Don Allen Files Public Disclosure Request, No Doubt At The Bidding Of His CIA Puppet Masters

Flickr.com Photo


First, a correction to a previous post: I made fun of the notion IBNN blogger Don Allen works for the CIA or FBI, as Al McFarlane (reportedly) asserted during some kind of breakfast meeting.

Well, my superiors in military psy-ops and the NSA got back to me, and it turns out Don Allen really DOES work for the CIA. So (under orders, here) I'm supposed to say so. Why? Because if I say so, nobody will believe it.

And I think that's the whole point.

(Just to be clear, I'm only UNDER CONTRACT with the NSA. Psy-ops still owns by army green butt to the end of my enlistment, or longer if I get stop lossed)

In any case...

Don Allen--who knows his way around state public disclosure laws well enough, since he stayed awake during that particular training at Langley, it would appear--just filed a public disclosure request to try to obtain the following info:

1. The amount NRRC spent on Advertising or outreach for the years 2005-2009.

2. The names of the advertising venders with amounts spent.

3. If any, the amount of dollars given to Mr. Al McFarlane as a person; Media outlet or any collaborative efforts from 2005-2009.

4. The number of articles you have had published in Insight News w/titles.

5. The current status of the Un-wed Mothers program and the balance of the prisoner re-entry programming funds.

It's too arcane to be ironic, but here it is: even though Don Allen is a blogger, I can get this stuff on my blog FASTER...which causes Don to just send out emails with links that say, "Read all about it on Johnny Northside."

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

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Mayor Rybak: NoMi Is Waiting To Welcome You!

Photo By John Hoff

I will never forget where I was when I first heard Mayor Rybak was selling his house. It was right after the Hawthorne Executive Board Meeting last night, in the front seat of Connie's little red sports car, in the parking lot of the "Secured Gas Station" (Winner Gas) at West Broadway and Lyndale...

A cop car was in plain sight, the officer apparently working security inside, but Connie was still hesitant to leave the safety of her vehicle. So she sent ME inside to buy two packs of Camels. Yeah, great, the brand that killed my Dad of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and prostate cancer.

All at once.

(Hey, at least he outlived all the shrapnel left in his body)

Anyway, I came back outside with the two packs in hand, and Connie was all, like, MAYOR RYBAK IS SELLING HIS HOUSE!!! She'd just read it off her Blackberry.

"Where's he moving?" I asked, casually.

"HE DOESN'T KNOW YET!!!!" she answered.

"Oh...my...god!!!!" we said, pretty much together. And then: WE HAVE TO GET RYBAK TO MOVE TO NOMI!!!!!!!!!!

Mayor Rybak, here are some of the many advantages of moving to NOMI. First of all, you won't get better housing bargains anywhere in the city on classic homes with character.

You can take that $700k or whatever you're getting for your OTHER house, and use it to retire in style. (No time soon, though)

Meanwhile, you can buy a house in NoMi for very little money, fix it up, and watch your equity grow as all the grand plans you've told us about--and they are grand, they are glorious, they are the bright utopia upon which we fix our tired gaze in moments of gritty urban struggle--come to fruition.

Imagine what people will say! THAT MAYOR RYBAK, HE WALKS THE WALK. Mayor, your mere PRESENCE will decrease crime within--I estimate--a four block area. There will quickly be a "ripple effect" of like-minded people copying your example, reasoning that if it's good enough for Mayor Rybak, maybe now really is the time to buy, buy, buy in NOMI. (Also, houses here are so affordable you can easily buy one BEFORE selling the other one)

Now, truthfully, so far you don't have much of a political opponent this year. A ham sandwich could beat Al Flowers on election day, even with wilted lettuce and no mayo.

But I say NO MERCY IN THE POLITICAL ARENA, at least not for a nut job like Al Flowers who heckles, disrupts, literally shoves from behind.

Mayor Rybak, now is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rack up the election day vote score as high as possible for the history books. Sure, you've got the rest of Minneapolis sewn up, as long as you don't murder somebody before the election, but why not take all the votes in North Minneapolis, too? Now THAT would be a political mandate.

Consider: If Al "I Am The Community" Flowers can pick up a few stray votes anywhere, it's probably in NOMI. He's got FOUR VOTES FOR SURE up here, not counting his own.

Well, I say take away even those four votes: move to NOMI so the residents of this neighborhood--who have hung on for so long, endured so much, dreamed such big dreams for so long--will vote for a mayor who boldly walks the walk, throwing in his lot with the muddy troops fighting the revitalization battle here at "Ground Zero."

Personally, I'm partial to the Hawthorne Neighborhood and since I've got this blog, well, I can shout ALMOST as loud as Al Flowers.

But I'm not going to shout. I'm going to sing!!!!

Well, sort of. Here's a little song for you, Mayor Rybak. Click here for video. (Check out what the star of this video is carrying in his hands!)

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THE STORY IN PICTURES: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photos By John Hoff

Here are images from recent intense (but informal) discussions about marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi which took place at the offices of the Carney group, as described in the two previous blog posts.



First, this is a booklet produced by the Carney Group with North Minneapolis/NoMi marketing material. It is slick and well done. Luckily, nobody spilled wine on it. (Well, I'm sure they made more than one)



Second, ...



Jules Inda, Pat Carney's wife. Next, realtor and NoMi member Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss) who is probably laughing at something said by Anderson Mitchell.

Fourth, Anderson Mitchell (right) clowning around for my camera, next to Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes. Next, Lisa Mitchell. It turns out Lisa Mitchell and I both grew up in the same part of the sticks. The bottle in the foreground--which looks like it is stuffed with lawn trimmings--is exotic Honduran guifiti.

Next, Pat Carney. Look at the size of his camera. Normally, I don't give a lot of credence to beliefs that a camera can steal your soul, but...well, just look at the SIZE of that thing!

The last picture was not taken at the Carney group event, but rather just before a recent meeting with Don Allen to talk about North Minneapolis marketing efforts, which I mentioned in this blog post, click here.

Nobody wanted me to take pictures at that meeting, so this image of Connie feeding the meter is all I have. Her cute little silver coin purse is made from HAND WOVEN POTATO CHIP BAGS.



Now all the women will want one.

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PART TWO: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photo By John Hoff

First and foremost, Pat Carney of the Carney Group doesn't want his marketing expertise to be "conflated" into the reputation of Northside Marketing Task Force, which is merely one of many clients. Some of Carney's super HAPPY clients include Mitchell Construction, click here for an example of a website. (I love the use of "safety orange" in the design)

Carney stated, in so many words, he had NO FREAKING IDEA what he was getting into when he accepted a relatively simple assignment from NMTF to produce a website to market North Minneapolis, a neighborhood which is, er, COMPLICATED, to say the least.

NMTF turned out to be a toxic hornet's nest of intense interpersonal conflict and endless committee this, committee that, and oops now the committee makeup has changed. AGAIN. Try being a contractor under such circumstances.

However, instead of sending me a ticked-off email about my mentions of Carney's efforts in the same bloggy breath as the efforts of the NMTF, Carney invited me and some friends to wine and cheese at a semi-regular Friday "salon" held at their 837 Glenwood Office.

Carney is like that. He is open and communicative, happy to let things flow in spontaneous and creative directions, like a conversation with clever people flows, especially when lubricated by much wine. Carney takes enormous numbers of pictures, then casually tosses the pictures up on a website and doesn't really mind, he says, if somebody uses the picture for blogging or news coverage.

Hey, it's all good. Pat Carney is just LIKE that. He's fun and open and communicative. Unlike SOME people.

The offices of the Carney Group are...

...eclectic and spectacular and remind me, oddly, of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

I've been there, like, FOUR TIMES. A law professor once asked me why I had toured Monticello FOUR TIMES and I answered, "To engage in worship of Thomas Jefferson to the point of idolatry." She told me how FLAWED Jefferson was and I said, well, that was part of my attraction: that a flawed and imperfect person could be capable of such sublime thought and creativity.

Like Jefferson, Carney's creativity is one with his building. Like Jefferson, he participates in his local government: he's a member of the Harrison Neighborhood Association.

"You've got to be!" he told me. To get ANYTHING done in a neighborhood, he said (and I agreed) you have to be involved in your local neighborhood association. From a window, Carney pointed to a property across the street and outlined visions of a farmers market. He pointed to International Market Square and mentioned how that place IS IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS. North Minneapolis (NoMi) needs to claim a place like that, as part of its image.

Now how shall I put this, without violating any confidences? I told Pat Carney if he showed me the website he'd designed for the Northside Marketing Task Force--without formal, written permission to do so--there could be some kind of legal trouble. And I had a duty to tell him that, I thought.

Well, Pat Carney didn't want any TROUBLE. He is creative, but also a businessman and therefore instinctively prudent. But this was a case of "mi casa es su casa." If guests wandered around and LOOKED at things, what was he supposed to do? Intensely police his guests? That's really not his style. (Laughing hysterically, THAT might be his style)

So I wandered around. I looked at things. Other people may have looked at things, too, but I will only be responsible for MYSELF and I'll keep others out of the heat unless those individuals (who may be hypothetical and imaginary, who knows?) want to come forward on their own... which, if they are figments of my imagination, THEY CAN'T.

Yes, I think now I've sufficiently de-clarified matters.

So, in regard to the website designed for the NMTF: it's a good-looking website. The images do more than document, they celebrate the neighborhood. Relatively ordinary (but fun) get-togethers become photographic art, icons of neighborly good feeling. There are many things to click on and explore, a feature which will hopefully hold the attention of the casual browser who will get caught up and wonder, "Is there more...what's over here? Oh, that topic sounds interesting..."

The website needs more CONTENT but that's not really the job of the Carney group. They've got the house built, as it were, now people just need to move in and live there.

Could one make criticisms of the website? Oh, undoubtedly. But the mild criticisms of one of my (possibly imaginary) companions that evening were completely different than the stuff I would jump on. For example, saying "MY North Minneapolis." Well, my (fantasy?) friend thinks the whole "my thing" is "worn out."

Huh, I thought. THAT never would've crossed my mind. Yeah, put something like this cool website in front of a committee, and they will pick it apart, piece by piece. And that's the problem: this is not a new kind of soft drink. This is a neighborhood, older than any of us who are alive, a community with overwhelming levels of complexity and innumerable strong opinions.

How do you MARKET an entity like that? I say: If you want to market it, somehow you need to be able to say: here is money. Here are some broad criteria, which we've miraculously managed to agree upon. NOW JUST DO IT.

If you decide on marketing details by a committee, the (expletive) thing will NEVER get done. Somebody will say, "Let's put the nice older lady who has been here umpteen years on a billboard" and somebody else will say, "Well, if you're going to have a billboard of her, then you need a billboard of a certain young man who stopped being in a gang, and pulled himself up to assistant manager at a fast food place." And then somebody else says, "But that's your nephew!" And then the response is, "You have a problem with that, BITCH?!"

Academic studies must exist on the marketing of cities and neighborhoods. This is the kind of thing one should study, intensely, before wading in thinking, "They will greet us as liberators and throw flowers in the street."

This is what I said to Carney: Let us suppose, hypothetically, EVERY CRITICISM EVER MADE ABOUT THE WEBSITE IS TRUE? OK, I'm still left with SO WHAT?

A website that markets our neighborhood, into which content can be poured to compete with the negative messages in the media, is still better than nothing. Consider: In 1939, some units of the Polish cavalry used HORSES and BICYCLES. But which is worse: going up against Panzer tanks with horses and bicycles, or just throwing up your hands and surrendering?

At the table--amid bottles of wine and platters of cheese--I viewed a booklet passed around with crisp, concise, expressive writing and great photographs of the history of North Minneapolis, which flowed naturally into some exciting developments in the present moment. I was excited to see things I recognized and knew well, like the Hawthorne Eco Village.

Evan Reminick of Amalgam put his laptop in front of me and showed me a presentation he'd put together about ideas to market North Minneapolis--a MASSIVE amount of material, and he had done this FOR FREE, it wasn't even part of the CONTRACT.

I saw a particular line of text in his presentation and thought how that idea was very similar to my thesis of "Market and Romanticize The Struggle." Evan said he'd read my ideas about marketing North Minneapolis. (NoMi)

"Did my ideas influence you?" I asked.

"Everything I read influences me," he answered, nimbly, but he followed up by saying I was one of a very few people who had done any substantial theorizing about approaches to marketing North Minneapolis beyond merely "Let's accentuate the positive."

At some point--long after we'd consumed shots of exotic guifiti, both straight up and altered with "sugar in the raw"--long after exploring the website, (maybe that was just me) and flipping through the booklet, and checking out Pat Carney's amazing office which screams success, competence, creativity--I tried to figure out how to put all the NoMi marketing pieces together, all the players I'd outlined in Part One of this blog post.

And this is what I came up with:

NMTF pays Carney the $5,000 he is owed for services rendered. NMTF then turns over the completed website, (lock, stock, barrel and password) to the ad hoc group NoMi. NMTF then disbands. Why? Because NMTF has managed to negatively brand ITSELF, mostly by inaction and an inexplicably paranoid attitude about controlling information.

So...

NoMi uses the Carney-created website to market North Minneapolis any way it sees fit, since NoMi appears to be the group most well-situated to do this, at least at present, but time is a-wasting.

Don Allen could play a role by using his considerable geeky technical skills in driving web traffic. If NoMi wants to become a formal organization, they can approach Don Allen, who also has experience in putting together non-profits.

Yes, other entities could be approached other than Don Allen, but Don Allen is a PLAYER and he is at the table. So to keep everybody happy, Don Allen should play a role. Don Allen has talked about a highly-developed ability to shake funds loose from business entities. For goodness sakes, give him (or his new organization) an opportunity to do what he says he can do.

NoMi should retain its current cohesive structure--which is the only freaking thing getting any effective Northside marketing done--but could open itself to contributions by members of the community, Don Allen, Johnny Northside blog, and any members of (the former) NMTF who want to contribute efforts, ideas, and resources.

Johnny Northside is pretty adamant about GETTING PAID if his writing is going to be at somebody else's direction. That's the only thing. Beyond that, my dance card is free and open to NoMi, Don Allen, or even the NMTF.

Individuals who have a BETTER plan, or who want to discuss aspects of the Friday night salon that I missed are free to use the comments section.

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PART ONE: Recent Intense Discussions About Marketing North Minneapolis/NoMi

Photo By John Hoff

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.


In the past several days, I've been present at two ad hoc, informal conferences to discuss marketing ideas for North Minneapolis, or NoMi. Before discussing the specifics of these two conferences, it might be helpful to run down who some of the "players" are in attempts to market North Minneapolis...

First, but not necessarily foremost, is the Northside Marketing Task Force. NMTF started with high hopes, but has seen endless internal infighting and--more more importantly--relatively little actual marketing efforts. Creative, intense individuals have splintered off from NMTF and pursued their own efforts.

NMTF is kind of, sort of a non-profit. (Apparently, some paperwork needs to be filed) NMTF is arguably the most "official" of the marketing groups and has been able to obtain some dollars to apply to marketing efforts. Recently, however, there has been talk of "reformulating" NMTF which is, arguably, highly dysfunctional and badly structured. Some personalities at NMTF include Mike Kestner and Jerry Moore.

Second, the Carney Group is a professional marketing agency headquartered in the Harrison neighborhood of NoMi. (Another entity, Amalgam, has a close working relationship with Carney and put blood and sweat into the website project for NMTF)

Pat Carney completed a website for NMTF, but has yet to get any go-ahead to unleash the completed website and--more importantly, from a business perspective--has yet to get paid the $5,000 balance of their contract, according to Carney. (Mike Kestner of NMTF may see it differently and is welcome to submit commentary, like ANYBODY is welcome)

Recently, through this blog, Pat Carney has been much more public about his dissatisfaction with the current situation (not getting paid, very little North Minneapolis marketing effort hitting the street) but he is a businessman seeking to make money, not a charity.

Third, Don Allen. Allen is known for his IBNN blog which focuses on civil rights issues and often advocates that the way to promote prosperity for black people is through business enterprise. However, IBNN is merely a hobby and a side project for Allen. The company Allen works for makes money by helping companies achieve higher Google rankings and disseminating press releases for pay. They even work for entities in CHINA. It's all about paying the bills, baby.

Don used to be vice chair of NMTF, but left NMTF and has made no secret of his disaffection with Mike Kestner and Jerry Moore. Despite Allen's strong business orientation, Allen has assisted in starting up non-profits. Allen is currently more-or-less in control of a relatively new non-profit entity which could receive public dollars and market North Minneapolis or, for that matter (in light of its mission) other areas underserved by media and marketing.

Fourth, there is NoMi.

NoMi is an ad hoc group made up of realtors. They are not a non-profit or a formal organization, yet. NoMi came up with the clever slogan "Get to NoMi" and has tried to brand North Minneapolis with the "NoMi" label, which shares similarities with the popular "SoHo" brand.

One of the members of NoMi split off from NMTF. NoMi has some helpful allies in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community, and yet NoMi is not a GLBT organization. Their primary concern is making "NoMi" a cool neighborhood in the public eye which, naturally, helps sell houses and raise the value of homes. NoMi has organized some successful home tours.

Despite the fact NoMi is just starting out, and lacks a website, NoMi has generated great excitement and expectations, quickly eclipsing any hope or excitement which once existed for NMTF.

Reason number one is the extreme cohesiveness of the group; in stark contrast to NMTF. The second reason is their slick, spot-on slogan, in contrast to NMTF's inexplicable leaf design and clunky slogan, "Forget marketing the f***ing neighborhood, we want justice and equality NOW!"

(OK, that's not really an exact quote, but it's close enough)

Another acceptable way of writing "NoMi" is in all-caps, "NOMI," based on artwork promulgated by this ad hoc organization. One hopes the name may evolve to the simplified "Nomi."

Fifth, this blog is a player. Though only an ad hoc, unpaid effort by a lone volunteer, JNS blog consistently cranks out content and has developed a reputation as a quick conduit for information dissemination. In terms of marketing NoMi, JNS blog's contribution has been a hypothesis called "Market and Romanticize The Struggle."

Sixth, Insight News is a player. This newspaper, published by community activist Al McFarlane, is primarly by, for and about North Minneapolis though it strives to be an "African American newspaper serving Minneapolis and St. Paul."

Insight appears to be speaking primarily TO readers in North Minneapolis rather than speaking ABOUT North Minneapolis.

Insight News puts out relatively little web content and is closely tied to its "dead trees" paper medium, but does have a website, unlike NoMi. The main concerns of Insight News are tied to social justice issues, click here for an example.

Last, but hardly least, the mainstream media is a player in the marketing of North Minneapolis. Newspapers and television stations follow the principal of "if it bleeds, it leads." Stories can be categorized and consumed easily by the public if these stories fit into preconceived mental channels, such as "North Minneapolis as a scary theme park of criminal violence and social decay."

Thus the most powerful "marketer" of North Minneapolis is not deliberately marketing at all, but merely reporting on newsworthy events but--in so doing--creating a self-fulfilling marketing and branding effort.

Arguably the only way to counter the "background noise" of this mainstream media "non-marketing marketing effort" is a principle this blog makes every effort to apply: CRANK OUT CONTENT.

Tell every positive story that can be told. Game the Google rankings with tricks like "RSS feeds." Hire marketing firms with whatever dollars can be obtained. Vigorously engage in the difficult work of revitalizing the neighborhood, and then publicize those efforts, encouraging similar efforts to take root.

So there you have the players. Now, what has been happening lately?

Number one, NMTF members have been talking intensely to Johnny Northside blog about the future of North Minneapolis marketing efforts. That's really all that can be said about THAT, except it's on the phone and by email, mostly, not so much in person.

Number two, Don Allen has been talking intensely to JNS blog and, recently, had an informal meeting with JNS, a member of NoMi, and a member of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council. That's really all that can be said about THAT, except--once again--the discussions have been about the future of North Minneapolis marketing efforts.

Number three, the Carney Group and Amalgam have been talking intensely to JNS blog, a member of NoMi, and members of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council. (Two of the individuals there were both former members of NMTF) More can be said about these discussions because not so much was "off the record."

The photo above shows Anderson Mitchell looking, intensely, at some rehab photos shot by Evan Reminick of Amalgam at the offices of the Carney Group, last night, at a "salon" gathering featuring wine and cheese.

More wine than cheese, actually. OK, a LOT more wine than cheese. Some exotic Honduran guifiti was consumed, too.

So that outlines the marketing players and some recent interactions between the players; to the degree much can be said at all.

Part 2 will cover what can be said publicly about last night's informal meeting at the offices of the Carney Group, including a "sneak peak" at the much-discussed, not-yet-released website for the Northside Marketing Task Force.

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JNS Blog "Goes NoMi" (And You Should, Too!)

Photo By John Hoff

In the future, this blog will use the term "NoMi" instead of "North Minneapolis" in stories about my neighborhood which are generally positive in tone. However, for stories about colorful political controversy, crime, mortgage fraud--basically the negative stuff--I will continue to use the term "North Minneapolis" with my preferred capitalization of "North."

Normally I don't go out of my way to state my blog policies, which are always evolving. Instead, I just do what I do. But in this case...

I believe the grassroots neighborhood marketing efforts being attempted by groups like NoMi are important enough that NOT ONLY should this blog jump aboard the NoMi bandwagon, but I should make a public point of it.

The picture above shows Kip Browne, the new chairman of the Jordan Area Community Council. Kip and his new wife Kelly live just two houses down from Council Member Don Samuels, on a block which used to be rough but has now become beautiful, revitalized, livable, ALMOST perfect and perfection seems quite within reach. A piece of NoMi artwork--which I hope will be one of many more issued in the coming years--hangs prominently in Kip 'n' Kelly's house.

I should point out, though, that "negative" can be a very subjective judgment. There are people who read stories on this blog about political controversies in neighborhoods and tell me things like, wow, they wish their neighborhood politics were so colorful and exciting. It has long been my position that we must not only market the positives, but also market our fulfilling, and continuously SUCCESSFUL struggles against the negatives.

Certain personalities want to do more than just live in a calm, sedated cocoon of suburban domesticity; they have some cowboy blood in them, some pirate personality, a desire to do heroic deeds. They sense a gold rush a-coming, and want to stake their claim, then reap the rewards of their boldness for years, decades. They are visionaries, who look at present difficulties and see the first green shoots of urban utopia pushing above the ground.

The trend is clear; North Minneapolis is becoming NoMi. I intend to get on board with the trend.

Also, for the record, the term "NoMi" has been out in the public domain for a while, in free usage. It has NOT been successfully trademarked. So I am free to use the term and so is anybody else. If somebody wants to tell me different, well, the comment threads are open.

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Northside Marketing Task Force Response Re: Publicity, Outreach For Northside Housing Fair

Photo By John Hoff

Some discussion took place on this blog about whether the Northside Housing Fair was adequately publicized by the Northside Marketing Task Force. Blogger Don Allen, who makes a living in marketing, didn't get word about the housing fair and didn't think it was adequately publicized. 

What follows is NMTF Vice Chair Mike Kestner's response to Don Allen.

Don,

The primary 2009 Housing Fair organizer was...


... John Helgeland. John, in my eyes, has done a fantastic job in putting on this great event over the last four years with a team of volunteers. John remains a true champion of North Minneapolis, who continues to bring community together across all lines.

The Northside Marketing Task Force (NMTF) role this year as a Co-Producer of the Housing Fair was to learn through active volunteerism the planning process, with the NMTF taking over planning and production (with community partners
supporting in co-production) in 2010.

I know John sent out numerous emails to many community members enlisting their volunteer planning support starting in early fall 2008. Apparently you did not receive this communication. It sounds to me that you would have been an interested volunteer.

I'm sorry we did not see you in attendance this past Saturday, given your obvious interest and concern. The NMTF contracted The Carney Group to take photographs and video of the event.

You can view the photos here:

www.northminneapolis.com/north_housing_fair

Overall, I think the North Housing and Home Improvement Fair was a success. We were competing with very nice weather and still managed to have turnout equal to last year, I'm told. There were many families in attendance, and the diversity of the North Minneapolis community was evident. There were 12 seminars covering a gamut of topics of interest, and community organizations were well represented.

The NMTF table had well over 200 visitors, as we gave out North Minneapolis t-shirts, brochures and continued to spread the positive message of living, working and recreating in our community. We also had a thick binder of historical home and building photos gathered from the MN Historical Society.

I can also tell you that Northside Marketing Task Force members were on KMOJ's "Voices of the African American Community" program this past week promoting the Housing Fair.

So I would say it was a success, and as with all worthwhile ventures, it could always stand to improve. I'm proud of the NMTF's involvement with this fair, and look forward to helping shape this event in the future.

We hope to involve your communications skills in promoting this event in the future!

Thanks,

Mike Kestner
Northside Marketing Task Force

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Don Allen Not Allowed To Attend Northside Marketing Task Force Meeting, Two Task Force Members Resign

Photo From Don Allen's
Facebook Page

As reported near the end of my previous post, Don Allen tried to attend tonight's Northside Marketing Task Force meeting, but as Don entered the room he was told--by Vice Chair Mike Kestner--"We just went into executive session."

This is the same Mike Kestner who told Don "F*** you" when Don tried, earlier tonight, to find out when and where the meeting was. (This is according to Don. Mike is free to say his side in comments, which I'm sure I'll be happy to approve)

Don, however, told me he's "smarter than the average bear" so, while excluded from the meeting of this state certified non-profit organization, Don managed to get his hands on a copy of the agenda. According to Don, there was...

...nothing on the agenda about an executive session.

"Couldn't it come up under New Business?" I asked.

Don pointed out there was no "New Business" on the agenda, either. Don read the agenda to me over the phone. The most interesting item was the resignation of a "Crystal Christian" and a "Jeremy Morris" from the Task Force. Don had never heard of anybody named "Jeremy Morris." I asked if it might be a typo for "Jerry Moore," but Don said no, he didn't think so.

Don said there were six people at the meeting. Jerry Moore was not one of them. However, Don reviewed the bylaws and said there might not be any quorum problems after all.

Other items on tonight's meeting included a treasurer's report and "election of a new treasurer." This makes Don suspect the person who resigned may have been a treasurer, because a new one is being elected.

Other items included "Next Meeting, April 15," applications for new board members, feedback from the Northside Housing Fair, the status of the Carney Group contract, and the "future of the task force--election of c0-chairs, temporary chairs."

My Opinion, And I Do Have One

I have to editorialize at this point. I can't help myself. The co-chairs model is a bad and unworkable model. It's hard enough to get anything done when ONE person is in charge, but when two people are in charge? Chaos.

One of my recent posts discussed the shocking lack of transparency on this task force. Tonight sounds like another example of the ongoing pattern. What is so secret, so sensitive, that it must be shielded from public view? PERSONNEL MATTERS?

WHAT personnel matters? This is an all-volunteer, unpaid board. Furthermore, the Carney Group represents a contract for services, not "personnel." I can't think of any reason why this board should be in an executive session over "personnel matters."

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Northside Marketing Task Force Discussion Gets Messy, Interesting, Profanity-Laced

Photo Of Don Allen, From His
Facebook Page

Before I say anything else, I should say this: sincere people with good intentions are known to vigorously disagree with each other.

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

At the end of the day, North Minneapolis needs an effective marketing strategy. We are hard up against media-created spin that paints our neighborhood as a...

...bad place, when we know it is a good place and, even more importantly, our neighborhood is changing and getting better by leaps and bounds through our own hard struggle and--it must be acknowledged--millions of dollars being poured in by government entities, non-profits, and businesses.

Having said that...today I had a business meeting with Don Allen of IBNN blog and V-local.com, which (Don stated) was rated last year as the Twin Cities' No. 1 internet marketing firm. On his laptop, Allen showed me some of the bells and whistles of what his company does, which seems to revolve around increasing internet exposure and rankings for businesses. He gave me a t-shirt. Everybody is giving me t-shirts lately; Northside Marketing Task Force, Pete's Hardwood Floors, and now Don Allen gave me one for inetsurf.com.

Do they think my loyalty can be BOUGHT? (Um...don't answer that question)

NSMTF History, Part One

I'd be fascinated to get the whole history of this task force which, I think, would make an interesting academic study about a neighborhood trying to market itself in the face of politics, a lack of resources, and many obstacles to a successful marketing effort. Like random gunfire. I mean, in my mind, random gunfire is a biggie when it comes to marketing obstacles. Hence my strategy of a "first wave" of adventurous, risk-taking "security minded individuals" to move in and "secure the neighborhood," as outlined in my theory of "Market and Romanticize The Struggle."

Anyway, I'd heard how Don Allen used to be on the NMTF but left. In Don Allen's office, which is decorated with maps of the 5th Congressional Ward, I asked Don about that. Don told me how the Task Force started with high hopes and big dreams, but Don Allen didn't like Jerry Moore from the get-go. Don felt Jerry "didn't understand sound business practices." Others on the Task Force--Don mentions my friends Anderson Mitchell of Mitchell Construction, and Lisa Mitchell, who works for General Mills--were strongly supportive of Jerry Moore, who--at that time--was the Executive Director of JACC.

They supported Moore AT FIRST, that is to say. Lisa and Anderson Mitchell have now changed their tune, and apparently part of that sea change in sentiment involved Don showing the Mitchells documents from the investigation of Larry Maxwell, documents which name Jerry Moore and talk about Moore receiving a payment.

In Don's view, the task force became less about marketing North Minneapolis and more about "pumping up Jerry Moore to run for something." Don says Al McFarlane of Insight News was involved with a lot of this "pumping up." (Don showed me a wrinkled copy of Insight News with a prominent photo of Kenya McKnight on the front. Don said he'd used it to keep the rain off his head today, and it was indeed good for that, he said)

According to Don, Jerry Moore saw NMTF as "his own little platform to build upon."

"It wasn't about positioning the North Side," Don Allen said. "It was about positioning Jerry Moore." Now, according to Don, the NMTF has become about "positioning (Vice Chair) Mike Kestner."

Allen talks, in particular, about an instance where he managed to obtain a promise of some rather respectable-sized donations from a business source, and the Task Force board insisted that Don's name should be removed from a letter to the source, and substituted with Jerry Moore's name. On his own, from professional business contacts, Don Allen had developed the source of funding, but now credit was being handed to somebody else; the annointed one of the McFarlane clique, Jerry Moore.

It's obvious Don Allen still has a bad taste in his mouth over this.

Allen Forms V Media Development Corporation

Don Allen has formed a non-profit called "V Media Corporation." The articles of incorporation, sent by the Minnesota Secretary of State, are framed and hang on Don's office wall. Though a board has already been formed, Don Allen says he is interested in taking on more folks. The goal of the organization is to help areas "underserved by advertising, PR, and marketing." (Like North Minneapolis) There is a goal of showing "successful, measurable outcomes."

Don Allen didn't say so, but Google rankings come to mind. Stories in the media buzzing about North Minneapolis in a generally positive way, that comes to mind, too, and those things can be counted, tabulated, put in the form of bar graphs.

Mike Kestner Tells Don Allen To Get F***ed

When talking to Don, he has to put off taking a constant stream of phone calls, but sometimes he is forced to apologize and, well, he really must take THIS call.

It was in the course of such a call that Allen learned there was a meeting of the Northside Marketing Task Force. TONIGHT. Don began placing calls, trying to find out where and when. We both wondered what might be on the agenda, but figured two items would come up for sure:

# OLD BUSINESS: When will the Carney Group's website work be approved for release? Don's belief is a thing doesn't have to be perfect, it can be "tweaked while it is hot." That's kind of how I see things. Get the story out to the public ASAP, there will always be details to add in subsequent stories.

# NEW BUSINESS: Internet controversy over task force inaction, and a discussion about whether to add Don Allen and/or Johnny Northside to the Task Force.

Don Allen was forced to call Mike Kestner himself to find out when and where the meeting was. Kestner told Don he shouldn't be at the meeting. It would be intimidating, if Don was at the meeting, Kestner said. Don insisted on knowing the location of the meeting. There was an arcane discussion about whether a non-profit is considered a non-profit, when it has filed ONE piece of paper but not ANOTHER piece of paper.

At one point--and this is according to Don--Mike Kestner told Don Allen, "F*** you!" After 10 minutes of cajoling, Don Allen managed to get the meeting time and place out of Mike Kestner.

Last word I had was that Don Allen was heading for the meeting, scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. at the Cleveland Neighborhood Organization Building.

Breaking News, Closed Session, "Personnel Issues"

Don Allen called me a second ago. There is breaking news. Approximately 6 individuals are having a meeting. Jerry Moore is not present, but Mike Kestner is there. When Allen entered the room, he was told "we just voted to go into executive session to discuss personnel issues."

"Um," I asked Don. "They're a non-profit board. They don't have any employees. How can they have personnel issues?"

"THANK YOU!!!" Don yelled into his cell phone.

At this moment, Don is trying to hunt down a copy of the bylaws to figure out if 6 members of the Task Force even form a quorum. More as I get word...

It is a shame that trying to market a neighborhood becomes a political infight, a battle of personalities and he said, she said. But, at the end of the day, this is what democracy looks like and our neighborhood is fighting to make itself something better, having a vital discussion about what competing ideas and visions will take us to that better time and place.

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Carney Group Forcibly Distances Itself From Northside Marketing Task Force

Photo By Pat Carney

I received a communication from the Carney Group trying to put distance between itself and the Northside Marketing Task Force in light of my recent blog posts. If I have made the association between Carney Group and NMTF too close, then it's only right to give Carney Group an opportunity to say their piece...

Here is the email communication, unedited.

Dear Johnny,

I've been following your blog about NMTF and the Northside in general.We were both there for the dust up at JACC. I was the guy taking too many photos.

The Carney Group and Amalgam were hired as a team by Northway/NMTF. We share the same address at Glenwood/Colfax and have produced some very good work for the Task Force. Our two firms, individually and in partnership, have a substantial record of productive and commodious participation in Northside endeavors. I have been involved in the Harrison Neighborhood for years and have been enthusiastic to expand my interests into the rest of the Northside. However, we would like to disassociate ourselves from the NMTF mess you're reporting on, -- and do so for substantive reasons.

We'd be more than happy to present the work we've done for NMTF. Work they have been in receipt of for weeks and which has been reviewed favorably by many community constituents featured in the web site and case statement we produced for them.

Between the time the development site for NMTF was put up for review and writing this letter we finished another site for Anderson Mitchell. The difference in the two sites is the focus of the client, the reasonable expectations, the flow of communication and the willingness to finish the project.

(JNS interjects: Anderson Mitchell has nothing but good things to say about your company, and I have nothing but good things to say about Anderson Mitchell)

We don't dispute NMTF issues you've blogged about. Please don't paint our firms with the same stroke.

We'd like to invite you to visit us at our office where we can show you the work that we've done for the Northside.

Pat Carney
The Carney Group
837 Glenwood Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55405
(612) 746-5889

To Pat; not sure when I'd be able to take you up on that invitation, but one hears the work you've done for NMTF is good work...yet for some reason, there is a logjam in getting things approved and out there in the public eye. From what I hear, the logjam is not on the Carney Group end of the equation, not at all.

This is my persistent beef about the NMTF but not mine aloine; things just aren't happening.

Meanwhile, this blog shows hard-hitting North Minneapolis publicity can take place on a shoestring budget. It's just a matter of ACTUALLY DOING IT.

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Discussion, Feedback, And Scuttlebutt About The North Side Marketing Task Force

Flickr.com Photo

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

Information is gravy, and I am a warm buttermilk biscuit. In the wake of my recent blog posts about the North Side Marketing Task Force--and whether it is alive, where it is going, etc.--I received more than one phone call, including one from Vice Chair Mike Kestner.

Mike tells me that, currently, the task force has no chair. (I kept ASKING about this) There will be a meeting in the near future to pick a chair. In regard to the supposedly "missing" records, Mike says...

...he is in possession of the records, and there was nothing nefarious about their movement.

An Offer I Can't Refuse?

Mike is proposing a "sit down" with me and IBNN blogger Don Allen to talk about the future of North Side Marketing. This should be fun. When I applied to be on the Marketing Task Force--persuaded by Lisa Mitchell to go there and try--one source tells me Mike (and Jerry Moore) used phrases to describe me like "nuts" and "loose cannon."

"I SWEAR TO GOD," says this source.

But I'll sit down and talk with anybody and--as I hope I've made clear many times--this blogger for hire. Viva la sacre, viva la guerre, viva la sacre mercenaire. I'd be very happy to find a way to get subsidized to write even more stories about North Minneapolis while applying my theory of "market and romanticize the struggle."

Was The Housing Fair Adequately Publicized?

Don Allen is, meanwhile, airing more grievances about the North Side Marketing Task Force in regard to whether the recent Housing Fair was adequately marketed. This is what he said to Mike at 11:13 a.m. today:

Dear Mr. Kestner,

I am actually shocked that Ms. Debbie Nelson from North Housing & Home Improvement Fair told me that the NMTF was responsible for marketing and advertising this event. There was no effort put into placing a 100 percent reach and frequency program that would of (sic) cost the task force virtually NOTHING!

How can the citizens of North Minneapolis allow this to continue. Please call me. How does something like this NOT get on WCCO, B96, KMOJ, WLTE, City Pages, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, One Nation News, LaVoz, Somali News, Asian American Press, La Depernza, etc?

PISSED!

(End of Don Allen email)

Why Should A Marketing Task Force Be Afraid Of PUBLICITY?

It's a truism in marketing that all publicity is good publicity, though I think that's a truism that isn't true, unless you're Lindsay Lohan. But my main beef with the task force has been a lack of TRANSPARENCY. And here's my proof, Exhibits A Through C.

First of all, when I interviewed for the task force I was told NO, THE CAMERA CREW FROM 612 AUTHENTIC COULD NOT RECORD THE INTERVIEW. They were actually told to leave the room.

Well, great. Maybe the Task Force COULD HAVE BEEN in the Johnny Northside movie, but you can't really edit footage THAT DOESN'T EXIST. You don't see somebody like Connie Nompelis (No-bliss) from NOMI acting that way, but then again...cameras love Connie. Every day, in every way, NOMI is proving itself more cohesive and more effective than NMTF when it comes to North Minneapolis marketing.

(Connie was reportedly involved in the early formation of NOMI but I am unsure if she currently has a title with that group...I'm sure Connie won't be shy about telling me, though)

But back to my discussion of non-transparency on the task force, which was pretty apparent during my interview. I was asked--rather pointedly, by Mike--about whether I could KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT about stuff that happens on the task force. Oh, yeah, no sense publicizing (stomp stomp) anything having to do with the organization in charge of publicity! (stomp stomp)

The cherry on the sundae of NMTF media-blackout was when I asked Mike--at the recent Housing Fair--who was the chair of the task force and was told "We're working on that" and not given more information or explanation.

Why would such a lack of transparency be necessary or desirable?

To be fair, Mike DID give me a nice t-shirt with the NMTF logo--some kind of freaking leaf pattern, god knows what THAT is supposed to mean unless it involves scoring weed in Farview Park--and the motto "Creating Value Through Diversity."

First of all, "value through diversity" is not even original--you can find many examples of that slogan in use, all over the internet--second of all, the slogan is much more appropriately used in those other contexts, like a seminar on "Islamic Microfinance" than to be used to market--good god--A NEIGHBORHOOD.

The words "Creating Value Through Diversity" are words you would use to tell people not to have hate in their hearts, and try to love their fellow human beings. Fine sentiments...but this has little or nothing to do with convincing people to buy houses and become part of the fabric of a neighborhood WITH VERY SERIOUS IMAGE PROBLEMS TO OVERCOME LIKE, OH GEE, CHILDREN BEING HIT BY RANDOM BULLETS.

NOMI managed to straddle the razor-thin lines of political correctness versus effective neighborhood marketing MUCH MORE CLEVERLY with their simple "Get To NOMI" slogan, which encompasses both checking out great housing deals and having love for your fellow human beings.

Score: NOMI, 1. North Side Marketing Task Force, 0. But who was handing out the free shirts at the Housing Fair?

NOMI, you better keep up or NSMTF will EAT YOUR LUNCH.

Rumor, Scuttlebutt And Dark Innuendo

Meanwhile, here is some more information I picked up, here and there.

# I'm being told a substantial amount of money was paid to The Carney Group (click here) for a North Side Marketing Task Force Website, but the final website (reportedly) was never approved. I'm trying to get more info on this, because clearly there IS some kind of a Carney-group produced website, click here, but it appears to be rudimentary and incomplete, waiting for more content to be poured in.

# I'm told if one more person quits the task force, there won't be enough remaining to make a quorum.

(ADDENDUM, March 25: This information may not be true. Subsequently, I found some board members may have been added, or the bylaws may provide more latitude than my source supposed)

# The North Side Marketing Task Force is now trying to figure out how to form a partnership with the University of Minnesota and also harness the energy of "citizen journalists."

My main fear--and I've expressed it to Mike--is that a blog is kind of like a diary. It starts with energy, hopes, dreams, promise...then you go two weeks without writing and say, oh, geez, it's such a lot of WORK. So thinking a bunch of regular citizens will all become bloggers and promote North Minneapolis is...hmm, what's the word I'm searching for?

Madness. If you count up all the blogs in the world, the vast majority are in a state of semi-dormancy.

Kind of like...THE NORTH SIDE MARKETING TASK FORCE ITSELF.

(OK, now I see the logic...)

Where Do We Go From Here?

For the $10,000 paid to create a Northside Marketing Task Force website--that's what I'm hearing was paid so far--this blog could have written HUNDREDS of stories about North Minneapolis--gone to dozens of restaurants, taken hundreds of pictures, toured homes, recorded oral history. And--to keep everybody happy--I could have focused on THAT kind of stuff and kept out of, oh gee, neighborhood politics and scandal. (It would have been a big sacrifice on my part. That's why I NEED TO GET PAID)

Oh, that reminds me. I heard something interesting about Kenya McKnight and the Queen of England. See my next blog post.

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North Side Marketing Task Force Records Mysteriously Removed?

Photos By John Hoff

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

This information was developed exclusively by Don Allen of IBNN, and merely forwarded to me. However, historically, this blog has been able to get stuff published FAST and this is the kind of information our community needs to know. So, hopefully, Don Allen won't feel like I'm stepping on his toes by publishing his email...

As I reported recently, Don Allen of IBNN has been "calling out" the North Side Marketing Task Force on what Don (and I, for that matter) perceive as dormancy and inaction by the Task Force. I don't think Don received a reply to his previous email to Mike Kestner, but that didn't stop Don from firing off another email. And it's a doozy.

Here it is, unedited.

Dear Mr. Kestner,

This is a follow up email to the one sent earlier. It has come to my attention that the information, i.e. records and data for the NMTF have been removed from NorthWay Community Trust' office and are being stored at an undisclosed location.

These actions are along the same lines of Mr. Jerry Moore, holding info and making decisions without the consent of the board. You remember, last year we talked about how we would partner with the City of Minneapolis and local business to build capacity for businesses and the people of North Minneapolis?

Even with all our ideas, only 4 people on the task force had the capacity to "idea, create and implement" plans. Mr. Moore was not one of them.

At our first "retreat" held at one of the board members houses, we were treated to a "think tank session" about building a direction for the task force by someone that wasn't qualified to do multiplication - later to find out that this woman was a friend of Mr. Moore's and "he" hired her to facilitate the retreat without the consent of the board. Her field was the Health Care arena? WTF!

Secondly, I understand that there was a North Minneapolis Housing Fair that took place sometime this week. Who did the media outreach for that and how come my agency never receives information from the task force. Your media efforts are weak, unskilled and need immediate improvement to actively engage all north Minneapolis residents, not just the few sponsors you invited to fill the room.

(Comment by Johnny Northside: I heard about the housing fair by word-of-mouth. I never saw any kind of publicity for the housing fair)

This is one of the main problems that groups like the task force has; you don't include everyone -- and the agencies in town that could help your cause like myself and the Johnny North Side Blog, you ignore and tell them you don't have any money to spend on a sound product, but if one of your friends come up with an idea for cash - the retreats or Home Tours, the group is quick to spend. I don't necessarily need more friends cause I thought you were my friend, but I would like to do business with you delivering more assets for the task force then you've ever had.

Just for a refresher, V-Media/iNetGlobal was ranked by Google as the Twin Cities #1 internet marketing firm. (I know that frightens some folks when it comes to costs - but we'll work with you.)

Don Allen

(Johnny Northside asks: can anybody add more information? Where are the records? Who took the records? Who is currently on the task force. Who is currently the chair?)

Editorial comment: North Minneapolis still has NOMI, thank goodness. We are not without marketing efforts. And this blog continues to publicize North Minneapolis, applying my theory of "Market and Romanticize The Struggle."

Don't worry, North Minneapolis...you don't need a marketing task force. You've got JOHNNY NORTHSIDE!

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Don Allen Of IBNN "Calls Out" North Side Marketing Task Force

ADDENDUM: February 6, 2011. This blog post was written before I and many others in North Minneapolis discovered what a disreputable con man character Don Allen is. I would advise anybody: Do not trust Don Allen. Seek further information about Don Allen from various online sources before having any contact with him.

Last week, when I was covering that really fun "Credentials Committee" meeting in the 5th Ward, I ran into Don Allen of the "IBNN" blog and discussion turned to the North Side Marketing Task Force...

Some questions were "what the heck are they doing, lately?" and "who is the chair of the organization, these days?" (It was Jerry Moore at one point)

In the course of that conversation, Don Allen gave this blog some praise, more than I think I deserve. You see, I told Allen that--it seemed to me--in the last month my blog was doing more to market and publicize North Minneapolis than, gee, the entire North Side Marketing Task Force, combined.

I was willing to say this mostly because NSMTF seemed to have done exactly NOTHING in the last month, and--with the release of the movie trailer for "The Adventures of Johnny Northside"--I could make the argument that this blog and the unrelated-but-closely-affiliated documentary movie effort had done A LOT.

In the past month, that is. I restricted my comment to the past month.

But Allen was willing to take things even further. Allen said this blog had done more to market North Minneapolis in the past YEAR than the North Side Marketing Task Force. I should point out that my "marketing" of North Minneapolis is an application of a theory I call "Market and Romanticize The Struggle."

Well, it appears Don Allen hasn't let go of his questions about what's up with the NSMTF. He recently fired off an email to, among others, Mike Kestner. (Mike may or may not be the chair, it's hard to tell...even when you ask Mike)

Here's what Don Allen wrote:

There seems to be questions about the effectiveness of the NMTF that I would like to cover in a upcoming story next week. It has been almost 2 years and the Task Force has not addressed community issues, involved themselves in positioning for stimulus dollars to assist businesses in North Minneapolis, nor tried to collaborate with organizations like the West Broadway Business Area Coalition.

Being the former vice-chair of the organization, I've has a chance to evaluate the effectiveness of the group from a "hands-off" point of view. With the lack of community engagement, this organization looks like they are on the verge of folding. This City of Minneapolis and Charitable Organizations are aware of the task force and the troubles with Mr. Moore as it pertains to the JACC controversy, yet no official statement has been put out to the media or community stakeholders that would separate you from this ugly corrupt mess.

In the NMTF original mission, it states that the NMTF would help to bring a better perception of North Minneapolis through tools of marketing, community journalism and community engagement. If that is not your current mission, then as I predicted in 2008, the task force will become another "passive" agency that benefit no-one on the North side. I am prepared to bring V-Media Development Corporation - a Minnesota non-profit that addresses disparities in marketing, advertising and public relations with a pro-active-aggressive advocacy arm to assist with building capacity for communities like north Minneapolis to the forefront and show the task force what a "marketing non-profit" does.

I have sent a request for application to again become a part of the task force and gotten no reply. If the application process set up by Mr. Moore is in place, the community members with true responsibility will never have the opportunity to actively engage the task force or north Minneapolis.

This is a request for an update on the NMTF, its current mission and when you plan to at least have a website, news blog and real community sponsorship.

(End of Don Allen's email)

At today's North Minneapolis Housing Fair, I ran into Mike Kestner--who appeared, at least at that moment--to be staffing the NSMTF table single-handed--and I asked, you know, who is the chair, these days, of the NSMTF?

Kestner told me "We're working on that."

Working on who is the CHAIR? I asked.

Kestner said he understood I'd like information, but, well...they're working on it.

About a year ago I tried to become a member of this task force. I didn't make it. Since then, I know at least two prominent individuals have thrown up their hands and quit the task force. It is, however, not accurate to say the task force lacks a website. The task force has a handful of websites, none of which appear to be updated with any great frequency. (In fact, one of the websites is filled with stuff from 2007, including announcement of an "upcoming" meeting which was "upcoming" before Obama was the Democratic nominee for president)

The actual "marketing" of North Minneapolis has therefore fallen to the press, bloggers, and the energetic, creative and cohesive NOMI group. The North Side Marketing Task Force has promised much yet only produced rudimentary websites, seldom updated, and some kind of cryptic leaf logo.

Three easy options present themselves:

# Disband and get out of the way of NOMI.

# Start paying people like Don Allen and myself to blog about North Minneapolis, rather than counting on bloggers to continue what are, in effect, unsubsidized volunteer efforts which require a great deal of time, effort, and sometimes expenses. (Well, I shouldn't say my efforts are COMPLETELY unsubsidized. Pete's Hardwood Floors recently promised me an X-large t-shirt, and one for Connie Nompelis, too, in "Size Dental Floss.")

# Remain perpetually dormant and hope nobody notices once this blog post and Don Allen's upcoming article have fallen in the Google rankings.

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Is North Minneapolis Becoming "Non Profits Ville?"

First of all, I did not coin the term "Non Profits Ville," though I wish I had. A friend of mine coined the term...OH HOW I WISH SHE WERE MORE THAN A FRIEND, but we won't go there.

"Non Profits Ville" is the idea that...

...many of the affordable houses and lots in North Minneapolis are being snapped up by do-gooder organizations like Habitat for Humanity, PPL, Urban Homeworks...you name it, they're snapping up houses. And this is a good thing, right?

I think it is, but my friend says "North Minneapolis is becoming Non Profits Ville." Rather than an influx of homeowners, we are getting an influx of 501(c)(3) organizations. If North Minneapolis becomes "Non Profits Ville," what will that future look like?

I argue the alternative: it is far better than the alternative: Slumlordia. Since eco-yuppies have yet to come in droves (despite my best efforts, though I'm hardly alone) one alternative to slumlords is non-profit organizations. ANYTHING has to be better than slumlords, right? RIGHT?!!!!

I'm not hearing shouts of agreement. I think discussion might be heavy in the air, like a humid summer day that needs experience heat lightning.

The photo above shows a house on Bryant Avenue North. The area of Bryant close to Broadway (and the new planned YWCA) is seeing activity, lately, with this house one example. I swear, gremlins are repairing it. I never see it happening, but when I go by, there is progress. All this siding was stripped off in just the last few days. About a week ago there was a sign advertising how this was a youth project aimed at building skills, keeping youth in school.

When I see a sign like that, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand: excellent program, glad it's happening, and surely somebody wants to promote it. On the other hand, it reminds me of a sign I saw once in a barrio in Hermosillo, Mexico. A big billboard advertised how this neighborhood had CLEAN, HEALTHY DRINKING WATER and it was all thanks to some wonderful program put on by the oh-so-benevolent and far-sighted government , through the PRI, if I recall correctly. (Party of Revolutionary Institutions)

How does that make you feel if you live in that neighborhood? Your neighborhood is in such a state somebody has to advertise "clean drinking water?" If I lived in that barrio, would I feel proud, or would I feel like that sign actually stigmatizes my neighborhood? My son--who lives in the southern suburbs, who does 11th grade math though he is only in 6th grade and will soon test for some kind of special program through the U of M--would never see a sign like that emerge in his neighborhood, just like he would never see roving gangs of youth who do not realize on the 8th Day God made sidewalks so people won't have to walk in the middle of the street.

So, yeah...Non Profits Ville. Good or bad or Johnny Northside is the devil? Discuss.

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