Despite Petty Acts Of Vandalism, Renovation At 1209 25th Ave. N. Moves Forward, Fabulously...

Photo contributed by John Fena, blog post by John Hoff

Yesterday, I reported on the petty vandalism at a property being renovated by John Fena, an unstoppable force for good in the neighborhood. My blog post, click here, didn't mention the address but it's 1209 25th Ave. N.

In following up, it seems good and right to illustrate how well things are going at that beautiful property despite the minor frustrating setback of the vandalism. That house was, incredibly, once a source of neighborhood blight. But the photo above shows what John Fena, et al, have been accomplishing at renovating, revitalizing and transforming the property. 

John Fena...you are Johnny Northside's hero. 

From A Source Connected To An Organization In Washington D.C., JNS Blog Has The Gun Trafficking "Burnes Indictment" Naming Angela Carter, Keniko Bland, Jacquelyn Burnes, Diontre Hill, And Raheem Abdul Lee Watkins, Pictured Below...

MN DOC mug shot, therefore public domain, Raheem Watkins, blog post by John Hoff 


Click here for a copy of the federal grand jury indictment.

"The Burnes Indictment"

Shocking charges of gun trafficking leveled against five people have been the subject of coverage in local mainstream media, and more granular in-depth coverage by JNS guest blogger Jordan North. Now, quite unexpectedly and without a lot of effort on my part, the federal grand jury indictment has fallen into my hands, see the link above.

The document provides some...

Can Anybody Identify The Two Juvenile Suspects Throwing Rocks In This Surveillance Camera Video From The Jordan Neighborhood?

Contributed YouTube embed, blog post by John Hoff

A regular reader thought this might be a matter too small for my blog, to which I respond: no, this is EXACTLY the kind of thing this blog focuses upon. Can anybody identify these juveniles in the videotape above before they transition from minor property crimes to a wasted life of violent felonies? 

This surveillance camera video, which was uploaded to YouTube by Northsider John Fena, at about the 59 second point begins to show a couple of juveniles who...

City Council President Kicks Off "Houses For Heroes" Program, Now On Memorial Day 2014 Information About This Blogger's Minor Role In Starting The Program Can Be Declassified And Revealed...

Contributed photo, blog post by John Hoff


Small Group of Key Stakeholders 

Some days ago, at a small kick off event inside a spiffy new handicap-friendly house at 5200 Penn Ave. N., the City of Minneapolis and its partners formally launched "Houses For Heroes." The program was spearheaded by City Council President Barb Johnson who, under our city's "strong council, figurehead mayor" system of government, is arguably...

The Story Of Melvin And Brandy Continues....Melvin Michael Jones, 20. This Young Man Was So Full of Promise. A Life Allegedly Taken By A Drunk, Old Enough To Be His Father. A Mother's Words....

Blog Post By Jordan North.....

Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism

I'm almost never speechless but sometimes a heavy sigh is all that can be mustered. If you've never been a Mother of a wonderful son with a golden smile, you may not relate. One of our greatest fears is losing our child in the streets. It never crosses our mind that it will be at the hands of a reportedly 55-year-old drunk man, behind the wheel of a car, going in excess of ONE HUNDRED miles per hour. Allegedly...allegedly according to highly trained police accident investigators...

Larry Jermaine Jones, 41 years of age, "Coach El," Officially A Homicide Victim TODAY And The Natives Are Restless!

Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism

Blog Post By Jordan North

On November 4, 2013 officers from the Minneapolis Police Department were called to North Memorial Medical Center on a report of a person who had been shot.

The shooting took place on  2000 block of Irving Avenue North. The victim was a passenger in a car was otherwise known as Coach El. The police allegedly felt it was drug related.

The victim, Larry Jermaine Jones, 41 years of age, Coach El, was paralyzed as a result of the shooting and died May 22nd, 2014. This is now a homicide. Another unsolved homicide, with no leads...

JNS Blog Tries To Uncover Why Blogger Don Allen Was Terminated From His Post As "Second Vice President" Of Minneapolis NAACP, Oh, It's Not Pretty, Folks...

Photo from Don Allen's Facebook, used under First Amendment Fair Comment
and Criticism, (OMG check out this NAACP member hanging with the GOP) blog post 
by John Hoff

For those who don't want to read my entire, detailed article below, here's the skinny from an informed source about why IBNN blogger Don Allen was really kicked out of his Second Vice President position with the Minneapolis NAACP:

He tape recorder (sic) NAACP Regional managers and played there (sic) conversations on him and Ron's blog radio show... Posted lies about executive board members and bashed NAACP and other leaders... it was just never ending.... but you know Don. Why do you REALLY care???????? What has he done now

And now settle in for the rest of the story, folks...

The divide between the citizens and the police grows a little wider (Editorial by JNS blog guest author "Forseti")

Stock photo provided by John Hoff for this blog post by guest author, the officers
depicted are actually St. Paul police officers. 

Blog post by guest author "Forseti"

While there are many frustrations with the police on the north side, I find many of them should belong with the city management (council, mayor, police chief).  Recently however, I observed something that was a complete lack of judgment on the part of the responding officer.  Several calls to 911 had been placed by residents reporting a loud party complete with 4 people in a vehicle parked in front of the house next door. Several people came from the party with glasses in their hands, got into the vehicle and were lighting and passing something around. There was one individual who urinated in the middle of the street. 

When the police showed up around 20 minutes later (not a bad response time for that time of night on a non-violent incident), they proceeded, from their squad to tell the people from the car that they “should go back inside as their neighbor was pissed at them.”  Now since the speakers in the party house were on the side of the house they were parked in front of, they quickly placed the blame on that neighbor for making the call...

Investigative Journalist Blogger Marinka Peschmann Has Dug Up Something Very Interesting In Mega-Bankruptcy Case In New York, If Her Facts Pan Out It's Hard To Believe This Won't Impact Us, Somehow, In North Minneapolis...

Honorable Judge Martin Glenn, original source of photo is reportedly Cornell 
University, photo was obtained from article by Marinka Peschmann, blog post
by John Hoff

Click here to read the article discussed in this blog post.

A regular reader often sends me interesting stuff by email. Even though I rarely make use of the stuff on my blog, (well, sometimes I do!) he keeps sending and I keep looking it over. Tonight he sent me something interesting enough to share with readers.

There is a huge bankruptcy case in New York, so huge it may be the largest bankruptcy case in American history; the simultaneous Chapter 11 filings of 51 residential mortgage companies. Normally this kind of geeky mortgage stuff is handled by bloggers like Jeff Skrenes (Hawthorne Hawkman) or Behind The Mortgage Dot Com but...

Three Young Gang Members Locked Up And The Women Who Made It All Possible Allegedly. A Mother, School Employee And A Corrections Officer. Diontre Ramone Hill, 20; Keniko Bland, 20; and Raheem Abdul Lee Watkins, 21, Are Facing Counts Related To Illegally Possessing Firearms. A Good Woman Is Hard To Find...

 Facebook photo, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism. 

Blog Post by Jordan North

Federal Judges felt that that Angela Carter was not a flight risk, perhaps because she is caring for her child who underwent a second, reportedly unsuccessful surgery to save her eye. The middle aged, STILL employed school worker and mother may not be a flight risk but is definitely a HUGE risk to the safety of North side residents.....

"Color Me Alarmed," JNS Blog Attempts To "Follow The Money" As Georgia-Based HavenBrook Homes Snaps Up 40 North Minneapolis Properties...

Stock photo of a now-demolished North Minneapolis house, does not depict a HavenBrook
Home, blog post by John Hoff

An article in the May 9 STrib discusses neighborhood concern as a Georgia-based entity called HavenBrook homes has snapped up some 40 homes, intending to turn these houses into rentals or, indeed, already at that point. 

The author of the article, Eric Roper, doesn't write fluff. I've checked his history of recent articles. So I'm rather confused by the fact Roper appeared to make no effort, while talking about this mighty 40-houses-snapping-up-entity, to flesh out the full picture of who is behind HavenBrook Homes...

Hey, Who Can Parle Vous Some Francaise, Here, And Go Tell These French Folks On YouTube The Lower Court Decision In The Johnny Northside Case Was OVERTURNED ON APPEAL?

YouTube embed, blog post is by John Hoff

I was doing a little "vanity searching" on YouTube to keep myself entertained on a Sunday and, incredibly, I came upon this video discussing the Johnny Northside defamation case (I call it The Blogosphere Trial of the Century) and it's COMPLETELY IN FRENCH!!!

Well, I get along well enough in Spanish (and a smattering of Pashto and German) but I sure don't speak French, except that one line from a song, we won't be mentioning that right here and right now...

JNS Blog Puts Out The Call For New Guest Authors, Foresees A Day When Content On This Blog May Be MOSTLY Guest Authors...

They are sirens, can you hear them signing a song? John and Alex's summer road
trip, 2013, blog post by John Hoff

In the not-too-distant future, I hope to be very successful and very busy. But since February 21, 2008, this blog has been my contribution, my gift (wanted or unwanted) my contribution to the struggle for Northside neighborhood revitalization...a struggle toward what I have dubbed "Urban Utopia."

What is Urban Utopia? I have defined it as the moment when the most pressing issues Northsiders have to be concerned about is whether artisanal cheese sold at the local gourmet food store was produced overseas with child labor, gasp, THE HORROR. 

When it comes to Northside (NoMi) neighborhood revitalization, I would like to think this blog, to a degree, has helped to...