BY ED FELIEN [Ed Felien’s remarks to the Park Board on July 20] In a promotional video having something to do with the Hiawatha Plan, Michael Schroeder is shown saying, “My mission is to de-Wirthify the Minneapolis Park System.” The crown jewel of his plan is to turn the Hiawatha…
BY ED FELIEN The Minneapolis City Council Public Works and Infrastructure Committee invited public comments at their June 9 public hearing on their Stormwater Management Program and Annual Report. I asked them to: “Please, stop dumping on us. “You are poisoning us. Chemicals that you put on your lawns in…
BY ED FELIEN The Park Board was scheduled to vote on whether to close Minnehaha Parkway to cars at their June 15 meeting, but at the last minute they decided, due to the large volume of emails in opposition, to pull that item from the agenda. It is scheduled to…
BY ED FELIEN On Saturday, June 4, Minnesota state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray and Reps. Jim Davnie and Emma Greenman held a Senate District 63 Town Hall meeting at Corcoran Park to explain their work at the legislature this year. For Torres Ray and Davnie this Town Hall was probably…
BY ED FELIEN Emily Koski, council member from Ward 11, hosted a Town Hall meeting Tuesday, May 31, to discuss water issues for the homes around Lake Nokomis. The beautifully printed, 12-page program brochure said 21 property owners around Lake Nokomis “complained” of wet basements, sinkholes and saturated soil during…
BY ED FELIEN In last month’s editions of Southside Pride we published “Swamp creatures rise from the dead.” I wrote: “That changed in 1964 when (according to the story believed in South Minneapolis) Vice President Humphrey wanted to please his boss, LBJ, with the sight of a full-flowing Minnehaha Falls—even…
BY ED FELIEN Council Member Jason Chavez wrote in his newsletter: “The Minnesota Department of Human Rights released its report on the investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department. According to the report, it included approximately 700 hours of body worn camera footage and nearly 480,000 pages of City and MPD…
BY ED FELIEN Mariupol was a thriving northern port on the Black Sea. Actually, the Ukrainians call that part of the Black Sea the Azov Sea because it’s almost closed off from the rest of the Black Sea by a peninsula reaching out from the Russian side trying to reach…
BY ED FELIEN Just when you thought you were safe on dry land, the Swamp Creatures rise from the dead and take you back into the muck. Last year was a painful and exhausting struggle. After months of arguing, the Minneapolis Park Board voted 5-4 to not flood the Hiawatha…
BY ED FELIEN Just before sunrise on Feb. 2, the MPD SWAT team bursts into a downtown apartment: “Police!” “Search warrant!” “Get on the ground!” Amir Locke is asleep on a couch, under a blanket. They kick the couch. Amir gets up, turns to the officers. He is holding a…
BY ED FELIEN The following is correspondence between Mel Reeves and me. On Aug. 2, 2013, I wrote to Mel, “We’re planning a demo at the MPD Federation headquarters under the slogan: ‘Get rid of bullies, racist thugs and murderers!’ Would you like to participate? Speak about Terrance Franklin? Can…
BY ED FELIEN Last July we called Jeremy Schroeder “The foolish public servant who wants to do good.” We wrote: “When I was a small boy attending Mass at St. Helena’s Church, I remember a sermon by my favorite priest, Father Don Schnitzius. The way Father Don told the story…
BY ED FELIEN In one of its last acts of 2021, the City Council approved a framework for beginning public discussions about what kind of development should happen when they re-construct Nicollet Avenue between 29th Street and Lake Street. The press release announcing the plan said: “The broad project goals…
BY ED FELIEN The North Star Caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has recently circulated, for discussion and approval, an outline of strategic objectives for 2022. They call for a United Front Against Fascism and the need to “jettison a growing tendency towards a ‘go it alone’ approach…
BY ED FELIEN You survived a pretty rough first term of office. Standing up to the president of the United States, sending him a bill for the added security necessary to guarantee him a safe environment to hold a political rally, was the easy part. You were getting good marks…
Columns by Ed Felien