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 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 ED FELIEN On Sept. 9 I sent the following email to Superintendent of Parks Mary Merrill: Hi Superintendent Merrill, Would you please direct staff to remove the boulder dam/weir under the 30th Avenue Footbridge that is obstructing the flow of Minnehaha Creek, as indicated in the Barr Engineering study.…
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…
In a letter dated Aug. 3, 2018, Minneapolis YWCA management, without prior consultation with members, decreed that it would impose a pay-to-park system with gates to go into effect in September at the Midtown Y. Parking had always been free at Midtown, one of its attractions. Although the letter was…
BY ED FELIEN In late winter of 1976 I got a call from Fran Shor, a friend who was teaching at Wayne State University. He said they were hiring faculty for a new program, The Weekend College for Working Adults. It was an adult education program teaching college classes to…
BY ED FELIEN That’s what they call it. The people living in tents along the sound-wall along Hiawatha from Franklin to 22nd Street call their village “The Wall of Forgotten Natives. FDR in a radio address in 1932 introduced his New Deal programs to help “the forgotten man at the…
BY ED FELIEN It’s time for the Fall Parade of Homes. Until Sept. 30, you can tour 427 new homes Thursdays-Sundays from 12 to 6 p.m. It’s free except for four Dream Homes where you’ll be asked to pay a $5 admission at the door. Proceeds from the Dream Homes…
BY ED FELIEN I wrote on a local community blog: I want a compromise. I want something everyone can be happy with. Why can’t everyone have everything they want? Why can’t we take down the artificial barriers that are blocking the outlet to Minnehaha Creek from Lake Hiawatha? Why can’t…
BY ED FELIEN Cam Gordon’s attempt to add more oversight to the Minneapolis Police Department seems to have failed for the moment. The Charter Commission has said it will not hold hearings on the proposed amendment in time for it to be on the November ballot. Gordon was proposing: “Shall…
BY ED FELIEN We supported Alondra Cano when she ran for re-election last fall. We were proud of her participation in the demonstrations against the police killing of Jamar Clark. We were proud of her when she joined Lisa Bender in trying to suspend the rules at a City Council…
BY ED FELIEN After losing my bid for re-election, and after a respectful period of mourning and self-pity, I decided it would be a waste to lose contact with all the politically active progressives I’d met. I wanted to start a radical, Farmer-Labor Caucus, within the DFL. We’d be based…
BY ED FELIEN At its meeting July 25, the Park Board finally responded to a question from its Lake Hiawatha Community Advisory Committee. The CAC asked whether future plans for Hiawatha could include an 18-hole golf course. The Board answered: “The Board of Commissioners intends for the CAC to bring…
Columns by Ed Felien