Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/jeremy-stratton/page/7/)
The wait is over for supporters of the shuttered Southeast Library, 1222 SE Fourth St. The Southeast Library will reopen after the recent approval of the merger of the Minneapolis and Hennepin County library system. Hennepin County Commissioners voted on Dec. 18 to approve the merger. The Minneapolis City Council took a similar vote Dec. Continue Reading
Happy days are here again for Hard Times. Four months after closing for what was expected to be a month-long renovation, Hard Times Café, 1821 Riverside Ave., will reopen at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15, the cooperative announced in a news release last week. “For 15 years, the West Bank landmark has hosted students, artists, travelers, bohemians, immigrants and regular people in need of strong coffee, a huge menu of vegetarian or vegan fare and an atmosphere unlike any other,” states the release. “Pay at the counter, sit down and when your name is called, you’d better pick up your food or face the cook.”
While that process will sound familiar to anyone who has known the café, the remodeled restaurant may look different. Continue Reading
Public comment period on controversial biomass burner closes Jan. 14
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency MPCA) will hold a public meeting on Dec. 13 to give information about and receive public comment on a draft air permit for Kandiyohi Development’s proposed Midtown Eco Energy MEE) project. The meeting will take place at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2730 E. 31st St., 6–8:30 p.m.
According to an MPCA press release, the electrical-generation plant would burn wood waste, such as wood chips and tree trimmings, 24 hours a day and generate up to 24 megawatts of electricity. The facility, which would be located in the Phillips neighborhood near East 28th Street and Hiawatha Avenue, has been controversial, with some fearing the burner would use refuse-derived fuel RDF) and that the draft permit allows for unacceptable levels of emissions of various pollutants. Continue Reading
Volunteer efforts and revenue stream constitute silver linings
At the Seward Neighborhood Group’s (SNG) annual meeting on Nov. 6, outgoing Board President Jean Johnstad told the 90-plus people in attendance at Matthews Park that she had been quashing rumors that the organization was no longer operating. “I realized we had returned to the grassroots organization that was started in 1960,” said Johnstad in an emotional address, during which she announced she would be leaving the board for health reasons. After the tumultuous happenings of recent months — including the resignation of former Executive Director Lori Stone and former Treasurer Perry Caranicas, the levying of a possible $135,000 penalty by the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), and the firing of all paid staff after the organization discovered it is tens of thousands of dollars in debt — SNG is marching on, albeit as a changed organization with a still-uncertain future. Johnstad and Board Member Kevin Brown received rounds of applause for their work in recent months to sort out SNG’s operations and finances, and an ongoing, independent audit should shed even more light in the coming months on how the organization — Seward’s official, city-designated neighborhood group — got into its current position. Continue Reading
Public ceremony marks beginning of move to old Riverside Market site
Following recent city approval and closing on an agreement to sell its existing location, Seward Co-op Grocery & Deli will celebrate the groundbreaking of its new digs at 2823 E. Franklin Ave., the site of the old Riverside Market. Mayor R.T. Rybak and Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon will join members of the co-op and the community at 1 p.m. to view architectural plans and conceptual drawings. The Seward Deli will provide hot coffee and fresh cookies. The rebuilt 25,560-square-foot market — twice the size of the current co-op — will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified (LEED), with on-site rain gardens and other green space, 13,000 square feet of retail space and a second floor with offices and educational classrooms, according to a press release. Elements of the old building will remain, with the building’s original tile floor, original arched steel roof beams and an exterior brick facade and wall incorporated into the new design. Continue Reading
Proposal to be presented at Dec. 6 public meeting
As the Environmental Protection Agency expands its cleanup of arsenic in South Minneapolis yards, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) may take the effort to another level by also measuring children who live in the area for the contaminant. The department is proposing a pilot “bio-monitoring” project that would test 100 children who live near the CMC Heartland Site, where arsenic-containing pesticides were manufactured and stored between 1938 and 1963. The project would likely begin next summer. MDH staff will present preliminary plans for the pilot project and ask for comments during a public meeting at the Midtown YWCA, 2121 E. Lake St., on Thursday, Dec. Continue Reading
McMahon’s Irish Pub remakes longtime East Lake watering hole
The Poodle Club — long a cornerstone at the 3000 block of East Lake Street — has received a new owner and a makeover as “the world’s first Irish blues pub.”
In late October, Belfast native Dominic McMahon, formerly a general manager or partner at Irish pubs Kieran’s, O’Donovan’s and the Idle Hour, was putting the finishing touches on McMahon’s Irish Pub, at 3001 E. Lake St. McMahon bought the business this summer and has been adding an Irish feel, with tables atop Guinness barrels and Irish (and a few local) beer coasters pressed into the newly polished bar. The beer list will include a full range of Irish beers and liquor, as well as European brews (the exception, said McMahon: no English beers) and locals like Gluek’s and Summit. The existing stage will be revamped as a centerpiece of what McMahon called the “world’s first Irish blues pub,” with the likes of The Butanes, McMahon’s Friday night house band. The bar will feature live music Wednesday–Saturday, with karaoke on Mondays (staff are still drawing straws to see who has to work that night, joked McMahon), and pool and dart leagues to play on the new tables and boards, set against the back drop of several newly painted wall panels. Continue Reading
Entrepreneurs bring unique concept to Dinkytown
In the gutted space of an old laundromat, empty nesters Julie and Mark Marshall have opened a store with a select and unique product line: cereal and popcorn. If the menu sounds slim, however, don’t be fooled; Cereal World and the Minnesota Popcorn Connection, at 423 14th Ave. SE, offers a long list of goodies: 25 brands of cereal, 19 kinds of popcorn, Belgian waffles, organic oatmeal, yogurt parfaits and a load of yummy toppings to pile on. Cereal World and the Minnesota Popcorn Connection is open Monday–Friday, 7 a.m–7 p.m.; Friday 7 a.m.–midnight; Saturday 8 a.m.–midnight; and Sunday 10 a.m–4 p.m.
Opened in the former Tub Laundromat space in May, Cereal World celebrated its grand opening Sept. 15, just as the tens of thousands of university students were returning to campus. Continue Reading
Cornerstone of Twin Cities’ cooperative movement could not overcome declining sales
Despite numerous attempts in recent years to pull itself out of the red, North Country Cooperative Grocery — the Twin Cities’ oldest co-op — plans to close its doors at 1929 S. Fifth St. by Sunday, Nov. 4. After a vote just last spring to keep the co-op open despite debt and declining sales, the board of directors again brought the prospect to North Country members, who cast the fateful vote to close on Monday, Oct. 22. Continue Reading
First of open meetings is Tuesday, Oct. 9
The Minneapolis Community Engagement Task Force unanimously approved in September a preliminary report intended to define roles and funding of neighborhood, community and cultural organizations as parts of the city’s community engagement system, according to a release by the city. Recommendations in the report include:
• broadening the types of organizations eligible for community engagement resources;
• requiring increased accountability when resources are allocated;
• creating a citizen’s commission of community engagement;
• allocating resources and staff for administration of adopted Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) action plans and contracts beyond 2009; and
• supporting increased follow-up communication between the city and community members who have provided input during decision-making processes. Before the final report heads to the City Council and mayor in mid-November, the public is asked to give input at public forums, to be held:
• Tuesday, Oct. 9, 6:30–8:30 p.m.Windom Park Recreation Center gymnasium2251 Hayes St. Continue Reading