Category: Riverside

Artists fire up a neighborhood

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ELDRIDGE Seven years ago the corner of 38th and Chicago was in a state of decay. Lots had been vacant and boarded for decades: few businesses; no community activity; no development.  In the words of Victoria Lauing, “There was a hunger for change.”  In response to that…

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City Council blocks our right to vote

BY ED FELIEN The City Council voted on Friday, Aug. 5, to deny petitions to allow us to vote on two proposals that would greatly benefit the public welfare. One proposal would have required Minneapolis police officers to carry insurance so the city wouldn’t have to pay out damages when…

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IIhan Omar wins in 60B

BY ED FELIEN Against amazing odds, Ilhan Omar, Somali-American mother of three, won a difficult DFL Primary Tuesday, Aug. 9.  She got 2,404 votes—almost 41 percent.  Mohamud Noor, another Somali American, received 1,738 votes, or 29.6 percent, and long-time incumbent Phyllis Kahn got 1,726 votes, or 29.4 percent. “We are…

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St. Paul’s Grand Avenue and how to get there

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Grand Avenue is not the grandest avenue in Saint Paul; it’s not even the grandest one nearby. That would be Summit Avenue, home of the Governor’s Mansion, the James J. Hill House, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s and his buddy Garrison Keillor’s little places. But it’s clear…

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Queen of Cuisine: Good neighbor

BY CARLA WALDEMAR Bradstreet Neighborhood Craftshouse 1930 Hennepin Ave. S. 612-871-1200 www.bradstreetcraftshouse.com Back in Ought Nine when Bradstreet Craftshouse operated in the belly of the Graves Hotel downtown, the cocktail cognoscenti love-love-loved it. Me, too, for the inventive small plates slid across the bar along with that martini glass. But…

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Smith College, 1967 to 1969

BY ED FELIEN New England is beautiful in the fall.  The leaves slowly turning.  The summer lingering softly into crisp mornings.  And Smith College was picture perfect.  “Why, it’s Paradise,” said Jenny Lind in the middle of the 19th century.  And, so, Smith College named the pond in the middle…

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Open Streets 2016 on Franklin Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE This year Franklin Avenue’s Open Streets celebration will be on Aug. 21, going from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The boundaries of the Franklin Avenue festival are Portland Avenue in the west and 28th Avenue in the east. Who else closes their streets to rampant fuel-burning…

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Well, dam!

BY DEANNA BOSS Park Commissioner Steffanie Musich’s response to the woes of my flooded basement from last month’s article was that we need to plant more native grasses and flowers with stronger root systems to better manage storm water. Then, she wrote: “The elevation of Lake Nokomis is controlled by…

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Citizens grapple with racism

BY CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ELDRIDGE “These are heavy times.” With this observation City Council Vice President Elizabeth Glidden opened her address to the gathered Minneapolitans, seated and serried in a third floor auditorium in Lake Street’s Plaza Verde complex. The high ceilings, crossed by sheer cloth, combine with the worn hardwood…

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When Constabulary’s Duty’s to be done

BY TONY BOUZA Gilbert and Sullivan had it right—A policeman’s (today’s grammarians would insist on an androgynous “police officer”—and be right) lot is not a happy one. Cops shoot black males.  Riots explode.  The Criminal Justice System contorts itself and produces grotesque outcomes.  The Dallas killing of five cops evokes…

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What’s to be done

BY ED FELIEN Hundreds of people gathered at the J.J. Hill Montessori School Thursday, July 7, to honor the life and protest the death of Philando Castile.  He worked in the cafeteria at the school and was loved and missed by staff and students. He was in a car that…

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