Minneapolis: Collapsing support beams close Webber Park Library until further notice

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There’s nothing like thinking your building’s going to fall down, to fuel the passions of those advocating to get an entirely new one. And since it takes so much money to maintain a temporary facility, prepare to do without until the new one can be built. We’re talking about Webber Park Library; that’s an impression, not necessarily the final word.Early in July, several ceiling tiles fell down while patrons and staff webber librarywere in the facility. Gary Peterson said he was there, and saw the guy whose computer they fell on. The area is over the west bank of windows; the metal between the windows shows signs of stress, and there is a widening crack at a corner of the brick at the south end behind the window wall.The metal ceiling grid had buckled and snapped at that point where the wall was leaning in ever so slightly at the top, perhaps pushing out ever so slightly at the bottom and twisting on a poorly supported beam.Interior corner brick, separating.An engineer explained his best assessment during a tour with Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins, a couple of Hennepin County library board members, assorted staff and community members July 18. Jerome Ryan, architectural section Leader for Hennepin County Property Services said he suspects that in a previous repair to the foundation under the window, “they probably did not repair under the corner,” an area that, while structural, cuts further into the library footprint and would not have been easily accessible. Continue Reading

Minneapolis Public Schools food truck promotes healthy lunch for all kids

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“My son ate broccoli and carrots for the first time, seeing his peers do it. And the ranch dressing helped,” said Andrea Worsfeld, picnicking at Jackson Square Park with her two year old son, his six week old sibling, and another mother and her children. They’d come for swimming, but stumbled upon the free meals for kids offered from the Minneapolis Public Schools food truck.

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Storm: Northeast Minneapolis among last to recover

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Four wire-entangled tree spots in Northeast were among the city’s last to get power restored after the June 21 storms, the Northeaster office’s part of the 29th and Johnson Street corner among them. While the lighted sign at A Bag Lady on the corner and the traffic lights went on first, our building and The Coffee Shop Northeast stayed in the dark until about 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 26.Like the coffee shops in South Minneapolis featured on television news (those who had power and could watch TV news know what we mean), The Coffee Shop Northeast tried to stay open offering that community/network function. They operated for a while on dry ice, selling only cold drinks and foods that didn’t need heat. Hazel’s across the street provided some storage space in their walk-in cooler. About the time the dry ice was running out, they found and hooked up a generator.Eventually, the iheartmncoffee. Continue Reading

Minneapolis: Parking on Marshall at issue in Betty Danger’s Country Club development

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To pick up where we left off, about “Poor Betty,” misunderstood or shunned by some, embraced by others, the proposed new member of Leslie Bock’s restaurant family: The rendering of Betty Danger’s Country Club [above] explains a lot.The former A&W, former Psycho Suzi’s at 2519 Marshall would be demolished and a new building built, said Tom Wasmoen from Smart Associates, a company that has designed many successful restaurants. Diners who choose to use the vertical revolving patio on a specially built Ferris wheel might sit in fours in partly-enclosed gondolas. The wheel would be at the front of the site, making it highly unlikely that people would see into the surrounding homes, he said.The wheel would shut down at 10 p.m. There would be dining inside as well, and other outdoor dining. A mini-golf putting green, available only to diners, in the southeastern portion of the lot, would keep kids occupied while parents are finishing dinner, or be an additional diversion after getting off the Ferris wheel.There was much back and forth at the Concerned Citizens of Marshall Terrace (CCMT) neighborhood meeting June 20 about the concentration of bars already within a square mile (23, according to one neighbor) and whether liquor was needed. “If you’re not going to offer at least a tap beer, you go out of business,” said another representative from Smart Associates. Continue Reading

Meet Ken Foxworth, Minneapolis Fifth Ward candidate

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Ken Foxworth says his low profile in the run-up to the Minneapolis 5th Ward DFL Convention stems from his working two full-time jobs: Special projects coordinator for Delta Airlines, and managing the Transition Plus program at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). With school out, he’s ramping up the door knocking, calling, “every church I can. I want to be innovative,” Foxworth said.

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Minneapolis: Above the Falls planning progresses

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The Minneapolis City Council June 14 passed the revised Above the Falls (ATF) plan for land use along the Mississippi River starting at Plymouth/8th Avenue NE.After a series of delays, the City Planning Commission and then the Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee approved the new plan after amending the language in the implementation chapter allowing industrial uses to remain, expand, and be modified until acquired for parks.Other language added design issues to the scope of the rezoning study that will be done after the plan is adopted: “The rezoning study should also include a review of the basic zoning tools impacting the riverfront district, including site plan review standards, Mississippi River Critical Area and Shoreland overlay standards, and the standards of those Zoning Districts found within the study area. If appropriate, the rezoning study might propose refinements to these zoning standards to bring them more in line with the goals of the Above the Falls Master Plan.”During earlier public meetings about the plan revision, two of the concerns raised were about GAF Company (next to and under the over-land portion of the Lowry Avenue Bridge’s west end), saying park and river access plans would negatively affect the business’ future; and by Northern Metals, claiming businesses had not been adequately involved in the process.On the flip side, others asked for more information about polluting industries and asked that they be moved out of the area more quickly. The staff report pointed out that more than 50 business interviews were conducted. Regarding pollution, while 160 companies on 300 sites in the area with potential to pollute are considered “active,” most have been operating within legal guidelines, the report says.While waiting for businesses to move from Sub-areas 5 and 6, since connectivity to the river is the goal, the parties involved should work on “short-term mitigation efforts, including greening and buffering of sites, to reduce negative impacts on the surrounding area,” the staff report states.Subarea 5 is between 26th and 31st, from the river to the railroad, and Subarea 6 is the railroad to Washington between 21st and 31st.The full Above the Falls (ATF) Master Plan Update can be found on line at www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-101581.pdf.The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has started its 45-day comment period on the plan; more info at www.minneapolis parks.org/abovethefalls.There are some interesting statistics in the staff report regarding the 6,097 jobs in the Above the Falls study area (2010, the most recent year available for the level of analysis).Around 190 jobs (3.1 percent) were held by residents of the two major North Minneapolis ZIP codes, 55411 and 55412. Around 254 jobs (4.2 percent) were held by residents of the three major Northeast Minneapolis ZIP codes 55418, 55413, and 55414.A total of around 786 jobs (12.6 percent) were held by Minneapolis residents in general. Continue Reading

Looking at 800 West Broadway, Minneapolis for Workforce Center

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The former car dealership at 800 West Broadway would have new life, and George Sherman would control 48,000 more of the avenue’s business square feet if his proposal to put the new Workforce Center there gets the nod.West Broadway Coalition’s Planning, Zoning and Development Committee liked it, though more people attending abstained than voted. Ultimately Sherman and Associates’ was the only proposal found to meet the requirements of a request for proposals sent out by DEED, the Department of Employment and Economic Development that oversees the workforce centers, according to Blake Chaffee, a DEED communications person.A review team, which includes two members of a Community Advisory Committee (CAC), is expected to make their recommendation to DEED in late July or early August. The CAC will hold a series of meetings for the public, yet to be announced, in the next month or so.While it’s not guaranteed this Workforce Center proposal would fly (there have been previous attempts which did not), here’s what we know Sherman told WBC he would propose:The Workforce Center would be in back, with retail or other businesses in front, and possibly an educational institution taking up part of the second floor with non-public-contact Workforce Center functions in the other part. The building has 48,300 square feet and the Workforce Center wants 15,000.Sherman said he’d had inquiries from three charter schools. DEED’s Request for Proposals included letters from North Memorial Clinics and Minneapolis Community and Technical College indicating possible interest.At the West Broadway meeting, they passed around photos of the dealership in its early days. Continue Reading

Betty Danger’s Country Club: Psycho Suzi’s owner proposes a new restaurant

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Leslie Bock, also known as Psycho Suzi, proposes to add a character to what she describes as a successful, but oddball restaurant family. “When you meet her, you will love her,” states a letter Bock circulated to neighbors. “Betty is apple pie and sunshine, but sadly lives in a time warp with no sense of reality or logic. Poor Betty.”Betty Danger’s Country Club would open at 2519 Marshall St. NE, the former drive-in restaurant location that housed the first Psycho Suzi’s before she moved down the road. Continue Reading

Arts fund medallion connects local residents to public art projects

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In a world careening toward making donations just by mouse clicking, the Medallion Public Arts Connector project deliberately clanks in the opposite direction, with heavy metal icons and their collectors parked at physical businesses.The proceeds benefit public art, piece by piece, and the random conversations that will surround the person-intensive medallion exchange are meant not only to promote the art, but conversation on anything else that two or more people want to talk about.Facebook photos feature individuals and groups turning in medallions and spending money at Jax, 612 Brew, and Red Stag, to name a few.“Medallion No. 81 has reportedly made its way to Mother Earth Gardens on the Southwest corner of Stinson and Lowry. Apparently, you can plant bulbs as soon as the soil warms with a ‘dibbler’ tool and you’ll have beautiful lilies blooming mid-summer. More dibblers available!”—another post.It started with community iron pours quite a few years ago. Artist James Brenner came to Jackson Park, 23rd Avenue and Jackson Street NE and showed people techniques to shape their molds. Continue Reading