JNS BLOG VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Frozen Groundbreaking At The Hawthorne Eco-Village, BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

This afternoon, dignitaries and ordinary residents of the Hawthorne Neighborhood assisted with the groundbreaking in the Hawthorne Eco-Village, an area of four blocks which used to be one of the roughest spots in North Minneapolis. Since the ground was frozen and beneath several layers of snow, the "groundbreaking" was accomplished by erecting a symbolic green door and shoveling a path in the snow.

After the groundbreaking and the mercifully brief speeches at 400 31st Ave. N., everybody went to Farview Park where there were more speeches--longer, because we were now in a warm building. One consistent theme of the speeches: the Eco-Village area turned around from being a hellhole of crime and decrepit buildings to being a peaceful, virtually crime-free, rapidly revitalizing area IN A MERE 18 MONTHS.

Mike Christensen of CPED called this "the quickest turnaround of a neighborhood in Minneapolis history" and said the residents who stayed to fight for the Eco-Village (including Peter Teachout, former chair of Hawthorne) were "the most gutsy group of people I ever met."

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