Four Strategies address the Goal of the Neighborhood Identity and Housing
Section. These Strategies are commonly known as the Home Improvemants, Hennepin
Avenue Lights, Hennepin Avenue Plan, and the Gateway Art Park.
Click on the title of each strategy for action plan language and allocation
information.
Home Improvements
The Home Improvement program, the neighborhood’s largest Action Plan project, was designed to provide 3 to 1 matching grants to resident to complete exterior improvements to residents. The neighborhood used $225,922 of its NRP Action Plan funds to leverage total project costs of $953,007. This equals $3 of property owner funds to every $1 of NRP funds The neighborhood funded projects that included painting, replacement of exterior steps, doors, windows, improvements in siding and roof repair. The neighborhood held a lottery of interested participant to determine how to disperse the funds. The program was divided into three groups – all dwellings of up to 3 units, dwellings of more than 3 units, and senior citizen who owned property of any size. The most interest came in the first group. During the program 109 property owners received funding of up to $3,000 for their improvements. Some did not receive funding until a plan modification in 2001. That year the neighborhood moved the remaining program funding from the 3-plus units and senior group pools to the 3 and less unit group. The neighborhood moved these funds due to the lack of interest and the existence of the waiting list for the less than 3 unit group. With this plan modification the neighborhood was able to provide funding from all those who remained on the waiting list.
Hennepin Avenue Street Lights
This strategy would continue the installation of pedestrian oriented street
lights from 31st Street to 36th Street as defined in the Hennepin Avenue Plan.
The $19,150 original allocation was to be a subsidy for the estimated $250,000
to $300,000 project. During the Phase 1 reallocation the neighborhood added
$10,000 to be in par with partner in the project the CARAG neighborhood.
Hennepin Avenue Plan
This strategy was to help pay for a multi-neighborhood planning study for Hennepin
Avenue from Downtown to 36th Street. The planning study was complete and the account
was closed at the time of the ECCO NRP Action Plan approval. The funds were removed during the Phase One reallocation.
Gateway Art Park
The Gateway Art Park is located at the intersection of East Calhoun Parkway and Lake Street. The total park construction was $96,000 with the neighborhood contributing $30,000 for lighting and pathways in the park. The park is part of the Minneapolis Art Commission’s gateways program in which many neighborhoods participate. The park creator Phillip Rickey used native planting and granite sculptures as a homage to area’s prairie roots.
Through collaboration with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the City of Minneapolis the neighborhood has had to address some unintended issues over maintenance of the park. Although there was an agreement between the MPRB, City, and East Calhoun some preventative maintenance was not preformed. As a result, the park became overgrown and some of the native planting did not survive. The neighborhood, along with its partners, participated in a working committee to address all the issue at the park. This effort included some redesign of the park and identification of specific duties of each entity. The neighborhood reallocated $9,600 during the Phase One Reallocation and received a grant of $5,440 from the Minnehaha Watershed District to help fund the stabilization effort. The City of Minneapolis contributed an additional $4,500.