Comments on: Mpls attacks art yet again

By: holster

holster — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:09:14 +0000

If questioning the public contentions of both sides of something that is being discussed publicly is considered ‘trash talking’, then I for one am more than happy to be called a trash talker. That said, it sounds like the contention by the city that issuance of a F&B Licence is prohibited in that location do to zoning is complete BS on the behalf of the city. A visit to that block just seems to defy the contention of the city ie- the city excuse is BS from the city. Now a short list of questions - how many times have the city sent over a couple of squad cars to respond to late-night noise complaints by neighbors? (Just saying that this is often a consideration that a municipality will consider before granting licences) Why should the City enforce zoning and licencing codes on one buiding or business and not another? (Like the Caribbean restaurant on the corner of the same block, they had to apply for and procure the licences required) The City of Mpls does not selectively enforce zoning and licencing statutes, they are applied across the board and when violations are reported or found, acted upon. A collective cry of being stifled by the man, and that any questioning of your operations is somehow trash talking - which is the perception of some of the readers of this story - is counter productive on the behalf of your cause or venture or operation or community or whatever you’d like to refer to it as. Now could it be that the City of Mpls and the City of St.Paul are cracking down on self declared ‘radicals’ in general or making things difficult for y’all and those who fit the ‘profile’ of the radical? Quite likely, looking at the ‘friends’ list on the Myspace page - it fits the profile. And hey, more power to y’all, do what you have to and do what you must - it’s the wonderful thing about a free and open society. Don’t be surprised though, when your cause runs counter to the cause of another and the cause of another pushes back when you push or poke at the Doings of of others. To make the assertion that another is Doing nothing because they are not Doing what you is a bit cheeky, don’t you think?

By: polkaostrich

polkaostrich — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:16:25 +0000

As a collective member of the Belfry, I’d like to say:
Thank you to whoever posted this and suggested helping us. We have existed in our space for over 3 years as a radical lending library, art gallery, meeting space, and sometime music space. We are collectively run, and some, but not all of us are artists.
As for the current situation and licensing/fire safety, we’ve had the fire dept. come through recently and we checked out fine. The issue was that the city thought we were making a fortune having Food Not Bombs come in and give out free salvaged food, and having a guitar plugged in to an amp.
We would like to thank everyone who has continued to support us over the years, and esp. now, and to those of you who are trash talking- we are part of a DIY community- if you are not Doing anything, don’t offer us advice/criticism on the space we have donated endless hours and dollars to to make our community a more friendly, productive one.
We are planning on vacating our current space at the end of May to spend our summer applying for nonprofit status, finding a new and bigger building to better suit our needs, and applying for the proper licenses. So much for artist-types being inept.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:42:30 +0000

On the other hand, it might just be the typical ineptitude of artist-types who, with all their anti-social prickliness, just don’t know how to work with or within the system…

By: admin

admin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:39:41 +0000

Might be worth a little diggin’, eh?
At the very least, discovering a double-standard might be another checkmark against the idea of MN as a bastion of arts-love.

By: holster

holster — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:29:40 +0000

zoning? sounds fishy being that there’s a restaurant two doors down (under new ownership) a small market next door, and a small string of other storefronts. There is simply more to this than the Big Bad City preventing _____. Gotta be.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:49:59 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Chris.
As for fire safety, I appreciate your interest in that issue, but I’ll leave comment on it to all of the fire safety bloggers out there.
This blog’s about artistic failure, and heaven forbid that I water down the product!

By: Chris Rywalt

Chris Rywalt — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:22:39 +0000

Sure, Minneapolis is “attacking” to “fill its coffers” unless the collective is left alone — until a dozen people are killed when they can’t get out during a fire. Then Minneapolis is neglecting the safety of its citizens. Hm, which is better?