Hamline Midway Coalition

Every year in January, the City of Saint Paul and the City's 17 District Councils celebrate the contributions of outstanding neighborhood volunteers. Each District Council can name up to 3 groups or individuals for recognition at the City's "Neighborhood Honor Roll" event, which was held on January 20. This year's honorees from Hamline Midway are Pat Vanreese, Kathy Oaks, and the Hamline Midway History Corps.

• Pat Vanreese. We all appreciate having a helpful neighbor - one who will look after our pets or lend us a tool or help with a home improvement project - and Pat is that neighbor. Even more so, we all appreciate having a helpful neighbor in the winter - one who will help remove our ice dams or take out the snow blower and clear the sidewalk and driveways on the block. According to those who live near him, Pat is that neighbor, too.
• Kathy Oaks. For the past several years, Kathy has hosted and promoted the Hamline Midway Barter Market - a time and place for local residents to swap extra produce, trade home-made goods, exchange used items, or just have a good conversation. Through her generous investment of time and energy, Kathy has advanced the twin ethics of neighborliness and stewardship of our planet.
• Hamline Midway History Corps. Since 2005, the Hamline Midway History Corps has persistently pursued its mission to collect, share, and preserve the history of the Hamline Midway neighborhood. From a popular speaker series to monthly meet-ups to archival projects to advocacy for the preservation of the historic Hamline Park Building, the Hamline Midway History Corp has consistently reminded the neighborhood that the future of a community is always firmly rooted in its past.

HMC salutes Hamline Midway's 2012 Neighborhood Honor Roll honorees!

Come out for a variety show to support the Hamline Midway Heartwood Festival! Featuring live music by the Midway-Frogtown Arborators Band and the Brass Messengers, this event will also showcase comics and eclectic performances.

5:30pm (all ages): Midway Frogtown Arborators Band

6:30-8:30pm (all ages): Variety Show hosted by Jason Jones featuring comic Dean Johnson, Pop Wagner, Dreamland Arts' Leslye Orr, dough thrower Nicholas Diesslin, breakdancing, belly dancing, and more!

8:30pm (21+): Midway-Frogtown Arborators

9:30pm (21+): Brass Messengers

Learn how you can help build a strong local food system in our community at the Midway Local Food Resource Hub Kick-Off on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00pm at the Hamline Midway Library (1558 W. Minnehaha). Together with your neighbors, you can gain access to low-cost seeds and plants, gardening workshops, a tool-lending library, newly-established community gardens, and more to expand gardening and healthy food access in our community.

Come learn about local food opportunities in the neighborhood and join the discussion to build on these efforts. Light refreshments and children's activities will be provided.

Local food resource hubs are locally-based partnerships of individuals, organizations, businesses, and Gardening Matters to ensure healthy food access for all. Three local food resource hubs were established in Minneapolis in 2011. Learn more about hubs here and here.

This kick-off event is a collaboration between Hamline Midway Coalition's Local Foods Working Group, Gardening Matters, and the Hamline Midway Environmental Group. More collaboration is needed to make this a stronger effort. If you are interested in organizational collaboration or tabling at this event, contact Faith Krogstad at faith@hamlinemidway.org or 651-494-7683.

Hamline Midway Coalition's Local Foods Working Group voted in November 2011 to partner with Gardening Matters to establish a Local Food Resource Hub in the neighborhood. Local Food Resource Hubs are locally-based partnerships of individuals, neighborhood organizations, and local businesses who support residents to grow their own fresh produce, helping to ensure greater food security and healthy food access. Local Food Resource Hubs are democratic organizations that are community member inspired, driven, and organized. The success of the program depends largely on community support and donations of time, money and resources.

The concept of resource hubs grew out of Detroit and has now spread to many places across the nation. Gardening Matters helped establish the first three hubs in the Twin Cities in 2010 in Minneapolis. The first year's network of hubs had five main focus areas:

• Serve as local points of distribution for physical resources
• Provide physical space for education classes
• Focus on building leadership capacity at the community level
• Develop a community network of gardeners and urban farmers that are able to support one another
• Build community connections

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 16, the Annual “Give to the Max” Day - and donate to the Hamline Midway Coalition!

Throughout the 24-hour period of 12:01am to 11:59pm on 11/16, one donor will be randomly chosen every hour to have $1,000 added to their donation. So donate during the dark underbelly of the night and in the dim predawn light!

What a great way to help make our neighborhood an even better place to live, learn, work, and play.

It’s easy. Donate using the box on the left, or:

1. Go to the Hamline Midway Coalition's page on GiveMN.org.

2. Enter your donation!

This is an exciting time for Hamline Midway residents who want to improve Mississippi River water quality! As part of the upcoming 2012 Residential Street Vitality Program (RSVP), residents whose streets will be reconstructed this summer (see map of Hewitt-Tatum RSVP Project) are eligible for FREE boulevard rain gardens with joint support from the City of St. Paul and the Capitol Region Watershed District. [Don't live in the Hewitt-Tatum RSVP area? You may be eligible to receive grant assistance from the Capitol Region Watershed District.]

A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression to catch rainwater and allow it to infiltrate into the ground within 48 hours. Rain gardens contain plants that can tolerate standing water for several hours. Rain gardens help the Mississippi River's health by allowing water to infiltrate into the ground rather than run off into storm drains directly to the river. Boulevard rain gardens in this project are engineered to accept some stormwater run-off from the street.

For RSVP residents interested in having a boulevard rain garden, the City will install a curb cut, dig a depression into the boulevard, and put down mulch as part of the street repaving project for no extra cost. The watershed district will provide planting designs and free plants for residents to transplant into the rain garden. Residents are responsible for watering and maintaining the rain garden.   

Want to make your home and garage more secure? Download our new Residential Burglary Prevention Checklist for tips and tricks to trip up burglars. Get copies to distribute to your neighbors from Hamline Midway Coalition. Contact Faith at 651-494-7683 or faith@hamlinemidway.org.

Over 30 volunteers turned out for the first Green Alley Work Day on Saturday, September 24! The crew pulled weeds, pulled trees, disposed of garbage, mulched, and planted on 17 properties. Many thank-yous go out to neighbors, Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) members, Hamline Midway Coalition's Community Building Committee (CBC), and our Master Gardener Diane Fraser. The alley was transformed when trash-filled, overgrown, and untidy spaces were cleaned up and planted. Plus, some block residents connected for the first time while others strengthened their relationships throughout the process. Better neighbor connections and well-kept spaces can help prevent crime such as illegal dumping, graffiti, and residential burglaries.

The vision of the project was to support residents who want to improve their alleys for water quality, safety, food production, and aesthetics. This block on Charles Ave between Griggs and Syndicate got 20 property owners on board with a green alley pilot project, and in exchange, received organizing help and volunteer assistance for a Green Alley Work Day from the CBC and HMEG. One alley resident and work day volunteer expounded on the benefits of the event: "Many alley [spaces] that looked derelict now look clean and tended-to. I met neighbors I'd never spoken with before, and had great conversations with residents I almost never see. [Plus] I got to use a weed wrench!" Another volunteer said, "Extreme Alley Makeover should be the name of this program - beautiful transformations of neglected space!"

Hamline Midway Coalition has departed from its long-time home at the Hamline Park Building and is now located in the lower level of the Hamline Midway Library at 1558 West Minnehaha Avenue, just east of Snelling. We hope that this new location will be more convenient. Please stop by and see us!

All HMC board, committee, and working group meetings will now be held at the library.

HMC staff have new phone numbers and the old HMC phone and fax numbers will no longer be in service. Contact Michael Jon at 651-494-7682 and Faith at 651-494-7683.

Over the next several months, HMC will be working with the City of Saint Paul to find a new use for the Hamline Park Building. This process will begin with a Community Meeting on the Future of the Hamline Park Building: 7:00pm, Monday, October 10 at the Hamline Midway Library.

For more information, contact Michael Jon at 651-494-7682.