Commission recommends Dinkytown for heritage preservation

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While agreeing that Dinkytown should continue to grow and change, the Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission unanimously recommended on June 9 that most of the four-block business district be designated for historic preservation. The HPC decision came after hearing about two hours of testimony, some of it impassioned on both sides, but most of it in support of the plan to try to preserve the character of the small business district adjacent to the University of Minnesota in Southeast Minneapolis. About 20 people testified, raising first principles, such as the balance between free enterprise and urban planning and questions like what is history, what can be preserved, and what is Dinkytown. HPC’s action is a recommendation to the Minneapolis City Council, whose zoning and planning committee will take up the plan at 9:30 a.m. on June 25, and the full Council could vote on it at its July 10 meeting. If the HPC had rejected the plan, it would not have gone to the Council. Continue Reading

Award winning Coastal Seafoods draws customers from everywhere

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It’s Thursday afternoon and the customers keep coming through the door of Coastal Seafoods in the Seward neighborhood of South Minneapolis, lining up in the tiny store to make their selections. “It’s our busiest day,” says assistant manager Hazel Lauer. “It’s whole fish and salmon discount day. We have a lot of customers from cultures that aren’t Minnesota Hot Dish. They like whole fish rather than just boneless filets.”

She holds up two large, spiny, black sea urchins, the most exotic thing in the store, she says. Continue Reading

Minnesota Senate Building nears halfway point

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The Minnesota Senate Building, nearly half completed and almost closed in, should be open by the end of the year, according to the Senate’s project manager, Vic Thorstenson, on an exclusive tour that included the Daily Planet on Friday, May 22. “The Republicans got a lot of mileage – and maybe picked up a few seats – by attacking  this project,” Thorstenson said, “but they’re happy to be moving into updated offices.”

Thorstenson and Greg Huber, project manager for Mortenson Construction, led about a dozen Senate staffers and Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, on the tour of the controversial building site. Standing in a future hall in front of soon-to-be locker rooms, Thorstenson said, the locker rooms are for people who run, walk or bicycle to work or want to change for other reasons. “We have no work-out rooms or reflecting pools,” he said in response to charges from critics about the building’s original design and price tag. Continue Reading

First Open Streets Event of 2015 Kicks, Peddles, and Skates off Summer

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The pavement of Lyndale Avenue was packed with bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, strollers, wheelchairs, and feet of all ages this Sunday during the first Open Streets Minneapolis event of the year. The Lyndale event also included activities along the avenue for people of all ages, including art projects, games, music stages featuring local artists, BMX and skateboard competitions, a bouncy house, and a pop-up theater. Continue Reading

Taking back the street: Lyndale Open Streets is car-free, movement-heavy

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If it’s a summer weekend, there must be a street fair – a chance to buy crafts, eat from food trucks, and engage in the great warm-weather sport of people watching. Street fairs, as enjoyable as they are, are all pretty much the same, right?

Not according to Alex Tsatsoulis of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition (MBC), which has put on the Open Streets Minneapolis events for the past five years. The 2015 season will feature eight of them, beginning on Sunday with Lyndale Open Streets. Lyndale is the largest and oldest of the Open Streets Minneapolis events, and is billed as a way for the community to experience “car-free fun.”

The inspiration for the Open Streets movement, which has spread across the U.S., is the ciclovias (literal translation: cycleways) which began in Bogota, Colombia, more than forty years ago. Every Sunday and major holidays, 75 miles of main thoroughfares are closed to motor vehicles so that they can be used by an estimated two million bicyclists, skaters, runners and walkers each week.

And like the ciclovias, Lyndale Open Streets participants will bike, skateboard, run, walk, and rollerskate; there will be dancing and yoga and exercise routines – in short, lots more movement than you’d expend in your car. “Most of the Open Streets draw about 5,000 people. Lyndale draws about 15,000,” Tsatsoulis said.

Lyndale Open Streets will span 20 blocks, from West 22nd to West 42nd, and will run from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. “Lyndale Open Streets brings people together to meet their neighbors,” said Larry Ludeman, co-president of the Lyn-Lake Business Association. “Besides people biking, it’s a great way for everyone to take back the street.” Continue Reading

Speaking truth to power: Parents, teachers and students rally against cuts to Saint Paul schools

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On Monday, June 1st, an hour after word began to spread of movement in the K-12 education budget stalemate between Governor Dayton and Republican legislators, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers sponsored a rally protesting potential layoffs of teachers, educational assistants, counselors and other staff, some of whom have already received pink slips. Parents, students, teachers and an elementary school principal spoke truth to power: members of the St. Paul legislative delegation, who sat in the front row of the auditorium at St. Paul Central High School. In attendance were State Representatives Erin Murphy, Dave Pinto, Rena Moran, Carlos Mariani, John Lesch, Sheldon Johnson and State Senators Dick Cohen and Sandy Pappas. Members of the St. Paul delegation not in attendance were State Representatives Alice Hausman and Tim Mahoney and State Senators John Marty and Foung Hawj. Continue Reading

Community in the Air: Frogtown Farm’s Backyard Fair

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Frogtown Farm started out as a dream – a very big dream that some believed could never come to fruition. But longtime residents of the area formally known as the Thomas-Dale neighborhood or Planning District 7 (located within the boundaries of Lexington Avenue on the west, Burlington Northern Railroad on the north, Highway 35E on the east, and University Avenue on the south) were determined to turn a 12.7 acre parcel of land into part of the burgeoning urban agriculture movement. Community members worked tirelessly with The Trust for Public Land, the City of Saint Paul and the Wilder Foundation to turn their vision into reality – and on Saturday, May 30, neighbors gathered under a sunny sky to celebrate at the Backyard Farm Fair on the SE side of Frogtown Park and Farm, off of Victoria and Lafond Avenues. A smiling Katie Novotny of the Hamline-Midway neighborhood said, “This is new to me – I found out about it on Facebook!”

As volunteers welcomed community members, organizers shared plans for the park and farm. “I love the idea of this farm,” said Frogtown resident and volunteer Filson Ibraham, who stood behind an information table, signing up her neighbors. Continue Reading

Local comic book artist claims violation by TSA agents

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Z.M. Thomas, a Minnesota-based comic book writer and publisher, claims to be a victim of First Amendment violations by the Transportation Safety Agency at Philadelphia International Airport. Upon returning from his round trip Delta Airlines flight to Wizard World ComicCon in Philadelphia, he discovered severe damage to most of his copies of his title “Bible 2”. Additional non-religious titles in his baggage were left undamaged. Among the titles that were left undamaged was his latest book “Sioux Falls”. This book is a retelling of his families’ experiences during the Sioux Uprising of 1862. Continue Reading

Bernie Sanders makes his first campaign appearance in Minnesota

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It’s no secret that most of the heavy-hitters in the DFL are already pledged to Ms. Clinton. So who were the people who turned up to hear and cheer for Bernie Sanders? Generationally, they appeared to be a diverse crowd, ranging from 18 to 80-plus. The crowd was noticeably less diverse with perhaps 5 to 10% people of color. Primer on Bernie Sanders: He’s 73 and has been the junior Senator from Vermont since 2007. Continue Reading

ALBUM REVIEW: The Crazy EP by CorEsha

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Ginger Patterson is without question, one of the strongest recording artists in Twin Cities.  A gifted throwback to the smooth fire and hard grit of true, old-school soul music. Patterson truly stands in a class pretty much by herself. Which makes it a curious occurrence that she has taken under her wing at Midwest Magic Productions the pedestrian talent CorEsha, possessed of bright but emotionless vocals singing weak lyrics to run-of-the-mill melodies.  The Crazy EP produced by Patterson, co-produced with her son, William Patterson, has material mostly written by CorEsha and him. Continue Reading