New downtown housing projects in the worksMary Diedrick Hansen

Staff Writer

Recent housing trends are showing a lackluster

market for condominiums and townhomes. According to the St. Paul Area Associa-tion of Realtors (SPAAR), these types of housing units have decreased in

value more than traditional homes and they take longer to sell.

In downtown St. Paul, 96 percent of housing units are apartments, condominiums and townhomes. Down-town housing inventory, which includes the West Side, Upper Landing and Capitol area, shows 7,877

total units, of which 6,005 are rental and 1,872 are owner-occupied. This num-ber includes 254 additional rental units in the new Pen-field project, which is slated for construction this sum-mer.

According to SPAAR, housing demand strength-ened in 2011, with closed

sales up 8.2 percent to 41,429. However, dis-tressed and foreclosed prop-erties still made up a large share of home sales across the metro area. Property values have also continued to slide. The median home value has dropped 33 per-cent over the past five years.

• 2007: $192,000• 2008: $200,000• 2009: $140,000• 2010: $152,000• 2011: $128,200

While all homeowners have been affected by the recession, townhome and condo owners are feeling more pain. According to city-wide statistics from

SPAAR, a traditional home dropped 9.7 percent in val-ue from 2010-2011, while townhouses and condos dropped 14.9 percent. Also, traditional homes were on the market on average 143 days, while townhomes

Housing market / Page 2

August 2012

Volume 18

Number 8

Your Community News & Information Source

Visit www.stpaulpublishing.com for expanded coverage!

Bill KnightContributor

Pamala McCreary, crime prevention coordina-

tor for the city of St. Paul, expects a large turnout for this year’s National Night Out (NNO) celebrations on Aug. 7. She has already helped organize 50 block club parties and estimates St. Paul will have about 300 events with about 34,000 people participating.

Events are being planned at several downtown build-ings. Some will feature visits from the the St. Paul Police Department and its mount-ed patrol, as well as vendors providing soft drinks, ice cream and food.

Determined to fight crime

McCreary has been or-ganizing NNO events city-wide for 10 years. Before her job as the crime preven-tion coordinator she learned first-hand that neighbors banding together can make a difference.

In the 1970s, McCreary and her three kids moved

to St. Paul’s East Side and quickly got to know and en-joy their elderly next door neighbors.

“My kids called them Grandma and Grandpa Next Door,” she said of her neighbors. “They were a

sweet couple.”In the late 1970s, the el-

derly man died and his wife sold the house and moved away. From 1985 to the ear-ly 1990s, the neighborhood gradually changed and that home became rental prop-

erty filled with people doing unlawful activities.

“They were selling drugs and there was prostitution upstairs,” McCreary said.

A going away party for crime

National Night Out events scheduled at downtown buildings on Aug. 7

Boutique opens in Jax building

Uniquely Attainable and Friends Boutique has opened on the first floor of the Jax building, 253 E. Fourth in Lowertown. The boutique has 12 small businesses fea-turing jewelry, clothing, furniture and other items. It is open Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit www.uniquelyattainable.com.

Faces and neighborsreach agreement

Faces restaurant and residents of On the Park condos, both located in Cray Plaza in Lowertown, have reached a tentative agreement on the amount of noise the restau-rant can generate from the ten piece salsa band it hosts on Friday nights. At a mediation session, the parties worked out a set of guidelines concerning noise, hours of operation, etc. An entertainment license was recom-mended for Faces, pending a 90 day review.

Lowry Hotel building under new ownership

Developer John Rupp has sold the Lowry Hotel build-ing at Fourth and Wabasha to Madison Equities for $4.7 million and the assumption of unsecured claims. Madison Equities also owns the Park Square building at Sixth and Sibley in Downtown St. Paul.

Earlier this year Rupp declared bankruptcy on his three downtown properties: the Lowry Hotel, the St. Paul Building at Wabasha and Fifth and the St. Paul Athletic Club (now the University Club). The sale of the Lowry gives Rupp needed funds to strengthen his hold on the two other buildings.

Jim Crockarell, president of Madison Equities, plans to open a ground floor restaurant at the Lowry and offer rooftop dining on the 11th floor. He said he will con-tinue using the upper floors as residential space. Three floors of the Lowry are leased to the McNally Smith College of Music as dormitory space.

National Night Out / Page 3

Photo by James Ramsay, jamesramsayphotography.com

Pamala McCreary, crime prevention coordinator with the St. Paul Po-lice Department, is working hard on the final preparations for National Night Out, held Tuesday, Aug. 7. For more information on times and locations of downtown National Night Out events, call her office at 651-266-5455.

Page 2 - Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012

Your community news and information sourceH ousing

and condos averaged 164 days. Also, traditional fam-ily home sellers received 91 percent of their asking price while townhome and condo sellers received 89 percent.

Overall, in the 13-coun-ty metro area closed sales are on the rise, rising from

38,283 in 2010 to 41,429 in 2011. But downtown, unlike the rest of the met-ro area had a 26.7 percent drop in closed sales, which is probably related to the drop in new listings, which is down 39 percent from 2010.

Affordable rental housing

Housing is affordable

when a family with a mod-erate or low income pays no more than 30-40 per-cent of its monthly income for housing. St. Paul offers 1,667 units of public assist-ed affordable rentals. There are also 358 private market affordable housing units for a total of 2,025 affordable rental units, which makes up 34 percent of downtown rental housing.

In St. Paul, 22 percent

of its residents are below poverty compared to 11 percent in Ramsey County. The median household in-come in St. Paul is $45,439, compared to $62,000 in Ramsey County.

New housingHere is a list of new

Downtown St. Paul hous-ing projects.

• The Penfield - The long-awaited Penfield proj-ect is getting underway this summer. The City has taken over the project after Alatus and Sherman Rutzick & Associates, backed out. The six-story, 254-unit market rate apartment building will feature a Lunds grocery store and will be located on the site of the former Pub-lic Safety headquarters on Tenth Street.

• Pioneer-Edicott - The former location of the St. Paul Pioneer Press at Robert and Fourth Streets will be converted into 234 market rate apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. Rick Pakonen and PAK Properties Inc. pur-chased the 120-year-old

building. Construction should begin this summer.

• Lofts at Farmers Mar-ket - The recently opened $8 million, 58-unit Lofts at Farmers Market is fully oc-cupied. Located at Fifth and Wall Streets in Lowertown, it is near the Farmers’ Mar-ket and Mears Park, and lies in the heart of St. Paul’s artists’ colony. A broker is accepting lease offers for 2,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space.

• West Side Flats - It’s been years in the making but it appears developer George Sherman is finaliz-ing plans for a $32.6 mil-lion, 178-unit apartment project at Fillmore Avenue and Wabasha Street. Plans include 11,500 square feet of commercial space, and 20 percent of the 178 apartments will be avail-able below market rate. If everything goes as planned, construction should begin this summer.

Housingmarketfrom page 1

The Downtown St. Paul Voice is published monthly and delivered to every apartment, condominium and skyway drop in St. Paul’s historic urban village, as well as other locations throughout downtown St. Paul.

Publisher & Editor: Tim Spitzack Copy Editor: Leslie MartinReporter: Mary Diedrick Hansen Contributors: Roger Fuller, Don Morgan, Bill KnightAdvertising: Mona Toft, John Ahlstrom Home Delivery: Independent Delivery Service Bulk Delivery: SC Distribution 651-285-1119

The Downtown St. Paul Voice assumes no responsibility for the opinions expressed by contributors and for the validity of claims or items reported. Copyright Downtown St. Paul Voice 2012. All rights reserved in compliance of Federal Copyright Act of 1978.

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DOWNTOWN:• Total closed sales: 96• Change from 2010: -26.7%• New construction: 7.3%• Townhome/condo sales: 96.9%• Distressed(foreclosed) sales: 55.2%• Days on the market: 241• Received asking price: 86.6%

CITY-WIDE:• Closed sales: 3,025• Change from 2010: +1.1%• New construction: 1.1%• Townhome/condo sales: 11.3%• Distressed(foreclosed) sales: 53.4%• Days on the market: 124• Received asking price: 89.7%

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Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012 - Page 3

Your community news and information sourceP ublic Safety

“I literally kept the blinds closed on that side of my house so my kids didn’t have to see what was going on.”

She watched her neigh-bors and their friends using cocaine outside between their houses and making deals for drugs and other services on the front porch.

“The dealing and the prostitution went on for about a year when I decided that I just didn’t want to keep my blinds closed any more. So I started calling

the police, a lot,” she said.Her persistence helped

bring the unlawful activities to an end.

“They (police) made a bust one night and we saw our neighbors climbing out the windows. It was like someone had stepped on an ant hill. They were all scat-tering,” McCreary said.

This experience led her to a job at her local district council — Conway-Battle Creek — where she worked as a crime prevention coor-dinator for 20 years.

“My experience with the council doing block clubs and community work led to a full-time position with the police department,” she

said. “I never thought I’d be in this kind of work. I was a very quiet person growing up.”

Crime ratesin St. Paul

In 2010 and 2011, bur-glaries in St. Paul increased nearly 11 percent. To battle the problem, she said the police department is step-ping-up efforts, with more arrests, extra street patrols, undercover officers and mounted patrols.

“The number one con-cern is a burglary,” Mc-Creary said without hesita-tion. “People see that as a huge worry and (burglaries)

are up almost all over the place.”

McCreary offers this ad-vice to reduce the risk of a burglary happening to you.

“Remember to lock your door, it’s as easy as that,” she said.

That advice holds true for your vehicle as well.

“That has to be one of the easiest crimes to prevent,” she said. “Be sure to take out your stuff, like a purse, even if you are making only a quick trip into your home or a store.”

How it all beganFor 29 years NNO has

been nicknamed America’s

Night Out Against Crime. This nationwide event grew from a humble effort en-couraging people to turn on their front porch lights and meet their neighbors. Now it includes block parties, cookouts, parades, visits from police and fire fight-ers, festivals, neighborhood walks, safety fairs, contests, rallies and meetings. How-ever, the main reason for the event is to promote a partnership between po-lice and citizens to prevent crime and to build neigh-borhood camaraderie.

“It’s about neighbors getting together, getting to know each other and

becoming familiar enough with someone so if some-thing happens, a person will call their neighbor,” said McCreary.

Last year’s NNO cam-paign involved over 15,000 communities in all 50 states. Nationally, some 37 million people took part in the event. McCreary said the amount of work re-quired to plan an event is much less than expected.

“It’s really a minimal ef-fort and I can send every-thing to you,” she said. To help first-time planners, McCreary offers a “party pack” with picnic supplies for 30 people.

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Page 4 - Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012

Your community news and information sourceS ample St. Paul

On the TownArtists’ Quarter408 St. Peter St., St. Paul651-292-1359www.artistsquarter.com

The Artists’ Quarter offers live entertainment throughout the month, including jazz bands and poetry nights.

Black Dog Café308 Prince St., St. Paul651-228-9274www.blackdogstpaul.com

Jac Klatt will present a program of roots music on Friday, Aug. 17, Wil-lie Murphy will perform blues on the piano on

Friday, Aug. 24, and Carl Franzen will play the pi-ano and sing on Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Children’s Museum10 W. Seventh St.St. Paul651-225-6000www.mcm.org

“Cyberchase” is pre-sented through Septem-ber. Based on the Em-my-winning PBS KIDS GO! math mystery “Cy-berchase,” this exhibit presents math in a fun,

kid-friendly environ-ment, allowing children to make use of their criti-cal thinking skills and approach math with an investigative, positive at-titude.

“Curious George: Let’s Get Curious!” is presented through Oct. 7. This exhibit allows visitors to explore famil-iar buildings and locales from the Curious George

book series and televi-sion show while learning concepts in science, math and engineering. Tickets are $9.50. Explore the museum free of charge 9 a.m.-5 p.m. the third Sunday of each month.

History Center345 W. Kellogg Blvd.St. Paul651-259-3000www.mnhs.org

“1934: A New Deal for Artists” is present-ed through Sept. 30. In 1934, against the back-drop of the Great Depres-sion, the U.S. govern-ment created the Public Works of Art Project — the first federal govern-ment program to support the arts nationally. A se-lection of 56 paintings will be on view in the exhibit, organized by the

“Chicago” is presented Aug. 7-12 at the Ordway Center.

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Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012 - Page 5

Your community news and information sourceS ample St. PaulSmithsonian American Art Museum.

“The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862” - This ex-hibit features documents, images and artifacts relat-ing to the war.

Ongoing exhibits include: “Minnesota’s Greatest Generation: The Depression, The War, The Boom,” “Open House: If These Walls Could Talk” and “Weath-er Permitting.”

Museum tickets are $11 for adults, $9 for seniors and college students, and $6 for children ages 6-17. The center offers free ad-mission on Tuesdays, 5-8 p.m.

Nine Nights of Mu-sic – Free concerts are held 6:30-8 p.m. every Tuesday in August at the Minnesota History Cen-ter Plaza. The schedule includes:

• July 31 - Moonlight Serenaders with Lee Engele, swing

• Aug. 7 - Tropical Zone Orchestra, Brazil-ian

• Aug. 14 - Voices of Sepharad, Jewish music of the Mediterranean

• Aug. 21 - Paul Metsa and Cats Under the Stars, rock ’n’ roll, New Or-leans, country and blues

• Aug. 28 - Ross Sut-ter and Friends, Swedish; The Barley Jacks with Brian Wicklund, blue-grass.

In case of rain, per-formances will be held indoors in the 3M Audi-torium. For more infor-mation, visit www.min-nesotahistorycenter.org/events-programs/nine-nights-of-music or call 651-259-3000.

Landmark Center75 W. 5th St., St. Paul651-292-3225www.landmarkcenter.org

Yolande Bruce, best known as a member of the award-winning vo-cal jazz group Moore by Four, will perform at 5 p.m., Sun., Aug. 12 at PipJazz Sundays. The event is hosted by singer Pippi Ardennia. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. For more information, visit www.pipjazz.com.

Ordway Center 345 Washington St.St. Paul651-224-4222www.ordway.org

Ordway’s Summer Dance Series offers free dancing and live music in Landmark Plaza, 5th and Market Street in down-town St. Paul, on Thurs-day nights. On Aug. 2, tango/waltz dance in-struction is offered by Cinema Ballroom; mu-sic by Café Accordion Orchestra. On Aug. 9, swing dance instruction is provided by Arthur Murray; music by River-side Swing Band.

“Chicago,” winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, is presented Aug. 7-12. Tickets are $27-$100.

Park Square Theatre20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul651-291-7005www.parksquaretheatre.org

“Into the Woods” by Mu Performing Arts is presented through Aug. 5. A baker and his wife seek to break a witch’s evil curse, sending them on a raucous journey through the woods where they cross paths with Cinder-ella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and his beanstalk. But in this story happily ever af-ter is not always what it seems. Tickets are $30-$40 with discounts for seniors and students.

Science Museum120 W. Kellogg Blvd.St. Paul651-221-9444www.smm.org

“Real Pirates: The Un-told Story of the Whyd-ah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship” is presented through Sept. 3. Don your pirate hat and climb aboard a recreation of a pirate ship. Learn to tie knots and hoist a pirate flag. Explore what life was like on a real pirate ship and see more than 200 artifacts from North America’s only authenti-cated pirate shipwreck. Tickets are $29 for adults and $26 for children and seniors.

“Under the Sea” Om-nitheatre film is pre-sented through Sept. 27 - Take a giant screen journey to some of the

most exotic and isolated undersea locations on Earth, including South Australia, the Great Bar-rier Reef, and the Coral Triangle islands of Papua New Guinea and Indo-nesia. You’ll come face-to-face with some of the most mysterious and stunning creatures of the sea.

“The Living Sea” Om-nitheatre film is present-ed through September. The film is narrated by Meryl Streep and features the music of Sting. View-ers will discover how ocean waters are connect-ed by currents, tides and water cycles, they will see humpback whales, jelly-

fish and other mysterious ocean inhabitants, and experience an unforget-table Coast Guard rescue training mission.

Museum tickets are $11 for adults and $8.50 for children and seniors. Omnitheater tickets are $8 and $7 respectively.

Xcel Center199 W. Kellogg Blvd.St. Paulwww.xcelenergycenter.com

Coldplay will perform at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 10 and Saturday, Aug. 11. Tickets are $29.50-$99.50.

Meet local artistsThe Artist Mercantile,

24 West 7th Place, St. Paul, hosts a free event 11 a.m.-1 p.m., the first and third Thursday of the month through Sep-tember to allow the pub-lic to meet local artists and ask them questions about their creations, techniques and inspira-tions. Artists include Chris Gray (blown glass) on Aug. 2, Theresa An-gelo (journals and travel-ogues) on Aug. 16, Sheila Bayle (seed beaded jewel-ry) on Sept. 6 and Chris-tine M. Johnson (jewel-ry) on Sept. 20. For more information, visit http://www.artistmerc.com.

Lowertown Roots Music Festival

The second annual Lowertown Roots Music Festival will be held Sat-urday, July 28 at Mears Park. Headliner Mike Farris will perform gospel roots music at 8:30 p.m.

Los Conocidos will offer a Tex-Mex perfor-mance at 7 p.m., Butch Thompson and Friends will perform at 5:30 p.m., McNally Smith Showcase at 4 p.m., and The Barley Jacks with Brian Wicklund at 2:30 p.m. All concerts are free.

For more than two decades, making quality health care accessible to everyone has been our goal. Bridging the language gap, developing culturally respectful approaches to care, and fostering innovative services and partnerships across communities are just a few of the ways we’re working to achieve that goal. When it comes to your health, we always start with you.

Twenty-fi ve years ago we startedwith one thing in mind:

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Por las pasadas dos décadas, nuestra meta ha sido hacer el cuidado de la salud accesible y de calidad para todos. Eliminando barreras del lenguaje, desarrollando acercamientos culturales respetuosos para cuidar y fomentar innovadores servicios y alianzas a través de las comunidades, son sólo algunas de las maneras en que estamos trabajando para alcanzar esa meta. Cuando de tu salud se trata, siempre comenzamos contigo.

Veinte años atrás comenzamoscon una cosa en mente:

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Page 6 - Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012

Your community news and information sourceT he Fuller Files by Roger Fuller

Music in MearsMusic in Mears will pres-

ent concerts in Mears Park at 6 p.m. on Thursdays in August. Goondas, Maudin and Rockford Mules will perform Aug. 2, Mayda, Kill the Vultures and No Bird Sing on Aug. 9, In-ukshuk, Chemistry Set and Flaming O’s on Aug. 16, Savannah Smith, Brian Da-vid Band and Honey Dogs on Aug. 23, and High on Stress, Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank and Charlie Parr on Aug. 30.

Hiking in the Vento NatureSanctuary

A Hike It! program is of-fered at 9:30 a.m., Satur-day, Aug. 18 and 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 12 at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctu-ary, located near E. Seventh and Payne. In addition, the Lower Phalen Creek Proj-ect is soliciting feedback on how to improve the sanctu-ary. To participate in a pub-lic survey, visit www.lower-phalencreek.org.

District 17 elects new officers

Eleven members were re-cently elected to serve two-year terms on the Capitol-River Council/District 17 Board of Directors. New members are Matt Angfang, Ed Coleman, Julio Fesser, Bill Hosko, Jim Ivey, Adam Johnson, Karl Karlson, Tara Mettessich, Ellen McPart-lin, Rhea Pappas and Zack Schwartz. Renee Skoglund was elected as chairperson.

MMAA reopens downtown

The Minnesota Museum of American Art will oc-cupy temporary space in the Pioneer/Endicott build-ings while it is being con-verted from retail and office space to apartments. When the construction project is completed, the museum may make the Pioneer/En-dicott its permanent home. The museum was former-ly located at the Ramsey County Government Cen-ter West, but in 2009 lost that space. The museum has about 4,000 pieces of art from American and Minne-sota artists.

City Passport events

The City Passport senior citizen center located at the mezzanine level of the Alliance Bank building at 55 E. Fifth St. has the fol-lowing events in August: happy birthday party, 2 p.m., Monday, Aug. 13; trivia, 10:30 a.m., Wednes-day, Aug. 15; writers group, 10:30 a.m., Friday, Aug. 17; current events discussion, 11 a.m., Friday, Aug. 17; leather lace key chain crafts, 1 p.m., Monday, Aug. 20; ice cream float social, 1:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 24; la-dies tea, 2 p.m., Monday, Aug. 27; blood pressure tests, 10 a.m. on Mondays; acupuncture, 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays; movies at 1 p.m. on Thursdays.

Tot Lot repairThe repair and refurbish-

ing of equipment at the Tot Lot at Fourth and Sibley in Lowertown is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. CapitolRiver Council/District 17 is con-sidering recommendations to rename the park when it re-opens. The Tot Lot is

part of the St. Paul park sys-tem.

New Nice Ride stations in downtown

Nice Ride Minnesota has installed 26 stations in the downtown area where people can rent a bike for a short period of time. Spokesman Bill Dossett said the program encour-ages people to use bicycles as a means of transporta-tion. Riders may rent a bike using a credit card and re-turn it to any Nice Ride sta-tion. Two years ago the first group of stations was in-stalled in downtown Min-neapolis. Last summer the program expanded to the University of Minnesota and the Midway and Grand Avenue areas of St. Paul.

Pedro Park plans under review

Comments and sugges-tions on the future of the proposed Pedro Park near Tenth and Robert are being evaluated by the St. Paul Department of Parks and

Recreation. The comments were obtained from two public meetings and a ques-tionnaire that was complet-ed by nearly 850 people.

Great River Passage meeting

The Great River Passage master plan is scheduled to have a public hearing be-fore the St. Paul Planning Commission on Aug. 24. It has already been reviewed by several district councils, the St. Paul Parks Commis-sion and the transportation committee of the Planning Commission. The plan of-fers a 30-year vision for the future of parkland along the Mississippi River. The city has 26 miles of shoreline and 25 miles of trails next to the river.

Capitol restoration

The bonding bill ap-proved by the legislature in-cludes $44 million toward a restoration project of the State Capitol. The Capitol Preservation Commission has determined it needs

$241 million to repair the deteriorating façade and update the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, securi-ty and telecommunications systems. This summer the west plaza and steps will be repaired and construction is expected to begin on a tun-nel under University Av-enue, in coordination with the light rail transit project.

Tamales in Town Square

La Loma has opened a tamales shop on the skyway level of Town Square, next to the skyway to the Securi-an building. This is the first St. Paul location. It has two other restaurants in Min-neapolis. La Loma offers meat and vegetable tamales, enchiladas, chilaquiles, bur-ritos and taco salads.

First FridayCapitol River Council/

District 17 will host a First Friday social 4-6 p.m., Fri-day, Aug. 3 at Hunan Gar-dens. The event is sponsored monthly to give downtown residents an opportunity to become better acquainted.

Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012 - Page 7

Your community news and information sourceR iver Connections

Reflections from the

RiverfrontTim Spitzack

Editor

Same bench, same time, new musingsEditor’s note: this is the ninth of a 12-part series where I am spending 30 minutes in the same place along the Mississippi River each month to contemplate life in our river town. To read previous articles, visit www.stpaulpublishing.com/mississippiriver.html.

July 6, 201212:30 p.m.96 degrees FOvercast

It was bound to happen and today it did. As I

walked across the great lawn at Harriet Island Regional Park I saw two young wom-en sitting on my bench. I glanced around and could see a dozen other benches along the riverfront and they were all empty. Yet, they chose mine. I guess I can’t blame them. It’s a good bench. It is shaded by a large cottonwood tree and provides nice views of the river, both upstream and down. I moved to a bench further on down the trail. At first I was disappointed, but then I thought, “What the heck; a new bench, a new perspective.”

My most striking obser-vation today is how placid the river looks and how quiet the park is. I suspect it

has to do with the weather. It is hot and humid, just an-other in a long string of days with temps that have hov-ered around 100 degrees. We’re only a few weeks past the summer solstice and already people are retreat-ing indoors for the comfort of artificially cooled air. It is 56 degrees warmer to-day than when I sat on my bench around the time of the winter solstice. I think back to that day, which was unseasonably warm, and how people were grumbling about the cold and were planning get-aways to plac-es closer to the equator. Six months ago many would have sold their birthright for the chance to bask in 96 degree heat. Now that it’s here, they want nothing to do with it.

The “hard-core” bik-ers and runners of recent months are also absent, re-placed by only a few people who are leisurely making

their way along the trail. I see only two or three run-ners and the same amount of bikers, all moving rather slowly, and just a hand-ful of walkers. Talk of the weather dominates our con-versations these days and includes colorful adjectives like stifling and scorching.

There is a gentle breeze blowing at my back and I am quite comfortable in the shade. I look at the river and see no traffic upon it. On the morning of Sunday, July 29 it will look much differ-ent. Some 300 paddlers will be stopping at the park for a rest break along their 2-day, 39-mile trip down the river. They are paddling to help raise money for the Friends of the Mississippi River and the causes it supports (see www.fmr.org). The thought of being on the river excites me and I begin to devise a plan to paddle around Pike Island this weekend. For Father’s Day, one of my

daughters gave me a gift of time: to go on some small outdoor adventure together. We had planned to go hik-ing this weekend but I think I will suggest that we canoe the river. Having recently viewed the new “U.S.-Da-kota War of 1862”exhibit at the Minnesota History Center, I’ll enjoy paddling around what was a very sig-nificant locale of that era. In the 1860s, Pike Island was the site of Dakota vil-lages, a treaty signing and an internment camp that held Dakota prisoners after the war. The exhibit, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the war, did a nice job of profiling both sides of the conflict.

After I left the park I won-dered if I had too harshly judged my fellow Minne-sotans for their spineless re-treat from the intemperate weather so I drove around to a few restaurants with outdoor patios to see how

many people were soaking up the sun. They were all empty. My suspicions were confirmed so, defiantly, I decided to dine outside. I drove to cafe on the West Side that has a small patio with a view of the limestone bluffs of St. Paul and ate a

chicken salad sandwich on rye. It was hot and humid and the sun beat down on me. I washed down my sandwich with luke-warm water and wiped some beads of sweat from my brow. Did I say it was hot? No, it was sweltering.

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Page 8 - Downtown St. Paul Voice - August 2012

Your community news and information sourceB ack in Time

Don MorganContributor

We live in a culture that seems to spend

an awful lot of time fol-lowing the activities of the latest talent show winners, reality show stars and any-one with a hit movie. Life in St. Paul wasn’t much dif-ferent 85 years ago, except that people read newspapers instead of viewing cable TV or the internet. In August 1927, folks in St. Paul fol-lowed some flash-in-the-pan celebs, as well as some stars that still are significant today, and some got up-close and personal with two of the biggest names of the 1920s.

The month began with locals following two big stories, one happy, one de-cidedly not. In the sports pages, Yankee sluggers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were engaged in a home run battle that overshadowed the American League pen-nant race (not much of a race actually, New York finished 19 games ahead of

the Athletics.) That month, the anarchist duo of Sacco and Vanzetti, convicted of murders committed dur-ing a 1920 payroll robbery, had their final appeal de-nied and were headed for a date with the Massachusetts electric chair. But it was ce-lebrity appearances that de-fined the month. The 1927 U.S. Amateur Golf tourna-ment was held at the Mini-kahda Golf Club in Min-neapolis, which meant a lot of top golfers were in the Twin Cities for a week or so, including the top player of them all, Atlanta’s Bobby Jones.

Jones, one of the top names in American sports in the 1920s, was at the peak of his game in 1927. At age 25, he had already twice won the Amateur and the United States and Brit-ish open tournaments. Even though the tournament was in Minneapolis, contestants made personal appearances at local clubs around the Twin Cities and had recep-tions in both downtowns. Jones was the big draw and

handled himself with grace when meeting the public or press. After a meeting and photo with the mayor at city hall, he headed back across the river for the opening of the tournament.

Normally the presence of someone of Jones’ stature and fame would have been the big story of the month in St. Paul, even if he did spend most of his time in Minneapolis, but he was trumped by the visit of perhaps the biggest Ameri-can celebrity of the entire decade, Minnesota native Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh, also 25, was new to the celebrity role, having been one for only a little over three months. Following his solo flight in May across the Atlantic in the plane Spirit of St. Louis, he went from being an obscure mail pilot to an international hero literally overnight. After receiving the Legion of Honor award from the French, huge pa-rades in his honor in Paris and London, a gigantic ticker-tape parade in New

York, and the Distinguished Flying Cross at a ceremony in Washington, he em-barked on a cross-country tour to promote American aeronautics. Sponsored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund, the tour covered over 90 cities in 48 states. Min-nesota was one of his early stops.

Lindbergh was from Little Falls and had no real connection with the Twin Cities, except for his days hanging out in the mail rooms at both airports. His time here was limited. Naturally, both St. Paul and Minneapolis wanted him, and just as naturally there were squabbles over his schedule. After negotiations and at least one coin flip, a compromise was reached. Lindbergh would perform some aerial maneuvers over the St. Paul airfield in the Spirit, head for Wold-Chamberlain field in Min-neapolis to land, travel by open car caravan back to the St. Paul airport for an address, drive to the Lowry Hotel for rest, and then go to the St. Paul Hotel for a banquet in his honor that

night. St. Paul was consid-ered to have gotten the best of the Lindbergh bargain.

All pretty much went as planned. A huge crowd gathered at the St. Paul airport and across the riv-er on the bluffs of Indian Mounds Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fa-mous plane. Flying in from Milwaukee, Lindbergh ap-peared in the sky right on schedule and swooped a couple of times across the field (nothing fancy, he was not a stunt pilot and the Spirit was definitely not a stunt plane), and then headed west for his landing. Back in St. Paul a couple of hours later, he gave a brief speech to a large crowd, ex-horting the need to main-tain both of the Twin Cities’ airports.

The banquet that night at the St. Paul Hotel was attended by the “financial, professional and political leaders of Minnesota,” in-cluding the governor and mayors of both of the Twin Cities. His address was di-rect. After a brief word of thanks to all of Minnesota, he spoke on the develop-

ment of American com-mercial aviation. He noted how the war in Europe had moved aviation to the point of practicality and called for a coordinated aeronautical program for the Twin Cit-ies. The talk was short and quite technical, but well re-ceived.

Lindbergh spent another day in St. Paul, resting. The next day he was in the air again; first to Little Falls for a visit home, and then to Fargo and another push for aviation facilities.

Bobby Jones easily won his third U.S. Amateur title, setting a course record at Minikahda at almost the same time that Lindbergh was flying over St. Paul. Also on that same day, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed by the state of Massachusetts. People still argue today over their guilt or innocence.

Jones and Lindbergh both remained celebrities for the rest of their lives. As they aged, the role became harder for each. Jones suffered seri-ous illness, and Lindbergh became more withdrawn after family tragedy and wartime controversy. Jones died in 1971; Lindbergh three years later. Both had flaws but both were men of accomplishment. And thankfully today, people are still able to distinguish real celebrity from the kind that will be soon forgotten.

August 1927: St. Paulites enjoy brush with fame

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