Kudos

Piggy backing off of what Ranty posted the other day, I just can't agree more that the people around here are amazing.  I think part of it is the immediate common bond that we are all trying to make our part of the world a better place.  And we have so much to work with - houses built of old growth lumber, gleaming leaded glass, hardwood floors, quarried limestone foundations, period fireplaces, etc.  Not to mention a centralized location, close proximity to parks, restaurants, the Greenway, etc.   As Ranty tipped her hat at me in her last post, I felt I should pay forward a similar compliment.   There are two neighbors in particular who have boundless energy that they have invested in making not only their Park Avenue home a better place, but have worked to make the entire neighborhood a better place as well.  In addition to their work with CANDO, they also organized a historic walking tour of Park Ave and worked to bring the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center to 38th and Chicago.   I just had to pass on a quote from a correspondence with one of these guys who I always find to have a gift with words.  In correspondence regarding the neighborhood, he wrote "I think that most people don't know about the rich history of the neighborhood, or that there is a wave of people moving here to restore these amazing houses and those people are bonding and becoming friends and sharing tips and learning about the history of the area and looking out for one another, and encouraging one another, etc. "  The sentiment in that sentence alone almost completely sums up why I am so proud to be a part of this neighborhood and to be a neighbor to the people I have come to know here.

What Came Before

I definitely do not want to give the impression that there was no "community" already established when I arrived.  Our little nook of Central has a die hard coalition of some "Urban Pioneers" as well as long time residents.  This little corner of MPLS seems to have had a disproportionate share of drama.  From the freeway blasting through in the late 60's, to the entrenchment of drug and prostitution rings, arson, murder, scandal - you name it.   At our recent block club bon fire one neighbor light heartedly told a story (you gotta get "dark" humor to find this funny) about the day he was showing an apartment to a prospective tenant -  and they arrived right as the cops were digging a body out of the garden next door!  

Truly though, I believe this neighborhood has seen its worst and is on the upswing.  And the upswing began before I arrived.  It began during the 90's when preservationists began to find and restore the charming Queen Anne homes in and around the Healy Block - our neighborhood National Register Historic District.  One thing I love about this neighborhood is that we get the privilege of having these amazing homes that we never could have afforded anywhere else.  And at the same time, because you have to have some grit to live in an area like this, the people here are just complete characters (love it) and you really couldn't even find a pretentious person around here if you tried.    

Those who are committed to making our neighborhood a better place really tend to roll out the welcome wagon when they see someone new and positive come into the area.  When we bought our house, we didn't have any landscaping other than two shrubs on either side of the door.  Not one fern, perennial, tree - you name it.  Once spring came around and people were out of their houses more, people we hardly even knew were daily dividing plants and bringing us Iris and ferns and Elephant Ear Bulbs and Hostas and Snow on the Mountain.  Now our yard looks amazing!  Don't underestimate the kindness and generosity to be found in our little Old Central.  

My Intro to Da Hood

I have always been in love with the notion of  "community."    A "perfect storm" occurred in 2005 in which I was looking for a change from living in my small town, an amazing career opportunity dropped in my lap,  I'd just begun a new relationship, and suddenly I found myself moving to the big city.  I never thought I would move to the city.  I had always resisted this migration of the gay man from the small town to the big city as I felt it seemed "cliche." However, I soon learned I could take a completely unique (and gratifyingly unexpected) course no matter where I landed.  As would not be expected, I learned of my new home in the Central Neighborhood of MPLS (sight unseen) while in an old log cabin while deep in the Northwoods (Long story - sure it will come out later).  

I was a 5th generation citizen of a very very small town.  I mean we're talking the village is about 125 people - not because a "sign" told me so - I COUNTED (And knew them all!) - and my great-great grandfather was one of the first "white" inhabitants - and many of my townspeople are "cousins" of some sort.  I now am now a proud Minneapolitan (whew!) and am here to blog about the experience of attempting to recreate the connectivity of my small town in my new urban environment as well as my experiences incorporating into my new reality the exciting, diverse experiences I have encountered along the way.  This includes my love and affection for the historic, dense, built form of the urban environement (to me, exotic and wonderful!)

  

Being from a small town, I'm extremely nosy.   I am the stereotype of the small town unleashed on the inner city.  Most would think this equates to naivety.  That's what I thought - at first.  However, I found that I soon knew way more of what the hell was going on than anyone around me!  Many urbanites were telling me that I must look the other way - be anonymous - mind yourself.  THAT was the way to survive.  

THEN I took a look at the results of this philosophy.   AND  I  SAID BULLSHIT!  I moved into a neighborhood where people who lived a few houses apart for almost 30 years (and their kids grew up together) didn't know each other.  I introduced them.  Seems simple?  Revolutionary in a neighborhood like this!  People hid behind their doors and turned blind eyes because prostitutes, dealers, and crackheads wandered the streets.  I said "WHY?!"  I can't say it happened overnight.  It took me a while to acclimate, but the more and more time went on, I realized that I knew just about everyone around me and NONE of them were involved in drug dealing or prostitution.  SO WHY SHOULD WE TOLERATE THIS GOING ON?  

 And I found that it is a fairly recent urban MPLS phenomenon to "Look the other way."  Neighbors tell me that before the drug  and  prostitution rings took over the neighborhood that an elderly black couple owned my house and sat on the porch every night.  AND NO CHILD COULD GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING BECAUSE MR. AND MRS. WRIGHT WERE WATCHING!  This "Look the other way" doctine is not really the doctrine of the Big City.  It is just that the real lesson of "community" somehow was lost along the way.  No big deal.  We'll find it.  Pick it up.  Brush it off.  It's still good!!   And we'll talk about it here.  

 

This Blog (on the surface) is about the reclamation of a blighted neighborhood.  This concerns not only livability issues but also a little too about historic preservation (ours is a historic neighborhood - an asset I believe should be built off of to reconstruct our future).   But primarily, This Blog is about the experience and the people.  

The decline of the urban neighborhood due to suburbanization movement of the 1960-80's is well documented.  But I believe the process of the rebirth we are about to experience (due to the "new" urbanism and "green"movements) will not be recognized and documented until it is very uninteresting to document (as the colorful characters and wild times will have passed).   I think it is VERY interesting to document what is here RIGHT NOW.  Unless you live in my neighborhood you may not understand.  I have almost completely given up watching TV  because what is going on right from my front porch is WAY MORE INTERESTING THAN ANYTHING ON TV!!