Wizard and Bill are correct, one of the worst landlords in Minneapolis can
be PPL. PPL simply does not respond to criminal activities that they enable
in their buildings. Some might think I say this because of my fight with
them and the City over their CVI project, but believe me it is only one
factor. For many years PPL has acted as if they were indignant about being
bothered when their mismanagement is brought up. Almost as if someone is
committing heresy by even suggesting they had problems with one of their
buildings. I believe their lack of competence in management is a result of
their view of themselves as righteous people doing the Lords work, and any
who question them as being the minions of the Devil. It is no wonder they
are able to thumb their nose at communities with the money and political
power they have. PPL is actually known nationally for their expertise at
bringing in money, too bad they are not known locally for their management
and service to the community.
Let me be clear on the point that I believe the concept of PPL is a good
one, AND I truly believe the people who work for PPL are mostly honorable,
very well meaning, people. But there is something wrong with their
performance when dealing with the communities where they occupy rather than
serve. The only explanation I can find for this phenomena is the self
righteousness that blinds PPL to the realities of the communities where they
are located.
An example of such mismanagement was the old Chicago-Crossings strip mall at
Franklin and Chicago. Located just across the street from their offices
this shopping center was the center of drug "shopping" and crime for the
entire time that PPL owned and managed it. It was actually known of and
famous as the hot place to make money on drugs by criminals in cities in
other states.
PPL could not even see the problem and NEVER attempted to seriously address
it. In fact they denied it. The shopping Center was sold to a group of
recent immigrant Cambodian small business people operating in the Shopping
Center and these amateur "managers" immediately turned it around. When I say
immediately I mean they accomplished in a couple of months what PPL had been
saying for years was impossible to do anything about. The shopkeepers hired
off duty police and cooperated with the neighborhood to drive out those
criminals. Of course those shop keepers WERE part of the community. They
saw the criminals as threats to their business and families rather than as a
customer base for their business as PPL seems to have.
Can PPL change and become the positive force in the community that they have
the potential to be? SURE they can! They just have to drop the self
righteous mantel, and try to become part of the community. Otherwise they
are not much different from the "Missionaries" who went out and raped the
world and got rich in the name of Christ. I do not mind them making money,
I mind them making money by parasitic practices. When they could be forming
a symbiotic relationship with communities. They need to act like the
Christian organization they say they came from, rather than conquistadors
bringing it to the unwashed heathens.
Well hopefully they will change. Steve Crammer does seem more intent on not
stomping over people and more amenable to community relations. Hopefully if
not more well meaning he at least is smart enough to realize that PPL must
change its image and way of doing business with communities where PPL makes
its money. I still have hope that it will also learn some humility and drop
the self righteousness that prevents it from actually serving Minneapolis.
Jim Graham,
Ventura Village
"Why is it the Mongols of this world always tell us they're defending us
against the Mongols?"
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