GreeningFrogtownSepOct

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
Inside…
Not-so-secret shopper Sakinah Muhammad (right) and shop owner Nima Mohamud at Minnehaha Mall.
TREES, HEAT, CLIMATE CHANGE: WHERE WE STAND — PAGE 9
Those Quiet Local Heroes
The community builders behind the Frogtown Fall Festival
How do real neighborhoods get built? It’s when people step up
to fill the gaps they see. That’s why James Matias and Santo
Zarate deserve a tip of the hat from Frogtowners.
This will be the fifth year
they’ve run a Fall Festival for
kids on October 31 . This
year’s event, set for 5 pm to 8
pm at West Minne Rec
Center, will be the usual
extravaganza — a haunted
house, DJs, games, food from
5:30 pm to 7 pm, plus candy,
candy, candy. It’s aimed at
kids under 1 6 — though
older kids accompanying
younger siblings are
welcome, particularly if they
pitch in to help.
This is community service
above and beyond the
ordinary. The event costs
about $4,000 in cash outlays,
to say nothing of the hours
spent organizing, driving to
pick up donations, prep time and the work itself. The greatest
share of the funding comes out of Matias' and Zarate’s pockets.
Why do they do it? “We’re trying to do something for the kids,”
Zarate said.
Last year they planned on 300 kids, but soon learned they had
underestimated. “They came in waves,” said Zarate. He figures
they turn out in such numbers because the West Minne event is
in a safe environment with candy from known sources.
Fall Festival masterminds Santo Zarate and James Matias.
“There’s been more violence around Halloween that’s made it
scary for kids.” Zarate said. “There’s more trick and less treat.
Our big thing is safety, and doing it in your own community. Kids
should be able to trick and
treat at home instead of going
to Summit Avenue.”
By their description, the Fall
Festival is as much about
building up community
participation and creating
networks of neighbors as it is
about giving away bushels of
candy. Though from the kid
perspective, it is really about
the candy. “They want
handfuls,” said Matias.
Matias and Zarate are just two
of the people who qualify as
quiet Frogtown heroes. There
are plenty more. The
neighbors who organized
National Night Out block
parties, the volunteers who
work the weekly food
giveaways, the cadre that shows up to pluck weeds at Frogtown
Farm, the many youth sports coaches, the poor guy who collects
for alley snow plowing — they’re all heroes in their own right.
It's a job that always has plenty of openings.
(Want to help with the Fall Festival? Make a donation at
www. gofundme. com/hs55wb-fall-festival/donate. To volunteer,
call James Matias at 651-347-5221. )
She's a Tiny
House Builder
Millenium Ahma
brings her hammer
to Central project
— P. 5
In County Board
Race, Rettman,
MatasCastillo
Primary narrows
field to two — P. 3
No Hands!
Catch a high-level
demo oftakraw
— P. 3

BIG IDEAS
Bringing Back the Granny Flat
A way to add new housing, but not necessarily on the cheap
What’s a fix for the shortage of
affordable housing? Among the latest big
ideas is to allow homeowners to build
what used to be called a granny flat — a
second small house on a homeowner’s
lot, or a separate living unit in an existing
owner-occupied home.
In the hands of city bureaucracy the old
granny flat has been dubbed an
Accessory Dwelling Unit, or ADU. It’s
the same idea with a different name,
explored now as a free-market means of
adding more housing units while giving
homeowners a way to accommodate an
extended family, or to build wealth by
adding rental property to their lot.
The city council is now considering a law
change that would permit ADUs
throughout the city. That’s a change from
existing zoning regulations, which permit
ADUs a half mile north or south of the
Green Line from the western city limit to
Lexington Pkwy. That law change,
approved in 201 6, has hardly resulted in a
St. Paul ADU boom. Exactly one ADU
has been constructed since then.
An August public hearing on the zoning
change drew a handful of St. Paulites in
St. Paul's lone ADUer, Eric Larsen, in the unit above his Sherburne Ave. garage.
opposition. They complained that there
could be related parking problems, that
neighborhood character could be distorted
by more housing crammed on lots, and
that the expense of building ADUs would
make them difficult to rent for anything
less than market value — thus doing little
to address affordable housing issues.
The larger pro-ADU contingent argued
that more ADUs would create more
affordable housing, while creating a
opportunity for owners to earn rental
income on property that would be
carefully tended. They argued that since
the owner would be required to live in one
of the two units, he or she would have
extra incentive to make sure the property
and neighbors were respected.
Here’s how it works out in the real world,
according to St. Paul’s sole ADU builder,
Eric Larsen. Larsen figures his ADU, built
over a new garage at his home on the
11 00 block of Sherburne Ave., cost about
$1 27,000 total, including the ground-floor
portion of the garage. His ADU is a 600-
square foot, one-bedroom apartment with
handsome wood floors, high ceilings, and
a 250-square foot deck that overlooks a
neat back yard.
The price is somewhat misleading, since
Larsen did major parts of the work
himself. He framed the building, built the
deck, put up the siding, and took on the
interior finishing work, including the
cabinets, counters, baseboards, tile and
flooring. To get all that done, he took
about six months off from work. By
serving as his own general contractor and
doing a major part of the work himself, he
figures he might have saved somewhere
between $50,000 to $1 00,000.
What about the notion of building wealth
via ADUs? Larsen says that over six
months of using the unit as an AirBnB
Continued, Page 11
PAGE 2 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER JULY / AUGUST 2018
6

More Bars, Night Life for Frogtown?
City Ponders Zoning Change
The City of Saint Paul is considering
changes to on-sale liquor licensing along
University Avenue. What will this mean
for Frogtown’s stretch of the Avenue,
between Rice Street and Lexington?
City planners staff and a handful of
citizens at a meeting in Rondo Library in
late July pondered the implications, but
drew few conclusions.
FROGTOWN NEWS
which additional, more flexible on sale
liquor licenses could be issued to other
establishments such as restaurants open
after midnight, bars, breweries and
theaters. Each of these districts would
have a limit on the type and number of
licenses available; taking into account the
neighborhood in which the district is
located.
In response to requests by city
councilmembers Dai Thao and Samantha
Henningson, Saint Paul officials are
weighing whether to broaden zoning and
licensing regulations regarding liquor
sales in up to 1 2 designated “commercial
development districts” outside of
downtown. The idea grew out of the
desire to have more night-life options
surrounding the new soccer stadium going
up at Snelling and University, but has
morphed into a more comprehensive
proposal affecting almost the entire
stretch of University Avenue in St Paul.
According to Dan Niziolek, deputy
director of the city's Department of Safety
and Inspections (DSI), beyond the limits
of St Paul’s downtown, only restaurants,
hotels, and a few private clubs and
colleges are allowed to obtain licenses
to sell hard liquor. The proposed
ordinance would designate districts in
For example, in the stretch between Dale
Street and Lexington, the Victoria Theater
could be granted a liquor license, Ngon
Restaurant could serve drinks
after midnight, or a new bar could be
established and granted a license.
The proposal still needs neighborhood
council vetting as well as planning
commission and city council approval.
District council members would also be
asked to weigh in on any proposed
changes in the actual number and type of
new liquor-serving establishment.
However, besides a Greening
Frogtown reporter, no Frogtown residents
were present at the informational meeting
in July. Frogtown Neighborhood
Association (the Thomas-Dale district
council) did not request planners to
present the proposal at a neighborhoodspecific
meeting, according to Niziolek.
Then There Were Two: Rettman,
MatasCastillo Face Off in Board Race
The August 1 4 primary election for our
district's county commissioner seat
bumped Jennifer Nguyen Moore from the
race, leaving incumbent Janice Rettman
and challenger Trista MatasCastillo to face
off in the November 6 election.
For Frogtowners, the question of who
should sit in this seat is significant. The
board has immense sway over county-run
services, such as health care, safety, roads,
jails, parks, social services and much
more.
increase of 4.5%. I hope to be there to say
“no” in order to keep Frogtown residents
- property owners and renters alike - in
their homes rather than forcing them out
with high tax bills.
MatasCastillo: District 3 has had only
two representatives on the County Board
in the last 50 years, and it is long past
time that we have a Commissioner who
will work productively with her
colleagues to get things done for our
community.
Look! No Hands! (Only Feet and Head)
Fans of the highly athletic and fast-paced game of sepak takraw are finding more
opportunities to play or watch this summer. A demonstration game in July at Frogtown
Park and Farm (pictured above) was just one of these, along with regular indoor
sessions at Scheffer Recreation Center, and tournament games at the annual Hmong
Freedom Festival at Como Park.
To the uninitiated, the game seems simple to understand, but wrenchingly difficult to
play; players use only feet and heads to propel a grapefruit-sized, woven plastic ball
over a net. There are three players on a team: a server, a feeder, and a striker. The
slower bits are a little like hacky sack, but when players get going, flipping and
spinning in the air to wallop the ball, it can reach speeds of up to 80 miles an hour.
Sepak is a term used in Malaysia meaning “kick” and Takraw is a Thai word for a
“woven ball.” In Laos, the game is also known as kataw.
Want to experience the game soon? Check out demonstration games by Sepak Takraw
of USA, slated for Harvest Fest at Frogtown Park & Farm, September 22.
Rettman is a 20-year incumbent who
previously served 1 0 years on the St. Paul
City Council. (Learn more about her at
ramsey3.com.) MatasCastillo is 1 6-year
veteran of three branches of the military,
and a former Habitat for Humanity
organizer, who also founded the nonprofit
Women Veterans Initiative. Find out more
at votetrista.org.
We asked the candidates to respond in this
issue to a single question: What difference
will it make if I am elected to the county
board instead of my opponent? Here are
their responses:
Rettman: I am proud to represent all of
the people of District 3 on the Ramsey
County Board. I believe in listening to
citizens and hearing their knowledge,
concerns and advice. My commitment will
continue to be a full-time voice of and for
the people, to do my homework on the
issues and budgets of Ramsey County, to
weigh diverse interests and forge a balance
before making decisions. At times this
calls for a “no” vote – which is a “yes”
vote for you — rather than a consensus
vote for the sake of “unity."
We know that property taxes will go up.
Next year they could rise $266 on some
Frogtown homes – just for the proposed
city portion. The school district is
recommending a higher levy plus an
additional special levy. The county
manager’s proposed budget asks for a levy
More than half of the people who live in
District 3 rely on Ramsey County for
services, but far too often our
complicated system denies people timely
services and dignity they deserve. I know
this all too well, as I have personally had
to navigate county services for the last 1 7
years on behalf of my severely disabled
child.
Bringing my experience and perspective
to the board will provide much-needed
insights into how we can create and
improve services to meet the needs of our
community. I will fight to put humanity at
the core of our human services, to bring
new investment and economic
development to our historically
disinvested neighborhoods, and work
collaboratively with the other
commissioners to build a county that
works for all of us.
More Election Info: It's a packed ballot
this November, with races for US Senator
and House of Representatives seats, plus
the local state house seat held by Rena
Moran, in addition to Minnesota
governor, auditor and attorney general.
You'll also be making a choice in races
for county sheriff, county attorney and
judge seats.
See the sample ballot at
tinyurl.com/whoonballot. Find out where
to vote at tinyurl.com/ramcovote.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 PAGE 3

FROGTOWN NEWS
Kraus-Anderson's Mark McLane with rendering of micro-apartment building.
In Capitol Heights, Micro‐apartments
That rarest of birds in Frogtown — newconstruction,
market-rate rental housing
— is making its way now through the city
approval process.
The six-story Kraus-Anderson project,
slated for construction at along Como
Ave. between Capitol Blvd. and Park St.
in the Capitol Heights portion of the
neighborhood, will feature 92 units of
what the developers are calling microunits.
The studio and one-bedroom
apartments will range from 400 to 577
square feet.
The building, aimed at young working
people who have not yet acquired a life’s
worth of stuff, will include amenities such
as a fitness room, kitchen area for large
meals, a lounge and lobby for hanging
out, and washers and dryers in each unit,
with covered parking in an adjacent lot.
Proximity to Regions Hospital, the
Capitol and downtown could also make it
a home for legislators, healthcare workers
and office or government workers.
The project started out as a 1 57-unit
building, but was whittled down after
neighborhood meetings. Rent prices are
still up in the air, but will probably end
up in the $1 000/month range, said Kraus-
Anderson real estate director Mark
McLane.
Neighbor reaction? Said long-time
Capitol Heights resident Don
Grundhauser, “I think it looks good.”
Library Makes a Call for Local Artists
Do you wish the Rondo Library had a
more lively and appealing exterior? Are
you a Frogtown or Rondo artist with a
“demonstrable connection” to the
neighborhood? If so, good news! The
library seeks an artist or artist team to
create and install a large permanent
public artwork on the exterior of the
library, and can offer $40,000 to cover
expenses. Unlike many such requests for
proposals, applicants don’t need previous
public art experience, but they do need to
show experience involving community
members in their work. Sessions to help
would-be applicants with their proposals
are scheduled. An initial response is due
in October, with finalists selected by a
panel. Four finalists will receive a stipend
of $1 000 to create a full proposal, and
one artist/artist team will be selected to
create the art. For more details, check
out artatrondo.com
Rebuilding 94: How Should It Be Done?
How can I-94 be improved for the
1 50,000+ people who drive their vehicles
along the stretch between downtown St
Paul and Minneapolis every day? Where
and when are traffic jams the worst along
the freeway? What will technological
improvements, like self-driving cars,
mean for the highway’s redesign? These
questions and more are addressed in a
report released August 1 by the
Minnesota Department of Transportation
(Mn-DOT).
Rethinking I-94 looks at the highway’s
impact on communities along a 1 5-mile
stretch of I-94 between Broadway
Avenue in Minneapolis and Highway 61
in St. Paul. In considering physical
improvements to the freeway,
transportation planners hope to build a
more robust sense of place for
communities along the I-94 corridor;
increase safety for pedestrians, drivers
and bikers; and reconnect neighborhoods,
the report says.
The report, based on input from 2,200
surveys, 250 meetings and 50 listening
sessions, concludes the first phase of MN
DOT’s efforts, which were focused on
community engagement. The work will
culminate, years from now, in actual
freeway reconstruction projects. A copy
of the report is at tinyurl.com/rethink94.
To weigh in with your views on walking,
public transit and biking across I-94,
contact Mark Olivares, community
organizer with Move Minnesota,
at marko@movemn.org or 651-789-1408.
PAGE 4 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

FROGTOWN NEWS
Scheffer Rec: What's In a Name?
Behind the massive piles of dirt at Como
and Marion, the old Scheffer Rec Center
hangs on while its comparatively
luxurious replacement is under
construction. The new center will include
community rooms, arts and
senior spaces, a kitchen and
full-size gym, plus a fitness
room, walking track, and
more. When the new
community center opens next
fall, the name Scheffer will
also be ditched in favor of a
new moniker, Frogtown
Community Center.
What happened? It’s not a
Lake Calhoun-type story, in
which the lake’s namesake
was revealed as a promoter of slavery.
“The easiest way to explain it is that
we’re replacing an old, well-used facility
with a new state-of-the-art center,” said
Parks and Rec marketing manager Clare
Cloyd. Similar changes occurred when
Hillcrest was rebuilt and renamed
Highland Park Community Center, or
Arlington Park became Arlington Hills
Community Center. “In meetings with the
community we heard about pride in the
name Frogtown. The name is a fresh
start.”
So who was Scheffer anyway? “I don’t
Albert Scheffer
know,” said Cloyd. The answer,
exhaustively examined in a biography at
immigrantentrepreneurship.org, is that
Albert Scheffer was a German immigrant
and entrepreneur who arrived in St. Paul
in 1 859 at the age of 1 5. He
was involved in numerous
businesses, including
banking, newspapering,
insurance, malting, mining,
and land speculation, among
others. His financial
successes were matched by
spectacular failures, and
occasional shady financial
dealings. For example, a fund
he held to be disbursed to an
impeached Minnesota judge
went, mysteriously, missing.
Among his final plays was an investment
in the American Guano Company— an
ultimately failed scheme to harvest and
sell as fertilizer bird droppings from
uninhabited islands — a very down-toearth
coda for a figure whose name was
so familiar to generations of Frogtowners.
Participate in mural project: Artist Myc
Dazzle will design a mural for the new
center's teen room. He's looking for your
ideas on themes for the mural. Help him
out by completing an online survey. Find
it at tinyurl.com/frogtownmural.
Big Experience
with Tiny House
Millenium Ahma (below), a senior at
Central High School, was part of the
construction crew that built a 224-foot
square tiny house over the spring and
summer.
"It was an awesome experience," Ahma
reports. "I helped build the walls and put
in some of the electrical wiring and
plumbing." Students built the house with
guidance from mentors in the Minnesota
Trades Academy program, according to
Anna Morawiecki, a school counselor.
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT: INVASION OF
THE SUPER HEROES — How was
National Night Out in Frogtown?
Froggy, as evidenced by Abu Nayeem,
above. The Sherburne Ave. resident
put together his frog super-hero outfit
and made a tour of block parties,
including the down-home event on his
own block. Next up for Nayeem —
helping to organize Frogtown block
clubs. Get more information from him
at anayeem1 @gmail.com.
The house was recently auctioned off for
$1 5,000; funds will support more
construction projects in the coming year.
Ahma, a Frogtowner, spent much of the
summer interning at a local construction
firm, learning about recruitment
processes. "I've learned that trades are a
really good way to make a living," she
observes. Her own plans for the
future—college or a trade? She's still
weighing the options.
This year’s Night Out smashed
previous records, with 405 block
parties overall, and 36,000
participants. Why the boost?
According to police crime prevention
coordinator Patty Lammers, a big
push on social media helped to drive
the numbers upward.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
PAGE 5

THE GENTRIFICATION FILE
What Makes a Healthy Neighborhood?
U ofM expert Ed Goetz on the imperfect solutions to gentrification
Here's another look at gentrification and
healthy neighborhoods, via Ed Goetz,
Director of the Center for Urban and
Regional Affairs at the University of
Minnesota. Goetz specializes in housing
and local community development
planning and policy, with a focus on race
and poverty.
Ifyou were to list the characteristics ofa
healthy neighborhood, and overlay them
on Frogtown, how would they stack up?
I have two answers, maybe more. The first
is that what you’re really asking and what
we search for is neighborhoods for people
of limited income that work. We know
how to make neighborhoods work when
people have resources. They seem to have
schools that work, they have shopping and
other amenities.
Why is it so difficult to imagine
neighborhoods where there is more
limited income but it is not so rough
around the edges? Part of the difference
between these two types of neighborhoods
is the level of private investment — both
in what families can invest, but also
private companies.
The search is for the kind of investments
in neighborhoods that
provide people with a good
living environment. The
danger comes through the
process of gentrification,
when private sector
investment gets triggered
for some reason and begins
to produce a dynamic
process that leads to
displacement of low
income people who are no
longer able to afford higher
rents, or the property value.
But I think we have also
come to understand other
forms of displacement. The
kind of cultural displacement — where
incoming residents bring a new set of
expectations to a neighborhood and there
can be cultural clashes because of that.
The question is how do we trigger
neighborhood improvements without
triggering displacement, and that has
faced policy makers and urban planners
for decades.
Frogtown is a complicated mix. There are
young people who bought when home
University of Minnesota researcher Ed Goetz.
prices were at their highest and they're
still underwater on their mortgage. They
want to see prices go up. There are others
who are squeezed in the tight rental
market and fear that rising prices will
drive them out. How do you accommodate
the greatest number ofresidents?
There are a couple of things to think
about. One is the use and expansion of
community land trusts, which separate
ownership of house from the land. Much
of the appreciation in neighborhoods is
due to rising land values. Housing stock
doesn’t magically improve. It’s the land
value.
But typically lower income families build
wealth through investment in their house.
Limiting the appreciation oftheir home is
a way to keep them poor.
That is exactly the trade off. In exchange
for the affordability at the front end, they
are asked to forfeit the potential gain
from property appreciation. Usually
people are allowed to recover any
improvements in the house, plus a
percentage. The theory is that the benefit
of affordable, stable housing is a platform
from which children can have stability
and improved performance in school.
Adults can have more stability in the job
market. You don’t have to stay there
forever. It’s a launching pad.
Another approach that communities have
taken — and this applies to Frogtown —
is to be very aware of preserving
affordable housing for people who live in
the community.
A very typical scenario is that new
Continued, Page 11
PAGE 6
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 PAGE 7

FROM PAGE ONE
Shopping with Sakinah
One Minnehaha Mall store epitomizes neighborhood changes
Sakinah Muhammad was shopping for a
new headscarf, something nice (but not
too filmy) to wear for the upcoming Eid
celebration at her mosque. Her search
brought her to the Minnehaha Mall at
Milton and Minnehaha, where
shopkeeper Nima Mohamud and her
husband Mark Leverty tend the variety
store they opened last September. Cache
Services LLC is right next to the African
Deli in the midst of an international
lineup of shops that includes the
Sudanese Society, Bon Xai Catering, and
Michael Lee’s barbershop, Elevations.
“We found this space after Nima decided
she wanted to be like her mom, who ran a
store back home in Somalia,” Mark
Leverty explained. “Way back when, it
used to be Dumont’s beauty school,
where you could learn to be a beautician,
and also buy beauty supplies.” Neighbors
with longer memories, like this reporter,
remember Dumont’s, as well as a host of
other former Mall tenants. Their comings
and goings hold a mirror up to changes in
the neighborhood over the decades.
Minnehaha Mall (or as it was then
known, Minnehaha Center) opened over
Mark Leverty, Nina Mohamud, and Sakinah Muhammad at Minnehaha Mall shop.
50 years ago, according to a brief recap of
the shopping center, produced by
Historical St Paul. History writer Jane
McClure noted that the site has hosted
“everything from customer appreciation
events to a neighborhood cleanup…but
what it may have been best known for
was the 50-year-old Minnehaha Lanes,” a
landmark bowling alley that closed in 2008.
Leverty remembers delivering beer to
Ihsahn Mosque (formerly a grocery store,
and then a thrift shop and a dollar store) a
handy place to buy hard-to-find items like
caftans for men, incense holders,
and ZamZam water from Saudi Arabia.
To the uninitiated, these may be exotic
items, but to Sakinah, who has traveled to
Mecca, the ZamZam water is exciting.
She lingers over the bright box holding a
plastic bottle of the water, which comes
from a sacred spring.
Meanwhile, this reporter is tempted by a
cupping kit, supplies for an alternative
therapy that uses special suction cups on
the skin, to stimulate blood circulation.
The lineup of teas and hair oils (mint!
clove! argan oil!) are equally inviting.
Another customer comes in looking for
incense sticks, and is referred to Tobasi
Stop, the gas station just north of the Mall
(the former site of the Flameburger
Restaurant).
In the end, Sakinah finds a scarf and a
navy dress, both perfect for Eid. She
heads out the door a satisfied customer,
adding another page to the history of the
Minnehaha Mall—and the neighborhood.
Minnehaha Lanes, back when he drove a
beer delivery truck. That was before he
met Nima, in 2005, when they both
worked at the Jennie-O plant, in Wilmar.
Four months after they met, Mark
converted to Islam and married
Nima. Six children followed in quick
succession. Now the husband and wife
work together behind the counter,
offering the folks who attend the Alis
published six times per year by Health Advocates Inc.,
843 Van Buren Ave., St. Paul, Minnesota, 551 04
and is distributed door-to-door from Lexington Parkway to 35E,
and from University Avenue to Pierce Butler Route.
Ad rates & more at GreeningFrogtown.com
Health Advocates also sponsors Frogtown Green, an initiative that promotes
green development to increase the health and wealth ofFrogtown residents.
PAGE 8 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Where Trees Aren't
BY THE NUMBERS
Climate change will create heat pockets. Trees offer protection. Frogtown needs more.
What happens when you cut down more
than 80 trees in Frogtown? Two words:
nothing good.
Pavements get hotter, homes turn into
ovens, and everyone gets crankier until
someone turns up the air conditioning.
But then utility bills go up, which drains
the household budget. If everyone powers
up their air conditioner at once, there’s not
enough electricity to meet demand, which
leads to rolling brownouts or even power
blackouts. Older folks, stuck inside on a
hot summer day, can end up in the
hospital with heat exhaustion,
dehydration or worse.
A dire picture, but a likely one, according
to forestry experts and climate scientists
predicting hotter summers for Saint Paul.
In Frogtown we already have a lower
percentage of trees than any other
neighborhood besides downtown. On top
of that, we’re looking at a 20% loss of
existing trees in 201 8 and 201 9, say city
foresters, due to trees dying from
Emerald Ash borer infestation.
The map above shows what Frogtown’s
tree canopy looks like today. Because of
our tree shortage, Frogtown is in what’s
called an urban heat island, where the
temperature can be 9 degrees warmer
than in less paved-over neighborhoods.
Trees are natural air conditioners. Their
shade on hard surfaces like driveways and
sidewalks cuts down on “landscape heat
load “— a build up of heat during the
day that is radiated back out at night. A
single tree can produce the cooling effect
of 1 0 room size air conditioners,
operating 20 hours a day!
Want to help cool your house next
summer? Plant a tree this fall. Frogtown
Green’s Tree Frogs can help, says
coordinator Hannah Whitney. “We’ve got
30 shade and fruit trees growing in the
gravel bins at our Pop-Up Tree Park on
Dale Street,” she explains. “In early
October, the trees will be given away to
Frogtown residents who can plant them in
their yards. We’re signing folks up on a
first-come, first-served basis, and they are
going fast!” Find out more at
frogtowngreen.com, call 651 -757-5970,
or email hannahwhitknee@gmail.com.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
PAGE 9

WHAT'S HAPPENING
PAGE 10 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

Gentrification, Cont.
affordable housing is aimed at people
earning 50-60 percent ofthe area median
income, which is $56, 580 for a family of
four. But Frogtown's median income is
$35, 000.
This is happening around the country, where
“affordable” housing is seen to be just as
gentrifying as market rate housing, because
folks who live there can’t afford it.
I’m fishing for an example where you can
say, yes, this is what they do and it works.
Can you think ofa place like that?
Well, no. That’s an honest answer. Chicago
and other places have tried property tax
abatements. For long-term residents of a
neighborhood who are beginning to see
rising property value, there can be some
deferral or abatement. That could be targeted
to specific neighborhoods that are
experiencing gentrification.
There could be a preference extended to
current residents for assisted housing. There
could be a targeted strategy of home
improvement funds in neighborhoods that
have declining conditions but are also targets
for gentrification.
Here’s the bottom line. Everybody likes
to see the neighborhood look better.
Everybody would like to have better
commercial options. What they don’t
want is to no longer belong in the
neighborhood or be able to afford it.
The $60 million question is how to do
both of them.
I don’t see any way around public
subsidy. Without public subsidy we’re
in a situation of market tyranny. If the
market doesn’t like a neighborhood then
the neighborhood suffers from lack of
investment. Housing conditions decline
and people live in really nasty
environments. It’s affordable but it can
be very problematic.
If the market favors a neighborhood,
the opposite occurs. There's widespread
displacement. In both those conditions,
public subsidies are necessary to ensure
that long-term residents and people of
more limited means are able to share in
improvements.
Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone has
cracked this.
Granny Flat, Cont.
rental, he and his wife Chrissi have taken in
about $2,000 per month with rentals at $11 5
on weekends and $80-90 on weekdays. In
September they’ll rent it to a student/friend
for $600 per month, though Larsen estimates
its market rental value at somewhere
between $800 to $1 ,000.
Would he do it again? Larsen has to ponder
this one for a few seconds before answering,
“Yeah, I think so.” There were, he confesses
some dark moments when they were
looking at the hole in their backyard
and thinking about all the work ahead.
But in the end that was outweighed by
the prospect of extra income, and more
flexibility as his family grows —
“What if we want six kids?” he
wonders.
Following the August hearing, the
council will reconsider the law change
on Sept. 11 .
Out of the Box
Ask the Animal Humane Society Outreach
What should I do if my pet goes missing?
Losing a pet is very stressful. While searching for
your pet, bring warm smelly treats like rotisserie
chicken, sound happy, crouch low and toss treats to
them if you see them and wait for them
to come to you. Do not chase or be loud
and stern or they might run farther.
Look under porches. Ask neighbors to
look in garages. Immediately place food
and their bedding or litterbox where
they went missing.
Next, list your pet on the Helping Lost Pets website,
Lost Dogs Minnesota Facebook page or Lost Cats
Minnesota Facebook page, and the Animal Humane
Society’s Lost Pets website. Share those posts with
the Frogtown Neighbors Group and the Hamline
Midway Neighbors Group on Facebook.
File a lost pet report with St Paul Animal Control at
651-266-1100. Post bright flyers around the
neighborhood with a large, recent photo and a large,
clear phone number. Call your vet and microchip
company to let them know your pet is missing and
make sure they have your contact information. If you
have seen your pet but need extra help catching
them, contact Animal Humane Society to borrow a
live trap for a cat or The Retrievers for help trapping
dogs.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
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