Longfellow Market: A new, old-fashioned neighborhood grocery opens for business

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The owner of the new Longfellow Market on Minneapolis’ Lake Street hopes to offer neighborhood shoppers an anti-Cub Foods experience. Instead of a warehouse sized self-service store, proprietor Joel Ahlstrom and shopkeeper Ken Larson (they prefer the terms to ‘owner’ and  ‘general manager’) want to offer customers a full service neighborhood food market with a knowledgeable staff committed to assisting customers and a product mix based on what local customers crave.Both men have years of grocery experience. Ahlstrom began in the grocery business in 1962 and owned the Riverside Market on Franklin Avenue. Larson has been working in the grocery business since he was 15 years old, including time managing a Kowalski’s Market and a Jubilee Foods.The store, at 3754 E. Lake Street joins other quirky, neighborhood-friendly businesses like the Blue Moon Coffee Café and Hymie’s Records, both across the street. While Longfellow is not a grocery desert, there are few full service groceries in this part of Minneapolis. Continue Reading

ST. PAUL NOTES | Easiest recycling ever — here’s how

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Recycling just got simpler in St. Paul, as single-stream arrives on Monday, April 7. That means no more sorting: cans, bottles, plastics, paper all go in the same container. More plastic containers will also be accepted for recycling. According to Eureka’s website:”As a general rule, most food and beverage containers are recyclable (and some containers from your bathroom and laundry room, too). Continue Reading

April snowstorms in Minnesota: Five fast facts

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It’s here — see the Storify below for photos, tweets, snowiest April, coldest April, and more. [<a href=”//storify.com/tcdailyplanet/five-facts-about-april-snowstorms” target=”_blank”>View the story “Five facts about April snowstorms” on Storify</a>]
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Starting college in high school

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For students choosing a high school or planning ahead for their college career, Minnesota schools offer options for accelerated learning that not only look good on a college application, but also can earn college credit. In this series, we looked at two dual credit options — Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate. (Post Secondary Enrollment Options or PSEO and College in the Schools are two other options.) The articles in this series compare the AP and IB on the basis of cost, rigor, requirements, and student experiences. For all the articles, see Starting college in high school. Continue Reading

ST. PAUL NOTES | Dorothy Day Center — still building, but downtown, not on East Side

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The Dorothy Day Center plans to build on the East Side have been changed, after both the Payne Phalen and Dayton’s Bluff community councils voted unanimously to oppose the plans. (The St. Paul Police Federation also weighed in against the propsoed site.) So the expansion of the homeless shelter will take place downtown, on the present site and possibly also at the now-for-sale labor building at 411 Main Street.Everybody acknowledges the need for expansion. As I wrote a couple of months ago, the shelter is overflowing and the need is far greater than the space. The question is not whether to expand, but where. Continue Reading

ST. PAUL NOTES | Groceries on the East Side of St. Paul: Who’s there, who’s coming

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A couple of weeks ago, the Newsroom Café group meeting at Dayton’s Bluff Community Council talked about groceries in the neighborhood. By now, most folks have heard that Mississippi Market plans to move in on Seventh Street, just north of Metro State University and across the street from Swede Hollow Café. But what’s the current grocery situation, and what will they add to the mix?Generally, said Tong Thao, people at a recent meeting were “pretty positive about Mississippi Market coming over here. … The only thing is — the food’s going to be more expensive. Continue Reading

Will the real Minneapolis Spring Break Academy please stand up?

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Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are targeting a number of interventions this spring, but the descriptions are confusing and sometimes contradictory. This is clearest in two descriptions of the Spring Break Academy, which offer different descriptions of which students will be invited — or allowed — to attend school and receive special help during spring break.As reported in an earlier article, the district initially said “The focus will start on students scoring in the yellow and then move into students scoring in the red” and “only students in grades 3-8” would be eligible.Read the other articles in this series:What color is your parachute? “Yellow” students targeted for extra help in Minneapolis Spring Break AcademyIn Minneapolis, ‘Shifting,’ Saturday School and Spring Break Academy target test scoresThen in a second memo, the district said the program was for K-8 “students who in the past may have been disproportionally suspended or expelled.”So what’s really going on? I emailed an MPS communications/public relations person:”I have published two stories that connect to the short-term strategies and Spring Break Academy proposal. I will still work with the district’s POV, if anyone would like to get back to me.”Also, I have a memo that details a different, or alternative, focus for the Spring Break Academy. Continue Reading

Sledgehammers, pitchforks and bonding bills

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Solutions for homelessness? Well, there’s the sledgehammer approach in Hawaii and protesters waving pitchforks and torches in Portland, but the more effective approach comes from Utah.Hawaii State Representative Tom Brower wields a sledgehammer, smashing shopping carts used by homeless people. Well — unless he can tell what store they belong to, in which case he dumps the homeless person’s belongings on the ground and takes the cart back to the store. HuffPost said he’s not worried about getting in a dispute with a homeless person:”When you are walking down the sidewalk with a sledgehammer,” he told the Star-Advertiser, “people get out of your way.”We wonder why.Brower is a Democrat, so you might think that the Republicans in Utah would be even more harsh. Not so — their idea is Utah’s HousingWorks program, according to its website, is aimed at preventing homelessness and at housing people who have been chronically homeless:”The State of Utah has adopted the Housing First approach which provides permanent supportive housing to chronically homeless individuals so they can focus on stabilizing their disabling condition in a safe and supportive environment. Continue Reading