BY CAROL BECKER I wanted to respond to Alexander Johnson’s response to Perry Thorvig’s piece, “Future density! Farewell, neighborhoods?” In it, Johnson defends the 2040 plan’s replacement of ownership housing with rental, out-of-scale buildings throughout the city, and its destruction of neighborhood character. We first must start with facts. It…
Loki BY ANN REDDING Wednesday. A cold day, a windy day people intent on getting to whatever warm place they’re headed to, not looking up. Waiting for the #18 A man is searching for cigarette butts in the wood chips beneath a sickly tree. He’s wearing only a sweater and…
Hi Ed, I was just at the Washburn library and grabbed a copy of the Southside Pride. I remember reading it when I lived on Chicago Avenue many years ago. Your front-page article (“Please, go to your DFL precinct caucus”) led me to suppose there would be a second article urging…
BY LARRY A. ETKIN While I certainly agree with Ed Felien’s statements that most Palestinians and Israelis want nothing other than peace (commentary in “News” section, December 2023 issue) I’d disagree with his ultimate concluding solution to the problems. The creation of a single nation across the region, whatever it…
Koski abolishes Ward 11 meetings I was at the Ward 11 “Public Safety Meeting” last night. Council Member Koski denied all opportunities for her constituents to ask about or present any community problem. The constituents were forbidden from raising a hand and asking a question. “Ward meetings” are abolished. Koski…
Using less phosphorus improves water quality There is a huge problem across Minnesota: algae in our lakes, ponds and other bodies of water – specifically, Minneapolis’ Lake Harriet, which in the past was very healthy and rarely had problems with harmful algae. The algae I am referring to is blue-green…
Opioid crisis preparedness In the past 20 years, the fentanyl epidemic has markedly expanded. Both the “Just Say No” and “D.A.R.E.” educational models from the past are inadequate to meet our societal needs. While preventing drug use is the ideal, the reality is that some people will continue to use…
Ward 8 election analysis – a socialist’s view Soren Stevenson came so close. Was all our work wasted? To come within 38 votes of winning the 8th Ward was a heroic effort, against long odds. Jenkins is a long-term incumbent backed by the mayor, as well as by big corporate…
Why do you think Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar endorsed Andrea Jenkins over the DFL-endorsed Soren Stevenson? It’s surprising because they have both benefited from DFL endorsement as did Soren Stevenson in this campaign. He lost by only 38 votes. Jenkins’ opponent Soren Stevenson refused to meet with the Star…
“It’s easier to fool someone than to persuade them that they’ve been fooled.” Most Americans, asked whether they support empire and imperial behavior, would say no. They don’t think we live in it—notwithstanding over 800 U.S. military bases around the globe and a trillion-dollar military budget, a constant state of…
As a Minneapolis resident and an arborist with 30 years in the tree care profession, I want to offer some deeper context to the issues raised in Cam Gordon’s Nov. 8 article on emerald ash borer and insecticide treatments. I ask fellow community members not to assume ill intent of…
I worked for the Minneapolis Park Board forestry department in the late ‘70s on a takedown crew with Dutch elm disease at its peak. This is where I heard the sound of the chainsaw singing the song of death for the elm trees. Now I’m a retired arborist who ran…
BY ED FELIEN What follows is a discussion/debate between Dave Gutknecht and me about the Ukraine war. Dave was one of the first martyrs of the draft resistance movement in the 1970s in reaction to the war in Vietnam. He served two years in federal prison as a conscientious objector…
The Minnesota Legislature is poised to consider a bill that would bring Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) statewide in a measured, thoughtful manner. Minnesota is ready to take this step, and I encourage our South Minneapolis representatives to push it forward. Minneapolis is one of over 60 jurisdictions across the country…
I read Cam Gordon’s take on rent “control” [“Competing options for rent control,” Jan. 2, 2023]. Now I have more questions than I did prior to reading it. The options Cam wrote about are vague; they contain no specific examples of how an option would affect renters and developers/owners. Wouldn’t…
