Sng Summer 2014 Profile Web

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Summer Quarterly 2014

Crafts Arts Dance Music Food Theatre Services Community

OUT & ABOUTWere HOT in SewardDiscover the food,shops, to-dos and allthat makes our hoodthe place to hang outfor summer.

Read why Seward

is the place folks

talk about, visit &

want to live in!

Welna IIA Very Good Neighbor

Food SpotA Taste of Sew

Gardens,

Get-Togethers,

& Good Eats

SPOKES BikingLets get moving!


2/8

The Seward Profile, a quarterly publication

of the Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG),

strives to keep neighborhood residents,

businesses, property owners and organizations

informed of what's happening in Seward

and assist SNG in building and sustaining

a strong, diverse, and vibrant community.

As a typical Seward endeavor, the Profile

relies on volunteers to plan each issue,

create copy, sell ads, and prepare the

printed edition for mailing. We welcome

your suggestions and would welcome your

time and energy even more.

To get involved, contact us at

[email protected] or Seward Profile, 2323

E. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, 55406.

Upcoming Issue and Deadline

FALL Issue 2014

Copy and ad deadline:

August 8, 2014

In homes and businesses:

August 29-31

If you or someone you know would like a

written translation of the Profile Quarterly,

please contact [email protected] or call

612-338-6205.

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Issue

10

2014

Editors & Staff Writers, and Volunteers:

Diann A., Bruce J., Michael P., Kurt N., Trevor B.

Design: Marne Z.

e-mail:[email protected]

Printer: Print Craft

For information on everything Seward,

find us at www.sng.org

Mark your calendar for the Potluck Dinner at Matthews Park

June 18 at 6:00 PM. On Wednesday June 18th, the Community

Conversations project of the Seward Neighborhood Group is

hosting a multicultural potluck in

Matthews Center. This is your chance

to share your culture and learn about the

other cultures of our Seward Neighbors.

Come for dinner, bring something to share

and bring your own plate and utensils.

Please RSVP at [email protected] or justshow up with a willingness to meet

new friends.

Join us for dinner!

Flowers & Tea, PleaseThe Seward Garden Tour and Tea Party is a chance to stroll through someof

Sewards most interesting urban gardens on an early

summer evening, pick up gardeningtips, enjoy light

refreshment, and support SNG. This years event is

on Thursday evening June 26th from 6 to 8 pm

(potential rain date June 27). Holding the tour on

a weekday evening frees up another of thoseprecious

summer weekends for gardeners and garden tourists

alike. Advance tickets are on saleat Welna II Hard-

ware, 2201 East Franklin. Ticket sales on June 26th

will be at 2901 East 22ndStreet from 5:30 to 7:30

p.m. Tickets are $10in advance and $15 on the day

of the tour. Proceeds benefit the community building

work of the Seward Neighborhood Group.

National Night Out & Block ClubsNational Night Out (NNO) is Tuesday,

August 5th. On NNO, block clubs throughout

the country get together to have fun and

strengthen community. If you don't know whoyour block club leader is or if your block doesn't

normally have a NNO event, call Kerry at 612-

338-6205 ext 119 or e-mail [email protected]

She can help connect you with a block leader

or help you plan your own event. Don't feel like

NNO is your only opportunity to get out and be

social with your neighbors. Plan a walk around

the block to pick up litter or stencil a few storm drains. NNO should be all year

round. SNG has plenty of ideas we can share with you to help you connect with

your neighbors.


3/8

Welna IISewards Own Hardware Grows Up!

t is now 16 years this October that Sue and Jim Welna opened Welna II on the corner of

22nd Avenue and East Franklin.

Jim came into the business of hardware honestly; he and his brother, Mark, worked with

his father and grandfather at Welna Hardware in the Phillips neighborhood from the time

he was 12 years old. Eventually Mark purchased what was the original Welna Hardware.That store was run with a small town feel; it was community minded and always friendly,

with the employees seen as extended family members.

When Jim and his wife, Sue, opened Welna II, this tradition of

oyful service continued. It is a place where customers are

guided to be good stewards of their homes and businesses.

Welna II is a virtual warehouse with access to over 75,000

tems. Deliveries from the ACE Co-op are on Wednesday and

Saturday mornings. There is free delivery in the neighborhood

for all (as not everyone has a car). No purchase is too big or too

small they deliver everything from mulch and top soil to light

bulbs and birdseed.

The BIG NEW THING is The Paint Shop! Jim

attended a 3-day class in paint at ACE headquarters

in Chicago. In blind testing (done by a leading

Consumer Agency) ACE Paint was selected as top

of class with Clark & Kensington chosen as #1

two years in a row. Even the paint is local. Valspar

a Minneapolis company that has been making

low and no VOC paints for

several years recently

purchased the ACE paint

factories lines and reformulated them to their exacting in-house

standards.

Both Sue and Jim believe that Welna II store can be the destination

for paint in the local Seward community and surrounding ones.

Jim took inventory of what other stores had to offer and thought,

we can be the one-stop shop for all paint needs.

The selection of paint is very personal. Many of Welna IIs employees have artistic back-

grounds and feel a deep sense of pride in what they do and how they share their knowledge.

Being friendly and social, having spontaneous events, and connecting on a daily basis with

all who stop by has made Welna II a very special place, one where a customer is always

welcomed with a smile, a big hello and plenty of do-it-yourself insight.

Photos:MarneZafar

Discover all

that is Seward at

www.sng.org

Keep in touch with all things Welna II. Visit them

at https://www.facebook.com/WelnaIIHardware


4/84

Seward Montessori Elementary School:

A championship team!

The Seward Montessori Sharks Chess Club defended its title in March

against 32 other teams and placed first in the 2014 SCA Statewide

Primary/Elementary Championship (K-6).Just a week later, Seward

took the first place K-6 and second place K-3 team trophies at the 2014

MSCA State Scholastic Championships.

The Seward Chess Club, in existence since the late 1990s, had a very

successful 2013-14 season winning numerous individual and teamtrophies. Based on their

success, Seward will be

sending seven players to

the National Primary and

Elementary Championship

in Dallas, TX in May 2014.

Club members have worked

hard over the years to

develop their skills and

improve their play and

Nationals is an experience that will reward them for their dedication.

The Seward Chess Club seeks your support to fund their trip. To learn

more about chess at Seward Montessori or to donate visit our home-

page at http://seward.mpls.k12.mn.us/chess_club.

Seward Montessori Expansion

As staff, students, and parents know, Seward Montessori School is bursting at

the seams. The building, sized for 600 students, currently is serving 900. To

insure continued educational excellence at Seward, the Minneapolis School

District is undertaking an 18.4 million dollar expansion of the school, scheduled

to begin this October and be completed in July, 2016.

The expansion with add 10 new classrooms, 6 new classroom support spaces,

a new lunch room, kitchen and media center, and a redesigned building

entrance to create a well-defined front-door to the school and enhance

building security. The 51,000 square foot expansion will be accomplished in

part by building a third floor on top of the existing classroom wing and adding

kindergarten classrooms on the north side of the building.

The community is invited to a presentation about this project on Tuesday, June

10 at 7 p.m. in the Seward School multi-purpose room. This presentation will

be part of the regularly scheduled SNG Community Development Committee

meeting.

Urban Garden Supply:

New Life to Old Fencing

Now that spring has finally sprung, Seward residents are

able to turn their gardening dreams into reality. Seward

resident, Pete Munene, enhances local gardens by crea

unique and beautiful structures from reclaimed cedar a

redwood.

Pete started Urban Garden Supply in 2010 with the goa

keeping old fences and decks out of the landfill and givi

them new lives as raised vegetable gardens, flower plan

and trellises in the Seward neighborhood and beyond.

There are several benefits to installing raised gardens

beds: they can be placed anywhere - in an underutilized

space in yards or on concrete; they provide easy access

for soil preparation and planting and they allow for deep

root systems.

To see additional photos and learn more about the produ

and services offered by Urban Garden Supply, visit them

www.urbangardensupply.com.

by Diann Anders

by Diann Anders


5/8

Tracys SaloonAll Meet Peacefully Here

Some remember it as Dick Tracys, or maybe the Minnesota Bar or The Brewery. Records show

hat the storefront at 2207 E. Franklin has also housed a dress shop and a butchers. Today its

racys Saloon.

Residents who recall the bar in previous incarnations marvel at the changes. They remember the

main room featuring one huge oval or horseshoe bar, the side room a poolroom, and 3.2 beer

eing served. While owner Sanjaya Wanduragala prefers to keep a low profile, hes played a

eading role in Tracys evolution, first on the food front, and more recently with an extensive

nd expensive renovation.

How Tracys became Tracys

racys became Tracys in 1979 after being purchased by two business partners. It was Dick

racys Saloon for a time, but that was blatant copyright infringement. Owners stole the cartoon

haracters likeness, creating ads with fake comic strips sporting a perfect likeness of Dick Tracy,

which prompted DC Comics to take legal action.

eff Vlaming, a Minnesota Daily cartoonist, who worked at the bar, explained the solution.

DICK TRACY'S SALOON became TRACY'S SALOON and we designed a new Keystone Cop kind

f character to be its new mascot (for which I was paid exactly fifteen dollars.)

oel Chesin, who Wanduragala describes as, an old school classic bar owner, and his mentor,

ought Tracys in the early 1990s, upgrading its menu and altering the dcor. Then, in 2006, not

ong out of graduate school, working in the corporate world, Wanduragala heard from a mutual

riend that Chesin was selling. He and his wife, Debra, had planned to work their desk jobs for

everal years and then open a food-focused bar, but Tracys was a long-time favorite, so the couple

hifted gears. They consulted with best friend, Robert Erickson, and decided it made sense to

urchase an established business. The three became partners.

Changing with the neighborhood

What Wanduragala inherited was a sports-themed

bar with a sandwich menu. Changes since then reflectchanges in Seward, he says. In 2006, the neighborhood

was, a lot rougher, the bar itself was pretty rough, we

had to focus on cleaning up the crowd. He credits

long-time employee and manager Brenda Ludwick.

Tracys now features higher quality wines and boubons.

With an almost entirely scratch kitchen, the staff

makes its own fries and sauces, and purchases meat

rom a local butcher, so that its fresh, never frozen. Today youll find menu items that never would

ave appeared in the past, including sauted broccolini, prawns with ginger noodle, and wild boar

hepherds pie. One tradition that hasnt gone away is the wooden nickel happy hour, something

hat Wanduragala says dates back to at least the early 1980s.

or several weeks beginning in December, Tracys doors were closed, its windows papered over.

new wood floor was installed, roofing replaced, dining room ceiling opened up, and booths along

he east wall exchanged with a banquette. While some cosmetic changes had been planned,

tructural issues were a costly surprise.

Most rewarding to Wanduragala is that his establishment brings together long-time residents,

tudents from nearby campuses, East African community members, and sports teams.As he

uts it, all different age groups, economic groups, and racial groups meet peacefully here,

omething that not every bar owner can claim.

by Bruce Johansen

Discover all

that is Seward at

www.sng.org

Stay in the know of all things Tracys. Visit them

at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tracys-Saloon/29756642594

HistoricphotosofTracy'sSalooncourtesyofSanjayaWanduragala


6/8

SewardNeighborhood GroupHomeImprovement Assistance

Are youthinking about making improvements to your home,

but not sure how to proceed? The Seward Neighborhood

Group's Housing Coordinator can help with project planning,

hiring contractors, obtaining financing and advice during

construction.To schedule an appointment, contact

Doug Wise, SNG's Housing Coordinator, at

(612) 338-6205, ext. 102 or [email protected].

Pat Rosavesis

RIVER REALTYPat Rosaves grew up in South Minneapolis by the lakes and moved to Seward 37 years ago and knew thatthis was the place. She has run a realty business for 30+ years, of which 16 years has seen her specialize

the Seward and Greater Longfellow communities.

What drew her to this neighborhood in the beginning? She heard that it was a great community, that its wa

able, and one does not need to leave the neighborhood to eat, have fun, visit friends or find local businesses

(no travelling to get stuff.) I was a single mom when I moved here, says Pat. She didnt know anyone so

she went to the original Seward Co-op to see how she might connect with other single moms. Talking with the

cashier about how she wanted to meet others, find child care and all led to that Co-op member giving her a

phone number to another like-minded mom!

Pat feels that Seward is absolutely the best place to have a local business and to work at home. The Sewar

neighborhood is inviting to those who are self-starters and is incredibly supportive. These home-based entre

preneurs become the eyes & ears of the

neighborhood. She has found that nothing

keeps a community stronger than having neighbors who are concerned about

what happens to their friends and colleagues.

Pat has found that for all of us in Seward the quality of life is very important.

This community is not what Garrison Keillor calls, yuppie scum (ie. those

with no guilt); Seward is one caring group! It is a community of do gooders

and givers. We have a conscience and our neighbors act upon it.

Her thoughts on the Seward housing market its bounced back, yet not

showing the craziness of the past with respect to high prices. Everyone is

concerned about the value of their home, and most are pricing their homes

appropriately so homes are not on the market for significant amounts oftime. Buyers are definitely cautious, yet know a deal or steal when they

see one and act immediately.

The slight rise in mortgage rates and housing values has not tamped down

the desire to live in Seward. Sewards reputation as a low-key, creative and

supportive place to live is out there. Working with two other agents and

a real estate assistant, she networks constantly, keeping her feelers out for

good, comfortable homes. She is always interested in looking at what others

have done to improve or re-model their places to keep in the know.

The Seward neighborhood is a very special place with its small-town,

down-to-earth feel, and its residents - and those looking to move here

know thats a really good thing.


7/8

bike-walk-connect

SPOKES

For more details,

check www.SpokesConnect.org

Follow SPOKES on Facebook (www.fb.com/SpokesConnect)

or check our website (www.SpokesConnect.org) for updates.

EVERY WEEK

Open Shop - Use our tools to fix your bike!

Wednesdays from 5 to 9 PM

Saturdays from 1 to 5 PM

Volunteer Night

No experience needed; a variety of volunteer jobs to do

Thursdays. Come any time between 5 PM and 9 PM

Hub Store - Great used bikes for sale, plus accessories and parts

Saturdays, 10 AM to 5 PM

EVERY MONTH

Grease Rag - Women, Transgender and Femme only

Open Shop: 2nd and 4th Monday of every month,

7 to 9 PM

Volunteer Training - Learn some more about bike mechanics

2nd Thursday of every month, 6 to 7 PM

Open Shops and Volunteer Nights need no reservation.

For classes, please register by emailing

[email protected] or calling 612-787-7433

JUNE

Adult Learn-to-Ride Class

Starts Tuesday, June 3, four Tuesdays 5:30 to 7 PM.

Call or email for details.

Community Ride to Lyndale Open Streets Event

Sunday, June 8, Meet at SPOKES at noon.

Community Ride to Somali Independence Day

Saturday, June 21, Meet at SPOKES at noon.

JULY

Teen Learn-to-Ride Class

Starts Tuesday, July 1, for four Tuesdays

5:30 to 7 PM.

Call or email for details.

Tune Up Your Bike Class

Monday, July 7, 6 PM

SUMMERIN THE CITY

JULY continued

Confident Cycling Traffic Skills Short Course

Be more confident riding in traffic

Saturday, July 19, 9:30 AM

Wheel Truing 101

Tuesday, July 22, 6 PM

Community ride to Wild Things Festival in Osceola, WI

(and Eat for Equity Event) 52 mile ride.Saturday, July 26 to Sunday, July 27

AUGUST

Earn-a-Bike

Volunteer at SPOKES, learn basic

bike maintenance and rehab a bike you can keep.

Saturdays 9 to 12 PM

Wheel Truing 101

Monday, August 4, 7 PM

Franklin Open Street.

Franklin from Portland to 28th

will open ONLY for

pedestrians and bicyclists

Sunday, August 17, 10 AM to 4 PM

Back-to-School Bike Tune Up Class

Monday, August 25, 5 PM

Discover all

that is Seward at

www.sng.org


8/8

Sewar

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Minneapo

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Discover allthat is Seward atwww.sng.org

Keepupwithneighborhoodevents,meeting

s,andissuesatTheForum.

Jointodayat:http://bit.ly/sewardforum

Checkou

tSeward'sother"virtual"properties

at:http://goo.gl/Xa6AR

Join

your

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Forum

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Welcome to the Neighborhood!Seward Welcome Kits Now Available

SNG has updated welcome kits to pass out to new neighbors. If you have

new neighbors on your block stop by SNG at 2323 East Franklin Avenue and

pick up a kit. This is an easy way to stop by and meet your new neighbors.

Stencil Seward in!Freshly stencil Sewards storm drain

You can help! With the help of the City of Minneapolis, the parks department, and

Friends of the Mississippi River we hope to raise awareness around the pollution of our lakes

and rivers from storm drains. Any leaves or garbage left in the road will drain directly into

the Mississippi River and pollute our river. Take it from the professionals at Friends of the

Mississippi River as they talk about the harm and potential damage of this on our river:

Storm drains are part of the storm sewer system which carries untreated rain and

snow-melt directly from the citys lawns and streets to rivers and lakes. This runoff from

our urban landscape carries anything in the street directly to the nearest lake or river.

The stenciled message alerts citizens to this fact.

If you are interested in helping stencil the storm drains

around Seward, SNG will provide supplies for neighborhood use.

Email [email protected] to reserve your stenciling kit. Stenciling is a

great opportunity to get outside with your neighbors and make a

difference in your community and the environment.

Norwegian Day is July 13

The 89th Annual Norwegian Day is Sunday, July 13 at

Minnehaha Park. This all day event brings together

some of the best and brightest entertainment talent in

the Norwegian American community. The day begins

with a worship service at 11:00, followed by a riot of

activities and performances including a childrens

parade to a traditional Norwegian march, the Norwegian

Glee Club, and The Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble

among other acts. Food will be available for purchase

and Norwegian arts and crafts will be on display as

well as for sale.

Documents

Sng Summer 2014 Profile Web