Flash drive

Star Tribune Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:47:13 GMT
The little city that could

Welcome to Landfall, where rents are low, the kids are taken care of and the mayor goes by Flash. ... But since this city bought its mobile home park in the 1990s, its leaders, volunteers and kids have created a city government, community pageantry and youth programming fit for a bigger, more affluent place. In January, their work got noticed: Landfall was named one of the country's 100 best communities for young people by America's Promise Alliance, an organization founded by retired Gen. Colin Powell. It was the nation's smallest community to earn the honor. ... Feldbrugge supports the idea but worries that a skate park might be "one more opportunity for kids from other communities to come and pick on" the Landfall kids. But the young people themselves know that kids from Oakdale and Maplewood visit for other reasons. "Yeah, people are always here from other places. It's because they don't have the same stuff going on," said 14-year-old Da'Shaun Henderson, who attends Maplewood Middle School. "They're jealous."

[[keywords: Living;Maplewood;]]