Where is Johnny Northside When Really Needed?



Photo courtesy of KARE11 TV

 The most vocal, most self-promoting, attention hungry and self-proclaimed "Northside Revitalizer", John Hoff aka Johnny Northside is nowhere to be found. In fact, it would appear that a lot of residents of North Minneapolis have also been missing, according to the StarTribune and KARE11.
Click this link to read the KARE11 article about "Volunteers needed in North Minneapolis Clean-Up".

The story published on June 21, 2011, is more of a plea to the public to volunteer for operation "Clean Sweep" which is to help with the clean up efforts in areas hit by last month's tornado. Did I mention that the tornado was LAST MONTH?

A friend of mine posted the link on her FaceBook wall and then commented about the clean up efforts in St. Anthony after a tornado hit there in 1984. I was in 7th grade at St Anthony Middle School at that time and recall how much damage that tornado caused. Apache Plaza had just been given a facelift and was never able to really recover after being in the path of that tornado.
I remember walking around outside just minutes after the storm passed and saw residents everywhere, asking if everyone was ok or if anyone needed anything. In the days that followed, virtually everyone who lived in the path the tornado took and others who lived close by, was outside working on cleaning up the debris and trash caused by the storm. Within a week, residents and volunteers had everything cleaned up yet North Minneapolis is having to recruit volunteers from elsewhere because, not enough NoMi residents have come out to help their own neighborhood.

I know there have been a lot of residents of North Minneapolis who have been out helping with the efforts on a daily basis and this post is not directed at them.
The author of this blog as well as many of its readers would like to know, "Where IS Johnny Northside?" Not only has Johnny not been spotted in or around No-Mi but, his blog has seen only three total posts thus far in the month of June.

Perhaps sometime and maybe sooner than later, the people who support or deal with JNS will start to see what this blog has said since it was started... Johnny Northside aka John Hoff, cares only about John Hoff and the attention he can bring himself using anyone or anything along the way.

Johnny Northside Makes Good On Threat...Ends Friendship of 30+ Years

The title may be confusing to some people who are new to this blog. Here is a brief summary of the MisAdventures of Johnny Northside that should help readers understand the meaning of this blog post.

John Hoff aka John Hoffman (pen name used to author, "The Art & Science of Dumpster Diving") aka John Willard Hoff aka Johnny Northside has been engaged in a battle that began in 2007 against the author of this blog, Jim Watkins aka the "Anti-Johnny" (the nick-name was given to me by John Hoff himself).

The battle between us all started when John manipulated the publicity of my best friend, Tom Balko who (at the time) was being slaughtered by the media after the Minneapolis City Council decided that he, his partner Jon Helgason and their company, TJ Waconia were responsible for the increased crime and real estate foreclosure crisis in North Minneapolis.
The city filed a law suit against them that was front page news when it was announced at a press conference by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. TJ Waconia was dropped from the law suit after SunTrust Mortgage counter sued after the city was awarded the right to manage the TJ Waconia Houses. The reason SunTrust countered was because, they actually owned the houses and the city never bothered to research who owned them in their rush to cash in on the headlines while TJ Waconia was still news

John Hoff got the name Johnny Northside and the blog started partially by riding the TJ Waconia same coat tails as the city did and ever since it has been a public battle between John Hoff and myself. I started and maintain the Misadventures of Johnny Northside because, it was clear to me way back that John operated by his own set of rules and double standards. He has made several threats against me that have been well documented on this blog, the Mplsmirror and on the Adventures of Jordan Hawkman.

Which brings us to the topic of this post.

Last year, John sent me several text messages warning me that if I didn't back off of my efforts of reporting all of his current and past misdeeds, threats, attempts to manipulate others (and the list goes on), that he would go after the one thing he knew I cared about... My friend. Part of the reason I have kept up with Johns "adventures" is because of the fact that he has made threats to me before and I have the same policy as the United States does against terrorism... I will not negotiate with John Hoff and I will not stand down to his blackmail attempts.

The text message John sent said that I had "an incredible opportunity to BACK THE HELL OFF" or he would go after Tom and Jon by trying to make their lives as miserable as possible. He promised to write letters to the prison they are located at, the authorities at the prison itself as well as the parole board. He ended the threat by stating, "By the time I am done with them, the entire Balko family will HATE YOU... Now BACK OFF, JIM!"

I didn't back off. John carried out his threat by writing letters to Tom and Jon as well as to the prison, if not more.

I am writing this post to let people know that John Hoff has made good on his threat. He has accomplished his goal. John has effectively driven a wedge between me and my life-long best friend, Tom. I hereby congratulate John Hoff! John can add ending a 30+ year friendship between two people to his list of accomplishments and in doing so, has lost the one effective "weapon" that he has used against me since this all began.

Last fall, I got a call from one of Tom's relatives and they told me that John had been sending letters to both Tom and Jon as well as the prison. They told me that I will not be hearing from Tom in the future and they thanked me for the support I gave him through the entire ordeal.
I have not been contacted by Tom since.

The worst thing John has been able to slander me with in his attempts to discredit and humiliate me in public has been by telling everyone that I am the "self proclaimed best friend of TJ Waconia fraudster, Tom Balko." (the quote is from John that he has used over and over again.)
That's all, though.

John went after my former friend because, he has not been able to find anything about me that he could use to tarnish or ruin me with by blogging about it. Class act, huh?

I made a promise to John that I would not stop my efforts of notifying the public and people John associates with about his shady, two-faced and bullying ways. Now that John has caused my friendship with Tom Balko to end... John has NOTHING he can threaten me with and I will NOT back down from the self proclaimed "800 pound Gorilla" that John has called himself.

If anyone reading this post has had a personal run-in with John or knows about other John Hoff related incidents, please contact me by leaving a message in the comments. Be sure to tell if you want your words to be published or not. Or you can email me.