Dazzling holiday lights and sights in Twin Cities (and beyond)

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Now is the time to shine, light-seekers! Holiday sparkle is back, illuminating cold, dark winter streets with bursts of vivid color and community spirit. Below, we’ve made a list – and checked it twice – of a few choice spots to see holiday lights around the Twin Cities and beyond. Scroll down to see how you can share your photos and add light displays in your community to our list!Related seasonal articles below:How to make ice lanterns, a Scandinavian tradition2014 Holiday Arts & Attractions RoundupShop small, shop localTis the Season of Giving & Receiving   <a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/8522440/”>When should holiday lights and decor go up?</a> Holiday Light DisplaysTaking in neighborhood light displays never seems to gets old. Whether they’re religious or secular, there’s something captivating about a neighborhood all lit up with holiday cheer, each house putting forth their best designs. We’ve started with a list of residential displays, some of which were submitted by readers. We invite you to add displays to our list by using the comment section or emailing paigelelliott@tcdailyplanet.netThe Beaumont Holiday Light Show229 21st Avenue South, South Saint Paul, MN | 5 – 11:30 pmFeatured are 11,000 bulbs in blue, soft white, and bright white, with wireframe angels, deer, and trees choreographed to music that you can hear by tuning into 97.9 FM in stereo.Glowing Tree in Bloomington9145 Meadowview Road, Bloomington | NightlyThe big, glowing oak tree in Bloomington features over 35,000 glowing lights and is a sight to behold. Continue Reading

[PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter momentum continues, protesters march on downtown Minneapolis

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Over a thousand artists and activists gathered in downtown Minneapolis on Dec. 13 to rally and march in solidarity with the national #BlackLivesMatter movement that aims to highlight the lack of equality and accountability in police dealings with the black community in the United States.The march, organized by a group called the Million Artist Movement, began with a rally at the Hennepin County Government Center, where artists, activists and other leaders from the black community spoke to the crowd about taking action by approaching their elected officials to demand change. The crowd also performed a die-in, lying down in honor of fallen black Americans at the hands of police, and by reading off names of black individuals whose lives were taken by police officers.The march headed west down 6th from the Government Center to Nicollet Mall.Recently, activists pressured the Minneapolis City Council to reverse their vote on a city budget that would cut racial equity programs by about $150,000. Protesters also shut down I-35W two weeks ago for a few hours, garnering national attention.Local activists also plan to hold another rally at the Mall of America on Dec. 20.Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading

Under high pressure, Minneapolis City Council reverses #Lattelevy vote

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Local activists obtained a rare victory Wednesday evening after the Minneapolis City Council voted to reverse their decision to cut $225,000 from a racial equity program and a clean energy initiative — a cut deemed #Lattelevy.But the contentious and oftentimes emotional city council meeting highlighted a fundamental and ongoing fray between city leadership and local activists, both of whom displayed intense frustration throughout the five-hour meeting.On Dec. 10, Minneapolis City Council members voted to restore funding to the One Minneapolis Fund and the Clean Energy Partnership as well as to decrease the proposed property tax levy to 2.1 percent. In turn, they voted to cut $174,000 allocated to two new communication positions for the city.Hundreds of activists, including some of whom coordinated the headline-making I-35W rally that reduced a portion of the Minneapolis interstate to a standstill earlier this month, flooded Wednesday’s meeting to call fault to pending budget cuts targeting the One Minneapolis Fund and the Clean Energy Partnership.The cuts, which were drafted during a December 1, 2014 city council meeting, would have increased the Minneapolis property tax levy to 2.2 percent, slightly less than the 2.4 percent increase proposed by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges in her 2015 budget.That difference of about $620,000 would have — on average — decreased property taxes by about $2.50 per resident according to activists. That said, property taxes can shift in either direction depending on changes in the value of a property or neighborhood.Activists deemed that $2.50 fiscal gain “latte levy,” or the cost of a single latte, which they say some homeowners could give up in order to keep affordable housing, clean energy and racial equity programs for all. Some activists even brought paper coffee cups as props during their testimony.“There are many ways to balance a budget but saving $2.50 for homeowners in some of the wealthiest areas of the city will be in lieu of developing leadership in your community,” said one of the over 60 community members who testified during Wednesday’s meeting.“This is not a lot of money,” said Zoe Holloman during the public comment portion. Continue Reading

Minnesota must continue to lead on clean energy

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For the past two months I’ve been furiously working to collect comment cards from Twin Cities area youth in support of the EPA Clean Power Plan before the public comment period ends on December 1. To curb climate change, the plan calls for nationwide emissions reductions of 30 percent by 2030, and would require Minnesota to reduce its carbon emissions by more than a third in that time. Together with my fellow students from Youth Environmental Activists of Minnesota (YEA! MN), the high school program of the Will Steger Foundation, we collected 649 comment cards supporting the plan.

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One last Polish martini; Nye’s employees and patrons reminisce before the closure

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Nye’s is a special place where hipsters and AARP members rub shoulders. Where families come for plates of pirogues and cabbage rolls, and people gather around the piano bar to confidently sing old classics while nursing glasses of Polish beer, schilowitz and large Polish martinis – a pickled mushroom instead of an olive.When the news first broke last week in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the reaction across the City was as if they’d announced the dynamiting of Minnehaha Falls. Nye’s Polonaise Room, in business since 1950, would be shutting its doors next summer.In its place, developers are talking of a new high rise apartment, part of the New Urbanism, a social theory that may do to Nordeast Minneapolis what Urban Renewal did for the Warehouse District. It appears as if what little past Minneapolis still has, it seeks to destroy.Rob and Tony Jacob, the owners since 1999, broke the news to the staff, some who’d worked there for decades. Continue Reading

Minnesota’s Hot Tub Time Machine in Breezy Point

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In the blockbuster movie Hot Tub Time Machine, four friends are transported back in time to a ski resort in 1986. Teen time traveler Clark Duke wonders: “Do I really gotta be the asshole who says we got in this thing and went back in time?” And Craig Robinson confirms: “It must be some kinda….hot tub time machine.” The concept has been so popular with moviegoers, that the sequel hits theatres in February 2015. And it’s so fun for us, that we thought we would use the hot tub time machine to transport us to some of the most fascinating place and times in Minnesota history.

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