Jerry Moore at another eventI made an effort to get both sides of the story before printing anything, but the same email I was relying upon for most of my info was printed on www.ibnn.org, forcing my blogger hand. I still have some other details not printed on that site, however...
First of all, I want to make it clear that I tried to contact Jerry Moore by Facebook to get his side of the story before printing anything. I was prepared to wait 24 hours, but another site printing details has forced my hand.
The person reporting this matter is named Megan G. She has requested I not print her full last name and, since she provided me the info, it is a reasonable request. I rely on people to kick info my way.
The incident took place Monday, January 12 right after the JACC elections for Board of Directors, which took place at Jordan New Life Church, 1922 25th Avenue N. There are reports another meeting will take place January 14, 2009 at 6:30 PM. A contact in the mainstream media heard Moore may be fired or asked to step down at that meeting, and passed that info to me. The Star Tribune is looking into this story.
Jerry Moore is invited to submit his firsthand account, which I am committed to printing, fair and square. This is the unedited account of Megan G. (Paragraph breaks not included in the original text)
"Unfortunately, Jerry snapped and lost his mind Monday night. He started swinging punches at a man who had 'pushed his buttons' so to speak.
"He didn't really make contact with the man because the man was walking away to avoid a fight. A few people, including myself, ran over to get in between Jerry and the man to keep them apart. Jerry then turned his rage on me, pushing me back and swinging at me. Two other men saw Jerry putting his hands on a woman; they jumped in between Jerry and the woman to get control of Jerry."
"Jerry then turned his rage on them. At this point, Jerry really started throwing punches closed fist punches--that made contact with one man before people were able to get Jerry under control. Three people, including myself, were on the phone with 911. When Jerry realized the police were on the way, he ran out of the back exit out of the building. Police came and took statements and will turn it over to an investigator."
(According to a follow-up email by Megan G., the MPD case number is 09-011311. The officers were 6200 and 0138)
Megan G. continues:
"Pushing Jerry's buttons means: A community member was asking tough questions of Jerry during the question and answer period of the board meeting. The community member's questions focused on 'where all of the money was going for our youth?'
"Another community member had written a note stating that the board must question Jerry Moore, the executive director, to find out what has been done with the money, and what does the community have to show for it.
"After the meeting was over, while people were cleaning up and milling around, a woman began asking Jerry about the money and Jerry was responding. Then a gentleman identified as the community member who began "pushing Jerry's buttons" walked over and joined the conversation. He then said, "Jerry, you are the executive director, why don't you show this woman the financial records and show her where the money is, Jerry?"
"As he asked the question, he patted Jerry on the back sarcastically. I want to make it clear that it was not a sincere pat on the back; it was not an 'atta boy' pat on the back.
"In fact, Jerry's friends at the meeting were saying that this 'button-pushing-man' actually hit Jerry three times on the back. It wasn't a 'hit.' It wasn't consensual but it wasn't a hit. If Jerry had said "don't touch me" and the man continued to touch him, that may have changed the outcome, but Jerry didn't say that, he just started swinging."
The IBNN blog is reporting the altercation included Megan G., Dennis Wagner and P.J.
The full name of "Megan G." is on the IBNN blog, but I am trying to respect Megan's request because she did provide me information. Megan stated she forward the info because of my interest in the Jordan neighborhood, not necessarily for blogging but, well, her entire email is on IBNN.
The IBNN blog is reporting "During the meeting the JACC Board was re-tooled with new members who were voted in by the community." The IBNN blog, as well as an email I received from Megan G., forwarded from a JACC listserv, lists the winners of the Board of Directors election as follows:
David Haddy. Todd Heintz. Tyrone Jaramillo. Robert Hodson. Anne McCandless. Vladimir Monroe.
The IBNN blog--a steady and harsh critique of Jerry Moore--is reminding readers that, long ago, that blog was calling for Moore's resignation or removal.
Free Blog Bonus Material: My Critique of JACC
It has long been my observation that individuals in JACC devote a great deal of time to "social justice" issues instead of neighborhood issues. When I say "neighborhood issues" I mean stuff like: attracting responsible home buyers, securing properties, cracking down on street crime, helping law-abiding property owners stay in their own homes, dealing with bad property owners and slumlords.
Social justice issues, on the other hand, include racism, diversity on the police force, police brutality. These are important and pressing issues. But what is the role of a neighborhood association? Mostly, it is NOT these issues. Neighborhood associations should deal with neighborhood issues. In the suburbs, they should deal with whether or not the neighbor's garage door is offensively, sickeningly bright orange, because they have nothing more exciting that qualifies as a neighborhood issue. In North Minneapolis, they should deal with whether the garage is well-secured, or are drug dealers getting inside? Now that's an exciting neighborhood issue!
A debate about how the (alleged) drug dealers had their choices limited by systemic injustices in society...this has nothing to do with whether or not TO NAIL THE GARAGE DOOR SHUT. Yet what do you hear coming out of Jordan? Discussions about NAILING UP DOORS? No, you hear social justice issues being hashed out. You hear, "How dare anybody criticize our neighborhood without LIVING HERE?"
Man, back in early 2008, did I ever get an earful of this stuff when I dared to point out that young men standing on a corner, drinking from what appeared to be a gin bottle, didn't make a very positive first impression for an outsider shopping for a home. (Click here)
Yes, JACC deals with neighborhood issues...but what a person hears coming out of Jordan's neighborhood association is a lot of "social justice" stuff, the kind of thing which would be more properly the domain of an organization like the Urban League. (And IBNN has its own extensive critiques of the functionality of the Urban League, by the way)
If you watch the real estate market closely, it is obvious the two neighborhoods with the most affordable housing stock--the real steals, the kind of thing a buyer will brag about for the rest of his/her life--are in Hawthorne and Jordan. Yes, great deals can be found all over North Minneapolis, but the bargains bunch up in Hawthorne and Jordan.
Hawthorne may have intense neighborhood politics and squabbles, but Hawthorne's incredible progress has been documented, EXTENSIVELY, on this blog and elsewhere. Hawthorne has avoided breaking into factions that CONSTANTLY FIGHT each other. People in the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council have the ability to say, "You know what? Even though I didn't get my way, that doesn't mean I'm going to take my ball and go home, or plot to crush the person who thwarted me."
Political conflicts in the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council are brief and wash over, or simply linger beneath the surface without breaking out into open, ongoing, scorched-earth battles. Instead of being overly-sensitive to criticism of conditions in their neighborhood, folks in Hawthorne are likely to respond, "You should have seen what it was like two years ago. It's not where it should be, not yet, but we're moving in that direction." Incredible successes like what we see in the Eco Village cheer us, because we can see massive progress, with promises of more progress coming.
Can Jordan point to that kind of success?
In recent years JACC has gained a reputation for being severely dysfunctional and split into intense "pro-Jerry" and "anti-Jerry" factions who spend a lot of time plotting, maneuvering, and fighting. They should be securing buildings and throwing drug dealers off their streets, knocking down crappy houses and trying to save the good ones.
Now sides are literally coming to blows, but something like this JACC altercation wasn't hard to predict at all.
No Solution In Sight
Unfortunately, these politics will have to play themselves out. Whether people in Jordan are willing to admit it or not, the conflict is so much deeper than liking or disliking Jerry Moore.
There are so many empty, foreclosed houses in Jordan, that it's anybody's neighborhood. The future of Jordan is being determined right now, but there isn't broad agreement in Jordan about what Jordan should be.
People in Jordan have competing visions of the future. This Daily Planet Article, click here, as well as the comments which go with the article (especially the comments) are, I believe, an illustration of the debate taking place. It is this very debate that brings members of the Jordan neighborhood to blows. (The article, admittedly, is about all of North Minneapolis...but I see this debate as raging the most intensely in Jordan)
In Jordan, they're not fighting about Jerry Moore. They're fighting about "whose neighborhood?" and "what will it be like?"
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