Excerpt from My Forthcoming Tell-All E-Book

Year's end means it's time to clear out the draft folder on my blogspot. There were many times this year when I felt compelled to write a post, took the time to actually write it, but couldn't pull the trigger. The following excerpt is from a draft entitled "Orthghazi II: The Screenshotting." Written around the time of the 2320 Colfax demolition, it's a tell-all about my experiences before and after writing this post. But I named too many names, and left it to languish. Until now.

43rd & Upton Development Inspires Folk Song

Linden Hills has a folk song! Inspired by true events, with references to the small area plan and envelopes full of cash and "compromising" photographs of a councilwoman. It's everything you'd expect from Linden Hills. I have done my best to transcribe the lyrics below.

Facilitating Demonstrations

"You have the right to peacefully demonstrate, but you can't block traffic, and oops we disappeared the sidewalk."

Blong Yang's Embarrassing Sham of a Public Hearing

Minneapolis Police cleared out the protesters from street in front of the 4th Precinct this morning. Below is an account of the public hearing that was carefully orchestrated to justify it.

Yesterday, the Minneapolis City Council's Public Safety Committee took up the seemingly routine procedural matter of amending their meeting agenda. Council Member Palmisano--with a wink and a nod from committee chair Blong Yang who represents the area that includes the 4th Precinct--proposed they allow public testimony regarding the ongoing protests occurring in front of the 4th Precinct over the shooting of an unarmed man named Jamar Clark. This last minute addition to the agenda made it practically impossible to give testimony on the topic unless you were already present for the meeting.

Fortunately for opponents of the 4th Precinct protest, committee chair Blong Yang (and presumably others on the committee) made sure to invite a specially selected group to give testimony painting a uniformly negative picture of the protest (complaints of traffic, parking, crime, smoke, drugs, drinking, etc). The committee's lone voice of dissent was CM Cam Gordon, who worried "if we take up this topic now, what about people who would have come if they knew they had an opportunity to give public comment and may not actually be here now?"

Students Purposely Excluded from Some Neighborhood Boards

There was an article yesterday in the Minnesota Daily (a student newspaper) with the subhead: "Few students apply to neighborhood board organizations in Minneapolis." I was surprised to see the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association (MHNA) characterized as one of the two "best at involving students in decision-making." This can't be true because, unlike the vast majority of Minneapolis neighborhood organizations, MHNA has written policies into their bylaws that appear designed to exclude students from the process.