The Deets

This monster candle in Scappoose, Oregon is called the “Peace Candle of the World.” Scappoose is also known for 2007 Playboy Playmate of the Year, Sara Jean Underwood.

50 yards behind the camera is Allied Armaments Firearms store:

I have no idea which came first, or if firearms are the key to keeping the peace in Scappoose.

Camo Black ICE High Gravity Lager Beer, originally uploaded by edkohler.

10.5% Alc/Vol in a 24oz can. That’s more than four typical cans of lager in one easy to carry - but hard to swill - can.

If you have any interest in the future of North Minneapolis and are not already reading Johnny Northside’s blog, you should find time to read through his plan on how to promote the North Minneapolis real estate market in a positive AND realistic manner.

Johnny explains that the North side has a ton of great housing stock that’s extraordinarily cheap due to the current conditions on the ground there (crime, drugs, prostitution). He proposes marketing the North side to people who are both adventurous and caring, starting with soldiers, then moving to students and South Dakotans. He explains below (click through for his full proposal).

My Theory of North Side Marketing Explained

Thus, for purposes of easy recollection, I describe three groups all beginning with the letter “S,” namely Soldiers, Students and South Dakotans. (FOOTNOTE SIX)

I am pointing out to all who will listen that Minneapolis is growing, and now real estate so close to the downtown retail core is too valuable to remain a depressed area. (FOOTNOTE SEVEN) Dramatic change has already happened in North Minneapolis. Even more dramatic change is inevitable. I believe positive change requires grappling with cold, hard reality instead of plugging one’s ears to bad news and singing la-la-la-la-la.

Other organizations such as the military use a form of “Market and Romanticize the Struggle” to gain recruits. When faced with negative facts, sidestepping and spinning “alternative facts” hardly ever works. It is far better to somehow turn a negative into a positive. In military recruitment commercials, recruits are shown sweating and struggling, yet emerging triumphant and transformed by their struggle.

These ads work, especially when combined with the economic reality of college tuition payments through the Montgomery GI Bill and a steady, decent paying job in the military, not to mention (in many instances) valuable vocational training. In a similar manner, “Market and Romanticize the Struggle” would work, especially combined with things like the Minneapolis Advantage Program to help individuals buy homes.

Impressive thinking. Find the people who are more comfortable than average with North Minneapolis’ living conditions. Help them get into homes they can improve - thus helping improve entire blocks. Watch things become more comfortable for groups who follow in the footsteps of the earliest adopters.

He makes a good point about the convenience of North Minneapolis to downtown. You can commute to work without ever dealing with a metered entrance ramp or even a highway. Just follow West River Parkway into town for a beautiful start to the day.

Nice work, as usual, Johnny.

A high speed bike cop chase pays off.

18th/24th Av S: Bike officers observed suspect breaking out car windows with baseball bat, jump into car, start moving away; officers attempted to stop car, but driver accelerated, with bikes following, officers were able to keep up with this car, keep in sight; marked squad eventually got into position, stopped suspect vehicle; suspect IDed; known to victim of smashed car windows; victim, infant inside car when suspect broke windows: Arrested/FLEE/DAMAGE to MOTOR VEHICLE
CID investigating

Couldn’t you just go to Axman for something like this:

400 blk 4th Av SE: Officers responded to Burglary alarm at school; 17-yr-old, 19-yr-old apprehended after short foot chase; officers caught up with suspects as they ran, 1 suspect carrying skeleton leg bone taken from classroom: 2 Arrested/
BURGLARY
Precinct investigating

A smart use of cameras in community crime fighting:

3800 blk Xerxes Av N: Officers responded to Burglary in Progress, had info that suspect was previously seen at address, was now removing items but gone when officers arrived; later neighbors called to say suspect was back again, that they’d taken pictures of him, his car; officers went to his house, brought him back to the scene where IDed by numerous witnesses: 2 Arrested/BURGLARY
(suspect with numerous previous burglary arrests)

LOL j/k WTF:

Humboldt/Hwy 55: Suspect approached victim walking along street, brandished knife, demanded money; suspect known to victim as classmate; suspect realized this, told victim he was “just kidding”
Investigating: ROBBERY of PERSON

Is definitely not me:

What an adventure.

I was told that I would like this, but I wasn’t told why.

I’ll have to keep watching this until I figure that out.

Goose Blogging, originally uploaded by edkohler.

A family friendly goose post.

That is all.

Geoff Daily, a Minnesota native living in DC, and Christopher Mitchell, the Director of Telecommunications as Commons for the Institute for Local Self Reliance discuss the role of municipalities in the growth of broadband with a Minneapolis perspective:

Key lines from Christopher:

“Here in St. Paul and Minneapolis they’re building a $1 billion light rail line. You could probably wire the entire metro area for that kind of money.”

“The idea that anyone is going to be excited about jumping into new responsibilities is probably fairly absurd. I sympathize with those who say, ‘I just don’t want to get involved with this.’ But, when you look at a community that 100 years ago or 70 years ago said, ‘I don’t want to get involved with this electricity stuff.’ Those communities either got involved or they disappeared.”

The EPA has decided how clean is clean enough when it comes to arsenic levels in South Minneapolis. The verdict: 25ppm (parts per million) in residential soil: 56% higher than the naturally occurring 16ppm level - a level the EPA has previously cleaned residential soil to in other areas of the country.

Another way of putting this: up to 25 milligrams of arsenic found in a kilogram of soil is considered safe for South Minneapolis residents.

For background, check here, here, and here.

This is a vast improvement over what the EPA has done to date (cleaned up yards to 95ppm), but falls short of what the EPA has done in other communities around the United States.

Here is a reminder of where we are to date. The proposed clean-up standard would move just to the left of El Paso, TX where the EPA decided 24ppm was acceptible.

Southside Pride reports the EPA’s position:

EPA’s arsenic cleanup criticized

Concluding that a “background” arsenic level of 16 kg/mg was normal for the area and citing other sources for the presence of arsenic in the soil, such as ashes from coal-fired furnaces, use of fertilizers and pesticides and presence of the substance in nature, EPA said that removal of a threshold 25 mg/kg arsenic contamination on 488 properties would meet appropriate requirements for the protection of human health and the environment.

The naturally occurring arsenic level in South Minneapolis is 16ppm. The EPA has cleaned properties in other parts of the country to that level, explaining that “Arsenic contamination would be cleaned up to naturally-occurring levels, with a calculated cleanup standard of 16 ppm.” (PDF link) Yet they’ve decided that Minneapolis can be 56% more polluted than other areas of the country?

The EPA’s Tim Prendiville explained why we shouldn’t get worked up about the difference:

“You’ve got to look a lot deeper and do some critical thinking,” said EPA project manager Tim Prendiville. “It’s not going to decrease the risk factor to clean those additional properties,” Prendiville said.

Which doesn’t explain why the EPA has decide that there was enough risk to clean properties elsewhere but not here.

Money?

This is an easy problem to solve with money. How much? $5 million is the projected difference between what it would cost to clean properties to 25ppm vs 16ppm. Minneapolis City Council member Gary Schiff, who represents the area, is going to push for the EPA’s own higher standard at the next full city council meeting on June 20th.