and Criticism, blog post by John Hoff
Pictured above, James Early, who reportedly shot his two-month-old nephew Isaac Early in the neck by accident. Yesterday on Facebook, James Early claimed he will surrender today. JNS blog will believe it when I see it.
But in regard to the address where the shooting took place, 2413 Emerson Ave. N., as of the date of the shooting it was a black hole of online information. No rental license listed, though a secondhand report I have says there is, in fact, a rental license...
Whose name is it in? Who knows, it's not online. Who is the rental property point of contact? Who knows, it's not online. How about old rental property contacts, going back years, to help us trace the rental history and figure out if the house was ever the property of a notorious slumlord? Nope, can't get that either.
Inspections data. Structure data? How about the name of the current owner?
Maybe, months or years from now, something might change in the online profile of the house. For now, it's just a black hole of missing information. Right when Northsiders (and, for that matter, media) desperately need information the most about a property in their neighborhood, the information is not there. And, unfortunately, this is all-too-typical of the city's online property records. They are incomplete and out of date more often than they are complete, in particular with regard to ownership information.
This blog (and, for that matter, Hawthorne Hawkman's blog) have made pointed mention of this problem many times. But the problem never gets fixed. For that matter, we never have an EXPLANATION of the problem from the city. What's the problem? Lack of money to upload data? Technical glitches that wipe out data? What?
We don't know. Once again, just a black hole.
City officials talk about the need to fight crime and solve deep social problems. But the evidence I'm seeing tends to show...
The city can't even keep a simple website accurate and up-to-date as to whether properties have a current rental license.
The back end database is down. None of the information that is normally available is there.
ReplyDeleteGive it a little time. It'll come back.
The baby was shot in his head not his neck.......
ReplyDeleteIt was a group home in the early 90's.
ReplyDeleteAdditional info on 2413 Emerson.
ReplyDeletePage 46 here: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/convert_262660.pdf
Page 3 here:
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@council/documents/webcontent/convert_256940.pdf