2719 Lyndale Ave. N. Receives Coat Of Ill-Matching Paint To Cover Graffiti, This Small Improvement Doesn't Change Its Status As Abused And Neglected Stepchild Of Neighborhood Housing Service Minneapolis...

Photo from North Talk Facebook forum, blog post by John Hoff

On the very day I had promised to make a very public stink about 2719 Lyndale Ave. N. if the graffiti slathered all over the front wasn't fixed by Neighborhood Housing Service Minneapolis, I have been made aware the graffiti is FIXED; see photo above. 

(Hmmm. Is it just the angle I'm looking at, or is the snow not shoveled on the walkway?)

This slap-dash coat of ill-matching paint represents, well, a half-assed form of progress causing neighbors to rejoice in a very restrained way. Now the bigger question (and this blogger intends to keep asking it in a very public way) why hasn't this house, vacant since 2009, been renovated as everybody expected when NHS Minneapolis took control? Why has the "Lyndale Stepchild" been abused and neglected for half a decade? 

JNS Blog Receives Image Of Not-Quite-Satisfactory Graffiti Cleanup At 2719 Lyndale Ave. N., Abused And Neglected Stepchild Of Neighborhood Housing Service Minneapolis...

Top, contributed image, bottom, image from North Talk Facebook forum,
blog post by John Hoff

It's on like Donkey Kong. Yesterday I hinted 2719 Lyndale Ave. N. was likely to become this blogger's latest obsession, but I was willing to wait, like, exactly a week to see if there was any progress before I would start beating my drum incessantly. Almost immediately, I was told... 

What Should JNS Blog's Latest Blogging Obsession Be? JNS Blog Asks Readers, Rhetorically, But IS THE FIX ALREADY IN?!

Photo from North Talk Facebook forum, blog post by John Hoff

Longtime JNS blog readers are familiar with what happens when JNS blog announces an obsession about an unsightly eyesore in the community.

FIRST, I assign some kind of cruel-but-catchy nickname.

(OK, well, cruel. Catchy happens sometimes, not always)

THEN I won't shut up about the issue until the problem is solved. There is a list of community eyesores this blog has successfully tackled over the years. With the exception of...

LEAD PAINT, LEAD PAINT, LEAD PAINT, LEAD PAINT...

Photo by daviss on Twitter, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism, blog post by John Hoff

Somebody took a picture of a dramatically "all marked up" house in North Minneapolis and posted it to Twitter. Somebody else posted the pic to North Talk Facebook page and asked, "Just curious, does anybody know where this is?" A rollicking discussion ensued about the house, why it was marked up like that, who owned it, (Neighborhood Housing Service Minneapolis, Inc) and from there it became a discussion about the role of nonprofits in North Minneapolis housing market issues.

The house is at 1406 Girard Ave. N.

Why is it all painted up like that? Is it not OBVIOUS that 100-year-old houses have lead paint, that house and houses all around it? Why would anybody deliberately create this eyesore?

Near as anybody can figure...