To enter, please visit: www.stpaul.gov/poetry before March 28, 2010.

Put together your poems! It's time for the Annual Saint Paul Sidewalk Poetry Contest to begin. The contest, in partnership with Public Art Saint Paul, will accept poetry submissions from Saint Paul residents through the month of March.  Winners will then have their work stamped into city sidewalks as part of Saint Paul Public Works sidewalk replacement program!

To date the city has installed over 261 poetry panels around the city of 26 poems within the collection. Because poems are stamped into sidewalk panels, poems are limited to 250 character spaces.

Green on the Screen

At the St. Anthony Park United Methodist Church
2200 Hillside Ave.

The Garden has already filled.  The waiting list is full.  Gardening Matters can help you locate other gardening possibilites.  Good luck!

For those of you that read the SAPark email list, you will have already have read the story about the injured eagle and the nesting owl.  Here are the photos:

February 22:

More trees within a one mile radius of the original infestation in South St. Anthony Park have been identified. For weekly updates, check the city's EAB web page.

The St. Anthony Park Community Council welcomes people to run for the Board of Directors. Elections will be held on April 6th and the terms begin in May. Board are involved in decisions affecting a broad range of local issues including planning, transportation, community connections and environmental stewardship.To run, fill out an application by Monday, March 15.  Feel free to call or e-mail with any questions!

Creative financing is winning recipe for Saint Paul bakery

By Kristal Leebrick, TC Daily Planet
February 04, 2010

Katie Novotny and husband Ebba Benti will celebrate the re-opening of the Saint Paul Classic Cookie Co. next weekend at its new location, 2386 Territorial Road in Saint Paul.

The February 6 grand opening comes nearly a year after she shuttered her downtown spot in the Alliance Bank Center and began looking for a more affordable space to re-open the bakery business that she took over from her mother three and a half years ago.

"Between the decline of 50 percent of the foot traffic and skyrocketing rent, I couldn't make it work" at the downtown space, she says. They found their new location in June, but it took months of work to bring the building up to code, get the equipment they needed and tap into some creative funding to accomplish it all.

Free, at Central Lutheran Church, 333 12th Street South, Minneapolis 55404 (next to the Minneapolis Convention Center)

Find great resources for your spring and summer neighborhood projects including funding sources, project tool kits and successful project ideas from other neighborhoods. Network with volunteers from your own neighborhood and with 500 neighborhood volunteers from around the Twin Cities.

Topic Workshops on community gardening, traffic calming, complete streets, energy conservation, renewable energy, composting, rain gardens, tree planting, the emerald ash borer, transition towns, alternative currencies, and permaculture extreme makeovers for a block club, neighborhood and congregation.

We had a chance to honor three outstanding St. Anthony Park residents - Representative Alice Hausman, Ranae Hanson and Tim Wulling at this year's Honor Roll.  Here's a short video capturing the highlights of the evening.

Due to the reduction in Local Government Aid to the City of Saint Paul, the Saint Paul Public Library has been asked to reduce its 2010 operating budget by $889,240, which is 4.8 percent.  You can read more about the changes, which include reduction of hours and a 15% reduction in the collection budget, at http://www.sppl.org/news/2009/2010-budget-fast-facts.pdf.  At St. Anthony Park Library, hours are proposed to be reduced from 63 total hours per week to 48.5.  The proposal includes closing SAP on Sundays, opening at noon instead of 10am Mon and Wed, closing at 8pm Mon-Wed, and 5:30pm Thurs-Sat.

On Wednesday, January 6, 5:30 pm, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the qualifications and the examining committee regarding the new police chief selection process. There is also a city web page on the selection process at  http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=3595. Included on the web page is a flyer  announcing 2 community meetings in late February.

Are there sidewalks in your neighborhood that need to be shoveled?  The St. Anthony Park Community Council has door-hangers that act as a friendly reminder for neighbors to shovel within 24 hours after a snow fall.   The free doorhangers are available for pickup by calling 651-649-5992.

Any senior or person with disabilities in SAP can use the Senior Chore Service to find someone to shovel their walks: 651-649-5984.

We welcome Noreen Huntington as our new Senior Chore coordinator.  Noreen comes to us with extensive experience in working with seniors and volunteer outreach and management.  She will continue part time in her role with the Macalester Groveland Seniors working with their block nurse program.

The Chore Service is a program of the St. Anthony Park Community Council serving ten neighborhoods including St. Anthony Park.  The program matches older adults (60+) and disabled individuals with neighborhood youth workers or volunteers to assist with home maintenance chores.  Neighborhood youth workers are paid directly by the senior and usually negotiate a charge between $5 and $10 per hour.