Photos By John Hoff

Sometimes it is difficult to measure the impact of my mostly unpaid volunteer blogging efforts, but with Donny Dirk's Zombie Bar I actually have hard data to figure out my impact. One of the waitresses told me that, of 30 customers who came to the bar one evening, she asked each of them how they heard about Donny Dirk's prior to its grand opening. Five of the customers said they heard about it from Johnny Northside Dot Com. One customer who heard from the blog was...

City Council Member Don Samuels, who recently commented about Donny Dirk's on his Facebook page, as follows:

Today, Sondra and I went to the newest hot spot in North Minneapolis, Donny Dirk's. This is the same Management as Psycho Susie's in the Northeast. This is the former, infamous Stand Up Franks, redone. It is a totally transformed, high-class operation. Classy waitresses in black gowns and bar tenders polite and winsome. Two big guys guard the doors. The decor is OUTSTANDING and comfortable. Nothing better in the city.

(End of Don's Facebook posting)

I thought I would share a picture of the "two big guys" guarding the doors. As you can see, their bouncer outfits are special and, well, zombie-fied. The blood may not be real, but check out those tattoos.

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VIDEO: Old Time Jug Band At NoMi National Night Out!

One of the participants in National Night Out shot some great video of an old-timey jug band playing on Hillside Ave. N., at the party sponsored by Sondra Samuels, president of the Peace Foundation and the wife of Council Member Don Samuels. (Don was reportedly away from the party, hitting the campaign trial with three vans full of campaign volunteers)

One of the band members is said to be an old friend of Don, who was a toymaker at the same time that was Don Samuels' profession. Though it's not in the video, as you can see from a photo in the previous post, the band members were giving little lessons to some youth at the party, and letting the youngsters play around a bit with their instruments.

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Sondra Samuels Threw A Great National Night Out Party!

Photos By John Hoff

Though the National Night Out Party on the Theo Wirth Parkway was bigger, it was hard to find a better organized party with more varied activities than the one sponsored by Sondra Samuels on Hillside Avenue North. Sondra is the president of the Peace Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband, Don Samuels, and some other good folks. The Peace Foundation was recently credited with contributing to the dramatic drop in crime in Minneapolis, particularly North Minneapolis, where it has dropped 40 percent.

Here's a little tidbit that is well-known by word-of-mouth but perhaps not written on the internet, until now. Four years ago, Sondra became the president of the Peace Foundation because her husband, Don, had to resign because his political opponent--Natalie Johnson-Lee--made a big stink about his membership in the organization Don helped to create. Natalie would call and write and make demands that her name be removed as a supporter of the Peace Foundation. Yes, the same Peace Foundation credited recently with the drop in crime...god forbid, we wouldn't want to save any young teenage lives. (Sarcasm font)

Where was I? Oh, I could go for hours. But let's turn our attention to another one of the "political midgets" facing off against Don Samuels in this November's election, Roger Smithrud. Smithrud was seen wandering around all by his little bearded lonesome--like a lost garden gnome--in the middle of Sondra's party, while guests were treated to not only the usual barbeque and assorted foods but also...

...beanbag games, miniature golf, and a talented "jug band" playing old-timey music. All of this is pictured above, including Smithrud posing grandly in front of Don and Sondra's house instead of throwing his own National Night Out Party. Also, there is a picture of what might be the youngest person to attend this year's National Night Out, a baby only three days old...or at least his little footy-feet.

By the way, I listened as JACC Chair Kip Browne quizzed Smithrud about Smithrud's stance on the Park Board. Smithrud said the board should be "kept and independent." He then added, "I haven't totally looked into it but I don't want to see it part of the county." Well, maybe we'll hear more when Smithrud actually "looks into it."

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South Hawthorne Community Garden Has OFFICIALLY ARRIVED!

Photo By John Hoff

During National Night Out, Michael Klick (pictured above) held up a new brochure for the Minneapolis "parade of gardens." The project near and dear to his heart--the South Hawthorne Community Garden--made the cut. It was a small but meaningful milestone.

Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne's Housing Director, tells me that sometimes Michael Klick or one of the other members of the garden will call him with some kind of arcane question about bureaucratic matters. By the time Jeff starts to get close to an answer, and calls them back, he usually finds out they've discovered the answer and have moved on to another issue. These are VERY ACTIVE AND INVOLVED CITIZENS.

Go South Hawthorne Community Garden!

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Here's more pictures from National Night Out. The top photo shows is from the party sponsored by Sondra Samuels on Hillside Ave. N., which was a large blow-out party soon to get its own special blog post. In the second photo...

Little kids waiting in line for food at the Theo Wirth Parkway party. The third photo was taken at the Jordan Pond NNO party, and shows CC, age 7, with her cowgirl boots and a skinned knee. She was very proud of the skinned knee, the way she was proud of a recent hornet sting. I told her, "CC, every time I see you, it's some new injury! You're like the walking wounded!"

The next two photos show mommies and babies on the Jordan Pond; Alexis (left) and Jacqui (right) with Avery and Sheri Peterson with little Henry. The next photo, taken at the Theo Wirth Parkway party, serves as the representative image of ALL THE REALLY GREAT FOOD that was served during NNO.

On a sour note (next photo) this event needs A LOT MORE RECYCLING. Step it up, people. Think of the planet. I won't say where this photo was taken, because there was plenty of THAT happening everywhere...except, it seemed, by the Jordan Pond where recycling was more of a priority.

In the next photo, partners Dan Rother and Bob Hodson near St. Anne's. Hodson had some really funny commentary while I took the picture...none of which is remotely printable. The last photo shows the really large Theo Wirth Parkway party, again, the only event which could remotely rival the one thrown by Sondra Samuels. More to follow on THAT.

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National Night Out On The Theo Wirth Parkway...

Photos By John Hoff

I tried to attend a bunch of the National Night Out parties which happened a few days ago, so I could publicize and credit as many great neighbors as possible. The NNO gathering on Theo Wirth Parkway had a lot of people and a lot of food. If there was a bigger NNO party in NoMi, I didn't see it...

In a somewhat apologetic tone, participants told me last year's party was actually BIGGER. One participant told me the event was "kind of an upper Willard Hay picnic combined with NNO for the first time." They sure are particular in Willard Hay, I've noticed, when it comes to those distinctions between "upper" Willard Hay and the other part of the neighborhood.

Margie Degan is pictured at the top, in pink. This is her fourth year of helping to organize NNO. Degan credits Moshon, the owner of the Handi Stop on West Broadway, with bringing so much of the food and standing there all day, grilling meat. Moshan is in the third picture, hidden somewhere behind the grill smoke. State Senator Linda Higgins appears in the second photo. She apparently manages to make it to most of the NNO parties in her district, and perhaps ALL of them, who knows? I saw some of Higgins' campaign literature at one party, and also some from Michael Guest, running for Park Board.

In the last photo is Jim Lovestar, (on the left) who is very involved with the community garden at 24th and Upton. Lovestar said the garden is located "where a house blew up" and that a "Jordan neighbor bought the lot, so they let it be for gardening." The woman on the right is joAnn Ulm, who spells her first name just the way I wrote it: joAnn. The children pictured with her are Jesse, Johnathon and Joseph Ulm. I'm told these children all work very hard in the community garden.

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The Devil's House...Reborn At 3007 3rd St. N.

Photo Contributed By A Good Citizen

Residents of Hawthorne are keeping an extremely wary eye on 3007 3rd St. N., which is owned by the guy who used to own 3020 6th St. N., a notorious den of drugs and prostitution until it was foreclosed, boarded and--oh gee--hit by arson. Some individuals doing work on the house at 3007 3rd St. N. (pictured above) said "the guy is living there."

To which the neighborhood leadership says: GOOD TO KNOW.

This photo was taken and contributed by a resident. With crime figures so low, some residents are becoming increasingly brave, doing things they wouldn't have considered doing a couple years ago...like making inquiries about a problem house in the making, snapping a picture, forwarding it to a blog. We want the crime to STAY GONE, and so we are aggressively guarding our newly-safe NoMi territory instead of resting on victory. Now is not the time to say "we have arrived." Now is the time to roll forward so we never, never roll back.


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Zombies Invade Hawthorne Neighborhood! UNDEAD FRANK LIVES!!!

Photo by John Hoff

A brief and merely rumored history of the bar formerly known as "Stand Up Franks" would be as follows:

1901, the bar opens. It wasn't called Stand Up Franks. It was called something else, but who knows what?

1919, the failed national experiment of Prohibition kills the bar.

1938, the bar is open again and known as Stand Up Franks. As the neighborhood began to decline decades later, so did the bar, until it became a notorious den of vice and inequity. In April of 2009, in the midst of neighborhood revitalization, the trouble spot is closed. In May, the sign that said "Stand Up Franks" disappears.

August of 2009, as neighborhood revitalization continues and takes hold, the bar formerly known as "Stand Up Franks" is taken over by the owners of Psycho Suzi's and turned into a super cool Zombie Bar called "Donny Dirk's," but folks in the neighborhood have already gotten in the habit of merely saying...

"Let's go to the Zombie Bar."

And so it is we find ourselves in the present moment, with what appear to be graffiti-scarred bar tables turned into wall panels, high end beer, and waitresses in black cocktail dresses. Revitalization doesn't get any better than this.

But, for the record, the bar is not OFFICIALLY open, just open for business. Tonight I asked our waitress, lovely "Rhiannon, like the Fleetwood Mac song" if there was wireless internet at the establishmen and, if so, what was the name of the server? Yes, the place has wireless internet. And the server is called "Zombie" something.

Drinks at the bar have fun themes, even though it's just a small drink menu still (apparently) under development. There's the "Donny Dirk" for $6, "a dainty drink for disgraceful zombies. A classic return to a dead drink from the past. Creamy and wonderful and downright boozy. My friends and I stuck with the "R.I.P. Frank," which is "trouble in a glass" and "the root of all evil" at a mere $3.75.

The menu promises "interactive bartending" will begin August 12 and that will go something like this: We give you a recipe card. You come up with a general recipe. We price it. You decide if you'll pay the price. We make it. You drink it. You think it's wonderful because, hell, it was YOUR cockamamie idea. You name your drink. We keep "your drink" on file for your next return.

Impractical (says the menu) and inefficient and more fun than raiding your parent's (sic) liquor cabinet when you were 12. Disclaimer: You created it. So you pay for it. You can always tweak it next time.

In the pictures above, emergency chainsaw at the ready for zombie attack. Shannon Freitag, who helps run the bar, with Jeff Skrenes, Hawthorne Housing Director. The old graffiti-scarred Stand Up Frank's wooden wall panels, which remain. Jeff getting ready to break out the chainsaw because he thought he saw a zombie but, actually, it was just a straggler crackhead retreating before the unstoppable, crushing wave of urban revitalization. Last photo: toasting to the death of Stand Up Franks.

More on the Zombie Bar to follow tomorrow.

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National Night Out Was A Success In NoMi...

Photo By John Hoff

North Minneapolis (NoMi) had numerous National Night Out parties, including this one near St. Anne's in the Jordan Neighborhood. Pictured above are Tave, left, and Gracie, right. Gracie said she was a friend of Tave, taking Tave out for some fun. Numerous pictures of the successful NNO parties will follow on this blog.

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Donny Dirk's Zombie Den Is Open Before Their Grand Opening!

Photos By John Hoff

Following up on persistent rumors that Donnie Dirk's Zombie Den had opened at the site of the former Stand Up Frank's bar, (2027 2nd St. N.) I went there tonight with a couple friends and found there was indeed a "soft opening" before the grand opening.

More coverage will follow but for now I'll say this: Donnie Dirk's has incredible atmosphere, an amazing variety of high-quality drinks and wonderful staff. Everybody in the Hawthorne Neighborhood will want to check it out before it's too crowded with cool people to get inside the door.

Pictured above, "Undead Frank Lives" over the bar and our waitress "Rhiannon, like the Fleetwood Mac song."

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Bat Patrol Captures Alleged Bat (Neighbors Helping Neighbors In NoMi)

Contributed Photo, top, and bottom

Some nights ago, a friend called me...sort of indirectly. She had run from her basement apartment, screaming, because there was A FREAKING BAT FLYING AROUND INSIDE. She ran, leaving her phone, and went upstairs, leaving shoes, car keys, purse...her whole life, really, down there with the bat. Even her Rottweiler was in retreat, but only because he was doing as told...

I'm not saying the Rottweiler isn't brave. No, not at all. Note the photo above, entitled "Hogan, Killer Dog" where he poses next to a dead mouse. Word is he licked the rodent to death.

So my friend needed to call Johnny Northside because, well, I'll just brag on myself and say it: I have a notoriously strong stomach, click here, and I'm kind of oriented toward taking decisive action. It may not be the right action, it may lack a certain finesse, but damn it...I take action.

I've had some experience with taking out bats, learning the skill from my saintly mother. She would go after a bat in our rural house with a broom and dustpan. She'd scream the whole time, but that bat would get the worst of it and end up--dear god!--in a blazing Franklin stove. So I knew the traditional Hoff family tools needed for the job: broom and dustpan. Oh, and my black National Geographic shirt with a picture of a bat, to get myself in the mood and add a certain flare to the moment, because YOU KNOW people will be taking pictures.

My friend called another friend who had my number, because in this modern era people don't have phone numbers memorized; they just program the numbers into their cell phones. The friend called me and said how I was NEEDED, VERY VERY NEEDED.

An escort was sent to pick me up. The wimmin-folk were out in the yard. The bat could be ANYWHERE downstairs, or even in the stair landing, I was told. And right then I thought of that moment in the movie Aliens when one of the Marines was complaining, oh, it's going to be another "bug hunt." I figured I'd be searching for hours, turning up NO BAT, and then the next morning somebody would find it inside the medicine cabinet next to the toothpaste.

I checked the stairway. No bat. I went downstairs, hoping the little bat bastard would be flapping around, so I could get a bead on him with my dustpan six shooter, but no such luck.

"I'm going to have to check every ceiling beam," I thought. "And then I still won't find it. Damn it."

So I went to the far corner of the basement, so I could look systematically, and WHOA! There it was, like a little square furry rat attached to the wall, trying to be oh-so-inconspicuous after the spectacular air raid about fifteen minutes earlier, Vroooooooooooooooooooooom.

Yeah, real brave he was...when picking on GIRLS!!!!!

I figured I had one good shot at him, and I better whack him good with the candlestick...oh, wait, I mean the broom. Sorry. NoMi in-joke. It wasn't that I WANTED to kill the bat--I would have preferred to capture him and release him into a happy bat wilderness, with a little Wild Kingdom tracking tag, to learn his mysterious ways--no, SERIOUSLY--but I didn't think capturing the bat was as feasible as killing the bat.

So I tried to whack him with the broom, hard. And all of a sudden, I had a flipping, flapping, furiously clicking bat which ended up somewhere behind a wire DVD rack. Now the epic battle was on!

I knocked the rack aside, spilling DVDs eveywhere, trying to trap it in the broom bristles. The bat somehow ended up in the wire rack, like a cage, making furious vertical moves--baring its needle-like fangs at me--but trapped. Then it got out the end of the wire rack, and then I lowered the broom on it, trapping it. I shoved the dustpan under the broom and then--sweet victory!--I had it like a furry bat sandwich between broom and dustpan. Kip Browne, the chair of the Jordan Neighborhood and therefore, by implication, having a vested interest in the safety of the residents--including being safe from vampire attacks--was videotaping the whole time.

"You've got it?" he asked. "You've really got it?"

And I said, going up the stairwell, "You women might want to get back."

The wimmin-folk fled, screaming, into the back yard with the Rottweiler right on their heels. I should point out he was only running because his mistress was running, he's actually VERY BRAVE.

Incredibly, the bat was working its way free of the bristles and was actually hanging off the end of the dustpan as I walked toward Jordan Pond. It didn't even appear to be injured. Jeff Skrenes--Housing Director of Hawthorne, and therefore also having some interest in bat infestation issues--tells me he once went after a bat with a towel and a frying pan. Despite smacking it with the pan, Jeff's bat was not dead.

Bats are tough, I tell you, like little flying balls of leather. They probably wouldn't be much good to eat, but here's something interesting I found online that I'd like to try, click here.

While I stood there with the broom and dustpan, the bat worked its way loose and flew away, apparently none the worse for wear.

Well, I thought, that's good. Bats eat their weight in bugs every night.

Bats are our flying furry friends.

I love bats.

But I'd probably love them a lot more in this interesting dish, click here for video.

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Level 3 Sex Offender's Home Boarded Up...

Photos By John Hoff


Peter Rickmyer, a.k.a. Peter Richard Stephenson, is a Level 3 sex offender whose freedom was recently revoked, as this blog exclusively reported with video of the arrest, click here.

Now there's been a new development...

Peter's house has been boarded up, another sure sign Peter will come back no time soon. The boards do not appear to be "official" boards, but are apparently some private effort to secure the property. Rickmyer is listed as both owner and taxpayer of the property, as of today.

There is one minor downside to seeing Peter's dangerously-deviant butt locked up in jail: Rickmyer was reportedly very dedicated to picking up litter, apparently imitating the mannerisms of productive, law-abiding citizens. Now litter is taking over Peter's street and is making inroads to Peter's yard, which needs mowing.

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From "Blighted" To "Rapidly Revitalizing," NoMi Turns The Corner!

Photo By John Hoff

In the relatively short span of time since I started this blog, so much has changed in NoMi that it makes my head spin. And sometimes the transformation of my neighborhood forces small changes on this blog. Change is good!

And here comes another change...

My blog announces its journalistic activist mission on the "banner" at the top, with words like "Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures, etc."

Part of those words mention my son, now age 12. Twice now, I have changed the age of my son since he was 10 when I started the blog. But I have never changed the part about his dream of studying math and robotics at MIT for one simple reason: he never lets go of that idea. My son is far more focused than I was at his age. And, I might add, much better looking.

But enough about my son. The words in my banner also made reference to the "North Side" of Minneapolis and to this neighborhood being "arguably blighted."

Well, somewhere we turned the corner and reached a tipping point, the kind of rapid movement toward positive change some residents have struggled to achieve for DECADES, and god bless them.

Maybe that turning point came when Lavender Magazine announced it will be naming NoMi the hot "gayborhood" of Minneapolis. Maybe it was all the hard police work and the resulting rapid drop in crime. It might have something to do with all the new residents with fresh energy and affordable new homes they want to protect and improve, rather like reinforcements arriving to back the tired, muddied and bloodied revitalization troops; longtime residents who have fought this wretched battle for years, their deeds often unsung.

In any case...something has changed. And I can't look at this neighborhood and call it "arguably blighted" anymore when the term "rapidly revitalizing" seems to fit better. So I'm changing the words on my banner. And I'm also adding the word NoMi, because that's what this place is called, now.

The handle I use is "Johnny Northside" but, for the record, my alias has a middle name, too, and it's "NoMi."

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Council Member Don Samuels Confronts Suspected Pimp...

Photo By John Hoff

I heard through the grapevine about Council Member Don Samuels confronting a suspected pimp who was associated with 2700 Morgan Ave. N., a known and notorious den of prostitution which was boarded up YESTERDAY. This individual was apparently the same guy who threatened some residents of 27th Ave. N. for calling police.

It turns out Don Samuels shared some of the details of the confrontation on Facebook, which is not a completely public forum but, well, pretty public...

Here is what Samuels said about the incident, though I've added capital letters, corrected minor typos, and inserted some text for clarity, in parenthesis.

I drove by there two days ago, followed a black new Lincoln with old white male driver and what I thought was a prostitute. Neighbor told me old guy is a frequent flyer. I got propositioned by four different prostitutes during my tour.

The Lincoln drove round and round trying to shake me, then ended up in Aldi's parking lot. I called the cops while I blocked the car. Passenger went into Family Dollar. Turns out it was a guy with do rag who is reputed pimp. On reflection, I suspect he went in to hide drugs in the store.

Anyway, after his return I went to ask driver what he was doing cruising the area. Passenger became very agitated, jumped out, threatening me. After a stand-off he jumped back in and (the) driver finessed his way past my car and out of the lot. But cops arrived just then and pulled them over at Penn Gas Stop. After a search, they were let go.

Well, Salmon house is closing and yes, we will now work on 2651 (Logan Ave. N., a.k.a. The Brown House)

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Here Is A List Of All Tonight's National Night Out Events!

Flickr.com photo, click here


Short, sweet, useful and right to the point: tonight is National Night Out, which is a very big deal in our rapidly-revitalizing neighborhood. Neighbors will be gathering for parties and networking. Where will they gather?

Click here to get a PDF of all the Minneapolis party locations. See you there, neighbor!

Oh, the picture above shows National Night Out...with American troops at an overseas military base. I TOLD YOU THIS WAS BIG!!!!

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Thank You, Public Officials! Morgan Ave. N. House Of Prostitution Boarded Today...

Photos By John Hoff

The notorious house of prostitution at 2700 Morgan Ave. N., known as the "salmon house" because of its color, known as the House of the Rising Salmon on this blog (now that a reader has prevailed upon me to stop using a certain term that starts with "whore" and ends with "house") has been boarded up.

Today.

The photo above shows the boarded front door and the area by the front steps where (apparent) prostitutes and johns would toss their butts.

A nearby resident witnessed city housing inspectors show up with a police escort. Suspected prostitutes were seen loading up their possessions and leaving at the last minute. It is expected the same old girls will be present on Penn Ave. N., but they just won't have the salmon house as a base of operations.

Meanwhile, residents have turned their attention to the fate of the structure--hoping to have it condemned and torn down--plus the next problem house in the area, known as the "brown house." Pit bulls have reportedly been seized at that house in the past, along with treadmills. With 2700 Morgan Ave. N. down, the brown house is expected to take up the slack.

The resident who witnessed today's evacuation said it was "a happy day" while turning attention to watering flowers.

For this resident, there appeared no time to rejoice...attention had to be turned to the "brown house" and the notorious alley bounded by Logan and Morgan, 26th and 27th Ave. N., where drugs and prostitution are constant.

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North Mississippi Regional Park, Perfect For Dog Walking...

Photos By John Hoff

North Mississippi Regional Park is an area of wilderness located near the northern border of Minneapolis. There is a heavy "dog walking" emphasis there, plus it's a great place to fish...though you wouldn't know it from the small number of people fishing there.

Relatively little has been written on the internet about this resource, though I did find an interesting blog about birding at the park, click here. This blog notes the park is "fifty yards wide" in some places, with traffic sounds, but the part of the park I saw was fairly large and full of trees, with relatively little traffic sound. (Too bad nobody keeps that blog updated)

It's amazing to keep turning up these NoMi resources. My neighborhood is full of treasures and surprises, always putting something new and pleasant in my path even as we have to work hard on the flaws. See NEXT post, regarding THAT.

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Visualizing The Future Of Hawthorne's Eco Village...

Photos By John Hoff

On Saturday, several members of the Hawthorne Neighborhood gathered in Farview Park with PPL reps and architecture students. The mini-conference was held to discuss design ideas for the "Eco Village" development.

The Eco Village will be located in a formerly crime-ridden area, now blessedly free of crime for the most part...though vast areas of the Eco Village are also free of, well, buildings such as the former "Apartment Complexes of Anarchy." It should be noted there are, in a sense, three Eco Villages....

There is the "inner Eco Village" which is a planned townhouse development, using modern and ecological building methods. This development will take place roughly where 415 31st Ave. N. was once located, the building which was at the heart of a lawsuit with CitiMortgage.

Then there is the "outer Eco Village," which is a four square block area around the "inner village. This area is bounded by Lowry Ave. N., 4th St. N., 30th Ave. N. and Lyndale Ave. N.

Then there is the "global eco- village." That would be the rest of the world, actually. There are probably ways to make more fine-tuned distinctions, such as declaring Minneapolis the "Municipal Eco Village," but I have no need for those more granular distinctions at the moment. For years, we have focused on this tough four block area, struggling long and hard to secure and improve it. You know that slogan about "thinking globally and acting locally?" This is how we act locally.

Despite the long struggle to revitalize the Eco Village, a light-hearted mood permeated the mini-conference as grown-ups played with wooden blocks, imagining themselves Master Of The Universe developers or (sometimes) Godzilla. Bright red stickers on a toy block designated a house which, hopefully, would have solar power.

In the photos above, top to bottom, photo montages on the walls show the current state of the Eco Village. Things have changed so rapidly that, as of today, Google maps is completely inaccurate, depicting buildings which haven't been standing since 2008.

In the second photo, Abbie Loosen from PPL, who (along with Kevin Gulden and others) helped put the mini-conference together.

In the remaining photos, residents visualize development with blocks. We no longer worry aloud about constant drug and prostitution activity in this area. Now we figure out when and how to build nice things.

Green things.

Ecological things.

Like children who imagine an unlimited future of boundless potential, we model our dreams with wooden blocks.

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