(TEMPORARY NON-CONTROVERSIAL BLOGGING RESTRICTION IN PLACE) JNS Blog Publishes Mainstream Media Link To Last Night's Triple Shooting, Publishes No Other Information Though In Possession Of Some Info...

Stock photo, inoffensive general image, blog post by John Hoff

Readers, please note the PayPal button to the right. I am soliciting donations for a First Amendment defense of this blog. See previous editorial on this topic. 

So last night there was a triple shooting in my neighborhood. Click here for a link to a mainstream media report. This is the kind of thing I normally report on, discovering and disseminating new pieces of information about a matter of public concern. 

But this blogger is adding no further information to the news report about the triple shooting even though, yes, I have some info and I would normally publish that info... 

Spam, Spam, Who Loves Spam? Johnny Northside Blog Loves Spam In A Very Limited Way, And Other Geeky Technical Revelations After Some Of The Wildest Weeks In This Blog's History...

Facebook photo depicting a scene in North Minneapolis, historical
artifacts uncovered at a big, roomy hundred-year-old mansion bought
for a song, technical reasons for using this photo previously explained,
blog post by John Hoff

This blog posting discusses very geeky things that I'm posting mostly to document the technical evolution of this blog. If that bores you, then I (the very author of this posting) will urge you not to read something boring. I'll have some "baby dad got mad" drama for you in the very next blog post, I promise!  

Now then, this has been a wild couple of weeks. Let's start with viewership numbers...

This Is North Minneapolis, This is NoMi, This Is What We Look Like...

 

Facebook image shared by Brian Finstad, used under First Amendment
Fair Comment and criticism, blog post by John Hoff

First, a word of explanation about this amazing image. Brian Finstad (the bearded guy to the right) moved to North Minneapolis a couple years ago and helped bring about an amazing transition at a house that was originally purchased for $7,500. Brian and his partner transformed that $7,500 house into the kind of place you read about in glossy magazines about historic homes. 

The image in this photo is NOT that house. This is ANOTHER house... 

No More Mail Collected Here: More Signs Of Deep Demographic Change In NoMi

Photo By John Hoff 

I was mailing a letter a few days ago, and I encountered yet another sign of the deep demographic change which has taken place in North Minneapolis due to foreclosures and associated vacancies. So deep are the demographic shifts, that a rather smart friend of mine asserts in the next census North Minneapolis might be no longer "majority black." One thing is for sure: this place has lost an incredible amount of population.

So one sees little signs of how much has changed. And here's one of those signs:

Next to the "super market" style liquor store at Lyndale Ave. N. and West Broadway, where no-account characters pretty much hang out in and around the parking lot all the time, loitering for no good purpose, there is blue post office box. I often use it because it is convenient.

Well, that won't be happening anymore....


An official notice on the box says the box will soon be removed, and it states the reason. Mail at that collection point has dropped off sharply.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...that things have deeply, irrevocably changed, and until the next census data rolls around, we can hardly reckon up what, exactly, the changes are.

IBNN Blogger Don Allen Urges Citizens To "Take Back North Minneapolis," Calls Out 7 "Self Appointed Leaders," Plus Delightful Home Style Cooking!

Facebook Image

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.

Don Allen of the IBNN blog, pictured above on the far right, is calling 'em as he sees 'em, and urging citizens to join him tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, in an effort to "take back North Minneapolis" from what Don calls "seven self-appointed black leaders." Click here for a link to Don's blog post about this event, which will be held at the SunnySide Cafe at 1720 Glenwood Ave. N.

Word is the event will go from...

...around 11 in the morning to about 2 PM. The choice to use the SunnySide Cafe is significant: Al McFarlane, who is kind of like Don's nemesis ("The Anti-Donny," if you will) often holds court at the SunnySide. ACCORDING TO DON ALLEN, Al McFarlane recently said Don must work for the "CIA or FBI." Let me tell you, my blog had a lot of fun with THAT, click here.

I understand the SunnySide serves basic, delicious home style food and they are even willing to cater. (This establishment is right across the street from the place where Lennie "The Heckler" Chism saw his small empire rise, only to dramatically crumble, click here)

Don Allen--who is always taking on the folks running things at the Minneapolis Urban League--has been spilling some interesting stuff on his blog, lately, and also letting hot information out in coy little dribs and drabs, click here for an example.

Anybody interested in more details should email Don Allen at info@ibnn.org or call Don at 612-986-0010.

Groundbreaking At 1200 West Broadway--NoMi Progress Rolls Forward!

Stock Photo By John Hoff 

I sure wished I'd checked my text messages this morning, because then I might have taken in the groundbreaking event at 1200 West Broadway.

I tell you, life in NoMi is just endless socialization, public events, epic and colorful struggles (with neighborhood revitalization forces USUALLY coming out on top, decisively) and, of course, dinners at the ultra-affordable houses of friends. Connie Nompelis was the one who sent me word of the groundbreaking, with FIFTEEN MINUTES NOTICE. She is pictured in the stock photo above, to the left, with a distinguished older resident of the Eco Village, and Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes. Jeff is wearing the "Navy seal casual" outfit he prefers when confronting slumlords armed with heavy equipment.

Well, though I couldn't be there to watch ground broken it appears no media or even the blogosphere covered this worthy event, so I will do my bit of public service by promulgating the details. This is yet another great project by the Ackerberg Group....

Here's what the Ackerberg Group would like everybody to know about their project at 1200 West Broadway:

The 1200 West Broadway project will renovate a vacant, two-story commercial building on Minneapolis’s Northside. Built originally as a four-plex in 1902, the building was expanded to become a mortuary in 1926 and expanded again in 1930. Most recently, a day care facility operated in the building.

The Ackerberg Group on behalf of Catalyst Community Partners will convert the building into office space and two storefronts that may house a community meeting room and a shared commercial kitchen.

The renovation of the 12,000 square foot building will include new ADA assessable restrooms, the addition of a vertical lift, mold and asbestos remediation, new building lobby, façade improvements, new mechanicals, new electrical, new tenant spaces and common areas, and more. The parking lot will see the addition of a bio retention area that will treat all run off on site. Native grasses will be planted in conjunction with the bio retention area.

This prime site is located in North Minneapolis at the intersection of Fremont Avenue and West Broadway. West Broadway is one of the city’s eight commercial corridors and is the "spine" of North Minneapolis. It has daily traffic counts of over 29,000. Both Fremont Avenue and West Broadway are currently major bus routes. The site is in close proximity to many significant Northside landmarks such as North High School, the YMCA, Cub Foods, Hawthorne Crossing shopping complex, and the newly renovated 1101 West Broadway.

Additionally, there are several major commercial developments slated for the next two years including a new YWCA and commercial space by Great Neighborhoods! Development Corporation, a potential major housing development several blocks west of the property, and the renovation of the city-owned “Delisi’s” building at Penn Avenue and West Broadway. The nearby Capri Theater is currently undergoing a major renovation.