Monday, April 27, 2009

No Sympathy For "The Devil" From Jeff Skrenes, The "Hawthorne Hawkman"




Photos By Jeff Skrenes, John Hoff 

Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes posted photos on his Facebook profile of the worrisome situation at 3007 Third Street N., discussed in my previous blog post. The title of Jeff's Facebook photo album was "No Sympathy For The Devil." 

We have struggled so hard to get rid of the drug house at 3020 6th St. N., so HELL (excuse me) if we want to see a drug house pop up all over again at 3007 3rd St. N., just blocks away. THERE IS NO UNOFFICIAL ZONE OF TOLERANCE! THERE IS NO QUASI-OFFICIAL RED LIGHT DISTRICT, HERE! Drugs, pimping, prostitution must get out, out, OUT of North Minneapolis.

Here are some of Jeff's photos and some of mine telling the story of our foray to that property, which residents recently learned was purchased by Evannor Haymon, whose rental at 3020 6th St. N. was raided REPEATEDLY for drug activity before being lost to foreclosure.

That's not to say the drug activity STOPPED after the foreclosure and expiration of redemption. Oh, heavens no! By that statement I simply mean Evannor's OWNERSHIP was lost to foreclosure. Obvious signs of drug activity are still going on--most likely as I type these very words--but evacuation of the residents is expected on or about May 10.

As for these photos of 3007 3rd St. N, from top to bottom...

In the first photo, hmmm, how can I put this...?

PARANOID MUCH?!!!

To be perfectly fair--give The Devil His due, I say--that surveillance camera may have been on the exterior of the house before the current owner. Incredibly, it is not pointed OUT IN THE STREET where trouble usually comes, at least the kind of trouble DECENT people worry about. No, instead the camera is pointed into the middle of the block, as though somebody might try to "outflank" the house and come up from behind.

Second: Bangkok Deli, where sticky rice and other sustaining foods are available for the hungry revitalization warrior always on the go.

"Before you find yourself in a sticky revitalization situation, try our sticky rice!"

Third, chocolate-covered doughnuts and coffee at the home of an upstanding citizen, as the informal neighborhood social network is used to spread information about the situation at 3007 3rd St. N.

Last, a view of the house in question. This is what $10,020 gets you in North Minneapolis, so....

BUY IN AND JOIN OUR FIGHT! We are winning, we are turning this place around, and we will live in safe, pretty houses that go up, up, up in value.

Divorced daddies and mommies, urban adventurers with packs of children in tow, sensible country boys attracted to big city lights, ultra-frugal environmentalists, cops and soldiers and security personnel, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY, BUY, BUY in the very toughest corners of North Minneapolis and wrestle away real estate from slumlords and bad actors, reaping our rewards in good time: valuable homes in the middle of an urban utopia that we will get the historical credit for creating.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He's such a "pillar" of the community, ain't he? Oh! And aren't you supposed to "pull permits" and have all sorts of inspections when doing MAJOR repairs to a (relatively) newly purchased property?

So. Is this now Evanner's "primary residence"? I can't imagine he's still at any of the 6th street addresses and that place he has on Aldrich looks like it's in "shambles" now that it's close to foreclosure redemption expiration...