Since there has been so much attention about the various issues facing the residents of the Jordan neighborhood, is John Martin's ideal of a teen center a good or bad ideal? Thank you. Building a place for kids in Jordan By: Lori Young-Williams Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Originally posted 9/10/2003
23-year resident pushes for teen center John Martin, a 33-year-old father and neighborhood resident, doesn�t exactly fit the profile of community powerbroker. But with visionaries in short supply in the Jordan neighborhood, Martin�s bid for a teen center on the vacant lot off of 26th and Knox Avenue North is garnering attention. For the past two weeks, Martin has been at that empty lot with tents providing table games, food and pop for the neighborhood kids. Local businesses have donated items in support of his idea. Martin wants to do something positive for the community. The inspiration for the idea was all the senseless killings that happened last year in the Jordan neighborhood. He said the marches, the vigils and prayer marches have all been done before, and the violence is still here, still happening. �Why does it take something negative to happen to bring the community together? I want to do something positive for the community,� he said. �Let�s come together over something positive.� Jordan has never had a teen center, according to Martin�s research on the community�s past initiatives. Martin said, �Kids want change, and we need to put the community back together � repair the damage done to our community for our boys and girls. No one is taking the time to educate or mentor our children. And when no one is there [for the children], it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.� Martin has talked with the kids who come to the tent and hang out. He says the kids want a safe place to be. He would also like the teen center to be a hub of information about other programs that are there to help youths. �If the kids know what�s available to them, maybe the cycle will stop: the selling drugs, pimping. But they usually find out about these organizations too late,� he said. He said that kids are safe in the neighborhood from 9 am to 4 pm, but from 5 pm to sunup, their safety is in question. �How will your daughter get home from the other side of the neighborhood, from visiting a friend�s home?� he asked. Martin went door-to-door getting 135 signatures for a petition to build the center, and used $1,000 of his money to purchase tents for the vacant lot. He said he wants the city of Minneapolis to see the Jordan neighborhood working together. Ward 3 Council Member Don Samuels thinks that a teen center would be an excellent addition to the neighborhood. �[Martin] has a great idea and great passion,� he said. Though Samuels has met Martin, so far he hasn�t been able to specifically support Martin�s idea. �I would like more disclosure from John about who he is. I would like it if he sent me his resume, references,� Samuels said. Inspector Tim Dolan and Brother Shane Price have both stopped by the site and offered support for the center. At a fundraiser at the lot on Friday, August 29, Price said that Martin is taking the community in a positive direction, and affirms Martin�s request for community contributions. �I support the teen center, because the kids he is trying to support are the ones that weren�t supported back in the late 1980s by the NRP dollars,� Price said. But Martin does not believe community leaders are putting enough advertising or money into this project. He would like their support either through money, advertising, or talking to other community groups about this idea. Nothing will stop him from being out on 26th Avenue North until the teen center is built. Lori Young-Williams welcomes reader responses to [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=31550&sID=13&Search=YES Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup CareerBuilder.com has over 400,000 jobs. Be smarter about your job search http://corp.mail.com/careers REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
