OUR ARTS DISTRICT - Northeast Minneapolis is awesome because we are the City’s Art’s District, arguably Minnesota’s Art District and the best Arts District in the country! How amazing is that?! Every day, Aaron Neumann will be an advocate for the Arts, our artists and the Arts District at the State Capitol and will work to be known as the “Arts District Legislator”. It’s all about preserving and enhancing our arts, music and vibrant culture in NE Minneapolis! If you like reading the ingredients on cereal boxes, click here for detailed principles, issues and policy about the Arts advocacy for northeast Minneapolis.
OUR LIVABILITY – Don’t Uptown Northeast! What does that even mean? It’s about not getting priced out of our own neighborhood, that’s what it really means. It’s about housing for all. It’s about fair housing, renters’ rights and supporting homeownership. And yes, it’s about affordable housing development, but more than that, it’s about an affordable life for every resident and that includes the essential things like public transportation, a living wage, paid family/sick time, and childcare for working families. Every day, Aaron Neumann will work to pass livability legislation as top priority for our community. If you like reading instruction manuals before assembly, click here for detailed principles, issues and policy about livability and housing issues for northeast Minneapolis.
OUR RIVER – Minneapolis’ greatest natural asset is the mighty Mississippi River and it flows through NE. It’s truly our treasure, but too bad polluters like Northern Metal and the GAF shingling plant have been allowed to spew toxic lead air and noxious odors along the river and into our communities for decades. Enough! It’s about envisioning and realizing an accessible river, where we can bike, jog and even swim and fish in it without getting poisoned. It’s about houseboats, an amphitheater, an arts and cultural center, concerts, sculpture, kayaking and maybe even someday floating restaurants. But more than that, it’s about clean air to breath, clean water to drink, and healthy soil to grow our gardens. Every day, Aaron Neumann will work to pass environmental legislation for our community. If you like reading the footnotes in scientific journals, click here for detailed principles, issues and policy about environmental issues for northeast Minneapolis.
OUR SCHOOLS – In the center of the central-most neighborhood in northeast Minneapolis – in the heart of our community – resides Thomas Alva Edison Public High School. It seems fitting our public high school is located in the geographical center of NE Minneapolis. If we care about our future then we must care about our public schools! Why? Because at its best public education is public equity. Plus, public education works. It’s about a level playing field for every student. It’s about an equal opportunity for every kid to go onto secondary education. It’s about a pre-K to graduation approach and making our public schools in NE the most desirable schools in the Twin Cities. And it’s totally about supporting our teachers who are doing their important jobs, getting more teachers and more resources to help close the gap between those children whose birth gave them a head start and those whose birth didn’t. If you like reading the terms and conditions on U-Haul rentals, click here or detailed principles, issues and policy about education issues for northeast Minneapolis.
MEET AARON “Mr. NE” NEUMANN
PROGRESSIVE • DFLer • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE
AARON NEUMANN is a neighborhood organizer, gallery owner, musician and Arts promoter, realtor/broker and a small-business owner who has had a long-standing commitment to work with neighbors to make difference on important issues facing our northeast Minneapolis community.
As a resident of northeast Minneapolis for close to two decades, Aaron first began his involvement in the community by serving on the Eastside Bicycle Task Force in the early 2000’s, which planned and mapped out the bike lanes, paths and boulevards that we have in northeast today. That began Aaron’s decades-long effort to contribute to the vibrancy and culture of northeast Minneapolis, from participating in and/or volunteering in every Art-a-Whirl since 2002, serving NE neighborhood organizations for many years, hosting political and community events, organizing Empty Bowls NE (which has raised tens of thousands of dollars for local hunger causes while supporting Arts Education and the Edison High School Arts program), promoting and organizing the Hotdish Revolution!, fighting to protect our River and air from polluters like Northern Metal and the GAF shingling plant, successfully fighting big-box high-market apartment complex developments while supporting affordable housing, artist housing, and senior housing developments, to promoting local and emerging artists at his gallery, the Corner Store Gallery NE.
“I love NE Minneapolis. We love NE Minneapolis. I tell people that ‘I’m a community advocate by passion and a realtor by profession,’ but the truth is it’s all for northeast. Professionally, I help people who’ve lived in NE Minneapolis plant their flag here before getting priced out, and I help people put another rung on their economic ladder of upward mobility here in our community. I feel a responsibility to do this, since so many of us have worked hard over the years to make NE Minneapolis a desirable place to live – and it truly is! But that desirability has led to gentrification, and we must do everything we can to ensure that no one gets left behind and that we all share in the success of the revitalization of northeast.
"I’m passionate about our northeast community and am proud to have played a small part in contributing to our vibrant arts culture, in building our neighborhood camaraderie, in enhancing our livability, and protecting and promoting our River. I’ve been called “Mr. NE” over the years for my cheerful promotion and tireless advocacy for northeast, and while admittedly corny, I wear it as a badge of honor. I intend to take that spirit of enthusiasm for NE Minneapolis to the State Capitol, and to work every single day to support the Arts, work towards housing for all, fight for clean air and clean water, and advance for our public schools. I hope you will join me; for northeast!”
~ Aaron Neumann, Candidate for State Representative 60A.
CIVIC BACKGROUND
Board Member/Vice-President, Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association – 2005-2006/2017-current: The Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association (HNIA) works to enhance the quality of life in the Holland Neighborhood by facilitating community engagement, embracing a diversity of voices, and fostering economic, artistic, energy-wise and innovative community development.
Empty Bowls NE Organizer – 2013 – current: raised over $50,000 for three terrific local hunger causes – East Side Neighborhood Services Senior Food Shelf, the Helping Hand Food Pantry, and the Sheridan Story.
Hotdish Revolution! Organizer – 2005-2006, 2008-2009, 2017-current: NE Minneapolis’ signature community-building event, the Hotdish Revolution!, is a fundraiser for the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association (HNIA) and, as a community-building gala for NE Minneapolis, the event is a gleeful contest for hotdish makers and Jell-O sculpture aficionados with local “celebrity” judges deciding who will reign supreme in a number of hotdish categories. Co-created and organized 1st Annual event (2005) and many thereafter.
Gallery Owner – 2017-current: Corner Store Gallery NE serves as hub for art exhibits and community events exhibiting emerging and local artists and musicians in NE Minneapolis. The Corner Store Gallery NE was previously Studio A in NE Minneapolis that exhibited many artists, musicians, and events, including the iconic Art-A-Whirl exhibit, “57 Princes: Artists' Homage to The Purple One” just weeks after Prince's untimely passing. Notable exhibits at the current gallery include “Over the Rainbow: Last Days of Nye's”, “Material Impulse: NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Art)”, “Bag Ladies” (The Poetry, Collage and Installation of Andrea Jenkins), and many collaborative Art-A-Whirl exhibits featuring many local artists and musicians.
EQL - Environmental Quality of Life – 2014-current: A group of dedicated and determined citizens from Northeast and North Minneapolis have been meeting since August 2014 to improve air quality in the neighborhoods on either side of the Lowry Avenue Bridge. Notable accomplishments include shutting down the metal shredding operation at Northern Metal, a leading cause of lead air pollution in our community (www.vimeo.com/185537624) and organizing to make shingle manufacturer GAF announced install more pollution controls (https://www.mynortheaster.com/news/gaf-to-install-more-pollution-controls/).
State Delegate Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) – 2010, 2018: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/04/24/kelliher-endorsement & https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2018/06/dfl-endorses-erin-murphy-governor/
Holland Neighborhood Small Area Plan Steering Committee – 2014-2015: The Holland Neighborhood Improvement Organization (HNIA) spent many months planning for and drafting a small area plan for the Holland neighborhood. The plan creates a vision for the future of our neighborhood and incorporated into the City of Minneapolis’ Comprehensive Plan guiding future funding decisions for northeast.
Board Member, Bottineau Neighborhood Association – 2008-2009: Bottineau Neighborhood is located in NE Minneapolis and is known for Mississippi River public park access, fine restaurants, arts and community gardens. Primarily worked on the Mississippi River Clean Up event and 5K Earth Day Run.
Green Party Endorsed Candidate for Minneapolis City Council, Ward 3 – 2005: Achieved roughly 30% of the vote in a crowded primary, went on to achieve roughly 30% in the general election; endorsed by the MN Daily and the Spokesman Recorder; ran on a platform of Electoral Reform and Grassroots Democracy (Ranked-Choice Voting; lowering the legal age to run for City Council from 21 to 18.), a Green Minneapolis & Ecological Wisdom (bikes and transportation; fighting the GAF shingling plant), Social Justice (police accountability), Nonviolence and Harm Reduction (decriminalizing ma*****na), an ordinance against unfair predatory lending practices, a living wage ordinance, strengthen the Arts and enriching cultural life in Ward 3, Feminism and Gender Equality (an ordinance allowing for legally recognizing Commitment Covenants between GLBT peoples, therefore allowing marriage licenses in to be valid in Minneapolis), and a true municipal WiFi system.
Eastside Bicycle Task Force – 2003-2005: Planning for the St. Anthony Trails in NE Minneapolis, Central Avenue NE Trail; $1,000,000 Federal Enhancements Funding for the 18th Ave NE Trail (2010); NE Diagonal Trail; identified miles of bikeway gaps in NE Minneapolis, increased bicycle signage and wayfinding guidelines/standards; increased bicycle parking in NE Minneapolis.
Co-Founder/Chair, NORML MN – 1999-2002: Built a grassroots state chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Ma*****na Laws) with over 1000 dues-paying members; organized first-ever door-to-door canvassing on the issue; co-organized sold-out benefit concert at 1st Ave’s Main Room (first Atmosphere performance on the main stage!); organized the first-ever state-sponsored medical ma*****na forum in the country (April 6, 2001) that included grant-writing for panelists (legal medical ma*****na patients, doctors and experts), lobbying government leaders to be on the panel (Commissioner of Public Health, Jan Malcom, and the Commissioner of Public Safety, Charlie Weaver) and to attend (Gov. Jesse Ventura), and writing and submitting many press releases; drafted the Compassionate Use Act (HF 2164 in the 82nd Legislature) and lobbied elected officials to carry it and the Senate companion (SF 1976) and the comp, the first-ever legislation introduced in Minnesota to fully legalize the medical use of ma*****na.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Principal/Broker/Realtor®, Parkway Realty, LLC (Self-Employed) – 2016-present: Parkway Realty is a boutique real estate brokerage based in NE Minneapolis that serves people in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas. www.parkway.mn
Realtor®, Metamorphosis Realty (Independent Contractor) – 2013-2016: Metamorphosis Realty is founded on the idea that the local neighborhood real estate office is the perfect place to build authentic relationships, greener lifestyles, and more sustainable communities. Metamorphosis’ unique combination of real estate and design-build expertise provides our clients with a truly rewarding experience. www.morphmpls.com Realtor®, RE/MAX Results (Independent Contractor) – 2011-2013: Primarily helping first-time homebuyers in NE Minneapolis as a community specialist. www.results.net
Customer Service Representative (Cashier), Eastside Food Co-op (Part-time Employee) – 2007-2013: Customer service - provide prompt, friendly, courteous customer service; answer questions on all products, services, programs and events, referring to other staff when appropriate; attend community-related on and off-site events; perform other tasks assigned by General Manager. www.eastsidefood.coop
Outreach Coordinator, Holland Neighborhood Improvement Organization (Part-time Employee) – 2008-2009: Community outreach - enlist new communities, maintain relations with existing communities, facilitate neighborhood meetings, developed newsletter, organize and support community programs and events that accomplish HNIA's mission through constituent participation. Block Club development - organized Block Contacts, a Block Club network, and Block Club Leaders through door-to-door and other outreach. Online development - developed a relevant and simple website, weekly e-newsletter, and Facebook presence. Data management - developing contact management systems and tracking other resident activity. www.hnia.org
Community Representative, United States Congress, Office of Congressman Keith Ellison (Full-time Contract Employee) – 2007-2008: Community outreach on the issues of housing, energy and the environment. Previously interned on veteran and health care issues. Casework – acted as liaison between constituents and federal, state and local governmental agencies. Administrative duties including constituent service, letter writing, scheduling, and event coordination. Staffing Congressman Ellison at District meetings and events. https://web.archive.org/web/20071226190424/http://ellison.house.gov/
For more of Aaron’s professional background, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronneumann/
