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 DANIEL COLTEN SCHMIDT Right now, Minneapolitans are demanding more participation in governance, particularly in the cases of environmental justice. In May of 2023, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) was able to secure community participation in the redevelopment of the Roof Depot building. Now our attention must shift to…
BY JORDAN KUSHNER The political establishment nationally and locally has fallen into lockstep in its unquestioning support for anything Israel does. The military attack by Palestinian militants breaching the supposedly secure fence locking them into Gaza on Oct. 7, which included mass killings and hostage takings of noncombatants, has sparked…
BY CAM GORDON For over a decade, green insects called emerald ash borers (EAB) have been killing ash trees throughout Minneapolis. This fall the City Council appears ready to shift its policy in favor of using pesticides to combat the tree infestations – and it is mostly for financial reasons.…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Winter and holiday things, both new and traditional Here is your winter 2023-24 guide to holiday and winter-related events and things to do. Just like last year, this is a streamlined list, with the same limits. To wit: for online ticket sales, we provide the name…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Breaking it down This edition of “Gracefully” will focus on what elders, especially those living solo, need in order to thrive, and ways to satisfy those needs with resources available in south Minneapolis. We’re breaking down the needs into five categories; they’re not the usual categories,…
BY STEPHANIE FOX You may not know Phil Vandervaart personally, but you know his work. He has been a Twin Cities professional sign painter since 1983, creating artistic and imaginative signage for hundreds of small businesses in Minneapolis since moving here from Chicago. Some of his works include Palmer’s Bar,…
BY DIANE J. PETERSON AND JOHN KOLSTAD Although one normally perceives hospitals, and the doctors who work in them, to be dedicated to the overall health of patients being served, HCMC (Hennepin County Medical Center) revealed that it compromised that ideal in May by lobbying against a bill intended to…
BY JOHNNY HAZARD On Saturday, Oct. 28, I walked in the march against Israeli aggression in Mexico City. It was the second march to be held here since the events of Oct. 7 and the Israeli reprisals. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people marched from the Ángel de la Independencia (near…
BY DAVE GUTKNECHT Here’s NATO and some of the U.S. imperial agenda: expansion to Russia’s borders and now in Africa, wars in Serbia, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan’s nearly one million dead almost forgotten already. Sixty years ago, the lesson of the Cuban missile crisis was not that we faced down…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings, and other local news Venture Bikes and Coffee, open on the Midtown Greenway at 10th Avenue where the Midtown Freewheel was before the 2020 upheaval, is a new coffee shop and bike shop combo. This is from the team behind Venture North; essentially…
A fond remembrance by Ed Felien My earliest memory of double dating with Marty and Martha was taking our kids (in strollers) to the Minnesota State Fair. Jennifer lost her pacifier and Marty wondered what archeologists a thousand years from now would make of it. That was almost 60 years…
BY KATHRYN KELLY The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) states that keeping the 18-hole Hiawatha Golf Course dry requires too much pumping of groundwater. But are their stated pumping volumes for dewatering of Hiawatha Golf Course accurate? Documents and data that we received from the MPRB and the DNR…
BY ETHAN BESSER FREDRICK Minnesotans have never paid so much for police departments only to have so few officers. In some places, police are disappearing altogether. In August, the police department of Goodhue, Minnesota, abolished itself – the entire department resigned for better paying jobs elsewhere. This is the most…
BY ED FELIEN City elections are coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 7. All 13 seats are up for grabs. Here’s who we like: Ward 1—Elliott Payne. He votes right all the time, very progressive, without grandstanding. Besides, he’s a Black Diaper Baby. Children of communists and leftists are called Red Diaper Babies. Children of Black Panthers…
