neighborhood

 The first time I heard the term "NORC" was a couple of years ago at the West 7th Community Center.  I had to stop the meeting and ask for a definition.  NORC is an acronym for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community. 

NORCs are very real estate related and they are not planned communities. Rather, they evolve as people:

• Age in place. Many communities house residents who raised families there decades ago and never left. They strongly wish to continue living in their homes of long standing.

• Move into the community. A pattern of in-migration often brings seniors into age-integrated communities, typically in urban centers, where the seniors have access to amenities, culture, and other activities.

• Move out of the community. Out-migration, typically reflecting the departure of younger residents from rural areas, leaves sizable populations of older residents behind.

The challenges going forward are to provide services for seniors in these communities and some seniors who plan to age in place are not currently in senior friendly homes.  I see it as I deliver meals on wheels.  The elderly woman who can no longer do her own laundry because she can not manage the basement stairs.  Some 0f the homes are too large and cost too much to heat.   

Most younger home buyers do not think about aging and they never asume that the first home they will buy will be the last but it works out that way fairly often.   I have many neighbors who are in their 70's and 80's who have lived in my neighborhood for fifty years and have raised their children here. Heck some of those children purchased homes in the same area and live close by.

If you are a younger senior citizen and by that I mean someone under 70 years old there are volunteer opportunities available for you.  your church or community center needs your help with the programs like Meals on Wheels that serve the oldest people in our communities. 

Parents of college students are discovering that purchasing a small house of a condo can be less expensive than student housing.  This is just a reminder that this is the time of year to start looking.  There may be some tax advantages for the parents too.

Loft

Some parents buy bigger homes and rent out the extra rooms to college students while their student lives rent free.  There are many inexpensive homes on the market that might be worth a look.  Last year I helped one family with a student at the University of Minnesota purchase a $50,000 condo for their student and another family bought a small house for less than $90,000 near Hamline University for their son. 

No sense beating around the bush this morning—I'm unemployed for

the first time in over twenty-five years; involuntarilly separated from my employer after over eleven years of very-enjoyable service.

If you are expecting any sort of rant about this—fagettaboudit; this is my take on applying for unemployment benefits with the State of Minnesota and seeking employment. Things have changed a lot since my last experience, now instead of going to the Minnesota State Unemployment Office and applying in person, one may (and is encouraged to) apply on-line.

I knew I was in trouble when on the first page I was expected to know my exact date of hire. Month [mm], day [dd] and year [yyyy]. You must put something in each space. It's been nearly twelve years! I don't remember the day of the month.  Not an option.

Some people can remember even the most obscure days in their life; the date, day, time of day, what they were wearing, who they were with and how they felt. I may have once had those memory skills; I don't remember.

I do remember the year: 1999 and the month: May, so I guessed. I'm sure it was a good guess; within 31 days good.

I don't remember every question I had to answer on the form; I do remember having to go back and make something up—just to fill in the space. Blank spaces are not an option.

They did cover all the methods of the past in seeking and obtaining employment: Want ads, door-knocking and papering the area with resumés—all manner of relatively useless methods—save one: networking. Almost every job I've ever had was obtained because I knew someone who knew someone who had a position to fill.
In case you hadn't noticed—I'm networking right now with this post (that's a hint).

BY Jack Boardman - Guest Author

BY Jack Boardman - Guest Author

“Trick or Treat, Money or Eats” It's been a very-long time since I made that call at every neighbor's home. It wouldn't have been quite so long had my parents not banned the “Money of Eats” part early in my Halloween-urchin career; they felt it sounded too much like begging. Come to think of it...no matter which version of the chant is used, it still sounds like begging.

Both my parents were adults during the Depression and experienced Hobos and Tramps coming to the door and begging for food; Hobos would offer to work for the food, according to my dad, Tramps would not. Both would ride the rails dodging the railroad cops looking for work or an easy touch.

Some of my friends would dress up in old clothes and put coal or charcoal on their faces to look like a hobo or tramp; come to think of it, that may be where that popular kid-costume came from. I was never allowed to dress as a hobo; I had to settle for being a ghost or maybe the Lone Ranger with a pair of chrome six-guns and a mask.

In Saint Paul during the fifties, there were a gazillion kids on every block and parents seldom accompanied their kids; little ones were assigned to bigger ones. The thought being there was safety in numbers. I wonder if they considered that the “trick” part of the chant as an activity was learned by the young kids from the older kids? The tricks were pretty simple and relatively harmless, writing “Boo” on a car window with a bar of Ivory soap was considered great fun...unless we were caught, of course.

Now when we prepare for this evening's little (and some not-so-little) urchins, as every year, we never really know how many to expect; some years very few knock at the door and some years they arrive in hoards...leaving little if any treats left over for us to enjoy.

Maybe it's the quality of the treats. Years we stock up on the good stuff are years of the hoards and years we stock up on ho-hum candy that I don't like, very few show up and we're left with a stock-pile of candy I don't like.

This year we have both! 
Happy Halloween!

The City of St. Paul has a vacant building program and a list of registered vacant buildings and I 
periodically check the list to see how many homes are on the list.  In September of 2008 the were over 2031 registered vacant buildings on the list and most were single family homes.  That seems to be when the number peaked.  Currently there are 1470 on the list.  That is still a large number and not all vacant homes need to be registered.  Homes are being renovated and re-sold and they are selling.

These homes usually have multiple code violations and are expensive to renovate.  If you have your eye on one and would like to buy it make sure you have a home inspection.  St. Paul City inpectors do a fair job inspecting the homes and signing off on the work permits but sometimes items are missed.

Make an inspection contigent offer and then go to the property look up section on the City of St. Paul web site and print out the code complaince reprort and have the home inspector check qs many items as he or she is qualified to check. I recommend using an inspector who is approved by the city to conduct truth in housing inspections because in general they have more experience and education and they understand the registered vacant building program and the city inspectors and they know what to look for.

Have the seller repair any deficiencies before you buy and conduct a walk through before the closing to make sure that the repairs have been completed.

Buying a home that has been completely renovated and brough up to code is sometimes like buying a new home.  Often they have new furnaces, roofs and upgraded plumbing and electrical and the neighbors are happy to see you after living next to a vacant house for a few years.

BY Jack Boardman – Guest Author

When I was a kid time seemed to pass ever-so-slowly; summer seemed almost endless and by mid-August I  suffered from the “there's nothing to do” kid syndrome and actually looked forward to school starting. Until September actually arrived and school loomed on the more or less immediate horizon.

Now, in my sixth decade, I wish for time to slow down…just a little; this summer passed by in an eye-blink. A very rapid eye-blink at that. Already gone are those perfect 75° days with a light breeze stirring the leaves on the tree in our back yard and the delightful fragrance of our flowers wafting in and out of our consciousness. 

In another such eye-blink winter will be upon us with all its delights.  By delights, I'm waxing a little ironic; I don't mean that first significant snowfall deadening the ambient sound of the city and giving the neighborhood a distinct Hallmark-card appearance. Or our simple pine-laurel and (electric) six-candle-light Christmas decorations making the snow sparkle on the front porch; I like that…a lot.

I mean the weeks of windchill, the days of driving on ice, the gallons of windshield-wiper solvent, and the salt-residue-covered car. The long months of long nights and short days, the breath-stealing winds at -5° howling through the leafless trees, the furnace fighting off the cold with the drafts of a 152 year-old house fighting the efforts of the furnace, returning home to the six inches of snow (that the city expects me to have cleared within 24 hours), and that neighbor who has his snow cleared down to the concrete sidewalk ten minutes after the snow stops…what a jerk!

Not all share my opinion of winter, many of my hardier neighbors like winter for the outdoor activities and Saint Paul has winter activities for those folks: the Como Park Ski Center provides cross-country trails, snowboarding and downhill skiing, and ice climbing and ice skating. And then there is the Winter Carnival!

But for me [SIGH]: now in my sixth decade, I wish time would speed up…just a little…until April.

BY Jack Boardman – Guest Author

Farewell old friend

I knew the day would come; I didn't know when. He'd been my constant traveling-companion for nearly fourteen years. Oh, the places we went and the sights we saw…

Countless trips to the North Shore of Lake Superior; Duluth, Two Harbors, Castle Danger, Knife River, Little Marais, Grand Marais and the back-roads and back-waters thereabout.

Park Rapids, Brainerd, Mora, Rochester, Winona; scouring the highways and back-roads of Dodge and Wabasha Counties looking for cemeteries and ancestral homesteads.

To the Ozarks of central Missouri; running the mountain-ridges like a moonshiner and exploring Route 66.

To LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and on to Historic Galena, Illinois, Saint Louis, Missouri, Chicago…

But we mostly explored our beloved Saint Paul—Seventh Street from the remaining bits and pieces at Fort Snelling on the bluff and the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers to the opposite end on the East Side.

Summit Avenue from its current eastern terminus past the majestic Cathedral of Saint Paul and curving past the former Weyerhauser and Forpaugh mansions; stopping at Ramsey Street and the continuing on until stopped finally at East River Road and the Mississippi.

We explored broad University Avenue its entire length from the northern suburbs past the University of Minnesota, Midway industrial areas, the small businesses and shops and past Regions Hospital to to its end at Lafayette Road…ahh the roads we have traveled.

But alas, all relationships must end, and I've found another traveling-companion; she's younger and better-appointed than you are, old friend. I've known her for a few years and we have occasionally gone out together—nothing serious—until now.

Now, my friend, Lumpy, we have come to that fork-in-the-road where my path and yours are not the same. Farewell, old friend; it's been a great ride.