Last of the Connie Nompelis party pictures! Time for somebody else to buy an antique house for pocket change and throw a blow-out wine and cheese party!
Top photo, Connie ripping out nail studded carpet strips. Second, the...
...permit isn't for a party, it's for fixing the house. The next photo (taken at Connie's workplace) kind of says it all. Yes, Connie bought a $7,900 house recently. But these market conditions in North Minneapolis can't last forever, and property values will rebound with the economy.
The next three pictures teach an important lesson: don't judge a house by its porch! The one remaining "atlas pillar" is holding up the porch roof all by itself. There are people in our neighborhood a lot like this antique wooden pillar. What do we need? More people who want to be "pillars of the community."
Also, please note the tacky "fake antique trim" nailed above the front door. Connie told me I could rip it off with a crowbar, but I got busy eating smoked fish and chit-chatting. I did put in some hard work earlier in the afternoon, however, ripping out carpet staples and putting the staples in a bread pan I was returning to Connie.
The final image shows how far we've come: that mysterious stain on the vinyl of the back porch MIGHT be chicken blood, especially since it appears somebody was raising chickens in the back yard, at one time. (In fact, almost a year ago I called 311 on this house, repeatedly, for being vacant and unsecured...so I was very familiar with the property and evidence of chickens being raised on the porch)
So it MIGHT be chicken blood. Or it might not.
If you want to snap up a real estate diamond in the rough, you've got to deal with the rough.
Hi JNS,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and I wish you would have been around 10+ years ago. You really are able to capture the essence of NoMi. It is great to see new people moving in with such a pioneering attitude! There are some great people who have lived here a long time and have been putting their hearts and souls into improving NoMi. It would be nice to see you featuring some of the folks who have been in the trenches for a long time. There are some wonderful stories and I know you are the man to bring them forward!
Oh, I wish I was the man to bring this stuff forward. How I'm going to keep this crazy unpaid volunteer blogging effort going at this kind of pace is indeed a mystery, but thankfully a good man and friend is working on a grant proposal for me.
ReplyDeleteFor now, people can email me with stories and pictures. That's how so much of the information that goes on this blog arrives. It's not like I take several hours and go interview somebody, usually. This stuff is taking place by email. Contact hoffx106@umn.edu
Have you thought about setting up a virtual tip jar or something? Some paypal action?
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are a lot of us readers that would be happy to throw some scratch in it... Not the same as a paying gig, but it would be something.