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By robb, April 20, 2012 11:35 am

Hennepin County has recently hired a team of consultants to create a historic interpretive plan for the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Corridor.  The interpretive plan will identify historic themes that significantly influenced the form and function of the Longfellow neighborhood.  Emerging themes include:

• Native-American and Early Euro-American Settlement
• Grain Storage/Milling/Industrial History
• Transportation and Railroad History
• The Streetcar and Commercial and Residential Area Development
• Snelling Avenue and the Early African-American Community
• The Bungalow: the Minnehaha Hiawatha Corridor and Beyond 

The plan will also recommend community locations that would be appropriate for interpretation of the historical themes.  Possible locations include the area near LRT stations, grain elevators, Minnehaha Avenue businesses, and public open spaces. 

Some material may be designed for temporary display or rotated so frequent visitors continue to see new things.  The plan will develop a distinctive system of graphics so all interpretive materials are easily identified and connected.

This interpretive plan will build off of previous research on the historic and cultural resources of the corridor, including:

Historic Context Development and Cultural Resources Evaluation – Main Report [7 MB]
Historic Context Development and Cultural Resources Evaluation – Appendices [4 MB]
Snelling Avenue – Research on the History of the African American Community [4 MB]

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By robb, March 28, 2012 7:44 pm

Thanks to everyone for the great questions and comments at the Open Houses. If you were unable to attend, the recommendations for 32nd, 38th, and 46th streets at Hiawatha Avenue are available online:

Recommended Intersection Layouts
32nd Street layout
38th Street layout
46th Street layout

Intersection Renderings
32nd Street rendering
38th Street rendering
46th Street rendering

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By robb, February 29, 2012 10:22 am

In mid-March, Hennepin County, the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, Longfellow Community Council, and  Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association will be hosting several Open Houses to talk about recommendations to improve pedestrian crossings along Hiawatha Avenue. The proposals aim to improve pedestrian environment at 32nd Street, 38th Street, and 46th Street at Hiawatha Avenue.

Join us at one of these Open Houses to learn more about these recommendations:

Monday, March 19 / 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church
2600 East 38th Street

Tuesday, March 20 / 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Hiawatha Flats Apartments – community room
3625 East 43rd Street

Wednesday, March 21 / 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Clare Midtown – community room
3105 South 23rd Avenue

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By robb, February 2, 2012 9:07 pm

What do you CARE about??  We have looked at all the comments people have made over the summer and fall, and we have identified 24 environmental and health concerns that reflect the diversity of responses we’ve heard:

• Access to health care, health disparities
• Air pollution – dust, fumes, smoke
• Asthma
• Bugs and pests
• Community blight – graffiti, litter, rundown buildings
• Crime and personal security
• Economic instability, unemployment, poverty
• Empty storefronts, business vitality
• Energy consumption, reliance on fossil fuels
• Environmental sustainability, climate change, overpopulation
• Food access and security
• Lack of community
• Lack of trees, parks, green space
• Lead in homes and yards
• Mold
• Obesity, nutrition, hunger
• Pollution from vehicles, traffic
• Radon
• Second-hand smoke
• Soil contamination
• Toxics in the home
• Trash – hazardous waste, recycling, composting, illegal dumping
• Unfriendly bike and pedestrian environment
• Water quality, storm water runoff

Over the next few months, we will be working with community members to prioritize a handful of these issues to work together to address in the coming years.  Stay tuned for more information on upcoming meetings.

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By robb, December 27, 2011 12:46 pm

Last summer, the CARE project team talked to over 700 people living, working, and visiting the Longfellow and Phillips area about the assets and issues facing the community. People we met at the farmers market, community events, libraries, places of worship, and other locations were eager to share their perceptions of the area.

We found that the community’s primary assets are its people, its diversity and its sense of community. People also value the area’s proximity to many destinations — including parks, restaurants, shops, and downtown — and the ability to bike, drive, walk, and use transit to get places. Primary issues that impact the community include access to food, air quality, safety, traffic, and water quality.

We received 100’s of comments on assets and issues in the community – far too many to list out. One helpful way to present a large amount of information is through word clouds. This technique provides a visual depiction of how often people use different words to describe their community — with the size of the word representing its frequency of use.  The two word clouds below depict community members’ comments on community assets and environmental and health issues:

1.  Community Assets in Longfellow and Phillips

2.  Environmental and Health Concerns in Longfellow and Phillips

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By robb, November 9, 2011 7:03 am

The County Board adopted the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Community Works Strategic Investment Framework, which will coordinate the multiple jurisdictions involved with the Minnehaha-Hiawatha Community Works Capital Project.

The project implements activities that enhance economic vitality, improve natural systems, and strengthen community connections in the Minnehaha-Hiawatha corridor area. The Framework will guide policymakers in making private improvements within the corridor, supporting other public and private investments in the area.

The framework characterizes the corridor as a diagonal ladder, reflecting the unique orientation of the street grid and rail lines in the area. The ladder concept conveys the need for two diagonal avenues (Minnehaha and Hiawatha avenues) and key east-west streets (Lake, 38th, and 46th streets) to be strongly linked to support mobility, access and economic vitality. The three major cross streets form the primary rungs of the ladder, creating three neighborhood districts around the three LRT stations.

The project targets investment to support and hasten transition from existing heavy industrial to livable, vibrant business nodes that build on the strong linkages between the LRT stations and Minnehaha Avenue. This transition would be accomplished by infrastructure investments that improve pedestrian, bike and vehicle connectivity; support major transit-oriented development to retain and create jobs, spur affordable market-rate housing, and support community retail and services; and create green pedestrian and bike connections.

To date, the County Board has appropriated $3.1 million for the project, leveraging more than $250,000 in funding from other entities. Work on the project will continue through 2017, with an additional $6 million in funding.