"The Blue Tarp House" Is Going Down

Photo By John Hoff

The notorious eyesore of 2957 Lyndale Ave. N., "the Blue Tarp House," is going down. Just the other day I noticed...

A workman with a portable generator and a sawing tool, who appeared to be cutting out salvageable components such as fixtures. I went to the front steps to make sure he was working for the actual owners, not freelancing on his own behalf. That's when I saw the pink demolition order on the front door. Huh. Cool official paper, and in a new color. This makes my day.

There was one workman, a Latino male who spoke passable English. I told him the neighborhood association took a great interest in what happened with properties, and wanted to make sure everything was in order. He shrugged. Whatever. He was being pretty tight-lipped. I told him in Spanish if we thought there criminal behavior was happening, we really had no problem calling police.

So he told me the city inspector had been by just a short while before and approved everything. All was in order, he said. There was a permit. The owner would be coming by shortly. That was when I noticed the guy actually had breathing protection and a hazardous materials suit. Wow, Latino workmen being given protection equipment at a North Minneapolis job site! I can't remember the last time I saw that.

"Yo creo, yo creo," I said. (I believe you) I wished him good luck with the job.

A moment before this conversation, I noticed how the sun was shimmering through the ragged edge of the tarp, the way a ghost ship must glow eerily before it disappears beneath the frothy waves...FOREVER.