GreeningFrogtownMarchApril17

MARCH/APRIL 2017
Inside…
Lid for I-94?
Plans brew for land
bridge over freeway
— P. 3
Seniors: Get
Your Home
Painted Free
Applications are
due by April 15
— P. 3
Roni Strain and Prepare + Prosper tax prep volunteer Reid Olson. She saved her refunds for a down-payment on a home.
Frogtown's Refugee Story
They fled from war, then remade University Avenue
Twenty years ago, when I ran a
newspaper called the Frogtown Times, I
tracked down the refugee who opened
the first Vietnamese restaurant on
University Avenue. Kim Long, a major
in the South Vietnamese air force, had
escaped Vietnam in 1 975, flying himself
out in a C-1 30 transport plane. His
journey took him from Thailand to
Guam, then to St. Paul. Once here, he
suffered a not-uncommon refugee's fate:
he went from the high status of an air
force pilot to low-paying janitor jobs.
Long wanted something better for
himself and his wife. He'd never run a restaurant or any kind of
business before. But his family had owned a restaurant, and Long
thought he had some talent at cooking. He cut his janitorial work to
half-time and took business classes at the University of Minnesota
to prepare for opening a place of his own.
By 1 976 he was ready. Long set his sights on a storefront at
University and Arundel that had been home to one doomed
restaurant after another. University was then a collection of empty
shops, bars, strip clubs like the Belmont and Bunny Patch, and The
Notorious Faust porn palace. When Long's Golden Dragon opened,
he and his wife were the only employees.
The work was endless. "I closed the kitchen at nine or ten and
Kim Long in 1 981 at the Golden Dragon.
washed dishes until midnight. I'd
clean the kitchen and the exhaust
hood until two or three in the
morning," he recalled.
Long built up his business, then
leveraged it into a plaza of shops
near University and Western. A
wave ofAsian-owned business
followed, as new refugees seized
the opportunities before them.
They didn't come here because
they were having a fine time back
home. Their presence is a sign of
the world's vast supply of war and economic hardship. But
the effect of misery in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was
transformation here. Asian-owned restaurants, grocery stores,
car lots, tailor shops and myriad other businesses remade our
neighborhood.
The latest word from Washington DC is that Syrian refugees
should be banned indefinitely, and Somalis and people from
six other Muslim countries should be barred for 90 days.
Anyone with eyes and a memory can wonder what
University Ave. would look like now ifAsian refugees had
been turned away. In Frogtown, the lesson of the past is that
we're all better off for what refugees have carried with them.
— Tony Schmitz
They're on
Honor Roll
Jeff, Kristen Kidder
recognized for
Frogtown service
— P. 9
Meet the
Yoga Queen
Get your flex going
with classes at
West Minne
— P. 5

WEALTHIFICATION
How to Make Tax Time Pay
Turn your refund into a nest egg. Here's how to get help.
Roni Strain has something in common
with a lot of Frogtowners. The downside
of tax time for her is that her taxes are so
complicated that she doesn’t want to
tackle the job herself. But if she gets her
taxes filed, she’ll get Earned Income
Credit and Minnesota Child Tax Credit
paybacks that can be worth thousands of
dollars.
That’s what brought her to the free tax
clinic run by Prepare + Prosper, a St. Paul
organization that helps people on the
lower end of the income ladder get what
they’ve got coming, and steers customers
to sensible ways to handle the money they
get back.
available for individuals making less than
$35,000, and families or self-employed
people earning less than $55,000. The
clinics offer interpreting services in
Spanish, Hmong and Somali, depending
on location. Plus you can get help to set
up free savings accounts or to get your
refund deposited on a low-cost, prepaid
debit card. Prepare + Prosper works with
Firefly Credit Union and Sunrise Banks
to offer savings and other bank services to
clients who might be strangers to
conventional banking products. Trained
volunteers offer financial planning and
credit report assistance, plus direction on
how to get help paying for food and
energy bills.
Strain sat down with volunteer tax
preparer Reid Olson and a pile of W-2
forms that recorded her income for the
year. How many? She wasn’t sure. Some
years it’s been as many as 1 8 separate W-
2s from the various outfits that hire her as
a stagehand for short-term gigs.
“Doing taxes is a pain,” she allowed, “but
there are people here who will help. It
doesn’t have to be a scary thing.”
Some years Strain has received $3,000 to
Roni Strain gets her taxes done by volunteer Reid Olson at Hallie Q. Brown Center.
$4,000 back in tax credits. She resisted
the temptation to blow the money on
short-term pleasures, and instead used it
to work up a positive credit score, build
savings, and — finally — put together a
down payment for a St. Paul home of her
own, where she’ll live with her son.
The Thursday evening clinic at Hallie Q.
Brown Center is one of eight tax prep
sites that Prepare + Prosper runs
throughout the metro area. Free tax help is
You can find locations, hours of service
and other information about getting your
taxes done at prepareandprosper.org. Year
round tax services are available by calling
the main office at (651 ) 287-01 87.
In mid-February the Thursday night
session at Hallie Q. Brown was a
manageable crowd of a couple dozen
people, but you can expect the numbers to
grow as the April 1 5 tax deadline closes
— Continued, Page 11
PAGE 2 JULY MARCH/APRIL / AUGUST 2017
6

Put a Lid on It: Planners Ponder Land
Bridge to Reconnect Rondo, Frogtown
FROGTOWN NEWS
The idea for a land bridge over I-94
centered on Victoria St. got another airing
out at a February meeting at Rondo
Library. “We want to find out if there’s
community support,” said Reconnect
Rondo organizer Kim Club.
The way organizers see it, a lid over the
freeway — possibly extending four
blocks from Grotto to Chatsworth —
could serve to reconnect communities
torn up when the freeway was built 50
years ago. The lid could hold greenspace,
housing, business, or all of the above.
Though this might sound like one for the
Crazy Idea file, it already has support
from state highway officials. In part, the
motivation is a matter of timing. The
freeway is reaching the end of its useful
life and will need to be rebuilt anyway.
About half of the 1 45 bridges between the
east side of Saint Paul and the north side
of Minneapolis need work within the next
fifteen years. The timeline is even shorter
for the area from the Capitol to MN-280.
Among the promoters of the freeway lid
concept is Charlie Zelle, Minnesota
Department of Transportation
commissioner. He recently engaged the
Urban Land Institute to strategize on how
a freeway lid could restore connections
between neighborhoods sundered by I-94
and also spark new development. Zelle’s
big question about the report: “How do
we not just put this on the shelf?”
Freeway lids aren’t anything new. Seattle
built its Freeway Park in 1 976. Cincinnati
built Lytle Park over 1 -70 in 1 970.
Duluth’s Leif Erickson Park and Rose
Garden stretches over I-35 as it heads
north out of town. Notable lids have
recently been completed in Chicago,
Boston, Dallas and St. Louis, among
other cities. In Montana and Florida, even
wild animals such as bears and panthers
have access to lids that restore safe access
to parts of their range bisected by multilane
highways.
A freeway lid centered on Victoria and
extending a few blocks east and west
could be seen as a “mark of
reconciliation” for the destruction of the
Rondo neighborhood during I-94’s
construction, said Kim Club. The area
was then home to 85 percent of St. Paul’s
African-American community. About 600
homes and 300 businesses were lost
during construction, according to the ULI
report. The lid, said the report’s authors,
“can be a place to tell the story of St.
Paul’s rich African-American history.”
But the Urban Land Institute analysis also
points out that a lid could turn Victoria St.
into a type of inter-neighborhood Main
Street, linking Frogtown to Rondo and
Summit-U. The lid, the report authors
noted, “creates an opportunity for a seam
of commercial activity and neighborhood
connectivity beginning as far north as
Frogtown Park and Farm, across the lid,
and through nodes at Selby and Grand.”
Frogtowner Seitu Jones, who was part of
the Urban Land Institute study panel, is a
lid enthusiast. “It’s a good idea because it
could do a number of things,” he said. “It
could help recreate the old physical layout
of the neighborhood and reconnect old
Rondo. It's a great opportunity to do
housing and economic development. It
could help mitigate noise and pollution
from the freeway. And it could create a
corridor that connects Frogtown Park and
Farm to the river.”
A public unveiling of the lid concept is
scheduled for May 1 7. Check the next
Greening Frogtown for further details.
Washington Junior High student Pao Vang helped build the Frogtown food app.
Where to Find Healthy Food in
Frogtown? There's an App for That
Looking for an easy way to find healthy
food in our neighborhood? Check out a
new, free Android phone app created for
Frogtown and produced by Washington
Junior High Tech School through the
Science Museum of Minnesota.
The app identifies restaurants, grocery
stores and other food-related venues that
serve up or promote healthy eating. The
project has been in the works since last
fall, with students compiling information
and tweaking code to shake out bugs.
The crew built a partnership with
Frogtown Farm, then cooked up a
process to get input from community
members. They learned that neighbors in
many cases didn’t know where to find
healthy food. From there the group
started to build a list of resources, along
with a catalogue of recipes, that could be
fashioned into a phone app.
“We want to build up more conversation
about healthy eating in families and in
the community,” said Clark.
At a January release party at City School,
team member Gabriel Clark detailed the
many steps that led to the finished app.
Download the app for Android free, via
Google Play. An iPhone version should
be available shortly.
Put a lid on it: one view of housing, green space development at Victoria and I-94.
MARCH/APRIL 2017
Seniors: Get a Free House Paint Job
If you're a senior or person with a
disability, there’s still time to apply to get
your house painted, free, during the
annual Metro Paint-A-Thon.
The program, sponsored by the Greater
Minneapolis Council of Churches, helps
low income seniors and people with
disabilities maintain and stay in their
homes. To qualify, you must own and
occupy a single-family, one-story home
that needs paint but not major repairs, live
in Hennepin or Ramsey County, be at
least 60 years old or have a permanent
physical disability, and meet income
guidelines.
If you qualify (or know someone who
might), you can find out more by calling
61 2-276-1 579, or emailing
mchandler@gmcc.org. The application
deadline is April 1 4.
PAGE 3

At Rondo Library,
a Trans‐Cultural
Conversation
One thing about Frogtown: it offers no
shortage of moments to look into the lives
of people who are not altogether like you.
Another of those instances occurred at a
February gathering at Rondo library,
billed as a cross-cultural conversation on
education. It drew a collection of Latinos,
Somalis, Oromos, plus African American
and white people who worked their way
through questions about their memories
and perceptions of education.
In case you didn’t already know that
things aren’t always what they seem,
Ayan, a young Somali woman, started by
explaining that she hadn’t enjoyed the
moment enough while in grade school.
She had focused too much on minor,
inconsequential details. But she wasn’t
talking about going to school in
Mogadishu. At the age of three months
she left Somalia with her parents. She
spent her school years in Eden Prairie.
Coming out of a community that was
white and well-to-do, she was in for some
surprises when she went to college at
Augsburg and encountered fellow students
from a range of backgrounds. “We had a
lot to learn about each other,” she said.
FROGTOWN NEWS
The memories of older women who had
been schooled in Somalia were starkly
different. “I thought I wouldn’t need an
education, that I would get married and
raise a family,” said Sahra. “I didn’t
realize that education is really for you.
Now my biggest goal is to learn.” She
went to school to study the Quran, but
had no memory of how she learned basic
math and reading. “Nobody taught me. I
don’t know how I learned.”
Her lesson upon entering the US,
however, was that education is like fruit
on a high branch — there, but you have
to reach to take it. “You have to strive for
what you want. People won’t lead you.
You have to find people to help you.”
The women got sidetracked briefly by a
consideration of the unlikely ways that
education occurs. Because they love
Bollywood films, a lot of Somali girls
speak the Indian language, Urdu,
observed a Somali participant named
Sufiya. A white woman marveled that
given Somali standards of modesty, girls
would be allowed to watch scantlydressed
Hindis shaking it in Bollywood
dance fests. This provoked some eyerolling
from Sahra, another Somali
immigrant, who said, “This is very true,
they are not allowed to watch, but when
you are a teenager you are a teenager. It
doesn’t matter what culture you are from,
you are going to do it anyway.”
The group drifted into
the question of how
teachers are regarded
in their various
cultures. “Teachers
and education are put
on a very high
pedestal,” said Ayan.
So high, added Sufiya,
“that my kids don’t
respect me like they
respect their teachers.
It can be annoying.”
But that can also turn
into a parenting tool,
she allowed. “If my
kids are giving me a
hard time at home I’ll
tell them that I’ll tell
their teachers at
Islamic school. And
they will say, no,
don’t, and cry.”
I floated the idea that
some teachers were
good, some bad, and
that you had to stick your nose in and try
to get your kid set up with the good
teachers. Morgan, an African American
library staff person, said that in her
community, teachers were regarded often
as nothing more than babysitters. “There’s
not a lot of respect. We don’t hold as
much respect for teachers as we should.”
OOPS! In our last issue we misidentified a winner in the
Greens Queens contest held at Pilgrim Baptist Church.
That’s Ruby Banks-Payne, center, bracketed by Keya
Tabor (left) and Vivian Mims. They were all winners in a
greens cook-off that explored the many routes to
happiness via fresh-cooked greens. In case you missed it
the first time around, you can read more about the event
at greeningfrogtown.com. Check the Archives page.
The conversation was sponsored by
Rondo Library and the Minnesota
Literacy Council. Additional sessions are
scheduled for 4-5:45 pm on March 22 and
April 1 0 at Rondo, with subject areas still
to be determined. You can gaze through
this window on cultural perceptions just
by showing up.
— Tony Schmitz
PAGE 4 MARCH/APRIL 2017

Ashes, Ashes, They
All Come Down
Frogtowners driving east on Minnehaha
Avenue off Lexington may have noticed a
sad little line-up of tree stumps, the
remnants of dozens of ash trees cut down
in the wake of infestation by emerald ash
borer (EAB). There’s more to come, with
201 7 ash removals on Minnehaha from
Lexington to Chatsworth, and on Van
Buren and Blair from Oxford to
Chatworth.
Removals began in early January, reports
forestry staffer Rachel Coyle. “EAB has
now been found in the majority of the
city, including Frogtown,” Coyle says.
Once the borer (a metallic green, halfinch
long beetle) takes up residence in an
ash tree, the tree is likely doomed,
without proactive and expensive chemical
treatment. The adult beetles nibble on ash
leaves but cause little damage. However,
their larvae feed on the inner bark of ash
trees, disrupting the tree's ability to
transport water and nutrients.
St Paul’s forestry department has been
removing ash trees on city property since
201 0, to reduce the total percentage of ash
trees on boulevards and in parks. This
year, trees actually infested with the ash
borer will be removed. The city’s
foresters do treat some “high value” ash
FROGTOWN NEWS
trees with insecticide, but only when they
are healthy, a good size and not likely to
interfere with utilities or street lights.
What about ash trees on private property?
If chemical treatment is not an option,
“about the only thing people can do is
care for their trees…water, mulch, prune
properly,” advises Coyle. For more
information, check the forestry
department’s website, stpaul.gov/forestry
or stpaul.gov/eab for information.
Frogtown Green’s Tree Frogs will once
again collaborate with forestry staff to
plant more trees on private land, says Tree
Frog leader Liz Colwell. “Once spring
comes, we’ll be signing folks up who can
care for a new fruit or shade tree,”
Colwell reports. “We’ll have about three
dozen trees to give away. It’s a small way
to offset the EAB damage, and to grow
tree canopy in Frogtown.” The Tree Frogs
have given away and planted more than
250 new trees in Frogtown since 201 0.
Organized Trash
Talks Continue
Negotiations continue as the city and St.
Paul's 1 5 trash hauling firms move toward
an organized garbage collection system.
As most Frogtowners know too well,
YOGA QUEEN: Cardrian Massey offers
yoga classes at West Minne Rec, 6-7
pm, Tuesdays, for an $8 drop-in fee.
under the current system each household
is obliged to contract with its own hauler.
The result is numerous trucks plying each
alley, resulting in more pollution, noise
and alley wear. Since bulky items like
tires, furniture, appliances and mattresses
cost extra to get hauled, often they're
illegally dumped in alleys.
Among the goals of organized collection
are to limit the number of trucks per alley
and improve service.
Anne Hunt, the mayor's environmental
policy director, says that after numerous
negotiating sessions with two key parties
from each of 1 5 trash firms — a mob of
30-plus people — there are still several
issues left to resolve. The city wants the
contract to include a labor peace
agreement that will permit workers to
unionize. It also wants to sign a contract
with a single consortium of haulers, and
not with 1 5 separate firms. The cost of
customer service and billing is also too
high, by the city's lights.
Significantly for Frogtown, the issue of
bulky-item disposal remains unsettled,
with an ongoing discussion of whether
pick-up of a certain number of bulky
items can be included in residential
hauling fees. It's a critical question in
Frogtown, where the high cost of bulky
item disposal can lead cash-strapped
neighbors to dump that junk mattress or
sofa in a dark alley.
The haulers have a March 21 deadline to
submit a final version of a contract. If the
terms are unacceptable to the city, it has
the option of putting out a request for
proposals to manage trash hauling. A
single firm or group of firms could offer
bids on collecting the city's trash.
How soon will the switch-over to
organized hauling occur? Right now there
are too many unsettled questions to nail
down a date, says Hunt. Best guess:
between mid-201 8 and mid-201 9.
MARCH/APRIL 2017
PAGE 5

FROGTOWN NEWS
HERE'S THE NEW SCHEFFER REC: Residents who attended a community input
meeting on February 1 6 were treated to exciting new plans for the multi-million
dollar renovation of Scheffer Park and Recreation Center. The outdated recreation
center, which dates to the 1 970s, will be replaced with a $6.8 million building.
Funding will come from the city of St. Paul’s Capitol Improvement Budget.
City park planners have been working with JLG Architects to create a design for a
new facility that will include a large multipurpose area, an arts and crafts room, a
commercial kitchen and more. (See image above.) They have also held several
community input meetings, including informal surveys of park users and
shoppers at the nearby Hmongtown Marketplace.
The new design moves the center building northward. A north-facing entry will
open to Como Avenue, while a south entry will lead to renovated playgrounds and
fields. “This design with an open, glass entryway and lots of windows means that
the rec center will light up at night,” said city architect and planner Christopher
Stark. “It will be a beacon for the neighborhood."
The old building will stay up until the new one is built, according to Stark. Playing
fields will remain open during construction as well. Center staff will be added to
accommodate an anticipated boost in traffic. For more information on the park
and rec center renovation process, contact project manager Chris Stark, (651 )
266-641 9 or Christopher.Stark@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Photo by Megan Phinney
Party time: Aniya-Jade Moore and her grandmother, Delinia Parris.
Her Birthday, But Presents for Others
Aniya-Jade Moore turned 1 0 on January
23. Like many kids, the excited fourth
grader wanted something special for her
birthday. In this case, though, the
“something special” was not what you
might expect.
Aniya-Jade explains: “Me and my
grandma wanted to help people who have
less than us. We started by going to the
bank and taking out some money. We
made about 25 little bags, and filled them
with things like toothpaste and coupons
for White Castle, and a few dollars. We
handed them out to people who are
holding up signs at the street corners.
They would say ‘thank you’ or ‘god bless
you.’
“That made me feel good, so I decided
that I wanted to do something more on
my birthday. So we sent out an invitation
that said “Aniya would like to celebrate
her 1 0th birthday by having people bring
a donation for Family Place, a day shelter
for homeless families with children.”
Delinia Parris, Aniya’s grandmother, takes
up the story. “It actually went pretty
well,” she marvels. "There were 1 2 kids
and their families brought all kinds of
things. Toothbrushes, toys, stuff for the
moms. There was about $1 ,600 worth of
gifts, including cash.”
Aniya contributed some of her own books
and toys, delivering them to the Family
Place in person. Would she do it again?
“Yes,” says the 1 0 year old. “Helping
people is important, and you have to be
grateful for what you have,” she
concludes. “It made me happy to do it.
And I still got some presents!”
PAGE 6
MARCH/APRIL 2017

MARCH/APRIL 2017
PAGE 7

Grow Your Own!
FROGTOWN FLAVOR
Frogtown Farm offers gardening tips and space to neighbors
By Hannah Whitney
On top of one of St. Paul’s tallest hills lies
one of the city’s newest food-related
treasures.
Here, tender greens sprout, a hoop house
warms delicate produce, and carefully
designed clover patches ward off erosion.
It’s Frogtown Farm! The Farm is part of
Frogtown Park, a new, 1 3-acre city park
nestled between Victoria and Minnehaha
Avenue.
Stephanie Hankerson has been living out
her dream as the community organizer for
Frogtown Farm. A Midway resident for 20
years, she witnessed its evolution, and
was inspired by its fresh energy and vision
of food justice.
After testing out the corporate waters for a
bit, Stephanie realized that it just felt right
to be in a community-based organization.
She is a long-time Ramsey County Master
Gardener, and has worked in urban
forestry, pollinator advocacy, and other
community gardens within the Twin
Cities.
“Understanding your food and where it is
coming from is crucial to ensure that you
have the most delicious, nutritious, and
sustainable food available,” says
Stephanie. “If you’re relying on fast foods
and restaurants, it can be very expensive.”
The solution? Grow your own food.
Stephanie Hankerson, Sinying Lee and her daughters, Pashalia and Cattleya
Admittedly, it does seem daunting to
grow things at first. Where do you start?
Which herbs grow well here? How do
you know which conditions each
vegetable species needs? Luckily,
Frogtown Farm is here to help. Not only
are they here to set an example for food
growing, but they provide on-site
resources, space, and guidance.
Neighbors can farm at a smaller field area
within the 5-acre Farm, called The
Commons. Here, growing and harvesting
are done together. The idea is that people
with specific skill sets or production
goals can collaborate and help each other
out. And, everyone seems to be thrilled to
get a garden going. Around 200 people
have already come through the Commons
in just the past year.
There are challenges to this, of course.
New gardeners often do not know the
tricks of harvesting, such as how to avoid
food dying on the vine. Ideally, crops
should live the longest and stay the
freshest. But, this is Minnesota, after all,
and the weather could be wet, warm,
cold, or dry. Fortunately, everyone brings
a bit of knowledge to the table. This
allows for better problem solving and,
ultimately, more smiles.
Frogtown Farm provides guidance from
Photo by Seitu Jones
seed selection all the way through the
cooking stage. At the Commons, dozens
of community members have made
kimchi, pesto, and hot sauce, all using the
freshest ingredients possible from their
— Continued, Page 11
Kenrie's Hot Sauce
by Frogtown farmer Kenrie Williams
Note: take care when handling hot
peppers! Gloves for your hands, and eye
protection are a good idea. Also, if
making this indoors, you may notice the
spiciness in air. Ventilate!
2 c. hot peppers
1 /2 tsp pickling salt
1 c. apple cider vinegar (regular vinegar
can work, as well)
1 small clove garlic pressed or minced
In a large pot, combine vinegar, salt, and
garlic and bring to boil for 5-1 0 minutes
Fill blender with chopped peppers
Pour brine over mixture (Reserve some
brine to allow you to adjust consistency.
Blend the mixture and add more brine if
needed). Hot sauce thickens with age.
After blended, pour into jars, store in
refrigerator or freezer. Lasts for months.
*add herbs if desired, or adjust the
spiciness by adding more or fewer
peppers.
*should create 2 cups of final product.
is published six times per year by
Health Advocates Inc.
843 Van Buren Ave., St. Paul,
and is distributed door-to-door in the area from
Lexington Pkwy. to 35E, University Ave.
to Pierce Butler.
Publisher: Patricia Ohmans
Editor: Anthony Schmitz
Contact us at
651 .757.5970 (Patricia) patricia.ohmans@gmail.com
651 .757.7479 (Anthony) apbschmitz@gmail.com
Ad rates & more at GreeningFrogtown.com
Next issue, May/June. Ad deadline April 1 5.
Health Advocates also sponsors Frogtown Green,
an initiative that promotes green development
as a means to increase the health and wealth
of Frogtown residents.
The Frogtown Flavor feature is sponsored by a donation from
the Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Minnesota Foundation.
PAGE 8 MARCH/APRIL 2017

FROGTOWN HEROES
The Kidders Make the Honor Roll
Decades ofcommunity service honored with City ofSt. Paul award
Jeff and Kristen Kidder joined the ranks
of Frogtowners on the city’s
Neighborhood Honor Roll in a late-
January ceremony at St. Thomas
University. The City of St. Paul award
recognizes residents who have gone
above and beyond in their volunteer
efforts to build healthy neighborhoods.
Honorees are nominated by local district
councils. Frogtown Neighborhood
Association director Caty Royce said the
Kidders were an easy choice.
“They’re clearly one of the hearts of
Frogtown,” said Royce. “They’ve always
been willing to do anything. They’ve had
a drop-in center in their home for years
for neighborhood kids. When there were
kids in that area wreaking havoc, they
were willing to talk to Kristen when they
wouldn’t talk to anyone else. Jeff has
serenaded us through the years. He’s used
music to ease us into a space for
important conversations with his musical
gifts.”
The Kidders moved to Frogtown in 1 991
after a stint working with a Christian
community in Haiti. Upon returning to
the US they explored ways of be part of a
community here. Drawn to Frogtown, in
part because of modest house on Charles
Ave. and Mackubin that included a big
empty lot on
the corner, they
set down roots.
“It’s not like
we came with a
mission to
make
something
happen,”
Kristen said 25
years later.
“We wanted to
be a prayerful
presence, and
be part of the
community. We
started out just trying to be outside in the
yard and meeting people.”
Some of their new neighbors were
befuddled by the notion of a prayerful
presence. The early ‘90s in Frogtown
were mostly notable for the chaos created
by the then-exploding crack cocaine
trade. The house across the alley,
eventually demolished and replaced by a
Habitat for Humanity home, was locally
notorious as a locus of the drug and
prostitution business. Kristen recalls
encountering one of the home’s residents,
sitting on the
back steps,
wearing a
hockey mask
and slapping a
machete in his
palm. “Why,”
he asked, “did
you move
here?”
It didn’t take
long for the
Kidders to
become
woven into
Frogtown’s
social networks. Kristen joined the board
of the Thomas Dale Block Clubs, a
Frogtown block-club network that
included about 600 people. Later she
served on the District 7 board, and
became executive director of the
organization (now called the Frogtown
Neighborhood Association) in 2000. In
the years since, she’s also been a board
member of the Greater Frogtown
Community Development Association
and Frogtown Farm. Most recently she’s
worked to create a neighborhood-friendly
coffeehouse that could also serve as a
community gathering center.
Meanwhile Jeff has been involved with
the low-power Frogtown radio station
WFNU, organized impromptu music
sessions with neighborhood kids in the
yard and home, and also served as music
director at Messiah Episcopal Church,
and evening service music director at St.
Matthew’s Episcopal.
The award comes at a trying time in their
personal lives. Jeff is currently
undergoing cancer treatment. In
December their home was left seriously
damaged and uninhabitable after a fire.
Long-term neighborhood involvement
can grind people down, but Kristen said
that she’s seeing encouraging signs.
“When I look around I feel like there’s
less poverty and there’s a younger
generation that’s getting engaged. I’m
excited about being in the neighborhood.
“A lot of basic things have improved. You
see more kids with their parents. There
— Continued on Page 11
MARCH/APRIL 2017
PAGE 9

WHO SPEAKS FOR FROGTOWN?
She Heads Neighborhood's Link to City
Corina Serrano chairs the Frogtown Neighborhood Association
Who speaks for Frogtowners? In the
continuing wake of a very surprising
presidential election, Frogtown residents
are looking with new interest (and
sometimes concern) to see who represents
them at every level of government. For
the second in a year-long series of profiles
of local elected leaders, Greening
Frogtown caught up with Corina Serrano,
who chairs the board of the Frogtown
Neighborhood Association (FNA).
The non-profit organization functions “as
a neighborhood-level point of contact
regarding various city processes, as well
as for addressing issues identified by
community residents and/or businesses,”
according to its website
(www.frogtownmn.org)
attend Macalester College. When my
husband and I decided to buy a house, we
thought we would like to live in a
neighborhood where residents looked like
us, or where kids would look like our
kids. The diversity of Frogtown appealed
to us.
As for joining the FNA; our parents
instilled in both my husband and me the
desire to be active in the community. We
started going to neighborhood meetings
once we moved in, back in 201 3. I
thought it was too early to run for the
FNA board, but Caty asked me to almost
immediately. As for becoming the chair, I
was actually on vacation when I got a
text saying, “Congratulations, you’ve
been nominated!”
The FNA board is made up of people who
live, work or own property in Frogtown,
and is elected each year at the FNA’s
annual meeting. Board meetings are held
on the second Tuesday of every month
(except June and December) at the King's
Crossing Community Room at the
Northeast corner of Dale and University,
from 6-8 pm. Ms Serrano has been board
chair for more than a year.
Greening Frogtown: What is the function
ofthe Frogtown Neighborhood
Association?
Corina Serrano: To make sure residents
have a voice and are listened to in any
decision affecting the neighborhood.
What is the current budget (for 2017) for
the Frogtown Neighborhood Association?
How many people are on staff? What are
their roles?
In 201 6 our revenue was $41 6,000. We
are planning to have around the same
amount for 201 7, given pending grant
applications. We received a Bush
Community Innovation grant for
$1 70,000 in mid-201 6. Most of that grant
will be used for 201 7 activities. We have
four full time staff and a couple of parttime
contractors. We are hoping to get
funding for workforce development and
food shelf activities.
Can you give me an example ofan action
taken by the FNA that successfully
channeled neighborhood voices?
In summer 201 6, the Community
Stabilization Project (CSP) started a
raised bed garden on a vacant lot next to
the building we share, at 501 North Dale.
Even though the FNA is not the owner of
the lot, we got a notice from Ramsey
County saying that the garden had to be
removed, because the lot was not ours to
garden. On behalf of CSP, we went back
and forth with the county, and posted the
problem on Facebook. The story was
picked up by the Pioneer Press. Finally
we managed to get an agreement with the
county that the garden beds could stay, at
least for the rest of the 201 6 season.
(Editor’s note: a fence around the vacant
lot with a locked gate and “No
Trespassing” sign was installed by
Ramsey county staffin December 2016. )
How about an example ofan action taken
by the FNA which was not as successful?
Can you analyze why?
Here’s one I wish had gone better. We
were surprised to learn last fall that
Sharing Korners food shelf would be
shutting down, but when we heard the
news, we contacted them to see if we
could step in or be helpful. And if not, we
thought that perhaps we could use the
Sharing Korners van or receive other
assets of the non-profit, since when you
close a non-profit, the assets have to be
passed along to another non-profit. The
conversation was not as relaxed as I
thought it would be. The organization
leaders seemed very defensive, and it was
hard to understand where that was
coming from. I wish we had had a better
relationship all along, then maybe we
would have known that they weren’t
going to get their funding renewed, and
we could have helped out more.
Why did you decide to join the FNA
board? How did you become its
chairperson?
I’m a transplant to Minnesota, originally
from Texas. I came here for school, to
The job takes a lot of time for me, but it
can be as little or as much as you want. A
lot of board members have family or job
commitments that I don’t have right now,
so I tend to volunteer for more. Some
months are busier than others, too.
How does the FNA communicate with
residents?
FNA uses all forms of communication:
website, social media, newsletter,
meetings, door-knocking. Our Facebook
page is probably stronger than our
website in terms of getting updated
information, because it can be added to
more easily. It’s probably the best way
for residents to get up-to-date
information. We don’t really have a
person on staff whose forte is website
management. Or people can just come to
the office, at 501 North Dale Street.
What is the best way for residents to
communicate directly with you?
My personal email is best,
corinaserrano@gmail.com
What are your two top priorities for the
— Continued, Page 11
PAGE 10 MARCH/APRIL 2017

CORINA SERRANO, CONTINUED
organization you lead? How will the FNA
accomplish these?
Priority #1 is to prevent economic and
cultural displacement. Now that our
property values are increasing rapidly, so
are our property taxes. This puts pressure
on rents, which are no longer affordable
to many renters, especially those with
vouchers. Increased taxes and insurance
also make it harder to own a home
especially when your income isn't
increasing at the same rate as these costs.
This is a cycle that can happen very
quickly, and has to be prevented with a
coordinated effort. People need to be
aware of the services that are available,
like NeighborWorks Home Partners, that
can help you fix up or buy a house. The
Community Stabilization Project offers a
service to renters so they can know their
rights. FNA can refer people to agencies
that can help them stay in Frogtown.
Priority #2 is to revitalize the Victoria
Theater (Editor: the FNA has been
working for several years to transform a
long vacant historic theater near
University Avenue and Victoria into a
community-owned venue with space for
visual and performing arts. ) I’m on the
Victoria Theater steering committee. We
need to hire a project manager, to keep up
momentum on this project. Ideally it will
be someone from the neighborhood,
someone with arts or development
experience. We do have a purchase
agreement with the land bank that actually
holds the title, but we need to raise the
funds to buy the theater, as well as to
renovate it. Even though the Victoria
Theater initiative will be a separate nonprofit
organization soon, we expect the
FNA will remain involved.
KIDDERS, CONTINUED
are curbs on our street. The street lighting
has been upgraded. Compared to 1 991 , it
doesn’t look like a forgotten area.
"Looking forward, I think it’s important
that the neighborhood, local organizations,
funders and government work together to
protect affordability. I don’t want to see
Frogtown turn into a place where low
income people can’t afford to live. Right
now it’s a place where all sorts of people
are mixed into together, and that doesn’t
happen very often. It’s what makes
Frogtown such a special place to live.”
TAXES, CONTINUED
in. The process inevitably includes some
waiting, first to get signed in, then to get
SHE'S FROGTOWN'S RADIO COORDINATOR: Simona Zappas is the new
coordinator of WFNU, the Frogtown’s low power FM radio station. “I feel like I have
my dream job,” says the 24-year old, a transplant from Los Angeles and
Macalester College grad. Zappa replaces Julie Censullo, the station’s first
manager. “Julie did so much work getting the station off the ground,” Zappa says.
“I’m very honored to be asked to take things to the next level.”
WFNU, at 94.1 FM, can be heard throughout the greater Frogtown area. Zappas
sees her job as enabling DJs. “I have a lot of ideas, but mainly I see myself as a
resource for the DJs, and a tool to keep everything running.” With about 30 shows
listed on the WFNU’s active roster, there is room for more community
participation. Zappa invites anyone interested in becoming a DJ to contact her, at
wfnu941 @gmail.com, or to stop by the radio station office at 995 University Ave.
your taxes done by a volunteer, and
finally to have them reviewed by an
expert preparer.
Frogtowner Aida ("Please, don’t use my
last name," she said), was waiting for the
final tally on her taxes. Her taxes are
simpler than Strain’s — just a pair of W-
2s from the school districts where she
substitutes — but still she prefers to get
them done at the Prepare + Prosper
workshops. “When you have a
professional do it, it takes the guesswork
out of it,” she said.
By her account, she’s gotten the benefit of
knowing she’s entitled to the $800 or so
she’s gotten back in past tax years. Plus
she’s gotten useful counseling about the
benefits of putting some of it away for
future necessities.
“They coach you about savings, so
you’ve got money if something happens
where you need cash. It’s made me more
proactive about saving for those rainy
days.”
FARM, CONTINUED
Many of the lessons and resources
provided are intentionally backyard
compatible. Want to grow your own
potatoes? Frogtown Farm will be there
with burlap sacks, seed potatoes, and
even tools for soil testing. Ideally, every
experience is hands-on and allows for self
discovery and independence.
The Frogtown Farm organizers have
already started choosing herbs and plants
they want to grow in 201 7, based on what
worked last year and which new ones
they want. They plan way, way ahead for
harvesting, and are already talking about
post-harvest handling. They also want to
do more outdoor kitchen activities, and
are looking forward to having more space
for this on the Victoria Street side of the
Park.
All families are welcome to join and
extend their cooking skills, whether they
have stake in the Commons or are just
stopping by.
MARCH/APRIL 2017
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