The Scoop has four brief items to share this fine Monday afternoon.
Amy Brendmoen’s Chickens
The first item of note concerns St. Paul City Council Member Amy Brendmoen’s chickens. On the city’s YouTube channel, Brendmoen explains the permitting regulations she had to comply with to set up her own urban chicken coop. See for yourself:
Memorable quotes: “I think it’s important that this is not a way to get free eggs. The cost of putting a coop together … is not cheap. The feed is not cheap. … And it’s work. You definitely need to tend them everyday.” So why keep urban hens? It’s a learning tool for her kids, for starters: “It’s such a pleasant experience. Even the sounds that they make. And coming out and finding the eggs is cool.”
Artify Hamline Station on Sept. 15 – applications due!
The fine folks that brought you the recent Artify Hamline Station project at the vacant old Midway Chevrolet site at Hamline and University avenues are back again. This time, they’re recruiting artists, performers and volunteers to host an interactive event at the site during St. Paul Open Streets on Sept. 15, when a long stretch of the avenue will be closed to cars and open only to bikers, walkers, rollerbladers and the like.
ARTIFY is seeking local artists who live, work and play in the Hamline-Midway area to propose creative activities to perform, conduct, implement, and share at the first St. Paul Open Streets event on Sunday September 15th, 2013 at Hamline Station located at 1333 University Ave. W., St Paul, MN.
Theme: “Home is…”
(What makes a place feel like home? … a neighborhood? … a community?”)
Interested? Applications are due Wednesday, Aug. 28, and remember — the theme is “home.” More information is available online at artifynow.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/artists-wanted. The Artify project aims to add a little excitement to the giant parking lot, which will eventually be occupied by a new affordable housing development slated to get under construction next summer.
Arjo Adams built a Folk Art Park…
Speaking of fine folks, the fine folks behind the Saint Paul Republicans website have a bone to pick with City Hall, and no, it’s not over death or taxes. This time, it’s all about the condemnation of the Wells Street home occupied by Arjo Adams.
Adams has gained his share of followers and detractors on the East Side, where he’s taken two vacant city lots on either side of his house and built a folksy series of stone walking paths, gardens and displays made out of odd items, such as the rusted interior of a merry-go-round and a giant barbie doll head. Now, he’s being forced to move from his house, which is condemned, and the lots have been fenced up because of the alleged dangers to visitors, including the gargoyles hanging from the trees (no joke).
The Scoop shall hold the Scoop’s tongue, but blogger Publius Jr. waxes on the definition of “public art” in his strongly-worded post, “Why is Arjo Adams so dangerous to the city called St. Paul?”
Fire Department Budget
And in budget news… At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council will review the 2014 fire department budget proposal, the capital improvement budget and the debt budget. Hearings are open to the public and held on the third floor of St. Paul City Hall / the Ramsey County Courthouse on Kellogg Boulevard. See you there?