When: Saturday, June 2^nd from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm

Where: Our Neighborhood Center, 3300 Lyndale Avenue North

Who: All are invited

What: Celebrating out acquisition and renovation of 3300 Lyndale Avenue North…formerly Jerry’s Flower Shop

Come down for food, fun and festivities as the McKinley neighborhood and our friends celebrate this day.

Everything is FREE!  We will have events and games and artwork for kids, live music and spoke word performances, tours of the building and nearby farming locations and so much more. We will be giving away door prizes, security motion lights for homes, plants and more.

See you there!!!!

It is that time of the year again when we end the “stuffy” indoor meetings and hit the streets to make them cleaner. Starting with our June 2^nd Community Meeting and ending with our first meeting in September we will move around the neighborhood to various locations and pick up all of the trash on the sidewalks and streets. Check our Facebook page, website and weekly email blast for upcoming dates and locations.

We will provide the bags and a light beverage and snack after the event, just bring some gloves.

Repairs to the Plymouth Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River will begin this July, and the bridge is expected to reopen to vehicle traffic in mid-October. The City Council’s Transportation and Public Works Committee heard an update today on the project, which will be done in two phases, the first this year, and the second in 2013. Once the bridge reopens this fall, it will remain open throughout next year’s work, with some lane restrictions. The bridge will close to bikes and pedestrian during this year’s construction, but will be accessible during next year’s work.

The Plymouth Avenue Bridge was closed in October 2010 after the bridge was found to have significant deterioration in its post-tensioning tendons, which are cables that run inside the bridge. An analysis concluded that the bridge could re-open to pedestrian and bike traffic, but would need to continue to be closed to motor vehicle traffic. The City has secured $6 million in state funding to complete the repairs. This summer’s construction work will focus on the bridge’s center span. Crews will remove deteriorating concrete and replace it, and they will replace the corroded cables. Once that span is repaired, the bridge can reopen to traffic. The bridge’s other spans will be repaired in 2013, however, the bridge will not need to be closed to traffic during those repairs.

The Plymouth Avenue Bridge opened in 1982, and before its closure, it carried more than 14,000 vehicles a day. That traffic has since moved to other river crossings, including the Broadway Avenue Bridge and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.

In recognition of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week and National 911 Education Month, the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis 911 is reminding folks about the importance of 911 and raising awareness of what to do and what not to do when calling to report an emergency.Tips for calling 911When calling 911 folks should follow these guidelines:

• Do not hang up. If the call isn’t answered immediately or if you encounter silence on the line, do not hang up and redial unless the silence lasts more than 8 seconds.
• Do not hang up if you call 911 by accident. Hang ups require 911 operators to call back the number the incoming 911 call came from. This happens up to 200 times a day and uses valuable 911 resources including phone lines that should be used for answering emergency calls.
• Give your location when calling 911. This includes, address, intersection, and landmarks.  Be prepared to give a short description of a suspect.
• Help can be sent while you talk. A caller should state the problem briefly, answer the operator’s questions and stay on the line until the operator terminates the call.
• You can ask 911 operators to stay on the line until help arrives.
• The situation does not have to be an emergency to call 911. Folks can call 911 to report suspicious, criminal activity in progress (e.g. alarms, shots fired, shouts for help, sounds of glass breaking, unfamiliar person carrying items from a house).
• If you need a translator, let the operator know or simply say, “Language line.”

When to call 911There are many reasons to call 911 including:

• If the situation requires an ambulance or the fire department to respond immediately
• To report a situation that requires a police officer at the scene (for example: assaults, burglaries, kidnapping, domestic disputes, auto theft, accidents in which there are injures / or it is unknown whether injuries have occurred, etc.).
• To report a crime that is in progress
• To report suspicious criminal activity that you witness (for example: sounds of shots fired, cries for help, sounds of glass breaking or if you see an unfamiliar person carrying items from a house).

When not to call 911There are also many reasons not to call 911. Folks should avoid calling 911 to get directions, legal advice, or to find out if someone is in jail. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Jail Roster is online or folks can call 612-348-5112. People should also not call 911 to report city issues that do not need police, fire, or an ambulance to respond. They should use the City of Minneapolis website or call 311.

Since 2008, the City of Minneapolis has helped nearly 350 home buyers purchase homes in neighborhoods stressed by foreclosure through its Minneapolis Advantage Program. The forgivable loan program assists with down payment and closing costs, and helps rebuild neighborhoods, stabilize communities and promote sustainable home ownership.

Funding Available in 2012
Approximately $400,000, or around 25 loans, is available to help potential buyers purchase a foreclosed home in eligible neighborhoods. Based on income eligibility requirements, buyers within 80% of the area median income (approximately $64,000 for a four-member household) can receive up to $20,000 and buyers within 120% of the area median income (approximately $100,700 for a four-member household) can receive up to $10,000. These funds can be used to pay for closing costs and down payment assistance. For more information, call the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation, program administrator, at 612-588-3033 or see Minneapolis Advantage Program–Mortgage Assistance.

Minneapolis Advantage partnersThe success of this program has spurred additional investment from partners who also want to help with recovery. The City’s investment of $1.2 million in the program has leveraged an additional $3.2 million from Wells Fargo, Minnesota Housing, Federal Home Loan Bank Des Moines and through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Stabilization Program.Minneapolis Advantage Program performance

• All homes had to be foreclosed, vacant, or in a high foreclosure-impacted neighborhood
• Loan recipients purchased homes in 30 Minneapolis neighborhoods
• Nearly 350 homes have been purchased
• Nearly 60% of the home buyers moved to Minneapolis from elsewhere
• 89% of the recipients are first time home buyers
• 48% of the home buyers are between the ages of 31-50
• Average household size is two
• 49% of the homes’ purchase prices are less than $100,000; 39% of purchase prices are between $100,000-$150,000

Interested in purchasing a foreclosed home? Check out www.ownahomemn.org for a listing of foreclosed homes that have been renovated and are on the market; www.livemsp.org provides a directory of home buyer incentive programs and resources by neighborhood; www.hocmn.org offers resources and education to home buyers.

A few questions have come up recently around resources available to residents, here is a short list of links to these resources:

Grafitti reporting: http://311.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/Ef3/General.jsp?form=SS018PW00SolidWasteGraffiti&page=Email

Adopt-a-Trash Can Program: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/solid-waste/clean-city.asp#

Streetlight Issues: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/streetlighting/issues.asp

Know Someone Who Needs Help with Raking, Shoveling or other Chores?Chore Program – low-cost home maintenance services such as routine housecleaning, seasonal jobs, lawn care, snow removal and minor repairs.  aimed at helping seniors living in their homes (individuals 60 and over).  Call 612-374-3322.

We need your help. As you know the Northside has a significant number of vacant houses. These vacant homes have multiple negative effects on our neighborhoods including increased crime, lower property values, and livability issues.

The MPD has been working with other city departments and the 4^th Precinct CARE Task Force to identify and track vacant properties in the 4^th Precinct. While the lists and incident reports that we currently have are helpful, we believe that you, the block club leaders and residents of the neighborhoods, could more effectively and correctly help us identify these properties.

So, we are asking you to canvas your block/neighborhood and to log the addresses of houses that are vacant whether because of foreclosure, being for rent, for sale or for some other reason. Please send the address information to me at Jennifer.waisanen@ci.minneapolis.mn.us, or call me at 673-5873. If I don’t answer the phone, just leave the information on my voicemail. We are trying to complete the information gathering by Friday January 28^th so that we can merge and analyze the data.

Our goal for collecting this information is to identify both long and short term strategies to help us manage the evolving vacant housing problem and reduce property crimes.

Thank you for your help with this important problem.   If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. Thanks again for your help, and for all you do to make our neighborhood great!

Jennifer Waisanen

Crime Prevention Specialist

Minneapolis Police Department – 4^th Precinct

1925 Plymouth Ave N

Minneapolis, MN 55411