link, click here. It has the distinction of being the only EFFECTIVE and PRACTICAL theory of Northside marketing put forward by anybody.

Oh, gee, was I editorializing again? I do that.

Then again...with such dramatic recent reductions in crime, it is likely that my theory will be archaic in about five years. I sure hope that's the case.

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Get Yer "Huggable North" Images RIGHT HERE!!!!

Images Contributed By Collier White

Collier White--who came up with a grassroots "Huggable North Minneapolis" branding effort--sent me these images to share and said he welcomed more "lively discussions" about his marketing idea. (Which, for the effort, I consider more of a prank-like stunt than an actual marketing effort)

But I certainly do agree with that whole Uptown Is For Sissies idea. However, even if Uptown weren't for sissies--which it is--North Minneapolis is ultra-affordable, funky, and greener by the minute.

Uptown is just WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. Yeah, it's a fun place to go, but who can afford to live there? Get yourself a house in NoMi, I say, and if you want to party all the time in Uptown, well, I won't judge you.

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JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Don Allen Requests Reinstatement To Northside Marketing Task Force...

Photo From Don Allen's Facebook profile, "China In The House" 

The most exclusive and current information about the messy, developing situation with the Northside Marketing Task Force can be found a few blog posts back (not just in the post but in the informative comments) but now things have taken yet another turn.

Don Allen, a former member of the NMTF, is requesting...

...reinstatement to the NMTF Board. It appears Allen's theory is something like this:

Jerry Moore is, in retrospect, the devil.

Everything the devil did should be reexamined and revised, now that the devil has been exposed and removed.

The devil helped take me, Don Allen, off the NMTF board.

Therefore I, Don Allen, should be reinstated to the board.

Here is Don's recent letter, unedited:

Dear Ms. Yantos,

Based on the current situations and event which I warned the NMTF about last year involving Mr. Moore and Mr. Kestner, I would like to officially file a grievence with the NMTF and/or be considered to be re-appointed to the board of the NMTF immediately. The vote Mr. Moore took with the executive committee and the board was based on "folly," therefore the current NMTF board must consider my re-appointment as well as other board members that were released due to Mr. Moore's dynamics.

My rationale for this decision is that Mr. Moore had an agenda that was false and misrepresented the facts to the NMTF board to have me removed. If you have any futher questions, please call me at 612-986-0010.

Very best regards,

Donald W.R. Allen,II - V.P./GM
V-Media Marketing Agency
Email: donny@donny-allen.com
Office: (612) 332-6025
Direct: (612) 986-0010

North Side Marketing Task Force Update...Mike Kestner Takes Johnny Northside To Task...

Somebody Took This Photo With My Camera

Last night I called Mike Kestner to inquire about the current status and composition of the North Side Marketing Task Force. Some questions had arisen in my mind and I needed to find somebody who would talk to me on the record. Mike was willing to talk on the record.

Mike says...

...there are currently only three official members of the task force: himself, Jerry Moore, and GeorgeAnnia Yantos. Mike says Jerry Moore is the Chair.

Well. Isn't that special. At least Mike will talk to me on the record. You gotta give him credit for that.

Here's a few more things Kestner was willing to say on the record, while I was scribbling down notes.

"You (Johnny Northside) do a great disservice to North Minneapolis," Kestner said. "As a native son to the Northside, I think it's naive to think there will be agreement about how things should be done, who should do it, and what's right and wrong."

Kestner proceeded to tell me I was being used politically by certain factions, and that I should stop painting certain people as bad characters. He said he was shocked that people get pulled into my blog and compared me, unfavorably, to the National Enquirer. He called Jerry Moore a "good human being." He said I (Johnny Northside) was being "played" by certain factions who have their own political agenda and that I would understand more if I stuck around for a while.

Oh, and then he called me (on the record, mind you) a "vicious and mean human being."

Uh huh. But at least he's TALKING to me about what is going on with the Northside Marketing Task Force, from his own unique point of view. And I always say that if I can't get information on the record I really can't do my job. Sometimes I need to say it louder than usual. Like right now.

So if anybody knows something else about the Task Force and its current composition and wants to say it oh-so-anonymously, well, consider the comment threads open. Which I think is pretty nice, considering I'm a mean and vicious human being comparable to the National Enquirer.

"Huggable North" Ad Hoc Branding Effort Launched...

Photo By John Hoff

Collier White, a resident of Hawthorne, has launched a little North Minneapolis "branding effort" on Facebook, dubbing our neighborhood "Huggable North." His "Huggable North" logo features a snarling pit bull, which Collier explained he sees as a "lighting rod" of discussion about social issues in North Minneapolis.

"Up here," he said. "Your choice of what breed of dog to own can be a political statement."

And I was all, like, "Just the dog? Oh, my word. What kind of booze you drink--high quality stuff or Steel Reserve swill. That's political. Whether you walk on the sidewalk or down the middle of the street. Whether you take care of your yard or let it go to hell. All these things are very political, and there is a major class struggle taking place about which ways of living will dominate."

Notably, Collier's dog "Frederic" is NOT a pit bull, despite the image on his "Huggable North" logo. Collier is pictured with his dog, above.

Collier recently had an informal meet-and-greet at his house to publicize "Huggable North," and I attended this event, where I had a substantive, friendly back-and-forth about Collier's branding idea....

Here is what Collier says about "Huggable North."

"It's official. North's Huggability is on the rise. In five years, many North newcomers will want to claim North cred, saying, "I was in North before it was cool." They will not want us to know that they followed the trend rather than helping to create it. But we don't mind. We are Huggable North, and one thing is that you don't have to be cool."

I have to admit that, at first, I didn't care for Collier's idea. For one thing, I saw it as just a minor Facebook joke, not really a "branding effort." A branding effort requires some "oomph," cranking out internet content, stickers, M & Ms emblazoned with the words "GET TO NOMI." That's a branding effort, yet it's still small, ad hoc, not quite enough to make the kind of dent we need to make in the media's framework of "North Minneapolis as an urban dystopian theme park."

Also, a snarling pit bull on the "Huggable North" logo? Why on earth would I want a picture of a snarling pit bull and the words "Huggable North?" Why don't I just promulgate a logo of a chronic inebriate sitting on the Merwin's Butt Fence and under the phrase "Laid Back North?" I have my own well-publicized theory of Northside marketing called "Market And Romanaticize The Struggle," and it can be found, discussed in detail, on this blog.

However, in talking to Collier, I began to see how some aspect of marketing may be missing from my theory of "Market and Romanticize The Struggle." And that aspect might be described as "Celebrate The Eclectic Funk." Sure, I've already been DOING THAT with posts like the one about the guy and his Ford Fairlane woody, but I hadn't formally incorporated "funk celebration" into my marketing theory. And I care about the theoretical. A professor of mine used to say, "Sometimes the most practical thing you can have is a good theory to operate under."

Besides, until the Northside Marketing Task Force begins to, oh gee, what is the word? MARKET?! Until the Northside Marketing Task Force begins to MARKET Northside, you're going to have folks like Collier White just leaping into the fray and saying nobody is marketing North Minneapolis, so hey, we'll just do it on our own!

But, yes, I could agree with Collier, to a degree. We live in a neighborhood full of artsy, interesting people who are unafraid to be themselves. That can be MARKETED. During this period of time while we push out crime and decay, we have an exciting little edge of danger, and some adventurous folks are attracted to that, especially combined with the factor of classic 100-year-old houses available for pennies on the dollar. These are the kind of people who CREATE rather than FOLLOW trends.

Let us keep appealing to such personalities. Just hearing Collier articulate that "trend thing" is very encouraging.

So, to a mix that is already eclectic, one can add yet more funk:

THE AD HOC BRANDING EFFORT CALLED "HUGGABLE NORTH."

Which, I would assert, is a minor moment on Facebook and doesn't really have meaningful existance unless it has some "oomph" behind it. But will I write about it? Oh, yeah, it's in North Minneapolis and so it's something I'll write about, especially when I went to somebody's lovely social gathering and accepted free booze.

The Woman Who Came Up With The "Get To NoMi" Artwork...

Photo By John Hoff


So a few days ago I was at a Memorial Day barbeque, and one of the guests at the party was Desi Fernandez, (on the right) who came up with the "Get To NoMi" artwork for North Minneapolis. I snapped a great pic of Desi with her girlfriend. 

A number of NoMi movers and shakers have Desi's "Get To NoMi" image displayed prominently in their houses, which is great...but I think we need many more NoMi images. Who better to create the pictures than Desi?


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Drama-O-Rama At Northside Marketing Task Force Remains "JNS Blog Classified"

Photo By John Hoff

So a while ago I made mention of "drama-o-rama" at the Northside Marketing Task Force and I said I'd have the details up later. However....well, here's what happened...

I had the details, fair and square, firsthand written accounts which included (oh yes) the phrase "disgruntled boy king." And I was planning to spill all that, lavishly, like champagne gets spilled on New Year's Eve. I had the information (as I say) "out in the open" and "fair and square."

HOWEVER!!! This blog is responsive to community leaders, especially the ones who are maybe, possibly, could be trying to figure out how the JNS blog might fit into some kind of official Northside Marketing plan. Regular readers know my philosophy about that: Market and Romanticize The Struggle. I already do it every day, virtually for free.

ANYHOW, when no less than FIVE community leaders are asking me to please NOT spill the sorry details, because "the blog story will be bigger than the incident itself," then what can I do? I depend on these same folks to keep feeding me info. I can't burn all of them over some minor he said/she said incident which, really, wasn't ALL THAT. (But still colorful and interesting enough that it deserves to be told at some point)

I take comfort in the fact I might find a way to spill it later, once matters are resolved. And I tell myself that I'm going to get stuff up on the blog EVEN FASTER, before I get the almost-frantic phone calls and emails pleading "Please just sit on it for now, Johnny Northside."

Whatever. Information WANTS to be free, to flow and eddy and swirl and carve rough rocks into jewels. Ya'll need to learn how to relax and let the truth hang out like gray chest hairs.

I'm very interested to learn when we'll all stop TALKING about marketing North Minneapolis and actually MARKET. In the meantime, I'll be writing about the $7,900 house of Connie Nompelis, the community garden on 6th St. N., the neighbor dropping off home-prepared foods in spontaneous acts of love, and so forth. Just let me know when somebody in charge gives the official go ahead and says it's time to start MARKETING.

Attitude. Sorry. But it's not my nature to sit on information. Now I'll have to go dig up something extra juicy just to achieve balance in The Force.

(Oh, in regard to the photo illustrating this post: goat cheese, 99 cents. Hand-sized wheels of brie, a buck ninety-nine. This amazing store doesn't do a lot to MARKET themselves, and it's a shame. This store at Emerson Ave. N. and Lowry Ave. N. is one of the "treasures of NoMi." Stop by, you will be pleased. Tell 'em Johnny Northside sent you) 

Don Allen Files Public Disclosure Request, No Doubt At The Bidding Of His CIA Puppet Masters

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First, a correction to a previous post: I made fun of the notion IBNN blogger Don Allen works for the CIA or FBI, as Al McFarlane (reportedly) asserted during some kind of breakfast meeting.

Well, my superiors in military psy-ops and the NSA got back to me, and it turns out Don Allen really DOES work for the CIA. So (under orders, here) I'm supposed to say so. Why? Because if I say so, nobody will believe it.

And I think that's the whole point.

(Just to be clear, I'm only UNDER CONTRACT with the NSA. Psy-ops still owns by army green butt to the end of my enlistment, or longer if I get stop lossed)

In any case...

Don Allen--who knows his way around state public disclosure laws well enough, since he stayed awake during that particular training at Langley, it would appear--just filed a public disclosure request to try to obtain the following info:

1. The amount NRRC spent on Advertising or outreach for the years 2005-2009.

2. The names of the advertising venders with amounts spent.

3. If any, the amount of dollars given to Mr. Al McFarlane as a person; Media outlet or any collaborative efforts from 2005-2009.

4. The number of articles you have had published in Insight News w/titles.

5. The current status of the Un-wed Mothers program and the balance of the prisoner re-entry programming funds.

It's too arcane to be ironic, but here it is: even though Don Allen is a blogger, I can get this stuff on my blog FASTER...which causes Don to just send out emails with links that say, "Read all about it on Johnny Northside."

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

Mayor Rybak: NoMi Is Waiting To Welcome You!

Photo By John Hoff

I will never forget where I was when I first heard Mayor Rybak was selling his house. It was right after the Hawthorne Executive Board Meeting last night, in the front seat of Connie's little red sports car, in the parking lot of the "Secured Gas Station" (Winner Gas) at West Broadway and Lyndale...

A cop car was in plain sight, the officer apparently working security inside, but Connie was still hesitant to leave the safety of her vehicle. So she sent ME inside to buy two packs of Camels. Yeah, great, the brand that killed my Dad of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and prostate cancer.

All at once.

(Hey, at least he outlived all the shrapnel left in his body)

Anyway, I came back outside with the two packs in hand, and Connie was all, like, MAYOR RYBAK IS SELLING HIS HOUSE!!! She'd just read it off her Blackberry.

"Where's he moving?" I asked, casually.

"HE DOESN'T KNOW YET!!!!" she answered.

"Oh...my...god!!!!" we said, pretty much together. And then: WE HAVE TO GET RYBAK TO MOVE TO NOMI!!!!!!!!!!

Mayor Rybak, here are some of the many advantages of moving to NOMI. First of all, you won't get better housing bargains anywhere in the city on classic homes with character.

You can take that $700k or whatever you're getting for your OTHER house, and use it to retire in style. (No time soon, though)

Meanwhile, you can buy a house in NoMi for very little money, fix it up, and watch your equity grow as all the grand plans you've told us about--and they are grand, they are glorious, they are the bright utopia upon which we fix our tired gaze in moments of gritty urban struggle--come to fruition.

Imagine what people will say! THAT MAYOR RYBAK, HE WALKS THE WALK. Mayor, your mere PRESENCE will decrease crime within--I estimate--a four block area. There will quickly be a "ripple effect" of like-minded people copying your example, reasoning that if it's good enough for Mayor Rybak, maybe now really is the time to buy, buy, buy in NOMI. (Also, houses here are so affordable you can easily buy one BEFORE selling the other one)

Now, truthfully, so far you don't have much of a political opponent this year. A ham sandwich could beat Al Flowers on election day, even with wilted lettuce and no mayo.

But I say NO MERCY IN THE POLITICAL ARENA, at least not for a nut job like Al Flowers who heckles, disrupts, literally shoves from behind.

Mayor Rybak, now is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rack up the election day vote score as high as possible for the history books. Sure, you've got the rest of Minneapolis sewn up, as long as you don't murder somebody before the election, but why not take all the votes in North Minneapolis, too? Now THAT would be a political mandate.

Consider: If Al "I Am The Community" Flowers can pick up a few stray votes anywhere, it's probably in NOMI. He's got FOUR VOTES FOR SURE up here, not counting his own.

Well, I say take away even those four votes: move to NOMI so the residents of this neighborhood--who have hung on for so long, endured so much, dreamed such big dreams for so long--will vote for a mayor who boldly walks the walk, throwing in his lot with the muddy troops fighting the revitalization battle here at "Ground Zero."

Personally, I'm partial to the Hawthorne Neighborhood and since I've got this blog, well, I can shout ALMOST as loud as Al Flowers.

But I'm not going to shout. I'm going to sing!!!!

Well, sort of. Here's a little song for you, Mayor Rybak. Click here for video. (Check out what the star of this video is carrying in his hands!)

THE STORY IN PICTURES: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photos By John Hoff

Here are images from recent intense (but informal) discussions about marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi which took place at the offices of the Carney group, as described in the two previous blog posts.

First, this is a booklet produced by the Carney Group with North Minneapolis/NoMi marketing material. It is slick and well done. Luckily, nobody spilled wine on it. (Well, I'm sure they made more than one)

Second, ...

Jules Inda, Pat Carney's wife. Next, realtor and NoMi member Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss) who is probably laughing at something said by Anderson Mitchell.

Fourth, Anderson Mitchell (right) clowning around for my camera, next to Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes. Next, Lisa Mitchell. It turns out Lisa Mitchell and I both grew up in the same part of the sticks. The bottle in the foreground--which looks like it is stuffed with lawn trimmings--is exotic Honduran guifiti.

Next, Pat Carney. Look at the size of his camera. Normally, I don't give a lot of credence to beliefs that a camera can steal your soul, but...well, just look at the SIZE of that thing!

The last picture was not taken at the Carney group event, but rather just before a recent meeting with Don Allen to talk about North Minneapolis marketing efforts, which I mentioned in this blog post, click here.

Nobody wanted me to take pictures at that meeting, so this image of Connie feeding the meter is all I have. Her cute little silver coin purse is made from HAND WOVEN POTATO CHIP BAGS.

Now all the women will want one.

PART TWO: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photo By John Hoff

First and foremost, Pat Carney of the Carney Group doesn't want his marketing expertise to be "conflated" into the reputation of Northside Marketing Task Force, which is merely one of many clients. Some of Carney's super HAPPY clients include Mitchell Construction, click here for an example of a website. (I love the use of "safety orange" in the design)

Carney stated, in so many words, he had NO FREAKING IDEA what he was getting into when he accepted a relatively simple assignment from NMTF to produce a website to market North Minneapolis, a neighborhood which is, er, COMPLICATED, to say the least.

NMTF turned out to be a toxic hornet's nest of intense interpersonal conflict and endless committee this, committee that, and oops now the committee makeup has changed. AGAIN. Try being a contractor under such circumstances.

However, instead of sending me a ticked-off email about my mentions of Carney's efforts in the same bloggy breath as the efforts of the NMTF, Carney invited me and some friends to wine and cheese at a semi-regular Friday "salon" held at their 837 Glenwood Office.

Carney is like that. He is open and communicative, happy to let things flow in spontaneous and creative directions, like a conversation with clever people flows, especially when lubricated by much wine. Carney takes enormous numbers of pictures, then casually tosses the pictures up on a website and doesn't really mind, he says, if somebody uses the picture for blogging or news coverage.

Hey, it's all good. Pat Carney is just LIKE that. He's fun and open and communicative. Unlike SOME people.

The offices of the Carney Group are...

...eclectic and spectacular and remind me, oddly, of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

I've been there, like, FOUR TIMES. A law professor once asked me why I had toured Monticello FOUR TIMES and I answered, "To engage in worship of Thomas Jefferson to the point of idolatry." She told me how FLAWED Jefferson was and I said, well, that was part of my attraction: that a flawed and imperfect person could be capable of such sublime thought and creativity.

Like Jefferson, Carney's creativity is one with his building. Like Jefferson, he participates in his local government: he's a member of the Harrison Neighborhood Association.

"You've got to be!" he told me. To get ANYTHING done in a neighborhood, he said (and I agreed) you have to be involved in your local neighborhood association. From a window, Carney pointed to a property across the street and outlined visions of a farmers market. He pointed to International Market Square and mentioned how that place IS IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS. North Minneapolis (NoMi) needs to claim a place like that, as part of its image.

Now how shall I put this, without violating any confidences? I told Pat Carney if he showed me the website he'd designed for the Northside Marketing Task Force--without formal, written permission to do so--there could be some kind of legal trouble. And I had a duty to tell him that, I thought.

Well, Pat Carney didn't want any TROUBLE. He is creative, but also a businessman and therefore instinctively prudent. But this was a case of "mi casa es su casa." If guests wandered around and LOOKED at things, what was he supposed to do? Intensely police his guests? That's really not his style. (Laughing hysterically, THAT might be his style)

So I wandered around. I looked at things. Other people may have looked at things, too, but I will only be responsible for MYSELF and I'll keep others out of the heat unless those individuals (who may be hypothetical and imaginary, who knows?) want to come forward on their own... which, if they are figments of my imagination, THEY CAN'T.

Yes, I think now I've sufficiently de-clarified matters.

So, in regard to the website designed for the NMTF: it's a good-looking website. The images do more than document, they celebrate the neighborhood. Relatively ordinary (but fun) get-togethers become photographic art, icons of neighborly good feeling. There are many things to click on and explore, a feature which will hopefully hold the attention of the casual browser who will get caught up and wonder, "Is there more...what's over here? Oh, that topic sounds interesting..."

The website needs more CONTENT but that's not really the job of the Carney group. They've got the house built, as it were, now people just need to move in and live there.

Could one make criticisms of the website? Oh, undoubtedly. But the mild criticisms of one of my (possibly imaginary) companions that evening were completely different than the stuff I would jump on. For example, saying "MY North Minneapolis." Well, my (fantasy?) friend thinks the whole "my thing" is "worn out."

Huh, I thought. THAT never would've crossed my mind. Yeah, put something like this cool website in front of a committee, and they will pick it apart, piece by piece. And that's the problem: this is not a new kind of soft drink. This is a neighborhood, older than any of us who are alive, a community with overwhelming levels of complexity and innumerable strong opinions.

How do you MARKET an entity like that? I say: If you want to market it, somehow you need to be able to say: here is money. Here are some broad criteria, which we've miraculously managed to agree upon. NOW JUST DO IT.

If you decide on marketing details by a committee, the (expletive) thing will NEVER get done. Somebody will say, "Let's put the nice older lady who has been here umpteen years on a billboard" and somebody else will say, "Well, if you're going to have a billboard of her, then you need a billboard of a certain young man who stopped being in a gang, and pulled himself up to assistant manager at a fast food place." And then somebody else says, "But that's your nephew!" And then the response is, "You have a problem with that, BITCH?!"

Academic studies must exist on the marketing of cities and neighborhoods. This is the kind of thing one should study, intensely, before wading in thinking, "They will greet us as liberators and throw flowers in the street."

This is what I said to Carney: Let us suppose, hypothetically, EVERY CRITICISM EVER MADE ABOUT THE WEBSITE IS TRUE? OK, I'm still left with SO WHAT?

A website that markets our neighborhood, into which content can be poured to compete with the negative messages in the media, is still better than nothing. Consider: In 1939, some units of the Polish cavalry used HORSES and BICYCLES. But which is worse: going up against Panzer tanks with horses and bicycles, or just throwing up your hands and surrendering?

At the table--amid bottles of wine and platters of cheese--I viewed a booklet passed around with crisp, concise, expressive writing and great photographs of the history of North Minneapolis, which flowed naturally into some exciting developments in the present moment. I was excited to see things I recognized and knew well, like the Hawthorne Eco Village.

Evan Reminick of Amalgam put his laptop in front of me and showed me a presentation he'd put together about ideas to market North Minneapolis--a MASSIVE amount of material, and he had done this FOR FREE, it wasn't even part of the CONTRACT.

I saw a particular line of text in his presentation and thought how that idea was very similar to my thesis of "Market and Romanticize The Struggle." Evan said he'd read my ideas about marketing North Minneapolis. (NoMi)

"Did my ideas influence you?" I asked.

"Everything I read influences me," he answered, nimbly, but he followed up by saying I was one of a very few people who had done any substantial theorizing about approaches to marketing North Minneapolis beyond merely "Let's accentuate the positive."

At some point--long after we'd consumed shots of exotic guifiti, both straight up and altered with "sugar in the raw"--long after exploring the website, (maybe that was just me) and flipping through the booklet, and checking out Pat Carney's amazing office which screams success, competence, creativity--I tried to figure out how to put all the NoMi marketing pieces together, all the players I'd outlined in Part One of this blog post.

And this is what I came up with:

NMTF pays Carney the $5,000 he is owed for services rendered. NMTF then turns over the completed website, (lock, stock, barrel and password) to the ad hoc group NoMi. NMTF then disbands. Why? Because NMTF has managed to negatively brand ITSELF, mostly by inaction and an inexplicably paranoid attitude about controlling information.

So...

NoMi uses the Carney-created website to market North Minneapolis any way it sees fit, since NoMi appears to be the group most well-situated to do this, at least at present, but time is a-wasting.

Don Allen could play a role by using his considerable geeky technical skills in driving web traffic. If NoMi wants to become a formal organization, they can approach Don Allen, who also has experience in putting together non-profits.

Yes, other entities could be approached other than Don Allen, but Don Allen is a PLAYER and he is at the table. So to keep everybody happy, Don Allen should play a role. Don Allen has talked about a highly-developed ability to shake funds loose from business entities. For goodness sakes, give him (or his new organization) an opportunity to do what he says he can do.

NoMi should retain its current cohesive structure--which is the only freaking thing getting any effective Northside marketing done--but could open itself to contributions by members of the community, Don Allen, Johnny Northside blog, and any members of (the former) NMTF who want to contribute efforts, ideas, and resources.

Johnny Northside is pretty adamant about GETTING PAID if his writing is going to be at somebody else's direction. That's the only thing. Beyond that, my dance card is free and open to NoMi, Don Allen, or even the NMTF.

Individuals who have a BETTER plan, or who want to discuss aspects of the Friday night salon that I missed are free to use the comments section.

PART ONE: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photo By John Hoff

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.


In the past several days, I've been present at two ad hoc, informal conferences to discuss marketing ideas for North Minneapolis, or NoMi. Before discussing the specifics of these two conferences, it might be helpful to run down who some of the "players" are in attempts to market North Minneapolis...

First, but not necessarily foremost, is the Northside Marketing Task Force. NMTF started with high hopes, but has seen endless internal infighting and--more more importantly--relatively little actual marketing efforts. Creative, intense individuals have splintered off from NMTF and pursued their own efforts.

NMTF is kind of, sort of a non-profit. (Apparently, some paperwork needs to be filed) NMTF is arguably the most "official" of the marketing groups and has been able to obtain some dollars to apply to marketing efforts. Recently, however, there has been talk of "reformulating" NMTF which is, arguably, highly dysfunctional and badly structured. Some personalities at NMTF include Mike Kestner and Jerry Moore.

Second, the Carney Group is a professional marketing agency headquartered in the Harrison neighborhood of NoMi. (Another entity, Amalgam, has a close working relationship with Carney and put blood and sweat into the website project for NMTF)

Pat Carney completed a website for NMTF, but has yet to get any go-ahead to unleash the completed website and--more importantly, from a business perspective--has yet to get paid the $5,000 balance of their contract, according to Carney. (Mike Kestner of NMTF may see it differently and is welcome to submit commentary, like ANYBODY is welcome)

Recently, through this blog, Pat Carney has been much more public about his dissatisfaction with the current situation (not getting paid, very little North Minneapolis marketing effort hitting the street) but he is a businessman seeking to make money, not a charity.

Third, Don Allen. Allen is known for his IBNN blog which focuses on civil rights issues and often advocates that the way to promote prosperity for black people is through business enterprise. However, IBNN is merely a hobby and a side project for Allen. The company Allen works for makes money by helping companies achieve higher Google rankings and disseminating press releases for pay. They even work for entities in CHINA. It's all about paying the bills, baby.

Don used to be vice chair of NMTF, but left NMTF and has made no secret of his disaffection with Mike Kestner and Jerry Moore. Despite Allen's strong business orientation, Allen has assisted in starting up non-profits. Allen is currently more-or-less in control of a relatively new non-profit entity which could receive public dollars and market North Minneapolis or, for that matter (in light of its mission) other areas underserved by media and marketing.

Fourth, there is NoMi.

NoMi is an ad hoc group made up of realtors. They are not a non-profit or a formal organization, yet. NoMi came up with the clever slogan "Get to NoMi" and has tried to brand North Minneapolis with the "NoMi" label, which shares similarities with the popular "SoHo" brand.

One of the members of NoMi split off from NMTF. NoMi has some helpful allies in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community, and yet NoMi is not a GLBT organization. Their primary concern is making "NoMi" a cool neighborhood in the public eye which, naturally, helps sell houses and raise the value of homes. NoMi has organized some successful home tours.

Despite the fact NoMi is just starting out, and lacks a website, NoMi has generated great excitement and expectations, quickly eclipsing any hope or excitement which once existed for NMTF.

Reason number one is the extreme cohesiveness of the group; in stark contrast to NMTF. The second reason is their slick, spot-on slogan, in contrast to NMTF's inexplicable leaf design and clunky slogan, "Forget marketing the f***ing neighborhood, we want justice and equality NOW!"

(OK, that's not really an exact quote, but it's close enough)

Another acceptable way of writing "NoMi" is in all-caps, "NOMI," based on artwork promulgated by this ad hoc organization. One hopes the name may evolve to the simplified "Nomi."

Fifth, this blog is a player. Though only an ad hoc, unpaid effort by a lone volunteer, JNS blog consistently cranks out content and has developed a reputation as a quick conduit for information dissemination. In terms of marketing NoMi, JNS blog's contribution has been a hypothesis called "Market and Romanticize The Struggle."

Sixth, Insight News is a player. This newspaper, published by community activist Al McFarlane, is primarly by, for and about North Minneapolis though it strives to be an "African American newspaper serving Minneapolis and St. Paul."

Insight appears to be speaking primarily TO readers in North Minneapolis rather than speaking ABOUT North Minneapolis.

Insight News puts out relatively little web content and is closely tied to its "dead trees" paper medium, but does have a website, unlike NoMi. The main concerns of Insight News are tied to social justice issues, click here for an example.

Last, but hardly least, the mainstream media is a player in the marketing of North Minneapolis. Newspapers and television stations follow the principal of "if it bleeds, it leads." Stories can be categorized and consumed easily by the public if these stories fit into preconceived mental channels, such as "North Minneapolis as a scary theme park of criminal violence and social decay."

Thus the most powerful "marketer" of North Minneapolis is not deliberately marketing at all, but merely reporting on newsworthy events but--in so doing--creating a self-fulfilling marketing and branding effort.

Arguably the only way to counter the "background noise" of this mainstream media "non-marketing marketing effort" is a principle this blog makes every effort to apply: CRANK OUT CONTENT.

Tell every positive story that can be told. Game the Google rankings with tricks like "RSS feeds." Hire marketing firms with whatever dollars can be obtained. Vigorously engage in the difficult work of revitalizing the neighborhood, and then publicize those efforts, encouraging similar efforts to take root.

So there you have the players. Now, what has been happening lately?

Number one, NMTF members have been talking intensely to Johnny Northside blog about the future of North Minneapolis marketing efforts. That's really all that can be said about THAT, except it's on the phone and by email, mostly, not so much in person.

Number two, Don Allen has been talking intensely to JNS blog and, recently, had an informal meeting with JNS, a member of NoMi, and a member of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council. That's really all that can be said about THAT, except--once again--the discussions have been about the future of North Minneapolis marketing efforts.

Number three, the Carney Group and Amalgam have been talking intensely to JNS blog, a member of NoMi, and members of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council. (Two of the individuals there were both former members of NMTF) More can be said about these discussions because not so much was "off the record."

The photo above shows Anderson Mitchell looking, intensely, at some rehab photos shot by Evan Reminick of Amalgam at the offices of the Carney Group, last night, at a "salon" gathering featuring wine and cheese.

More wine than cheese, actually. OK, a LOT more wine than cheese. Some exotic Honduran guifiti was consumed, too.

So that outlines the marketing players and some recent interactions between the players; to the degree much can be said at all.

Part 2 will cover what can be said publicly about last night's informal meeting at the offices of the Carney Group, including a "sneak peak" at the much-discussed, not-yet-released website for the Northside Marketing Task Force.

JNS Blog "Goes NoMi" (And You Should, Too!)

Photo By John Hoff

In the future, this blog will use the term "NoMi" instead of "North Minneapolis" in stories about my neighborhood which are generally positive in tone. However, for stories about colorful political controversy, crime, mortgage fraud--basically the negative stuff--I will continue to use the term "North Minneapolis" with my preferred capitalization of "North."

Normally I don't go out of my way to state my blog policies, which are always evolving. Instead, I just do what I do. But in this case...

I believe the grassroots neighborhood marketing efforts being attempted by groups like NoMi are important enough that NOT ONLY should this blog jump aboard the NoMi bandwagon, but I should make a public point of it.

The picture above shows Kip Browne, the new chairman of the Jordan Area Community Council. Kip and his new wife Kelly live just two houses down from Council Member Don Samuels, on a block which used to be rough but has now become beautiful, revitalized, livable, ALMOST perfect and perfection seems quite within reach. A piece of NoMi artwork--which I hope will be one of many more issued in the coming years--hangs prominently in Kip 'n' Kelly's house.

I should point out, though, that "negative" can be a very subjective judgment. There are people who read stories on this blog about political controversies in neighborhoods and tell me things like, wow, they wish their neighborhood politics were so colorful and exciting. It has long been my position that we must not only market the positives, but also market our fulfilling, and continuously SUCCESSFUL struggles against the negatives.

Certain personalities want to do more than just live in a calm, sedated cocoon of suburban domesticity; they have some cowboy blood in them, some pirate personality, a desire to do heroic deeds. They sense a gold rush a-coming, and want to stake their claim, then reap the rewards of their boldness for years, decades. They are visionaries, who look at present difficulties and see the first green shoots of urban utopia pushing above the ground.

The trend is clear; North Minneapolis is becoming NoMi. I intend to get on board with the trend.

Also, for the record, the term "NoMi" has been out in the public domain for a while, in free usage. It has NOT been successfully trademarked. So I am free to use the term and so is anybody else. If somebody wants to tell me different, well, the comment threads are open.

Northside Marketing Task Force Response Re: Publicity, Outreach For Northside Housing Fair

Photo By John Hoff

Some discussion took place on this blog about whether the Northside Housing Fair was adequately publicized by the Northside Marketing Task Force. Blogger Don Allen, who makes a living in marketing, didn't get word about the housing fair and didn't think it was adequately publicized. 

What follows is NMTF Vice Chair Mike Kestner's response to Don Allen.

Don,

The primary 2009 Housing Fair organizer was...


... John Helgeland. John, in my eyes, has done a fantastic job in putting on this great event over the last four years with a team of volunteers. John remains a true champion of North Minneapolis, who continues to bring community together across all lines.

The Northside Marketing Task Force (NMTF) role this year as a Co-Producer of the Housing Fair was to learn through active volunteerism the planning process, with the NMTF taking over planning and production (with community partners
supporting in co-production) in 2010.

I know John sent out numerous emails to many community members enlisting their volunteer planning support starting in early fall 2008. Apparently you did not receive this communication. It sounds to me that you would have been an interested volunteer.

I'm sorry we did not see you in attendance this past Saturday, given your obvious interest and concern. The NMTF contracted The Carney Group to take photographs and video of the event.

You can view the photos here:

www.northminneapolis.com/north_housing_fair

Overall, I think the North Housing and Home Improvement Fair was a success. We were competing with very nice weather and still managed to have turnout equal to last year, I'm told. There were many families in attendance, and the diversity of the North Minneapolis community was evident. There were 12 seminars covering a gamut of topics of interest, and community organizations were well represented.

The NMTF table had well over 200 visitors, as we gave out North Minneapolis t-shirts, brochures and continued to spread the positive message of living, working and recreating in our community. We also had a thick binder of historical home and building photos gathered from the MN Historical Society.

I can also tell you that Northside Marketing Task Force members were on KMOJ's "Voices of the African American Community" program this past week promoting the Housing Fair.

So I would say it was a success, and as with all worthwhile ventures, it could always stand to improve. I'm proud of the NMTF's involvement with this fair, and look forward to helping shape this event in the future.

We hope to involve your communications skills in promoting this event in the future!

Thanks,

Mike Kestner
Northside Marketing Task Force