BY LEANNA SARTIN Hip-hop has its roots in the South Bronx of NYC. Its message has evolved over time. Once offshoring started, it left its whimsy. Sugar Hill Gang was one of the first rap albums that was happy and cheery. Slowly, the manufacturing, canneries, textiles and auto-making industries left.…
BY KATHRYN KELLY A public data request to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board reveals how much money has been spent, so far, on the Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan. What is the number as of October 2020? $871,759.29 The Park Board is closing in on spending One Million Dollars…
Thank you for the article on Medicare in the recent opinion page of Southside Pride. A basic good general overview. However, the section on Medicare Advantage was not accurate. Not surprising since false and misleading information of the wonders of Medicare Advantage are everywhere. It is not Medicare. It is…
BY TONY BOUZA I was in my 20s during the McCarthy years—roughly the early ’50s. Communist hysteria. Traitors everywhere and a reckless and audacious national figure attacked such supreme patriots as George G. Marshall (of the Plan) and the architect of not just World War II victories, but World War…
BY ED FELIEN There is nothing more dangerous than a cornered rat. It is desperate. It will do anything to survive. Donald Trump knows that when he leaves office there is an almost endless trail of criminal charges he will face. He will pardon his fellow felons: Manafort and Flynn…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Dinkytown, as you know, is not like other neighborhoods. It’s not even like other college campus-adjacent neighborhoods such as those in St. Paul, or in smaller college towns. So Dinkytown’s response to things like the COVID pandemic is also a little bit different. Dinkytown, with its…
The picture of the workers in their hazard suits and spraying the White House reminds me of the answer Senator Kirsten Gilibrand gave when she was running for president and she was asked, “What would be the first thing you would do if elected president?” and she said, “I’d clorox…
I was thrilled to see the news that Robin Wonsley Worlobah announced her candidacy for Minneapolis City Council for 2021. I met Robin in 2016 during the campaign fighting for a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis. She was leading a large political meeting, energizing a room of diverse working class…
To the City Council Public Health and Safety Committee on “the current model of community safety and opportunities for change:” There are some very simple things this council, working with the mayor, could do to improve the efficiency and restore public confidence in the Minneapolis Police Department. First, return to…
BY TONY BOUZA On my birthday, The New York Times’ lead editorial centered on police impunity and labeled arbitrators as the villains. Quite a gift. Thank you. The Times are idiots. Union problems got so bad here that they (city leaders) undertook a desperate nationwide search for a chief in…
BY CONNIE SULLIVAN MPLS ISSUES FORUM There is absolutely no proof at all that the only “safe” way to vote is in person at a polling place on the day of Nov. 3. In Minneapolis, as in Minnesota as a whole, our voting system is intact andcarefully monitored. Ballots do…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE It’s a complex landscape. You have the institutions—district public schools, public-private charter schools, alternative, private and parochial schools, as well as the districts themselves and some contractors that fill in essential services, like food preparation or bus transportation. Then you have the stakeholders—students, families, teachers, other…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN At 38th and Chicago, where George Floyd was killed on May 25, the streets are blocked off so traffic can’t go through the intersection. Inside this space are many flowers, murals, a medic tent, daily community meals, a library, food giveaways and a group called Agape (unconditional…
BY TONY BOUZA The writer has a unique series of responsibilities. The first is to truth. Relevance and humility follow. Gratitude and respect for the reader, and I’m sure there are more. Facile, no? No. If our President has reminded us of nothing else, he has reminded us of the…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD The city has tried and failed to reopen the intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue off and on since it was closed down by protestors after George Floyd was killed in May. These efforts have been unsuccessful and I, for one, am grateful to those protecting…
