Photos By John HoffHawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes sent me more pictures and details about the long-awaited eviction and boarding at 3020 6th St. N., the infamous drug house in the heart of the Hawthorne Eco Village cluster project.
Here is Jeff's firsthand account, just as he emailed it. Well, except for some more paragraph breaks of course.
I mean, jeez!
But here it is in Jeff's own words...
In some ways, this was anti-climactic. Sitting in front of "3020" watching and calling in to the cops, responding to Peter Teachout's truck being torched, there were a thousand other things that had more adrenaline than this moment.
But going up the steps and STANDING on the PORCH WHERE "THE SENTRY" STOOD...I felt like a conquistador. Even though the property belongs in name to Deutche Bank, yet in spirit it already belongs to the NEIGHBORHOOD.
We've stood our ground to a person who said that this block "would never change because it's the hood." And now we can walk onto the porch or in the yard, because it doesn't belong to him anymore. We can watch the junkies, dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and johns come by and we know that what they are looking for isn't here anymore. And is there any other haven of
criminal activity left in the EcoVillage? No.
This wasn't just a feeling of victory. This was CONQUEST.
And now I'd like to thank the academy for this prestigious honor, as well as the Minneapolis Police Department, the Northside Home Fund, PPL, CPED, the Minneapolis Problem Properties Unit and Inspections departments, Council Member Hofstede, and before I sound TOO "pro-city," most important are the fearless and tireless residents of Hawthorne who have worked so hard to make this day FINALLY happen.
JEFF SKRENES, Hawthorne Housing Director
Here is Jeff's firsthand account, just as he emailed it. Well, except for some more paragraph breaks of course.
I mean, jeez!
But here it is in Jeff's own words...
In some ways, this was anti-climactic. Sitting in front of "3020" watching and calling in to the cops, responding to Peter Teachout's truck being torched, there were a thousand other things that had more adrenaline than this moment.
But going up the steps and STANDING on the PORCH WHERE "THE SENTRY" STOOD...I felt like a conquistador. Even though the property belongs in name to Deutche Bank, yet in spirit it already belongs to the NEIGHBORHOOD.
We've stood our ground to a person who said that this block "would never change because it's the hood." And now we can walk onto the porch or in the yard, because it doesn't belong to him anymore. We can watch the junkies, dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and johns come by and we know that what they are looking for isn't here anymore. And is there any other haven of
criminal activity left in the EcoVillage? No.
This wasn't just a feeling of victory. This was CONQUEST.
And now I'd like to thank the academy for this prestigious honor, as well as the Minneapolis Police Department, the Northside Home Fund, PPL, CPED, the Minneapolis Problem Properties Unit and Inspections departments, Council Member Hofstede, and before I sound TOO "pro-city," most important are the fearless and tireless residents of Hawthorne who have worked so hard to make this day FINALLY happen.
JEFF SKRENES, Hawthorne Housing Director
2 comments:
What is that little attached shack in the top picture?
Re: Little Attached Shack, I don't know, unless that doorway goes down into the basement?
COULD THIS BE A STUPID NORTH MINNEAPOLIS HOME REPAIR? I'll have to go there at some point to savor victory, so perhaps I can report back....
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