NoMi Loses Dottie Titus, Longtime Neighborhood Force For Good...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Dottie Titus, a longtime Jordan resident who constantly helped and advocated for positive change in her North Minneapolis (NoMi) community, has lost her longtime battle with cancer. Postings to social media by credible, reliable people state she died Thursday.

Titus was a NoMi blogger way before there was a NoMi, and way before recent high-profile heated blog battles. Titus was there ahead of all of us, leading the way with a Wordpress platform and a blog called Jordan Livability. Her last blog post...

...was September 15, 2010, a simple little "bread and butter" blog posting about concerns over new bylaws in the Jordan Area Community Council. (JACC) Yet Titus often cried out on her blog about financial mismanagement by what has come to be known as the "Old Majority" crowd of no-account, worthless crap-bag malcontent screw-ups who nearly bankrupted JACC, including disgraced former executive Jerry Moore and Ben Myers, Chair and Criminal Attorney. (Not a very good one, based on my observations)

Dottie was a professional counselor, a gardener, a friend. She was often involved with making 911 calls about prostitution on Penn Ave. N. and videotaping what was happening out on the street. In fact, Dottie once showed me piles and piles of videos she said documented prostitution activity on Penn Ave. N., few of which have actually seen the light of day. She would just set up her camera and leave it run. Here's an example of her work, click here.

On Thursday--the day she died--Dottie was still listed as a defense witness in the Jerry Moore v. John Hoff a/k/a Johnny Northside matter. She was listed on Friday, too, with neither side knowing she had passed. Dottie was truly with us in spirit. In fact, some of her blog postings were put forward, offered as evidence that Jerry Moore is a "public figure" for purposes of defamation analysis. Even when she was too sick to get up and help us, the things she wrote and documented were valuable and being used.

It was Thursday when--while showing pictures to my attorney, Paul Godfread, of some meetings at JACC--that I came across this photo of Dottie. I was unaware she'd died, but thought how I'd taken this picture and not used it. I thought it would make a great "stock photo" if I ever had to write something about Dottie. Odd how I would see a picture of Dottie on the very day she died, a picture I hadn't seen in several months.

In this photo, Dottie is at a JACC meeting. She is documenting what is happening, using her video camera. It was, in fact, Dottie who managed to record Al Flowers shoving council member Don Samuels at a different meeting. But at this meeting, it is just a regular meeting, the first board meeting "after Al Flowers went crazy at the JACC press conference" and folks were expecting trouble, but no trouble actually arrived--no trouble except that Peter "Spanky Pete" Rickmyer was haunting the meeting, having the audacity to sit right next to Lt. Jeff Rugel, a high-ranking police officer. It was at that very meeting "Spanky" stood up and talked about how poor little North Minneapolis children are likely to get PTSD and the matter needed to be studied. Now Spanky is in jail, and will have a hearing March 23 on whether he committed contempt of court. More on that in a moment. The point is: Spanky haunting Jordan Neighborhood council meetings is no longer the norm, not like it was the day this picture was taken.

Did Dottie get some choice pictures, some audio of Pete that day? Knowing her, I'm sure she did.

You might be thinking this is a strange way to write of somebody's passing. But Dottie was right in the thick of neighborhood issues. Constantly. Even when she was ill, during times she was feeling well Dottie would show up and give of herself. She was a selfless, humble warrior for NoMi, and blazed a trail others (including myself) are following. Before many Northside residents dared to dream such a dream, Dottie saw it was possible for our neighborhood to be not merely be SAFE, but actually NICE.

Dottie's life was epic, beautiful and heroic. No obituary can do her justice. She will be missed but (like Michael Spivak) she is now with us in spirit, and we will raise a glass to her from time to time. To Dottie.