BY KATHRYN KELLY The response by Carol Dungan and Friends of Lake Hiawatha (FOLH), “Sometimes simple is not better,” states that “in the 1950s … Hiawatha gained a following from Black golfers.” That statement is incorrect. Black golfers golfed at Hiawatha as early as the 1930s, according to articles in…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD The Minneapolis 2040 Plan was back in the headlines recently when a judge put the plan on hold in June, siding with groups who said the city should have performed an environmental review, and then again in July when the same judge allowed the city to continue…
BY SUE KOLSTAD This September the Vine Arts Center will be celebrating its reopening with a Member Show, dedication and thank you to our supporters. The Vine arts Center had been closed for a few months due to COVID when, on May 29, 2020, sparks from the burning Hexagon Bar…
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…
BY DORIS OVERBY I read a sign recently that said: “You are our neighbors … no matter who you vote for, your skin color, where you are from, your faith or who you love. We will do all we can to be there for you.” The words reminded me of…
BY TONY BOUZA America has always spoken to me. Its powerful culture overwhelmed me on my arrival from Spain on Dec. 22, 1937, at nine and a half years old. I embraced the movies, songs, magazines, comic books, etc.—and unconsciously rejected everything I came from. And those voices? What follows…
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…
BY YOEL YOHANNES In the sweltering hours of a late summer’s evening, airplanes touch down in Havana’s José Martí International Airport and pull into gates, full of tourists and expatriates returning to see family. Past passport security and baggage claim, cigarette-smoking airport employees direct recent arrivals into the currency exchange…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings A sad closing happened in late July but didn’t make it into the August Dish – Pie & Mighty on Chicago Avenue. We are so sorry to see them go. Another big favorite that closed recently, not so close to home, was Mort’s…
BY JOHNNY HAZARD Monterrey is an industrial city in the north of Mexico with, obviously, a large industrial working class and also one of the largest concentrations of wealthy people in Latin America. This summer, water shortages there have reached the point at which, while the wealthy suburb of San…
BY ED FELIEN The DFL won the DFL primary last Tuesday. DFL-endorsed candidates beat challengers up and down the ticket. At the top of the South Minneapolis ticket, Ilhan Omar beat Don Samuels for a seat in Congress by a little more than 2%, in spite of her support for…
BY ED FELIEN Ian Young, in a Star Tribune editorial published Aug. 5, said, “Those commissioners voting to advance the nine-hole master plan are the ones who have done their homework and understand the reality of the issue.” Really? Young says any proposal to save Hiawatha Golf Course would “not…
If you’ve been following discussions about the Hiawatha Master Plan involving the lake and golf course, you can be forgiven for feeling a bit of déjà vu. That’s because some supposedly simple solutions keep being proposed as alternatives to an “expensive” master plan. You may have heard “do this one…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Before the pandemic, there were a lot more restaurants on Grand Avenue. Grand Cafe, Dixie’s on Grand, Saji-Ya, Emmett’s Public House, Grand Catch: all have closed since 2020. One restaurant/bar that closed, and then reopened (twice!) under new management, is Billy’s on Grand. Now Billy’s is…
BY ED FELIEN After a long and painful two-month inquiry, the Minnesota Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct cleared state Sen. Omar Fateh of any serious wrongdoing, but they did find that Fateh didn’t disclose the $1,000 he paid Somali TV for campaign advertising. His statement: “The unanimous decision reached today…
