Posts Tagged ' East Side '
Police Commander Steve Frazer, attorney Elliott Nickell join Prince, Slade and Sawyer for Ward 7 seat
7 January //
Tags : East Side, Election 2015, St. Paul City Council President Kathy Lantry, Ward 7
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Add St. Paul Police watch commander Steve Frazer to the growing list of St. Paul City Council candidates in Ward 7, which spans a big chunk of the East Side.
The seat is currently held by council President Kathy Lantry, who has chosen not to run for re-election in November. So far, the list of candidates vying for a four-year term on the council include attorneys Jane Prince and Elliott Nickell, grant writer John Slade, and Paul Sawyer, a facilities manager at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Ward 7 spans the Dayton's Bluff, Mounds Park, Battle Creek, Highwood, Hazel Park, Conway, Scenic Hills and Sunray neighborhoods.
The St. Paul Police Federation endorsed Frazer on Tuesday night. The union requires the vote of two-thirds of members who are present, which Frazer overwhelmingly won, said Dave Titus, federation president.
"Steve Frazer is a member in good standing in our union," Titus said Wednesday. "We believe that his proven leadership skills, and knowledge of law enforcement and our issues will benefit the city if elected."
The federation decided to expedite Frazer's endorsement because there was "overwhelming support to do so," Titus said, adding that they will be soliciting candidates for screening for endorsement in the next couple of weeks. The union will endorse, at most, one candidate per ward.
Candidate Frazer has set up a website here. Candidate Nickell has done the same here. The other candidates were previously listed here.
President of Payne-Phalen group opposes emergency shelter so close to East Side
27 December //
Tags : Al Oertwig, Catholic Charities, Dorothy Day Center, downtown St. Paul, East Side, homeless, Payne-Phalen District Council, state Rep. Tim Mahoney
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Al Oertwig, president of the Payne-Phalen District 5 Council, is the latest public figure to express concern about a proposed relocation of the Dorothy Day homeless shelter to a site near the virtual entrance to the East Side.
Catholic Charities, together with a task force assembled by the city of St. Paul, has proposed relocating the overcrowded overnight shelter from 7th Street, by the Xcel Energy Center, to a new, larger, multi-level building on Lafayette Road, not far from the St. Paul Police Department, the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center and the Union Gospel Mission.
The proposal would add a 470-person emergency shelter and housing facility to the area, a prospect that has raised eyebrows and questions with some concerned elected officials such as state Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-Minn., and Ramsey County Board Chair Rafael Ortega.
Oertwig, who lives near the Union Gospel Mission in the Railroad Island neighborhood not far from Lafayette and University Avenue, said the area is already overloaded with services for the desperately poor, not to mention the jail and law enforcement center. The Union Gospel Mission, which provides beds for more than 100 homeless, represented a kind of tipping point, he said.
Since its arrival, he's seen an in-patient mental health crisis center open along University Avenue, and a methadone clinic open near the police department, among other services. That's too many homeless and desperate people concentrated in one small area, which isn't fair to them or to the neighbors, Oertwig said.
"I do think there's a need for homeless programs. I do recognize what Hennepin County did (with the Catholic Charities' Higher Ground facility in Minneapolis), and that may be a model we may want to look at. I know that the city people think they're being innovative and forward-thinking, and that's good, but placement is an issue we may want to do think about. Number one, what is best for the impacted homeless people? Number two, what is best for the impacted neighborhood?"
"I don't want to be negative about Union Gospel Mission either," Oertwig said. "They do good work. They run a good facility."
Members of the district council met with representatives of the mayor's office last week, a day or two before the Dorothy Day expansion and relocation plans were announced to the public. The neighborhood folks suggested moving the proposal to Highland Park.
Said Oertwig, "We suggested in our little meeting (with the city) what about the Ford plant? There's space there. 'Not going to happen' was the immediate reaction, 'because Highland would rise up and protest.' And yet they have much more capacity. They have many more stable, well-off folks who could supply the support structure for people who are struggling."
Oertwig said the East Side in general is home to clusters of social service programs, low-income housing and transitional homes, and that's not healthy for homeowners or clients of those programs.
"I think we're getting into impacts on the neighborhood, and to the people who are homeless, that are not positive," he said. "That's really what it comes down to. One of the biggest issues we have in terms of urban issues is the concentration of people who are poor in certain neighborhoods. … Dispersal is a much better way of looking at this."
He continued, "They used to have (the very poor) in tall buildings … and then they started doing scattered site. For example, South Chicago. They had big high rises on the south side of Chicago … that's not the practice anymore. Concentrating people in one site is not healthy. We should find a neighborhood that is strong and thriving, not one that is already inundated with poverty issues."
That said, some see the likelihood that homeless residents will board a bus to Highland Park or Mac-Groveland looking for emergency services as slim. Downtown areas traditionally attract more homeless people than residential districts and small business districts. The reasons range from proximity to hospitals, shelters and social services to the opportunity to panhandle or find a quiet place to rest the night without being moved along by authorities.
Advocates for the proposed emergency shelter say the Dorothy Day Center is desperately overcrowded, serving upwards of 200 people overnight in a building that was never intended for overnight use. The proposal would create a ground-level shelter with single-occupancy rooms and efficiency apartments above it, next to a new job training and social services building.
Amy Brendmoen's chickens, Artify Hamline Station applications due, Arjo Adams' art park, and Fire Dept. budget
26 August //
Tags : Amy Brendmoen, Arjo Adams, art park, Artify Hamline Station, chickens, East Side, Publius Jr., Saint Paul Republicans
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The Scoop has four brief items to share this fine Monday afternoon.
Amy Brendmoen's Chickens
The first item of note concerns St. Paul City Council Member Amy Brendmoen's chickens. On the city's YouTube channel, Brendmoen explains the permitting regulations she had to comply with to set up her own urban chicken coop. See for yourself:
Memorable quotes: "I think it's important that this is not a way to get free eggs. The cost of putting a coop together … is not cheap. The feed is not cheap. … And it's work. You definitely need to tend them everyday." So why keep urban hens? It's a learning tool for her kids, for starters: "It's such a pleasant experience. Even the sounds that they make. And coming out and finding the eggs is cool."
Artify Hamline Station on Sept. 15 – applications due!
The fine folks that brought you the recent Artify Hamline Station project at the vacant old Midway Chevrolet site at Hamline and University avenues are back again. This time, they're recruiting artists, performers and volunteers to host an interactive event at the site during St. Paul Open Streets on Sept. 15, when a long stretch of the avenue will be closed to cars and open only to bikers, walkers, rollerbladers and the like.
ARTIFY is seeking local artists who live, work and play in the Hamline-Midway area to propose creative activities to perform, conduct, implement, and share at the first St. Paul Open Streets event on Sunday September 15th, 2013 at Hamline Station located at 1333 University Ave. W., St Paul, MN.
Theme: "Home is…"
(What makes a place feel like home? … a neighborhood? … a community?")
Interested? Applications are due Wednesday, Aug. 28, and remember — the theme is "home." More information is available online at artifynow.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/artists-wanted. The Artify project aims to add a little excitement to the giant parking lot, which will eventually be occupied by a new affordable housing development slated to get under construction next summer.
Arjo Adams built a Folk Art Park…
Speaking of fine folks, the fine folks behind the Saint Paul Republicans website have a bone to pick with City Hall, and no, it's not over death or taxes. This time, it's all about the condemnation of the Wells Street home occupied by Arjo Adams.
Adams has gained his share of followers and detractors on the East Side, where he's taken two vacant city lots on either side of his house and built a folksy series of stone walking paths, gardens and displays made out of odd items, such as the rusted interior of a merry-go-round and a giant barbie doll head. Now, he's being forced to move from his house, which is condemned, and the lots have been fenced up because of the alleged dangers to visitors, including the gargoyles hanging from the trees (no joke).
The Scoop shall hold the Scoop's tongue, but blogger Publius Jr. waxes on the definition of "public art" in his strongly-worded post, "Why is Arjo Adams so dangerous to the city called St. Paul?"
Fire Department Budget
And in budget news… At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council will review the 2014 fire department budget proposal, the capital improvement budget and the debt budget. Hearings are open to the public and held on the third floor of St. Paul City Hall / the Ramsey County Courthouse on Kellogg Boulevard. See you there?
East Side Pride: $14 million Payne-Maryland center's groundbreaking
26 July //
Tags : Arlington Rec Center, Carnegie Library, Dan Bostrom, District 5 Planning Council, East Side, Jim McDonough, Mike Hahm, Payne-Maryland, St. Paul Parks and Recreation
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Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough remembers sitting at a planning meeting and talking up plans for a combined library and recreation center on the East Side.
The bold move would require tearing down the Arlington Recreation Center, emptying the city's century-old Carnegie library on Greenbrier Street, and possibly introducing funeral services and worship space into the mix.
More information about the Payne-Maryland project is available at tinyurl.com/paynemaryland.
"There was a lot of 'deer in the headlights' looks," said McDonough, addressing a crowd of several dozen East Siders and political officials on Thursday, July 26. " 'You want to do what?'"
A poster display outside the Arlington Recreation Center depicts the future Payne-Maryland rec center and library, to open in 2013. City officials held a groundbreaking on July 26, 2012.
After six years of planning and more than a few tweaks, the combined library and rec center project at the corner of Payne and Maryland avenues is finally becoming a reality. McDonough joined St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the man who has arguably become the project's biggest proponent — City Council Member Dan Bostrom — in a groundbreaking for the $14 million undertaking.
The actual demolition of the existing rec center is expected to start in early August. Kelley Riley, a board member with the Payne-Phalen District 5 Planning Council, said that six years of community meetings helped soften some hard stances against the project. Based on feedback, the architectural firm HGA reduced the center from a three-level design to two levels and altered the façade.
They "really tried to incorporate what the East Side buildings look like, rather than something you see in the suburbs," said Riley, in an interview.
Bostrom and other proponents have noted that the East Side is home to nearly half of the city's youth, and a disproportionate number of minority and low-income families, but has a dearth of youth facilities.
Sammie Young kept one eye on his three grandkids and the other on the groundbreaking taking place across the street from his son's apartment. Young, an East Side youth coach, said the new building will help draw older kids back "into the recs rather than being here on the streets, doing negative things."
The new building is expected to offer more than just a gym and library aisles when it opens in the fall of 2013. Plans include a running track, a teen multimedia lab, a kitchen, and classroom and community meeting rooms.
"We do so much good throughout the community," said city Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hahm, "and this is going to give us an opportunity to come together in a building and provide those services."
Al Oertwig, president of the District 5 Planning Council, said the popular Arlington Hills library — built in 1917 — was too small to meet the community's needs and lacks handicapped accessibility. Deputy St. Paul Public Library director Debbie Willms said her department is working with the city's real estate division on examining new uses for the library, which sits on the national historic register.
"We're not at a point of actually knowing what's going to happen with it," Willms said.
Brad Griffith is an East Side resident with some reservations about a proposed second phase of construction for the Payne-Maryland project, which he feels may cross the line between the legal separation of church and state.
The Payne-Maryland Partnership, which is largely comprised of the Bradshaw Funeral Home and Arlington Hills Lutheran Church, hopes to raise enough money to add social service space and a "celebration of life" spirituality center.
He and other residents have also expressed concern that pouring $14 million into new construction will give the city an excuse to close underperforming rec centers in the area, such as the Duluth and Case rec center off Phalen Boulevard. The city council last year passed a two-year moratorium on rec center closings as a precaution.
"I think it's a good thing," said Griffith, a realtor, studying a poster board rendering of the future Payne-Maryland center. "But I'm still a big fan of rec centers. I don't want to see anything taken away."
Senate District 67 candidates to debate Aug. 2
Tags : East Side, Foung Hawj, John Harrington, Payne-Maryland, Robert Humphrey, Senate District 67, Tom Dimond
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Recognize any of these fine folks in the picture below? During a groundbreaking on Thursday, July 26, for the new Payne-Maryland library and rec center on the East Side, the Scoop caught up with two of the three DFL candidates for the Senate District 67 seat currently held by John Harrington.
Harrington, a former St. Paul police chief, has decided that one term in the State House is enough. The contenders for his seat are: assistant to the director of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections Robert Humphrey, self-employed video producer and District 67 DFL Precinct Chair Foung Hawj, and former City Council member Tom Dimond.
Call it East Side pride. Robert Humphrey, his wife Mara Magnuson Humphrey, and Foung Hawj are pictured at the groundbreaking for the Payne-Maryland center on July 26, 2012. Humphrey and Foung Hawj and Tom Dimond are all vying in the August 14 primary for the Senate District 67 seat currently held by John Harrington, who has chosen not to run again. Al Oertwig is no longer in the race.
Al Oertwig was in the race for a New York minute. "I thought about that for two seconds and I said, hell no," Oertwig told the Scoop this afternoon. "I filed and withdrew."
The candidates will debate on Thursday, August 2 at Pathways on the Park, 170 N. Ruth Street. The candidate's forum is hosted by the League of Women Voters and the District 1 Community Council. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the debate begins at 7 p.m.
Tom Dimond is not pictured in the pic to the left, but Humphrey's wife Mara Magnuson Humphrey is. She's the current chair of the Ramsey County Soil and Water Board and running for re-election. In her arms is her two-month-old, Elsa.
The winner of the DFL primary will face Republican candidate Mike Capistrant (http://www.capistrant4saintpaul.com) in the general election this November.
Candidate websites:
Foung Hawj–http://www.founghawj.com/
Robert Humphrey–http://votehumphrey.com/
Tom Dimond —http://www.tomdimondforsenate.com/
Bostrom challenges Xiong take on Payne-Maryland project
26 October //
Tags : Bee Kevin Xiong, Dan Bostrom, East Side, election 2011, Payne-Maryland
This dubious-looking man is also running for election, but to what office, no one knows...
City Council Member Dan Bostrom and Green Party candidate Bee Kevin Xiong met Tuesday night for what looks to be their first and last one-on-one debate of the election season — a cordial, relatively well-attended affair at the Hope Lutheran Church's new "Heights Center for Hope" on Hazel Street.
Bostrom, a 16-year incumbent carrying the DFL banner, delivered remarks in his usual gentle, almost folksy style, but a little unexpected emotion rose in his voice at the end of the 1-1/2 hour forum as he described a pet project he's been fighting for for years.
In his closing remarks, Bostrom, 71, trumpeted his ongoing efforts to get a $14 million library, community and recreational center built at Payne and Maryland avenues. He said the East Side deserves the city's respect, and children shouldn't get in trouble horsing around in a library waiting for one of a limited number of computer terminals to become free — they should have a sizable computer lab waiting for them after school, among other amenities.
"The neighborhood needs to know that the city thinks enough of this neighborhood to invest in it," Bostrom said.
He called his proposed 'Miracle Center' "an incentive (for residents) to reinvest in their homes, to reinvest in their businesses, because the East Side is a good place to live. I love it here, and I'm not going anywhere."
Earlier in the night, Bee Kevin Xiong had questioned spending $14 million on a project that would house a single basketball court.
Bostrom took issue with the statement, without quite clarifying how many basketball courts the facility would actually have.
"This is not a $14 million rec center with one gym," Bostrom said. "I'm not sure where people got this idea."
At a community forum in August, project architects revealed drawings for a proposed three-level building housing a library, public event space, a rooftop patio, a multipurpose fitness room, a walking and running track, classrooms, a kitchen, a full-size basketball court, two volleyball courts and other offerings.
Bee Kevin Xiong told the Scoop later that he was not necessarily opposed to the project, but he wanted more community input. For that pricetag, he said, the city could extend hours and programming at its existing recreational centers, some of which have faced cuts in hours and services.