In response to the post about some hooker's pants on Johnny Northside's blog...
I have not commented on that thread. I did see where Johnny claimed I was a supporter of the crack users/dealrs and prostitutes and there is no truth to that. Of course I have no way to prove it but, he has no way to prove it either.
I don't like druggies & prostitutes any more than Johnny himself or anyone else in the community. Saying I support them is absurd. I was under the impression that the person who got into it with Johnny on that thread about the pants was a woman.
Why hasn't anyone said much about the impressive discovery Johnny made about the "slap on the wrist" sentences criminals in Minneapolis get?
Why would a crook want to go elsewhere when they can get coddled for doing wrong? I think its great that the community is going at it like it has. My only concern is that someone might end up losing their life because some hoodlum has a gun and wants revenge. Hopefully, everyone is being very careful and others have their backs as well.
Now.... Am I still only being pissed off and negative?
So, I will say this... I am impressed by the display of community action against the druggies & prostitutes. I'm not one who would put someones picture, etc. online simply because they "probably" are up to no good. But, it's his deal & I don't have to worry about my face being seen in that activity.
I find it ironic that I have posted some information about Johnny's behind the scenes dealings & most recently, the insurance fraud post and no one has been willing to call a spade... a spade.
Maybe three "rights" gets a pass on one "wrong?"
Lastly... (grinning big) As the "All-Mighty, Johnny Northside" has said so many times in response to people who have questioned him or disagreed with him... "But, you ARE reading my blog!"
Thanks for the support.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Johnny Northside Promotes Insurance Fraud
While this post may come across as a joke, I ask that you consider what is really said by Johnny and ask yourself if it is legal, moral or ethical to engage in or to promote it online. Joke or no joke.
This was quoted directly from Johnny Northside's blog, The Adventures of Johnny Northside.
It was posted with the title, A Return to the Automotive Damage "Good old Days" on 6th Street North. Posted on August 19, 2008
____________________________
"I'm thinking of renaming that particular section of 6th Street North. I think I will call it "Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard." How can I just rename a street? Well, because I have a blog and my nicknames catch on. Remember the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy?" Totally my concept, that one.
I'm thinking of renaming that particular section of 6th Street North. I think I will call it "Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard." How can I just RENAME A STREET? Well, because I have a blog and my nicknames catch on. Remember the Apartment Complex of Anarchy?
Totally my concept, that one.
Here's how it works on Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard. Here's how YOU can trade in your vehicle for a better vehicle.
Step One: notify Peter, the neighborhood association chair, that you're doing a bit of surveillance in the neighborhood. Otherwise we might mistake you for a john or a drug dealer just hanging around; and we might put your mug and your license plate on the internet, buster.
Step Two: Park your vehicle on the 3000 Block of 6th Street. Sit around and watch blatant drug deals, prostitution, metal theft etc. Be sure to take some pictures and be seen doing it. You may have to repeat this for a day or two. Emailing the pictures to this blog with descriptions of what you observed will speed up the process CONSIDERABLY.
Step Three: Leave your vehicle parked on the street after the crooks have seen you trying to be a good citizen.
Step Four: The criminals will take care of this step, most likely by slashing your tires, breaking your windows, or (if you're lucky!) torching your vehicle.
Step Five: Call the police and your insurance company! Good thing you have comprehensive auto insurance, baby!
The running total at this point: Four tires slashed. (My 1988 Celebrity) One truck torched on the Fourth of July. (Peter's vehicle) And now two tires, one window. (My 1988 Celebrity)
Peter is ahead in terms of total damage, but I am ahead in terms of total incidents. I'm an aggressive competitor, however, so Peter better watch out because I WILL BE TOTALLY PARKING MY VEHICLES ON THE STREET, PETER. None of this chicken stuff like putting the sparkly new truck in the garage or--good grief!--having volunteers putting in a cement parking platform inside the fence.
Yes, just when we thought the former era of vehicular vandalism was over, we now see a return to the good old days.
Luckily, after the FIRST tire-slashing incident I went out and got comprehensive insurance."
_______________________
I am asking for people who work in the insurance industry to submit your opinion on the matter (anyone else is encouraged to comment as well). I will contact a few insurance executives to follow up with this post and ask them if this is indeed, FRAUD.
I am not a lawyer but, I am pretty sure that listing step-by-step instructions on how you can "trade your vehicle in for a better one" (in public no less) , paid for with insurance money after filing a claim. AND it was planned from the start with the expectation of having the insurance company pay.
Insurance is not considered money that is in a savings account and you have a right to claim that money.
Insurance is defined by Wiktionary as:
A means of indemnity against occurrence of a uncertain event.
An UNCERTAIN event. NOT planned and NOT set up or staged so the insured can make a claim to get a better vehicle!
Maybe Johnny would offer in his defense that, "I was clearly joking and nothing I say on this blog can be considered serious." Maybe he would say that. My opinion is it is fraud and no matter how it was intended to be taken... It is not something to make light of on a public web site.
This was quoted directly from Johnny Northside's blog, The Adventures of Johnny Northside.
It was posted with the title, A Return to the Automotive Damage "Good old Days" on 6th Street North. Posted on August 19, 2008
____________________________
"I'm thinking of renaming that particular section of 6th Street North. I think I will call it "Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard." How can I just rename a street? Well, because I have a blog and my nicknames catch on. Remember the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy?" Totally my concept, that one.
I'm thinking of renaming that particular section of 6th Street North. I think I will call it "Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard." How can I just RENAME A STREET? Well, because I have a blog and my nicknames catch on. Remember the Apartment Complex of Anarchy?
Totally my concept, that one.
Here's how it works on Comprehensive Insurance Boulevard. Here's how YOU can trade in your vehicle for a better vehicle.
Step One: notify Peter, the neighborhood association chair, that you're doing a bit of surveillance in the neighborhood. Otherwise we might mistake you for a john or a drug dealer just hanging around; and we might put your mug and your license plate on the internet, buster.
Step Two: Park your vehicle on the 3000 Block of 6th Street. Sit around and watch blatant drug deals, prostitution, metal theft etc. Be sure to take some pictures and be seen doing it. You may have to repeat this for a day or two. Emailing the pictures to this blog with descriptions of what you observed will speed up the process CONSIDERABLY.
Step Three: Leave your vehicle parked on the street after the crooks have seen you trying to be a good citizen.
Step Four: The criminals will take care of this step, most likely by slashing your tires, breaking your windows, or (if you're lucky!) torching your vehicle.
Step Five: Call the police and your insurance company! Good thing you have comprehensive auto insurance, baby!
The running total at this point: Four tires slashed. (My 1988 Celebrity) One truck torched on the Fourth of July. (Peter's vehicle) And now two tires, one window. (My 1988 Celebrity)
Peter is ahead in terms of total damage, but I am ahead in terms of total incidents. I'm an aggressive competitor, however, so Peter better watch out because I WILL BE TOTALLY PARKING MY VEHICLES ON THE STREET, PETER. None of this chicken stuff like putting the sparkly new truck in the garage or--good grief!--having volunteers putting in a cement parking platform inside the fence.
Yes, just when we thought the former era of vehicular vandalism was over, we now see a return to the good old days.
Luckily, after the FIRST tire-slashing incident I went out and got comprehensive insurance."
_______________________
I am asking for people who work in the insurance industry to submit your opinion on the matter (anyone else is encouraged to comment as well). I will contact a few insurance executives to follow up with this post and ask them if this is indeed, FRAUD.
I am not a lawyer but, I am pretty sure that listing step-by-step instructions on how you can "trade your vehicle in for a better one" (in public no less) , paid for with insurance money after filing a claim. AND it was planned from the start with the expectation of having the insurance company pay.
Insurance is not considered money that is in a savings account and you have a right to claim that money.
Insurance is defined by Wiktionary as:
A means of indemnity against occurrence of a uncertain event.
An UNCERTAIN event. NOT planned and NOT set up or staged so the insured can make a claim to get a better vehicle!
Maybe Johnny would offer in his defense that, "I was clearly joking and nothing I say on this blog can be considered serious." Maybe he would say that. My opinion is it is fraud and no matter how it was intended to be taken... It is not something to make light of on a public web site.
Update for Johnny...
Johnny Northside himself, has seen and even read this blog as he posted a thread on his blog about...This blog. Although he claims he will not return to this site again. Click the link to read for yourself... http://adventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2008/08/misadventures-of-johnny-northside.html
He pointed out that this blog is pretty much a joke (which it mostly is because, it is about him) because, there has been an inactivity period on here as far as number of posts. What I think is funny about that is the fact that he had a long stretch from July 7th to July 19th. Hypocite.
Well, I can promise anyone reading this blog that there will never be nearly as many posts as Johnny has on his site. Why? For one, I don't care to take that much time to write about someone else. Two, When I think there is something of interest to others or something Johnny has done or said that needs to be relayed to the public... Then I will post it.
Actually, I am glad that he has vowed to not return to this blog. If he did, he would HAVE to comment because he has shown in the past that he can't simply shut his mouth and let something go. So, it's less for me to have to mess with.
The good thing that he has contributed to this blog is the name I will soon be using as my identity on this blog... "Anti-Johnny." I am actually not entirely anti-Johnny. I am only here to let those that want to be heard, be heard as well as to convey info that he leaves out on his site.
Lastly (for now), he went off on me (Anti-Johnny) saying that no one had commented on this blog yet.
Well to correct him on that, there has been one comment and a second comment was just added before I wrote this thread.
Also, I read those other blogs he commented about from about the time he was just getting his started. It's pretty funny because, he posted on those blogs several times to "Read my blog" "Read my blog" and added things like "(waving arms around and jumping up and down)" to draw a reader to his new blog.
See what I mean? He is a classic example of "Do as I say... Not, as I do"
Stay tuned to read about how Johnny Northside encourages fraud himself!
He pointed out that this blog is pretty much a joke (which it mostly is because, it is about him) because, there has been an inactivity period on here as far as number of posts. What I think is funny about that is the fact that he had a long stretch from July 7th to July 19th. Hypocite.
Well, I can promise anyone reading this blog that there will never be nearly as many posts as Johnny has on his site. Why? For one, I don't care to take that much time to write about someone else. Two, When I think there is something of interest to others or something Johnny has done or said that needs to be relayed to the public... Then I will post it.
Actually, I am glad that he has vowed to not return to this blog. If he did, he would HAVE to comment because he has shown in the past that he can't simply shut his mouth and let something go. So, it's less for me to have to mess with.
The good thing that he has contributed to this blog is the name I will soon be using as my identity on this blog... "Anti-Johnny." I am actually not entirely anti-Johnny. I am only here to let those that want to be heard, be heard as well as to convey info that he leaves out on his site.
Lastly (for now), he went off on me (Anti-Johnny) saying that no one had commented on this blog yet.
Well to correct him on that, there has been one comment and a second comment was just added before I wrote this thread.
Also, I read those other blogs he commented about from about the time he was just getting his started. It's pretty funny because, he posted on those blogs several times to "Read my blog" "Read my blog" and added things like "(waving arms around and jumping up and down)" to draw a reader to his new blog.
See what I mean? He is a classic example of "Do as I say... Not, as I do"
Stay tuned to read about how Johnny Northside encourages fraud himself!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Details of Johnny Northside's Flipping (and Flopping)
(Photo by Brandt Williams/MPR)Here is more on the behind the scenes wheeling & dealing of real estate investor, Johnny Northside.
Johnny writes so much on his blog that he often forgets what he has said before. Here he contradicts himself when talking about his house (and his real intentions).
The editorial comments are seen in red
The following was copied directly from Johnny's blog that was posted in April, 2008. Note how real estate savvy Johnny is when he refers to an "Escrow Officer" as "the title person."
"The title person said something about, did she hear right? This was NOT an investment property? I had plans to fix it up and LIVE IN IT? And when I answered in the affirmative, she said, blinking a bit, "How does one LIVE in a $9,000 house?"
He's lucky there wasn't a mortgage involved. You see, when you tell the lender that it will be Owner Occupied and don't live in it...That is known as FRAUD.
Here he details how his house was not that bad at all...Certainly not something the city should bulldoze.
"But I'll say this much about the house, and why it was a bargain, and why I held it close to my chest and didn't reveal everything. The house has mostly plastic pipes instead of copper, (Oh Johnny! He meant to say "PVC") so the copper thieves didn't destroy the walls to get at the pipes...albeit they stole one little piece off copper off the top of the water heater.
It looks boxy from the front, but in the back there is a deck and...wonder of wonders...a large and empty yard, and a big mature tree. The house has a deck in the back. The carpet on the floors needs a good cleaning, but it's not nasty. Somebody started rehabbing and quit in mid-job, but managed to move the project along quite a bit."
Does this sound like a condemned house the city should target to bulldoze? It isn't even boarded up!
This paragraph is from his blog post on June 26, 2008:
"For the record, I currently have a signed purchase agreement with a "non-slumlord" buyer promoting positive development in my neighborhood. I plan to buy another house on or near the same block with the proceeds from the sale."
A signed purchase agreement with...The City? What was the price? I am sure there are lots of people who would like to see that. If not with the city, why was that contract canceled?
The following is quoted from an article on MPR by Brandt Williams on August 5, 2008:
Note how Johnny makes no mention about his intentions to LIVE in it.
"Earlier this spring he bought one of the abandoned homes on the block for $9,000. Hoff planned to either fix it up or tear it down, but instead he sold it to the city.
"I consider myself, a benevolent flipper," said Hoff."
"I consider myself, a benevolent flipper," said Hoff."
While Johnny Northside may be doing some good things for the area and residents who ACTUALLY live there, this post clearly shows that he is in it for the money and what he tells the public is not always truthful.
Johnny Northside a Humanitarian? Hardly
Johnny Northside is seen here, picking up imported bullfrogs to be "processed" as he stated in the video clip.
Johnny is a self-proclaimed "Green Party" activist, who just so happens to profit by assisting companies in the slaughter of innocent animals. Yes, he picked them up and transported them to those that will slaughter them but, he can't claim he had no idea what would happen to those frogs. He's just making a living though, right? Yeah, by helping others to kill animals.
I nominate Johnny for "Animal Rights Humanitarian of the Year."
Do I hear a second?
Johnny is a self-proclaimed "Green Party" activist, who just so happens to profit by assisting companies in the slaughter of innocent animals. Yes, he picked them up and transported them to those that will slaughter them but, he can't claim he had no idea what would happen to those frogs. He's just making a living though, right? Yeah, by helping others to kill animals.
I nominate Johnny for "Animal Rights Humanitarian of the Year."
Do I hear a second?
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Johnny Northside Sells His House to the City
Below is the photo caption taken from the NPR article about God, 'err Johnny Northside.
"John Hoff in front of the house he bought and then sold to the city. He says a few 'slumlords' offered to buy it from him. But Hoff says he sold it to the city, because he feared it might become a crackhouse."
"John Hoff in front of the house he bought and then sold to the city. He says a few 'slumlords' offered to buy it from him. But Hoff says he sold it to the city, because he feared it might become a crackhouse."
- How does one go about selling to the City?
- What are the requirements?
- How much do they pay for a house?
- Who decides which houses will be bought?
- Who determines the values?
- Did the city approach Johnny?
- Did Johnny approach the City?
- Why hasn't Johnny Northside bragged about this on his blog?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Johnny Northside's House Involved in a City Deal?
As soon as the pdf file is cut down & defined, it will be posted on this blog.
Now it makes sense why John Hoff AKA Johnny Northside never talks about the house he owns in north Minneapolis but doesn't live in. It looks like the City has added it to the list known as...
Now it makes sense why John Hoff AKA Johnny Northside never talks about the house he owns in north Minneapolis but doesn't live in. It looks like the City has added it to the list known as...
Additions to Existing Housing Replacement District II (23) Tax Incriment Financing (TIF)
10-029-24-32-0074 3016 6th St. N
Why won't you talk about the side dealings you have with your new City buddies, Johnny? What a FRAUD you are!
Volunteers Working At 3029 6th St. N.
All this moving & shaking going on with the old bricks being used to make a nice walkway. It makes me want to know...
"Hey, Johhny... Is there a building permit posted on the property?"
"Hey, Johhny... Is there a building permit posted on the property?"
Friday, August 8, 2008
How Long Until Northside Residents Hate Him?
I found Johnny Northside's (apparent) last article he wrote in May for the Minnesota Daily.
Well 'ol Johnny Boy went on in his typical self-promoting ways about how the U of M should send the "Party Patrol" to the northside to help out, etc.
I laughed my ASS off when I read the lone comment that followed the article. I have taken the honor of copying it to post for all to see here.
"Carpboy823 from U of M writes:
Thank God that John Hoff is looking out for the betterment of the community and not just himself. You're right, we should take away the police sources that the U of M doesn't need as its students are attacked on the streets and raped in the dorms and give them to North Minneapolis, where you "just so happen" to live. And oh! Let's move there too so your home value can rise and you can be the savior of urban America. Thanks for your three years at the U, Mr. Hoff - now go away and never look back. Good luck as a desperate, self-serving blogger, but leave us alone and spare us your shameless self-advertisement in your columns. Maybe you'll finally be knocked off the high horse that you think you sit on, looking over this weak University. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye! "
I don't think anyone could have said it better! However, I sure as hell want to try! C'mon people, submit your opinions!
Well 'ol Johnny Boy went on in his typical self-promoting ways about how the U of M should send the "Party Patrol" to the northside to help out, etc.
I laughed my ASS off when I read the lone comment that followed the article. I have taken the honor of copying it to post for all to see here.
"Carpboy823 from U of M writes:
Thank God that John Hoff is looking out for the betterment of the community and not just himself. You're right, we should take away the police sources that the U of M doesn't need as its students are attacked on the streets and raped in the dorms and give them to North Minneapolis, where you "just so happen" to live. And oh! Let's move there too so your home value can rise and you can be the savior of urban America. Thanks for your three years at the U, Mr. Hoff - now go away and never look back. Good luck as a desperate, self-serving blogger, but leave us alone and spare us your shameless self-advertisement in your columns. Maybe you'll finally be knocked off the high horse that you think you sit on, looking over this weak University. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye! "
I don't think anyone could have said it better! However, I sure as hell want to try! C'mon people, submit your opinions!
Johnny Northside Lives...Where?
That's right people... This guy who runs around north Minneapolis, beating his chest, trying to get to know every 911 dispatcher by voicer, while putting everything and anything (pics & people) online...
DOES NOT EVEN LIVE IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS!
In fact, Johnny Northside does not live in Minneapolis at all.
The house he owns in north Minneapolis (according to his blog) is not occupied. He stated at least twice that he is going to release information regarding the sale of his house very soon.
Since he assumes all the time, I will assume he is going to sell it to a person who will use it as a rental property. Can you imagine the cash flow?
What I find ironic and disgusting at the same time is, he banters on about meaningless crap like meatloaf and abandoned teddy bears (and worse) and has made himself out to be some sort of neighborhood savior who rubs elbows with the city's posse (at least he has them on speed dial) AND he IS one of the people he has shown zero tolerance for... Real Estate Investors.
He had one posting where he posted the definition of one time flipping, written by a neighborhood leader. One time. Two times. Three times. What difference does it make?
The County site has his house information updated and it lists the house he owns in north Minneapolis as the mailing address.
Why don't you live there, Johhny? Owning a house (really just a POS shack) but, not living in it does not make you an actual community member.
Wait, does any neighborhood or community leader want to define what "Resident" means?
A New Era Begins... The Mis-Adventures of Johnny Northside!
I thought I would start this new blog out by highlighting the very purpose of this site...Showing the good people of north Minneapolis just what a loud-mouthed fraud, Johnny Northside really is.
If you who have asked Johnny legitimate questions to post in the comments, only to see them not published, your questions and statements will be posted here. Johnny Northside, the self-served " Dictator," refuses any post if it does not suit him, if it challenges his intelligence or if it insults him.
He openly posts people's pictures on the Internet and gloats about getting people fired and exposing people while offering those people no way to say anything in their own defense.
Sure, he taunts people with "You keep reading my blog" as though he has some sort of supernatural power over people and again, gloats about it.
In reality, all he has done is copy, that's right... COPY one of America's most despised radio personalities, Howard Stern. Think about it, he says things to piss people off so they will engage him. Then he either won't post the comments/questions or he distorts their words and doesn't allow them any way to clarify or come back.
I have copied the comments from the recent post, A Progress Report In Celebration Of National Night Out (Hooker Leaves 3020 6th St. N.) as a perfect example of how a reader has offered some very direct, opinionated comments against Johnny and he went back after them with arrogant opinions and finally resorted to calling the commenter a "shithead" several times.
The comments back & forth are long but, they do show his true colors.
Enjoy!
-Johnny's OtherSide
_________________________________
Anonymous said...
Your blog in general makes me shudder, but this post in particular is probably one of the most distasteful things I have read in awhile. It sounds like you thought quite a bit about Contessa's pants. I cannot believe you found it appropriate to speak as a woman's pants whose life and experiences, I'm sure, you know nothing about beyond her supposed line of work. And I have a serious issue with the following excerpt: People need a place to live. This is the line always used by slumlords who fill our neighborhoods with pimps, hookers and drug dealers."People need a place to live." It's not so different from industries who fill the air with stink, and then say, "Well, that's the smell of money."You are COMPLETELY ignoring social problems that cause people to become involved in these sorts of activities in the first place. I'm not necessarily excusing it, but I would hope you agree that everyone DOES need a place to live. I can't understand how someone who considers himself to be a community activist in a community he just became a part of, a community which perhaps more than any other in the state exemplifies institutional oppression as it happens, would be so blind to these things. Not in a single post that I've read have you in any way even considered the social ills and the roles they play in the things you see and experience, and I frankly find it disgusting.It's obvious that you think pretty damn highly of yourself in the way you write and in your willingness to expose other people's lives in such a meaningless and ill-intentioned way. You can hide in the shroud of Johnny Northside, community activist who just wants to save his neighborhood, but what you really appear as is an ignorant middle-aged white man, an outsider at that, who would rather sweep problems under a rug or nail it up in a house than actually examine what's going on at the roots.
August 6, 2008 7:22 PM
Johnny Northside said...
In reply: Ah, but you just can't stop reading the blog, can you?Furthermore, it's not her SUPPOSED line of work. What is going on has been observed for YEARS AND YEARS. And recently, FINALLY, Contessa was arrested. Conversations with the police confirm the reality of her chosen profession--hooking and dealing drugs--even if the police can't always manage to make arrests. The woman is a prostitute and was arrested for possession of drug paraph--pariph--Honestly, I can never spell that word.Yes, people need a place to live. But that's the excuse landlords use while they KNOWINGLY rent to criminals, and continue to allow criminal behavior as long as rent gets paid, even if rent gets paid from the criminal proceeds.What's so bad about the phrase is it is true--yes, people DO need a place to live--but the fact people need a place to live shouldn't be an excuse to knowingly allow and even profit by criminal behavior at rental properties.In regard to "completely ignoring social problems, blah blah blah," I feel free to focus on the portions of society's ills where I can do something...like call 911 on drug dealing, or deal with houses broken into by squatters.I've been an activist on lots of different issues. I've tackled those root causes LOTS of times. As a matter of fact, I blog quite a bit on the subject of abusive, predatory towing directed at poor people. See my other blog, www.towingutopia.com.So it's not even true that I ignore those other ills, but for purposes of the discussion...I feel free to focus upon those particular ills I feel best suited to tackle. You just go ahead and keep working on those ills for which YOU feel well-suited.My neighborhood doesn't need one more bleeding heart (and I count myself as one) weeping and wailing about how folks need to prostitute and sell drugs because life and society has treated them so badly. We need our neighborhood back from hookers and drug dealers.As for the "outsider" label, I'd rather be known as an "outsider" than somebody who wants to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with crack-dealing, street-walking shitheads.We don't need excuses for why things are the way they are. We need change. We need open air drug markets to GO AWAY. So you just keep working on those "root causes" and I'll just keep dialing 911.Between the two of us, maybe things really will get better.
August 6, 2008 8:50 PM
Anonymous said...
As far as reading your blog: I'll admit, I'm a masochist.I like how you jumped on that "supposed" line right away (I meant supposed as in your blog is my sole source for this information)...but offered no explanation about speaking as her pants. Nor acknowledging that you don't know whether or not Contessa perhaps has experienced sexual abuse in her early life, for instance, as it's been reported more than half of prostitutes have experienced. Did her pants see that too? Or maybe not, I don't know anything about her life either, but to not even consider it? And you can't deny that sexual assault is more prevalent in poorer communities.And I have news for you: the drug market will not go anywhere as long as drugs are illegal in this country. If the Prohibition era taught us anything (and making drugs illegal is prohibition), when something is made illegal, criminals will make money from it. If drugs were ever legalized, the economic incentive would disappear instantaneously, and violent criminals and gangsters wouldn't be the ones selling drugs. And guess what? The rate of addiction in this country has remained virtually unchanged throughout the criminalization of every illegal drug, even withstanding the past thirty years of the "War on Drugs." Wow, great results from the trillions of dollars of tax dollars spent, eh? I'm sure you are intelligent enough to know that as long as something is illegal, there will be a market for it. The neighborhood in which you reside happens to be one of those places in Minneapolis. Calling the police may put those particular people in jail, but there will be someone there to fill their spots--somewhere--the very next day. A junkie's got to get their fix.As far as playing your part and me playing mine, you are most certainly counteracting any real change as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't appear that you advocate for any sort of alternative treatment, and you seem to wholly support--by acting as an arm of it--what the racist criminal justice system in this country does to the families and communities of people of color...and economically disadvantaged white people, too. And if you don't believe that our punitive approach to criminal justice and sham laws meant to make it easier to racially profile doesn't perpetuate crime rather than reduce it, than I think we fundamentally will never agree. What about the children of those prostitutes and drug dealers you so inconsiderately demonize? What happens to them when their parent(s) go to prison? Perhaps they'll end up in the foster care system, or on the corners themselves. And just to connect the dots, here's a little tidbit for you:"A 2007 survey of Oakland youths being assisted by the Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth Program found 88 percent of the youngsters had run away from home and 53 percent came from foster care group homes. Three-quarters of them had been raped at some time in their lives, and 48 percent had been physically abused growing up."I'm not trying to make excuses, but in order to actually make real change, it is absolutely necessary to be informed on prevailing societal forces that allow situations like this to occur.This is a (sort of) free country and you can do and say as you please, but as far as I'm concerned, by focusing only on criminal justice aspects of the problems that community faces, you are not doing justice to the full story and you are perpetuating commonly held stereotypes without putting lives into context. You are condescending, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear if some of your neighbors felt the same if they were to see some of the things you say on this Web site. Thank God for the digital divide!
August 6, 2008 9:46 PM
Johnny Northside said...
If you enjoy being a masochist, be sure to read my NEXT two posts about Contessa. As for the punitive approach thing: I believe in jails where people get treatment and job training, but that doesn't mean I think people should spend less time in jail or that we should have a revolving door and slap-on-the-wrist sentences for stuff like dealing crack on the sidewalk. Your theory "people are always going to get their drugs somewhere" may be true, but my block wasn't ALWAYS this way. So let them get their drugs somewhere else besides my block and besides North Minneapolis. Furthermore, that sort of argues against your "fight the root causes" approach. If they're always going to get drugs somewhere, then what does it matter whether I dial 911 or you fight those nasty roots? As for your 2007 survey, well, gee, look where the data was gathered. It really doesn't tell us anything we don't know, nor does it support your point. Youth at a center for sexually exploited people report running away from home? Duh. For purposes of argument, I'm willing to assume all the hookers were sexual abuse victims growing up. WELL SO WHAT? It doesn't mean they should get a free pass and break the law. These hookers strut around in front of the school buses, which isn't even DECENT. Even criminals can make a middling effort to be DECENT. As for your assertion you're not making excuses: you wouldn't need to say it unless you were, and you certainly are. Cripes almighty, I just want to pick up the phone and dial 911 on BLATANT (EXPLETIVE) CRIME taking place right on the sidewalk--this is exactly what a citizen is SUPPOSED to do--and you want to drag out a ream of social data about how I'm "demonizing" the poor widdle drug dealers and hookers who come from such bad backgrounds.The world people like you have created in North Minneapolis by enabling the crack-dealing shit heads to take over our once-wonderful neighborhood is the reason a blog like this exists in the first place. Oh, and another thing. I did not speak AS the woman's pants. I speculated on what the pants MIGHT SAY. There is a difference. (But if you like reading that sort of thing, check out my "evil pink pony" entries. You'll LOVE EM in your masochistic way) Furthermore, I'm not the only person in the neighborhood who has pointed out Contessa wears the same pink pants with astonishing frequency while dealing drugs and doing car dates, to the point we identify her BY MEANS OF the pink pants. I just happened to be the one who blogged about it. So what's YOUR neighborhood like, anonymous poster? The people who pontificate the way you do generally aren't the ones who are in the MIDDLE of this shit. Digital divide, indeed. You know what you read about my block on your little screen. You try living on the same block as Contessa and her pink pants, and raise little children like that refugee Hmong family who lives right NEXT DOOR to Contessa's crap. You'd change your shit head-hugging views overnight. Life's hard? Try being a refugee who barely speaks English with a whole bunch of little children. And then life gets harder because this NASTY WHORE IN PINK STRETCHY PANTS has to turn her tricks and sell her crack right in front of those little children.
August 6, 2008 10:36 PM
Anonymous said...
Ok, Johnny Northside, the only reason I said anything about making excuses was because I was responding to your accusation in your initial response. You're very good at cherry picking.This isn't even a battle worth fighting, obviously, because you've made up your mind that you're right, I'm wrong, and there's nothing wrong with the fact that you've lived in that neighborhood for less than a year, yet have claimed it as your own to lord over. I think it's pretty f***ing bold of you to call yourself Johnny Northside. You CHOSE to live there (unlike many of the people who have no choice but to pay cheaper rents and mortgages), so don't act like you are in a hopeless situation you can't control. It's nice to hear that you only care about crime if it's personally affecting you, too...you don't give a shit as long as those drug dealers leave your sight, huh?And for the record, I don't live in North Minneapolis, or an area of the city that is particularly crime-ridden; however, I have had my house broken into while I was home, and I know what it's like to feel that fear. I realize it's not nearly to the extent that North Minneapolis residents face, but I just wanted to put that out there.And I take your lack of response concerning these people's children as an admission that you just don't give a shit. And that stat? That center was working with those children because they had been selling themselves on the streets for sex and were referred for counseling. How does the fact that 53 percent were foster children not support my argument?I hope I've perhaps had some effect on your viewpoint, or at least pissed you off enough to make you think about it, but I don't really give a shit either way. You're going to do what you're going to do, and you're going to continue looking stupid while doing it.And if you can say that me and "people like me" are responsible for the problems North Minneapolis is facing with a straight face, when I care very deeply about social, racial and economic justice, then I don't think there is anything else to say to you.
August 6, 2008 11:21 PM
Johnny Northside said...
I care about crime whether it's in North Minneapolis or in your pristine little yuppie neighborhood, but I don't want to bite off way more than I can chew. Cleaning up one block is hard enough. Cleaning up the North Side would take, like, the rest of my life. And I don't just want hookers and crack dealers out of sight, out of mind. I want them off the streets and out of business. And, yes, PEOPLE LIKE YOU are responsible for the problems of North Minneapolis. PEOPLE LIKE YOU who sit on your self-righteous ass and criticize my efforts, hoping to make me pull back on both my efforts and my commentary, while your own spoiled brat offspring from the suburbs come here to the North Side to score dope, and the whole time you're feeling your comforting sense of superiority that you have all the answers to the social problems...more so than the big bad brutal police who just want to arrest the criminals and let the system mete out so-called "justice." Justice! For these poor downtrodden crack heads and prostitutes? Heaven forbid! God forbid, somebody like me wants to CALL THE POLICE when he sees a crime or make sure squatters don't take over buildings.You make excuses for criminals. Instead of shaking your finger at their bad behavior, you try to explain it away and justify it, and not only that, you dare to wag your finger at me while I am trying to actually clean up the crap taking over my corner of the city. Where is your critique of the people doing BAD? You apparently have none. You live your soft little suburban life and feel guilty about it, so you put out a big bunch of words about the downtrodden. Your home was broken into? Do you suppose those thieves were *also* abused as children? When your guests leave your home, do you watch them all the way to their car parked on the street to make sure they won't get robbed? Do you never allow your children to play in the front yard without keeping them under careful observation? That's how life is over here. As for the title of my blog, you're not in the middle of the Northside struggle and you have no basis by which to judge how the "Northside" label should be used. A label like that is a nebulous thing, like at what special moment does somebody at the University of Minnesota become a "gopher?" And would a student be entitled to have a blog called "Johnny The Gopher" as a freshman, or would he need to wait a longer period of time, at least until he is a sophomore? And is there a longer waiting period of propriety if he came from Montana in the first place, not Minnesota? Really, I think my deliberately premature use of "Northside" is a sort of subtle humor which goes right over your head.
August 7, 2008 12:47 AM
jake said...
Hi Anonymous, My name is Jacob and I'm currently involved in a documentary about the housing crisis, the North side, and Johnny. I read your comments here and am interested in the issues you've brought up about Johnny's way of doing things. We'd be really interested in continuing this conversation over email and hearing more of what you have to say. Can you drop me a line? My email is jdanielvalento@hotmail.com
You see
If you who have asked Johnny legitimate questions to post in the comments, only to see them not published, your questions and statements will be posted here. Johnny Northside, the self-served " Dictator," refuses any post if it does not suit him, if it challenges his intelligence or if it insults him.
He openly posts people's pictures on the Internet and gloats about getting people fired and exposing people while offering those people no way to say anything in their own defense.
Sure, he taunts people with "You keep reading my blog" as though he has some sort of supernatural power over people and again, gloats about it.
In reality, all he has done is copy, that's right... COPY one of America's most despised radio personalities, Howard Stern. Think about it, he says things to piss people off so they will engage him. Then he either won't post the comments/questions or he distorts their words and doesn't allow them any way to clarify or come back.
I have copied the comments from the recent post, A Progress Report In Celebration Of National Night Out (Hooker Leaves 3020 6th St. N.) as a perfect example of how a reader has offered some very direct, opinionated comments against Johnny and he went back after them with arrogant opinions and finally resorted to calling the commenter a "shithead" several times.
The comments back & forth are long but, they do show his true colors.
Enjoy!
-Johnny's OtherSide
_________________________________
Anonymous said...
Your blog in general makes me shudder, but this post in particular is probably one of the most distasteful things I have read in awhile. It sounds like you thought quite a bit about Contessa's pants. I cannot believe you found it appropriate to speak as a woman's pants whose life and experiences, I'm sure, you know nothing about beyond her supposed line of work. And I have a serious issue with the following excerpt: People need a place to live. This is the line always used by slumlords who fill our neighborhoods with pimps, hookers and drug dealers."People need a place to live." It's not so different from industries who fill the air with stink, and then say, "Well, that's the smell of money."You are COMPLETELY ignoring social problems that cause people to become involved in these sorts of activities in the first place. I'm not necessarily excusing it, but I would hope you agree that everyone DOES need a place to live. I can't understand how someone who considers himself to be a community activist in a community he just became a part of, a community which perhaps more than any other in the state exemplifies institutional oppression as it happens, would be so blind to these things. Not in a single post that I've read have you in any way even considered the social ills and the roles they play in the things you see and experience, and I frankly find it disgusting.It's obvious that you think pretty damn highly of yourself in the way you write and in your willingness to expose other people's lives in such a meaningless and ill-intentioned way. You can hide in the shroud of Johnny Northside, community activist who just wants to save his neighborhood, but what you really appear as is an ignorant middle-aged white man, an outsider at that, who would rather sweep problems under a rug or nail it up in a house than actually examine what's going on at the roots.
August 6, 2008 7:22 PM
Johnny Northside said...
In reply: Ah, but you just can't stop reading the blog, can you?Furthermore, it's not her SUPPOSED line of work. What is going on has been observed for YEARS AND YEARS. And recently, FINALLY, Contessa was arrested. Conversations with the police confirm the reality of her chosen profession--hooking and dealing drugs--even if the police can't always manage to make arrests. The woman is a prostitute and was arrested for possession of drug paraph--pariph--Honestly, I can never spell that word.Yes, people need a place to live. But that's the excuse landlords use while they KNOWINGLY rent to criminals, and continue to allow criminal behavior as long as rent gets paid, even if rent gets paid from the criminal proceeds.What's so bad about the phrase is it is true--yes, people DO need a place to live--but the fact people need a place to live shouldn't be an excuse to knowingly allow and even profit by criminal behavior at rental properties.In regard to "completely ignoring social problems, blah blah blah," I feel free to focus on the portions of society's ills where I can do something...like call 911 on drug dealing, or deal with houses broken into by squatters.I've been an activist on lots of different issues. I've tackled those root causes LOTS of times. As a matter of fact, I blog quite a bit on the subject of abusive, predatory towing directed at poor people. See my other blog, www.towingutopia.com.So it's not even true that I ignore those other ills, but for purposes of the discussion...I feel free to focus upon those particular ills I feel best suited to tackle. You just go ahead and keep working on those ills for which YOU feel well-suited.My neighborhood doesn't need one more bleeding heart (and I count myself as one) weeping and wailing about how folks need to prostitute and sell drugs because life and society has treated them so badly. We need our neighborhood back from hookers and drug dealers.As for the "outsider" label, I'd rather be known as an "outsider" than somebody who wants to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with crack-dealing, street-walking shitheads.We don't need excuses for why things are the way they are. We need change. We need open air drug markets to GO AWAY. So you just keep working on those "root causes" and I'll just keep dialing 911.Between the two of us, maybe things really will get better.
August 6, 2008 8:50 PM
Anonymous said...
As far as reading your blog: I'll admit, I'm a masochist.I like how you jumped on that "supposed" line right away (I meant supposed as in your blog is my sole source for this information)...but offered no explanation about speaking as her pants. Nor acknowledging that you don't know whether or not Contessa perhaps has experienced sexual abuse in her early life, for instance, as it's been reported more than half of prostitutes have experienced. Did her pants see that too? Or maybe not, I don't know anything about her life either, but to not even consider it? And you can't deny that sexual assault is more prevalent in poorer communities.And I have news for you: the drug market will not go anywhere as long as drugs are illegal in this country. If the Prohibition era taught us anything (and making drugs illegal is prohibition), when something is made illegal, criminals will make money from it. If drugs were ever legalized, the economic incentive would disappear instantaneously, and violent criminals and gangsters wouldn't be the ones selling drugs. And guess what? The rate of addiction in this country has remained virtually unchanged throughout the criminalization of every illegal drug, even withstanding the past thirty years of the "War on Drugs." Wow, great results from the trillions of dollars of tax dollars spent, eh? I'm sure you are intelligent enough to know that as long as something is illegal, there will be a market for it. The neighborhood in which you reside happens to be one of those places in Minneapolis. Calling the police may put those particular people in jail, but there will be someone there to fill their spots--somewhere--the very next day. A junkie's got to get their fix.As far as playing your part and me playing mine, you are most certainly counteracting any real change as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't appear that you advocate for any sort of alternative treatment, and you seem to wholly support--by acting as an arm of it--what the racist criminal justice system in this country does to the families and communities of people of color...and economically disadvantaged white people, too. And if you don't believe that our punitive approach to criminal justice and sham laws meant to make it easier to racially profile doesn't perpetuate crime rather than reduce it, than I think we fundamentally will never agree. What about the children of those prostitutes and drug dealers you so inconsiderately demonize? What happens to them when their parent(s) go to prison? Perhaps they'll end up in the foster care system, or on the corners themselves. And just to connect the dots, here's a little tidbit for you:"A 2007 survey of Oakland youths being assisted by the Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth Program found 88 percent of the youngsters had run away from home and 53 percent came from foster care group homes. Three-quarters of them had been raped at some time in their lives, and 48 percent had been physically abused growing up."I'm not trying to make excuses, but in order to actually make real change, it is absolutely necessary to be informed on prevailing societal forces that allow situations like this to occur.This is a (sort of) free country and you can do and say as you please, but as far as I'm concerned, by focusing only on criminal justice aspects of the problems that community faces, you are not doing justice to the full story and you are perpetuating commonly held stereotypes without putting lives into context. You are condescending, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear if some of your neighbors felt the same if they were to see some of the things you say on this Web site. Thank God for the digital divide!
August 6, 2008 9:46 PM
Johnny Northside said...
If you enjoy being a masochist, be sure to read my NEXT two posts about Contessa. As for the punitive approach thing: I believe in jails where people get treatment and job training, but that doesn't mean I think people should spend less time in jail or that we should have a revolving door and slap-on-the-wrist sentences for stuff like dealing crack on the sidewalk. Your theory "people are always going to get their drugs somewhere" may be true, but my block wasn't ALWAYS this way. So let them get their drugs somewhere else besides my block and besides North Minneapolis. Furthermore, that sort of argues against your "fight the root causes" approach. If they're always going to get drugs somewhere, then what does it matter whether I dial 911 or you fight those nasty roots? As for your 2007 survey, well, gee, look where the data was gathered. It really doesn't tell us anything we don't know, nor does it support your point. Youth at a center for sexually exploited people report running away from home? Duh. For purposes of argument, I'm willing to assume all the hookers were sexual abuse victims growing up. WELL SO WHAT? It doesn't mean they should get a free pass and break the law. These hookers strut around in front of the school buses, which isn't even DECENT. Even criminals can make a middling effort to be DECENT. As for your assertion you're not making excuses: you wouldn't need to say it unless you were, and you certainly are. Cripes almighty, I just want to pick up the phone and dial 911 on BLATANT (EXPLETIVE) CRIME taking place right on the sidewalk--this is exactly what a citizen is SUPPOSED to do--and you want to drag out a ream of social data about how I'm "demonizing" the poor widdle drug dealers and hookers who come from such bad backgrounds.The world people like you have created in North Minneapolis by enabling the crack-dealing shit heads to take over our once-wonderful neighborhood is the reason a blog like this exists in the first place. Oh, and another thing. I did not speak AS the woman's pants. I speculated on what the pants MIGHT SAY. There is a difference. (But if you like reading that sort of thing, check out my "evil pink pony" entries. You'll LOVE EM in your masochistic way) Furthermore, I'm not the only person in the neighborhood who has pointed out Contessa wears the same pink pants with astonishing frequency while dealing drugs and doing car dates, to the point we identify her BY MEANS OF the pink pants. I just happened to be the one who blogged about it. So what's YOUR neighborhood like, anonymous poster? The people who pontificate the way you do generally aren't the ones who are in the MIDDLE of this shit. Digital divide, indeed. You know what you read about my block on your little screen. You try living on the same block as Contessa and her pink pants, and raise little children like that refugee Hmong family who lives right NEXT DOOR to Contessa's crap. You'd change your shit head-hugging views overnight. Life's hard? Try being a refugee who barely speaks English with a whole bunch of little children. And then life gets harder because this NASTY WHORE IN PINK STRETCHY PANTS has to turn her tricks and sell her crack right in front of those little children.
August 6, 2008 10:36 PM
Anonymous said...
Ok, Johnny Northside, the only reason I said anything about making excuses was because I was responding to your accusation in your initial response. You're very good at cherry picking.This isn't even a battle worth fighting, obviously, because you've made up your mind that you're right, I'm wrong, and there's nothing wrong with the fact that you've lived in that neighborhood for less than a year, yet have claimed it as your own to lord over. I think it's pretty f***ing bold of you to call yourself Johnny Northside. You CHOSE to live there (unlike many of the people who have no choice but to pay cheaper rents and mortgages), so don't act like you are in a hopeless situation you can't control. It's nice to hear that you only care about crime if it's personally affecting you, too...you don't give a shit as long as those drug dealers leave your sight, huh?And for the record, I don't live in North Minneapolis, or an area of the city that is particularly crime-ridden; however, I have had my house broken into while I was home, and I know what it's like to feel that fear. I realize it's not nearly to the extent that North Minneapolis residents face, but I just wanted to put that out there.And I take your lack of response concerning these people's children as an admission that you just don't give a shit. And that stat? That center was working with those children because they had been selling themselves on the streets for sex and were referred for counseling. How does the fact that 53 percent were foster children not support my argument?I hope I've perhaps had some effect on your viewpoint, or at least pissed you off enough to make you think about it, but I don't really give a shit either way. You're going to do what you're going to do, and you're going to continue looking stupid while doing it.And if you can say that me and "people like me" are responsible for the problems North Minneapolis is facing with a straight face, when I care very deeply about social, racial and economic justice, then I don't think there is anything else to say to you.
August 6, 2008 11:21 PM
Johnny Northside said...
I care about crime whether it's in North Minneapolis or in your pristine little yuppie neighborhood, but I don't want to bite off way more than I can chew. Cleaning up one block is hard enough. Cleaning up the North Side would take, like, the rest of my life. And I don't just want hookers and crack dealers out of sight, out of mind. I want them off the streets and out of business. And, yes, PEOPLE LIKE YOU are responsible for the problems of North Minneapolis. PEOPLE LIKE YOU who sit on your self-righteous ass and criticize my efforts, hoping to make me pull back on both my efforts and my commentary, while your own spoiled brat offspring from the suburbs come here to the North Side to score dope, and the whole time you're feeling your comforting sense of superiority that you have all the answers to the social problems...more so than the big bad brutal police who just want to arrest the criminals and let the system mete out so-called "justice." Justice! For these poor downtrodden crack heads and prostitutes? Heaven forbid! God forbid, somebody like me wants to CALL THE POLICE when he sees a crime or make sure squatters don't take over buildings.You make excuses for criminals. Instead of shaking your finger at their bad behavior, you try to explain it away and justify it, and not only that, you dare to wag your finger at me while I am trying to actually clean up the crap taking over my corner of the city. Where is your critique of the people doing BAD? You apparently have none. You live your soft little suburban life and feel guilty about it, so you put out a big bunch of words about the downtrodden. Your home was broken into? Do you suppose those thieves were *also* abused as children? When your guests leave your home, do you watch them all the way to their car parked on the street to make sure they won't get robbed? Do you never allow your children to play in the front yard without keeping them under careful observation? That's how life is over here. As for the title of my blog, you're not in the middle of the Northside struggle and you have no basis by which to judge how the "Northside" label should be used. A label like that is a nebulous thing, like at what special moment does somebody at the University of Minnesota become a "gopher?" And would a student be entitled to have a blog called "Johnny The Gopher" as a freshman, or would he need to wait a longer period of time, at least until he is a sophomore? And is there a longer waiting period of propriety if he came from Montana in the first place, not Minnesota? Really, I think my deliberately premature use of "Northside" is a sort of subtle humor which goes right over your head.
August 7, 2008 12:47 AM
jake said...
Hi Anonymous, My name is Jacob and I'm currently involved in a documentary about the housing crisis, the North side, and Johnny. I read your comments here and am interested in the issues you've brought up about Johnny's way of doing things. We'd be really interested in continuing this conversation over email and hearing more of what you have to say. Can you drop me a line? My email is jdanielvalento@hotmail.com
You see
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