Steve Clift brought to the list's attention a banner ad on the City Pages website.
I encountered the same ad three or four weeks ago. When Dara Moskowitz ran a short piece on the possible closing of the Loring in the April 3rd edition of CP I took that opportunity to write the editor of City Pages. In Dara's item she had quoted Jason McLean talking about a "soft embezzling" of employees stealing from him to the tune of 100k-200k/year as the reason he had missed two rent payments(in his 13th year in business-go figure) incurring the wrath of Joe Whitney who took that opportunity to not renew his lease. Being a former employee of the Loring Cafe/Bar and being very close friends to a number of people fired in September for supposed theft I wanted to present another viewpoint. I sent the letter on a Friday afternoon and almost instantaneously I received confirmation of receipt and a request to call Jen Boyles as she wanted to use the letter in their coming edition. By the time I called that afternoon I could only reach her voice mail so I left a message confirming my name, address, etc. The following Wednesday the letter did not appear nor the following week. The second time it did not appear the Loring banner ad was in place. There was also a full page ad and a 3rd page ad running along the length on the outside of a right hand page. I believe it was the next week there was a full page color ad for the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown in City Pages. Somewhere over that two week expanse of time I talked to Jen Boyles who reassured me saying the letter would run. What bothered me about all this was not so much that my letter was not published (believe me, despite what folks may think I am quite shy and insecure and each time I launch a missive I shudder at what some might say and how vulnerable I feel)as that Jason McLean was given a forum to slander people who were not given the opportunity to present their side of the story. After I spoke to Jen Boyles at CP the first time I did not bother contacting her again. There are a number of possible explanations why the letter never ran; it wasn't as good as Jen Boyles thought after rereading it, the window of opportunity passed and Dara's comments were long forgotten, etc. I hesitate to suggest nefarious motives on the part of City Pages given a previous experience with them. At that time I was chided for not checking with them on an item of gossip I had heard. Subsequently I retracted my statement and offered an apology. I don't care to call them now; All the same the large expenditure of dollars by the Loring in City Pages makes me wonder if the bottom line outweighs what seems to me an ethical imperative to provide an opportunity to respond to the slanderous remarks by Jason McLean beyond acknowledging former employees deny the charges. To Steve Clift's question as to whether there is a story about Joe Whitney in all of this I'm sure there is. If I were Joe Whitney I could give you a hundred valid reasons related to his tenancy to not renew the lease. As for any juicy bits in Joe's life I cannot speak. I do know most of us have some things we would rather not have see the light of day. Someone suggested it sounded to him like Jason McLean and Joe Whitney deserved each other. I've known Joe for 30 years and Jason for 10 and I say that is a fair assessment. Tim Connolly Ward 7 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Mother's Day is May 12th! http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
