Attention slumlords: Take your boulevard signs and shove 'em

This should have been my weekend with my son, Alex, but an emergency with live cargo flew me on short notice to Tucson, Arizona. With the help of a strong work ethic and enormous amounts of caffeine, I drove back in time to salvage today, Sunday, for visitation.

So! With such a relatively short weekend, what kind of good quality father-son activity could we accomplish together? Taking a friend's dog for a walk around the Jordan pond, we spotted signs stuck in the grassy boulevards of our neighborhood, where they don't belong. The boulevards of NoMi are not free advertising space for low-end flippers and wannabe slumlords.

So about an hour ago, Alex and I went fishing and caught our limit. While walking, we waved cheefully to neighbors --- Ann Yin with her husband and daugher, CC, as well as the Wagners at their new investment property on the Jordan Pond. Deb Wagner came to the door and we showed off our haul. She was elated and said she'd been planning to pull up the signs herself.

Of course, I thought, plenty more signs where those came from! We got six. Anybody care to get more and contribute a photo?

What will we do with the signs, you might ask? Answer: kindling for backyard bonfires as we eat, drink, and endlessly plot revitalization.

John Hoff

Blogging about North Minneapolis on www.johnnynorthside.com and now picked up by the Twin Cities Daily Planet.