Amazing Transformation At 722 23rd Ave. N.

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

There seems to be some kind of powerful revitalization magnet buried deep beneath the soil on my block, and it is foolishness to resist its force. Mysteriously good things keep happening on my block (the 2200 block of Bryant Ave. N.) and on surrounding blocks, slowly-but-surely pulling the neighborhood upward from a decades-long downward spiral.

The house at 722 23rd Ave. N. is surely Exhibit A...

My first encounter with this house was in April of 2008, when I was making a report on squatter activity there and had a close encounter of the smelly kind which literally almost made me vomit. Actually, I certainly WOULD have barfed, but I didn't have anything in my stomach at the time.

The house stood empty for a long time but then, in the last several months, there were hopeful signs of progress. It appeared somebody was pouring more money into the house than one would expect if the house was being transformed into a rental.

As of today, the house appears amazingly transformed. I'm not sure if somebody is planning to "flip" this house or if all that work was done by somebody who plans to occupy the house themselves as an owner. Though I'm still cautious in my assessment of the future, at this point I can't help but say: BRAVO! You have performed a miracle with this house and, as a neighbor, I am grateful.

The Blogosphere Trial Of The Century Will Take Place Today And Tomorrow At...

Musical commentary via YouTube embed, blog post by John Hoff

...Room 655C, Hennepin County Government Center, the court of the Honorable Judge Denise Reilly, beginning at 9 a.m. with jury selection, the fun and interesting part may begin around 10 or 10:30. See today's story in the Star Tribune.

Law students, interested citizens, journalists and students of journalism. Come one, come all.

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Nomistar* Is New Blog Guest Author!

Stock photo by John Hoff, blog post by Nomistar

Hello to all! I have known John for some time and have been an avid reader of The Adventures of Johnnynorthside. Recently, due to our mutual interests, John asked me to be an at-large contributing author to this blog and I have gladly accepted his invitation.

Here are some of the mutual interests I share with this blog and plan to write about. The renewal and revitalization of the North Side. No holds bared reporting on the small criminal element here on the North Side that are causing all the mayhem and grief. Hobby investing in small cap companies such as the one reported on the blog: Alex, Hoff, 13, buys his first penny stock.




I also hope to help John and his merry band of good citizens fight back against those who want to maintain the status quo, who refuse to own up for their misdeeds and when confronted will lash out with harassment, slander and frivolous lawsuits.

Spend anytime with John or on this blog and you will realize johnnynorthside.com is his labor of love, he truly cares about NoMi and only wants to make it a better place for his son. He spends a tremendous amount of time writing, reporting and lately defending himself from mean spirited lawsuits.

If you enjoy this blog please help John out with your support or cash! If you have a couple extra bucks you can spare, just use the secure Paypal button embedded in the sidebar to the right and be sure to hit the follow button at the top of this page.

Until next time- Nomistar*

(Do Not Click "Read More")

Recycle Everything, But Not One Can For Crackheads!

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Regular readers know what a fanatical recycler I am. I actually dry out used tea bags, rip them open, and throw the used up tea grounds into my flower beds or (if I am at my girlfriend's house) in her flower bed. My girlfriend Megan has become accustomed to the fact her windowsill will constantly be full of tea bags that are drying out.

Despite the fact I recycle almost everything, there is one item I won't place in my recycling bins. And, oddly enough, it's one of the most recyclable items of all...

Aluminum cans! I make sure they get recycled, but I won't set them out with the other recyclables. I don't want crackheads and alcoholic chronic inebriates getting cans out of my bins and using the cans to support their habit. So I make a point of saving the cans back and giving them to worthy can-collecting causes or even (worse case scenario) throwing the cans in the trunk of my car and making sure to drop them off at a state rest stop.

You know how folks have those We Watch, We Call signs? I think that's great. Let's all watch and call 911 and 311.

And lots of folks have "Please don't litter" signs. I have one of those, on the rear of my garage, overlooking my recycle bins right where the crackheads would dig through the bins. This reminds the crackheads to clean up after themselves, and not to litter. So that's good.

But I'd like to have another little standardized sign--or maybe stickers!--which I could affix to the top of my recycle bins.

The signs would say:

NOT ONE CAN FOR CRACKHEADS.

Mortgage Fraudster Marlon Pratt...Looking Not So Slick And Confident In Prison

Mug shot therefore in the public domain,

Blog post by John Hoff

I actually met Marlon Pratt, once. He was hanging around the Larry Maxwell trial which involved the mortgage fraud at 1564 Hillside Ave. N. At the time, he came off as a real slick character. He still retained some vestige of an aura of confidence, but it was wearing thin and showing holes. I imagine that outside of a courtroom where he watched Larry Maxwell getting chewed up by Hennepin County Prosecutor Brad Johnson, Marlon Pratt probably exuded the kind of personality which allowed him to pull off fraudulent deals with Universal Mortgage.

But as Pratt watched attorney Larry Reed struggling to defend Larry Maxwell, Pratt didn't seem very confident. The look on his face seemed to say...

..."This is going very badly for Larry Maxwell. And, oh my god, I'm next."

Well, here's where the scammers end up. Here's a mugshot to show what Marlon Pratt looks like in prison. He's currently incarcerated in Fairibault, Minnesota and won't be getting out until 2016.

Mortgage Fraudster Larry Maxwell...Looking Old And Broken

Mug shot therefore in public domain, blog post by John Hoff

In my experience, it takes months for mug shots to hit the website of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) but it's just a case of bad things taking time. Today I was tooling around on the site, punching in various names, and I turned up our old friend Larry Maxwell, who committed mortgage fraud at...


...1564 Hillside Ave. N.

Old Larry Maxwell (and, my god, he DOES look old) is doing 16 and 1/2 years, or 198 months and is currently housed in St. Cloud.

R.I.P. Larry Maxwell.

Reside In Prison.

It's Hennepin County Jail Roster-O-Rama Time On Johnny Northside Dot Com...

Stock photo by John Hoff, Hennepin County Government Building

Blog post by John Hoff

It's the first week of the month, and you know what THAT means!

It's that festive time when I pull data off the Hennepin County Jail Roster--including home addresses, certainly not promised to always be accurate--and I post the information on this blog because that portion of the jail roster is not "crawled" by Google bots. But this blog is, indeed, a virtual Google bot feeding frenzy because we slap up content so often. Inquiring minds want to know, especially bill collectors and process servers.

So, without further ado, I give you...

NoMi Resident Michael Spivak Mourned, His Cat Still Needs A Home...

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

Members of a tight circle of neighborhood revitalizers in the Jordan and Hawthorne neighborhoods were shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of Michael Spivak, a home owner who often joined social events around the Jordan Pond and was known to be very passionate about gay activist causes. Indeed, one member of the gay community who lives in Jordan remarked, "Mike was at every gay event I ever attended."

Mike was found dead in his home after being out of touch with friends for a few days. A news article that ran in his home town of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, click here, said the cause of death is still unknown but there were no apparent signs of foul play or suicide or any obvious indications of why he had died. For a couple of days questions were swirling about what had happened. It is only small, cold comfort to know there was no violence that took Spivak's life. North Minneapolis has still lost a one-man force of revitalization. Spivak was known to comment on this blog, sometimes, and often shared with me how he would not hesitate to call 311 or 911. He was one of the folks helping to turn this place around. He will be missed, quirks and all.

This blog recalls Spivak as a man who...

...loved the social events in NoMi, whether it was a picnic, party, or just sitting around in a home or bar talking about issues of the day and enjoying a beverage. Spivak once proudly showed me his lovely home, expressing gratitude to his parents for helping him to obtain it. I noticed that a bookshelf filled with DVDs contained about every piece of cinema related to gay or sexual identity topics that you could find in any mainstream video store. He was nothing if not passionate about the right of gay people to be themselves.

Spivak was working in various law-related jobs, and putting forth effort to get his bar license. He had one dog, and one cat. The dog, named "Bear," found a home (after a short stay at a shelter) with somebody named "Lou" who apparently lives in North Minneapolis and runs in a park around here. The cat, named Eaton, still needs a home. He is currently in a "foster home."

Here is a link with information about the cat which was apparently set up by Spivak.


Michael, if you can get this message you are loved and missed. A part of you will always be a part of us as we press our battle to create an urban utopia of diversity, prosperity, and ecological balance here in NoMi. We shall raise a glass from time to time and say, "To Mike." Your gay brothers and sisters will always be welcome in our homes and our hearts just in the way you dreamed of, and constantly advocated for. You taught us a lot in your short time with us, and we won't forget you.

I won't say goodbye to you, Mike. I will only say, "See you later."

(Musical homage to Mike)

Jerry Moore v. John Hoff a/k/a Johnny Northside Trial Will Be Monday, March 7, 9 a.m., Room 655C, The Honorable Judge Denise Reilly...

Stock photo and blog post by John Hoff


Instead of the trial I was expecting a week ago, today was merely a hearing in the defamation lawsuit filed by former JACC Executive Director Jerry Moore over an article published on this blog June 21, 2009. The issues at the hearing were threefold, as follows:

1. Is Moore a limited purpose public figure? If so, the standard for defamation is extraordinarily high and difficult to reach. Defamation would require actual malice and reckless disregard of the truth.

2. Will the plaintiff be allowed to ask questions about the identity of...

...confidential sources who this blog asserts are protected under the Minnesota Free Flow Of Information Act? For the record, this blog will not give up its sources under any circumstances, no matter how trying.

3. Will the plaintiff be allowed to sue for remarks made in "comments" posted by readers? This blog asserts the publication of such comments are protected under the Federal Communication Decency Act.

Individuals who were at the hearing today included...

1. Fifth Ward City Council Member Don Samuels--who also testified in regard to Jerry Moore's various public controversies.

2. Jordan Super Citizen Megan Goodmundson, who has been instrumental in putting together exhibits such as the numerous news articles which make mention of Jerry Moore in association with issues in North Minneapolis.

3. Melony Michaels, who was one of the victims of the identity-theft based mortgage fraud at 1564 Hillside Ave. N., the controversy at the heart of this case. Melony was accompanied by her friend Jan, a real estate agent who helped in the initial do-it-yourself criminal investigation. Their amateur investigation ultimately was taken up by the authorities, becoming a criminal indictment which put Larry Maxwell in prison for 16 1/2 years.

4. A Star Tribune reporter and columnist.

5. PJ Hubbard, the board member Jerry Moore hit in the face after the tumultuous Jordan Area Community Council election of January 12, 2009.

6. Naturally, the Mpls Mirror lady was there, hanging on the periphery of upbeat socialization and looking bitter.

7. Jerry Moore. His attorney, Jill Clark. Their paralegal Peggy Katch.

8. A young brunette female, late 20's to early 30s, who appeared to be either a journalist or law student based on her note taking, who sat in the back.

Both Jerry Moore and myself testified.

Due to the nature of being sued, (even frivolously) only so much should be said. A more colorful, detailed accounting will take place when that is possible. Some kind of ruling is expected tomorrow on the three main issues to come out of this hearing: public figure, are sources off limits, are comments protected under Communication Decency Act? Right now the most important piece of information I can relate is this: the blogosphere trial of the century (click for musical homage) will take place Monday, March 7, 9 a.m, Room 655C, the court of the Honorable Judge Denise Reilly.

Frivolous Litigant Peter "Spanky Pete" Rickmyer Defies Judge Robert A. Blaeser, Serves Purported Lawsuit On Johnny Northside Blog...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

At about 2 p.m. yesterday, while I waited outside Room 655C in the Hennepin County Government Building to deal with a hearing in the Jerry Moore defamation lawsuit (see previous story) a bearded young "bike messenger" type dude was present wearing a tan stocking cap and black motorcycle jacket. He asked if I was John Hoff (I was) and then handed me papers.

It was a lawsuit. Sort of.

As anybody who reads this blog or City Pages is aware, last year notorious Level Three Sex Offender Peter "Spanky Pete" Rickmyer attempted to sue me and a host of other individuals (including prominent public officials like the Commander of the Fourth Precinct) with a nonsensical, rambling "midnight manifesto" of complaints which purported to be some kind of lawsuit alleging a "smear campaign." The lawsuit-like document was filed pro se, in forma pauperis and, incredibly, this Level Three Sex Offender actually had sheriff's deputies running around serving his worthless legal paper, including one who...

...waited outside the Chamber of the City Council but refused to enter and disrupt the hearing on the reappointment of Police Chief Dolan. This situation led to the infamous "John Hoff's Great Escape" as I went out a side door through council chambers and then left town for a good long while on other business. Indeed, Peter Rickmyer never managed to serve me with the lawsuit (until yesterday) and was declared a frivolous litigant by the judge, which means he is no longer allowed to file lawsuits on his own behalf. If Rickmyer is going to file a lawsuit, some lawyer (a real one) needs to do it for him. Click here for the judge's order.

But just as being sent away to the sexual deviant funny farm at Moose Lake didn't keep Spanky Pete from molesting minors once he got released, so did a judge's order not prevent him from defiantly serving his worthless legal paper. The document thrust into my hand by the reasonably polite young process server was the very lawsuit Peter Rickmyer had been trying to serve upon me last year, updated with some kind of statement dated February 24, 2011.

Well, it was a good long run--just over a year--but my dodging service days came to an end there at Room 655C. (Click here for a musical tribute)

After the hearing on the Jerry Moore matter I was busy with other matters pertaining to the defamation lawsuit so my girlfriend Megan Goodmundson called Peter's zoo keeper, Will McDonald, who came within a short while to the Hennepin County Law Library and obtained a copy of the crap Peter Rickmyer had served upon me.

(Spanky Pete touched the document I myself touched. Shudder)

According to Goodmundson, McDonald appeared to almost have smoke coming out of his ears and was stating something about how he would contact a judge about Pete's latest escapade. Furthermore, McDonald was quite interested in knowing if we had any idea who was the anonymous commenter using the moniker "DOC" and leaving remarks on this blog about Peter Rickmyer. The answer was no. We don't have a way to trace the identity of anonymous commenters. Oh, one can guess or speculate as to their identities, (we certainly did) but we don't know.

Somehow, I don't think this situation will work out so well for Spanky Pete, but I don't think he's alone in this little legal misadventure. I think somebody is putting him up to things, encouraging his self-destructive madness.

Anyway...

The photo above was taken a few hours ago at Farview Park, where I attended a meeting of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council Housing Committee. It shows all or most of the L3SOs in North Minneapolis. Ask yourself if children who play in parks in Edina see a display like this?

Peter Rickmyer is in the lower right hand corner, front and side view.

For another picture of Rickmyer, click here. For an image of me, um, doing an imitation of Rickmyer, click here.

Trial Delayed In Jerry Moore v. John Hoff a/k/a Johnny Northside...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

It was expected that a trial would begin Thursday, March 3 in the Jerry Moore defamation lawsuit. Moore is suing this blog over a story published in June of 2009, click here. This blog is represented by Paul Godfread, a local lawyer found through the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School. The network describes this lawsuit as a threat to free speech. Godfread does intellectual property law cases and has been known to defend, for example, people accused of improper file sharing. Godfread jumped into the Moore v. Hoff lawsuit on short notice and was ready for a trial tomorrow. (Dramatic musical homage, click here)

However, during a pretrial hearing today (March 2) the Honorable Judge Denise Reilly delayed trial and set a hearing for tomorrow at 10 a.m., room 655C of the Hennepin County Government Building. The hearing will focus on matters such as...

...whether questions can be asked about the identity of confidential sources and whether it is allowed under federal law to sue a blog for publishing comments.

Some defense witnesses may take the stand to testify on these matters. Individuals who are intensely interested in the trial and the allegations still swirling around the mortgage fraud at 1564 Hillside Ave. N. are urged to attend, as well as various media who have been contacting Johnny Northside Dot Com.

Blog readers are urged to keep an eye on the Star Tribune, something might hit soon.

Oh, in regard to the photo above...a citizen on Hillside Ave. N. saved a souvenir for me of the infamous 1564 Hillside Ave. N.

Pretty cool, huh?

Tialian (Sic) Beef Available At The Chicago Grill, Lowry Avenue

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a several months, now, and some days ago I decided to finally write about it the same way I write about, for example, the unsightly Plexiglass windows at Friedman's Shoes on West Broadway. You see, there's a little place called the Chicago Grill on Lowry Ave. N. which serves the usual stomach-churning assortment of greasy meat-based foods widely available in North Minneapolis, and the window of the store advertises TIALIAN BEEF.

That's right. Tialian.

I can understand somebody making a mistake when the sign was manufactured. Hey, mistakes happen. What I can't understand is why they...

...went ahead and installed it like that. Was there nobody at all--from the person who ordered the sign to the person who installed it to the person who paid for it--NOBODY AT ALL WHO CARED WHETHER THE SIGN WAS SPELLED CORRECTLY AND CARED TO IMPOSE SOME KIND OF CIVILIZED STANDARDS? We're not talking about a misplaced apostrophe, here, or the wrong use of they/their/they're but rather a spelling error which is pretty much inexcusable butchery of the English language.

Now here's the crazy part. After I took this picture but BEFORE I managed to blog about it, the misspelled sign which had remained for, lo, many months...is gone. It's covered over with some kind of brown paper or cardboard. I think somebody saw me taking the photo from inside the store so maybe they decided to fix the issue before I could blog about it. Or it's a coincidence.

But if only I could get such quick progress with Friedman's Shoe Stores.

Already, I'm starting to miss the misspelled sign and grow sentimental. When I would drive by it with my girlfriend Megan Goodmundson, we always chuckled even as we gritted our teeth.

Lately, I was pioneering some experimental communication in "Chicago Grill Pig Latin," like so:

It's a tsereotype to say all Tialians have afmily members who are in the amfia.

With our neighborhood changing so rapidly, it's hard to cover the BIG STORIES let alone something this minor. But on a day that saw both a court hearing on the Jerry Moore v. John Hoff defamation suit, as well as a new attempt at a lawsuit by Peter "Spanky Pete" Rickmyer, somehow this little story got documented for posterity.

Tialian beef! Uymmy!

JNS BLOG EDITORIAL: Dubious $15,000 Don Allen Contract Causes Closer Scrutiny of Minneapolis Public Schools Expenditures (Dig, Corey, Dig!)

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

The story which this blog exclusively broke some weeks ago--a dubious $15,000 contract with the notorious blogger Don Allen of IBNN to promote the struggling Minneapolis Public School system--has been picked up by other media entities including The Deets blog, Twin Cities Daily Planet and, most significantly, the Star Tribune. (Pictured above)

Chris Stewart, former Minneapolis School board director, has publicly called Don Allen's blog "the equivalent of black on black crime." While often crying out about perceived racism, the vast majority of people Don Allen attacks on his grandiosely titled IBNN blog are black community leaders, including frequent attacks on President Obama and Fifth Ward City Council Member Don Samuels.

I should be clear that when I say Don Allen is "notorious," I am referring to Don Allen's lazy fact checking, his well-documented tendency to just make things up, (Poopgate! cough cough) his terrible spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization and also the fact Don Allen operates a kind of "shakedown" blog, leveling scathing accusations or THREATENING to level scathing accusations while, at the same time, offering solutions to the "problems" he has pointed out. Somehow these "solutions" often seem to involve paying money to Don Allen, such as his proposed "con man contract" which involved the Minneapolis Public School District posting (OMG!) a $25 million dollar bond as part of a "community benefits agreement."

But that's all background. In some sense, that's YESTERDAY'S news. What's new, interesting, and exciting is that once the Star Tribune started digging into Don Allen's contract, they didn't stop with Don Allen. The latest problematic MPS contract to come to the attention of the Star Tribune is a $97,000 contract with Schoolwires, Inc. to deliver website services.

Corey Mitchell, the same reporter who did the story on Don Allen, delivered a great story about the Schoolwires fiasco, click here for Star Tribune article.

I only hope Mitchell keeps digging and gets to the bottom of the financial mismanagement at MPS, especially the rumors which just won't die of $100k that went through the Minneapolis Urban League, with some of the money allegedly ending up in the hands of notorious loon-at-large Al Flowers.

Dig, Corey, Dig!

If I was the Minneapolis Public School system, right about now I'd be really, really unhappy that doing business with Don Allen has caused a Star Tribune reporter to take such an interest in mismanaged money. In fact, I'd be trying to figure out how to get out of the Don Allen contract just to get some of the egg off my face.

$$$

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