The Big Bang that Started Pamiko's Downfall

1211 Knox Ave N

2402 4th St S

2616 Cedar Ave

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman, although the photos first appeared on the Johnny Northside blog.  The three properties above were owned by Pamiko at the time of the photographs, and had been part of a lawsuit involving various partners who made up the numerous Dream Home LLCs.

POST IN PROGRESS - more hyperlinks to add back stories will be added later.

Physicists widely point to "The Big Bang" as a likely starting point for our universe, and although they can surmise the origins of the universe, there are two questions such a theory leaves unanswered:  1) Why did matter exist in the first place? and 2) What CAUSED the Big Bang?  We can measure up to the first few nanoseconds, but still are unable to fill in the gaps these conundrums leave us.

Likewise, NoMi blogs (more famously on Johnny Northside) have chronicled the downfall of Paul Koenig, Michelle Koenig, and their various LLC's - Pamiko, MCK Investments, and Marklee Construction.  However, we never really answered the questions of why Koenig was allowed to acquire so many properties in the first place (technically in the second place, since he screwed over north Minneapolis first with the Dream Homes and then through Pamiko).  Nor have we understood what was the spark that set off the 80-foreclosure powder keg.

Well, after finding a confession of judgment on the Dream Homes lawsuit (a previous JNS post chronicled much of that suit, but had not come across its conclusion), I now have a theory about what started Pamiko's foreclosures over a year ago.  Bear in mind, this is only a theory, and there may be equally valid theories out there - although I sincerely doubt "Intelligent Design" is one of them.

First, a brief history...

New Jordan Board Members

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from the JACC Flash NoMi blog.

Earlier in the week, I wrote a post about the somewhat scary fact that Farview Park has a board showing 24 L3SO's in the area.  Around that time, the Jordan Area Community Council held its annual dinner and elected new board members.  I announced those changes on my Twitter feed, and since the aforementioned story was at the "top of the fold" on my blog, it became the place where an anonymous commenter began asking some good questions about the JACC elections.

Well, in the interests of what I call "threadiquette," or keeping things on topic so that in the months or years ahead they can be found more easily, I'm switching those questions and comments to a post dedicated specifically to the JACC annual dinner and board elections.

The first question and answer, as well as a comment that was made (but not published under that thread) appear after the jump...

Danna D III Principals Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud!

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Editorial note:  the photos were taken almost a year ago and it is unknown if the property is in identical, better, or worse condition at this time.

Julia Rozhansky and Zack Dyab, two of the principals in the Danna D III corporation and American Choice Lending, pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in federal court this week.  Danna D was a series of LLC's (roman numerals I - VI were also used for properties at various locations, although most NoMi houses were under the III entity), and Rozhansky and Dyab had planned to buy "hundreds of rental properties in north Minneapolis," according to an MPR report that broke the story of their criminal activities.  Through wire fraud and mortgage fraud, they stiffed investors of over $2.5 million and caused more than two dozen foreclosures in north Minneapolis alone.

This is a pattern we've unfortunately seen all too often; predatory investors coming in and buying properties on the cheap, using fraudulent means to qualify, not pulling proper permits, doing substandard (if any) maintenance, and ultimately losing scores of homes to foreclosure when the house of cards collapses under its own weight of malfeasance.  At least we're seeing some of these crooks finally get jail time, but the impact on our community will likely outlast their prison terms.

And when fraud is committed at one of these properties, it's not just a one-time occurrence.  The neglect of a property often makes it unappealing to anyone but the next predatory investor.  Or the first fraudster wants to sell at an over-inflated price, and the only ones qualifying for something at that level are the ones committing the next round of slumlording mortgage fraud.  That is exactly what happened with one of the properties listed in the indictment (the plea agreement isn't available online yet, but I will publish it once it is, and the sentencing hasn't been scheduled).

1417 Logan Avenue North was owned first by Danna D III, and then...

Come on Now, HUD

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

A few weeks ago, I happened to notice the cute little house across the alley from me had been broken into.  2610 4th Street North is a property owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  It's been vacant ever since I've been living in Hawthorne, and although it definitely needs rehab work, the place is a nice enough starter home and reasonably priced to boot.

But when I saw that the window on the front porch was broke open, I called Best Assets (the property management entity for HUD houses in Minneapolis), 311, and a few of the neighbors along the block to make sure they knew there was a house open to trespass and to watch out for people who might be breaking in.  Next door to this house is "Maples," a gorgeous home selling for a song.  I checked out that place too, and thankfully it was tight as a drum.

More than two weeks have passed without Best Assets doing a thing to remedy their property's condition, and now the city has boarded it up.  The irony here is that the deterioration HUD is allowing on one of their own houses makes it more and more likely that the city will come along and demolish this one.  And if they do, where will the money come from?  The federal government's Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars.

Guess Which Park Has a Sex Offender Wall?

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

After a meeting tonight, I was leaving Farview Park when I noticed a few kids gathered around a poster, studying it rather carefully.  A staff person was encouraging them to take a good look and remember the faces.  I went to take a look myself, and saw that this was a list of TWENTY-FOUR LEVEL THREE SEX OFFENDERS living in close enough proximity to a park that someone in charge needed to put this poster up.

I asked if any other parks in Minneapolis had to do this, and if so, to the same degree, and the staff person was not aware of another such poster at any park in the city.  When we got on the topic of the high concentration of L3SO's in NoMi and how there is a state law forbidding it, but yet it remains unenforced, he said I must have been about the fourth or fifth person to bring that topic up while looking at this poster.

I've stayed away from the L3SO issue because I tend to think the hyperbole and rhetoric don't quite match the true level of risk posed.  That being said, the research done on JNS about this has convinced me that the imbalanced concentration here is a significant issue that needs to be addressed.

And it bears repeating:  Our park has a poster with TWENTY-FOUR L3SO'S that our kids have to be on the lookout for.  Recognize a few of them?  We've got Edgar Earl Lenear and Peter Rickmyer for starters.

TWENTY-FOUR.  Ugh.

High Winds Take Down Tree on 30th Ave

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

This was not a small tree either.  The winds last night were even shaking the concrete block house I live in.

Buying Into NoMi Presents Initial Difficulties

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Some time ago, I made a pledge to become perhaps what could be described as a one-man north Minneapolis chamber of commerce.  I wanted a project, and thought that spending an entire year buying as much as possible within or connected to NoMi would allow me to do that and find creative ways to support my community.

I decided to start the day after the last Polars' football game of the season, which was Thursday of last week.  So until 10/21/11, I'll be blogging about this effort on a regular basis.  The first two challenges are shown above, and let me emphasize that they are COMPLETELY SEPARATE from each other.  Either that, or I'm going to show some kids the Pixar movie Ratatouille right before Halloween and then I'll have the perfect way to just scare the snot out of the little buggers.  Take your pick.

Ok, what's REALLY going on in these two pictures above...