Riverside


Medea melee concluded

BY ED FELIEN I was standing right in the middle of it, and I still have no idea what happened. I was standing between Medea Benjamin and Kieran Knutson when Kieran snatched Medea’s phone. I was trying to keep them separate to prevent further violence. Then, Medea recruited Craig Wood…

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Been thinking about Tony Bouza: Gay rights and Tony

BY PHIL WILLKIE Don Fraser picked an outsider to be chief of police. Before Fraser was elected mayor in November of 1979, Charlie Stenvig, head of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, had been elected mayor three times in the previous decade, running law-and-order campaigns. He was defeated twice, but…

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Why are we so mad at China?

BY ED FELIEN Secretary of State Blinken just got back from his visit with Xi Jinping and Chinese diplomats. He says the only issue dividing the two countries is that the U.S. wants closer military contacts to avoid a mistake that could lead to a catastrophe. That sounds so sensible,…

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What about the homeless?

BY DOMINICK BOUZA On Nov. 19, 2022, I was video recording the encampment under the I-35W bridge on 31st Street while driving. Twelve tents or so lined both sidewalks. Lacking water or any amenity, the wind howling trough the underpass, this encampment was destined for disaster should a kerosene heater…

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After critical findings from DOJ, what should come next?

BY CAM GORDON On June 16, a quiet Friday afternoon before a three-day weekend, with little advance notice, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other United States Justice Department staff held a press conference with city officials to announce the results of their two-year investigation into Minneapolis police and an…

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Rent control canceled by a minority on the City Council

BY JOE HESLA, TC-DSA RENT CONTROL WORK GROUP COCHAIR In a sneak attack, the conservative minority on the City Council killed the scheduled public hearing on rent control scheduled for Tuesday, July 25. While three of the Muslim council members were observing a religious holiday, the conservative minority had enough…

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Tony Bouza Oct. 4, 1928 – June 26, 2023

A remembrance BY ED FELIEN I went to see him just before he died. He said, “The problem with dying is it takes too long. And it’s boring.” The first time I met Tony Bouza, he was chief of police. It was at a demonstration against Honeywell anti-personnel bombs used…

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Malcolm X

BY TONY BOUZA A TV crew traveled all the way from Paris, France, to interview me for over an hour about Malcolm X, who was killed in February 1965. Huh? How can this be relevant? I’m not sure but it is somehow contemporaneously relevant.  I struggled with the question and finally…

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Culture on the West Bank, political victory in East Phillips, and the small business scene on Cedar Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Stuffed full of culture – Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside (the West Bank) With numerous theaters, music venues and more, Cedar Avenue’s northern stretch from Washington Avenue to Franklin Avenue is a cultural corridor like no other. There’s Minneapolis’s oldest community theater, Theatre in the Round, at 245 Cedar…

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Summer in Richfield on East 66th Street

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Summer is for parks and nature Summer in Richfield is a time to get out and about in your city. Richfield has a lot of options for outdoor activities. The two largest city parks, Veterans Memorial Park, at 6335 Portland Ave., and Wood Lake Nature Center,…

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Socializing Carol Becker

BY ED FELIEN To socialize: “to make someone behave in a way that is acceptable to their society.” Carol Becker was a member of the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation from 2006 until Dec. 31, 2021. She is a respected conservative voice in Minneapolis politics. She wrote a very…

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