3035 6th Street N. To Be Demolished, New Project Will Feature Geothermal Alternative Energy...

Photo By John Hoff

At a recent meeting of the Hawthorne Housing Committee, Kevin Gulden of PPL announced plans for 3035 6th St. N., a long-vacant house so full of dry rot you can smell it from the front porch. It is often referred to as "the green house" and reportedly used to be quite a hotbed of gang activity.

Gang members would congregate on the steeply sloping front lawn all day, heavily involved in the drug dealing which took place at 3101 6th St. N., the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy." That building was demolished, however. Now crime has dropped to virtually nothing in the Eco Village area in the wake of numerous demolitions of crappy properties, which were heavily clustered in that area.

According to information distributed at the public meeting by Kevin Gulden...

New homes will be built at 3035 6th St. N. (following demolition of the "green house" currently there, rotting away) and at 400 31st. Ave. N., a property which was the subject of controversy and legal wrangling. The new construction will be certified LEED for HOMES GOLD. The appraised value/purchase price will be $140,000.

The new home at 3035 6th St. N. will have geothermal energy which uses the "temperature differential" between the ground and air. No other home in the Eco Village--not even the future "MinniAppleseed House"--has geothermal energy.

During the meeting, PPL was seeking $10,000 in Hawthorne NRP funds per home for a total of $20,000. Additional funding will come from Northside Home Fund, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and the Home Depot Foundation. The request for funding was approved by the Housing Committee and so will move forward to the Executive Board.

PPL's Rehab Project In The Hawthorne Eco Village...

Stock Photo By John Hoff

Kevin Gulden of PPL (pictured above, in the middle) asked me to spread the word about 3023 4th St. N., a house in the Eco Village which PPL is going to renovate and then turn into an owner-occupied property.

To learn all about the property, just click here and check out PPL's brochure on the Johnny Northside PDF support website.

In addition, PPL is planning some open meetings to solicit input about the design of the Eco Village. Click here for yet another informative brochure about that, supported on the same website.

By the way, the request for publicity was made at a meeting of the Hawthorne Housing Committee (where I am the secretary) and along with the request came a worry, voiced aloud, that my blog would be "shut down."

To this I replied...

"They'll shut down my blog when they pry the password from my cold, dead brain."

OK, actually I said "cold, dead fingers." But then, later, I thought of a better reply and so I'm taking the liberty of publishing the superior motto.

There is a vital debate taking place about whether North Minneapolis could turn into "Non-Profitsville" and whether this is desirable, click here. However, I've only had good experiences with PPL and I say anything is better than another house in the hands of a slumlord.

Oh, and speaking of slumlords...well, just wait for the next post.