East End + Side Neighborhood Project

 

Imagining a future for Winona’s East End

The East End-Side Neighborhood Project, a collaboration with the City of Winona and Art of the Rural, with substantial support provided by the Winona Foundation, brought together a full neighborhood to celebrate its history and imagine its future. Across 2019, we connected with diverse cross-sections of the community, built and strengthened relationships and networks, collected rich stories of the neighborhood’s history and culture, and heard a wide array of ideas for change. We:

  • Connected with nearly 400 people and collected more than 3,000 unique comments

  • Held more than 50 interviews and small-group gatherings with small and large business owners, neighborhood leaders, community stakeholders

  • Hosted several large public events and conversations that drew more than 250 people

  • Provided online and in-person surveys, with more than 160 responses

  • Engaged with dozens of unheard and marginalized voices using targeted outreach

  • Provided interactive activities and creative engagement approaches — like East Side Bingo

In summer 2019 we released a report, as well as a storytelling booklet, that featured the top projects and ideas and plans for next steps.

Throughout fall 2019 and into 2020, we provided support, resources, facilitation, and technical assistance to help folks launch projects and turn ideas for change into reality.

VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE STORYTELLING BOOKLET (8 pages of photos and graphics)

VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE SUMMARY REPORT (10 pages)

VIEW/DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT (59 pages!)

Raw data (excel file)

East End + East Side

Participants chose to define two neighborhoods: The East Side, and the East End. The general consensus was the East Side is Franklin Street to Mankato Avenue, and the East End is along and east of Mankato Avenue.

The two-neighborhood approach wasn’t planned! It arose because many initially said the East End starts at Franklin Street, but wanted to make a distinction for “the true East End.”

Top Projects

  • East End dog park (and potentially walking park)

  • Revitalize baseball culture at Gabrych Park

  • Beautify the boulevards (flowers, gardens, etc.)

  • Bytow Byway: Walking/driving tour of Polish East End sites

  • Rental property cleanup, oversight

  • Help with future of Athletic Club

  • Address perception (and reality) of crime

  • Branding signs, wayfinders for East End

  • Activities for youth

  • Host neighborhood block parties

  • Programs, amenities at public parks

  • Better infrastructure, support for pedestrians+bicyclists

  • Share the story – East End is a great place to buy a home, live

  • Help make St. Stan’s a tourist destination and community hub

  • Spruce Up Club – help neighbors in need with small projects

  • Turn alleys into art, gathering places

Mankato Avenue - a future vision

This project included working with residents, business owners, and neighborhood leaders to imagine a future for the Mankato Avenue corridor. The general consensus was:

  • Individual bright spots, but lacking an overall vision and the kind of structures and support that would lead to a critical mass of diverse businesses

  • Many stable service and retail businesses have built a community of regular supporters

  • Small business owners highly supportive of creating a new vision for Mankato, especially if there’s an advisory group they can participate in

Values

  • Businesses are, with few exceptions, locally owned and operated and cater to local needs

  • Multiple businesses operate out of unique buildings, including converted homes

  • Many businesses build strong community among customers and supporters

Challenges

  • Design of and heavy traffic on Mankato Avenue presents a significant barrier

  • The experience of getting stuck waiting for a train is a detriment to daytime, lunchtime visits

  • Individual businesses are destinations, but little reason to visit Mankato Avenue as a whole

Visions

  • Biggest desire for Mankato Avenue was for a restaurant – a sit-down restaurant that wasn’t a chain, a coffee shop with space for gathering, and other suggestions

  • Participants enthusiastic about unique, locally owned stores, especially kid- and family-friendly, an artist-run store and gallery featuring neighborhood artists, and others

  • Any number of redesigns for Mankato, including traffic calming measures, a landscaped median, crosswalks with flashing signals, dedicated bike lanes, and other elements

  • A widely expressed need for a focus on pedestrians and bicyclists, with well-labeled crosswalks and striped or dedicated bike lanes

  • Concern that new businesses could fundamentally change the character of Mankato Avenue, with a desire to maintain the uniqueness, including turning homes into businesses

Next steps

City of Winona’s potential roles

  • Prioritize and focus the wealth of ideas into manageable projects and steps

  • Seek quick wins with projects that will require focused efforts, but not substantial resources

  • Focus on small, incremental change

  • Focusing on one project or one issue, in collaboration with the neighborhood

  • Share what’s already happening with a gathering, or reaching out to neighborhood leaders

  • Communicate regularly with the neighborhood going forward

Engage Winona’s potential roles

  • Providing guidance to folks launching some of the projects and ideas they’ve imagined

  • Create a project tracker that documents all of the ongoing efforts in the neighborhood

  • Convened a leadership group, and will be checking in on progress, feedback, and ideas

  • Continue collaboration with Art of the Rural on telling stories and creative placemaking

Stay in touch! Talk with other residents, get updates, and more. Join the Facebook group.