Is Don Allen the Jordan Hawkman Group?
I’ve written about the North Minneapolis Blog Wars before, but one blog I haven’t mentioned before that’s tied into that mess is a site called the Jordan Hawkman Group. This site is, by far, the most ridiculous blog I’ve ever encountered in Minneapolis.
I’m not going to link to it, but you can surely find it if you search by the site’s name. (There are other examples below that I don’t link to for the same reason, so you can either trust that – as absurd as all of this sounds – it’s actually true. Or, just Google it.)
The site takes its name by a combination of the names of credible bloggers who are willing to put their name on the content they write, like John Hoff’s The Adventures of Johnny Northside, Jeff Skrenes’ (aka The Hawthorne Hawkman’s) North by Northside, and perhaps a tip of the hat to Jordan resident Eric Johnson of the Irving Inquisition. Regardless, the blog’s name piggyback’s on the hard blogging work done by people like Hoff, Skrenes, and Johnson to build blog brands from scratch based around criticizing slumlords and other North Minneapolis lampreys.
Speaking of identity, the JHG blog is written anonymously by a person or group of people that clearly do not like neighborhood activists who have the gall to shine a light on slumlords, foreclosure fiascos, sexual predators, and other nuggets of dysfunctional politics. Both of those guys are commonly criticized on the site.
I’ve received some virtual ink over there as well, primarily due to my association with Johnny Northside and the Irving Inquisition. The first time that site mentioned me, I left a comment stating that I’d be happy to get together to discuss North Minneapolis politics with them over coffee. I think it’s pretty clear that I find that sort of thing interesting. But, one thing that doesn’t interest me is debating issues with anonymous bloggers. So far, I haven’t been taken up on that offer.
Who is/are the Jordan Hawkman?
I thought it would be fun to try to identify the person or people behind that blog. There is no question that Johnny Northside has made some enemies over time. Slumlords like Keith Reitman, Danna D Investors III LLC, Mahmood Khan, and Bashir Moghul, along with sex offenders are probably not the biggest fans of his work. Jeff Skrenes and Eric Johnson have done their fair share of slumlord bashing as well, including Jeff’s work pointing out the disaster that is Paul Koenig’s PAMIKO properties. Coincidentally, Don Allen of Poopgate fame doesn’t seem to appreciate the work of those two, although it’s less clear to me what they’ve done to fall out of favor with Don. And, Terry Yzaguirre, who writes a Don Allen (of Poopgate fame) style psuedo online newspaper site called the Minneapolis Mirror tends to ramble on about the evils of community activists like Hoff and Skrenes.
Is Don Allen the Jordan Hawkman Group?
One theory I’d like to throw out is that the JHG (or one of the publishers to the JHG website) is Don Allen. Why?
The site has a black panther theme.
He uses a similar creepy staring large cat logo for his web based talk show.
JHG goes on unsubstantiated racist rants from time to time, which is kind of a Don Allen trademark. JHG also refers to a local blog called the Area Hawkman as the Aryan Hawkman. Seriously.
Don Allen has quoted content from JHG on his own blog (possibly written by himself?). You may remember that famous quote. That’s the one where Don Allen quoted the anonymous JHG’s praise of his work for the Minneapolis Public Schools where the JHG called it “Flawed by Design”. (Update: The Hawthorne Hawkman reminded me in the comments that Don quoted a “flawed by design” commenter on the StarTribune under the username “jordanhawk” who said:
MPLS Schools paid $15k and Mr. Allen figured out a way to find his ads onto the Minneapolis Star and Tribune with major coverage on a feature story. Anyone have a guess as to how much a full color ad like that would actually cost? Mr. Allen appears to have utilized an old marketing technique knows as flawed by design marketing to get enormous amountsattention for his client for very little costs. Just watch, Allen will make some extremely minor adjustments and his mission will be completed with the greatest of ease! Can you say owned? The schools win and that is what is important as the word is out as promissed!
posted by jordanhawk on Feb. 22, 11 at 3:15 AM |
14 of 33 people liked this comment.
By the time that quote made it onto Don Allen’s blog, the quote was attributed to “Jordan Hawkman Group”. Weird, eh?
Additionally, Don Allen, on his On Point web based talk show recently talked to his 14 listeners (I was one of them) about research JHG did regarding the controversy surrounding Don Allen (of Poopgate fame’s) contract with the Minneapolis Public Schools. 24:40 into this, he states “the Jordan Hawkman Group did a lot of research on this, and they came back with some information that shows . . . “. The strange thing about Don’s statements, in this case, is that JHG never wrote a post about that topic. Don was quoting something that was never published, which makes me wonder if Don had planned to publish something on JHG, forgot, then quoted something he forgot to publish anonymously.
Don Allen’s web based talk show is also embedded onto the JHG website, and JHG is Don Allen’s web talk show’s only fan on the web talk show’s website.
The JHG site launched in July 2010. Coincidentally, articles from the JHG site started being submitted to Digg.com in July of 2010. As I follow the progression of article submissions on Digg, it went something like this:
On July 24th, 2010, a Digg user named GOVIRTUALMEDIA submitted a story from donny-allen.us (Don Allen’s blog) where Don Allen wrote about the Jordan Hawkman website. GOVIRTUALMEDIA happens to be Don Allen’s company, and the only follower of that account happens to be “vnewswire” which happens to be . . . Donald Allen.
On July 27th, 2010, a Digg user named . . . wait for it . . . GOVIRTUALMEDIA (remember now, this is Don Allen) submitted a story from the Jordan Hawkman blog talking about . . . wait for it . . . Don Allen writing about . . . wait for it . . . the Jordan Hawkman blog. Could it be that A is to B as B is to C as C is to A? It sure feels like that’s the case.
On Digg, Don Allen, (under his vnewswire username) lists five links to sites. These are sites he’s chosen to affiliate himself with through his Digg profile. Those sites are:
USA Radical Black (A Don Allen Production)
The Minneapolis Story (Don’s friend, Ron Edwards’ website)
Mpls Mirror (Don’t friend, Terry Yzaguirre’s website)
IBNN NEWS (A Don Allen Production)
The Jordan Hawkman Group (hmmm, interesting)
While this doesn’t show with absolute certainty that Don Allen is the writer or a writer for JHG, it seems pretty darn clear to me that Don Allen is affiliated with the website and likely writes at least some of the content on the site. He also has played some sort of extremely poor role in marketing the website. Although I can’t fault him for having a hard time marketing such a horrific waste of cyberspace.
March 3rd, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Actually, the JHG “flawed by design” comment was posted in the comment section of the Star Tribune online story about Don Allen’s contract.
March 3rd, 2011 at 12:24 pm
@The Hawthorne Hawkman. Good point. I’ll update the post.
March 3rd, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Damn, I just can’t keep any of these northsiders straight. Throw in Connie at Over North, whoever writes NoMi Passenger, and whoever writes Hillside Chronicles (they mostly stay out of the name-calling I think, but I still can’t keep them straight).
Seriously, I can’t keep track of who hates who up there.
March 3rd, 2011 at 1:15 pm
@Reuben, there is plenty of hate to go around. Have you considered moving there? Hatin’ on haters could be a new direction to take your blog.
March 3rd, 2011 at 2:44 pm
@Reuben: in general, the “haters” don’t even live on the Northside, but live in such places as Columbia Heights, Edina, and South Minneapolis. they are primarily slumlords and demagogues from other parts of town who have a variety of reasons (some financial) for wanting NoMi to remain the designated “wild west” area of the city, where people can operate outside the law without fear of city interference. the blogs you mentioned avoid the name calling because the bloggers who write them live in NoMi and work together with other NoMi residents to resolve problems.
March 3rd, 2011 at 2:50 pm
“I really want to know, WHO ARE YOU, Who, Who!
March 3rd, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Ed, I love that you love to poke the beast.
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Ed,
I have read where you have offered to have a face-to-face, casual meeting with the Jordan Hawkman but, your offer has not been accepted.
While I know for a fact that Don Allen is not the JHG (or one of the members), I do know who is at the virtual helm. I asked them if I could accept your offer to talk in person on their behalf and they said “sure.”
As you know, I live in another state and don’t make it up to Minnesota very often but, I would be happy to sit and talk local politics and Minneapolis issues with you.
If you search for me on John’s blog you will see that John and I managed to meet in person for a few hours and both of us were quite civil.
Interested?
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Ed, really glad to see you making some really good documentation to the tangled mess I have been pointing at for months.
In addition to all the hateful hatey messy crap you have so finely articulated here, there is another Don Allen anonymous hate blog that is used to harass some other people that Don Allen hates.
http://badmpls.blogspot.com/
If it disappears, I’ve got screenshots.
Also, when I.I. first started blogging, someone, who I attribute to be Don Allen, started this copycat hate blog that didn’t really go anywhere. But still has his M.O. all over it.
http://www.irvinginquisitions.blogspot.com/
Again, if it disappears, I have screenshots.
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:22 pm
My theory about JHG group.
Don Allen writes most of the crap. However, others who have author privileges and are able to write on the blog include Terry Yzaguirre of the Mpls Mirror, and Jim Watkins of TJ Waconia fame. Watkins was more active at one time but seems to have faded to the background after some individuals in NoMi wrote to the prison authorities about Jim Watkins harassing people in North Minneapolis. Why? To get vengeance on behalf of Thomas Balko against the North Minneapolis political forces who put Balko in prison. The prison authorities didn’t like it too much. Jim went crazy for a while but ultimately shut his yap because it was causing problems for his incarcerated friends.
So Watkins was involved–might still be involved–but has faded to the background. Watkins might even feel conned by Don Allen, who talks big but never delivers.
Level Three Sex Offender Pete Rickmyer is probably involved or at least talking to these people pretty closely, doing the thing he does: trying to dig up info with all the free time he seems to have on his hands, and presenting the little nuggets of info he gets–crap, mostly–to these folks. What’s really interesting is how Pete has been popping up lately around Jill Clark and actually (read about it on Hoff’s blog) was heard to mention the first name of the paralegal in Clark’s office to Clark, “Peggy told me to tell you…”
Another sex offender–not a Level Three–may be involved. The sex offender who complained to Twitter and got Hoff kicked off Twitter. (Hoff didn’t get a new Twitter, found Twitter so last year) There’s no way that sex offender just faded away. That guy is out there somewhere and might be involved.
That’s not the end of the list. But here you have your cartoon villains: scammers and the friends of scammers, a woman whose hard personal life and dark secrets are written all over her face and the $5k in arrears tax statement on her house, and (best of all) a profoundly dangerous sexual deviant.
What is the answer to this harassment by hate-filled cartoon villains?
Blog more. Don’t stop the fight for neighborhood revitalization. Fight harder.
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:30 pm
In regards to that other hate blog “bad mpls” that I linked to, notice how one of the two “followers” of that blog is …. wait for it….
DON ALLEN!!! Surprise Surprise.
Also, here is the profile of “Bad Mpls”:
A shared blogs of several journalists and watch dog groups interested in exposing people in the community who are fake. That’s all. It is simple, don’t be FAKE and we will have no need to profile you.
Here’s the profile from “Jordan Hawkman”:
A diverse group of neighbors dedicated to the improvement of Minneapolis through one united voice. Who else are we? We are EVERYBODY else!
March 3rd, 2011 at 11:17 pm
@Anti-Johnny, absolutely. Send me a text, call, or text the next time you’re heading to MSP. Or, I may be near you sometime for work and could connect there.
March 3rd, 2011 at 11:49 pm
@MeganG., amazing stuff. I have a hard time keeping up with the anonymous opinions of people who aren’t willing to stand behind what they have to say.
March 4th, 2011 at 6:13 am
The Beast? Ed, you look like you could be a good Republican. Your blog is outstanding and unlike other blogs, you points are legitimate. What concerns me, with this alternative news with “surprising” reach and frequency, you really haven’t figured out how to monetize your efforts.
I know we go back and fourth, but its cool – at some point you have to stop and tell yourself, what will this lead to and what kind of future do I want for The Deet’s outlet.
P.S. The Blog “Bad Mpls” is not my blog. I have never written one word on it – but do follow it, with 340 other blogs nationally.
March 4th, 2011 at 9:48 am
Ahhh, yes. Jim Watkins offering to meet face to face on behalf of Jordan Hawkman. Isn’t this the same thing Don Allen offered to do way back when? Why don’t these two realize that it is so transparent that they ARE the JH Group and pretending like they are meeting on behalf of someone who wants to stay anonymous is so obvious?
March 4th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Ed. I stand behind what I say. And that is that John Hoff is a malicious predator who feels empowered from the hurt, harm, and misery he inflicts on other people. He is a very disturbed, sadistic, and dangerous person who enjoys harming other people from the safety of his blog. To him it’s the same as chopping off a chicken’s head as he did as a child. John has no guilt and no shame.
I will not provide my last name, because John Hoff will simply research me and turn me into a headline on his blog, and I will not enable him by giving him that power.
March 4th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Megan… The day you publish my responsive comments that answered your direct questions you asked me on your blog will be a historic day.
I would have considered sitting down for a friendly talk with you as Ed has just accepted and as I did with John two years back but, what would the point be to talk reason w/ someone who has so many double standards? None.
Let me ask you a question and be objective with it…
Suppose the identity of the JHG was revealed and it was JHG that came forward so it was not just someone’s opinion like so many have had. In other words, it could be confirmed and proven the JHG was who they claimed to be.
My question is, what would people like you, Johnny Northside, Jeff Skrenes, Eric Johnson and others say or do once you knew who it was? Honestly.
Would you do as Ed Kohler has done and offer to meet to discuss things in a calm, reasonable and objective way?
Or would your blogs go into overdrive with hate blogging after hours and days were spent researching all corners of the globe for information about the JHG that you would publish with the intention of discrediting the JHG in public?
Just my opinion but, based on the histories of the NoMi Homie gang’s blogs… There would not be any pleasantries offered as Ed has at least tried to extend.
Oh… Since Megan will only ASK the questions and never ANSWER questions, I will open the question up to anyone else who would like to answer it.
March 4th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@”Benjamin”, why would John feel guilty about harassing people who harm his community? I can see how his opinions would be disturbing to slumlords and sex offenders living in North. If neither of those terms describe you, I don’t know why you’d find his blog disturbing.
March 4th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
@Anti-Johnny, it seems like the content written on JHG is written anonymously because no one in their right mind would want to attach their name to such drivel. Once JHG is identified, it’s certainly going to be entertaining to compare and contrast the behavior of that person (those people) against what they say or write under their own name.
It will be interesting to try to figure out if this is a vindictive pedophile, a slumlord with a beef against housing directors, a North Minneapolis resident who doesn’t like change, all three, or none of the above.
March 4th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Jim, listen and listen closely as this will be perhaps the only time I actually address you directly.
I will tell you when I will answer your questions and when I will meet you for lunch or coffee or drinks or a dueling gun battle or… whatever. I will gladly interact and deal with you when you become a real figure in my north Minneapolis community. When you move here and actually have an interest in north Minneapolis, then we can revisit the issue.
You are nobody to north Minneapolis. You don’t live here. You don’t work here. You don’t own property here. You have no influence, no standing, no status, and no respect. You are not my neighbor, not my friend, not my foe, not a stakeholder. You are nothing to me. I have no reason to waste an ounce of my energy answering any question you put forward. In my opinion, you are a criminal who has luckily been too insignificant to be charged with any crime. You have chosen to focus in on someone who eventually became my boyfriend which then caused you to become focused in on me, my life, my house, my physical appearance, my online activities, my employer, my romantic relationship etc. You are a harasser, a stalker and a psycho loser sicko. *(note: not looser. Loser)
I find it highly entertaining and karmic that your taunting and braggadocios promises that JHG will “ruin” all of the Nomi activists is actually becoming the laughing stock of the north Minneapolis activist scene and blogosphere, arguably even wider than just little ol’ north Minneapolis. So yeah, because I find it entertaining I chose to give you a little dose of that taunting and flaunting when I addressed you in the Open Letter to Don Allen that I wrote on my blog. But Jim, you realize my address to you was rhetorical. I wasn’t actually interested in hearing your answers. Do you get that?
Jim, I would encourage you to seek help for your psychotic obsessions of John, myself, Jeff and anyone else that we associate with. Get a life. Get happy and move on from your scandalous TJ Waconia history. Stop dwelling on that difficult period of your life and fill your time with something fulfilling, productive and positive. I promise you that Don Allen, Terry Y and any other losers *(note spelling) associated with JHG and harassing north Minneapolis activists will not bring good energy to your life. Just let it go.
March 4th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
I answered your reply Ed, are you going to post it? Should I resend it?
March 4th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I responded to your inquiry Ed. Are you going to post it or do I need to resend it?
March 4th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Because Ed, John doesn’t limit his attacks to slumlords and criminals. He will attack anybody and anyone, and that includes police officers that tag his car, probation officers that don’t meet his needs and desires, elected officials that won’t support his causes, a neighbor who doesn’t mow the lawn, or anyone that disagrees with him.
John Hoff is the kind of guy that will be your buddy today, and stab you in the back tomorrow should you have a difference of opinion. Anyone who has read his blogs would know that basic information.
Good thing he likes you Ed. Best to stay on his good side.
Funny how you tried to turn my words around to offend me.
I didn’t say I find his blog disturbing, don’t put words in my mouth.
In short, what I said was that I find John Hoff to be a contemptible person without a conscience, who enjoys harassing people via the internet where he can attack people from the safety of his home.
March 4th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
In regard to the remark by Anti-Johnny (Jim Watkins) that we sat down and met and were civil…
That was during a time when Jim Watkins was feigning being friendly, hoping to get me to stop writing stuff about his scummy TJ Waconia friends–who were then on trial and set to go to prison–or at least mute my coverage. In fact, I actually wrote kinder things than anybody else about Thomas Balko and Jon Helgason, saying they should be under “house arrest” and forced to do some good in the North Minneapolis community. Jim Watkins, in dramatic hyperbole fashion or just being stupid told me that would be a “death sentence” for them.
Yeah, Jim was feigning being friendly. Which was why I was careful never to tell him anything important.
After our meeting, Jim claimed to have covertly videotaped and audio taped the meeting. He covertly audio taped a phone call I had with him and put it online. If you want to meet with Jim, be prepared to be covertly audio taped. Don Allen does the same shit. Don Allen offered to have a “face to face” and then literally chased down the street after us, and managed to call Terry Yazaguirre. Let me tell you, seeing Terry’s face coming at you from anywhere is terrifying. She looks like something from a horror movie.
In regard to whether I am a back stabber, etc, I have a massive social circle of friends to whom I am loyal to the death, even through occasional hurts or misunderstandings. I have never, however, been the friend of Jim Watkins.
I was friendly with Don Allen–it’s unfortunately true–but then we found out his company had been raided by the Secret Service over a Ponzi scheme and there was a restraining order from the owner of the company saying Don had tried to extort $100k. We found out Don Allen had stolen money from a bedridden vet at the VA hospital and had a criminal record. In the trial where he was my co-defendant and I generously agreed to share the lawyer that MY CONNECTIONS and MY FRIENDS had lined up, Don managed to fuck that up by creating a conflict when he lost a $50 bet over the election of Don Samuels. (Don was betting on “anybody but Don Samuels”)
Don Allen flipped like a backstabber piece-of-shit Benedict Arnold turncoat traitor and offered to be a witness for Jill Clark and lately has been sending out vicious email attacks, including being stupid enough to say threatening things to OMG journalists. Plus his whole “con man contract” and Poopgate. Let me tell you what we need. We need the mainstream media to report on Don Allen and how he just MAKES SHIT UP and how this impacts North Minneapolis. Don Allen needs to get sued, and I don’t mean by Jerry Moore.
It’s not like Don Allen lies and makes stuff up ALL THE TIME, but he’s very much like what Anne Landers said about the clock which has stopped. It’s still right twice a day.
Frankly, Poopgate ALONE would have been enough for anybody to distance themselves from Don “Tea Bagger” Allen. You can’t just make up lies and say somebody commits deviant sexual acts. That’s defamation per se.
Plus the only thing that seems to motivate Don Allen is money. He flips sides and issues so often it’s hard to keep track. I think if you threw a nickel in front of Don Allen he’d be a democrat, until somebody in the Green Party threw a dime in front of him, and then he’d be a Green, but the whole time he’d be looking hopefully toward the Republican at the end of the table, just KNOWING that rich SOB has a WHOLE DOLLAR IN HIS POCKET.
So, no, I’m not friendly with Don anymore. We found out who Don really was. Don (who is pretty near a professional con artist) had us fooled for a bit, but we’re not fooled by him anymore. Jim Watkins never had us fooled.
March 4th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
@”Benjamin”, I am curious, what are some examples of John Hoff “attacking” people, such as a policeman that wrote him a citation, a probation officers that don’t meet his needs and desires, an elected official that won’t support his causes or a neighbor who doesn’t agree with him.
Can you point me to some examples of those attacks?
Thanks!
March 4th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
@Benjamin, it sounds like you’re more interested in the messenger than the message.
March 4th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Oh, I’ll help Benjamin out. (Parody font) I have a slightly-retarded twin half brother named Ben, and he needs help all the time. (End parody font)
1.) The probation officers who don’t meet my needs and desires…
That would be Bobbie Chevalier-Jones, who used to be Peter “Spanky Pete” Rickmyer’s keeper before she gave Pete too much leash and allowed the fiasco documented in City Pages and on this blog, Pete’s ridiculous “midnight manifesto” lawsuit that ultimately got him declared a frivolous litigant. So rare. You could go a lifetime and never meet somebody in America who has been stripped of the right to file a lawsuit for being a frivolous litigant.
So, yeah, I criticized Bobby and I’ll criticize her right here. People who are soft on Level Three Sex Offenders are doing more harm than good, especially in North Minneapolis where we are way past the saturation point. These pervs need zoo keepers, not bleeding hearts. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if I could get a list of the current addresses of every Level Three sex offender in North Minneapolis, I would publish it without hesitation. Word.
2.) Elected official who won’t support my causes…
Hmmmm. I’m at a loss though I’m sure I’ve criticized many an elected official and I will certainly do it again. I’m also quite willing to criticize an elected official but then turn around and compliment them on another issue. It’s not personal. It’s about issues.
3.) Policeman who wrote me a citation…
Not sure what he’s driving at there, either, though I believe in about 2007 I did make a complaint about an officer who wrote me a citation and was incredibly abrasive and rude. My complaint was not sustained and I let it go instead of, for example, turning into a weird screwy cyber stalker like the Anti-Johnny Jim Watkins, who once called himself the “DFW Mentor.”
I have also written many nice things about the police in Minneapolis. I think I’ve said 99 percent good things and only 1 percent negative things.
The Johnny Northside blog has political power and I will not hesitate to use it against slumlords, sex offenders, mortgage fraudsters and the thugs who take over corners to sell dope. There may be a few others who need a good hard critique from time to time. I dish it out but I sure do take it as well. All in all, however…
The “revitalizer blogs” are winning and getting accolades, while “malcontent alienated loser” blogs like JHG are just making themselves a laughingstock. Oh, yeah, they are hurtful now and then and sure deserve to be sued. But first we have to expose their identities.
March 5th, 2011 at 12:32 am
LOL (shaking head in amazement)
John & Megan (or “Meggie the Mouth” as the mafia might nick-name her), I will continue as I have with exposing you as the cracktivist you are and continue to post factual things about you and your misdeeds on my blog… The one web-site that you personally asked me many times (even demanded) to “DELETE.”
Why would you want that? Simple… You continue to read it and it pisses you off that someone has stood up to your ruthless bullying. I say ruthless because, when you couldn’t find anything to humiliate me with, you went after someone close to me and did attempted (yes I said attempted) to hurt them only to get to me. That is about the most classless, cowardly act a person could do. Some may even call it blackmail. You call it ok to do because, you can do as you please.
You did warn me though… You said I didn’t want to piss off the “800-Pound Gorilla.” Was that how much Magilla Gorilla weighed?
John Hoff said, “sure deserve to be sued. But first we have to expose their identities.”
Exactly as I thought your reasons were for wanting to know who they are. Afterall… You have something to gain if you were to win by taking from someone else. At the same time, you have nothing to lose when it is you being sued because, what can someone take from someone whose possessions came from other people’s trash?
Of course, every time you venture into court you file to proceed “In Forma Pauperis” which means you avoid the court costs by placing that burden on the taxpayers. Now THAT is my definition of a true ACTIVIST!
Also, only a person with your mental wiring would welcome the negative publicity from being sued. ANY publicity is good publicity in your mind because, you are Johnny Northside.
Lastly to Meggie the Mouth… You claim that I am a “criminal” yet, you can’t begin to support such a lie with any sort of proof. In other words, you lied and think it is ok to do.
The only thing I can add to that is that I am not the one who re-financed my house, failed to make the payments, lost the property when the lender foreclosed AND THEN had relatives buy it from the bank while they burden the $100,000 loss. Not my opinion either. It has been well documented.
That is not really “Slummy” but, it sure as hell is SLIMY!
March 6th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
As I read this thread, I can’t help but think “so this is how elites turn ordinary people against each other,” this seems like in Wisconsin, how a private company employee can proclaim that all unions are bad even though they are neighbors and send kids to the same schools and use the same public services.
I’m sure all these mean things that have happened above to all of you folks really happened, and maybe even for the reasons you imagine; but they all are not the source of the problem, and while all your energy is spent picking on each other, the real criminals skate away scott-free.
This is like watching a road rage incident by the side of the highway–yes, his pickup truck cut off her sedan, and while you throw rocks at each other’s windows, the guy in the mercedes who merged in front of the pickup to cause the whole incident is watching you all fight in his rearview mirror and laughing.
Or more likely he didn’t notice us all piling up in the ditch at all and he is miles away still talking on his cell phone oblivious to the damage he started. Maybe he’ll see it on the 10pm news and shake his head to say how lucky he was not to have been there to get caught up in that mess, eh?
Anyway–none of you are solving the real problem–have any of you written your legislators to demand justice to the wall street banks and hedge funds that caused the financial meltdown that created this housing meltdown that hit the Northside so hard? Have any of you petitioned to boycott the banks and hedge funds that perpetrated these mortgage investment frauds?
You folks are the devils you all know, but it is the devils you don’t know (personally) that screwed all of us (in the world for that matter). TJ Waconia was screwed just as much as you and me, and in their desperation to stay afloat likely made some decisions that in 20-20 hindsight we all regret, but they weren’t the cause of the problem.
Similarly all you northside activists have been judge and jury on many of the incidents you have experienced, and right or wrong this instant judgement creates situations like this where any mistake or perception thereof undermines your own goals of raising up your neighborhoods.
There must be a better way, and maybe if you folks stop picking on each other long enough, you can find some way to talk about finding a better way to the benefit of all parties.
March 6th, 2011 at 4:54 pm
@The Other Mike, I think it’s unfair to criticize people for taking on issues they’re passionate about, at whatever level they think they can have an impact. Watching and calling 911 or 311 is great work. Blogging about slumlords and letting them know that they’re not welcome is great work. Getting involved in neighborhood community organizations to help steer them in the right direction is great work.
One doesn’t have to solve the systemic problems with the entire real estate finance industry to create tangible benefits on their block and in their neighborhood. They just have to care, and do what fits their skills and interests.
I chip in a bit by letting people in North know that they’re not alone. And, by picking on blogs and bloggers who do more hard than good by making things up about people trying to do go work, I manage to entertain the community of people who care about North Minneapolis at the expense of liars, anonymous slumlords, and pedophiles.