The Hawthorne's Neighborhood's "Scarlet Letter" Issues

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Real Estate agent Jeanie Hoholik recently wrote a blog entry, click here, about an interesting irony in the Hawthorne neighborhood. Our neighborhood was...

...named after Nathanial Hawthorne, an American writer whose magnum opus was "The Scarlet Letter." Even folks who have never read the book usually know this much: the main character, Hester Prynne, lived in a Puritan colony of New England. Her husband was away, and Hester committed adultery; the proof of which was the fact she had a child by the affair, a little girl.

English Comp 101, Here In Hawthorne

To punish Hester, and make an example of her, the colony decreed she would have to wear a scarlet letter "A" (for adultery) on her chest. Hester accepted her punishment and dared to live her life openly, actually ADORNING the letter.

Now here comes the strange coincidences, which even Jeanie didn't notice.

In the book, arguably, the colony NEEDED Hester Prynne to play the role of open and notorious sinner, somebody citizens could point their fingers at while concealing their own dark secrets. Indeed, it turns out the person responsible for Hester's pregnancy was the colony's young preacher!

Well, consider this: one can make a case the rest of Minneapolis "needs" parts of North Minneapolis to have crime, to have a bad reputation, to be the "designated red light district." (Ah, red! Like the scarlet letter!)

Indeed, in one of my earliest blog posts, click here, I wrote about one North Minneapolis resident who claimed public officials had been complicit, for many years, in making North Minneapolis an unofficial "designated red light district."

This relationship is oddly like that of Hester and the preacher. Who put Hester in this position in the first place? Why, it was the person in authority in the colony, the preacher! Who put North Minneapolis (specifically Hawthorne, and Jordan) in this tough position? Arguably, it couldn't happen without some level of complicit neglect by the authorities.

La Zona De Tolerencia?

For example, we have a problem with drug dealing right out in the street. Not EVERYWHERE, just certain tough areas. So how is it we don't get the resources to STAMP IT OUT? Somewhere, somebody in power is quietly saying, "If people can't buy their drugs in North Minneapolis, well, where will the drug dealing go?"

But who comes along and scores dope out of car windows? Are all those cars from North Minneapolis? Doubt it. Who cruises for prostitutes on Lyndale Ave. N? Just cars from North Minneapolis? Again...doubt it.

Riddle me this: how is it SOUTH MINNEPOLIS gets the prostitution stings, while NORTH MINNEAPOLIS gets the actual prostitutes? Do we have a de facto "Zona De Tolerencia" like cities in Mexico?

And yet...statistics show crime in our neighborhood is DROPPING. We are turning the place around. If public officials were complicit years ago, decades ago, that doesn't appear to be the case anymore. The foreclosure crisis has been, oddly, an opportunity to get rid of decrepit buildings and bring an influx of people buying houses to make quality homes, not run-down rentals.

And yet we continue to wear the "scarlet letter," in this case a big "C" for "Crime." When something good happens in North Minneapolis, we don't get the credit. The recent "lutefisk snub" in the City Pages is a minor example, click here, but it's typical of the overall pattern.

A Body Found At 2222 4th St. N.

I believe in the next few days, information will be released about the dead woman found at 2222 4th St. N. From what I'm hearing behind-the-scenes, this will be a terrible story. And it will make our neighborhood look bad.

Yet it was our neighborhood which sounded the alarm on this vacant, decrepit house and garage long ago. Formal complaints were submitted by the Hawthorne Neighborhood council and two residents who lived nearby. If our neighborhood had its way, owner Mahmood Khan wouldn't have been given break after break on this property. The evidence shows Khan comes along about once a month to check on it.

Some (expletive) progress, Mr. Khan. YOU SUCK!!!!!!

Maybe Khan comes by when he has paint cans he needs to store on the front porch.

The Hawthorne Neighborhood has struggled. Hawthorne has tried. And we've made amazing progress, especially in the Eco Village area.

But we're not getting far enough, fast enough. And, to make matters worse, there are dozens of properties just as bad as this pile of crap at 2222 4th St. N. (There are also some run-down properties which are quality buildings, of historical significance, which should be saved)

Change Is The Only Constant

There was a time, in the 1970s, when the words "Hennepin Avenue" conjured up images of drug deals, and teenage hookers. There was a time when the words "Lake Street" had the same impact, before the amazing revitalization of that area.

There will come a time when North Minneapolis experiences the same revitalization, and memories of the day we wore a "scarlet letter" will fade. I'm working for that day. I'm in the ironic position of writing the truth, and not sugar-coating it, and sometimes the truth is ugly and, quite arguably, bad PR.

Let Us Redouble Our Efforts To Create Urban Utopia

We must continue to work even harder to call 911, to call 311, to establish effective lines of communication, to document our struggle, to tell our stories and inspire others to come and participate, to pick up the litter, to adopt the houses, to save those vacant properties worth saving and tear down those not worth saving. Clearly, some weeks it will feel like three steps forward, two steps back.

And I think this week is going to be a week like that. We're about to get punched in the face.

But we're going to get up from the ground, and we're going to punch back.