BY ED FELIEN The tremendous public interest and community involvement around the city’s proposed 2040 Plan has been a great exercise in democracy. And, as my wife continually tells me, “Exercise is what you need to stay alive.” There has been a lively debate on the Minneapolis Issues Forum between…
FROM ST. JOAN OF ARC CATHOLIC COMMUNITY After years of silence, the bells of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community are ready to bring their joyous sound to the neighborhood again. Church bell ringing goes back thousands of years. Historically, church bells announced the time of day, ringing on the…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Although it was not quite the blue wave hoped for nationwide, it sure felt like it in South Minneapolis last night. Nationally, there was a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, for Democrats and progressives alike. So what can we say about the immediate future?…
BY DAVID GILBERT-PEDERSON As a survivor of intimate partner violence and sexual assault (the #MeToo Movement), I take the allegations very seriously, and believing survivors isn’t an abstract idea for me. However, this election is not a referendum on whether we believe Karen, or the #MeToo Movement; this election is…
BY ED FELIEN I awoke from a horrible nightmare last week. My wife and I and Keith Ellison were walking in the dark and we were attacked by a man with a knife. I screamed to my wife to call 911 and I tried desperately to reach Keith. He cried…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Writing this with eight days before the elections, I know that you will probably be reading it after they are over. I am not going out on any limbs, and I can’t find it in my heart to plug events in the first half of November…
BY JOHN KARRIGAN Again this past month I haven’t made it to the park, but I have been entertained by the avian visitors to the backyard: White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. A few days ago I spotted several first-of-the-fall-season Dark-eyed Juncos. As…
BY ED FELIEN I loved the façade on the Modern Cleaners building ever since I first saw it as a small child looking out the window of a Chicago Avenue bus. It seemed so sleek, so smooth, so modern. The architectural style is Streamline Moderne, a final flourish of Art…
BY ED FELIEN On Oct. 8, Council Member Cam Gordon wrote on neighborhood forums: “The second draft of the new Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan is now published and you are invited to a Second Ward Community Meeting to learn more, ask questions, share thoughts and hear from others on Monday,…
BY ED FELIEN I lived in Dinkytown from 1962 to 1964, upstairs over what was then Oscar’s Barber Shop at 1302 SE 4th St., home of The Hair Shaft, today. I was just starting graduate school for my master’s degree in theater, and I was teaching freshman English and speech…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I grew up in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga., and then at age 17 set up as an independent young woman in a neighborhood as close to downtown Atlanta as possible. (Atlanta famously had and still has almost no residential downtown.) I have always loved food—cooking…
Diamond Lake neighbors gather every weeknight at Chicago Avenue and the Parkway as a protest, part of the “Stand on Every Corner” movement. The national grassroots movement started in Minneapolis by Bryce Tache on July 21 has grown to 233 locations with more being added every week. The protests will…
Keith Ellison: Stands with Bernie Sanders. Ranked most liberal in the Minnesota Delegation to Congress by GovTrac. “I am working to advance gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) equality in Congress by ending existing discrimination written in federal laws, giving law enforcement tools to pursue perpetrators of hate crimes, and…
BY ED FELIEN Last month we published my criticism of racism in the Minneapolis Police Department, “Still out of control.” Bob left this message on our voice mail: “This message is for Ed Felien. Ed, Bob Kroll, Minneapolis Police Federation. “I just read your most recent hatchet job on, uh,…
BY RICHARD TAYLOR When the Minneapolis YWCA rammed through its pay-to-park scheme at the Midtown YWCA, did it omit anything that might be viewed as stretching the truth? Yes! First, CEO Frías justified the pay-to-park gated system on one reason only: non-members were depriving members of parking spots. What she…
