Does an Infamos Slumlord Want Out of North Minneapolis?

3127 Morgan Ave N

As a Jordan neighborhood homeowner and avowed mortgage geek, I take it upon myself to know as much as I can about the local housing market, and I frequently scan the MLS for interesting tidbits.  One such listing popped up a while back.  A house at 3127 Morgan Ave N has been listed for sale with a purchase price of (drum roll, please) $1.45 million. 

I briefly wondered if this was something similar to the $2.5 million house that signaled the downfall of the Paul Koenig/Pamiko empire.  But the listing itself states that the seller is looking to unload a total of sixteen properties, is willing to barter each on an individual basis, and will give a steep discount to someone who is buying all of them at the same time.

The owner of record, according to the city's website, the owner of record is an obscure entity called Entrust Midwest LLC.  Right away, I recognized this as being owned by the notorious BMG, none other than...

New Parking Rules not Ready for North Minneapolis Implementation

Stock photo of a parking lot across the street from my home.
 
At a recent Penn Avenue Community Works meeting, I was asked how I felt about the removal of some parking spots along the corridor.  My swift response was, "North Minneapolis is too addicted to its parking spots and on principle I support any action that reduces parking in this part of the city."  (After that, I did dial it back a bit and got into an actual conversation about the issue.)

So with that as my starting point, I heard some rumblings over the past few weeks about a change in zoning that would eliminate certain parking requirements.  My knee-jerk reaction was the same.  If it gets rid of parking over here, so much the better.  And maybe it could help attract a developer to the fallow land currently owned by the Minneapolis Public Schools just off of Broadway.

But then I read a quote from Council President Barb Johnson, who said that she'd be shocked "if there are fifteen people in north Minneapolis who know about this."  That piqued my curiosity and I decided to bring that number up to sixteen.  I didn't just read a newspaper article on it though.  I read the staff report, the public comments, reviewed the maps and watched the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting.  After immersing myself in the topic, I am not sure I support the ordinance at all and I fully support President Johnson's proposed amendment to exempt north Minneapolis from the change.

Here's why...

Where to Go After West Broadway Fire

Author's note:  much of the post was initially written shortly after the fire, and put on hold as I didn't have time to finish the article.  Since then, the city has said they will not initiate demolition, and the post has been edited to reflect that change.

On April 16, 2015 a fire broke out on the 800 block of West Broadway, rendering much of the block uninhabitable and unusable at least for the time being.  There are a number of things that cause serious concern here.  First and foremost, I am glad that no lives were lost and that no serious injuries were sustained.  I hope that the businesses and organizations affected, like Brix Meats and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, will be made whole again.  I mourn the loss of history within these buildings--even if they are restored there will be some aspects that cannot be completely reconstructed.

More to the point, however, I am saddened at the potential loss of what these buildings could be restored to.  Properly restored historic storefronts along West Broadway remains the best way to naturally grow our business corridor through small incubator projects.  One of the principal reasons, demolition aside, that I had a negative reaction to the Satori development was because it took that kind of organic, grassroots development off the table and made everyone focus on the new bright and shiny toy in the room.  More on that later.

After the initial shock wore away, what lingers for me is a mystified reaction as to why people were so quick to...

Where have All the Bloggers Gone?

Facebook.  That would be the short answer.  But the answer deserves some elaboration on a personal and community level.

The Adventures of Johnny Northside recently went about two months without a post, and has announced a blogging retirement of June 15, 2015.  This blog has had a similar gap.  The Deets is back with some new content, but had been dormant for a while too.  Sure, other blogs have started up (or kept on going); "Hearts and Hammers," and "My Blonde Life in the Hood" come to mind.  But these are primarily personal, navel-gazing pieces and not tackling broader community or institutional issues as their primary focus.

While I can't speak for others, I can talk about my personal choices and what I see as a vastly different landscape for writing and dialogue on community issues.  A little over a year ago, a close friend told me I should "blog less and get out and meet people and do things more."  More often than not, when I'm presented with a good idea, I dismiss it out of hand at first.  But the seed was planted...

How I'd Fix the Orth House Process Shortcomings

First off, I have to give major credit to my council member Blong Yang over the Orth House.  This isn't because of his vote, although he was one of two to vote against its demolition.  It's because after my last post, he did something that should be far less rare among our elected officials:  he responded publicly and directly.

On my personal Facebook page, he posted a link to the Zoning and Planning meeting where the Orth House demolition appeal was granted.  At issue for the preservationists has been a sense that the appeal wasn't handled in a fair enough manner.  The city staff position was not in favor of a historic designation that would have made demolition far more difficult for the owner to obtain.  And while the staff person did present the Heritage Preservation Committee position, and in some detail, many feel that position was not defended as vigorously as it should have been.

There are two reasons why a better defense of the Orth House was warranted, and one way that similar situations can be avoided in the future.  First...

Years Later, Terrell Mayes Jr.'s Murder Still Unsolved

It's been three years, two months, and twenty-three days since Terrell Mayes was killed by a stray bullet.  Sixty thousand dollars in award money has been added to that time, but we are still waiting for enough information that leads us to his killer.  About a week and a half ago, Terrell's mother posted in North Talk that nothing has been happening regarding this tragedy.  I gave my word that I would write up a post.  I'm late on publishing it, but there are personal reasons why this is a difficult post to write.

A little over a year ago--January 10th, 2014 to be exact--I received news that my ex-wife's youngest son passed away unexpectedly.  While he wasn't my biological son, I loved him as if he were my own.  I can't, or won't, go into great details about his passing, other than to say this:  There are at least two people who bear some responsibility in his death.  It is highly unlikely that those two will face justice for their actions.

So when I think of Terrell, it's personal to me on a level that it wasn't before.  Everyone grieves differently, and every loss is different.  So although I can't say I know exactly what his family is going through, I can say I know what it's like when...

A Bully Blog, the Appeal that Wasn't, and the Blocked by Betsy Club

Photo from jokideo.com

Last weekend, the tempest in a teapot known as the Orth House reached a boiling point.  Again.  For those who have no context, "The Orth House" was a home built by famed local architect TP Healy.  It was recently demolished in favor of higher density, although local preservationists, aided by TV show host Nicole Curtis, made a spirited effort to save it from the landfill.  Curtis, by the way, is a resident of the ward in Minneapolis where the Orth House once sat.

During this campaign, Curtis has publicly called out the council member, Lisa Bender, for her role in the demolition.  Now I don't know exactly how those two feel about each other, but I have heard that if they were in close proximity to one another, any object placed between them would immediately burst into flames.  So yeah, things are not so good.

Into that fray, we add a self-described "amateur journalist"  (My emphasis on amateur) who runs a blog known as either "Wedge Live" or "The Wedge Times Picayune."  This blog fabricated a thread of Curtis's Facebook page members' comments, but only the really bad ones.  The "worst of" list was done in such a way that to the untrained eye--mine and at least a few Minneapolis council members included--this appeared to be one long profanity-laced rant that escalated rather quickly.

And THAT, in turn, led to our esteemed mayor calling on Nicole Curtis to apologize to Council Member Bender and to the city of Minneapolis as a whole.  Curtis issued a plea for civility while admitting it is virtually impossible to monitor 700,000 commenters.  Then only after it was pointed out that this was not in fact one Facebook thread did the Wedge Live blog issue an update informing us that it was a compilation.

Which is where we stand today.  I'm reminded of what my pragmatic brain sometimes wanders to when watching action-packed movies like "The Avengers."  Iron Man and the Hulk are duking it out, knocking over buildings and throwing around cars, and you just KNOW there's a janitor somewhere yelling, "Maaaaan, who's going to clean this UP???"

Well, that's what this blog is for, to wade through the wreckage and make some sense of it all.  We start with...