Get Ready to Clean Up the Neighborhood!

The Community-wide Clean-Up is coming Saturday, October 10 from 9a to 1p at Harding High School. This year we are going to see if we can beat our record for numbers of people participating, and amount of stuff that gets recycled (instead of being trashed!!). So get ready to clean out your basement, attic, garage, yard... well the whole place, actually!

If you have clean, jute-backed carpeting, we can recycle that, too. It needs to be rolled in sections no more than about 4 feet wide, but you usually have to cut it up to get it out of your rooms, anyway. If it is stained, or if it has foam backing, we can take it and put it in the trash, but the clean, jute-backed stuff is actually recycled to other purposes.

Remember, we don't take cans, bottles, and paper that can be recycled at the curbside. Nor do we take household hazardous waste that needs to be taken to the hazardous waste recycling place off of Pennsylvania Ave (between Rice and Jackson). And the compostable stuff is taken either to the Londin Lane Compost site or the Frank and Sims site (woody material).

But construction debris? Bring it over. Reusable furniture and kitchen stuff? Bring it over. Appliances and tires? Bring it over. And of course, fluorescent lights and electronics - we always take those.

Look for the District 1 News coming soon with details, and a flyer from us and Eureka Recycling.

See you at the Clean-Up!

Meeting on Rail Noise

There will be a community meeting on Tuesday, September 22 at 6:30p with elected officials and representatives of Canadian Pacific Railroad to discuss neighborhood complaints about noise from squealing brakes at the hump yard along Highway 61.

The meeting will be at Battle Creek Rec Center.

Please come ready to discuss your experiences with the noise, and, if you have the information, specific instances of especially bad noise from the braking.

You can also call the CP Rail complaint line at 1-800-766-7912.

See you there!!

Leadership Training Opportunities - Teens and Adults

The Wilder Foundation is running two programs this fall, one for adults and one for teens, that are focused on building neighborhood leaders. The teen program is for kids 14-18 years old and is FREE. The teens design a community action project while working with other teens from across the city to understand themselves and community work. Deadline for applications is Thursday September 24.

The program for adults is a 6 month commitment to leadership development. It involves two sessions a month and an overnight retreat. There will be up to 30 participants, and the cost is $100 (actual value is $3500). Some scholarships are available. Childcare and food is provided at each of the sessions. Deadline for applications is Monday September 28.

If you are interested in either of these programs, contact Patty Jo Verdeja at 651.280.2457.

Submitted by the Wilder Foundation.

Billboards in the City

Ellen Biales, Council Member Lantry's aide, is asking for our help with a billboard project. When the City Council passed its updated billboard ordinance, the ordinance anticipated a follow-up resolution to identify high priority billboards across the city that should be removed if the billboard companies want to exchange them for dynamic display signs. The Council would like to pass a resolution that includes high priority locations from which billboards should be removed. They would like us to identify 2-3 billboards that we would like to see removed.

If you need some reminders of potential locations, Scenic Saint Paul has a slide show by ward of all the billboards in the city (we are in Ward 7). You can access the slide show at this website.

Please let Betsy know at the district council office (651.501.6345, or district1council@aol.com) about your priorities. Deadline is October 29.

Submitted by the St. Paul District Council Coordinator and Kathy Lantry's Office

Local Girl Scouts honored for award from Lt. Governor Molnau

On August 10th, Melissa Duchene and Gabrielle Vanderberg were honored by Lt. Governor Molnau at the State Capitol for earning the Girl Scout Bronze Award. Melissa and Gabrielle worked together to educate the public about displaced children and also worked to help seniors in the community.

At Girl Scout Cookie booths in February and March, the girls collected more than 50 cookie packages to donate to a local women and children's shelter, and they used part of their earned cookie dollars to purchase materials needed to make fleece blankets for local seniors.

As Lt. Governor Molnau said at the honoring celebration, "you should never let others cap your potential." The girls have taken these words to heart and are planning their next project to help them earn their Silver Award - doing graffiti clean-up in the community. They will be forming a painting team that will improve one house, fence, garage and business at a time.

Congratulations girls!!

Submitted by Christy Vanderberg

Elders needing help with Community Clean-Up

If you, or someone you know, needs help to get things to the Community Clean-Up, October 10, call our office - 651.501.6345. We will arrange for some of our volunteers to come to your/their home and collect the stuff and haul it away. We need to know what you/they have so we can calculate the fee for disposal, and we need to know where the stuff is. But there is no charge to haul the stuff away, only the usual disposal fees. (The fee schedule will be coming soon in the next issue of the District 1 News, and in a flyer from Eureka.)

Help us help our elders clean out their unwanted junk... we consider elders anyone 65 years or older, but if you have a disability that prevents you from moving the stuff, we can still help out.

Just give us a call!! 651.501.6345 - if you get the answering machine, leave your name, and a phone number and let us know you are looking for help...

Burns Overlook Rehab Update

The overlook is now closed until late December while it is being restored. The stone walls, stone pavers, picnic tables and trash receptacles, and landscaping will all be updated.

During this restoration, the public is cautioned to stay out of the overlook due to safety concerns.

Submitted by MNDOT.