Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! Photos of Neighborhood Revitalization Footsoldiers, MORE!

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

The 2009 Hawthorne/Jordan Neighborhood Clean Sweep had new faces as well as some very familiar long-time participants. (Standard stock sentence true of most neighborhood events, too early in the morning for literary creativity, possibly revise later, etc. etc.)

In the top photo, a declassified photo of the S.S. Minneapolis, the vessel used by the elite "Let's Roll" tire recovery unit. In the second photo... 

Housing Director Jeff Skrenes unloads beverages provided by the Pohlad Foundation, something like ten cases. The beverages were some kind of nutritional soda, and it was pretty good. The beverages had names like "Calm" and "Flex." In the next photo, Jeff poses with a can of the "Flex."

Next, another photo of SiSi Mitchell with her garbage grabber thingie. Below SiSi, one of the volunteers clowns around with a plastic bag, wearing it like a skirt. In the photo at the bottom, some participants in the Jordan cleanup. So many members of the "New Majority" Jordan board arrived to volunteer, I imagine somebody must have worried at some point about having an accidental quorum.

I'm sure Chairman Kip Browne didn't allow that to happen.

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Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! Photos of Neighborhood Revitalization Footsoldiers

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

What is a neighborhood event without numerous photo opportunities? Here are some photos of the many participants in this successful yearly spring clean up. More to follow!

(Do not click "Read More")

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Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" Was A Whole Lot Of Garbage! The "Let's Roll" Elite Tire Unit Makes The Rubber Hit The...Well, The Back Of The Truck

Photos By John Hoff, Jeff Skrenes 

So here are a bunch of images from the Hawthorne/Jordan "Clean Sweep" activity over the weekend. The job of picking up discarded tires isn't...

...harder than the other rubbish picking, but it does require a couple of the more sturdy volunteers. I did tire picking along with Housing Director Jeff Skrenes, and our truck driver, Elliot, who had a great sense of humor. Often we ran off to document some situation needing attention from 311, and at the end of the day I sent off an email to 311 about 13 different properties. 

I've logged a lot of 311 calls in the past, but I don't remember making 13 on any particular day, so....PERSONAL BEST.

From top to bottom: me and my friend Jeff. Second, our truck driver, Elliot. Elliot joined us for lunch after we recovered approximately 68 tires, not counting small bike tires and pieces of tires. (We'd estimate and add up fragments into one tire, for record keeping)

In the third and fourth photo, Jeff demonstrates his tire-throwing style. Any excuse to wear a tank top and show off his muscles.

Fifth, Elliot uses the truck radio to call in some kind of mess in the alley, something requiring pick up by another truck. We called in one mess after another. Lots of mattresses.

The second to last photo shows our catch. As we were turning around, and taking a brief accidental foray into the McKinley neighborhood, we found a few more tires and added these to our total.

The last photo shows me with the trophy catch of the day.

Ain't she a beauty? I think I'll have it MOUNTED.

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Hawthorne Housing Director Injured In Phonebook Mishap

Unwanted phone book dumping--which up to now has been merely annoying and environmentally unsound--has finally caused a serious injury in the Hawthorne Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. A couple days ago Jeff Skrenes--Hawthorne's dedicated Housing Director--was hit by a flying mass of phone books one physics expert estimated to have the approximate force of a falling old growth tree 30 feet in diameter.

Skrenes was....

...reported to be in critical condition, but still conscious and lucid enough to vow vengeance on behalf of the neighborhood association against companies like Dex.

"Read...Ed...Kohler's...blog...The Deets," Jeff managed to whisper, through lips that were bloodied but still (according to one eyewitness) quite kissable. "Must...protest...must take...direct action."

In the wake of heated emotions in the neighborhood after the injury of Skrenes, there was loose talk of gathering up truckloads of phone books and taking them right back to where they came from, only in a much more rain-soaked condition than when they arrived, unwanted, on the steps of houses which have been vacant for as long as two years.

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ALL OUT, ALL OUT, ALL OUT FOR SPRING CLEANING IN HAWTHORNE, JORDAN NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!

Photo By John Hoff

Tomorrow, Saturday May 9 is one of the most important events of the year in the Jordan and Hawthorne Neighborhoods: the spring clean up, which involves citizens going out in hardworking crews to pick up all the accumulated litter and trash they can find, some of it rather....er, interesting.

People wear gloves for this. Enough said.

Individuals who have obtained property in Hawthorne and Jordan--or who are actively trying to buy property and anticipate being super-involved in neighborhood activism, once they MEET everybody--should arrive with bells on to pull their portion of the collective burden and show their new neighbors what they are made of.

Hawthorne's event starts with a breakfast at the Farview Park building at 8 a.m., followed by everybody walking the streets at 9 a.m. And by "walking the streets" I mean in a good way, but did I mention people wear gloves? Yeah, I think I mentioned it.

The Jordan neighborhood's event starts later and ends later. Here is a non-live URL that will take you to the information about that event in Jordan.

http://jordanlivability.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/clean-sweep-this-weekend/

This will not only be a cleanup but...

...a "sister neighborhood" event with Jordan, which has in effect borrowed money from Hawthorne to pull off its event in the wake of (alleged) financial shenanigans with the "Old Majority" executive board and former executive director, Jerry Moore, now actively involved in the Kenya McKnight city council campaign.

In addition to picking up litter, participants walking around on the street are known to get very active calling 311. Last year, the tough and gritty aspect of the Eco Village area was obvious to volunteers, but this year we have seen two months with no reported crime in the wake of extensive demolition in that part of Hawthorne, so it is anticipated litter pickup will go easier since "pro litter forces" are now in what might be best described as panicked headlong retreat, with a triumphant revitalization army hot on their heels.

Be there tomorrow! And, in response to the inevitable question which will arise in the wake of this blog posting: No, we will not be serving Wild Irish Rose with the 8 a.m. Hawthorne breakfast event.

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The Problem With Big Police Corruption STrib Stories In "Dead Tree Only" Format

Photo By John Hoff 

I hear people are buzzing about today's story in the STrib about a police corruption probe. I actually received an email from one guy who wanted to sit down and have a MEETING with me at Broadway Pizza JUST TO TALK ABOUT THIS BIG STORY.

Only one problem...

Where the heck am I supposed to get a copy of this bankrupt paper on its last legs? See, the newspaper rack in front of the building that I frequent on campus has FRIDAY'S paper in the rack. The one in front of Acadia Cafe--where I just concluded weekend visitation with my child a moment ago--has SATURDAY'S paper on the rack. If I walked to the little Somali-owned grocery store never Riverside Plaza, they don't sell the STrib. And the drugstore the OTHER way down the street is closed on Sunday.

I guess I'll have to wait until Housing Director Jeff Skrenes pawns off his newspaper recycling on me, or walk ALL THE WAY TO THE HARVARD MARKET EAST just to buy a freaking newspaper.

Great idea, Star Tribune. What's next, CARRIER PIGEONS?

Is it any wonder bloggers EAT YOUR LUNCH on a daily basis?

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Sign, Sign, Everywhere A...Well, Actually, Not EVERYWHERE

Photo By Kip Browne

So a few days ago I was driving somewhere with Connie Nompelis (No-bell-iss) and she pointed out a "DO NOT LITTER" sign. The sign was not on a utility pole, like the one pictured above, but on somebody's property.

"I love those signs--!" Connie gushed.

And I responded something like, well, I doubt...

...if the signs have much impact. I hardly think some no-account litterbug corner-hanger-out-all-the-timer walks down the street--the freaking MIDDLE OF THE STREET--and sees one of those "DO NOT LITTER" signs and he's all, like, "Oh, gee, I WAS going to throw my empty Cheeto bag on the ground, all casual-like, but now that I see the 'DO NOT LITTER' sign I will instead attain some minimum standard of social responsibility, shove it in my back pocket and take it all the way home."

(No, I wasn't actually THAT articulate in Connie's car. Whatever I said in Connie's car was sort of like the "first draft" of what I'm writing here, but I can do Connie's response the same favor)

Connie responded the point of the sign was it broadcasts a MESSAGE. The message is "somebody lives here who gives a damn, who is trying every day to make things better." It would be for the best, she thought, if house after house were to start sprouting signs like that, constant visual evidence that NoMi neighbors stand shoulder-to-shoulder, turning this place from something rough to something BUFFED.

Connie can convince me the moon is made of green cheese, if she likes, and send me scurrying for my crackers. I found myself agreeing about the sign and thinking, hey, where can I get one of those "DO NOT LITTER" signs?

Of course, first I'd like to have a sign that says "NO PHONEBOOKS" to put on a front door, right above the front step, until one blessed day foretold in prophesy somebody will look at the sign and say, "How quaint!" and a little child will ask, "Mommy, what's a PHONE BOOK?"

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Interesting Curbside Fridge, Plus, Oh Yeah, Hearing Scheduled Over Kenya McKnight/Jerry Moore/Ben Myers Challenge To 5th Ward DFL Convention Results

Photo By John Hoff

So I saw this fridge just south of Farview Park, on "Desolation Row," and I thought it was pretty cool--even by fridge standards--so I snapped a picture of it. 

In other, purely lesser and secondary news...

Here's the unedited word on the challenge to the 5th Ward DFL Convention results, just the way this hit my inbox.

COMMISSION ON CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR PARTY

NOTICE OF HEARING


Pursuant to the 2008-2009 Official Call of the Minnesota State DFL Party, a hearing will be held on April 25, 2009, 1:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, Minnesota DFL Party Headquarters, 255 East Plato Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55107, before the three-person panel of the Constitution and Bylaws Commission.

Any written statements from the challenger, statements from the person being challenged, and statements from any other person(s) who wish to present relevant testimony on the matter must be submitted to the Commission on or before Monday, April 20, 2009, by e-mail to mrothman@gmail.comand vickiwright@comcast.netwith a hard copy by regular mail to Mike Rothman and Vicki Wright at the Minnesota DFL Party Headquarters, 255 East Plato Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55107-1623.

Parties and any interested person(s) will also have an opportunity to present live testimony and evidence on the date of the hearing.

Dated: April 13, 2009

Mike Rothman

Vicki Wright

Co-chairs of the Constitution and Bylaws Commission

Attachments: 2 challenge forms

cc: Kenya McKnight, Don Samuels, Benjamin Myers, Jerry Moore, Brian Bushay, Judy Baker, Brian Melendez

Note from JNS: I guess when Kenya McKnight was asked whether she would abide by the convention results, she really SHOULD have been asked whether she would BELIEVE the convention results, or whether she would prefer to believe evil, deeply hidden, malignant forces (Queen of England, cough cough) were distorting the results.

Meanwhile, Kenya hasn't OFFICIALLY announced whether she's still running, but a recent Insight News puff piece talks about McKnight planning to gather signatures on a "petition." Once again, it seems as though Al McFarlane is the one doing all the talking for Kenya McKnight.

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Neighbors Helping Neighbors: Hawthorne Loans Funds To Jordan For Spring Litter Battle

Photo By John Hoff

At yesterday's meeting of the Hawthorne Executive Board, after some energetic discussion and respectful disagreement, Hawthorne Neighborhood came together unanimously and agreed to loan "up to $2,500" worth of funds to the Jordan Neighborhood to assist with their annual spring clean up...



It was agreed that "neighbors help each other out" and, in the future, Hawthorne might need help from Jordan. Disagreement expressed early in the morning was chiefly based on worries Hawthorne might not get repaid if there was further upheaval on the Jordan board. One Hawthorne board member said JACC members file lawsuits if somebody "crosses their eyes" at somebody else. Ultimately, though, even the most concerned Hawthorne board members weren't going to leave their neighbor twisting in the wind like, well, litter.



The funds at issue are NRP monies with Hawthorne and Jordan sharing the same NRP rep. So even if there were further executive board upheaval, dozens of frivolous lawsuits, fantasyland formal complaints, plus Blackberries growing feet and running away from home to live a prodigal life on the mean hard streets, Hawthorne could still have a high degree of confidence in getting paid once the Jordan Neighborhood has money.

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The Fall Of The Apartment Complex Of Anarchy (And What Is Revealed)

Flickr.com Photo

First of all, don't get me wrong. I'm glad to see 3101 6th St. N. reduced to a hole in the ground. A few days ago, the demo crew was pulling up pieces of the foundation like you would rip out roots to keep a weed from growing back. And I was glad.

But there's something very wrong here, and it's what's wrong with our whole American culture, our whole economy...

WASTE!!!! There was so much waste evident in that demolition. All that steel hitting those two big dumpsters...will it be pulled out, made into new steel objects? Or is it not worth the effort, at $60 a ton? Lumber reduced to toothpicks...plenty of those 2 x 4s could have been useful. Is it only the lowest bid that matters? The guy with the right licenses? Is there no opportunity for green fanatics to go in there with a chainsaw, to recycle and reuse?

Oh...insulation. Yeah, plenty of THAT got wasted.

And, man, that stuff is EXPENSIVE.

A friend of mine named Roland (well, really more of an acquaintance because, well, it's better to call him that because of his, um, lifestyle choices) used to pick up every little scrap of insulation he saw at construction sites, or blowing around on the roadsides from who-knows-what; dump trucks, tornadoes leveling small towns, the pretty pink Fiberglass fairy, here to grant your energy-saving dreams.

Roland would save all those odd pieces in a big utility closet I dubbed "the insulation room," and one day we had enough to insulate the whole basement where I lived, rent free, year after year while attending law school. We insulated with a mixture of fiberglass--yellow and pink--and Styrofoam. It was all recycled.

This Is What's Wrong With Our Whole Economy

We talk about being in a recession, and yet most American homes have enough food in the cupboards to last for weeks, vegetables in the so-called refrigerator "crisper" that will be allowed to gently, peacefully wilt, then be discarded, we have drawers and closets full of unworn clothing, our children have boxes, piles, MOUNTAINS of toys.

Our economic habits are UNSUSTAINABLE. President Obama talks about revitalizing the economy, but who will revitalize the EARTH? We cut down more trees but don't bother to recycle paper, half the students at the University of Minnesota can't cause the flight plan of their plastic beverage bottle to deviate SIX (EXPLETIVE) INCHES to put it in a recycle bin, instead of a trash can.

How is it we are building an "Eco Village" in North Minneapolis, but in demolishing buildings we don't bother to pull out the useful components?

Well, some insulation from that building made its way to my hands. And I plan to use it in a future project. But it was like picking the cherry from a sundae and saying, well, the sundae did not go to waste, for I ate part of it!

So much insulation...wasted.

My frien--er, my ACQUAINTANCE Roland would slowly shake his head. But he'd say very little. Economy of words, that's how he is about such things. He saves his words for the seduction of desperate women from Third World Countries. In any case...

The idea of "spending yourself to prosperity" works, yes, in a wide-open economic system where abundant natural resources create constant inputs of new wealth. It's like the economy of a college student, living on student loans and credit cards. Want to be prosperous? SPEND! Buy a nice suit of clothing to get a job, a computer to make homework easier, a car to get to school and save your time, endless beer to make life grand. SPEND!!!!

So tell me what is the economy of a SPACESHIP, a closed system with finite resources? Is that a place where you eat everything at once, throw out what's left over, because this will create "prosperity" as more is manufactured?

We need to transition to a green and sustainable economy. And using the old economic theory of "spend yourself to prosperity" is not the way to do it. We need to develop new economic theories based on the FINITE AND LIMITED nature of all our resources.

Crack, Crack, Who's Got Some Crack?

These are the things I thought about as I watched 3101 6th St. N. demolished.

And then I saw crackheads going to make buys at 3101 6th St. N., and I thought how the end of the mortgage redemption period couldn't come fast enough on THAT place.

Yeah, sometimes the "spend like there is no tomorrow" mindset isn't all bad, and there is a silver lining in the dark cloud of the mortgage crisis, as we remake our neighborhood. Better to waste a little insulation than to allow that hellhole apartment complex to come back, and become a center of drug dealing, AGAIN.

But the world could be better, more perfect, more utopian...and I think there is a way to take down a building and salvage useful components, right down to scraps of insulation.

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Not Worth The Paper It Was Printed On

Flickr.com Photo

So that Star Tribune story that I caught wind of, click here, actually did appear in the paper, talking about proposed legislation aimed at curbing (hee hee) unwanted phone books. But the lame article was, er, nothing to write home about...

First of all, the proposed legislation is nothing but a requirement the phone book companies would have to distribute "opt out" information along with the mounds of dead trees they deliver uselessly to our doors, including the doors of obviously vacant houses. I'd link to the article but, you see, it has always been my policy to refuse to link to Star Tribune stories because the links are scheduled to go dead.

Some may go dead sooner than planned. Every time I see an issue of the Star Tribune, I wonder if it will be the last. I used to love that paper...and I still do, kind of...but their current owner, Avista Capital Partners, is the devil and there's no way I will pay money or create links to support the devil.

In any case...the legislation is an inadequate half-measure. Under this proposed legislation, we would not only continue to get unwanted phone books, but--additionally-- yet another useless piece of paper about how to opt out; which the phone book companies will simply ignore. Worse yet, the article contained a link about how to opt out of phone books, but guess what?

The link didn't work. The link merely directed you to a website where you could, if you liked, get lost all (expletive) day looking for the specific part of the website to opt out of phone books.

Star Tribune...that was LAME. Ed Kohler called the article a PR piece, and he's right.

The article did mention Ed Kohler's consistent advocacy for "opt in" systems instead of "opt out," but I don't see what the point was of interviewing Ed...everything the article said about Ed could have been said without interviewing him, and what little they did say was just a backhanded critique of Ed's noble and revolutionary act of returning a Verizon phone book to the company's headquarters, right on their (expletive) putting green, baby.

(Should have linked to Ed's video, Star Tribune, then your article wouldn't be so LAME. But, hey, print is dead and guess what? That also means the Star Tribune, not just the phone book)

On the bright side, Ed's idea about "returning" phone books seems to be spreading, click here.

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Phone Book Dumping, Breaking News

Flickr.com Photo

Word comes from Ed Kohler of The Deets blog saying the Star Tribune interviewed him yesterday about the issue of unwanted phone book dumping; which Ed calls "phone book spam."

Hopefully this issue will gain a higher profile in the near future. I've mentioned it to Mayor Rybak each and every time I've seen him, and I hope he does something soon.

(Do not click "Read More")

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Driving Around With Stolen Aluminum Siding In My Van

Photo By John Hoff

Yesterday, HNC Housing Director Jeff Skrenes had car trouble and needed a ride. I was turning off Lyndale Ave. N. when I spotted...

...a mess of aluminum siding in my traffic lane. I couldn't avoid running over some of it. I turned the corner and pulled over.

"What's the matter?" Jeff asked. He had his nose in a newspaper, scrutinizing boring data about foreclosure trends while--and here is the rich irony--we drove through the dystopian heart of Foreclosure-istan, surrounded by its rich layers of phenomenon.

"Didn't you see that aluminum siding in the road?" I asked, popping my van's hatch. I fetched all that siding out of the cold, snowy street--initially dragging it to the sidewalk and then loading it into my vehicle. It obviously fell off the truck of a scrapper, and I highly doubt its origins were honest. But what am I supposed to do? It's not exactly worth dusting for fingerprints. It's not worth calling 911. Heck, it's not even worth calling 311.

So I'm in the ironic position of hauling around and disposing of stolen aluminum in order to be a good and environmentally-conscious citizen and clear the roadways of a hazard.

When I travel to my rural Minnesota ancestral homeland, I'll probably take the scrap along and give it to some scrupulously honest scrapper known to me personally.

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423 23rd Avenue North ("The House Of Annoyance")

Photo Used Under "Fair Comment And Criticism"

My fellow Housing Board member, Michael Klick, Attorney At Law, was kind enough to tell me the story of 423 23rd Ave. N., which Michael and his boyfriend have nicknamed "The House of Annoyance." Well, actually...

There is more to the nickname than that, but I've said enough.

New Owners, Hopefully A New Story?

The reason "423" was on our radar at all was because of its bad history. When a property changes hands, you know for sure one of three things will happen: it will get better, worse, or stay the same. Naturally, one hopes to have an impact and "push toward the better."

Late last month, Michael Klick told me, "I just talked to the new owners of 423 23rd Ave. N. The guy's name is Doug something. He says he doesn't own any other places in North Minneapolis."

Michael says, "I strongly stated that it is best to get good tenants in there. There are very active people around here that will have no problem calling the police and the city on this property if they get terrible people in there. He (the owner) said he is hesitant about getting property in North Minneapolis.

"I told him about the last tenants in there and how we worked to get them thrown out of there. I think he got my point. Here we go again."

The House Of Annoyance

Michael says, "It was a terrible house. You can talk with Joan (from the Public Safety Committee) about this. They were absolutely filthy, loud and just disrespectful. Every car that they had had no muffler. They would just sit out there with their music blaring all the time.

"There was always some junk on the property. The porch was full of junk and beer cans. They had large pit bulls that were seen periodically. The back yard was even worse than the front yard, but we never saw it. Joan did. They used to throw their cigarette butts all over Joan's neighboring garden. Ask her about the situation when they actually spit on her from the second story window."

Michael says, "We worked for a year to get that place shut down. They moved out in the spring, and since then, 23rd Ave. quieted down a lot."

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