Recently in West Side Community Category

The week is officially over.  The West Side Safe Neighborhood Council
would like to send a big "THANK YOU" to the community agencies who
were involved with the Extreme Make Over: Home Edition extension project
over the last week.  From helping with the park cleanups to working on homes
for our needy families, your patience and understanding have been invaluable
as our community underwent a huge transformation over the course of
the last week.

Although it was a long, cold and chaotic week please remember that
six additional West Side families, the Heiti (208 E. Prescott),
Bravo (220 E. Prescott), O'Kane (250 E. Prescott),
Lopez (260 E. Prescott), Lugo (228 E. Baker) and Fournier
(187 E. Baker) families were also helped in addition to the Morris
family. The generosity of TJB Homes Inc., along with the volunteer
coordination efforts by Coldwell  Banker Burnet and the Neighborhood
House made this effort possible.

TJB Inc. secured donations for the lattice repair and yard
clean up at 220 E. Prescott as well as the garage support work
done at 250 E. Prescott.  Valspar and Sherwin Williams stepped up
to the plate to provide paint and painting supplies. Dennis Winge's
Painting Co.provided oversight on the large painting projects for the
family at 260 E. Prescott.  Personal Pride Construction donated
roofing supplies and roofers to oversee the roofing project at 208 E.
Prescott. The GAP-Youth Build program began tackling the paint job at
228 E. Baker.  Volunteers from both 3M and Rasmussen College helped
out with the painting project at 187 E. Baker Street.  A host of other
volunteers including the Girls Scouts of St. Croix Valley (our local
troop out of St. Matthews School) and the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin
stepped up to head the planting and park cleanup projects along side
with REDA, NEDA and WSCO.

Although weather, donations and professional expertise
determined which projects were completed, the WSSNC is
committed to making sure that other families we had initially
identified will get resources to help them find ways to get this much
needed work done on their homes (including the Boys & Girls Club and
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church).  Families were very grateful to participate
in this Extreme Make Over Home Edition"West Side Extension Project"
and are happy with the work that was done on their homes.

Again, thank you for your time and effort in making this project a
success.  Despite the few kinks, we couldn't have done it without you.

(Thank you to any other groups and/or individuals who we may have
unintentionally failed to mention...)

Martha Elena Varela
Executive Director

West Side Safe Neighborhood Council
209 W. Page St.
St.Paul, MN 55107

Hi Bob,

Thanks again for coordinating the food for us!  The 8,100 pounds of food will go a long way in helping us feed our community.  We want to send out thank you letters acknowledging the donation to all the vendors below, including folks from TBJ Homes and Coldwell Banker. Jack, Audrey and Tom:  Thanks so much for making this happen as well!  We'll keep you posted on our final numbers.  Take care 

 

Dear Tom and all of the crew at TJB Homes,

Thanks so much for all of your help and support of our Gateway Project, the extension of the work done on homes surrounding the area of the newly beautifully built Extreme Makeover Home Edition home at 226 East Prescott Street on St. Paul's West Side. West Side Safe Neighborhood Council hopes were surpassed when you graciously gave your time and volunteers to our efforts of doing much needed home repair within the targeted area.

Through the coordination of work to be done by Martha Varela, (the Director of West Side Safe Neighborhood Council, our block club organization), and myself, at least 10 service projects were done in four days. Much needed roof replacement, house and porch painting and yard work was done, as well as fixing a sagging garage roof of one of our senior citizens. There was also a community garden clean-up, 500 bulbs planted, two neighborhood parks cleaned up, and work done on LaPlacita.

Without your help, these would just have been unrealized dreams.

We also want to say thanks for the positive can-do attitude you all had through the rain and cold. Never a cross word. Always rising to the challenges in what became an hour by hour plan to be executed. And always with a smile.

We are indebted to you and all of the TJB Homes folks, and just wanted to say a huge thank you from us and all of the West Side.

Martha Varela, West Side Safe Neighborhood Council Executive Director

Carol M. Neumann, WSSNC Volunteer

Monday Volunteers did clean up at Castillo Park and LaPlacita--plus more than 500 bulbs were planted.

Wed. at 2:00 the food truck is scheduled to arrive at Neighborhood House.

Thurs. at 4:00 the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts that have helped are invited to a Garden Party at the lot at the end of Prescott St. where all the pictures and flowers are.

Hugh O'Kane does the flowers on the lot--it is an empty city lot and he has planted flowers there--he is called the neighborhood," Grandpa", and has weiner roasts for the children.  A police officer lives on the street and he will coordinate bringing the children in at the end of Prescott.

Tuesday volunteers were working on Bluff Park(just below the empty city lot) and Lillydale Park. Volunteers will also be there tomorrow.

We also had volunteers today scraping peeling paint on some houses and hopefully the volunteers will be able to paint Wed. or Thurs.

Senator Klobuchar is scheduled to come to the site on Fri. afternoon.

I am an immigrant.  Many people do not know that.  I migraqted to the West
Side of St. Paul from a small town in Zacatecas Mexico called Santa Maria de la Paz with my  mother when I was a young child. Word had traveled to Mexico that this small West Side neighborhood was the great place to call home. My history professor in college was intrigued by this, due to the fact that this was a very "different" migration pattern than what was normal for families who were migrating from Mexico back then. Different because here people looked out for one another and helped each other feel comfortable when they arrived here.  Resources were here to help people with their transition.  People were here to help
one another get the help they needed.  Whether it was help from the Neighborhood House, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church or help from other families who had already arrived here
and called the West Side home.

As a child I had very influential memories growing up with people from all
walks of life. People from different ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds
lived side by side in this small area south of the river in harmony with one another.  Families knew one another and their children played together.  You knew who your neighbors were and your neighbors knew who you were.  They would look out for you to make sure you were safe.  Neighbors would greet you and ask how you were doing.  This was a real
community.  I grew up on Baker Street.  My uncle Charlie lived a block away on Bancroft and Prescott Street. My grandparents lived on Winifred Street.  I knew the families who lived
on those streets and they knew me.They knew who to call if I was in trouble and I knew where to go if I needed help.  As a small child this had a great impact on me.  I learned invaluable social skills from just playing with my friends in the neighborhood.
Many of whom still live right here on these same streets much like I do.

These childhood experiences influenced my decision to raise my family
here.  After going on to college I decided to continue on the tradition of "giving" back to my community.  I wanted to help those moving here feel just as comfortable as people have helped me feel comfortable when I moved here over 30 years ago.

I wanted to teach children how to appreciate their diversity and learn to
just play with one another as I remembered doing here when I was a kid.

As the Executive Director of the West Side Safe Neighborhood Council this
theme of community is more important than ever before.  With the perils of our society it has become more difficult to maintain safety in our neighborhood.  But as we remember what was helpful and influential to us who all migrated here at one time or another we all have an individual responsibility to welcome those in who are looking for a place to call home.  I know that for me I have found home a long time ago and I work to extend this help and welcome to those who are looking to make the West Side their home.  There is no neighborhood quite as rich as ours. We have defined the word community here on the West Side.  All you have to
do is look around and see just how fast our community pulls together to help one another in times need.  It is really a wonderful thing to be a part of.

The West Side, bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River and on the south side by Annapolis Street, is the only part of St. Paul on the south side of the beautiful river. It is called the West Side because it is on the west bank vs. the east bank.

Often referred to as the "Ellis Island" of the Midwest, the West Side "Flats", located below the bluff line, was first settled in the 1870's by German, Irish and a little later, Jewish immigrants. The original settlement house, Neighborhood House, was founded by Mount Zion Temple in 1897 and originally, also located in the "Flats" area. Constance Curry, who became its long time director, from 1918-1957, set the tone of the first St. Paul settlement house: to be a gathering place; a place for resources and help; and a place that had a strong sense of community. She also has a lasting legacy of the Constance Curry Scholarship Awards that are awarded annually. You meet few long time West Side residents who have not in some manner had a relationship with Neighborhood House.

By the 1920's, a large settlement of Mexican Americans had moved into the "Flats" area. After WWII, Lebanese, American Indian, and Black families found their way to the West Side. After the Vietnam War, Southeast Asians became our new immigrants, and our newest neighbors are of Somali descent.

The "Flats" however, flooded each spring, wiping out homes and community businesses. In the 1960's the City of St. Paul moved the West Side community from the "Flats" to the area above the bluff line. They also rezoned the "Flats" to become light industrial and commercial. The river flooding didn't stop, however, and after years of struggling with flooding, in 2005, a flood wall was built by the City. Many who moved off of the "Flats" still refer to their attachment to that area with longing.

Neighborhood House also moved up the bluff line to its current location at 179 E. Robie in the sixties. It is a neighborhood institution that has always been a beacon of hope, possibilities and resources. To this day Neighborhood House services over 50 ethnic groups. In 2007, the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center or Community Building was opened and the "Neighb", as West Siders call it, was reopened with more service areas to serve the greater community.

The West Side, with its multicultural fabric, is very much family oriented, with a strong community bond, and working class background. You can often find families who, when the kids are grown, live only blocks (or closer) to their parents and/or grandparents.

As one of the safest communities in St. Paul, the West Side has over 20 neighborhood Block Clubs coordinated by the West Side Safe Neighborhood Council. This organization ties the community together through communications, collaborations, and positive programs that are oriented towards reducing crime and violence, and providing tools for a safe and healthy community.

Thanks so much for all that you are doing. We are very grateful for your efforts, and for all of those folks who are helping the West Side community.

In Peace,

Carol