Riverside
Police youth recruitment plan raises concerns
BY CAM GORDON In what is likely a response to the unusually low number of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the recommendation by the mayor’s Community Safety Work Group to “strengthen MPD’s recruitment and hiring process,” the mayor is recommending spending $740,000 on an internship program for…
Change the school board, transform schools
BY LYDIA HOWELL As 29,000 students return to in-person learning, COVID-19 has exposed undeniable challenges for the nine-member Minneapolis school board. On Nov. 8, voters will elect two at-large (city-wide) seats and three district seats. The board faces a teacher shortage, budget deficits and continued concerns about less than half…
Many openings, apology to Sea Salt (NOT closing), and mini-review of Heather’s
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Many new openings to celebrate There are so many restaurants and things opening lately. First up, a plethora of fancy places to eat lunch in downtown Minneapolis (dinner too, in some cases). Several publications have heralded “the return of downtown,” especially the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.…
What’s happening on Selby Avenue in St. Paul
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Rondo – reconnect or reparations, or both? St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood was the center of the Black community in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region for much of the 20th century. The intact Rondo neighborhood was economically active, social and self-supportive. The core of Rondo was demolished between…
One last summer fling at Open Streets Minnehaha
BY STEPHANIE FOX The Minneapolis neighborhood celebration known as Open Streets will have its final festival for 2022 with Open Streets Minnehaha, in the Longfellow neighborhood on Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The street will be closed to all motor vehicle traffic between East Lake Street and…
The new commissioner meets the community
BY KAY SCHROVEN Commissioner of Public Safety Cedric Alexander is wasting no time getting out to meet the communities of Minneapolis. On Aug. 25 he was introduced to the Phelps community at Phelps Park by Andrea Jenkins, City Council president and Ward 8 council member. It was Alexander’s third week…
The fear of fewer cars & a response
Bikester Chronicles There was a proposal before the Park Board to close Minneapolis parkways to vehicular traffic on certain days every month. The Board received so much negative feedback they canceled the proposal in August. BY JOHN DAHL On June 6, Southside Pride published an opinion of Patricia Kelly, Board…
It’s time
BY ED FELIEN It’s time. “It’s time,” the people of the East Phillips neighborhood are saying. It’s time the city started taking itself seriously and started believing some of the things it’s been saying about the environment and equity. In 2019, Mayor Jacob Frey said, “Minneapolis is doing nation-leading work…
Better ideas for affordable housing
Vine Arts Center reopening
Fighting crime with justice
BY LYDIA HOWELL It’s a strange time to be a progressive with a lifetime of doing anti-racism and police accountability activism and, now, seeing my city overwhelmed by crime. Conversations about Minneapolis ping-pong between right-wing screeds, “Minneapolis is a crime-ridden hellscape! Leave NOW!” to progressives asserting, “The real problem is…
Love your neighborhood
I hear voices
MPD and consent decrees
BY CAM GORDON The role of public involvement has been questioned as the mayor and City Council move forward towards court agreements on racist policing practices. Last April 27, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) released a report that found probable cause that the city and its police department…