Saturday June 1st, 9am to 3pm

The 2013 Longfellow neighborhood sale day will be held on Saturday, June 1st from 9am to 3pm. This will be the first neighborhood-wide sale day in Longfellow for many years, and we hope to make it a great event. In addition to the usual garage and yard sales at private homes, we are working with neighborhood schools, churches, and businesses to coordinate rummage sales, fundraisers, and other events on the same day.

Community Sale Location

Interested in selling items but not hosting a sale at your home? Junket at 4047 Minnehaha has offered to host community members at their location! Provide your own table or rent one for $10. Contact Spencer for more information: spencer@longfellow.org or 612-722-4529 ext. 5.

Maps & Advertising

We will have maps and a detailed list of sale addresses (with sale item info) available here about a week prior to the sale day! Printed maps will be distributed at community locations the week before the sale day.  The sale will be advertised in a variety of print and digital media. Look for printed maps at places like Peace Coffee, Blue Moon, Fireroast Cafe, Riverview Cafe, and Parka starting Wednesday May 29th.

Registration (Deadline: Thursday, May 23rd)

Registration is now closed! We have 135 sales registered! While its too late to have your sale added to the official printed map, we might still be able to add your sale to the online map and list of sales. Contact Spencer: spencer@longfellow.org or 612-722-4529 ext. 5. Don’t be afraid to have a sale even if you weren’t able to register. The more the merrier! Also, registration for a table at the community sale site at Junket is still open through Monday, May 27th (see above).

 

Bicycle Registration Now Open Through The Minneapolis Police Department and 311

It’s free, and will help us return your bike if it is recovered after begin lost or stolen

Every year, thousands of bikes are lost or stolen in Minneapolis. Many of them are recovered. Yet, because of a lack of proper identification, only a small percentage are ever returned to their owners.

The Minneapolis Police Department has created an easy, on-line way to register your bicycle. You will need to include your bike’s serial number, a description of the bike–make and model–and your contact information. Use this link to register your bike and in the event it is lost or stolen, and the MPD, other agencies or city departments recover it, we will be able to return it to you quickly.

How?
• Register online any time
• Call 311–be sure to have your bike’s serial number ready
• 311’s app: minneapolismn.gov/311 to register using your smart phone

Why?
• It could increase the chances of a stolen or lost bike being returned to the rightful owner–recovered bikes can be checked against our registered bikes database

• It’s FREE

• It’s easy—just a few minutes!

• Registration could assist in identifying incapacitated riders without IDs (like kids)

REGISTER YOUR BIKE HERE

 

Hey folks!

Dave Zumeta will be hosting a bird hike May 21th at 7pm! They will be meeting at the parking area at 36th St & W River Pkwy.

Dave has been tracking birds in the Greater Longfellow for many many years. Just with the chirps of a bird, he can identify the specie of the bird (and locate its nest!).

This is an open event to everyone and IT’S FREE!

More questions can be directed to yer@longfellow.org

We hope to see you tomorrow night at 7!

 

The State of the Mississippi River Report held on April 17th at Minnehaha Academy was a great success with over 70 attendees! The National Park Service and Friends of the Mississippi River, who are both instrumental in maintaining the river’s every day health, gave remarkably informative presentations about the dangers of triclosan in products we use daily, the presence of Asian Carp in the river, and more! This event would not have been possible without the grand leadership of the River Gorge Committee; please give them a big round of applause for their hard work and dedication!

 

The Minnesota Transportation Museum is looking for volunteers to help create a welcoming environment and provide friendly, warm, outgoing visitor services at the Minnehaha Depot, located in Minnehaha Park. Volunteers will interpret the history of the Depot, and other sites (Steven’s and Longfellow Houses, Wedding Pergola, Park Pavilion, various statues, the Minnehaha Falls, and other elements) within Minnehaha Park. The Minnehaha Depot, owned by the Minnesota Historical Society and operated by the Minnesota Transportation Museum, is open on Sundays and Holidays, 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Volunteers should:
-Be interested in local history;
-Be friendly, outgoing, service orientated;
-Have the ability to make visitors feel welcome and answers their questions in a pleasant manner;
-Be comfortable dealing with large groups of visitors;
-Strong verbal communication skills;
-Be comfortable in an environment that might require flexibility and adaptability;
-Have the ability to handle multiple tasks, if needed;
-Require a minimum of direct supervision, and;
-Be able to stand and walk for extended periods.

For more information, please contact:
Aaron Novodvorsky
Site Manager, Minnehaha “Princess” Depot
Minnesota Transportation Museum
612-759-6943 (cell)
manovod@q.com

 

 

East Lake Library – Book Sale May 18-19
Saturday 10-5pm, Sunday noon to 5pm.

East Lake Library’s spring book sale offers thousands of books for very cheap prices – hardcovers are $1 and paperbacks are 50 cents. All children’s books are 50 cents! $5 bag sales begin 3pm on Saturday and all day Sunday!

It’s not too late to send the Friends an email for a book pickup through May 16:
eastlake@supporthclib.org

 

Registration for the First Annual Longfellow Community Garage Sale Day! This is a great day to get your yard or garage sale on the map and go buy your neighbor’s cool stuff. Registration is $5, which gets you advertisement for your sale.

Register here today! Deadline is May 23rd.

 


Longfellow Community Council’s Annual Meeting, No Pie Charts Only Pies, is happening tomorrow (Tuesday) evening! It’s a great time to get to know your neighbors, find out what is happening at LCC, browse the resource fair, and eat some pie!

The resource fair starts at 6pm, Board elections start 6:30pm. Please bring a pie to share, and donations for Minnehaha Food Shelf (you will receive up to 10 raffle tickets for your donations for your chance to win great prizes from Longfellow businesses!).

Location: Minnehaha Academy North Campus, 3100 W River Pkwy, Minneapolis, MN 55406.

If you have any questions contact Jessica, jessica@longfellow.org, or call her cell at (six five one), three three eight, two eight two nine.

See you there!

 
Chard Your Yard

Do you love walking past beautiful vegetable gardens in the neighborhood, decked out with juicy tomatoes and delectable lettuces? Do you wish you could bring some of that garden freshness into your own home? Transition Longfellow, your neighborhood sustainability group, would like to help neighbors jump on the home-grown veggie bandwagon. This fun community activity allows neighbors to meet neighbors while sharing their love for fresh, locally grown food.

Sign Up HERE.

DEADLINE for sign-up: April 30

Transition Longfellow will help you:

  • Install a 3’ x 5’ raised bed garden ($65)
  • Fill it with soil, compost and mulch
  • Connect with a skilled garden mentor (matches made based upon availability)
  • Connect with neighbors who are gardening
  • Get more seeds and plants through neighbor exchanges
  • With classes and activities throughout the growing season

The Gardening Matters Local Food Resource Hub will help you:

  • Get seeds and plants to fill your garden bed (f you choose this option)

In exchange, we ask that you:

  • Pay for the garden you have chosen
  • If you can, participate in “garden mob” event to get new gardens set up. Many hands make light work! Our first Garden Mob event is on May 11 when we help two neighbors set up a mini-CSA garden.
  • Display a Chard Your Yard lawn sign by your garden
  • Commit to maintaining your garden through the summer and fall
  • Share your enthusiasm with your neighbors!

Who Can Participate?

  • Any Longfellow resident (if child must have parental permission, if renter, must have landlord permission unless you want to do a container garden)
  • Some area on your property that receives at least 4 hours of full or partial sunlight a day (you may need more, depending upon what you want to grow)
  • If you do not have a yard but want to do a container garden, sun requirement still applies
  • No previous gardening experience necessary

NOTE: If you have physical limitations that would make gardening at ground level difficult, let us know. Our garden advisers may be able to come up with a solution that works for your abilities and your yard.

Already have a garden? 
GREAT! Let’s see if we can reduce our garden costs through group buying. Consider sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm and get answers to your garden questions.

SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
We welcome help with garden installations and offering classes and expertise. If you like to get your hands dirty, enjoy working in the warm spring air, meeting enthusiastic and friendly new people (who are your neighbors!), this would be a great way to spend a weekend day in May.

We are particularly looking for garden volunteers to help with:
•    Garden installation – putting garden boxes in place, filling boxes
•    Garden mentors – past gardening experience
•    Garden musicians – hey, what’s a garden mob without music! A tune always makes the work go faster.
•    Dinner preparers – the best way to end a work day is a shared meal
•    Handy people to help with group building events – basic carpentry skills and knowledge of tools, or knowledge of rain barrel or irrigation systems, willingness to help those who have no experience building

 

 

From Wikipedia

PIE
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients.
Pies are defined by their crusts. A filled pie (also single-crust or bottom-crust), has pastry lining the baking dish, and the filling is placed on top of the pastry, but left open. A top-crust pie, which may also be called a cobbler, has the filling in the bottom of the dish and the filling covered with a pastry or other covering before baking. A two-crust pie has the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Flaky pastry is a typical kind of pastry used for pie crusts, but many things can be used, including baking powder biscuits, mashed potatoes, and crumbs.
Pies can be a variety of sizes, ranging from bite-size to ones designed for multiple servings.

Also From Wikipedia:
PIE CHARTS
A pie chart (or a circle graph) is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each sector (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents. While it is named for its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced, there are variations on the way it can be presented. The earliest known pie chart is generally credited to William Playfair’s Statistical Breviary of 1801.
Pie charts are very widely used in the business world and the mass media. However, they have been criticized, and many experts recommend avoiding them, pointing out that research has shown it is difficult to compare different sections of a given pie chart, or to compare data across different pie charts. Pie charts can be replaced in most cases by other plots such as the bar chart.

Luckily, we will not be using any pie charts whatsoever at No Pie Charts, Only Pie, as our event name points out.

We will be using pie, community togetherness, board elections, and a resource fair with non profits and active groups from throughout the community to celebrate the fact that Longfellow is great. It’s actually the best. Join us on Tuesday, April 23rd at Minnehaha Academy at 6pm. Bring a pie. Bring a food donation for Minnehaha Food Shelf. Maybe you’ll win a raffle prize. Maybe you’ll just have fun. Either way, you can’t lose.

See you there!
Longfellow Community Council Staff

 

 

A Fun Home Improvement Event for the Whole Family

Whether you are giving a room a “make-over” or starting from the ground up, you’ll find answers to all of your questions at the 19th annual South Minneapolis Housing Fair.

FREE and Open to the Public

This event is FREE and open to the public and will be held Saturday, April 13, 2013, from 10 AM to 3 PM. With its convenient NEW location in the Minneapolis Sports Center, 2121 East Lake St., Minneapolis, centrally located in South Minneapolis, the Housing Fair is easy to find. (Behind the Midtown YWCA, parking on site or across the street.)

New this year! Co-located with the Fair for the first four hours (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) will be a Hennepin Fix-It Clinic. You can bring easily carried home appliances, electronics, toys, etc. that are not working properly, and get help fixing them. Bring instruction manuals and any tools you think might be helpful, and prepare to help. A great learning experience for kids, too, to watch with their adults. For more information on Fix-It Clinics, CLICK HERE.

Great Local Exhibitors and Door Prizes

We’ll have almost 100 amazing exhibitors and vendors to make your dreams come true with expertise and advice on home remodeling, basement finishing, kitchen and bath transformation, landscaping and much more.

All exhibitors are located in the Metro area and provide the highest level of professional services. In addition, you’ll enjoy making connections with local bankers, real estate agents and a broad range of community experts in a low-key conversational setting.

Volunteers – You can get involved!

A grass-roots neighborhood produced event like the South Minneapolis Housing Fair is built on hundreds of hours of volunteer time. Your efforts could help to insure the success of the Housing Fair and the improvement in the safety and value of your neighborhood. For more information on how you can get involved contact the Event Coordinator, Margo Ashmore MANAGER@HOUSINGFAIR.ORG or call 612-867-4874.

 

The Powderhorn Art Fair is Seeking Local Artists and Arts Organizations!
Application Deadline is on May 1.
Please Spread the Word!

The Community Showcase is a celebration of the rich cultural life that surrounds Powderhorn Park and nourishes the community. Juried local artists participate in the Powderhorn Art Fair on a less formal basis a preparation for future participation as Main Exhibitors. For more info visit this site.

The Group Exhibit area provides an opportunity for local arts organizations to showcase their work in the Powderhorn Art Fair. Group Exhibitors Information.

Contact Becky Timm, the Executive Director of Powderhorn park Neighborhood Association, with any questions.

 

Join us for he March Environment & Transportation Committee meeting, 6:30pm to 8:00pm at the LCC Office! We will have project engineers attending to discuss two projects, including a planned Open Streets event in Longfellow and the reconstruction of Minnehaha Avenue scheduled for 2014. Full agenda below:

 

 

How is our Mississippi River?

“State of the River” presentation April 17 at Minnehaha Academy North Campus

So, how is our Mississippi River? Is it okay to swim in? To eat the fish? Should I worry about Asian carp? How are the eagles? Recently the National Park Service (NPS) and Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) collaborated to provide some answers in the form of a “State of the River Report.” The report’s authors, Lark Weller (NPS) and Longfellow resident Trevor Russell (FMR), will present the report for the public at Minnehaha Academy North Campus, 3100 West River Parkway, Minneapolis, on April 17, 7:00-8:00 pm. Park at east lot, enter at the clock tower door; presentation will be in the chapel. Sponsored by Longfellow Community Council’s River Gorge Committee, the event is free and open to the public.

While strongly supported by science, the report is presented in a non-technical manner for a general public audience. It highlights 13 key indicators of water quality and river health in the metro Mississippi River. The report is online at www.stateoftheriver.com. A Stewardship Guide of river friendly tips for home, yard and community practices will be available at the presentation.

FFI: Lyndon Torstenson, 651-293-8426

Photos courtesy National Park Service

 

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District is recruiting for the Master Water Stewards program for this spring. This is an amazing opportunity to have a community leader get high level education on water resources to support the CARE Project. It is being piloted for the next three years in the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, so applicants must live within the District: http://www.minnehahacreek.org/permits/am-i-district

The new Master Water Stewards program will certify and support community leaders to install pollution prevention projects that educate community members, reduce pollutants from urban runoff, and allow more water to soak into the ground before running into storm sewer systems. Modeled after successful Master Gardener programs, volunteer community leaders will participate in a 50-hour program of courses and projects. In this first year of the program, participation is limited to 25 residents of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. 2013 training will be offered at no cost to participants. Learn more about the program:http://freshwater.org/master-water-stewards-a-community-approach-to-protecting-water/

Find the application attached. Applications are due by March 15, 2013. Classes begin in April.

 

Source: Ohioleader.com

Join the Longfellow Community Council Board of Directors

LCC’s next election will be held on Tuesday, April 23rd at LCC’s No Pie Charts Only Pies General Membership meeting
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Minnehaha Academy North – 3100 West River Road

WHO ARE THE DIRECTORS OF THE LCC BOARD
The LCC Board of Directors is made up of people who live or work in the Longfellow Community neighborhoods (Howe, Cooper, Hiawatha and Longfellow)

The LCC board has 15 seats for voting members:
2 seats to represent each Greater Longfellow Neighborhood (Howe, Cooper, Hiawatha and Longfellow) – 2-year terms
1 seat for a business representative – 1-year term
3 seats for community representatives – 1-year term
3 at-large seats – 3-year terms that are staggered

Open seats are elected during LCC’s General Membership meeting in April. Vacancies may be filled by the board or elected at a General Membership meeting to serve until the next annual meeting.

WHAT DOES THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS DO?
The responsibilities of board members fall into two areas: governance and support. Both are equally important to the vitality and effectiveness of the Longfellow Community Council. Primary responsibilities for each are:

GOVERNANCE:
Attend and actively participate at monthly board meetings
Review and approve annual budget and policy documents
Ensure legal and financial compliance with contracts and audits
Select and evaluate the Executive Director
Think big picture to work towards organization’s mission and goals

SUPPORT:
Act as ambassadors to the Longfellow Community and LCC
Support the Executive Director and staff in planning and implementing programs, events and activities
Participate in an LCC committee working on areas of interest to you
Assist with fundraising efforts

Board membership requires a commitment of approximately 6-8 hours per month of your time

RUN FOR AN OPEN SEAT:
Contact Melanie at the LCC Office at 612-722-4529 ext. 4 or via email at melanie@longfellow.org for more information.

 

Metro Transit is looking for community and business representatives from Longfellow to help guide the 46th Street/Ford Pkwy/Snelling Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project. Bus rapid transit, or BRT, is a package of transit enhancements that adds up to a faster trip and an improved experience on Metro Transit’s busiest bus routes. To learn more about BRT plans for the Snelling/46th corridor, check out this helpful fact sheet: Snelling BRT Fact Sheet

The Snelling BRT Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is an advisory group composed of community members representing residents (both owners and renters), businesses, property owners, and organizations with diverse knowledge of the Snelling Avenue/Ford Parkway/46th Street corridor (shown below), including experience using public transportation. The role of the CAC is to bring community voice and continuity to the Snelling Avenue BRT project development process.

The primary role of CAC members is to learn about the project and ask thought‐provoking questions while providing insight from the perspective of the community they represent. The Metro Transit Project Management Team values the community perspective and will consider the information provided by the CAC when it guides the overall direction of project development and makes final recommendations to the Metropolitan Council.

Responsibilities

CAC members have the following responsibilities:

  • Engage in thoughtful and thorough deliberation of the issues brought before the CAC.
  • Represent and advocate for the interests of his/her constituency.
  • Share relevant information (historical, background) with the CAC and Project ManagementTeam (PMT) members.
  • Assist in informing constituencies about the Snelling BRT project and recommend appropriateavenues for engagement with the community.
  • Attend all meetings. If an alternate is sent, ensure that the alternate is informed and up‐to‐dateon the project and ensure that they are, in turn, updated by the alternate.
  • Work to identify solutions to issues that arise, and openly/objectively discuss and evaluatethose options.
  • If members discuss the project with the media, they should be clear that they are representingtheir own views and not speaking for the CAC or the PMT.
  • Additional information on the CAC, including planned meeting schedule can be found here: Snelling CAC Packet

Are you interested in serving on the Advisory Committee for the project, or do you know someone who is? Contact Spencer at spencer@longfellow.org or 612-722-4529 (ext. 5). You may also apply directly to Metro Transit via this application form: CAC Nomination Form. Application deadline is March 20th.