We've Got Each Other
To our neighbors on the West Side,
When our communities are threatened, we can’t remain silent. It has been a week since the attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. by white nationalist mobs and militias. Days before, right here on the West Side, Representative Carlos Mariani’s home was surrounded by a large group of armed white people with Trump flags (pictured here).* As hate-fueled groups continue to target communities of color, and as law enforcement fails to serve and protect all of us equally,** we have a message for our neighbors: we’ve got each other.
We've got each other: 2020 annual meeting recap
Last week, more than 100 West Side neighbors attended our first-ever virtual annual meeting! Together, we celebrated 2020 accomplishments, envisioned a just and joyful West Side, and looked ahead to what we’ll accomplish in 2021 and beyond. We're so excited and grateful that we've got each other. Watch the annual meeting on YouTube.
Also, check out this one-pager summarizing what we accomplished together this year and what we're looking forward to in the years to come!
Honoring outstanding West Siders
This year, we received so many nominations for West Sider of the Year, that we decided to celebrate outstanding West Siders with not one award – but three! Learn more about these outstanding West Siders and watch videos of them receiving their awards! Here are the folks we're honoring this year!
- 2020 Spark of the West Side: Payton Ortiz & his Grandfather Dan Wolff, and Mother Anna Wolff
- 2020 Heart of the West Side: Jesus Ramirez
- 2020 West Sider of the Year: Maria McNamara
Meet our newly elected (or re-elected) board members!
At the meeting, West Siders voted for the WSCO board members who will start terms in 2021. The results are in! You and your neighbors
- re-elected Kim Moua;
- elected Teresa Zaffiro and Mario Páez; and
- selected alternates Sebastian Ellefson and Marcus Troy.
Read more about the newly-elected board members on WSCO’s blog!
Meet the members of WSCO’s Equitable Development Scorecard Team!
This spring, we were going to host a party to celebrate the members of our Equitable Development Scorecard Team – but we missed our opportunity as we readjusted to life in a pandemic. Thankfully, we got to introduce this team to West Siders during our annual meeting!
The Equitable Development Scorecard is a tool developed by West Siders, for West Siders to decide whether we, the community, support development projects and other investments proposed for our neighborhood. While all West Siders can use the Scorecard, the Equitable Development Scorecard Team leads efforts to open conversation with developers, score proposed projects and engage with their neighbors for feedback and discussion. Read more about the members of our current Scorecard team!
Gratitude
A huge thank-you to Captain Ken’s Food for their chili donation! It’s been a decades-long tradition to eat chili at WSCO annual meetings, and we’re grateful that Captain Ken made sure a pandemic didn’t get in the way of that! We’re also incredibly grateful to vocalist Jamela Pettiford for sharing a powerful land acknowledgement to set the tone for our meeting.
We can't wait to get to know you better!
For those of you who are new to WSCO, welcome! For those of you who are not, welcome back! We’re looking forward to getting to know everyone a little better in 2021. We’ll keep you informed of opportunities to get involved via our newsletter (sign up here) and on social media (follow us on Facebook and Twitter). Don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] with questions or feedback. We want to hear from you!
Here are three ways you can get involved right now!
- Fill out this commitment form to tell us a little more about yourself and how you’d like to get involved on the West Side.
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Register for our next West Side Voices Forum on Tuesday, December 8. The West Side Voices Forum is WSCO’s monthly meeting. We get together to discuss important things happening in our neighborhood and organize within our five Action Circles:
- Land Use: ensuring new development benefits West Siders
- Community Care: investing in life-affirming public safety
- West Side 100: organizing for 100% voter turnout and staying engaged to hold elected leaders accountable
- Health and Environmental Justice: fighting for systems that ensure access to healthy natural spaces, good food, and clean air and water
- Housing Justice: demanding safe, quality, affordable housing for all West Siders
- Donate to WSCO. Invest in us so that, together, we can continue building power for a just and joyful West Side!
Honoring outstanding West Siders: Meet our 2020 award recipients
Each year, WSCO honors a West Side resident for their outstanding contributions to the community. This year, WSCO received so many nominations that we decided to honor three West Siders who have shown deep dedication to the values of the West Side.
Recipients have:
- worked with other residents on behalf of the West Side
- regularly volunteered on the West Side or to the benefit of West Side residents
- provided significant leadership on a major issue or activity during the past year (or, over a series of years)
- made valuable contributions to the West Side
2020 Spark of the West Side
Payton Ortiz and his grandfather, Dan Wolff, and mother, Anna Wolff
Payton, his grandfather, and his mother sparked joy during a difficult time in the community by planting over 1,400 spinning pinwheels throughout their neighborhood. This random act of joy and love gave hope to neighbors struggling through isolation, stress, and sadness during the pandemic.
2020 Heart of the West Side
Jesus Ramirez
Jesus shares his love for the cultures, languages, and history of the West Side through art – from murals and electrical boxes to the tattoo shop. He is there for West Side neighbors when they need a helping hand, fixing cars, offering rides, and running errands. This year, he spent countless hours creating a larger-than-life art installation (a calavera) and a community altar to ensure annual community celebrations were special despite COVID-19.
2020 West Sider of the Year
Maria McNamara
In over two decades on the West Side, Maria has spent countless in service to the West Side. She played a key role in several organizations that brought fun, joy, and love to West Side youth. She’s a steadfast advocate for racial justice and helped start the Overcoming Racism conference from the basement of her church, Cherokee Park United. West Siders can count on her anytime to march in solidarity for justice, show up at City Hall and make some noise, or silently hold up a sign.
Free COVID-19 saliva testing in St. Paul starting October 30
On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health will open a free COVID-19 saliva testing location in St. Paul, the first saliva testing location to open in the Twin Cities. Below are excerpts from a Minnesota Health Department press release providing more information. Learn more about COVID-19 saliva testing in Minnesota.
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Testing is free to all Minnesotans who believe they need a COVID-19 test, including those who are asymptomatic. Participants will be asked for their health insurance information so the state can bill their insurance company on their behalf. If a person is uninsured or for any reason insurance doesn’t cover some or all of the cost, the state will cover the difference so testing remains completely free to everyone.
The saliva test is a PCR test, just like the traditional nasal swab, with the same effectiveness rate; however, it is more comfortable to take. Those who come for a test should avoid eating, drinking, chewing, or smoking anything for at least 30 minutes before providing a sample. Once they arrive at the site, they will self-administer the test by spitting into a funnel attached to a small tube. Clinic staff will be available on-site to monitor the collection process.
The state opened the first saliva testing site in Duluth on Sept. 23. Since then, saliva testing locations have opened in Winona, Moorhead, Brooklyn Park, Mankato, and St. Cloud; state officials plan to open at least three more in the Twin Cities metro area in coming weeks. Those tests will be processed right here in Minnesota, at the new saliva lab in Oakdale. Results will be provided via email within 24-48 hours.
Testing will be located in the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, part of the Saint Paul RiverCentre complex at 175 Kellogg Blvd. Limited free parking will be available on the roof of the Saint Paul RiverCentre ramp. Metered parking is also available in Rice Park. To access the entrance to the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, people are encouraged to take the skyway from the RiverCentre Parking Ramp, enter the doors by the RiverCentre marquee sign on Kellogg Boulevard, or enter at the Rice Park entrance located on Washington Street, and follow directional signage.
St. Paul COVID-19 saliva testing site: Roy Wilkins Auditorium, next to Saint Paul RiverCentre
175 W Kellogg Blvd
St. Paul, MN 55102
COVID-19 Testing Parking & Entrance Map (PDF)
Free parking is available on the roof of the RiverCentre ramp. If that is full, metered parking is available in Rice Park.
Entrances:
- Skyway from the RiverCentre Parking Ramp, follow signs
- Doors by the main RiverCentre sign at 175 W Kellogg Blvd, follow signs
- Rice Park entrance on Washington Street near Herb Brooks statue, follow signs
Monday - Friday: 12 - 7 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Schedule Appointment with Vault Health
Sharing Harvest, Growing Community: West Side’s FreeSA
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and community uprisings, West Sider Leah Mathiason saw mutual aid efforts springing up across the Twin Cities that inspired her – and she wanted to act. As dozens of volunteers coordinated donations for thousands of nonperishable food items, Leah wondered, what about access to fresh food?
That’s how the West Side’s “FreeSA” was born. Riffing on produce exchange programs known as “CSA” (which stands for community-supported agriculture), the FreeSA project provided free fresh fruit and vegetables to West Siders at Parque Castillo on Sundays from August through September. “I’m inspired by communities who look out for each other,” Leah explains. “This project was just a small action to promote resilience in the community I care about.”
FreeSA grew and evolved each week. First Acre Farms, a vendor at the West Side Farmers Market, kicked off the project with a major produce donation. West Side gardeners shared vegetables, herbs, flowers, jelly, pickles, and more. West Side Seed Library organized a plant and seed exchange, and volunteers used the FreeSA as an opportunity to collect coats, hats, boots, and scarves to share with neighbors as temperatures dropped.
Have ideas for next year’s FreeSA? Send them to [email protected].
FreeSA was located in a high-traffic area of Parque Castillo. People stopped by on their way to and from the bus stop or La Clinica, curious about what was on offer. Neighbors bonded over gardening tips and got inspired to grow their own food.
Leah says the project helped her feel hope, connection, and purpose in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a nationwide reckoning with the impacts of racism and police violence in our communities.
“I kept thinking to myself, ‘Why haven’t I done something like this before? Why haven’t I taken more action to address problems in my community?’ But we have to take those feelings and do something with them,” Leah explains. “We’ve been so isolated from each other because of the pandemic and so disconnected in a time when it feels urgent to reach out to each other. This produce exchange was one small way to do that.”
When Leah got the idea for the FreeSA, she knew she needed support to make it happen. She reached out to a neighbor who suggested Leah contact West Side Community Organization (WSCO). Just a few days after talking to Ellie Leonardsmith, WSCO’s Health and Environmental Justice organizer, Leah and Ellie set up the first FreeSA produce stand in Parque Castillo.
Leah encourages other West Siders to reach out to WSCO for support and as a platform to share ideas. “If you have an idea, something you’d like to see addressed on the West Side, WSCO is approachable and community-minded,” she explains. “You can submit a contact form on their website and a real person will reach out to talk. Just go and listen to WSCO’s West Side Voices meetings each month. When you’re comfortable, bring up your idea.”
Leah is a gardener, a mom, a chicken keeper, and one of the founders of the West Side Farmers Market. She’s been a public defender and doula. Now, she runs a nonprofit that provides healthcare to people in Haiti. In the midst of all that, she says that she’s energized by the work she does with neighbors on the West Side.
“Everybody’s got a role to play, and sometimes it takes time to figure out your role and what you have to offer,” Leah says. “I was overthinking it so much, and then it just came to me. This is something that I’m good at. This is what I enjoy. This is what I have to share.”
Have ideas for next year’s FreeSA? Send them to [email protected].
We've got each other: Register now for WSCO's annual meeting!
You're invited to WSCO’s annual meeting on Thursday, November 19 at 6pm via Zoom! At the meeting, you’ll get to connect and reconnect with West Side neighbors, be informed and inspired, and elect the representation that will guide your neighborhood organization in 2021 and beyond. We’ll also announce the winner of the 2020 West Sider of the Year award!
There’s no denying that 2020 has been a difficult year. But despite everything that’s going on, we’ve got each other. We’re making the world we want to see – right here in our neighborhood. Now, we’re looking toward the future, preparing for what’s ahead by tapping into what makes us strong: our deep connections to our neighbors and the place we’re proud to call home. That's why we can't wait to see you on November 19!
The first 100 people to register will get a West Side swag bag and a pre-packaged serving of prepackaged serving of Captain Ken’s chili delivered to your door! Having chili at our annual meetings has been a WSCO tradition for decades – and we won’t let a virtual meeting get in the way of a celebrated tradition.
Annual Meeting Community Resources Flyer
Residents of the West Side who are 16 years of age or older may vote in the board elections. Please register as individuals to vote. (One voting link will be sent per eligible registrant.)
Zoom links will be emailed closer to the event date to folks who register.
West Side Voices: Join us November 10 to talk about a housing development proposed for the West Side
Recently, the Equitable Development Scorecard team evaluated plans for a 180-unit apartment building at 200 W Plato Blvd near Harriet Island, proposed by Reuter Walton Development. At our upcoming West Side Voices meeting, Reuter Walton will tell us more about the proposed project. The Equitable Development Scorecard team will tell us how they scored the project and why. Then, we'll vote on whether or not we agree with the team's recommended score and whether we want to support the project. View presentation slides from Reuter Walton. Register for the November 10 meeting to get the Zoom link!
Why should we care?
When we use our Equitable Development Scorecard to ask, "Who benefits?" from new development, building by building, block by block, we're creating a neighborhood that fits our vision, values, and priorities – now and for future generations. Developed by West Siders, for West Siders, the Scorecard is part of the official approval process for projects and investments that come into our neighborhood. West Siders identified the following priorities for development: affordable housing, local jobs, and a healthy, safe, and equitable neighborhood.
Resilience, joy, color and culture: The story of the West Side's new mural
Photo by Elizabeth Flores, Star Tribune
Our new mural proclaims, with pride, what the West Side is all about – resilience, joy, color and culture.
In a compelling and colorful video, watch artists Ernesto Ybarra and Xilam Balam explain the meaning behind the striking symbols, colors and faces they chose to depict on the iconic Robert Street Pedestrian Bridge.
West Side Community Organization is proud to have gotten this project off the ground after years of planning. We're grateful to the artists for their creative vision and work. Watch the video below!
Funding for the project provided by WSCO and the St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development’s Commercial Vitality Zone program for the West Side’s District del Sol.
If you're inspired by what you see, please consider making a contribution to support WSCO's work. From supporting public art, equitable development, and renters rights, to organizing for 100% voter participation, we're working toward a more just and joyful West Side.