Year: 2016

Inspired by the New York Times’ recent analysis of Manhattan buildings that would not be legal under current zoning, I undertook a far less ambitious analysis of one block of the Wedge neighborhood. By today’s zoning standards, on this one block, there are 32 apartments too many. Seven out of 23 buildings have too many dwelling units; these nonconforming buildings range from triplexes to a 23-unit apartment building. This is largely the result of the neighborhood’s 1975 downzoning.

2400 block between Colfax and Dupont Ave S.

21 units too many (2446 Colfax)

This one block isn’t unusual in my neighborhood, or the city. By historical standards, Minneapolis is underzoned. This has consequences. As the New York Times points out:

Such limitations can quickly decrease the supply of housing, and most likely drive up rents. If every tenement in the city were reconfigured in these ways, they would be less crowded, but there would also be fewer apartments to go around.

18 units too many (26th & Aldrich)

There’s another zoning wrinkle currently working against more affordable multi-family housing: many properties zoned for duplexes (R2) can’t become duplexes because of minimum lot area requirements implemented in the 1990s:

From 1963 to 1994, two-family dwellings in the R2B District required a minimum lot area of 2,500 square feet per dwelling unit. In 1994, a zoning code text amendment increased that minimum lot area to 10,000 square feet. The minimum lot area for two-family dwelling units in the R2 District from 1963 to 1999 was 6,000 square feet per dwelling unit. In 1999, this minimum lot area in the R2 District for a two-family dwelling unit was amended to 12,000 square feet. As noted above, these regulations remain in place today.

This policy is more restrictive than many other cities in Minnesota. But it could change in the near future. City Council Members Lisa Bender and Kevin Reich recently introduced a proposal to cut those minimum lot area requirements in half. This would be a small reform–like parking reform last year, and the ADU ordinance in 2014–to bring Minneapolis closer to allowing the historical housing types it’s been fighting against for the past 40 years.

As the city updates its comprehensive plan over the next two years, we should take advantage of the opportunity to do much more, to build the kinds of housing that many people say they enjoy: duplexes, triplexes and old apartment buildings that make up much of our city’s naturally occurring affordable housing. Buildings that were common 70 or 100 years ago, but that wouldn’t be legal to build today.

If you’ve ever wondered what the essential difference is between Minneapolis and St. Paul, I would argue it’s the degree of wackiness happening at public meetings about bike lanes (and how those bike lanes affect things like traffic and parking). Minneapolis has largely accepted them, while St. Paul is still fighting the good fight.

I didn’t set out to make movies about St. Paul, but people kept Tweeting me links to weird videos. So I was compelled to create what critics will soon be calling the definitive three-part series about the people and culture of St. Paul.

Part I: Business Interests: The Choo Choo Bob Lobby. Previously unknown St. Paul character actor, in the role he was born to play, warns that “pool halls would like to enter into Choo Choo Bob’s.” Choo Choo Bob is a train store, not a person. Also something about bike lanes leading to “vulgar sex shop paraphernalia places.” [EROTIC THRILLER, 2 mins, R – suggestive dialogue]

Part II: The Bike Lanes of Ramsey County. County Commissioner Janice Rettman, formerly of the St. Paul City Council, karate chops her way through a wonky analysis of St. Paul traffic, while mixing in touching personal stories. [MARTIAL ARTS/WESTERN, 5 mins, PG-13 – graphic depictions of traffic on the way to Dollywood]

Part III: The Taxpaying Homeowners of Upper Afton Road. They paid for those roads. They park their RV right out front. They host family gatherings on Christmas and the Fourth of July. Your bike lane just cost them a customer at a garage sale–and they’re not gonna take it anymore. These taxpaying homeowners are a ragtag team of underdogs pulling out all the stops to save the children of Upper Afton Road from certain death at the hands of killer bike lanes (or maybe bike-mounted killers?). [Farce/Comedy, 6 mins, PG – slapstick violence, 4-wheeler footage]

Mayor Hodges’ comedy bit at MinnRoast yesterday consisted of a “true or false” call and response routine. Things like:

• “True or false: I personally, indirectly, or in any other way was responsible for Hennepin County sirens going off at 6 am this last week.”
• “True or false: Dallas is run by big oil, New York City is run by big banks, and Minneapolis is run by big bike. True. But Portland is run by big unicycle.”
• “True or false: MinnPost compared me directly to ‘Thomas Van Lear, a socialist who was elected Mayor of Minneapolis 100 years ago and served just one term before being defeated because of his workers agenda.’ Really? Thanks MinnPost.”
• “True or false: I hate cars, bikes, public transit, parks, restaurants, small business, large business, St. Paul, plastic bags, paper bags, reusable bags, cradling your groceries in your arms, baseball, football, soccer, Bernie Sanders, traditional marriage, truth, justice and the American way.”

Here’s how MPR’s Bob Collins characterized one of her jokes:

Mayor of Mpls makes joke about Jamar Clark protest at #MinnRoast to catcalls from protests. “A man is dead,” they shout.

— MyLittleBloggie (@MyLittleBloggie) April 16, 2016

I thought it might be helpful to post this transcript based on an audio recording of Hodges’ remarks (starting two minutes into her routine):

True or False: when demonstrators show up at your home unannounced, it is a good idea to let them in.

That’s a trick question. If you’re my husband, the answer is true. If you’re me, the answer is “He did what?” So for those of you who don’t know, during the occupation of the 4th Precinct there was a night when demonstrators came to my home. I wasn’t there. I was actually working. But my husband let them in and chatted with them. You can watch it all online. It was livestreamed, and you can watch it. But when I found out that they were there, I dialed my husband over and over frantically, as you might imagine, as any wife would. When I asked him later why he hadn’t answered the phone my husband, god bless him, said, “I was in the middle of a conversation.”

This joke seemed to be premised on the idea that, regardless of what you think of the protests, the Mayor’s husband letting livestreaming protesters into the Mayor’s house is a crazy thing that happened. I know this to be true, because when it happened I thought to myself, “that’s a crazy thing that just happened.”

Four minutes later she was interrupted by an air-horn and shouts from protesters in the balcony.

You guys elected a comedian for mayor of Minneapolis. You pissed on the grave of Jamar Clark by mocking the occupation. A man died. It is not a joke. Shame on you. Shame on Keith Ellison who is coming up next. A man died. It is not funny.

To which Hodges responded:

It’s been a tough, emotional few months in Minneapolis for everybody. I won’t even make it a true or false question. And I’m grateful for everybody who reminds us that there is much more to do about police-community relations, and about racial equity, including the demonstrators inside this theater, because there is more to do.

The show went on. Both Keith Ellison and Al Franken were similarly preempted later on, with Franken responding by echoing the sentiments of the Mayor.

Unlike their national counterparts, local politicians don’t have a huge staff dedicated to maintaining polished social media personas. This gives them the chance to personally interact with constituents, giving real answers to real questions. And if you fill up their mentions with mean tweets, it can elicit real tears. So we have compiled a list of the top two local politicians who are keeping it real, letting it all hang out, and writing their own tweets.

1. State Representative Phyllis Kahn did some bills, and she wants you to know. It’s possible she’s set up a Tweetdeck column to make sure she can reply to any tweet mentioning the keyword “bong.”

Meeting with High School Pages. Talked about interesting bills I did: from sports equity, smoking and bong water pic.twitter.com/z1dFMau5AI

— Phyllis Kahn (@PhyllisKahn) April 5, 2016

MN State Rep offers words of advice for anyone traveling to Bong Airport pic.twitter.com/J7P0TSQ5Rs

— Anton (@anton612) April 4, 2016

2. Minneapolis City Council Member John Quincy is the only account for which I have turned on notifications. Every time he tweets, I get a ding and a buzz. John Quincy is worth it.

Community Connections [[LINK]]

— John Quincy (@JohnQuincyMPLS) October 13, 2015

New City Parking App and more [[link]]

— John Quincy (@JohnQuincyMPLS) September 15, 2015

Whoops! Correction

— John Quincy (@JohnQuincyMPLS) July 28, 2015

Summer Time Fun

— John Quincy (@JohnQuincyMPLS) June 9, 2015

People of the Wedge,

I hereby announce my resignation from the LHENA Board of Directors, effective eight months ago, in order to spend more time with my cronies. My only regret is that I didn’t resign when they threatened my family. That was just me being stubborn.

Though my approval ratings remain at record high levels, I must depart from elected office. However, it is my intention to remain an active Pillar of the Neighborhood. Additionally, I will be keeping my @lhena.gov email address, so please continue to send me your constituent hate mail.

The writing was on the wall during my very first meeting last May, when a board member accused me of “publishing the home address of a single mom”—a reference to a post I’d written about permit violations at multiple properties owned by HGTV icon Nicole Curtis. To this person I say: your effort to paint me as a sex criminal has failed. Even your friends think you’re the worst.

Then there was the months-long battle to force me to remove an online archive of neighborhood newspapers. To those who led the effort to eliminate easy access to the local history they claim to care about: it is my hope that you will never live down how dumb that made you seem.

To LHENA President Leslie Foreman: I still can’t believe all those times you sneaked me onto the agenda without any prior discussion or notice—and never by name—so that other members of Team Tuthill could unleash surprise mid-meeting attacks. Good luck to you in 2017.

In closing, allow me to quote the inspiring words of the JetBlue flight attendant who famously resigned by grabbing a beer and sliding down the plane’s inflatable escape chute:

OK, I’ve had it. To the passenger who called me a motherf—er, f— you! Those of you who have shown dignity and respect these last 20 years, thanks for a great ride, but I’ve been in this business for 28 years and I’ve had it. That’s it. I’m done, motherf—er.

Sincerely,

John Edwards

I don’t know how things are in other places, but the neighborhood association here in the Wedge is a magnet for the unhinged; people who see vast conspiracies and corporate villains behind every Healy mansion. I’m not saying this describes the attitude of all participants, or even most. It’s just far higher than what you see in the general population. I had assumed a city department called “Neighborhood and Community Relations” would also be familiar with this dynamic, and be careful not to encourage residents with overactive imaginations. I was wrong.

Last November, I was told by LHENA’s President, Leslie Foreman, that NCR objected to a line from my Twitter bio. It was hard to believe a city department was policing my tweets. It was mostly hilarious and a little bit sad, but could it really be true?

WHO IS NCR TO TELL ME I CAN’T BE THE OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED TWITTER ACCOUNT OF LOWRY HILL EAST!!!?

In December, I contacted NCR to ask about the Twitter bio complaint. NCR denied raising the issue with LHENA. The NCR staffer assigned to LHENA went even further, telling me, “I do not look at your Twitter feed.” I didn’t know who to believe. It was an impenetrable riddle: this is far too dumb for anyone to lie about, yet they can’t both be telling the truth.

This discrepancy is what prompted my data request for NCR emails. If my innocuous Twitter bio had become an issue, there must be some wild NCR conversations happening about me. So I was not at all surprised to find a large number of silly complaints in the emails I requested. But it was surprising to find that NCR was encouraging and validating neighborhood crackpots, disparaging me, and suggesting that I might be using my Board position to make money or otherwise improperly benefit myself. At no point did this NCR staff person ask me any of the speculative questions she was asking others about me.

This conversation from last May about whether I should be expelled from LHENA—including the brainstorming in search of a justification—happened on the day after I became a board member (NCR was nudging LHENA in the direction of censure. What had I done? Who knows!).

You might recall the time last July when someone from LHENA threatened my girlfriend. That was the moment the crazy talk stopped being funny. It was this same staffer from NCR who—after I notified her of the threat—replied by saying, basically that I should keep my tweets under control.

Doesn’t look at my feed.

The Minneapolis Neighborhood and Community Relations department is spreading rumors about my potential “conflict of interest.” This is based on all the pretend dollars I have extracted from my social media empire while serving on a neighborhood board (it may sound like a fishy arrangement, but I assure you there is no “there” there). I have contacted NCR Director David Rubedor, asking him to instruct the person he supervises to stop the rumor mongering. He has declined my request.

Rather than get mad, let’s hold a pledge drive and grab as much fake cash as possible before the federal indictment comes down. I won’t be providing you with the actual means to send me actual money. This is only about creating the appearance of corruption. There is no gofundme, no bank account, no mailing address. Just this pledge form. Send it to your craziest uncle on Facebook. Then tell him to send it to NCR, because they’re the only ones who will humor this nonsense.

Click here for the PDF version.

Red squiggly boxes indicate inappropriate tweeting.

In my role as a person with a Twitter account and a seat on a neighborhood association board, I sometimes hear curious things about myself. One of these things involved the Neighborhood and Community Relations department, which oversees and assists Minneapolis neighborhood organizations. This prompted me to do a public records request. Many of the emails obtained in that records request are posted here.

Last May, NCR’s Michelle Chavez had some questions about me. Instead of asking me these questions, she used them to provoke an emotionally disturbed neighborhood resident into wild speculation. Chavez’s words:

…what does he gain from “At Wedge Live?” Is this a conflict of interest? Does he think that he can use his board position to drive more people to his twitter feed?… Does he get paid for his writing about neighborhoods?

Over the course of her conversation with the resident, Chavez used the following words and phrases to describe me: “tear the neighborhood apart” … “creates false pictures” … “biased” … “does [Wedge LIVE] need to go away?” Obviously, you’re allowed to think I’m bad news, but a city employee should use another platform to express those opinions (Twitter maybe?) rather than spreading official-seeming rumors using her dot gov email address.

For the next several months, the concerned resident remained in frequent contact with NCR. He submitted a large number of .pdf printouts and screenshots documenting my twitter activity. In August, the resident sent Chavez a deeply researched conspiracy theory, in which he concludes that I am likely a professional propagandist on par with the oil company scientists he saw in a movie. In another email forwarded to NCR, the resident speculates that I work for the Urban Land Institute.

The world is a canvas to the imagination.

Now, I’d prefer NCR back off my tweets, stop trashing me to neighborhood residents, etc. But if we’re going down this road, let’s apply some equal scrutiny. I often see a particular neighborhood board member using Facebook to compare city actions to Hitler/genocide/ISIS. That’s over the top, worthy of ridicule, and offensive to many–but it never dawned on me that I should lodge a complaint with the city over it. It would be a shame if I’m getting special attention because I’ve occasionally pointed out some ways that NCR might do a better job.

Finally, I need to answer NCR’s original question and put all the rumors to rest: No Michelle, I don’t get paid for any of this. What do I have to gain? Just the undying hatred of neighborhood lunatics–the same crowd of people you’re encouraging.

Some things to note for context: May 21 is the day after I became a LHENA Board Member. Here’s what I was tweeting during this period of time. On July 14, this happened. 

Below are emails to the Minneapolis’ Neighborhood and Community Relations department referencing myself and/or “Wedge LIVE” in 2015, my first year as a LHENA Board Member. This is the case against me, complete with all .pdf and .png attachments. If you see red squiggly boxes around my pdf’d tweets, those were drawn by the Concerned Resident. As you read, please keep in mind this is the person to whom NCR felt it was appropriate to encourage with speculative questions about how I might be using my board position and tweets to enrich myself.

mean tweets