Post in Downtown Journal and Southwest Journal stories

Apr 28 19:30 UTC

From the April 28-May 11 issue of the Downtown Journal:

The drink district
By Michelle Bruch

A glass door in the Lumber Exchange building on Hennepin & 5th leads to a
red-carpeted stairway that winds into the basement. This is where two nightclub
concepts were born and buried in the past two years, and where new owners will
try again to launch a nightclub this spring.

In the past year and a half, at least 10 new nightspots opened in the Warehouse
District. Many of those bars are reinvented concepts in former club venues like
Tonic, Fahrenheit, The Quest and Graffiti’s. To bring people through the doors,
Downtown clubs are offering dirt-cheap drink specials and reinventing their
concepts to find the right niche.

Going out on a limb for trees
By Michelle Bruch

How hard is it to plant trees Downtown?

Just ask the staff at Spoonriver, who recently purchased some birch trees for
the sidewalk café.

First, the restaurant at 750 S. 2nd St. needed to make sure the city would
allow trees in the historic Mill District. Then Spoonriver owner Brenda Langton
worried that her watering technique was killing the sickly looking trees last
year. The nursery eventually admitted they were diseased, and Langton replaced
the trees. Then the restaurant faced the windiest stretch of the year,
encountered watering difficulties during the summer’s hot spells, and
discovered that kids snapped some of the trees after the Fourth of July
fireworks.

“But I’m trying it again,” Langton said.

Langton and a group of other Mill District stakeholders think new trees are
worth all of their urban challenges. A group of area residents, city staff and
business representatives have been meeting since July 2007 to discuss trees and
lighting in the Mill District. They hope to plant trees as soon as this summer
or fall.

Fashion on wheels
By Amber Schadewald

As flattering as spandex bodysuits can be on the right curves, I can’t say my
closet has anything of the sort.

Besides my messenger bag, I don’t own customized clothing for biking, mostly
because I’m only a part-time rider. While pedaling around the lakes or crossing
neighborhoods, I’m likely to don whatever it is I’d also wear while walking,
skateboarding or driving. Of course, certain parts of my wardrobe just don’t
seem to work while I’m on two wheels, more specifically, skirts. A staple in my
daily wears, I refuse to sacrifice my love of skirts and fashion for
transportation. In the fall, adding tights and leggings to an outfit spare
on-lookers from peeking at your intimates, but in the summer it’s just too damn
hot not to show off those bare legs. So what’s a girl to do?

From the April 21-May 4 issue of the Southwest Journal:

The faces of NRP
By Jake Weyer & Dylan Thomas

Home improvement projects, block patrols, community gatherings — they’re all
things many Minneapolitans have come to expect from neighborhood groups.

Behind every neighborhood activity are myriad unseen tasks, many of them
completed by volunteers. But when it comes down to the real nitty-gritty of
running a neighborhood organization, in many cases it’s paid employees who make
it happen.

They put in what are often long hours to do bookkeeping, arrange audits,
organize meetings and motivate volunteers.

Funding from the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) — a 20-year plan
that funneled cash into neighborhoods for community-chosen projects — created
many neighborhood staff jobs. As the program nears its 2009 end date with no
future plan in place, those jobs are threatened.

Developers watch as school building empties
By Dylan Thomas

THE WEDGE — Uptown Academy, one of several alternative high school programs
housed in the Lehmann Center, 1006 W. Lake St., will close after this school
year, Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) officials announced in March.

The decision could play a role in two separate MPS initiatives. One is a broad
effort to transform high schools, while the other aims to reduce a shrinking
district’s surplus of properties.

Chief Academic Officer Bernadeia Johnson said a new emphasis on drop-out
prevention should reduce the need for programs like Uptown Academy, where
students behind in credits were put on track for graduation. By closing the
program, though, the district advances another agenda: the possible sale of the
Lehmann Center, located in the once-hot Uptown real estate market.

Although officially unrelated to district facilities planning, Uptown Academy’s
closure may move the district closer to the day it could put the Lehmann Center
on the market, acknowledged Chief of Operations Steve Liss.

Circuit benders
By Dylan Thomas

THE WEDGE - Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske are circuit-bending evangelists,
traveling the country to teach others how to reveal the musical potential
hidden inside old consumer electronics.

“Bianca likes to say it’s the sounds the manufacturer never intended you to
find,” Roske said. “But they’re in there, which is what’s so neat about it.”

The Minneapolis couple — who perform together as Beatrix*JAR — are part of a
thriving subculture of circuit benders who creatively short-circuit electronic
toys, keyboards and drum machines to create strange new sounds. When the fifth
annual Bent Festival arrives May 1 at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S.,
they’ll teach you how to do it, too.

For the full stories and more Downtown and Southwest coverage, visit
www.dtjournal.com and www.swjournal.com. Check out the multimedia sections for
videos and slideshows.

Thanks,

Jake Weyer
Assistant Editor/Reporter
Southwest Journal
612-436-4367
<email obscured>