Market to Mississippi

Post, photos, and images by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

On a wet but otherwise perfect October Sunday, about forty people gathered at the West Broadway Farmers Market to mark the end of the season. (almost!  We still have one Sunday left on the 30th!)  We started out at the regular site, just off of the Capri and Nice Ride kiosk near Logan and Broadway.  From there we went to 26th, then up Emerson to Webber Park, and across to North Mississippi Regional Park.  With a few dozen people of varying abilities, and an equipment malfunction, the ride took almost an hour.  But biking it alone at a decent clip, one could probably make it in closer to twenty minutes.

Some folks brought out their customized bikes for one last spin before the weather turns cold.

Along the way, the devastation of the tornado was still prevalent, especially once we got to the river...

Bikes as Traffic? Novel Idea.

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Sometimes we take certain things in our city for granted.  For instance, Minneapolis has been named the number one biking city in America.  The Nice Ride bike rental system has been a one-of-a-kind bike sharing project in the country.  NoMi has seen the key addition of several new bike lanes.  And yet, bicycles aren't legally considered traffic per city ordinance. 

What does this mean?  When a car parks in a bike lane, is that vehicle really obstructing traffic?  When I'm going the legally-posted 30 mph on Fremont Ave N, and someone passes me on the right using the bike/barrier lane, did that driver use a lane dedicated to other traffic?  It's hard to believe, but herded animals currently have more legal protection in Minneapolis ordinance than bikes.  Remember that next time you're trying to decide whether to take your Schwinn or your goat for a quick run to the store.

So CM Schiff has been pushing to include bicycles in the city's definition of traffic, bringing us more in line with the rest of the state and other biking cities.  The next logical step?  Rybak in a tank.

The Year of Buying Into NoMi Ends (But Isn't Really Over)

Post and stock photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

A little over a year ago, I tried an undertaking where I would attempt to find a local, north Minneapolis connection to everything I purchased (at least with discretionary income).  I ate at a few new restaurants, and even found a connection where I could buy comic books.  But the attempt to categorize just about everything you could buy in NoMi sort of fizzled.  Why?

Several reasons.  First, I am reminded of one of my favorite authors, Dave Barry.  Barry wrote a book called "Dave Barry Does Japan," in which his publisher Random House paid for him to visit, try zany things, and apply his brand of humor to them.  He repeatedly brought up this fact.  "I cannot overemphasize," Barry wrote, "how much more you can enjoy Japan when Random House is paying for everything."

As a volunteer blogger, I had no publisher willing to pay for such a venture.  So the first thing that I did in searching for places to spend my money in NoMi was I stopped spending as much money.  And then a funny thing happened:  I had more money in my account every month.  And that, my friends, lead to...

What is Embodied Energy?

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from the National Historic Trust.

When I was a loan officer and I had someone who wanted to refinance, I always showed my borrowers what I called the "break even point."  That is, if a refi saved $100 per month but closing costs were $4,800, then the person would need to stay in the house with that loan for four years before the refinance paid for itself.  If the borrower wasn't comfortable with that number and we couldn't make anything better work, I recommended that they not do the loan - even though this meant I sacrificed many a commission.

(Mortgage terminology for newer homeowners:  A "refinance" was when banks used to extend credit in the form of a new loan that would pay off your existing mortgage.  It sounds crazy, I know, but it happened at one time.  They would examine things like your credit, income and equity, and then actually do a loan.  Oh yeah, "equity" was this thing when your house was worth more than what you owed.)

Embodied energy is essentially the break even point for tearing down an existing structure and replacing it with a new one.  Every existing structure contains nonrecoverable energy - that used in the production and transportation of materials as well as the home's construction.  Each new house creates a new round of nonrecoverable energy.

So when we talk about "green" construction, a pertinent question would be...

Upcoming Mississippi River Events

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Tonight Hawthorne leaders and others will meet at the corner of 26th and 4th to highlight the difficulties of accessing the Mississippi River from our side of 94.  But there are a bevy of other events happening along the riverfront as well.  Click on the image to enlarge, or read after the jump...

Who Owns Them Now? (Not Paul Koenig)

Post and top photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  Bottom photo from Paul Koenig's now-defunct blog.

When a property becomes owned by a slumlord, or is touched by mortgage fraud, that property is quite unlikely to immediately go back into the hands of a quality owner - whether the house is homesteaded or not.  It's been long enough since the "One Man Housing Crisis" of Koenig/Pamiko/Marklee Construction/MCK Investments/Dream Homes/Did I forget any LLC? collapsed on itself, so its time to take a look at where those houses ended up, starting with...

No Such Thing as Half-Price Gas

Post and photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

I woke up this morning to get my usual morning paper from the Holiday station. With a 7 cents/gallon coupon in hand, it was also time to fill up the tank. As I walked into the store a middle-aged man called out to me:

"Hey! You want some half-priced gas?"

Without my morning cup of joe, the only thing I wrapped my mind around was that in spite of the $1.50+/gallon savings he was offering, that was too good to be true. By the time I got to the register, it dawned on me: stolen credit card. I told the clerk what happened, and at which pump, and they sprang into action.

One clerk had 911 on the horn immediately and another ran out to get the license number of the vehicle as it sped off. Then I swung by the Honey Bee and Winner Gas to see if he was pulling the same stunt. At Winner, there was a person and vehicle that matched the description. (Middle-aged, heavyset African-American male driving a large, dark green SUV.)

I caught the license plate number this time around and called that in to 911. If NoMi folks notice the same behavior, call it in.

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