JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
Inside...
Somali‐owned
Restaurant, Mall
Set for Dale St.
Mahad Aden is
transforming a
once-troubled
corner — P. 8
BIG IDEAS: A PUBLIC HEALTH SOLUTION TO GUN VIOLENCE? P. 2
That'sAll,Folks
Final issue ofGreening Frogtown; Monitor to continue coverage
Not much lasts forever,
including Greening
Frogtown. This is our
last issue.
It’s not because
Frogtown has run out
of news. Anyone who
lives here knows there’s
always plenty going on.
A lot of it is good news,
as you can see in this
issue. For instance, the
new Native-centric
building for homeless
kids on University
Ave.; the latest Greens
Queens cook-off; a redo
at the old Bourbon
Bar. Then there’s the flip side: the
ongoing concern about gun violence,
or the precipitous jump in property
taxes. Plus there’s the just plain
complicated: Taxes go up because
home values are increasing. Is that
good or bad?
We’ve been engaged and challenged
over the past six years to explore these
and many of the other issues that
make Frogtown a joyful, frustrating
and always fascinating place. But it’s
We've been at this for a while: (Left) Patricia Ohmans, daughters
Anna, Laney and me in 1 995, when we published the Frogtown Times;
(Right) same kids 25 years later with Greening Frogtown.
time to turn the page.
I’m 66 years old, and have been at the
newspaper business for the past 46
years. I’m ready to open the door to
what the hopeful call the third phase
of life — done with childhood, done
with the workaday world, and on to
whatever it is that comes after.
Patricia and I are happy to report that
Frogtown will still get a newspaper
plopped on its doorsteps in the
local news.
months and years to
come. Tesha
Christensen, the
energetic publisher of
the Monitor — the
newspaper currently
delivered to Hamline/
Midway and Como —
will begin covering
Frogtown and
distributing the paper
here as well. The
Monitor is published
monthly and features
among its writers the
indefatigable Jane
McClure, who will
bring her vast
knowledge to bear on
Patricia and I aren’t going anywhere.
Over the past 40 years we’ve raised
two kids here, run our newspapers
and other businesses, and been deeply
involved in the life of the community.
I can’t promise that we’ll keep our
mouths shut about issues that affect
Frogtown. But it’s time to pass the
torch to the generations behind us,
and hope that the light burns brightly
for them. — Tony Schmitz
It's A Community
Building Crew
Neighbors like
Henry Velasquez do
the heavy lifting
— P. 5
He's Got a 2020
Plan for Peace
Peace Pole planter
Melvin Giles offers
a simple step you
can take every day
— P. 6
BIG IDEAS
A Public Health Solution to Gun Violence?
After meetings filled with hand wringing, a strategy emerges
In recent months there’s been no shortage
of chatter about gun violence, with the
NAACP calling a church basement
session, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter
conducting a series of three community
meetings, and the Frogtown
Neighborhood Association gathering a
number of anti-violence and youth
development reps for a forum.
But what to do to stem the flood of gun
violence that has left 27 people dead in
St. Paul in 201 9? The mayor offered a
plan to direct money for initiatives that
rescind a proposed fee for kids using the
after school Rec Check program; add
money to youth employment programs;
hire more community ambassadors to
connect kids to programs; and experiment
with a public health approach to curb gun
violence.
The last pitch raised a question. What is a
public health solution to gun violence?
Recently Danny Givens sat down to
explain his version of what this means.
Givens is director of violence prevention
for the St. Paul/Ramsey County Public
Health Department. He came to the role
by a non-traditional path, having been by
his own description “on both sides of the
gun” — someone who’s been shot, and
who served 1 2 years for shooting an offduty
police officer in a botched 1 996
It all starts with healing, says city/county violence prevention head Danny Givens.
robbery. In addition to his county job, he
is also pastor ofAbove Every Name
Ministries.
Givens says he got an on-the-street
picture of what is right and wrong with
our approach to gun violence when he
responded to a noon-time shooting in May
at Maryland and Arundel, where 21 -yearold
Marquez Perry-Banks was shot to
death in the street outside a convenience
store. For Givens it was a complicated
moment. The victim was his co-pastor’s
son.
“I was forced to respond not only as a
pastor, but as the director of violence
prevention,” he said. He saw the crew of
officials that gathers when there’s a
murder — the cops, the emergency med
techs, the coroner. Then he looked around
at the crowd watching from the nearby
apartments, and the people gathered in the
street. Realizing that everyone who
witnessed the scene had been touched by
this violence, he approached the
bystanders to give them his number and
tell them to call if they needed to talk.
Soon after, the event gathered another
level of complexity for Givens, who
knew the alleged shooter, Lavelle Darvon
Brown, as well. Brown’s young son had
died nine months earlier, said Givens, and
he had performed the funeral service.
“That particular act of violence was my
baptism on the job,” said Givens. “I was
walking with the victim's family to the
medical examiner for the death
certificate, going with them to survivor
resources, figuring out what happens at
the hospital, with the insurance, with the
first court appearance with the family.” In
the courtroom he looked around and
recognized the shooter’s mother. “I had
just buried her grandson and now she’s
across the aisle,” he said. “My heart was
in two places. It’s not necessarily
appropriate for me to walk over to her,
but as a pastor I have to. What is our
responsibility to the perpetrators of gun
violence?”
The experience underlined for Givens the
cascading and sometimes hidden effects
of violent acts. There are well-oiled
systems to take care of the victim’s body
and to find and prosecute the perpetrator.
But the trauma spills over onto parents,
siblings, neighbors, cops and bystanders
whose emotional unrest is often left to
fester.
—Continued, Page 12
PAGE 2 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
FROGTOWN NEWS
Ignore Snow Emergency? You Might Get
Whacked with Higher Towing Fees
A word of warning about ignoring a St.
Paul snow emergency: it’s going to cost
more. In December, the City Council
raised the price of a tow to $1 75, a hike
from the previous charge of $90 to $1 20,
depending on the company that towed
you. Tack on the St. Paul police fee of
$80, $20 in taxes, the $56 parking ticket,
plus a $1 5 per day impound storage fee,
and now you’re looking at $346 for
failing to move your vehicle.
The reason for the price hike: the
contracted tow firms weren’t earning
enough money to retain the subcontractors
who towed cars. As a result,
too many cars remained improperly
parked, making it tough for city plow
teams to clear the streets.
Avoid the city’s towing charges by
getting advance notice of a snow
emergency.
• Phone app: Get it free by searching
for St. Paul Winter Snow Parking.
• Voice: Call 651 -266-PLOW for a
recorded message about snow
emergency status.
• Sign up for email or text messages at
https://tinyurl.com/snowtowSP
POST ELECTION, BACK INTO THE FIRE: A few days after the November election,
re-elected city councilman Dai Thao held a celebration at Frogtown Community
Center to get the low-down from neighbors. Above he gets an earful from Norbert
“Rocky” Sarzoza, a Capitol Heights resident and retired Public Works employee
who had a few opinions about snow plowing. “It’s poor plowing,” he said. “They
need to do a better job.”
Thao won the Ward One seat for the third time, gaining another four-year term. He
edged out his closest rival, Anika Bowie, by 371 votes out of 6,61 4 ballots cast,
after votes for Liz De La Torre and Abu Nayeem were redistributed as part of the
ranked-choice voting process.
Bowie carried the area from Lexington to Dale between Laurel and University, and
from Dale to Rice between 94 and University. Everywhere else, Thao ruled.
His top priorities for the coming term: affordable housing, public safety and
economic development including small business.
Dale St. Bridge Redo: Detours & Closures
When Construction Begins in February
Get Help for Your Asthmatic Kids
In case you needed another example of
health disparities, metro area health
workers recently served up a Frogtown
session on the radically different rates of
asthma among area racial groups. The bit
of silver lining here: you can get free help
to reduce the risk for kids in your home.
Incidence of asthma is 47 percent higher
in African Americans compared to whites,
said Healthy Homes program staffer Dana
Janowiak. In Hennepin County, health
stats show that kids in low-income areas
are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed
with asthma compared to those in higher
income neighborhoods.
What triggers asthma attacks? It’s a long
list. To name a few — pets, pollen,
chemical fumes, household bugs, fungus,
spores, dust, smoke, pollution, anger,
stress, air fresheners and cold air.
“A lot of things are not in the child or
parent’s control, especially in they’re
renters,” said Janowiak.
You can get free help to get a lid on
asthma attacks in Ramsey County if your
child has been diagnosed with asthma or
has respiratory problems. The Healthy
Homes program offers a visit from an
environmental health specialist and a
public health nurse. They’ll help you
identify asthma triggers in your home,
and provide free products to make your
home safer. The giveaways include a
HEPA vacuum cleaner, air purifiers, bed
and pillow encasements, cleaning
supplies, a radon monitor and asthma-safe
pest control products. Contact the Healthy
Homes program at 651 -266-11 99.
Get set for some Dale St. detours in
February, as reconstruction of the 59 year
old bridge gets underway.
The $1 4.7 million project will result in a
wider bridge with better sight lines and
longer turn lanes to reduce rush-hour
jams. Pedestrian/bike ways on each side
of the bridge will be 1 6 feet wide,
festooned with art work and separated
from traffic lanes by a four-foot shoulder.
Medians, bump-outs and zebra stripes at
key intersections between Iglehart and
University will make crossing Dale seem
like something other than a death
sentence. And a gently sloping sidewalk
on the east side of Dale, north of the 94
ramp, will make it possible for people in
wheelchairs to descend the slope.
The Dale St. freeway entrance and exit
ramps will be closed throughout
construction, which is slated to be
completed by August of 2021 . Traffic
along the Dale construction zone will be
reduced to one lane in each direction for
much of the build out, and portions of St.
Anthony and Concordia will be closed.
Get a detailed view of scheduled detours
and an interesting animation of traffic
flow over the finished bridge at
https://tinyurl.com/dalebridge.
At a November meeting at Rondo Library,
residents pressed for details on minority
and neighborhood-resident hiring for
construction jobs. Federal project funding
specifies hiring goals of 32 percent
minority and 20 percent female workers.
“I’m distrustful of minority hiring goals,”
said Melvin Carter II (the mayor’s father).
“What if they don’t meet the goals?”
Contractors must show a “good faith
effort, and prove they’ve taken reasonable
steps to meet hiring goals,” replied county
workforce development staffer John
O'Phelan.
The redone Dale bridge: longer turn lanes, wider sidewalks, safer for pedestrians.
“We need to make certain that good faith
efforts really are good faith efforts,” said
County Commissioner Toni Carter, who
represents the construction-zone district.
As for hiring generally from the
neighborhood, Noel Nix from the mayor's
community engagement staff, said he
called federal authorities to see if hiring
standards could include quotas of workers
to be hired Frogtown, Rondo and Summit
U. The answer, said Nix: No.
Frog Food by Z Akhmetova
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
PAGE 3
neighborhood is making up for that now,
with gains in value that are among the
highest in the city. The median estimated
value (half higher, half lower) for a
Frogtown home in 201 9 was $1 29,900; in
2020 it is $1 54,1 00.
If you own that median value home,
you’re on the hook for about $2,300 in
property tax, up from $1 ,870 in 201 9 —
about $430 more. So what can you do
besides complain?
FROGTOWN NEWS
Cash-strapped seniors can cut property
taxes by applying to the Senior Citizens
Property Tax Deferral program. If you’re
65 or older and have a household income
of $60,000 or less, you can defer a
portion of the tax on your homesteaded
property. You pay three percent of your
previous year’s household income. At the
$37,000 median household income, that’s
$1 ,11 0. With a tax bill of $2,300, you can
defer $1 ,1 90. The deferred tax is payable,
with interest that cannot exceed five
percent, when you or your heirs sell the
house.
There are savings out there for renters,
too. If your household income is less than
$61 ,320, you can claim a refund of up to
$2,1 50, depending on your actual income
and the amount of property tax paid on
your unit. Get a Certificate of Rent Paid
from your landlord, who is required to
provide you with one by January 31 , and
file for the refund before August 1 5, 2020.
THIS OLD FROGTOWN HOUSE:
Ramsey County valued it at $11 4,900 in
201 8, $1 57,700 for 2020. Taxes will go
from $1 ,473 to about $2,400.
Rising Values Add to
Tax Bite; Refunds,
Deferrals Ease Pain
If you own a Frogtown home, the good
news is that after years of declining or
stagnant value, your house is worth more
this year than it was last year. The related
bad news is that increased value, plus a
higher rate of city and county taxes,
means that you’ll be writing a bigger
check for property taxes again this year.
After the 2008 housing bust, Frogtown
home prices stayed in the cellar long after
other parts of the city had recovered. Our
One good move is to remember to file
your Minnesota Property Tax Credit form
if your income is less than $11 3,1 50. The
refund amount varies with income; the
less you make, the more you get back.
Say you have a household income equal
to the Frogtown median of $37,000.
You’ll get a refund of about $790 on your
$1 54,1 00 home.
You qualify for an extra refund if your
property tax increased by more than 1 2
percent compared to last year, and if the
increase was at least $1 00. No problem
with that $1 54,1 00 home, where the
property tax increase is 21 .5 percent.
Count on about another $350 refund
because of this big tax jump. Combined,
your credits will get you refunds of about
$1 ,1 40. So that $2,300 tax bill looks a lot
more like $1 ,1 60 by the time everything
is said and done.
Nobody loves taxes, but you’re paying
for amenities like parks and libraries, and
necessities like schools and roads, police,
firefighters and social services. At $1 ,1 60,
that comes to about $3.1 8 per day.
A New Landing Pad for Homeless Youth
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for
what seems like forever,” said Ain Dah
Yung director Deb Foster on a blustery
November night. The Native drumming
and singing crew had just wrapped up,
and pipe smoke was whipped down
University Ave. by a stiff wind. What
remained was to cut the red ribbon on a
42-unit supportive housing complex for
homeless Native youth 1 8 to 24 at 769
University Ave.
Even before the ribbon got cut, 1 4 units
had been filled; a testimony to the need.
The efficiency apartments each come with
their own bath and kitchen. Among the
PAGE 4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
amenities are medicine gardens, a sweat
lodge, an activity center for Native crafts,
a fitness studio, workforce center, food
pantry and space for cooking lessons. All
of the residents will have case managers
and access to mental health services, with
staff on site around the clock. Residents
will be expected to pay an income-based
portion of rent, and pursue job and
educational goals.
The distinctive, colorful building makes
an architectural nod to the tipis of the
Plains Indians. Along with Project for
Pride in Living, the facility was supported
with contributions from the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe and the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Said
Foster, “This project has been Native-led
and grounded in Native American culture
and traditions.”
FROGTOWN NEWS
For another view ofAin Dah Yung, check
out its pow wow on Saturday and Sunday,
February 8 and 9, at Central High School.
Dancers, drummers enlivened opening.
How Community Gets Built: Resident‐Led
Celebrations Bring Neighbors Together
a great example of a well-organized and
welcoming event that draws a mob and
builds up a sense of community.
This year the cook-off included a special
shout-out to long-time organizer Megan
Phinney, who’s been an unassuming force
in making the cook-off the stellar event
that it is. She claims that after this year
she’s passing on the torch, and wiped
away tears as she accepted a bouquet.
GREENS COOK-OFF CHAMPS: Bev
and Nate Galloway with the coveted
cook-off first place traveling trophy.
AT THE ANNUAL GREENS COOK‐OFF:
A crowd packed the Mt. Olivet Baptist
Church auditorium December 7 for the
fourth annual Greens Cook-Off, with
retirees Nate and Bev Galloway walking
away with the championship trophy,
besting a field of 1 2 contestants.
The cook-off this year veered into nontraditional
territory, with two vegan
entries that featured unexpected
ingredients including peanuts, butter
beans, coconut oil and tamari sauce. The
Galloways stuck to the basics with a
recipe that included ham shank, collards,
chicken broth, garlic, onion, sugar, salt
and pepper. Secret ingredients? On this
Bev Galloway was delphic. “A little bit of
this and that,” she said.
Nate Galloway was the long-time Central
High athletic
director and is
now a prominent
Ramsey
County Master
Gardener. Bev
Galloway taught
at St. Paul
Public Schools'
Randolph
Megan Phinney
Heights.
If you weren’t there, tough luck — it’s
bitter tears until next year. The cook-off is
FOR SENIORS, A HOLIDAY DINNER:
Baked ham with pineapple, fried chicken,
scalloped potatoes, corn, salad and all the
fixings were on the menu at the annual
holiday dinner for 75 of Frogtown’s
seniors in early December at the West
Minnehaha Recreation Center.
Thanks to the Friendly Frog Events
committee, the holiday dinner went off
without a hitch, despite the absence of
long-time event organizers Larry and
Sharon Paulson. Larry Paulson was
briefly hospitalized after Thanksgiving
with pneumonia but has since recovered,
according to Henry Velasquez, a
committee leader.
Along with his wife Kim, neighbor Lynn
Byrne, and several other Frogtown
residents, Velasquez heads up the 1 0-
member group that has taken
responsibility
for seniorfocused
events. These
include
monthly
luncheons, a
Halloween
party, and
horseshoe
tourneys.
Events are
funded
primarily
through an
annual garage
sale.
Henry Velasquez
Get involved
with the
Friendly Frog Committee by calling 651 -
488-7390 (Lynn Byrne) or 651 -488-9671
(Kim Velasquez).
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
PAGE 5
FROGTOWN NEWS
HE'S GOT A PLAN FOR PEACE: Local peace-pole planter and community
gardener Melvin Giles has an idea for you for the New Year. Here's what
he has in mind:
"I’d love St. Paul to make a New Year’s resolution to decrease violence in
our communities. Can you imagine the positive changes in our schools
and work places?
"A New Year’s resolution with the common focus of increasing the peace
and decreasing the violence in our area would be a powerful and
intentional act of kindness and compassion. You can start by taking just
1 5 seconds a day to repeat a peace message. For example: 'May peace
prevail on my street. May peace be in my child’s school. May there be
peace in all of Frogtown and Rondo.' Each day you can add more
seconds, as well as another peace thought.
"And here is a next step — peace actions you can take: 1 ) Seek peace
within yourself and others. 2) Reach out in service. 3) Protect the
environment. 4) Respect diversity. 5) Be a responsible citizen of the
world.
"For the New Year, peace."
PAGE 6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
HISTORY & THE NEW ENTREPRENEURS
On Dale Street, a Somali Restaurant, Mall
A shuttered Hmong-owned bar to be replaced by Somali shops and eatery
By Jennifer Gascoigne, Patricia Ohmans
Whether you’re new to the neighborhood
or have called Frogtown home all your
life, you’ve undoubtedly passed by the
solid, two story brick building at 691 -693
Dale Street North. Home to a nearlysteady
series of stores, businesses and
bars since the turn of the last century, the
building has recently been remodeled,
and will reopen as home to Kulan Restaurant
1 , run by Mahad Aden.
Aden promises the restaurant will serve
both Somali-style and “American-style
food; both sambusas and hamburgers,” as
he puts it. A partner in the deli-style fast
food counter within the Minnehaha Mall,
Aden brings several years of experience
serving up African food, but he will be
hiring a chef as well as servers.
The restaurant will overlook Dale Street
and share parking with a similar twostory
on the southwest corner of Dale
Street and Minnehaha, which now houses
a day care center. (Both buildings are
owned by developer Daisy Haung, owner
of H86 Property Management. See page
1 0 for Haung’s perspective on the future
of Dale Street as a business and
commercial strip.)
Aden offered a walk-through of the
stylishly remodeled space in mid-
December. The ground floor dining area
Mahad Aden: putting final touches on a remake of a long-time local bar.
features high ceilings and large windows
that flood the room with light. Upstairs is
a group of rooms that Aden says will
become a Somali mall, with clothing
vendors, a henna shop, a cosmetics store
and a tutor's office, among other
businesses. He's looking at a mid-
February opening for the drastically
remodeled building.
Previously home to Malina’s Sports Bar,
the building has been a neighborhood
fixture since 1 907 (although some city
records incorrectly list 1 911 as the year it
was built.) When constructed by
prominent St. Paul brewer Jacob
Schmidt, the site encompassed three
addresses, 691 , 693 and 695 Dale.
Schmidt commissioned the building to
serve as a storefront, offices, and
residential flats. A common example of
mixed-use commercial and residential
architecture of the time, this trend has
seen a resurgence in recent decades. (A
garage that was part of the property stood
at 695 Dale and was razed in 1 963.)
Under Schmidt's ownership, the building
housed residents and offices on the upper
level, and local businesses on the main
floor, including Jacob Schmidt Brewing
Company, Hurd Realty Co. Agents,
Edgewood Dairy, and a handful of other
family concerns.
By the 1 960s, the building had been
converted into a saloon, known as the
Bourbon Bar. Remembered fondly by
locals who bowled on the bar’s league,
played for the softball team, or shot pool
there while sipping 25-cent tap beers, the
Bourbon Bar was a watering hole for the
residents of Frogtown and surrounding
neighborhoods for decades. “My mom
worked there for years, I remember Red
Clausen when he owed it. My
grandmother cooked there. That’s where I
drank all the time. I really miss that bar,”
Kathy Carroll recalled.
While the upper level of 691 -693 Dale
has housed residents since it was built, the
lower level has continuously served the
public and reflects the shifting population
of the neighborhood. By the early 2000s,
the Bourbon Bar was no more, but new
establishments now occupied the space.
Vone Health Center occupied a portion of
the building for a brief period, as well as
Malina’s Sports Bar, a popular gathering
spot for the Hmong community. Featuring
Hmong dishes including pho, chicken
— Continued, Page 12
has been published six times per year by Health Advocates Inc.
843 Van Buren Ave., St. Paul MN 551 04
and is distributed door-to-door from Lexington Parkway to 35E
and from University Avenue to Pierce Butler Route.
Publisher: Patricia Ohmans • Editor: Anthony Schmitz
651 .757.5970 • patricia.ohmans@gmail.com
651 .757.7479 • apbschmitz@gmail.com
See the current and back issues 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 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
FROGTOWN'S FUTURE
WhatWillOurNeighborhoodBecome?
A baby now, 18 in 2038. Frogtowners' hopes, fears for the future that awaits her.
HOUSING
Amanda Welliver
NeighborWorks Home Partners
You’re walking down a Frogtown street
in 2038. What will you see?
According to Amanda Welliver, Frogtown
will continue to be a place where
newcomers to Minnesota get started. But
competition for housing will increase, as
our neighborhood’s easy access to both
downtowns via the Green Line and easy
freeway access will boost its appeal.
The current shortage of housing will drive
new development, and as a result, the
neighborhood will be more densely
developed, with more housing units per
block. Some of the added housing will be
accessory dwelling
units — granny
flats squeezed
alongside existing
houses. Some of
that development
will be multi-story
apartment
buildings along
the Green Line.
And some will be
due to demolition of existing single
family homes that are beyond repair and
replaced with multi-unit buildings.
A lot will depend on government policy
that could be aimed at preserving the
structural integrity and affordability of
Frogtown housing. In general, the
workforce housing built here is old, but
solid. Rehab will be more cost effective
and more resource friendly than tearing
down still-usable homes and displacing
current residents.
Affordable fix-up money is one way to
inspire investment. Building relationships
among neighbors is another. People are
more willing to invest in a community
where they feel connected to the place
and to their neighbors, said Welliver.
When people see their neighbors
undertaking a fix-up, they’re sometimes
inclined to do the same themselves. “It
can be contagious,” she said.
But housing isn’t just about housing, she
cautions. It’s also about jobs and income
that allow neighbors to invest, and that let
renters become homeowners who are
building equity, wealth, and stability in
their housing costs.
Frogtown experienced a major change
during the foreclosure crisis, when many
owner-occupied homes became rentals as
investors picked up under-valued vacant
properties. Now that they are beginning
to sell, a window is open for more resident
owners. But as the popularity ofrenting
remains high, it is hard to know ifownership
rates will return to what they once were.
AGING IN PLACE
Robert McClain
Sherburne Ave.
At the age of 70, Robert McClain is the
proud and happy owner of a Sherburne
Hibaq Ayanle Duran and dad Ayanle Aden: there's education in her future.
PARENTING & EDUCATION
Ayanle Aden
Minnehaha Ave.
Somali immigrant Ayanle Aden will tell you that he’s good right now. He’s got his wife,
three kids, a tidy apartment in the Wilder townhomes, a job, and he’s going to St. Paul
College for a public health degree. But looking at his youngest daughter, Hibaq Ayanle
Duran, he says, “I don’t want her to be as I am right now.” He has every parent’s dream
— that he’s prepared his children to do better than he did.
“So the thing I would like to see for her in 1 8 years is that she has a good education,
that she sees a good future. I want to be a good role model for her. So in 1 8 years, I
hope to own a house here in Frogtown. When kids see their parents have made progress
and are doing good in life, it is a good life for them too, a good future. After 1 8 years I
don’t want them not to know where they are heading. I want them in college or
universities. I want them to have good jobs and a good life.”
The future hinges on individual decisions, he says, but neighbors and the neighborhood
are important as well, Aden says. “If the neighborhood is violent, or not clean, or not
organized, not healthy — all those things matter a lot. They affect our health. They
affect our future.”
Ave. home. Sitting on his sun-struck
porch, he had a vision of what he hoped
the next 1 8 years might bring.
He wants what most people of his age
desire. Decent
health. Property
taxes that won’t
price him out of
his home. And
then, on a more
ethereal level, the
sense that he is
living in a
neighborhood,
and not simply
plopped down amidst a collection of
houses.
Frogtown loves to call itself diverse,
McClain observes, “but for me that
diversity is what I call surface level. If
people don’t interact with each other and
really have a sense of care for each other,
you don’t have a diverse neighborhood.
You don’t even have a neighborhood. You
just have some streets and some blocks.
People have to let down their guard —
their political, social and cultural guard
— open up to each other and share their
experience.”
How do we get there? McClain cites
examples such as the seniors’ Christmas
Party run for years by Larry and Sharon
Paulson. “That brought people together,”
he says. “But we have these rec centers
and these organizations that say they’re
about community organizing. How are
they doing that? Are they just reacting
to… stuff?”
He’s had positive experiences with recent
Kenyan neighbors who have stepped up to
help him with yard work, and a Hmong
neighbor with whom he’s traded house
keys. But at the same time he’s been
puzzled by the reaction he gets on the
street from young people. “They don’t
speak, and if you speak to them they look
at you like they wonder why you’re
speaking at all.” If the future held greater
civility, he wouldn't complain.
Like so many of his age, McClain wants
to stay in his home. To do that, he
recognizes that he’s going to need help
with snow blowing, lawn mowing and
home repairs. This is the time to develop
more support systems that make it
possible for older Frogtowners to live on
their own. As important as those basics
are, McClain kept coming back to a
central theme: living in comfortable
isolation is no solution. “If you’re sitting
in your house alone, that’s a sad affair.
You’ve got to try to get people to find a
way to enjoy each other to some degree.
That’s going to be the key thing.”
COMMUNICATION
Juan Bates
Moderator, Frogtown Neighbors
Facebook page
With co-moderator Kyle Wenzel Munoz,
Juan Bates is the guiding light on the
Frogtown Neighbors Facebook page,
which reflects the emotional contour of
our neighborhood. Post about lost cats,
shootings, break-ins, lost dogs, displays of
generosity to help people in need, angry
rants and ad hominem attacks; they’re all
part of the mix. If this is how we
communicate now, what will it look like
in 2038?
The way Bates sees it, people are still
learning how to
comport
themselves in
public. Our future
selves will have
even more ways to
share their lives
and spy on others.
The 360 degree
video of what’s
going on in our
homes, the
possibility of non-stop streaming of our
lives, the lure of posting that video of
someone outside who seems suspicious —
all of that can contribute to a blurring of
public and private life that Bates isn’t sure
everyone understands. It can breed a sense
that we’re all in this together, or fear and
anxiety over every crackle in the night.
“You can’t be suspicious of everybody
and everything that comes down the
street.”
Beyond that, Bates worries that people
don’t and won’t see the difference
between posting their opinions on social
media and participating in community life
on a face-to-face level. “The challenge, is
some people think, well, I put my message
out there and that’s all I need to do. But
no, you actually have to get out and make
people aware and understand how to get
others involved and effect change.”
A point of future danger, in Bates’ view, is
that social media allows people to put
their worst impulses on display, find
others who agree with them, and create
Jim Jones-like Kool Aid-drinking fringe
groups. “So here’s this way to
communicate and people are slowly but
surely learning how to use it to effect the
type of changes they want. Sometimes
that’s for the better. And sometimes that’s
for the worst.”
PUBLIC SAFETY
Karen Larson
Police Civilian Affairs Review
Commission Candidate
From her perch on Thomas Ave., WFNU
radio personality Karen Larson has had a
typical Frogtowner’s opportunity to
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 PAGE 9
'
develop opinions about public safety in
our neighborhood. She’s taken it a step
further than most by applying for a post
on the Police Civilian Internal Affairs
Review Commission, and signing up for
the Police Civilian Academy, a ten-week
program that aims to educate non-cops
about what cops do.
Her long view on
improving safety
and smoothing
relationships with
police: Improvements
in the next
1 8 years will rely
on maintaining
anti-poverty and
youth development
initiatives that the mayor has
recently proposed. “You’ve got to get
people to the point where they’re not
hungry, where they’re able to buy diapers
for their kids.”
Beyond that, she contends the safety
climate will improve if more cops are
flat-footing it on the street, walking a
beat and making time to know people in
the community. A double benefit would
accrue if cops lived in the neighborhood.
“If cops lived here, the interactions would
be more human to human,” says Larson.
“You know — my job is to enforce the
law, and your job is to be a law-abiding
citizen for he most part. We’re both
flawed but we can come together in our
humanity.”
“I’m hopeful things will be better 1 8
years from now. But people need to get to
know each other again. The nonprofits
need to help with that and create more
places for people to come together. Not
everyone is on social media. Not
everyone can get out to the community
forums. There has to be a welcoming
environment for everybody. If people
don’t feel welcome they’re not going to
come back.”
Larson acknowledges there’s a tension in
building a safer neighborhood. “Of course
we want Frogtown to be vibrant and
doing better, everybody having jobs. But
we also have to be careful to preserve the
history of the people, of the businesses. It
all has to have a shared meaning for
people. You don’t want it to change into
something completely different.”
DEVELOPMENT
Mike Temali, Neighborhood Development
Center
Daisy Haung, Entrepreneur
Anyone with a long memory will recall
the desolation that was University Ave. in
the 1 980s. The Avenue, once ground zero
for auto-related businesses, was
abandoned for the suburbs. White flight
helped to empty out storefronts. Salvation
came in the form ofAsian immigrants,
who filled up the underused commercial
space with mom and pop businesses.
The present is a moment when non-profit
developers have filled up University Ave.
intersections at Victoria, Dale and Western
with multi-story housing/retail structures.
Is this the direction of the future?
Mike Temali, director of the Frogtownbased
Neighbor-hood Develop-ment
Center, was a key
figure in building
Frogtown Centre
at Dale and
University, and is
now undertaking
a similar project
on the corner
across the street.
His vision of
University Ave.
1 8 years from now: more resident-owned
businesses such as hair and nail salons,
ethnic restaurants, barber shops and other
neighborhood gathering places that build a
sense of community. The key, he says, is
development that creates places where
neighbors can gather and build up a sense
of connection. The form that takes might
include more multi-story developments
with housing stacked above well-designed
retail space that offers good signage, easy
parking and meets the needs of residents.
Daisy Haung is private developer with a
somewhat different view. She and her
family are the force behind Shuang Her
market at University and Dale, plus a host
of other revived businesses in
Minneapolis and St. Paul, including,
locally, the former Malina’s Sports Bar,
the recently purchased Hot Yoga building
aat Dale and Charles, and a daycare
operation near Minnehaha and Dale, plus
the buildings that house iPho, Cha Yes
Tea and Ishita Ramen on University and
more.
In her view, the future depends on
attracting what she terms “real money” to
build up Frogtown’s business
environment. Currently the primary path
to development is nonprofits using
government and foundation money, she
says. That’s because leasing fees don’t
justify the cost of buying, renovating and
paying taxes on a local building if all the
money comes out of your for-profit’s till.
“The high-end people don’t want to spend
too much money here because it’s
Frogtown. And you can only rent it for so
much to people looking for affordable
space. The only people who can afford to
do things in the neighborhood are
nonprofits."
Her path to a positive outcome 1 8 years
from now: Cleaning up corners that attract
loitering and crime to make Frogtown
more attractive to higher-end retail, create
a better flow of public money to
entrepreneurs for upgrades of local
commercial property, and do the sort of
branding that helped turn Minneapolis’s
Eat Street into a metro-wide destination.
“Already you see more people walking on
University than you did in the past. The
Avenue could improve a lot faster with
more traffic. In five years we could see a
difference. We don’t have to wait 1 8
years.”
PAGE 1 0 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
SAVING MONEY, LIVING WELL
Waste Reduced, Money Saved
Throwing food away? Time spent up front helps you save
conferring with Seligman, the housemates
set up a “share shelf” in their refrigerator
and pantry. This has the added benefit of
reducing confusion about leftovers and
staples; if it’s on the share shelf, it’s fair
game. If not, hands off.
The housemates also learned to make
better use of the communal freezer, by
chopping, peeling and freezing fresh
produce for later use. “You can cut most
veggies into cubes, bag, label and freeze
them,” Seligman remembers telling the
women. “Put just one or two portions in
each bag, so you’re not defrosting and
refreezing a giant bag of veggies.”
St Paul City School, a charter school in
Frogtown, was an institutional participant
in the Waste Not! program. Food waste in
school cafeterias can be a huge problem,
especially when kids are required to take
a certain number of items from the
cafeteria line, even if they don’t plan to
eat them. A version of the “Share Shelf”
works well at City School, Seligman
reports. “A kid who doesn’t want that
extra banana can set it on the share table,
and someone else who’s extra hungry can
nab it.” With the school serving three
meals per day, the savings can be great.
University of Minnesota extension
educators are working to institute even
more dramatic changes in the City School
lunchroom, through the Smarter
Lunchroom Collaborative, a program
aimed at improving school-based
nutrition. “Waste Not! connected
Extension staff with City School teachers
and the lunchroom manager,” said
Seligman. “Together, they are devising
ways to teach kids about food waste both
in class and in the cafeteria.”
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
funded the Waste Not! program for
environmental reasons, not financial ones.
Spoiled food in the garbage gives off
methane gas, which contributes to global
warming. But keeping food out of the
garbage isn’t just a way we can all address
climate change, observes coordinator
Seligman. It’s also a way to save money:
the average American household tosses
$1 ,500 worth of unused food a year.
Audrey Seligman: tricks to save money and the planet by cutting food waste.
By Patricia Ohmans
Can reducing household food waste
change your life?
If you are a member ofAyanle Aden’s
family, it already has. Aden, a participant
in ‘Waste Not,’ a project funded by the
MN Pollution Control Agency, has spent
the past year tracking just how much food
goes to waste in his family’s kitchen,
while learning ways to reduce that waste.
(The Aden family’s efforts also led to a
feature story on the TV news in
November, https://tinyurl.com/FTwaste.)
Along with fellow Frogtown residents
Diane Howard, Maya Youngman,
Elizabeth Shypulski and Kathy Yang,
Aden learned a number of tips and tricks
that have regularly put extra money in the
family’s bank account.
“Everyone who participated in the
program significantly reduced their
household food waste and decreased what
they spent on food,” reports Waste Not!
project coordinator Audrey Seligman.
“After participating for less than a year,
Ayanle said his family is spending up to
$50 less on food per week!”
Other participants have not closely
tracked their grocery bills, but all agreed
that paying attention to food waste by
planning meals, shopping wisely, cooking
the right amount of food, and storing
leftovers safely led to big changes in the
household economy, says Seligman.
For Diane Howard, the most useful tips
had to do with right-sizing meals for her
multi-generational family. “Diane said
that she used to make giant meals, and
have a lot of leftovers, which she wasn’t
in the habit of re-serving,” says
Seligman. “So lately she’s been making
smaller meals. And when she does have
leftovers, they can be shared with friends
who come over. This was especially true
over Thanksgiving.”
Howard also enjoyed being introduced to
a number of online resources for recipes
and meal planning that help reduce waste.
Recipes at savethefood.com/recipes for
dishes like “Ugly Vegetable Pasta”
“Crispy Sheet Pan Hash” and “Mashed
Potato Apple Cider Donuts” suggest
unexpected ways to use up everything
from eggplant to parmesan cheese.
Frogtown housemates and Waste Not!
participants Maya Youngman, Elizabeth
Shypulski and Kathy Yang share a
kitchen. This sharing—so common
among students and singles—can create
big food waste problems, since each
young woman buys, prepares and stores
their own groceries separately. But after
Top Tips from
Waste Not!
Participants
1. Be aware of your waste.
Collect it
The next time you clean out your
refrigerator, grab a separate container
to collect preventable food waste. For
one day, put in anything that you
intended to eat, but didn’t, like moldy
bread, spoiled fruit, and leftovers.
Don’t include inedible things like
banana peels, bones or tea bags.
Weigh it
Weigh your container on a bathroom
scale. Compost or throw out the waste
when you are done weighing it.
Compare it
The average American tosses a pound
of food a day. How does your
household measure up? How much
food waste could you reduce?
2. Plan ahead
Plan meals for a week
Make a list of ingredients you'll need
and stick to it. Use portion planners if
you’re unsure of ingredient quantities.
There’s a good planning template at
Savethefood.com/planning
Shop the fridge first
Make an inventory of ingredients
you’ve already got in the fridge and
pantry. How can they be turned into
meals? What else do you need to buy?
Think double duty
If you’ve got ingredients for Taco
Tuesday, how can you use the leftover
tacos on Wednesday? If you plan a
second meal around leftovers right
away, they won’t have time to spoil.
3. Store fresh food wisely
Rearrange the fridge
Put foods that expire first on a top
shelf or label a box “EAT FIRST” for
those items. Some fruits and veggies
go in the fridge, others, like tomatoes
and bananas, are better on the counter.
Taste before tossing
“Use by” and “sell by” dates are just
suggestions. Judge whether something
is expired by tasting a tiny bit or
smelling before discarding it.
Love those leftovers
Turn them into tomorrow’s lunch or
breakfast. Check out recipes at
Savethefood.com/recipes
3. Befriend the freezer
Freeze extra meals for another day
Prep whole meals and freeze them, so
all you have to do is heat them up
later.
Don’t scrap your scraps
Extra chopped veggies or even meats
can be used in sauces, stocks and
smoothies. Freeze them if you’re not
ready to use them now.
Use it, don’t lose it
Mark frozen items with the date.
Move your freezer contents to keep
the oldest items stay in plain sight.
Want more tips? Visit
www.pca.state.mn.us/simple-wayscut-food-waste
This story is the sixth and final installment in a sponsored series funded by MPCA and directed by Health Advocates, the Frogtown-based public health
group that publishes Greening Frogtown.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 PAGE 1 1
GUN VIOLENCE, CONTINUED
Givens is in charge of putting together a
better system, and is looking at a roll-out
to begin in summer. So what will it look
like? For families, he imagines what he
calls “grief supportive services,” with
community health workers who meet
families in their homes. “The entire
family has to arrive at a place of healing.
There have to be opportunities to connect
to gainful employment and career
opportunities and affordable housing
that’s liveable.”
For the larger community he sees what he
calls neighborhood change agents and
violence interruptors. “We’ve got to help
the community to understand the culture
of violence, with circles and grief groups
offered in the neighborhood,” Givens
says.
An aspect of that work will be to
reconcile the conflicting stories around
violent acts. “You have a family over here
with a narrative of what happened and
over there you have a family with a whole
different narrative,” he says. Left
unresolved it’s a breeding ground for
further violence.
From his own experience in prison,
Givens sees the need for earlier
counseling and therapy for shooters. He
was 24 months out from his prison
release before he began to receive courtmandated
therapy and treatment. “But I
needed healing as soon as I went in,” he
says. In the meantime he was calling back
home with a message that was unhelpful
to all concerned. “You’ve taken a life, so
it gives you a certain kind of medal or
badge on the outside. It gives you more
influence. So I’m calling back home with
a narrative that’s broken, that lacks
healing.”
The work as Givens sees it is in
interrupting violence before cycles of
shootings and revenge become accepted
as normal behavior. “One thing that’s true
on the street level,” he says, “if you’ve
done it once it makes it easier to do a
second time.”
Local Affordable Housing Gets a Boost
The development slated for the northwest
corner of Dale and University got a boost
in November, when the city’s Housing
and Redevelopment Authority approved
an affordable housing tax credit package
that will provide the major portion of
financing for the $27 million project.
The five story building will hold retail
and office space on the lower levels, plus
40 units of housing above. Rents are
pegged to rates deemed affordable to
renters earning 30 to 60 percent of the
area median income, which is now
$1 00,000 annually for household of four.
At 30 percent, that translates to $675 a
month for a two bedroom apartment,
$1 ,1 25 at 50 percent, and $1 ,350 at 60
percent. The mix in this complex will
include 20 three bedroom units, 11 two
bedrooms, four one bedrooms, and five
efficiencies, with a pair of the two
bedroom and three bedroom units set
aside for otherwise homeless occupants.
Dirt will start flying in late sprint of
2020, says Casey Dzieweczynski of
Wellington Management, which is in
charge of the housing component of the
project. The retail portion is managed by
Neighborhood Development Center. The
building is scheduled to be completed by
fall of 2021 .
RESTAURANT, CONTINUED
feet, and sweet sticky rice with Hmong
sausage, Malina’s also offered a bar,
billiards tables, a dance floor, and Hmong
music. The interior was decorated with
murals that recalled the Laotian jungle.
In 201 4, Malina’s owner Vone Moua was
shot and killed at his bar, reportedly over
a $20 pool dispute. His killer was later
sentenced to more than 41 years. Malina’s
continued to operate under scrutiny of the
public, City Council, and law enforcement,
eventually closing for good during
the spring of 201 8.
The building sat vacant until Haung, a St.
Paul real estate agent, purchased the site
and began the process of renovating it for
restaurant space. Aden, who is leasing the
space and overseeing the interior
remodeling, will sublease the upstairs.
The building at 691 Dale Street will carry
on, in a new incarnation.
Currently un-named development on the northwest corner of Dale & University.
PAGE 1 2 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
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