All posts in the topic Downtown Journal and Southwest Journal stories (Short link)
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- There are 7 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Jake Weyer at May 28 17:57 UTC
Excerpts from the Feb. 4-17 Downtown Journal are below. Visit www.dtjournal.com
for the full stories and more downtown coverage. Check out the multimedia
section for slideshows and videos.
On the beat
By Michelle Bruch
The East Bank's longtime beat cop is easy to spot — he drives the oldest police
vehicle in the 2nd Precinct, a lumbering 1997 van with a strip of emergency
lights on top.
"When business people see me go by, they know it's me," said Elliot Wong, a
beat officer for the past six years.
Officers can cycle through dozens of jobs in the Minneapolis Police Department,
and beat cop work has none of the action-packed glamour of a 911 responder. But
Wong — who insists that everyone call him Elliot — enjoys the recognition he
gains from walking the beat, and he drives the van for that very reason. Even
the transient population knows who Elliot is.
City legislators layout agenda for '08 session
By Brady Gervais
In late January, the Downtown Journal invited state legislators representing
districts in Downtown and Southwest to discuss the upcoming legislative
session, which commences Feb. 12 at noon. We asked them a spectrum of questions
— about their priorities in 2008, the bonding bill, infrastructure and
education, among other things. Following are excerpts of the roundtable
discussion.
Here are a couple excerpts from the Feb. 11-24 Southwest Journal. The Southwest
Journal is online at www.swjournal.com and also features a multimedia section
with videos and slideshows.
City drafting development guide that outlines plan for Minneapolis of 2030
By Brady Gervais
You may not have 100 percent control over what you’ll look like in 20 years.
But you can have some say in how you want Minneapolis to look like decades from
now.
After eight years, the city is updating its Comprehensive Plan, which is
supposed to act as a policy guide for future planning, zoning and development
decisions, according to spokespersons for the city.
Mayor Rybak chairing state campaign committee for Obama
By Brady Gervais
Mayor R.T. Rybak was on the Barack Obama bandwagon before it even started
moving. Now he chairs — on a volunteer basis — a campaign committee for the
presidential candidate.
Days before his political hero was scheduled to make an appearance at the
Target Center, the mayor talked to the Southwest Journal about his support for
the Illinois senator and how he plans to spend Super Tuesday.
Thanks,
Jake Weyer
Assistant Editor/Reporter
Southwest Journal
612-436-4367
<email obscured>
Questions re: Downtown/Southwest Journals
I am aware the Downtown Journal is the old Skyway News (Minneapolis).
Whatever became of the Skyway News (Saint Paul) and the Freeway News (I-494)?
John Wilson
Whittier
John asks:
I am aware the Downtown Journal is the old Skyway News (Minneapolis). Whatever
became of the Skyway News (Saint Paul) and the Freeway News (I-494)?
Me:
Long dead. They did not survive the transition to new ownership when the
Southwest Journal folks bought out the old Skyway/Freeway ownership in 2001.
The idea was to make a "true" community newspaper (model what became Downtown
Journal on the Southwest model), but St. Paul didn't have the ad support and
I-494 never really was a community in the community newspaper sense.
In retrospect, I think, those were correct business decisions. (I say this as
an ex-DTJ and -SWJ editor.)
From the April 14-27 issue of the Downtown Journal:
A renaissance man
By Michelle Bruch
Dale Howey, the owner of Cool Planet Goods on Washington Avenue, is getting
ready to install solar panels on the apartment building he owns in Elliot Park.
Howey owns a building where energy efficiency was once the least of the
tenants’ worries. Renters who said they lived next to rampant drug dealing were
delighted when Howey took over 1501 Portland Ave. in early 2007.
What kind of experience does it take to make a good landlord? In Howey’s case,
the answer is apparently to drive a tomato truck, edit a newspaper in
California, work as a German translator for NATO, take acting classes, teach
skiing lessons in Austria, and work as a maintenance man in Grand Avenue rental
buildings.
Taking stock of historic properties
By Michelle Bruch
Two historic preservation contractors stopped in their tracks this spring when
they spotted a a small red house in Loring Park tucked between an apartment
building and rowhouses built in the late 1800s.
The workers are on contract with the city of Minneapolis to conduct a historic
survey of Loring Park and Elliot Park, and they wondered if this might be one
of the oldest houses still standing in the neighborhood.
The city is updating its historic resource survey; the last major survey was
conducted in the 1980s. The study is designed to help city staff, elected
officials and preservationists better understand the inventory of historic
properties in Minneapolis.
From the April 7-20 issue of the Southwest Journal:
Pothole Parkway
By Dylan Thomas
EAST ISLES - When pothole season rolls around each spring, it doesn’t just come
to one street; it arrives everywhere in Minneapolis at once.
And yet, Harvey Ettinger saw something remarkable March 18 that reinforced his
belief that the pothole problem on his street — East Lake of the Isles Parkway
— was among the most serious in the city.
Mall in motion: A snapshot of the status of businesses at Uptown's Calhoun
Square
By Jake Weyer
Now that the long-awaited redevelopment plan for Calhoun Square has worked its
way through the city approval process, some tenants are preparing for their
last days in the Uptown shopping center.
Others are eagerly awaiting new spaces and some don’t know what the future will
hold for them.
For the full stories and more Downtown and Southwest coverage, check out
www.dtjournal.com and www.swjournal.com.
Thanks,
Jake Weyer
Assistant Editor/Reporter
Southwest Journal
612-436-4367
<email obscured>
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>
From the May 12-25 issue of the Downtown Journal:
Making connections
By Michelle Bruch
A firsthand account of volunteering at Project Homeless Connect
Along with 1,300 other volunteers, I waited for the Minneapolis Convention
Center doors to open on April 28 and usher in hundreds of people experiencing
homelessness.
Somewhere outside were the people I would assist that day: a teenage couple
engaged to be married, a hardened veteran of the streets, and an articulate
college student.
Two condo projects hit the skids
By Michelle Bruch
The shakeout in the condo market continued last week, with one developer
announcing the end of a North Loop project and another developer giving up its
foreclosed land to a bank.
Under scrutiny
By Steve Pease
City officials working with Sharing and Caring Hands to boost security
Two city licensing officials and a Minneapolis Police officer inspected Sharing
and Caring Hands food shelf April 29 and came away with a better understanding
of the operation and its security.
“We observed the operation for about five hours and are pleased to see a lot of
the components of the security plan are in place,” Minneapolis Licensing and
Consumer Services Director Ricardo Cervantes said.
To Sharing and Caring Hands founder Mary Jo Copeland, that signaled an end to
the disputes over security concerns at the well-known homeless shelter.
From the May 5-18 issue of the Southwest Journal:
Kingfield housing project moves forward
By Jake Weyer
Developers of a 42-unit affordable apartment complex for young adults planned
for 3700 Nicollet Ave. recently finished navigating a five-month community
discussion about the development and hope to submit plans to the city in a few
weeks.
Surviving a century
By Jake Weyer
Just as it was done a century ago, Jim Vaitkunas rang the signal bell, released
the heavy, hissing brakes and ratcheted the throttle lever back a couple
clicks.
Minnesota Streetcar Museum’s streetcar number 1300 effortlessly lurched its
23-ton frame forward; its steel wheels clanking a familiar rhythm down the one
mile of track between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun.
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman holds on to mayor title
By Steve Pease
Norm Coleman is about as laid back as a Republican can get. Maybe that is what
years as a Democrat will do to you.
Republican, Democrat, independent Republican, or any way you pin him, Coleman,
does not have a lot of free time.
“Like [Al] Franken said, ‘I don’t do a lot of hanging out,’” Coleman said
referencing an earlier interview with the Senate hopeful in the Southwest
Journal. “But that’s the price you pay.”
For the full stories and more Downtown and Southwest coverage including videos
and slideshows, visit www.dtjournal.com and www.swjournal.com.
Thanks,
Jake Weyer
Assistant Editor/Reporter
Southwest Journal
612-436-4367
<email obscured>
From the May 26-June 8 issue of the Downtown Journal:
Free falling: An interview with a Downtown BASE jumper
By Michelle Bruch
Before he was prevented from BASE jumping off the Falls and Pinnacle and
arrested for allegedly trespassing, Joe Johnson had jumped off of Downtown
skyscrapers about once a month.
“Falling down the side of a building and looking back — it’s amazing,” he said.
Lunds eyeing new site for Downtown grocery store
By Michelle Bruch
Lund Food Holdings is looking at an alternate Downtown site for its grocery
store.
A new Lunds has been slated to open at 12th & Hennepin for the past three
years, but the company is now planning a larger store with the developer of a
lot between 10th and 11th streets and Hennepin and Hawthorne avenues, according
to a source familiar with the project.
Art in the open
By Dylan Thomas
"Spoonbridge and Cherry,” that delicious pop art fountain at the center of the
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, over the years has become a symbol — maybe the
symbol — of Minneapolis.
One could argue this city had nothing in particular to do with spoons or
cherries before 1988, when the public got its first up-close look at Claes
Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s sculpture. Twenty years on, it’s the playful
background of a million tourists’ snapshots.
From the May 19-June 1 issue of the Southwest Journal:
Community schools, but with less room for anyone else
Southwest space crunch leads to tough choices
By Dylan Thomas
LYNNHURST — When requests for seats in Minneapolis Public Schools’ kindergarten
classes jumped 16 percent in this spring, the district heralded the good news.
For a district that has struggled with declining enrollment, it was. But for
two groups of families in Southwest, it wasn’t.
With Burroughs and Lake Harriet community schools already bursting at the
seams, the spike in kindergarten requests — combined with several other trends
— forced some difficult decisions.
Blazing a trail on composting
By Anne Geske
Stop, sort and throw — that’s what some Minneapolis coffee shop customers are
learning to do as they bus their breakfast leftovers: bottles and cans in one
bin, food scraps and food-soiled paper in another. These days, diners and
restaurants alike are chomping at the bit to do their part for the environment.
“It’s not that hard to do,” says Danny
Schwartzman, owner of Common Roots Café, 2558 Lyndale Ave. S., which began
composting when it opened last July. “We started from day one. For us, it was
just one of the operating premises we started working under.”
Planning Commission approves new Mozaic plans
By Jake Weyer
The Minneapolis Planning Commission in late April approved revised plans for
Mozaic, a large mixed-use development planned for Lagoon and Emerson avenues.
The $75 million project, spearheaded by local development firm The Ackerberg
Group, has changed substantially since initial concepts were dreamt up in
November 2004. Past iterations have included condos, a new Lagoon Theatre, a
hotel and various arrangements of office, commercial and public plaza space.
As approved in April, Mozaic plans call for 158 rental units, 66,000 square
feet of office space, 37,000 square feet of commercial, retail and restaurant
space and 695 parking spaces.
For the full stories and more Downtown and Southwest coverage, check out
www.dtjournal.com and www.swjournal.com.
Thanks,
Jake Weyer
Assistant Editor/Reporter
Southwest Journal
612-436-4367
<email obscured>
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