BY ELINA KOLSTAD We just went through a second stint of authoritarian lockdown in the form of curfews declared and the National Guard occupying our streets. Many will say that misinformation was at fault here. A Black suspect was said to have been shot by police. Riots broke out. The…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Since May 25, 2020, Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis will forever be associated in history with the “George Floyd uprising.” In fact, the exact location where the murder of Floyd occurred, 38th Street and Chicago Avenue South, is unofficially renamed George Floyd Square (and making that…
BY ABĒ R. LEVINE Carmen Means rallies the crowd at the “Peoples’ Press Conference” on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the George Floyd Memorial site in front of Cup Foods. Means, along with memorial caretakers, have submitted demands to Mayor Frey in response to George Floyd’s murder. Five women organizers who’ve…
BY KAY SCHROVEN Gardens are growing in four Minneapolis parks and others are in the works, including Powderhorn Park. If you haven’t completed the Powderhorn Park Community Garden Survey, please do so now. Nearly 100 responses have already come in. Your input will help the garden planners know just which…
BY KAY SCHROVEN Powderhorn is not the only neighborhood in the Twin Cities recovering from a unique summer, but surely we’ve had our share of challenges: protests/riots, destruction, violence, including the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the MPD, unemployment and hundreds of unsheltered neighbors living in beautiful…
BY TONY BOUZA “What do you have to lose?” Thus Spake Zarathustra! Well, Sarah Palin, of revered memory, might have responded: “How’s it working out for ya?” The Wall—ah yes, a metaphor for all that is good and wholesome about this great country. China has its Great Wall—why shouldn’t we…
BY DAVE TILSEN The burning and looting is terrible. It alienates the workers, it causes pain and suffering to many, it makes life in the city more difficult, and it increases support for the police. These are questions that dominate all conversations. The burning and looting does amplify Trump’s messaging,…
BY DEB TAYLOR Unprecedented levels of loneliness and isolation have swept our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially affecting seniors, the most vulnerable to this persistent virus. The threat of this virus has kept older adults quarantined and distanced from their loved ones. “I haven’t hugged my kids and grandkids…
Why were there riots in Minneapolis? The New Yorker magazine occasionally runs an article that is a barn burner. Years ago, it published a long article by John Hersey about the bombing of Hiroshima that fit the same category. There’s no way I could do justice to another New Yorker…
BY ED FELIEN Is the nightmare over? Have the plague and pestilence gone? Have we buried the dead? No, the nightmare is not over. The madman still runs the White House. The plague and pestilence have not gone because there is no leader to rid the land of plague and…
BY NATHAN HOUSE If you live in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood, you may have recently seen people walking or biking in the streets in high resolution vests in the early morning or late night. These are volunteers of Powderhorn Safety Collective (PSC), a group of neighbors committed to alternative methods…
BY ED FELIEN Council Member Phillipe Cunningham was quoted in a recent article in The New Yorker: “No one could say that we didn’t try reform. We tried every kind of reform.” I phoned his office. No one was there. I left a message: You say you’ve tried everything? How…
BY OLIVER STEINBERG, GRASSROOTS – LEGALIZE CANNABIS CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE Most elections only involve Republican and Democratic party candidates (in Minnesota, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, or DFL). If other parties’ candidates appear on the ballot, it’s by submitting nominating petitions signed by thousands of voters. A tough assignment! However, if…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Bloomington Avenue is just not the same without the May Day Cafe. I had been about to write them off as never coming back, but I just missed the boat. Since early June, on alternate Saturdays, they have been having a pop-up sale / fundraiser event.…
BY ED FELIEN Cierra Hoffman reported on Nextdoor that while she was in the Speedway at 44th and Lake, “I was standing at the register checking out when the gas station clerk ran outside abruptly and confronted a young woman (in her 20s) with a large black & white patterned…
