Photos By John HoffThe decrepit house at 418 23rd Ave. N. was demolished yesterday, to the joy of Brian Cheese and his boyfriend, Mike Klick, who share a home next door. The Housing Director of Hawthorne, Jeff Skrenes, poses above.
(Cheese is on the Hawthorne Board, Klick sits on the Housing Committee)
Notably, the bulldozer managed to pull off the demolition without even getting dust on irises planted a few feet away, which is a lot more than certain big-hole-to-China-digging slumlords manage to accomplish 'round these parts. Jeff, posing above, is standing near the boundary of the two properties to emphasize, for the photo, how skillful the demolition was.
Brian and Mike managed to keep the fence between the two properties, simply turning the fence the other way to make it THEIR fence.
Oh, yeah, they had permission to do that. I should probably point that out.
I also have a report that porch pillars were salvaged from the property which EXACTLY MATCH the pillars on Connie Nompelis' $7,900 house, which I have blogged about frequently. Hopefully more on that later.
Readers who access this blog from outside North Minneapolis may not understand why we get so excited about individual demolitions. The way it works is this: most times in North Minneapolis, there are a small number of "problem properties" which drag down an entire block which is otherwise occupied by decent folks or, at least, by vacant houses that are secure, not open to trespass.
So getting rid of that single problem property produces a wave of positive changes. Crime literally wanders down the street, looking for a new place to hang out, and we will be driving it out of THOSE places, too. In the wake of foreclosure and mortgage fraud, our neighborhood is remaking itself for the better every day.
(Do not click "Read More")
(Cheese is on the Hawthorne Board, Klick sits on the Housing Committee)
Notably, the bulldozer managed to pull off the demolition without even getting dust on irises planted a few feet away, which is a lot more than certain big-hole-to-China-digging slumlords manage to accomplish 'round these parts. Jeff, posing above, is standing near the boundary of the two properties to emphasize, for the photo, how skillful the demolition was.
Brian and Mike managed to keep the fence between the two properties, simply turning the fence the other way to make it THEIR fence.
Oh, yeah, they had permission to do that. I should probably point that out.
I also have a report that porch pillars were salvaged from the property which EXACTLY MATCH the pillars on Connie Nompelis' $7,900 house, which I have blogged about frequently. Hopefully more on that later.
Readers who access this blog from outside North Minneapolis may not understand why we get so excited about individual demolitions. The way it works is this: most times in North Minneapolis, there are a small number of "problem properties" which drag down an entire block which is otherwise occupied by decent folks or, at least, by vacant houses that are secure, not open to trespass.
So getting rid of that single problem property produces a wave of positive changes. Crime literally wanders down the street, looking for a new place to hang out, and we will be driving it out of THOSE places, too. In the wake of foreclosure and mortgage fraud, our neighborhood is remaking itself for the better every day.
(Do not click "Read More")
I wonder what happend to the clowder of cats or the nursery of raccoons that lived in that house? Oh the horror!
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