BY JOHN CHARLES WILSON The Twin Cities Transit Riders’ Union (TRU) has been recently advocating that Metro Transit quit charging fares and become a free service, like the public library. In this column, I would like to discuss the pros and cons of free transit. First of all, free transit…
BY AMY BLUMENSHINE County Commissioners Angela Conley and Irene Fernando, a new “Squad” of women of color, are pushing the county to seriously step up to address the needs of the public. The Hennepin County Board, made up of seven commissioners, approves the second largest government budget in the state.…
BY HARVEY WASSERMAN Despite the corporate hype, Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy are deeply rooted in the mainstream of our nation’s history. The lie that they’re “foreign ideologies” starts with the fascist assault Woodrow Wilson waged against them during and after World War I. Their marginalization today by corporate Democrats…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Jake Reber is a man on a mission, focused on a campaign to get his city government to come up with solutions to fight the rising crime rate in South Minneapolis. Earlier this year, he started talking with his neighbors, hearing about their personal experiences with property…
Minnesotans stage a “funeral for the Earth” at the home of David MacLennan, CEO of agribusiness giant Cargill, for complicity in Amazon fires In the pursuit of profits, Cargill facilitates the destruction of the Amazon for soy and beef production. Across huge expanses of the Brazilian Amazon and the adjacent…
BY AMY BLUMENSHINE Burt Berlowe’s chair was empty as his colleagues gathered for the monthly meeting of the Peace and Social Justice Writer’s Group. Burt had passed away that afternoon, Oct. 28, from consequences stemming from his most recent fall. As a candle was lit and libations were poured, those…
BY ED FELIEN Do we need more cops? Yes, and no. Yes, we need a greater police presence downtown and on Lake Street and Franklin Avenue. It is intolerable that violent gangs are beating and robbing people in broad daylight downtown. This has to stop. When Tony Bouza was chief…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Last Thursday we went to a Community Meal at Roosevelt High School, just north of 42nd Street on 28th Avenue South. I mainly know Roosevelt High as my caucusing and voting place. Also, I know a woman who was until recently employed there, and a key…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD As Minneapolis becomes increasingly urban, more of our residents will live in apartments with little access to green space. The dynamic and rhythms of our city will change drastically. The great changes we are about to face could also be seen as a chance to see possibility…
BY LAURA HALL Meena Natarajan, the artistic and executive director of Pangea World Theater, greeted me warmly outside their offices on Lake Street. She then guided me to the neighboring coffee and tea shop where we spent the next hour discussing Pangea’s ambitious artistic mission: a mission, as stated on…
After reading the two excellent articles by Ed Felien and Kathryn Kelly regarding the issues surrounding the planned closing of Hiawatha Golf Course, I decided to share my personal story of my experience with the course. I have used the course for over 60 years. I was a caddie at…
The following lists the requests and questions that the Hiawatha Golf Course Community Advisory Committee put together at CAC meeting No. 6 for the Hiawatha Golf Course Property Master Plan. The Park Board Design Team is currently working on providing answers to the questions and looking into incorporating the suggestions…
How to Take Care of Captives I think that we in the peace movement are so accustomed to looking at the need for action that we tend to let slide the various bits of upbeat news in the world of international politics. The Star Tribune of Aug. 25, however, published…
BY ED FELIEN Thousands of people showed up at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis to tell our President, in the words of Mayor Frey, “Love Trumps Hate in Minneapolis.” The demonstrators were peaceful but determined. They stayed past midnight. There were minor confrontations and scuffles, but no one was…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We have come to a point in late-stage capitalism where a lot of the so-called philanthropy vying for well-meaning control of our lives is so inept, so blinkered by ideology, that it has become its own opposite. “Philanthropy” contains two Greek root words that mean, respectively,…
