Photo and blog post by John HoffPictured above is the first example I've encountered of a vacant building "emergency boarded" by the Minneapolis Fire Department instead of the city's former contractor. This building is at 1017 22nd Ave. N.
Note how the Fire Department went crazy with the stickers. It looks really SAFE now, doesn't it?
Keep up the great work, MFD!
(Do Not Click "Read More")
I'm not sure what the point of the redundant fluorescent notifications is. Some time ago, the city thought they'd look at "artistic board-up" options so that boarded houses didn't stick out so much. This seems like it has the opposite effect.
ReplyDeleteAnd our good friend Andy Mannix just wrote a very interesting piece on Minneapolis Firefighters in the City Pages.
What's interesting in relation to this post is that the MFD is now doing board-ups in part to hopefully raise revenue. The article, though, questions whether the revenue is there at levels that would make this task worthwhile for the MFD as opposed to another department or private contractor. Because if the revenue IS there, why didn't Castrejon fight harder to keep the contract? And if the revenue is NOT there, then what good does it do to give the MFD another job when it could be responding to fires or other emergencies?