BY ANDREW JOHNSON Given the desperate need for affordable housing in our city right now, I was disappointed by Perry Thorvig’s narrow view on the potential consequences of more widespread upzoning across Minneapolis in the article “Future density! Farewell, neighborhoods?” in the March 2024 issue of Southside Pride. Minneapolis needs…
BY CAROL BECKER I wanted to respond to Alexander Johnson’s response to Perry Thorvig’s piece, “Future density! Farewell, neighborhoods?” In it, Johnson defends the 2040 plan’s replacement of ownership housing with rental, out-of-scale buildings throughout the city, and its destruction of neighborhood character. We first must start with facts. It…
Loki BY ANN REDDING Wednesday. A cold day, a windy day people intent on getting to whatever warm place they’re headed to, not looking up. Waiting for the #18 A man is searching for cigarette butts in the wood chips beneath a sickly tree. He’s wearing only a sweater and…
BY JOHNNY HAZARD While it may appear to be desirable that former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum win the presidential election to avoid the threat to international solidarity that a return of the right (this time under Xóchitl Gálvez, who was a member of Vicente Fox’s cabinet) forebodes, Sheinbaum offers…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Four years ago, after a Minneapolis police officer murdered a Black man named George Floyd at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the location became a memorial to Floyd’s life and to the struggle of Black citizens in Minneapolis. At first, local people blocked off…
BY ED FELIEN I grew up Roman Catholic. St. Helena’s Church in South Minneapolis. I was a good Catholic, went to Mass, took Communion. It fell apart for me in my freshman year at the U. I started reading James Joyce, “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” Then…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings and other news The Seward Cafe (2129 E. Franklin Ave.) is now serving brunch all day (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) from Thursday to Sunday. It is closed Monday to Wednesday. A branch of Cafe Ceres, helmed by famed pastry chef Shawn McKenzie, opened…
BY JOHN LAFORGE Xcel Energy’s Monticello nuclear reactor on the Mississippi River has leaked some 829,000 gallons of wastewater contaminated with radioactive tritium into the groundwater under its property, more than double the 400,000 gallons it first estimated. The company has since replaced two leaking pipes, built an underground retaining…
BY ED FELIEN The 62nd District DFL endorsing convention will be Sunday, April 14, at Washburn High School. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the convention will be called to order at 10 a.m. There are four excellent candidates seeking DFL endorsement: Bill Emory; Londel French; Ira Jourdain; and Anquam…
BY CAM GORDON Do you know the name of your Metropolitan Council member? Do you know their priorities? Do you see them at community meetings or reaching out in other ways to talk to you and your neighbors? Chances are, you don’t. Some people have been trying to change that.…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE How do you ‘celebrate?’ There are two major ways to relate to Earth Day, among those who are not climate-deniers or otherwise pooh-pooh the whole idea. One way is more for people who are broadly supportive of green solutions, climate concerns, voluntarism, and the environmental movement…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Where the action is (mostly) these days Quietly, but there if you look for it, a lot of new places have come into being in the stretch of East Lake Street from Minnehaha Avenue to the Mississippi River. One big project that is not open yet…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis is an interesting street filled with loads of interesting places. We’re focusing right now on the section that goes from 46th Street south to the Richfield border. This is a stretch that’s a little more than half residential, especially toward the…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The decline and fall The big debate in local media is, “Is Uptown dead and if so, whose fault is it, and why are they not getting as much help as downtown?” OK, technically that’s three debates. But only if the answer to the first one…
BY CLINT COMBS Rep. Ilhan Omar feels nostalgic about her time as a state representative. Congress is passing continued resolutions just to avoid a government shutdown. These continued resolutions, long-form for C.R.s, are not even adjusted for inflation. “We’ve seen an extreme challenge in passing our funding bills. It’s been…
