“We are in pain, don’t choke us.” —Ira Azhakh BY KAY SCHROVEN Despite ambitious efforts by the city and a Neighborhood Action Plan to reimagine Lake Street, Ira is not hopeful. After 40 years in the car business in the 4500 block of East Lake Street, he has closed. Before…
BY TONY BOUZA On Nov. 28, 2020, The New York Times reported the discovery of a 12-foot steel monolith in the desert called Red Rock Country, Utah. It described it as evocative of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In that film primates howl around an unexplained monolith.…
BY KAY SCHROVEN During the week of Nov. 9-13, the first Southside Summit, hosted by the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association (PPNA) and sponsored by the Graves Foundation, took place (virtually). It was a meeting of the minds from a number of organizations involved in enhancing and improving our communities. As…
BY KATHRYN KELLY Results of the latest Minneapolis Park Board survey on the Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan have, again, shown that a HUGE majority of respondents do not support a plan that has, so far, cost over $870,000. The responses have been compiled and quantified in a best effort…
Dear Tony Bouza, I enjoy your columns and respect your expertise and vision as both a police chief and a commentator. I have several suggestions to make for reform of the Minneapolis Police Department. First, I would like to see the City of Minneapolis require police officers to live in…
BY SARAH MARTIN Lee Ross, a lifelong activist and longtime Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), member died at the age of 94 on Monday, Nov. 16. Lee was the youngest of three children born to parents from Tsarist Russia. Her parents moved first to Paris and the French Riviera before…
We all want a safe Minneapolis. But I’m not certain that more of the same will bring that to us. I sent the following comments to the Budget Committee: Attention Mayor Frey and Members of the City Council: I support the actions of the six brave City Council Members who…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD On the night of Nov. 4, 2020, a demonstration took place at Cedar-Riverside in Minneapolis. It was organized by a coalition of groups including Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar and other local peace and justice organizations. The demonstration was held in part as a reminder…
BY TIGER WORKU (FROM THE SEWARD NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM) Hello, Neighbors, I want to shed some light on what happened on the highway and in our neighborhood late into the night on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and early into the morning on Thursday, Nov. 5. Pro-democracy protests took place all across the…
The choice between peace and mutually assured destruction There it was—the article reminding us of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and who better to write it than Helen Caldicott, pediatrician, founder of the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It’s been 75 years since the…
Medicare Advantage Plans are another way to get your Medicare Part A and Part B coverage. Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans,” are offered by Medicare-approved private companies that must follow rules set by Medicare. Most Medicare Advantage Plans include drug coverage (Part D). In many…
BY FLORENCE GOLOD I raised my kids in a small bungalow three blocks from the corner where Mr. George Floyd was murdered by police on May 25, 2020. I visited the memorial in early June bringing a bouquet of fading Bleeding Hearts. Amid the cluttered beauty and sweet scent of…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE First, let us consider the staggering array of online workouts available these days, especially those geared toward seniors who might have mobility issues. Chair workouts and zero-impact aerobics (ZIP) dominate the list. There are stand-alone companies like GrowYoung Fitness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQn6LXA4_2c), along with the Ys, private health…
The Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) is supporting a new resident-led initiative: Nokomis East Neighbor-to-Neighbor Communication Project. The project will assess the level of neighbor-to-neighbor communication preparedness in Nokomis East and will implement three communication strategies: Strategy 1) Establish a temporary online communication tool (a Slack workspace) run by trained…
‘Capitalism in the 21st century’ Years ago, I read a glowing review of Thomas Piketty’s book “Capitalism in the 21st Century” and I tried to read it. I read about a fourth of the first chapter and gave up. Now he’s written a new book, but I know better than…
