Photo by John HoffJust north of Lowry Ave., I was cutting through alleys to get back-o'-the-property views of the problems and situations which might require me to make a 311 report when...
I spotted this unattached garage which clearly got smacked by a car or a garbage truck or something, and I figured I should call it in. I went around to the front of the house to figure out the address, but the house was missing its house number. There was no "official paper" on the house where I could read an address.
In situations like this, when you're trying to be helpful to 311, one can sometimes find an address on the soggy wad of accumulated mail inside the mailbox. (Pretty much identity theft waiting to happen) So I checked the mailbox, and I noted the recipient of the mail at that address was...
T.J. Holdings.
And I know this to be a name used by T.J. Waconia. Don't forget, Johnny Northside was born inside a chat thread of Behind The Mortgage Dot Com in a wild back-and-forth blogging melee about T.J. Waconia. That was how Johnny got his special blogging powers to expose evil and help his new home, the North Side. So Johnny (oh, god, I'm talking in the third person like a loon) is keenly interested in T.J. Waconia.
You might even call 'em a kind of arch nemesis.
So this was going to be fun, racking one up on "T.J. Wack" now that I could figure out the street address.
When I called, though, the operator knew about the situation with the garage. In fact, she even knew about the missing house number, and this was how I learned--quite by accident--you can apparently make a complaint about a missing house number.
To my surprise, she said there was "ten open complaints" about that particular property. That's a lot of open complaints. I mean, I've seen properties ready to fall over, with crack heads living inside, and you call up and it's like...oh, really? Front door wide open, you say? Oh, missing entirely. I see. Let me file a new report on THAT.
But I don't have a problem with Minneapolis focusing very specifically on certain high-profile wrongdoers. To give an example from my immediate neighborhood, crack is being sold all over the city, but it makes sense to concentrate on 3101 6th Street North right now.
All the same, like a cartoon superhero who--at some level--has compassion for his arch nemesis, I've suggested my "let the punishment fit the crime" idea to make Tom Balko and Jon Helgason live in the world they've created, instead of a federal prison.
This property wouldn't be bad at all. The rest of the block is pretty decent, and other than the garage damage, this one sort of fades into the woodwork.
Alright John, you came to me to ask that I read this post. And now I have.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit confused though...
What is the point to the post? Other than it used to be owned by TJ Holding?
You said there were 10 complaints on the house but, what are the complaints?
Normally I would assume what they might be but you said that the house and block didn't appear to be that bad.
Note to Barbara Johnson:
Is it possible that TJ Waconia used to own at least ONE house that wasn't a run down piece of trash, that helped bring down the northside?
My point...well, Texas Jim, I know you'd love it if I said "it's all political and your friend Tom and Jon are innocent," but you know I don't think that way. I do advocate for them to live in the neighborhood as their sentence, instead of going to prison, ala that movie "The Super."
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because we need as much help as we can get, and I think they'd pour their energy into trying to redeem their extremely sullied reputation, and that kind of effort could be valuable.
Not that it's possible to redeem their reputation, since money has flown away which they apparently can't repay, but give them an opportunity to desperately try to work off some of their sins, I say, especially if it involves picking up litter and dialing 911 on drug dealing.
For the record, I absolutely love what Barbara Johnson has been doing, and many months ago when I spoke to staff in her office, they were incredibly helpful and gave me some good info.
But I write about the reality of my experience, and it struck me as notable to see a house which wasn't "that bad" and yet the 311 operator said it had "ten open complaints" and it was a "T.J. Holdings" house.
Also--though I didn't say so in the blog entry--I was surprised there was no "official paper" plastered to the house.
I have another picture of the house. I'll be putting it up. I didn't put it up before because it wasn't THAT good a picture, but it's good to keep this discussion going.
P.S. Yes, for the record, I understand it's TOM who is your friend and Jon is more like somebody you know. I'm clear on that point.