I first caught wind of this yesterday at the L'Etoile site which featured Vanessa Messersmith's photo of the USI Wireless (USIW) billboard along with the comment "Thanks USI Wireless for being just like a prostitute." In an email conversation, Vanessa elaborated a bit:

The woman is dressed in classic Hollywood street corner girl clothing. She is wearing a fur coat, has her head tilted, almost like chewing gum, and she appears like a sexy dumb girl. If not a prostitute, then perhaps a small town trashy girl. Either way you look at it, my friend and I were shocked and offended. How else am I suppose to interpret this ad?

In the post at the Issues Forum, Stacey Burns does an excellent job explaining why this ad is particularly demeaning in our city. I will just add that beyond the prostitution issue, this ad is just plain offensive particularly to women. I hope USIW understands this.

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

We have a bit of a crisis on our hands.

Last Tuesday, the floor in our Fireplace Room fell through and we found that the joists under the floor had considerable water damage from a pipe that had burst two months ago. While the water was contained in the room, the entire floor had to be removed.

We're now beginning our "Fill in the Hole" Campaign. We've had productive conversation with Fine & Associates, and they will match our amazing response of over 200 volunteer hours with rent reduction to offset the costs of the damages. We've raised a little money to help pay for the costs, but there is still more to do.

We're looking for donations, volunteers, and people getting the word out about our campaign. People can get more information on Facebook, GiveMN, and of course Bedlamtheatre.org.

Any way you can spread the word and help the cause is greatly appreciated!

Ben

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

We believe that mobilizing local police to serve as primary enforcers of federal immigration laws will throw up barriers of mistrust and cause a chilling effect in immigrant communities, impairing our ability to build partnerships and engage in problem-solving that improves the safety of all members of the community. The culture of fear that this bill will instill in immigrant communities will keep victims of crime and people with information about crime from coming forward, and that will endanger all residents.

Posted via email from Peter's posterous

We have applied and been accepted into the Pepsi Refresh Project, which is giving grants to various projects across the country that are trying to make this world a better place. There are 1,000 projects in the running this month, and the top projects in each category receive funding. We are in the neighborhood category for a $250,000 grant.

This is where you come in! Click on the link below and vote for our project. You can vote once a day for the whole month of May! Please help us vote, we can’t do it without you.

http://www.refresheverything.com/thefutureofurbanliving

Thank you!

Posted via email from Seward Profile