Nothing Says "Slumlord" Like Six Basement Egress Windows...

Photos By Jeff Skrenes

This blog previously reported the story of "Mr. Slummy" and his epic hole-to-China, an event which alarmed and galvanized our neighborhood. Well, there's been a new turn of events at 2515 3rd St. North...

Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes notes--with alarm and horror--how Mr. Slummy is now adding egress windows to his basement. Each of these windows apparently represents slumlord sugar-plum-fairy dreams of an income-generating bedroom.

There are AT LEAST six egress windows, Jeff says, but he's not positive there aren't EIGHT. Who's counting? In any case, it's TOO MANY. And, for now, we are unable to stop Mr. Slummy because he operates under the dubious claim that what he's actually building here--multiple egress windows and all--is NOT intended to be rental housing but his primary residence.

Here is Jeff's rallying message to the neighborhood, unedited:
----------------------------------------------------------------------

These are the recent pictures of the basement at 2515 3rd St N. What do you notice? This is no ordinary basement. He has egress windows EVERYWHERE.

Most places, you'd think, you'd want one or two such windows in the basement. But something tells me he's not just putting those in for overall safety. There will be numerous BEDROOMS down there. Bedrooms on the second floor. Bedrooms on the third. Bedrooms in the original part of the house, and bedrooms in the addition. He's not building his primary residence, as
he so nobly claims. He's building a MOTEL.

The city claims he's got the proper permits and doesn't need zoning variances to do what he's doing. Okay. Well we still have permit processes for rental licenses and occupancy. We need to come down HARD on this SLUMLORD the RED HOT SECOND he tries to put ANYONE ELSE in this place.

We KNOW it's going to happen, so let's be prepared.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

JNS says: that's why we call him the Hawthorne Hawkman. He protects the people of the Hawthorne Neighborhood, and we don't take kindly to slumlords 'round these parts.

No More Mail Collected Here: More Signs Of Deep Demographic Change In NoMi

Photo By John Hoff 

I was mailing a letter a few days ago, and I encountered yet another sign of the deep demographic change which has taken place in North Minneapolis due to foreclosures and associated vacancies. So deep are the demographic shifts, that a rather smart friend of mine asserts in the next census North Minneapolis might be no longer "majority black." One thing is for sure: this place has lost an incredible amount of population.

So one sees little signs of how much has changed. And here's one of those signs:

Next to the "super market" style liquor store at Lyndale Ave. N. and West Broadway, where no-account characters pretty much hang out in and around the parking lot all the time, loitering for no good purpose, there is blue post office box. I often use it because it is convenient.

Well, that won't be happening anymore....


An official notice on the box says the box will soon be removed, and it states the reason. Mail at that collection point has dropped off sharply.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...that things have deeply, irrevocably changed, and until the next census data rolls around, we can hardly reckon up what, exactly, the changes are.

Saturday, May 2, NoMi Social Event Of The Season At The "Hawthorne Princess," New Home Of Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss)

Photo displayed on Connie's Facebook Profile

Connie Nompelis is a Realtor, a historical home preservationist, a former active board member of the "Old Central" neighborhood in South Minneapolis, a model, sometimes, (see photo above) and the executive producer of the new Adventures of Johnny Northside movie, click here. She is also now a citizen of the Hawthorne Neighborhood, by virtue of a recent home purchase in the Historic Farview Park cluster of classic homes.

One of those amazing antique homes Connie bought for about $6,000 and she is planning to lovingly rehab it and make it her residence. Tomorrow, Saturday, May 2, starting about "6 ish" in the evening, Connie plans to have a party of sorts at the house...

This is not an "open invite," however. If you want to go, you need to contact Connie and, among other things, actually be a productive member of society. (This is my characterization, not Connie's, so feel free to direct stale-yet-overheated politically correct b.s. in MY direction, not hers)

CONNIE'S EMAIL ADDRESS IS AS FOLLOWS: constancenompelis@yahoo.com

Some photos of Connie's new house to follow in next blog post. The house is called the "Hawthorne Princess" because it is a Queen Anne, only smaller than normal, therefore it is a "Princess."

Spiffing Up The "Durian Fruit" Store On West Broadway

Photo by John Hoff

The obscure, hidden-away Asian market located on West Broadway (right next to Friedman's) recently spiffed up their exterior. This is the place where I managed to find DURIAN FRUIT, an infamously fragrant Asian fruit I'd been wanting to try ever since I heard about it, years ago...

This store is a quirky, hidden delight well worth checking out if you don't mind dealing with the drug dealers who enjoy that street corner, too. But they don't really go inside this store. In fact, hardly anybody goes inside this store. Operations involving the shipment of who-knows-what (fruit?) seems to be the focus of that business, and the store itself is a cluttered afterthought.

$25,000!!!! That's A Lot Of Wheaties!!!!

Photo By John Hoff

Today the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council received a $25,000 check from General Mills. Our Community Affairs Director, Alexandra, pictured above, described it as the most money she'd ever had in her hand at one time.

The funds...


...will reportedy go to support the "Hawthorne Huddle," a monthly event where the movers and shakers of the neighborhood meet early...really early...to have discussions about relevant neighborhood matters.

This blog doesn't speak on behalf of HNC but I can still say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU General Mills.

Johnny Northside Dot Com officially urges readers to "eat your Wheaties."

Neighbors Helping Neighbors Celebrate Easter In The Hawthorne Neighborhood

Photo By John Hoff 

Never, in all the many years she's lived in her house in the Hawthorne Neighborhood has the resident I call "Patty Cake" experienced an Easter like this.

Ah, the peace. The quiet! The feeling of safety! What a new and novel experience for somebody living in the area we call "The Eco Village." This used to be one of the toughest corners of North Minneapolis but in the last few months...

...it has been experiencing weeks with NO CRIME, except of course the constant drug dealing going on inside 3020 6th Street North, which is not showing up on the crime map. But no matter. They're desperately hunkered down in that house, and looking at imminent eviction. The neighborhood has plenty of time to shop for items for the Hawaiian theme party which will involve DANCING THE HULA ON THEIR (FORMER) FRONT LAWN.

This is the meaningful, transformative adventure we have in our neighborhood. This is why would-be urban pioneers need to pack their hammers and head up here from sub-bore-ia.

"Patty Cake" came by last Saturday with Easter baskets for me, Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes, and my son, pictured above. We drove to the SoLow store where I was able to get goat cheese for a mere 99 cents. I'll never lose weight with the SoLow store tempting me with bargain basement deals on gourmet cheeses.

"Patty Cake" splurged and bought me some strange foods I wanted to try, including pickled date palm fronds. She questioned me in her car as though I were in police custody: Why do I constantly sample strange foods? What drives me to do it? When and where did it all begin?

It began, with so many things, with my father. He went to a lot of different places all over the world during World War II. He told us stories about the weird foods he had eaten, sometimes out of pure desperation. It's a matter of historical record that military supply lines were stretched very thin in the battle to capture New Guinea. Enough said. We won't go there. Not everything tastes like chicken, some things taste like PORK.

My image of my father's worldliness, his manly adventures in exotic places, was inextricably bound up with the notion my father had TRIED EVERYTHING. I wanted to be just like him when I was little, and when I became older I wanted to beat and exceed him. Thus: eating exotic foods like silk worm pupae. (Which are not considered exotic where silkworm pupae is commonly eaten. Do you know what is considered strange and unappetizing in most of Asia? CHEESE!!! No, seriously!)

The thing is...I ACTUALLY LIKE EATING CRAZY STUFF. It's not like I'll have to choke down the pickled date palm fronds, which look a little bit like fishing lures.

In my experience--which is considerable--there's a whole world of foods that come in jars and/or cans and are all pretty much the same: the Tastes Like Pickled Cabbage family of exotic but somewhat disappointing foods.

Banana flower blossoms? Taste like pickled cabbage. Hearts of palm? Tastes like pickled HEARTS of cabbage. Kim Chi? Well, OK, that actually IS pickled cabbage, it just SOUNDS exotic.

Driving around after shopping at SoLow, we made a 911 call on a vacant, condemned house at 2127 Lyndale Ave. N. where a bunch of aimless young men had simply taken over the back porch, and even had a sentry posted out on the sidewalk with a cell phone, watching traffic. It was Holy Saturday, so it took the police a while and we didn't actually see if the police showed up, but about half an hour later, the porch was empty.

We're trying hard to bring the peace and quiet found in the Eco Village to the rest of the Hawthorne Neighborhood.

Relentless, never ending calls to 911 and 311 seem to make headway in that regard.

But Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of last week represented PROGRESS. Patty Cake could attend her church and give thanks instead of praying intensely that no intruders would get inside her bunker. I hear talk of so-called "investors" buying up a lot of property in North Minneapolis. One prays some of them might be flippers and not just wannabe slumlords. We've got a little something planned for wannabe slumlords, and it's coming in a future blog post.

From where I'm standing, we are WINNING the battle to create urban utopia out of the wreckage of the mortgage foreclosure crisis. And a peaceful, beautiful Easter in the Eco Village was part of the proof.

Mayor Rybak: NoMi Is Waiting To Welcome You!

Photo By John Hoff

I will never forget where I was when I first heard Mayor Rybak was selling his house. It was right after the Hawthorne Executive Board Meeting last night, in the front seat of Connie's little red sports car, in the parking lot of the "Secured Gas Station" (Winner Gas) at West Broadway and Lyndale...

A cop car was in plain sight, the officer apparently working security inside, but Connie was still hesitant to leave the safety of her vehicle. So she sent ME inside to buy two packs of Camels. Yeah, great, the brand that killed my Dad of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, and prostate cancer.

All at once.

(Hey, at least he outlived all the shrapnel left in his body)

Anyway, I came back outside with the two packs in hand, and Connie was all, like, MAYOR RYBAK IS SELLING HIS HOUSE!!! She'd just read it off her Blackberry.

"Where's he moving?" I asked, casually.

"HE DOESN'T KNOW YET!!!!" she answered.

"Oh...my...god!!!!" we said, pretty much together. And then: WE HAVE TO GET RYBAK TO MOVE TO NOMI!!!!!!!!!!

Mayor Rybak, here are some of the many advantages of moving to NOMI. First of all, you won't get better housing bargains anywhere in the city on classic homes with character.

You can take that $700k or whatever you're getting for your OTHER house, and use it to retire in style. (No time soon, though)

Meanwhile, you can buy a house in NoMi for very little money, fix it up, and watch your equity grow as all the grand plans you've told us about--and they are grand, they are glorious, they are the bright utopia upon which we fix our tired gaze in moments of gritty urban struggle--come to fruition.

Imagine what people will say! THAT MAYOR RYBAK, HE WALKS THE WALK. Mayor, your mere PRESENCE will decrease crime within--I estimate--a four block area. There will quickly be a "ripple effect" of like-minded people copying your example, reasoning that if it's good enough for Mayor Rybak, maybe now really is the time to buy, buy, buy in NOMI. (Also, houses here are so affordable you can easily buy one BEFORE selling the other one)

Now, truthfully, so far you don't have much of a political opponent this year. A ham sandwich could beat Al Flowers on election day, even with wilted lettuce and no mayo.

But I say NO MERCY IN THE POLITICAL ARENA, at least not for a nut job like Al Flowers who heckles, disrupts, literally shoves from behind.

Mayor Rybak, now is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rack up the election day vote score as high as possible for the history books. Sure, you've got the rest of Minneapolis sewn up, as long as you don't murder somebody before the election, but why not take all the votes in North Minneapolis, too? Now THAT would be a political mandate.

Consider: If Al "I Am The Community" Flowers can pick up a few stray votes anywhere, it's probably in NOMI. He's got FOUR VOTES FOR SURE up here, not counting his own.

Well, I say take away even those four votes: move to NOMI so the residents of this neighborhood--who have hung on for so long, endured so much, dreamed such big dreams for so long--will vote for a mayor who boldly walks the walk, throwing in his lot with the muddy troops fighting the revitalization battle here at "Ground Zero."

Personally, I'm partial to the Hawthorne Neighborhood and since I've got this blog, well, I can shout ALMOST as loud as Al Flowers.

But I'm not going to shout. I'm going to sing!!!!

Well, sort of. Here's a little song for you, Mayor Rybak. Click here for video. (Check out what the star of this video is carrying in his hands!)

The Roe Family Singers, Soundtrack To Our Lives

Photo By Jeff Skrenes

Some of my neighborhood friends (Jeff Skrenes, Connie Nompelis--pronounced No-bliss, and Bryan Thao Worra) went to a bar, recently, to see Bryan off on yet another book tour. They thought the band sounded kind of familiar...

That's when they realized OH MY WORD it's the same band which does the distinctive sound track in the upcoming "Adventures of Johnny Northside" documentary.

The movie not really about me. I should THAT point out. I'm just kind of a performer, a stumbling clown who bumps into all kinds of interesting, committed people and the story is told in that way; the tale of a neighborhood pulling itself toward revitalization, seizing the foreclosure crisis as an opportunity to remake our neighborhood better, safer, greener.

Anyway...the Roe family is a great band and it was reportedly an eerie moment as the sound track to the movie of our lives played in the background of, well, our actual lives.

The "Hawthorne Annex" Features Broadway Pizza, Luxury Condos

If you're totally into neighborhood politics and culture, then you develop a certain feeling for what is the "norm" of your neighborhood, versus what is an anomaly. For example: Homewood mansion district? Within the Willard Hay neighborhood, this is an anomaly.

Well, the Hawthorne Neighborhood has its own anomaly. On the other side of the highway, there is a section of the neighborhood which has, among other things,...

...luxury condos with riverfront views. These condos are just a short distance--walking distance, really--from the popular Broadway Pizza restaurant.

This section of the neighborhood--our housing director, Jeff Skrenes, once dubbed it the "Hawthorne Annex"--is cut off from the rest of Hawthorne by the highway. Though the Mississippi is OFFICIALLY one of the boundaries of our neighborhood, for all practical purposes Interstate 94 is really the boundary. But then there's the "Hawthorne Annex," sitting between I-94 and the river.

Pictured above are the luxury condos of the Hawthorne Neighborhood, with riverfront views.

Ah, now that's North Minneapolis living!

Stinky "Durian Fruit" Food Adventure In North Minneapolis ("Smell bad," he said. "But eat good!")

One great thing about my neighborhood has to be all the ethnic food stores, some featuring incredibly exotic and obscure stuff. Since coming here, I've been able to experience culinary adventures I had only previously read about, and within a frugal budget. 

This is the "Hawthorne Lifestyle." Great home ownership and great food is way cheap, plus we're all part of something fun, eco-sustainable, and very meaningful as we transform our neighborhood into urban utopia.

Just the other day I was taking a bike ride on Broadway, heading for the trails along the Mississippi River, when I went past a little hole-in-the-wall Asian store near the 4th Street Bar and Grill....

Inside was an odd assortment of stuff--lots of utensils for sale, Chinese cookbooks printed in the 1980s, decorative items like grinning monkey heads carved from coconuts. The food items in the store were...odd. Some of the items appeared to have been there for quite a long time. There was a fridge stuffed with what appeared to be fire sprinkler components.

But right away I spied a durian fruit. Oh-my-word. I hardly ever see these things for sale anywhere, and when I do, the price is usually way out of my range. I asked how much for the durian fruit. (Another odd aspect of the store was NOTHING had a price tag I could find) They were only $1.59 a pound.

"These are stinky, right?" I asked the store owner. "I've read about these."

"Smell bad," he said. "But eat good!" He suggested I should pry it open with a screw driver at the split. The fruits are about the size of big coconuts, and the husk is hard and pointy, actually painful to hold. I've read there are places in Singapore--like train platforms--where it's actually ILLEGAL to eat durian fruit because of their odor. (But people do it anyway. "Smell bad, but eat good!")

The other clerk told me to try the durian fruit with some ice cream, and I would like it.

I ended up stuffing the durian fruit in my backpack and carrying it to the 5th Ward DFL Credentials Committee meeting, then later that night I had it over at Kip Browne's house while shooting vodka and tequila. My friend Megan Goodmundson dubbed it the "horny fruit."

This morning I went to Cub Foods to get some ice cream; vanilla, of course, no intense flavors to distract from the pure durian fruit experience. I managed to pry the durian open with a combination of a big kitchen knife and my bare hands. Inside, I found a hard fibrous interior which held soft, custard-like inner pulp. The inner pulp was shaped like a chicken drum stick, and hid big brown inedible seeds.

The smell is not nearly as offensive as the hype had led me to believe, but maybe frozen durian doesn't smell nearly as bad as fresh durian. The stench is a sort of a fruity putridness, but it also has a kind of "harsh plant sap" smell, sort of chemical-like, but natural rather than manmade.

I thought I could detect two separate and distinct layers of stench, the fruity part and the chemical stench part. Also, the smell has a tendency to LINGER, whether it's in your kitchen or your fridge.

Like Limburger cheese, durian tastes better than it smells. In fact, it tastes amazing...it is like the most delicate fruity custard, but with a strong, musky ambiance.

One must slice into the fibrous part of the pulp, and pull it away to reveal the soft and pudding-like drumstick-shaped portions of the durian fruit. One large durian yielded a heaping bowl full of the "custardy" portion of the fruit. And, yes, it was a lot better with ice cream than just by itself.

Urban Homeworks "Gremlins" Finally Spotted At 2118 Bryant Ave. N.

For a long time, I wasn't able to spot the "gremlins" who were working on 2118 Bryant Ave. N., but recently my schedule changed and I was able to go by during the day. Finally, I saw the workers and their vehicle with an "Urban Homeworks" logo.

Every weekday, it seems, the house at 2118 Bryant changes for the better. Recently, the workmen...

...started putting up all the siding. The guy on the ladder in this picture, above, could probably look over his shoulder to his right and see the constant drug dealing which takes place around Hawthorn Crossings strip mall, just a short distance away.

One thing that I can't figure out, though: where are the high schoolers? A prominent sign at the house talks about "learning a trade" and "staying in school." However, the two guys I've seen working on the siding both appear to be young professionals in their early 30s.

A Historical Pic Of The Old Hawthorne School

Somebody sent me this picture of the old Hawthorne School. The way I was told the story, the Hawthorne Neighborhood was NOT named after Nathaniel Hawthorne. Rather the neighborhood was named after THE SCHOOL. The school was named after Nathaniel Hawthorne.

If anybody knows more, they can comment. In any case, it's a cool old picture. 

(Do not click "Read More") 

No "Riff Raff" At Tooties On Lowry Ave. N.

Tooties is a low-key family restaurant with good, affordable food, nothing too flashy. The St. Patrick's Day special was corned beef and cabbage.

I was there yesterday with Connie Nompelis, (realtor, historical housing preservationist) Jeff Skrenes, (Hawthorne Housing Director) and Meagan Goodmundson (activist-at-large for the Jordan neighborhood and DFL) having one of our round robin discussions about neighborhood issues. I tried to order a mixed drink and found Tooties only has wine and beer. I was all, like, what's up with that? Only wine and beer?

Connie told me not selling hard liquor kept out "the riff raff."

Well, I certainly approve of that. So I had some red wine.

But then I slammed down the wine glass like a shot. Because I am, after all, part riff raff.

But Tooties is a nice little place. You could bring your little kids to Tooties, and feel very comfortable having dinner there.

(Do not click "Read More")

Hawthorne Neighborhood Crime Stats Triumph--Well, Sort Of

Pictured above is Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes, holding a map of the crime incidents in the Hawthorne Neighborhood. Why is Jeff smiling? He's smiling because...

...the map shows NO CRIMES IN THE ECO-VILLAGE AREA.

The Eco Villlage--which is bordered by Lyndale Ave. N., Lowry Ave N., 4th Street N., then to Lyndale via 30th Ave. N.--used to be "ground zero" in the war against crime. In fact, Mayor Rybak himself used the phrase "ground zero" when dedicating the tree nursery in that area.

It's been apparent for a long time that crime in the Eco Village area had gone WAY DOWN, despite the orderly and well-regulated pill house and crack smoking lounge at 3020 6th St. N.

However, just how much crime had dropped took us as a bit of a surprise. A few days ago Jeff just about BOUNCED UP TO ME with the latest neighborhood crime map in hand. There had been NO CRIME IN THE ECO VILLAGE AREA. In fact, there were big swaths beyond the Eco Village with no crime, also.

This week, me and Neighborhood Chair Peter Teachout went driving all over Hawthorne, looking for crime we could call in to 911. We must have driven around for half an hour. We found nothing. NOTHING. This should have been like a triumphant tour but, well...I must confess, I was a bit bored.

And, besides, our victory tastes like ashes. There was the shooting at 29th and Aldrich Ave. N. in which two children were injured, merely standing a block away. Their bodies just happened to be where the bullets ended up. 

Just a week before, I had been driving around with Brian Reichow and I used Brian's phone to call the police on a group of minors out after curfew AT THAT VERY CORNER. But the minors who were hit in this incident were apparently doing exactly what they were supposed to do, waiting for a field trip. 

It's very difficult to revel in the triumph of a dry little map of crime stats when some children have been hit by a random bullet in the very heart of our neighborhood, which is Farview Park. 

Jeff's smile was genuine, but momentary. We have a long ways to go.

Why Read This Blog When You Can Wait For The Movie?

The Adventures of Johnny Northside Movie Trailer from Gabriel Cheifetz on Vimeo.

This blog has mentioned, quite a few times, the video documentary project of "612 Authentic," which has been ongoing for almost a year, now. It's the story--told through the lives of a handful of actual residents--of North Minneapolis remaking itself for the better in the wake of the messy foreclosure crisis. 

Now the movie project is quite far along and has just released its trailer, see above. 

This documentary will be full of familiar characters who are...

...often mentioned on this blog. But more than that, it will tell the story of our hope, our belief, our struggle to make our neighborhood something much better. 

We've had a long string of successes stamping out crime and demolishing houses that were beyond redemption...though a few demolished houses, arguably, could have been redeemed and the tragic loss of these irreplaceable old buildings is also well documented. This movie tells a messy and complicated story, because it's a true story, not just another sweeping generalization about North Minneapolis or the economy.

Anyway, the trailer is lots of fun, but after watching the trailer be sure to click "more" to see additional video footage of a North Minneapolis house demolition. 

Hmong Gather In Hawthorne To Discuss Neighborhood Issues

Photos By Jay Clark

Some of the Hmong who live in Hawthorne gathered at the HNC Office on Friday night to discuss neighborhood issues. Hawthorne's ubiquitous Housing Director, Jeff Skrenes, was there and provides the following account...

There's a history between the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council and the Hmong in Hawthorne that hasn't been told very much before. Here's some points and I'm not even knowledgeable enough to know if you could call them "main points," but here goes.

Jay Clark at CURA has helped create a Jordan-Hawthorne Hmong youth soccer team (I know, I've TRIED to get it changed to the "Hawthorne-Jordan" team, but the uniforms were already made.) which has been quite successful. The soccer program has led to the ability to do some sneaky organizing, getting folks connected and talking to kids and families about issues when they
don't even realize they're talking about neighborhood issues. Jay doesn't speak much Hmong, of course, so he works with Yia Yang, a Community Programs Specialist with the U.

Well, one day over the summer they were dropping the kids off at one of the kids' homes at 29th and Aldrich, and Jay saw some other teenagers hanging around the property. It didn't look like they were friends, so Jay asked the kids if the other youth were there because they were friends or not.

(I'm making the details a little hazy in order to protect the family and kids who were part of this, by the way)

With a little more prodding, Jay found out that the youth were gang members who had pretty much claimed the entryway of the place the Hmong family was renting as their "territory." They spray-painted obscene pictures on the walls, kicked holes in the walls, and intimidated the Hmong whenever they were stood up to.

It doesn't take much understanding of Hmong culture to know that 1) calling 911 presents a MAJOR language barrier, and 2) calling a uniformed, armed government employee didn't do a heck of a lot of good where they came from. So we had a big job ahead of us.

Jay and Yia worked with the Hmong families on role-playing and calling 911, and I started barking up some trees (nicely) with the MPD. Together, we got some police to sit down with the family that was being victimized and that helped resolve the situation at 29th and Aldrich.

But like any good community organizer, Jay didn't stop there, and like any good organization, neither did Hawthorne. Jay speculated that the number of Hmong police officers in Minneapolis was not proportionate to the number of Hmong represented in the general population. I know, I know, easy to figure out. But this is where a partnership with the University really helps. They can do research that empirically validates what we know as a community and then with the weight of academia behind us, we can use that information to bring about policy changes.

So Jay came to our Crime Prevention and Family Safety meeting in the fall and asked for neighborhood support of a CURA study about minority police officers in Minneapolis and St. Paul and to what extent that mirrors community demographics in terms of numbers of minority officers and where they are stationed. Results of that study are coming soon, but north Minneapolis has two more Hmong police officers than one might expect. Both of them patrol at night, however.

So, anyway, this Friday many of the youth and some parents came to the Hawthorne offices for a pizza party. I have to admit, I was NOT looking forward to working until 8 pm on a Friday. I had sleep to catch up on after achieving geek Nirvana at a midnight showing of Watchmen, sleeping for four hours, and then coming to work for 11.

But this turned out to be FUN, and not just because of the free pizza. Jay's energy is always contagious, for one thing. But whenever there's community changes happening, that's almost as good as caffiene when it comes to keeping me awake. Jay asked questions about the neighborhood, Yia translated, and I took notes and answered their questions. We talked about what kind of behavior is a strong indicator of drug activity at a house, and how calling 911 repeatedly really helps bring about change - even if it happens slowly.

I talked about how making a personal connection with the police and our residents was crucial to changing the EcoVillage, and I said that we ought to do the same thing for the family that parks their car far away from their house because they're worried about it being broken into a third time. Then the police aren't driving or walking through our neighborhood thinking about 23rd and Aldrich (random intersection, not a place identified by the families), but instead are relating to our community on a personal level with Mr. and Mrs. Xiong and their kids.

We promised to have more meetings, including one where the Hmong families in Hawthorne can meet our Hmong police officers in the 4th Precinct. And then I went home and slept.

GOT CHURCH? Family Baptist Feeds Soul AND Body In North Minneapolis

Last Sunday, I attended church with Peter Teachout, the Chair of the Hawthorne Neighborhood Association, and his family. Peter was always trying to get me to go and, well, it was a potluck that finally pushed me over the fence...

This is the church that helped individuals who were evicted from "The Apartment Complex of Anarchy," giving those folks supplies and helping to haul their meager possessions to other housing. While I was at the church potluck, I found out about their Wednesday night "Food Ministry." It's pretty simple: folks who attend Wednesday night service are given a grocery bag of food.

According to the guy in charge of the "Food Ministry," this distribution isn't massive and, indeed, every week it seems like there is precisely enough, and no more. It was my feeling he actually wanted to avoid publicity, out of fear too many would show up and there wouldn't be enough to go around. (Well, I say, time to break out the loaves and fish and start praying for a miracle)

The way it was explained to me, the food ministry has a very random element; food is picked up from corporate donors, and who knows what it will be? One day everybody gets noodles and as much yogurt as a family could eat for a week; it's more potluck than the church potluck.

Oh, I should mention where this church is: 2201 Girard Ave. N. The Wednesday night service is at 7 PM.

Now is a good chance to mention an important law that languishes in obscurity: the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donations Act. This federal law protects stores and restaurants from liability when they make food donations to non-profit organizations involved in food banks, soup kitchens, etc. I'll say more about this law in another post at another time, because Monica Lewinsky comes into the story and, well, I don't want to tell that particular story in a post about a Baptist church, with a stained glass window as an illustration.

Suffice to say: The Bill Emerson Law is a great law, and what a shame it's so badly publicized, especially during the current recession.

Insight About Insight News, Foreclosures, Hatin' On Councilman Don Samuels, And More!

Skrenes Family Photo

This is probably like "inside baseball" to a lot of folks, but I may as well complete the historical record about Insight news going after Jeff Skrenes (pictured above, as a child) over some comments Jeff made in a Minn Post article. The comments were about some unexpectedly positive side effects of the foreclosure crisis hitting North Minneapolis...

Here's a recap of the story. First, some U of M college students were doing an article for some kind of intership-slash-journalism-class, and they asked me for some North Minneapolis insights and contacts. So I helped hook them up. The article took forever to come out but it finally did. The headline was horrible, but the article itself was wonderful.

Some of the things said in the article included pointing out something both obvious and positive: because of the foreclosure crisis, hookers and drug dealers are getting booted out of the neighborhood because their crappy slumlord housing is gone, HOORAY.

This isn't anything which hasn't been said before and, in fact, it has been said by many people. But Insight News launched a harsh critique aimed at Jeff Skrenes and Don Samuels for daring to have anything positive to say about POOR WIDDLE HOOKERS AND DRUG DEALERS being forced to leave the neighborhood.

After the article appeared, Jeff and Samuels had a good-natured disagreement over who was the intended target of the critique, and who was just "collateral damage." (Kind of like Jeff, above, after childhood eye surgery and, oh, look...Big Bird has a bandage, too)

Insight News has been pretty consistent in its dislike of Don Samuels, so when Samuels says one thing, you can expect Insight News to say the opposite.

Here's where it turns into "inside baseball." Jeff Skrenes sent an email requesting to publish a rebuttal to the Insight News article. And here's what Insight News did: they published Jeff's email, which was REQUESTING a chance to rebut, and was not the rebuttal itself. Now, you have to ask yourself: was that just SLOP, or was that deliberate?

The votes were counted in a recent round-robin discussion, and the verdict came back, and it was an overwhelming consensus of opinion:

SLOP!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff published what he wanted to say on (of all places!) his Facebook profile, but not everybody has access to that, so I'm going to publish what Jeff said, here on Johnny Northside. (Finally)

Here it is, unedited, though I've added some extra paragraph breaks.

(Jeff's text follows)

Recently, two articles have appeared in local Minneapolis media around the foreclosure crisis. One touts some positive developments that have come about as a result of the foreclosure crisis, and another article offers a countering opinion.

http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/02/03/6336/are_foreclosures_helping_to_improve_minneapolis_north_side

http://www.insightnews.com/index.php?id=4046:samuels-foreclosure-crisis-improves-neighborhood-safety&option=com_content&catid=1:commentary&Itemid=4

I was quoted in the first article and called to task for my comments in the second. What follows in this note are some of my thoughts about where north Minneapolis stands in light of the housing crisis, and where we may be heading.

First, the title of the original article, "Are foreclosures helping to improve Minneapolis' north side?" is frankly, terrible. It makes it appear as if Councilmember (CM) Samuels, Hawthorne residents, developers, and I have all been wiping our foreheads in relief, saying "Thank goodness this foreclosure crisis came along just in time. What a relief!"

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The title also does a disservice to the wonderful success stories told throughout the rest of the article. Hawthorne is turning around an area filled with problem properties, foreclosures, and crime. Our residents who have had the courage to stand their ground have my absolute support and they deserve every bit of it. I believe CM Samuels is one of the many politicians in north Minneapolis who truly "gets it" and even though he does not represent the Hawthorne neighborhood, I am proud to have him as a partner in this fight. There are few developers who have done more for our community than the Ackerberg Group, and the Minnpost article does their contribution justice as well.

I just wish I could have spoken with the editors before this went online, so I could have said, "It's PERFECT! Just one thing...CHANGE THE DAMN TITLE!"

The Insight News article is, in my opinion, nothing more than a desperate swipe at CM Samuels in an attempt to drum up support for an opponent - any opponent - of his in the upcoming 2009 city council elections. I should say that I have great respect for Insight's editor-in-chief, Al McFarlane, and all he has done for our community. But I can't even call this article "bad journalism" because labeling it as such would do a disservice to journalism itself.

On top of its politically-based attempt to create ire over a well-written but poorly-titled article, it brings up a neighboring conflict in Jordan that has only tangential connections to the issue at hand. Then it doesn't even get those facts right.

But what I want to focus on in this note are what I see as positive outcomes from the crisis we are in. Once again, I must state that I am not happy about this crisis, that I have spent the past nine years of my life working against housing and mortgage injustices, and I remain as dedicated to this issue as ever. One thing I've said though, is that a positive aspect of the housing problems we face is that "drug dealers tend to get bad mortgages."

I can think of three houses in Hawthorne off the top of my head (2942 Aldrich, 3020 6th, and 614 23rd) that are owned by drug dealers, have been open sores on the face of our community, and are now in foreclosure. Oh, and 3101 6th and 3119 4th were open-air drug market apartment buildings that were lost to foreclosure, vacated, and then demolished. I made various trips to these two buildings in an attempt to connect tenants with housing services that would help them through what is surely a difficult process. In turn, I was verbally assaulted, had my pamphlets torn up in front of my face, and left reeking from the haze of pot that hung thickly in the air.

One year ago, the Hawthorne EcoVillage, a development project centered around 31st Ave N and 6th St N had no fewer than nine properties with open-air drug dealing and prostitution. Now there is one. It was raided once again tonight by Minneapolis' Finest, and our efforts have cut into the owner's illicit revenue to the point where a foreclosure will force him and his tenants out by the spring or early summer. Out of the nine properties where problems were rampant, two landlords evicted problem tenants and put in new renters, one was purchased from a slumlord and demolished, and six went into foreclosure.

At our February Hawthorne Crime Prevention and Family Safety meeting, a map was passed around that plotted crimes that had been noted by the Minneapolis Police Department in Hawthorne during the previous month. There were three crimes on the borders of the EcoVillage, but NOTHING inside it.

This is a marked difference over last year, and I claim it as a tremendous success on behalf of the neighborhood. There is no way around it; foreclosures forced drug dealers out of the area faster than the police and our city departments could have addressed the issues. This is not a knock on the city at all, just the reality of what has happened.

In Hawthorne, we are drawing a line in the sand. We are standing together as a community and saying, "This behavior will not be tolerated. If you engage in behaviors that harm our neighbors, we will bring the full force of our community to bear, and we will emerge victorious." I've been asked "When you kick these criminals out of your neighborhood, where will they go?" "Not Hawthorne," is my immediate response.

And I call upon our neighbors in the Near North, Willard Hay, McKinley, and Jordan neighborhoods, all the way to the cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center to do the same. Stand against illegal and illicit behavior and make it known that criminals are not welcome here or anywhere.

I could write an equally long missive about the devastating effects of foreclosures on communities and families, and perhaps I may. But the question at hand is whether there are positive aspects coming from the problems we face. Although I wish as much as anyone that we were not facing such a crisis, the unequivocal answer is that yes, some good things are happening and they will be part of a transformative time in north Minneapolis.

(Here Jeff's text ends)

HERE'S JOHNNY AGAIN:

I'll add one thing in closing: Insight News consistently misspelled "Hawthorne," which is kind of ironic: word is many years ago the Hawthorne Neighborhood helped to kick in some dough to assist in getting that publication off the ground. Now a community newspaper which could be an asset is acting like a sad and sorry rag with a near-sighted agenda, blinded by unreasoning hatred for Don Samuels.

Jeff phrases things delicately and politically. But I call 'em as I see 'em.

Continued Progress On The Bryant Ave. N. "Gremlin Rehab"

Photo By John Hoff

Progress continues on that house on Bryant Ave. N. which is being rehabbed by mysterious gremlins who can never be caught in the act. Recently, a new porch roof was added. The supporting beams are--I am assured by Peter Teachout--obviously a temporary state of affairs. Also pictured is...

...the sign out front. I've said before how I have mixed feelings about that sign.

Non-Profitsville continues to take shape under our noses, and just blocks from the planned "World's Largest YWCA."

Oh, gee, I just realized...

The YWCA would be ANOTHER non-profit, right?

Yup, welcome to Non-Profitsville.

Kicking Around Ideas To Help The Neighborhood (Gift Baskets To Welcome New Residents)

For the past month or so, some of us have been kicking around the idea of a "gift basket" to welcome new residents to our neighborhood. So some of the discussion has involved what, exactly, would go in the baskets?

Who would...

...actually get the baskets, how would the baskets be funded, who would deliver the baskets...these are secondary discussions. THE REALLY FUN PART IS WHAT GOES IN THE BASKETS!

One idea centers on "green" house cleaning supplies, since people moving into a new house will be needing cleaning supplies, and North Minneapolis is trying to become "green" in large and small ways. Pictured above is an idea I had for the basket: eco friendly bath soap and hair care products. This stuff came from, um...Mystic Lake. I was out there with a friend of mine who was on a three day binge of drinking and gambling, leaving me to occupy myself watching television and reading, ho hum, not risking so much as a nickel.

Some people who read this blog think I'm a lot of fun. They're so wrong.

While there at the casino, I couldn't help but notice how many gambling-themed movies were on the television. Coincidence? Or conspiracy? Thank goodness for the splendid buffet at Mystic Lake, or those three days would have REALLY been a waste.

Fortunately, I managed to enrich myself with bathroom toiletries, including some of the stuff pictured above, which means I walked away a winner, unlike my friend. Now some of my Mystic Lake parting gifts are sort of like demos to show what I think should be inside the theoretical neighborhood gift basket.

But our Hawthorne Neighborhood Association Housing Director, Jeff Skrenes, was all, like, "What are we going to do, steal soap from Mystic Lake for the gift baskets?" And I was all, like, "It's not STEALING, they GIVE that stuff to GUESTS. If I grabbed a bunch off the maid cart, THAT would be stealing."

Anyway, the photo above shows the "demo items" on a restaurant table, after I gave them to real estate agent and rehab enthusiast Connie Nompelis. After Connie got home from a night of drinking with me and Jeff--with a designated driver, which she didn't even gripe about, just handed over the keys like a responsible citizen--Connie woke up, didn't remember a few things, and in her purse found...HOTEL ROOM TOILETRIES!!!!

Yeah, I think we've all had nights like that. Did I ever tell readers the story I call "The Night I Invaded Mexico By Accident?"

No, I have not. And we're not going there.

ADDENDUM: Megan Goodmundson was there with me, Jeff and Connie. I shouldn't neglect to mention Megan, who is full of great information about the Jordan Neighborhood but can you get anything out of her? Not until she puts more money into her prepaid legal plan, she says.