Longfellow Community Council (LCC)
SAVE NRP COMMITTEE: The board approved sending a letter to Mayor Rybak and Minneapolis City Council members asking them to fully fund the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) Phase II and agreed to fund subsequent phases at a minimum of $10 million per year.
Ward 9 Council Member Gary Schiff told the board that the City Council had passed a resolution to fund an additional $95,000 for NRP. With this additional amount, NRP Phase II plans would be 70 percent funded. Schiff and Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon proposed a resolution to continuing funding neighborhood groups on an ongoing basis. The motion failed 11 to two.
Schiff expressed concern that NRP would disappear and that neighborhoods would be left competing for community engagement grants from the City Coordinator’s office. The grant money wouldn’t necessarily cover ongoing administrative expenses associated with running a neighborhood organization and the City rather than the neighborhoods would decide what the grants could be used for. “Why dismantle all the infrastructure that neighborhoods have built over the past decade? I think it is in the City’s interest to continue to fund neighborhood organizations,” said Schiff.
CIRCLES OF SUPPORT: The board approved contracting $3,000 from its NRP funds for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Teen Scene Circles of Support. The circles meet every other week at Longfellow and Matthews Park. Circles are open to all neighborhood teens and have as many as 18 kids come to each meeting. The stated purpose of the circle is to act as a place where youth can build trusting relationships with their peers and adults, heal past hurts, and build coping skills to better deal with future hardships.
RIVER GORGE MAP: The board contracted $2,700 in NRP funds to reprint River Gorge maps. The maps are distributed to the East Lake library and neighborhood parks. They are also available at Longfellow Community Council and Gorge Steward events.
CEMENT STAMPING AT 27TH AVENUE: The board contracted up to $1,000 to pay to have designs stamped into the cement at 27th Avenue to commemorate its history as a wagon trail route.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENT (CBA): The board gave its Executive Director Melanie Majors authorization to sign the final CBA between LCC and Dale Joel of Capital Growth Real Estate. The CBA covers Joel’s proposed development of Longfellow Station at Hiawatha Ave. and 38th Street.
Board members Ed Leaf and Marcea Mariani agreed to represent the board in all negotiations through the closing of financing for the project.
NEXT: Board meeting, November 15, 2007
MEETINGS: 3rd Thursday monthly, 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Park, 3435 36th Avenue South
CONTACT: 722-4529, www.longfellow.org
BORDERS: Mississippi River to Hiawatha Ave., Minnehaha Park to 27th St. railroad tracks
last revised: October 21, 2007