NoMi Entertainment - CC and WangWang Harmonize

The NoMi lifestyle isn't all hardcore politics,activism, outreach and anti-slumlord battles.  Sometimes we just get together and find ways to entertain ourselves using our children or our pets.  Or our pets and children together.

Here's a little Christmas Eve entertainment on the Jordan Pond.  CC and her dog WangWang (pronounced "wong wong," Chinese for little prince) have learned piano together. CC's fingers gliding the keys and WangWang on the vocals.

CC is well known for having awesome birthday parties and being one of the most uniquely bilingual children most adults know. She speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese just as well as she speaks and reads English.

She recently had her own table at the Indoor Farmer's Market held at Local D'lish where she drew Chinese characters with sentimental meaning picked out by the customers who had the option of leaving her a tip.

And as you can see from this video, she has learned to play piano like a pro.  And WangWang loves to  help.

Life in NoMi is highly enjoyable, never a dull moment, and quite normal.

Enough of the Empty Houses Already! Editorial Series: 2011 Agenda Part 1

Fine Farview Victorian

Magnetic McKinley Mini-Mansion

Handsome Hawthorne House

I *almost* bought this house in 2002

Parkway Charmer

One of my most favs in all of NoMi

Front yard of 2700 Block of Penn

Happy 2011 and let's jump right into it. Everyone knows the holiday season and the beginning of a new year is a natural time for reflection of the past and looking to the future. Planning and shaping and taking action.  Here at the NoMi Passenger blog a new year is no different.  Let's reflect and plan and shape and take action together; after all we are all passengers on the same voyage through NoMi.

I've got a few thoughts and ideas that I'd like to see move forward in 2011 and it will be a group effort to fine tune them and push them forward to action so I'll do that here.  Consider it my 2011 Agenda.


First up, fill the empty houses, already! It's 2011 and empty houses dot every block in NoMi for various reasons.  We've been experiencing the vacant house disease for how many years now? Four? Five? Many of these homes are already owned by the city (or county) or could easily be acquired, sometimes for pennies on the dollar.

For several years now I've been saying out loud, or in emails and internet postings "SELL THE HOUSES FOR A DOLLAR" or "GIVE THEM AWAY TO CITY EMPLOYEES".

We've seen some benefit from the Minneapolis Advantage program which has given a grant to qualified purchasers of a qualified house.  But it hasn't been enough and it hasn't put a dent in the vacant house disease.  It's time for more widespread, drastic action from the city (and county) to get these houses occupied by homesteaders.

The city needs to get taxpayers back in these homes for the tax and utility revenues they would bring.  The neighborhoods and economic engines need more citizens to populate the neighborhoods, spend their money in the near-by businesses, be additional eyes and ears on the streets in the impacted areas.

The city needs to develop a program to sell or give the homes away for as little as one dollar.  I say start with the city employees.  Write a program to grant the deed to them after a 10 year occupancy, verified periodically by a program director.  I think city employees will be less likely to pull some funny shenanigans and do something stupid like, oh gee, rent out the house for income.

I know the city has done some dollar house give-aways in the past, I have met some folks who are still in their home that they purchased for $1.

However, if the city moves forward on something like this, and I urge that they do, they need to first and also do some immediate and drastic changes to the process of bringing a condemned house back into code compliance.  I have been hearing far too many nightmare stories from folks who have been through the process and are adamant that the hellish process is keeping the average joe from taking on such a daunting tasks.

To start revamping the code compliance process I'd recommend start by using an outside survey analyst to conduct and take in feedback.  Believe it or not I've heard people are actually intimidated to give honest feedback for fear of retaliation in the future, or being labeled as one of those crabby disgruntled people or having it affect anything they might do in the future.

Make it more reasonable to rehab a condemned house and start giving those suckers away to qualified people who will commit to owner occupancy for the next decade or more.

Let's get this done in the next six months so summer can bring a new wave of home ownership in NoMi. Let me hear from you in the comments, whaddya think?

Oktoberfest in NoMi

Every October in NoMi is celebrated with an Oktoberfest party at the home of some good friends.  It's part birthday celebration, part autumn celebration, but really just another reason to get together with framily.  Framily. That's what we are, framily. More than friends, less than family. 

Hope you enjoy my photo journal of this years Oktoberfest, it was a beautiful night with beautiful people and a few framily members who were only there in spirit.

This apple struddle was made by Deb Wagner, whose creations always impress

Of course the fire pit was ready to go

It's just not Oktoberfest without Denny Wagner and some football, right Honey?

A sunset stroll to the parkway

Virtual Video Visit - The Goddess of Glass and Friends

Last weekend while I was enjoying Lowry Avenue Harvest Fest, I ran into The Goddess of Glass, who has already been featured here on NoMi Passenger. Today she takes us on a video tour of her gift + art + frame shoppe. Enjoy! And stop in to see her in person soon!

Laugh for the Day - The Busy Hectic Life of NoMi Revitalizer

they aren't even close...wtf?

A fun hearted laugh at my expense...

Keeping up with neighborhood volunteering and the activism life as a NoMi revitalizer can be hectic and hurried.  This morning I got a glaring reminder to slow down and have a good natured laugh at life, ya know, keep my celebrity status from blowing up my head too much (sarcasm font). (after all, people are very concerned with my footwear, as already documented elsewhere...kisses to my fan club!)

This morning, sitting next to my front door, where I removed my rain soaked shoes at 9pm last evening upon returning from the Northside Transportation Network light rail meeting held at UROC, I noticed two different shoes sitting by the front door. Not two different pairs of shoes. Two different shoes.  I wore two different shoes last evening as I hurried out the door to get to UROC by the six o'clock start time.

It reminded me of Mayor Rybak and his mismatched socks.  Needless to say it gave me and my morning coffee NoMi Homie a good chuckle.

Word of advice: if you are hurrying out the door to get to a NoMi revitalization meeting, double check your shoes and socks. (Don Samuels, I'm talking to you!)

Happy Friday NoMi Homies! xoxo

Harvest Fest on Lowry Avenue - Photo Journal

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Lowry Avenue Harvest Festival, which seems to mainly be spearheaded by the community icon North End Hardware and Rental (go see them! best service, best hardware and tons of rentals to get things done!)

Here's a few of the pictures to share with everyone. I'm already looking forward to next year's Harvest Festival, kinda like the way I start looking forward to the Fourth of July on the Jordan Pond around July 5th of each year.

First, a Who's Who at Harvest Fest.  There were so many prominent and well known northsiders in attendance I did not do a good job of getting them all on camera, but here's a few:

Owner of North End Hardware, Darryl Weivoda is with Lynn Moriarty, one of the event organizers and resident of the Cleveland neighborhood, and Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Stenglein

Nicole Doran, Willard Hay neighbor and home rehab financier and mortgage extraordinaire helps pass out info for the NoMi Home Tour

Brian Mondl, Upper WHO neighbor and watson band member, also sometimes referred to as "the thongmaster" from an infamous encounter on the Jordan Pond

Jordan neighbors Tyrone and Alexandra Jaramillo with their little one and friend Katie

Another Jordan neighbor, Michael Spivak with his baby, Bear

Anybody who knows me knows I can't resist the chance to thank these hard working officers for the service to the 4th precinct neighborhoods.  Remember to always take the chance to talk to our cops, since mostly they only get to interact with the residents at crisis and low points. GBTFP. (God Bless the Fourth Precinct)

McKinley neighbor and City Hall V.I.P. "Uncle Sherm" was making the rounds. 

City Councilman Don Samuels, resident in the Jordan neighborhood, was spotted talking with Sherman Patterson (Uncle Sherm) and a constituent....

...and started a new bro-mance.

One of the mini-Samuels, as I like to call them.

The other mini-Samuels.

And here's just some of the fun happenings, good food and neat things to take home.  Looking at my photo gallery I see I was so busy chatting with all the various northside community members that I slacked off in capturing a whole lot of the art, jewelry, handmade crafts and other things on display for sale. But here's a glimpse:

NoMi Bumper Stickers were available, if you want a sticker email Joel at

These Camden neighbors Mike and John make yard art from scrap pieces, grow flowers in their backyard greenhouse and gardens and share their fun, funky, pretty stuff for really good prices.

These guys tent was my favorite, so I took a lot of pictures to share..

I'm currently trying to get their permission to put their contact info up here, in case someone is interested in buying mums for $1 or some of their yard art. Stay tuned.

They've got some grapevines in their yard, and each year he takes some trimmings and makes something pretty.

I love the use of old paint can lids.

This bird came to him when the BP oil spill was heavy on his heart.

Everybody loves Pair of Dice Pizza

Most of the northside neighborhood associations had a presence at the festival and were recruiting new participation. This is the main grass roots way of getting involved where you live.

These students from Ascension Academy were having a blast and would have posed for a million pictures, as they were sure they would end up famous.

The back entrance of North End. Super easy parking in the back to get all your hardware and rental needs. I love this place.

This is a pretty well known old timer car that many have spotted around the northside.

The stage had musical acts, some martial arts, cultural performances, the announcements of various contest winners and of course the obligatory greetings from our local politicians.

The Classic Car show and contest was fun, however next year they need to nail down the numbering and voting process so the right cars are getting the right votes and there is no confusion about which number to vote for.

We aren't quite sure what ran in front of her while she was test driving this classic car.

Some of the car collectors were very generous to allow the folks to have a bit of fun while posing for pictures.

A vegetable contest took place inside the Lowry Cafe. 

There was a pie contest, too. Here North End owner Darryl and Cleveland neighbor John Helgeland display the contestants. Dorothy Leathers won the contest, her pie is on the far left. 

Lots of fun to be had here....

Melissa Pohlman, Pastor at Christ English Lutheran Church, helps with the face painting fun.

The Petting Zoo might have been the most fun.

Could the baby cow be any cuter?

This last picture pretty much sums up what the whole day was about: meeting and greeting northside neighbors.

Check out the tiger stripes!