Tidbits

Como Cookout

The Como Cookout is fast approaching! The 7th Annual Como Cookout will be held on September 20th, from 2 pm until 5 pm, at Van Cleve Park. We are holding the Cookout on a Sunday this year due to conflicts with the opening of the new TCF Bank Gopher Stadium.

There will be live music, free food (hot dogs, corn, sweets etc.), children’s games and a resource fair for all ages. Entertainment includes Click 4 Life, a local high school band, The Lions, a band of local youth from Van Cleve Park, our probable headliner - the New Music Machine, and The Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre.

If you are interested in volunteering at the Cookout, and receiving a free Como Cookout t-shirt, please either call the SECIA office (612 676 1731), or email us (secomo@secomo.org). Past Cookout’s have only been a success due to community involvement, so please sign-up to volunteer today!

Bike Safety Seminar and Free Safety Equipment

SECIA received a Good Neighbor Fund Grant from the SAAG to promote bike safety in Como and the rest of the area surrounding the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. There will be a free bike safety seminar at the Como Cookout on September 20th, at 3 pm. Participants in the SECIA Bike Safety Program will receive free reflective safety gear at the Cookout. Those who agree to participate in an on-going survey about bike safety will receive free solar powered headlights or LED head and tail light kits. Our goal is to increase bike safety to help eliminate a common barrier to increased bike usage. Cycling is better for the environment than driving a car, provides great exercise, is less expensive and now, thanks to SECIA’s Bike Safety Program, biking will be a little bit safer in the community!

7th Annual Tomato Tastin' Experience
All are invited to stop by SE Como’s own tomato event happening during the Como Cookout on Sunday, September 20th!  The Tomato Tastin’ Experience is like a trip around the world;  Druzba from Bulgaria, Black Krim from Russia, Stupice from Czech Republic, Costoluto Genovese from Italy, Kentucky Beefsteak from the United States, Eva’s Purple Ball from Germany, and Money Maker from England are all varieties of tomatoes, some we have seen in past years at the Tomato Tastin’.  Community & home tomato gardeners can bring a pound or two of tomatoes for this event, however this year the contest portion of the Tomato Tastin’ Experience will not run due to the late date of the Cookout.  Past wining varieties can be found at the Como Green Blog.  Tomato bounty!

Garage Sales

The Liaisons are hosting the popular SE Como Neighborhood Garage Sales this year, upon residents’ requests! Utilizing the past success of SECIA’s organized garage sales, the Liaisons are continuing the tradition of having SE Como’s Neighborhood Garage Sale the week of the SE Como Cookout. We hope to encourage the neighborhood’s collaboration to recycle his or her used stuff, so that one “neighbor’s sale can be another neighbor’s treasure!”

WHEN: September-Thursday 17th, Friday 18th, Saturday, 19th…and we need participants to sign up! Como Cookout follows Sunday, 20th from 2-5pm.

For 7$ registration, we will provide advertising, signs, & maps! You can drop a check off at SECIA’s office.

WE NEED AT LEAST 20 HOUSES TO HAVE THIS GARAGE SALE, SO PLEASE SIGN-UP! To register, email neighbor@umn.edu or call Katie Beddow at 612-626-6843 today!

Report Gopher Stadium Problems

SECIA has developed a survey tool to collect data on the impact that the new TCF Bank Gopher Football Stadium will have on the community. We all know there will be impacts, and by collecting how the stadium and its attendees affect the community, we can better address those issues. So if you witness something negative, or positive, about event-day activities related to the new stadium, please take a few moments and visit the Good Neighbor Fund Research website located under Stadium Research at www.secomo.org.

The actual survey can also be found at: http://sites.google.com/a/comogreenvillage.info/good-neighbor-fund-research/Event-Survey

SECIA’s goal is to capture positive and negative information to inform the decisions made by the University of Minnesota, and the City of Minneapolis, in the future. Please be civil, as any submissions deemed offensive will be deleted by the system administrator. If you do not have internet access, please call the SECIA office to lodge your report.

Como Green Village Blog

Learn about what eco things are happening in and around Como by checking out the Como Green Blog at our website http://www.comogreenvillage.info/ where we feature a weekly update. This week’s topic is where to find local farmers’ markets, and last week we had info about the HERC garbage incinerator in downtown. We will work to keep this current with the latest updates. As always, if you would like to be more involved with Como environmental/gardening initiatives in the neighborhood, come to the Environment Committee meeting the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7pm at the SECIA office (next meeting is next Tuesday the 25th) or call the office at 676-1731 to talk with Justin or Steph.

MSHS Free Seminar on Emerald Ash

Because of the heightened threat of Emerald Ash Borer in Minnesota, the Minnesota State Horticultural Society will be holding a free informational seminar on the invasive insect.

Emerald Ash Borer-What You Need to Know
Tuesday, September 22, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Free, but registration is required. Please call 651-643-3601 to hold your spot. Location: Minnesota State Horticultural Society classroom, 1755 Prior Avenue North, Falcon Heights, MN 55113

Emerald ash borer (EAB) is an insect that destroys ash trees – and it has arrived in Minnesota. EAB was found in a St. Paul neighborhood on May 14, 2009. The insect only kills ash trees, but it does so in great numbers. EAB has already killed millions of ash trees in North America. It is expected to have a huge effect on Minnesota's landscape and the 937 million ash trees that grow in our cities and forests.

Early detection and isolation of any current and future emerald ash borer infestations is vital to saving the ash trees in our forestlands and urban areas.
Join us for this free information session by Don Mueller of the Minnesota DNR and get your questions answered. 

A Celebration of Home

Mark your calendar now to join PPL, Cabrini Partnership, and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity in celebration of the Van Cleve Commons Development Grand Opening. These wonderful new buildings enable over 150 people to have safe, stable, and welcoming places to call home. The event will be held on Thursday, September 10^th, from 4 to 6 pm at 919 12^th Ave SE. For more information, please contact Shalaunda Holmes, PPL Project Manager, at 612 455 5154.

Report 311 and 911 Calls

The Student Neighborhood Liaisons, in conjunction with SECIA, are asking residents to report their calls (emails) to 311 and 911 through a new survey tool located on the SECIA website. This information will allow the Liaisons to collect data on emerging trends in the neighborhood, enabling them to respond to the needs of their blocks.

Ranked Choice Voting

This fall, voters will be able to rank their choices for Mayor, City Council, Park and Recreation Board, and Board of Estimate and Taxation. Instead of just marking one candidate on the ballot, voters will be able to rank multiple candidates in order of preference. Much like the current system, voters will vote by filling in an oval on a paper ballot. What is new is that voters can also mark a 2nd and 3rd choice candidate on the same ballot, in the columns just to the right of a voter’s first choice. This new voting process will combine the Primary and General Elections into a single election so you only have to make one trip to the polls – on November 3rd.  For more information, visit www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/elections. The SECIA Board Meeting on October 6^th will also feature a presentation about Ranked Choice Voting. More information on the presentation will be coming in the weeks to follow.

MN Reuse Warehouse Dates

The University of Minnesota's ReUse Warehouse is a depot for used university property.  Instead of spending money to transport items to a landfill, our program stores and sells usable furniture and campus leftovers at the warehouse.  This provides university departments an
opportunity to claim items for use in their business units.  Items not claimed by university departments are made available to the public.

Student "Back to Campus" Sale - September 3, 10
Let us help you outfit your new apartment or dorm room with special student discount prices.  Students with a current University of Minnesota ID will qualify for a 10% discount on every item in the warehouse!  Find the perfect desk or chair for your new space and contribute to the University's sustainability efforts at the same time.

ReUse Sealed Bid Auction - October 8 - 12
The Autumn sealed bid auction will be held during Homecoming week this year.  We will have dozens of unique and interesting items available in our standard sealed-bid format.  Additional information, bid forms, and item descriptions will be posted on our website as the auction draws closer.

The ReUse Warehouse is open to the public every week on Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  Contact the ReUse Warehouse at (612)626-9152, or visit www.reuse.umn.edu for more information.

Report Move-Out/Move-In Waste

SECIA is beginning a project to facilitate re-use of unwanted items left from mass move-outs that coincide with the University's academic year.  We need your eyes to help us inventory what kinds and quantities of Move-out waste are being left on your block.  Your answers to the questions about the move-out piles you see will be useful to guide our project.

Please answer one survey for each incidence you observe. We encourage photos too!  Any photos can be emailed to secomo@secomo.org

The more information we have, the better our project will be.

Thanks for pitching in!  SECIA hopes to turn the burden of move-out waste into a more sustainable occurrence.

The survey can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/kqnf7x

Como People of the Past: John Torrence Tate

In 1916, the University of Minnesota hired John Torrence Tate (b. Iowa, 1889) as Instructor in the Physics department. By 1919, Tate had been promoted to full professor. He was part of a group of brilliant young researchers that President Vincent hoped would turn the University into a first-class graduate and research institution.

That they did (in Physics, the ambitious young research faculty actually took courses from each other). Tate was an experimental physicist (quantum mechanics; mass spectroscopy) who demanded both innovation and precision from the graduate students he advised, and his long editorship of The Physical Review, plus his founding of two other physics journals, brought him manuscripts of the most cutting-edge physics research in the world. (Tate once inadvertently insulted Albert Einstein by sending out for peer review an article he had submitted to the journal; Einstein withdrew the article in a huff.) Tate incorporated those articles into his “Seminar in Contemporary Experimental Physics,” where he explicated current theoretical problems and various experimental approaches to solving them. The course was so exciting that graduate students would take the seminar again and again (only once for credit). As graduate adviser, Tate directed and mentored a significant number of world-class scientists like Alfred Nier (nuclear scientist who first isolated U235) and Walter Brattain (Nobelist who invented the transistor), among many others. Tate also became Dean of the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1937, a position his war work would force him to resign.

During World War II, John T. Tate worked for the government as Chair or Vice-Chair of several Divisions of the [civilian] National Defense Research Committee: on Submarine Technology, Operations Research (e.g., the effects of the atomic test blast on the Bikini Atoll), and Rocket Ordnance. He won American and British medals for this work.

From 1919 to the outbreak of World War II, John T. Tate and his family lived in Como, at 1011 14th Ave. SE. There, his son, John T. Tate, Jr., renowned number theory mathematician who taught 45 years at Harvard University, was born and raised.

The elder Tate died in Minneapolis in 1950. The American Institute of Physics founded the John Torrence Tate International Gold Medal in his honor. And in 1966, the University of Minnesota Physics Building was re-named the Tate Laboratory of Physics.

Community Garden Dates

· Accord Community Garden – 15^th Ave SE and Como Ave SE

· Sep. 19^th, 10 am

· Sept. 26^th, 10 am

· Como Corner – 22^nd Ave SE and Como Ave SE

· Sep. 1^st, 6:30 pm

· Sept. 15^th, 6:30 pm

· Gateway Garden – 12^th Ave SE and E. Hennepin

· Sep. 2^nd, 6:30 pm

· Sept 16^th, 6:30 pm