"Pushback" From The Prostitutes And Drug Dealers On 6th Street North (Photo Three)

Photo by Peter or Joy Teachout

This photo reveals a lot.

I'm guessing the driver's side window was broken, and some kind of accelerant like gasoline was dumped in the front seat. That's why the door is warped and the paint is scorched off that area right below the window: because the fire burned the longest right in that area and/or some of the gas spilled on the door as it was dumped inside.

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"Pushback" From The Prostitutes And Drug Dealers On 6th Street North (Photo Two)

Photo by Peter or Joy Teachout

Here is the crispy interior of Peter's truck after the arson.

Peter said he lost "about $23" in paper money which was in the cab of the truck. Despite this frightening act against him, Peter sent out a stirring email message to rally the troops and call for our neighborhood security efforts to continue. That's why he's the chair of the Hawthorne Area Community Council.

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"Pushback" From The Prostitutes And Drug Dealers On 6th Street North (Photo One)

Photo by Joy Teachout

Before I left town for the 4th of July weekend, I told Hawthorne Area Community Council Chairman Peter Teachout to keep an eye on the vehicle in my driveway...

...and I said he should call 911 if it was set on fire or, I joked, blown up with a "plasma grenade." (This alludes to my son's repeated defeats of Peter while playing Halo 3)

The drug dealing and prostitution is so bad in the Eco Village area, and the few decent people trying to improve the area are forced to call 911 so often, that I seriously worry about leaving my car on my own property, unattended, and I had to agonize over which vehicle to leave, calculating whatever vehicle I left would be torched. (I finally decided to leave my crappy white car, figuring I would do better with an insurance settlement on that one)

Peter's wife, Joy Teachout, called me early the morning of the Fourth of July to let me know as eerie as my prediction was, it was not entirely accurate. It was their vehicle which was torched and not my crappy white car.

We discussed a robust media response instead of cowering in fear. I assisted, putting the Star Tribune in touch with Peter. The Strib did a small story on Page B2, "North Side activist awakened early by a fire raging inside his truck." (It was right next to the blurb about an intoxicated North Side mother leaving her baby on a "random doorstep.")

Fox 9 made its way to Peter's house, too, but I haven't been able to confirm any story was done.

The Star Tribune article, as usual, requires some serious "talk back." (And, as usual, I won't be posting a link because I refuse to work with Strib links scheduled to go dead)

First of all, the article alludes to the evacuation of 3101 6th Street North, the "Apartment Complex of Anarchy," and seems to suggest any "revenge" on Peter may have come from the direction of former tenants (squatters) at 3101. HOWEVER, there are drug dealers and prostitutes a-plenty on 6th Street. The evacuation of 3101 didn't cause an end to all our problems, and it's not the only source of people walking around with an unfulfilled longing for revenge.

I seriously doubt somebody from 3101 6th Street waited all this time to set Peter's vehicle on fire. The Star Tribune article is written as though anything relevant to the current story must have been in the PREVIOUS story quoting Peter Teachout, as though any pertinent information out there in the universe must already be in a Star Tribune article. Their narcissism is amusing and childlike.

Constance Nompelis Gives The Under $25,000 North Side Home Tour!

OH, WAIT, ACTUALLY YOU SHOULD CLICK HERE.

Jake and Gabe from 612 Authentic have once again captured the ongoing effort to revitalize the North Side and, somehow, fill all those empty houses with people in this, their latest video on Minn Post Dot Com.

(And, I'd like to add, it's a perfect example of my "sell the North Side" concept of "market and romanticize the struggle.")

I introduced Jake and Gabe to Connie Nompelis so I feel a sense of pride in the results of their meeting and joining Connie on her "under $25k home tour."

Also, there is one key piece of important information I can add to this particular story:

Connie is married.

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Two Houses, Joined Together

Photos by John Hoff











The Polish lady pointed out she doesn't have one house, but two houses joined together. Shortly after she purchased the house, "an old man in the neighborhood" revealed this to her and then it became easy to see.

"Did they build the one house and then move another here?" I wondered. "Where did the other house come from? Or could they have moved BOTH houses here from somewhere else?"

The Polish lady didn't know. She only knew what the old man told her, and that was all he knew. I assumed it was the same old man who told her there used to be a large stables which dominated her block, which the Polish woman could confirm when her earliest gardening efforts would turn up a horseshoe or two.

The spirit of the horses is still present on the block, in Patty Cake's house which is decorated with a "cowboy" motif. It fascinates me, how something historical can still linger in odd and unexpected ways.

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Wisteria In Sasha's Old Yard

Photo by John Hoff

Here is the wisteria in the yard which once belonged to Sasha, also known as "The Russian Lady," and then was owned for a while by two gay men, until one of them died and the other moved away.

Though challenged severely by other brush, the wisteria still blooms, providing a beautiful backdrop for Kathy the Prostitute to service her johns on the cement deck behind the vacant house.

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The Day They Buried The Furnace, And Other Tales From The Block

Photo by John Hoff

The resident I call "Patty Cake" and "The Polish Lady" do not habitually refer to properties in the neighborhood by their street address, but rather by the names of the people who were once associated with the property...

...from a different, more happy era.

They refer to 400 31st Ave. North as "Neumillers." The property is now vacant and fire damaged, owned by Phil Kleindl's people.

The Day They Buried The Furnace

According to Patty, a little convenience store used to be attached to the house, right where this large grassy hump is visible, above. The city made them close the store, which sat vacant for a long time--more than a decade, easily--and finally started falling apart and become a hazard. In order to alleviate the hazard, the owners of the property tore the building down--storing a lot of the lumber right at the site--and what couldn't be torn down was simply buried.

Reportedly, they buried a gigantic furnace. Patty said the furnace "joined the horseshoes and other stuff that's underneath this ground."

I couldn't help but wonder if the furnace had pipes attached to it with hazardous asbestos. I wondered if any soil sampling had been done.

Sasha, a.k.a. "The Russian Lady"

The house where the "scary little gang garage" used to be was once owned by a woman named "Sasha," also called "The Russian Lady." The Polish Lady has a wisteria which once belonged to The Russian Lady, who had a huge garden of flowers and vegetables.

Later, two gay men acquired ownership of Sasha's house, and continued to maintain a wonderful flower garden. The Polish lady also has stuff from their garden. In fact, based on things I'm told, the Polish Lady is the "keeper of the gardens" who constantly comes into possession of people's plants when they move. But the gay men are not there anymore. One of them died about 10 years ago.

Me and Patty walked around the property, and found a wisteria and a "mock orange blossom" still surviving on the property, though hard-pressed to compete with the brush.

Kiros The Cat Goes to Neumillers To Die

The house at 400 31st Ave. N. holds a bad memory for the Polish lady, since her cat "went there to die." The cat was ill and--the Polish lady suspects--may have been poisoned by somebody. The cat got loose and walked toward Neumillers.

"Kiros, Kiros!" the Polish woman called, but the cat turned to her and made a sound which, in retrospect, the Polish woman took to mean, "Leave me alone, I'm going to die."

Later, somebody working on the house found the dead cat, recognized it as belonging to the Polish lady, and said, "The poor cat is dead in there." There were some other dead cats in the building, as well, which is why the Polish lady suspects poison.

Despite her devotion to beautiful flowers, the Polish lady's stories are not always filled with happiness. They do have a tendency to turn dark at times.

Of course, my take on the story was, "How good to live in a neighborhood with so much social capital that people recognize each other's pets, and alert their neighbor when something happens to the pet."

Scribner's House At 3033 4th Street North

For a long time, a woman named Scribner lived at 3033 4th Street North, which is now a rental property troubled by frequent (and frequently blatant) drug dealing, owned by the same outfit which owns 400 31st Avenue North. (Neumillers)

After Mrs. Scribner moved out, Scribner's son moved in upstairs and her daughter downstairs. One of them was married, for sure, but there were no kids. Patty can remember nothing particularly notable. They lived there, and left their surname in the memory of Patty and the Polish lady.

The Value of Neighborhood History

When I learn the stories of the neighborhood, I feel a sense of belonging, which makes me want to work to help the neighborhood. So I collect the stories for the wave of new residents I believe will come in the future, once the neighborhood is secure and the Eco-Village starts to become more of a reality.

These stories will come to them easily, because I have taken the effort to gather the stories to a convenient forum. The new residents will know what came before, and will be able to perceive a blank page of possibility upon which to write their own neighborhood history.

54 Open Complaints, And A Pile Of Crap Behind 416 31st Ave. N.

Photo by John Hoff

I hear when the owner of 416 31st Ave. N. had a meeting with city housing inspectors, she wept openly about her financial troubles and the expense of fixing this house, especially since the tenants she put in there (who terrorized the neighborhood for years) had walked off with the copper pipes and aluminum siding as their final, parting shot.

Workmen have been spotted going into the house. You'd think removing the big pile of crap at the edge of the property (where it meets the alley) would be the easiest task in the world, but so far it appears beyond their ability. I called it in to 311. Again. And the 311 operator told me there were "54 open complaints" against 416 31st Ave. N., mostly having to do with building codes.

Good to know.

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Where Khameron NMN Lake Did His "Business"

Photo by John Hoff

This is the very spot where Khameron used to dump his loads of fecal matter before getting caught in the act by the owner of the property. He would wipe himself with--if you can believe this--an entire shirt, then he would dump the shitty shirts in a big pile.

Where would he get the shirts? Apparently, from Sharing And Caring Hands, a homeless outreach center. "Patty" tells me the area around Sharing and Caring Hands is littered with clothing, because they give away bags of clothing and recipients tear through the bags, looking for items they want, throwing the rest away. Volunteers have to walk around just to pick up all the clothing.

When it would rain, feces juice would run down the alley, which has quite a slope. And, Patty pointed out, being a crack head Khameron never had very firm feces to begin with.

I also want to take a picture of the place where the Polish woman saw a man shot in both legs, and shouted for her elderly mother to hit the deck to avoid catching a bullet. I'll get around to that.

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The Lair of Kathy The Prostitute (Can You Spot The Used Condom?)

Photo by John Hoff

Me and the resident I have dubbed "Patty Cake" walked behind the place where the scary little gang garage used to be, so we could chase off a crack head because the police didn't seem to come after we called 911. (The crack head was, however, gone)

Now Kathy and her pimp, Khameron NMN Lake, apparently spend the night sleeping behind the house itself instead of in the garage, now torn down.

They've gathered what appears to be firewood and right in the middle of it, Patty spotted one of Kathy's used condoms. Ewwwwwwwwww.

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Greek Grape Leaf Man

Photo by John Hoff

A few days ago I was in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, and I saw this man harvesting grape leaves from a vacant lot. Yes, leaves. The leaves are used as flavorful wrappings in a certain Greek dish.

He said local leaves are nicer, fresher, more yummy than the leaves you can buy from California and, of course, free.

He told me, quite proudly, the leaves would be used in the deli owned by his family, and named the deli. (I was familiar with it) His Greek accent was delightful and even while we talked he didn't stop picking leaves. He said you need the big ones. The tender little ones, he said, "Fall apart."

Here is a recipe which calls for grape leaves.

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The Troubled History of 3119 4th Street North

Photo by John Hoff

A few days ago a resident told me all about 3119 4th Street North, and what she had endured from that place for so many years, and I jotted it all down...

I've written before about how Shirley Guevara let both of her apartments slip into a state of anarchy, and things got pretty bad, but according to this resident (who I will dub "Patty Cake" because she's good with children) things were actually worse when 3119 4th Street North was owned by Lin S. Chao, prior to 2000 when the building was sold to Shirley Guevara for $170,000. (Info confirmed with property records)

There were many Hmong at the place, and they had chickens in the apartment building which Patty believes were used in cock fighting. The chickens would get lose and fly into Patty Cake's yard or the yard of the Polish woman. An older woman at the property was terminally ill and was always smoking some awful-smelling stuff to make her feel better.

The precise nature of the stuff the old woman smoked was unknown, but she was quite ill and in pain, so perhaps it was opium. The smoke smell wasn't the only issue: sewage was always backing up in the building, filling the structure with an odor so strong the children would get sick from smelling it. Patty gave the residents some fans to blow out the smell, so the kids wouldn't grow ill. Unfortunately, that blew more of the smell toward Patty.

Sometimes little children would be in the yard in the winter, not adequately dressed, and Patty would take it on herself to get involved.

Some of the young Hmong in the building were involved with gangs, and drive-by shootings took place. Shells would be out in the street and members of the Minneapolis police department would come by and kindly pick up the shells. Once they retrieved a gun from the bushes.

Now the building sits vacant, and there is relative peace and quiet. But there is a FOR SALE sign out front, (knocked down and leaning over the fence) and the question is who will get the building?

Will it be somebody like the city or the county? Or will it be yet another slumlord?

"We are absolutely overwhelmed over here," a resident told the Mayor's office a year ago

Photo by John Hoff

A year ago, a North Side resident wrote a long email to the Mayor's Office about problem properties in her neighborhood, especially 3119 4th Street North. The email was forwarded to me for use on this blog because, unfortunately, very little has changed in the year since it was written...

Here it is, in its entirety.

I wanted to let you know what has been going on in my neighborhood and who I have contacted in the past regarding my concerns.

Besides the numerous calls I've made to 911 regarding 3119 4th Street North, I've had conversations with Mike Karney (housing inspector), Don Benum and the 4th Precinct and the crack team, citizen crime prevention, County Commissioner Stegland, garbage complaint department, boarded buildings, public housing, Rocco Forte, Melanie Pogutchnik (the inspector with the fire department who is supposed to be monitoring 3119), Police Chief Tom Dolan, Homicide Unit, Lee Edwards, Diane Hofstede, Tom Deegan of Problem Properties, Safe Unit Mary Ezciony, Hillary Freeman from the Problem Solvers meetings, Sergeant Aradonde, and the Community Response Team.

My concerns have included drug dealing, prostitution, garbage, noise, pit bulls, homeless folks and prostitutes living in boarded up houses, disassembling of copper pipes in abandoned houses, violence in the streets, people being shot at and killed in the streets.

The three addresses that are of the most concern to myself and other home owners are 3101 6th Street North, 3119 4th Street North, and 416 31st Ave. N. The first two are apartments, and they are owned by the same woman.

On 4/4/07 I called 311 with my concerns regarding 3119 4th Street North. I believe you may be able to check on some of the problems with these tracking numbers: 90512, 84403, 84405, 84407, 84410, and 84411. Also, 95041 for 3112 6th Street North.

I recently received a return phone call from Melanie Pogutchnik stating she had been out to 3119 4th and all the complaints were inspected by the fire department and cleared. When I told her that windows were still missing and some were replaced by chicken wire she stated that she also lives by "problem properties and there is nothing you can do about it."

I know Melanie has had a history with this apartment building as she used to be the housing inspector in the Hawthorne area. The continuous problems seem to be mainly between the two apartments. (3101 6th Street North and 3119 4th Street North) Unfortunately, I live between these two apartments. And 416 31st Avenue North is a house between these two apartments that also has a lot of drug activity.

I know the police are aware of it and have raided the place. There are only a few owner-occupied homes in the area that have been trying for YEARS to clean this area up. On the south side of 31st between 4th Street and 6th, all the houses have been boarded up or burned down.

We are absolutely overwhelmed over here. My neighbor had to take out $50,000 in loans last year when they came through with their inspections "sweep." I had to put up a retaining wall to stop the erosion onto the boulevard, but now the water continues to run onto my boulevard from the erosion and runoff from 3119 4th Street North which nobody has addressed. I am having difficulty understanding how this neighborhood continues to deteriorate and the responsible neighbors are the ones who continue to be penalized.

Please let me know if this information has been helpful and I hope that this time my efforts won't be in vain. Thank you for your interest and I hope you will be able to help correct the situation we have been forced to live with for so many years.