From an anonymous poster to this blog, I received word of (what seemed at first) a somewhat alarming development in the city's government's push against slumlord Mahmoud Khan and his numerous messed up properties. A few days ago, the City Attorney had recommended some kind of SETTLEMENT with Khan the slumlord. The item appeared in an agenda from August 28, as follows...
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City Attorney
1. Legal Settlement:
Authorize settlement of Mahmoud Khan v. City of Minneapolis (Consolidated Assessment Appeal), relating to withdrawal of special assessments levied against 3420 Chicago Ave S, 3557 Dupont Ave N, 2531 Newton Ave N, 4000 Dupont Ave N, and 2906 Emerson Ave N.
Staff Report: Khan v. City of Minneapolis-RCA
Action Taken: Approved
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After uttering several angry and confused expletives, I began seeking information. And I was so PISSED OFF that, while trying to post on the North Talk Facebook page, I accidentally posted my query on my own Facebook status. Well, it worked just as well. Councilman Gary Schiff still responded and said he was sending a query to the City attorney.
A short time later, apparently after speaking to the City Attorney, Schiff got back to me and said as follows:
Here's the answer: He appealed about 120 assessments, averaging about 2 per each of his properties. City staff analyzed the paperwork for each of the assessments in preparation for court and found paperwork errors for the five properties listed above. (One property had assessments added while he was in the purchase process, which is not defendable, another notice was mailed to the wrong person, in the wrong city.)
In all total, the city had to waive $10k because we would have lost in court and Khan dropped the other appeals and will pay around $36,000. ....I have to say this is a HIGH rate of clerical errors and is reason why the city assessment process MUST be streamlined and reformed.
I told Schiff that I was concerned about the clerical errors but, hey, whatever. At least 115 assessments remain that Khan will still have to fight over, and the city has its bureaucratic jaws in Khan's butt like a pit bull. Fittingly, Khan is BURIED ALIVE in assessments. (Click here for Star Trek video homage)
Councilman Schiff said, "You could count it like that, or calculate it like the city lost out on $10K of $46K of assessments due to sloppiness. On a percentage basis, that's an unacceptable error rate. But yeah, he still is getting buried in fines."
Khan was the subject of recent coverage in the Star Tribune, click here, which mentions Khan is a target of "bloggers."
But Khan hasn't been nearly as much a target as he SHOULD be. You have to ask yourself, "Does this Mahmoud Khan from Pakistan hate America and all it stands for, or does it just SEEM that way because Khan goes out of his way to rent to criminals, to at least one alleged human trafficker of minors, and one of his properties was a dumping spot for the body of a murdered 15-year-old girl?"
Khan still travels as a flight attendant sometimes, as documented in the Star Tribune story. Where does he go? Does he go back to Pakistan?
Khan is a name associated with a number of figures in that part of the world and, in fact, "Khan" was the name used by Osama bin Laden's family when they were hiding in Pakistan, as documented by The Telegraph, click here.
Of course, in that part of the world "Khan" is kind of like "Johnson."
This kind of speculation is pretty wild, but throw an idea out there as a hypothesis, shall we? Let's suppose the stuff Khan does is not because of sloppiness. Let's imagine for a moment, just as a thought experiment, that it's not an accident Khan rents to the worst of the worst, giving crime and (alleged) human trafficking a home in North Minneapolis.
If that were the case, and it wasn't an accident, what would be the MOTIVATION?
DOES SLUMLORD MAHMOUD KHAN HATE AMERICA AND ALL IT STANDS FOR?
"Does this Mahmoud Khan from Pakistan hate America and all it stands for, or does it just SEEM that way because Khan goes out of his way to rent to criminals, to at least one alleged human trafficker of minors, and one of his properties was a dumping spot for the body of a murdered 15-year-old girl?"
ReplyDeleteI don't think the average Joe would ever ask himself such a thing. If only because it doesn't make sense.
While bringing up your obvious concern with his nationality(otherwise, it wouldn't have been brought up), you mention he may hate America and all it stands for.
The America I know gives people chances. If this was not the case everyone convicted of a crime would be killed or sentenced to life. If you think not renting to the millions of Americans with criminal records and forcing them to live on your streets will fix things, then so be it.
I'm sorry, but Americans need to live somewhere. Being upset with a landlord because he wont fix his broken windows is one thing. Being upset that they are renting to people you dislike, disapprove of is another. You are free to buy all the homes you'd like and rent them to wealthy United States born citizens with no criminal record.
Your extremist views in this post and fear of anyone who may not be your race or nationality is frightening.
Johnny, I have to disagree with you here. It is very unlikely Khan's business model is born out of foreign "hating of freedoms," a delusion more or less invented by irrational mouthpieces. I say more or less because you of all people can appreciate there does exist an element of violent fanaticism that support killing, maiming, intimidation, etc., but I want this conversation to be more about NoMi and less about the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Subsaharan Africa, our long-running culture war, etc.
ReplyDeleteKhan is fulfilling the ultimate robber baron's dream Note I didn't say American Dream, because I think most of us also believe in civic responsibility. Khan, on the other hand, is making tons of money with very little effort, investment, or concern for the negative externalities created by his cutthroat capitalist business model, such as f'ing up an entire neighborhood.
I firmly believe a capitalist can be the most effective economic model when used in the proper venue. Unfortunately, we as Americans generally understand ANY accumulation of money must be a good thing; many of us also believe a blanket, capitalist approach is appropriate in any institution, including the operations of schools, hospitals and housing, and this is exactly why Khan exists. Where is the limit? 100 homes? 1000 homes? Perhaps the entire city of Minneapolis' housing stock should be owned by a single entity driven by profit and eventually, investors.
Perhaps paradoxically, I'd also argue Khan's venture is actually bordering on feudalism, with him holding the strings as a lord. The citizens of NoMi, whether his serfs or not, reap the crime and blight his properties produce, while the citizens of Minneapolis (and Hennepin County) are forced to make up for all the tax revenue lost from properties that would otherwise be contributing their fair share of civic infrastructure funding.
In other words, Khan is laughing his arse all the way to the bank until we start drawing a line in the sand.
I think the post makes it clear that I am throwing some ideas out there as a hypothesis useful for discussion and not as an editorial, not as stating my strong opinion and what I believe in my heart.
ReplyDeleteBut, increasingly, I seek an explanation of why Khan behaves as he does and, actually, where does all that money he makes GO? Does he visit Pakistan? Does he give to various charities located in Pakistan? Is he related by close blood ties to any of the Khans who are involved in radical activities?
These are legitimate questions that are being asked in the course of Khan's sheltering of violent criminals, human trafficking of 15-year-old minor girls at his property, (allegedly) and even a murdered body turning up.
To the first poster, save some of your outrage for what KHAN is doing.
To the second poster, your sentence about a LINE IN THE SAND turns me on but riddle me this: WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING AND WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT THIS GUY? I haven't seen his bank account. I don't know what he's doing with his money. I don't know where he got all the money and/or credit to buy all these houses in the first place.
And it is not wrong to say THERE IS A BIG AND WORRISOME BLANK SPOT HERE AND IT WOULD BE NICE TO GET SOME ANSWERS and one possibility is, well, what's happening here is DELIBERATE and not the result of carelessness. Do I believe that myself?
No, I am not yet at that point of belief.
Do I see it as a theoretical possibility?
Yes. You say "unlikely" and I say "theoretical possibility." We may be talking about the same thing in terms of how we rate the odds, but here's the thing. I don't think this "unlikely" possibility should be discarded as something not worth discussing or exploring as an idea.
I would like to see more evidence that "unlikely" is the same is "not true." I'd like to know WHERE HIS MONEY IS GOING and THE LAST TIME HE WENT TO PAKISTAN and WHO THE (EXPLETIVE) DOES THIS GUY KNOW IN THAT COUNTRY AND WHAT ARE HIS TIES THERE?
In other words, posed as a question, DOES MAHMOUD KHAN HATE AMERICA AND ALL IT STANDS FOR?
John, I appreciate your ability to spur thoughtful discussion; it's one of the primary reasons I enjoy reading your blog. I assumed your provocative posting was a vehicle for discussion rather than illustrating a personal hard-line belief. However, I also exercise caution because, if I've learned anything over the past decade, it is that real-life socio-economic problems are increasingly mitigated with farcical solutions such as wars against "terror" and I'd be sorely disappointed if this blog started down that path. Please also note my description of irrational mouthpieces was not directed at you but at government cronies of yore.
ReplyDeleteI said it was unlikely Khan is sending money back to Pakistan but it isn't out of the realm of possibility. It also isn't out of the realm of possibility that many of not most of Khan's extended family already resides here in Minnesota; that none of them espouse radical views; that maybe even some of them find his business practices embarrassing. All hypotheticals. Also, I think we assume much when questioning his war chest, as if every immigrant to America is dirt poor when they arrive. For example, some of my ancestors walked the Vermillion Trail to work the mines in Tower, but others settled in St. Louis and Los Angeles County because they were loaded and thought it would be a "nice place to live" (it's amazing what information passenger manifests provide on Ancestry.com...). Not everyone living in Karachi is a downtrodden zealot dreaming of supernatural paradise.
Considering Khan's self-serving poor-me-this-isn't-Edina attitude when defending his shiteous upkeep of NoMi homes, and his ballsy litigation moves with the City, I'd hypothesize all that Section 8 money has done wonders for his retirement fund, a McMansion or two, a few Maseratis, and full college tuition for his kids. Unfortunately, like I posted earlier, many Americans would find no fault in providing for these expenses, especially when you consider how ridiculously priced a 4-year degree is nowadays (thanks in part to slumlords like Khan!).
I will also add, in response to your final question, that Khan probably loves America because of the financial opportunties afforded him here. He can conduct business without the bribery system that pervades nearly any kind of transaction in many second and most third world countries. I have colleagues who work abroad and they can't even access a copy machine without paying "fees" to at least two completely useless people!
ReplyDeleteHere's a question: does hard line capitalism hate America? (let's compare abstraction to abstraction). I'd argue yes, and that it is EXACTLY the kind of cognitive dissonance that is leading to the social upheaval we are living through now. Extremist capitalistic views are harmful to American society, but it is very difficult to make that statement because people either a) cannot separate America from the economic model of capitalism and b) cannot accept constructive criticism of capitalism without assuming the critic must be some off-the-wall communist or socialist.
But this is about NoMi and slumlords. Show us evidence Khan is funding an extremist group hell-bent on destruction and mayhem John, and you may well turn out to be a national hero. Keep providing us evidence about his scummy, yet localized crapsicle of slumlordery so we may enact real regulation and you may turn out a Minneapolis hero. Either way, I think the ball is in your court.
No, they are not legitimate questions to be asked. Quite frankly, how someone spends their money is no business of yours. Regardless of whether you beleive they should be spending it on their property or not to further increase your property value.
ReplyDeleteI would hope he does give money back to his family. Just like I would assume you do or would do if you had the means. I see nothing wrong with providing for ones own family(or friends or charitys or strangers) and certainly see no reason to have to explain such a decision to do so.
I still do not see what Pakistan has to do with anything. Out of 196 countries in the world only 5 countries have a larger population than Pakistan. To even question how a man who holds one of the most common surnames in Pakistan has anything to do with any kind of extremist group is obsurd.
With your same theory, I think it's important to ask whether you yourself are invovled in helping someone bury 26 dismembered corpses (including children) in your own backyard. To most, I understand this might seem bizarre to wonder but surely you'll understand. It's far more likely you are related to John Gacy and his wife who shares the same surname as you than to a family harboring Osama bin Laden pretending to be "Kahns" - but not actually Kahns.
From information provided by genealogy resources, Kahn is the 4th most popular surname out of 180 million residents of Pakistan. In fact, Kahn is quite a bit more popular in the United States than Hoff is. I would take the odds that Hoff, being the 1,508th most common surname in this country of 315 million people, is up to no good before I would bet on Mahmoud Khan who resides in the USA, being the 4th most popular surname in a country of 180 million, being up to no good in Pakistan.
With that being said, I find that the only explanation for your outlook is either extreme blatent racism or you have some incredible fear for others who are not from America.
You sir, need to open up your eyes.
Does he visit Pakistan? Like many first and second generation South Asias, I would venture to bet that he does visit there, since he was born and raised there and likely still has family there.
ReplyDeleteDoes he give to various charities located in Pakistan? Hopefully he does given the extreme poverty there. And what does this have to do with him being a slumlord?
Is he related by close blood ties to any of the Khans who are involved in radical activities? The name "Khan" in South Asia is like "Smith" in America.
You have really gone off the deep end with this one. First you make a racial comment about Farheen Hakeem (also of Pakistani hetigate) now this lunacy. But at least you found another group to be racist against instead of the blacks.
To the last poster, I think you meant "heritage" not "hetigate." Frankly, I don't know what nationality Farheen Hakeem is, but anybody can look at that picture of her I published and see the humorous description fits.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to Slumlord Mahmoud Khan, it takes a whole lot of bad, bad, bad actions before I'd ask a somewhat off the wall question like "Does he hate America?" and start looking for foreign ties even in a THEORETICAL INTERESTING KIND OF QUESTION sort of way.
But you know what put me over the edge? HUMAN (EXPLETIVE) TRAFFICKING of minor women at his property (REALLY minor, one of them FIFTEEN) and Khan is all, like, oh, I didn't KNOW anything about these (alleged but highly documented) crimes.
And his awful addresses turning up ALL THE TIME on the jail roster. And a BODY turning up there, a crime that is STILL UNSOLVED.
I didn't just ask these anger-provoking and controversial questions out of the blue because, oh, he's from Pakistan so I'd go after him. I don't operate like that.
But after all the bad, awful, terrible crap going on with his properties (the human trafficking was the straw that broke the bloggy camel's back) I think Mahmoud Khan frankly DESERVES questions like I am asking.
What is wrong with you, Khan? Do you hate America that you tolerate crime and even ENCOURAGE it by your selection of tenants, turn a blind eye to human trafficking, and how is it that a body turns up on your crappy, neglected property?
Are we all supposed to just keep saying, oh, that's just sloppy business practices? WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO, KHAN, because it sure doesn't look like it goes back into your shitty properties. How often do you travel to Pakistan and DO YOU GIVE MONEY TO ANYBODY THERE?
And guess what? I didn't come up with the questions on my own. Two thoughtful citizens of North Minneapolis, independent of each other, put the questions to ME over the course of a few months. I am merely REPEATING the questions. After finding out there are GOOD GOD 115 assessments left on these properties, I think we can all start to wonder WTF is there some kind of AGENDA here for these properties to be that CRAPPY?
I call bullshit on the false use of the name Andy Shiocton. It's one of your trolls using some made up name, like they do so often. Yawn.
ReplyDeleteTo anonnaeass, or should i say ASSHOLE, whom by chance just happened to post at 4:20, it is not racism when you tell the fucking truth about these pathetic pieces of smelly shit that turn our neighborhoods into ghettoes. Fuck all of you assholes that play the goddamn race card just so you can run your fucking games and make your money at the expense of people getting killed, maimed, raped and robbed. Hey con Khan, pack your fucking bags and take your fucking act down the fucking road before karma dumps a load of greasy shit down YOUR throat and makes you eat it when it comes out of your stank ass.
ReplyDeleteThis all sounds like a great way to do some Money Laundering using shady assets to purchase substandard homes and turn the governments section 8 payments into usable cash.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the FBI and IRS need to look into this?
So, you are now back tracking and saying its others that are racist and drowning in fear of non-Americans?
ReplyDeleteI think it's clearly you.
Well played.
According to you there are unsolved crimes here. Maybe your time would be best spent stepping away from your diary entries and trying to solve those crimes rather than looking for a crime.
ReplyDeleteThis guy should be investigated by Homeland Security. I believe that Khan is an agent for C.H.A.O.S. and Maxwell Smart should be on dat ass. Seriously, race has nothing to do with it and is merely being used once again by the forces of deception that love to fuck us silly.
ReplyDeleteJohnny Northside is not a detective. He is a blogger. He blogs, not investigates/solves crime.
ReplyDeleteIf he does detective's work, will the detectives blog for him?
Stupid troll, get a life.
I said HOMELAND SECURITY, BITCH! Learn how to read, 11:02. Stupid troll,learn something other than how to be foolish to your anonymous existence, i have.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Boathead....ditto!
ReplyDeleteMONTANA
858 you're the stupid one. I was commenting in reply to the one eho said johnny northside should investigate unsolved crimes. Idiot.
ReplyDeleteI follow most of your posts on here, and while a lot of the things you post are full of 'shock value content' I've gotta say, this blog post is just sad!! Just hateful!
ReplyDeleteYea, i'm tired of people hatin' and schemin' to line their pockets full of cash while others get raped,robbed or killed like a dog just because some stranger, or strangers come into our community and want to flip some houses after turning them into ugly fucking eyesores that trash the horizon. I do not stick up for anemic, manipulating assholes who strive to bring despair and destitution to our area. Do not give me that crap that the guy provides affordable housing because it is a goddamned lie that deserves to be picked apart and called for what the fuck it is. All of you fucking slumlords may become rich, but i have an uneasy feeling that YOU GUYS are behind the devestation of our beautiful area and the bitch called KARMA may be searching for you in a very tactical and reconnasaint manner. Life is a bitch and i dislike folks who treat others as such. The body of water that the Boat floats on is becoming more turbulent as time goes by and i witness the same song with different singers and the same show with the latest washed-up actors. I will end by saying that after all is said and done, i look forward to throwing up in somebodys mouth. Our area is tired of being fucked with. Good Day.
ReplyDeleteI tune in JUST to read boathead's elequant (sp?) & SO TRUE creative writing skills! Also JNS's.
ReplyDeleteMONTANA