 Choosing a new countertop
 An award-winning porch addition
 Revamping tiny bungalow bathrooms
E!
INSID
 New plants for 2015
March 12–25, 2015
Vol. 26, No. 6
southwestjournal.com
Renters
challenge new
rules at Lake
& Pleasant
apartments
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
Natasha Villanueva (left) and Anain Lozano carry a petition advocating for tenants to continue paying bills through checks
or money order, rather than only online. Photo by Michelle Bruch
‘For us, by us’
Black Advocates for Education is an
urgent voice for Minneapolis’ black students
SEE RENTERS / PAGE A14
A push for paid leave
By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com
By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com
Shortly after it was reviewed by a panel of
primarily African-American educators in
late February, Minneapolis Public Schools
leaders decided to recommend against use
of “Mission 2: Flight for Freedom,” a slavery
simulation computer game, in district social
studies classes.
A statement
issued by the panel
stated the game ran
the risk of “being
misunderstood
and insensitive at
Stewart
the least and disrespectful and racist at
the most” — echoing concerns raised first by
parents and community members but quickly
It’s not uncommon for tenants at 3019, 3023 and 3027 Pleasant to
see notes from the landlord taped to the doors.
A few recent notes from QT Properties caused alarm for some
renters, however. One letter imposed a February deadline for enrollment in online bill pay. The office would no longer accept payments
or repair requests in the drop box, the letter said.
“The problem here is many people living here don’t have Internet,
and many people don’t have [a bank] account,” said apartment resident Anain Lozano. “Many people don’t know how to use email.”
Another letter from the landlord notified residents that starting
in January, there would be a fee to park in a surface lot behind the
buildings. The new charges prompted two residents to challenge the
mid-lease changes in housing court, and a judicial officer ruled in
the tenants’ favor.
Tenants said another letter taped to doors said kids are prohibited
from playing outside in the yard; rental staff told the Southwest
Journal there is no such restriction.
A general manager at QT Properties declined to answer questions
about billing and parking.
picked up and amplified by Black Advocates
for Education, a young, social media-savvy
organization that has been a watchdog on
issues of race and equity in the city’s public
schools. It’s a hallmark of BAE’s tech-enabled
activism that the protest involved a “Twitter
storm” of online messages targeting @MPS_
News and @MPS_MichaelGoar, accounts
operated by the school district and interim
Superintendent Michael Goar.
Chris Stewart, one of BAE’s founders and
a former Minneapolis School Board member,
called the episode the latest “example of quick
success” for an organization that didn’t even
exist a year earlier. Explaining the need now
SEE BAE / PAGE A20
Leaders at all levels of government in Minnesota are pushing for paid leave policies for
workers to allow them a chance to take time off
for family responsibilities and other challenges.
U.S. Sen. Al Franken is supporting legislation called the Healthy Families Act, which
would allow workers the chance to earn paid
leave to use when they become ill, need to care
for a sick relative, get preventative medical care
or cope with the impact of domestic violence,
stalking or sexual assault.
He recently visited Common Roots
Café, 2558 Lyndale Ave. S., to recognize
the café’s owner Danny Schwartzman for
bucking trends in the restaurant industry by
allowing employees paid sick days and paying
employees above the minimum wage. Franken
also met with Jes Eiklenberg, a single mother
living in St. Paul who was fired from a restaurant in Stillwater in January for calling in sick
with the flu.
Franken noted that about a third of Amer-
ican workers don’t have paid sick leave.
“[Paid sick leave] creates a more loyal workforce, which means you have less turnover.
You have less training costs, which means you
have better service because [employees] are
happier,” Franken said.
The Healthy Families Act, introduced by
Democrats in the House and Senate in midFebruary, would allow businesses with at least
15 employees the opportunity to earn up to 56
hours or seven days of paid sick leave each year.
“As the lead Democrat on the Senate
Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, one of my top priorities is to fight
for policies that support workplace fairness,”
Franken said. “The Healthy Families Act,
which would give our workers the opportunity
to earn paid leave, is essential to protecting
the middle class and those aspiring to join the
middle class.”
Franken’s office also cited information from
SEE PAID LEAVE / PAGE A13
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A3
News
By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com
Graduation rates rose
in 2014
With Washburn High School leading the way,
graduation rates increased in all seven of the city’s
traditional public high schools last year.
An annual report on statewide graduation
rates released Feb. 24 by the Minnesota Department of Education showed Minneapolis Public
Schools’ four-year graduation rate rose nearly
5 percent, to about 59 percent in 2014 from
about 54 percent the previous year. Washburn
experienced the biggest jump, with 79 percent of
students graduating on time in 2014, an increase
of more than 15 percent over the previous year.
Linda Conley, who last year served as Washburn’s interim principal, credited a combination
of programs that provided extra support to
students behind on credits, including afterschool tutoring, end-of-semester “cocoa and
cram” sessions and opportunities for credit
recovery during the school day. Most important
was the collaboration between administrators,
teachers and counselors, Conley said.
“I’d say the biggest thing was that as a school
community we were beginning to take a good
look at our (student) data, which helps us focus
our direction,” she said.
Teacher on special assignment Michelle
Terpening said a $15,000 grant from the
Shultz Family Foundation allowed Washburn
to add tutoring sessions this year. About 80
students show up twice a week after school
and another 50 to 60 to two morning sessions,
Terpening said.
The statewide graduation rate of about 81
percent in 2014 was a slight improvement from
2013, when about 80 percent of high school
seniors graduated in four years. The Education
Department aims to reach a 90-percent graduation rate by 2020.
In Minneapolis, Patrick Henry High School
boasts the highest four-year graduation rate (86
percent in 2014), followed by Southwest (85
percent), Washburn, South (73 percent), Edison
(62 percent), Roosevelt (58 percent) and North
(42 percent).
District considers
‘revolutionary’ busing plan
What if Minneapolis Public Schools ran its transportation system more like MetroTransit, with
school buses circulating throughout city rather
than driving school-specific routes?
That’s just what district leaders are pondering
as they consider options for squeezing more
schools’ start times into the 8 a.m.–8:30 a.m.
window, which a recent survey found families
overwhelmingly prefer. It’s a change the district
has termed “revolutionary,” but it won’t be implemented until fall 2016 at the earliest.
A revolution is what it will take if the district
aims to shrink the nearly three-hour difference
between the earliest morning bell and the latest,
Meredith Fox, executive director for planning
and accountability, said.
“All of the wiggle room in our (transportation)
system is gone,” Fox said.
She said a team of national consultants who
examined the district’s current busing scheme
— one that requires tiered bell times across the
district — determined it’s operating at near peak
efficiency. There are few options to increase flexibility other than adding more buses and drivers
“which we just don’t have and don’t want to do
because we’re already spending more than $30
million a year on transportation,” Fox said.
Instead, the district is investigating a system
of six circulator routes and — “this is a big
question mark,” Fox added — potentially even
transfer points where students would hop off one
school bus and onto another. To make it work,
the district would need some type of studenttracking system, maybe a bus card students to
swipe when they board, she said.
“That’s a big project unto itself,” she continued,
which is part of the reason the district put off any
changes to elementary and K–8 start times for at
least one more school year. Some high schools
and middle schools may yet see bell-time adjustments next fall, but those won’t require a major
transportation system overhaul.
Fox said that overhaul would have major
implications not just for families but also daycare providers and after-school programs across
the city, so the district plans to move forward
cautiously and in cooperation with parents.
“We want to move in this direction and we
think it has great promise for the district,” she
said.
To read more about the results of the bell-time
survey, go to mpls.k12.mn.us/start-times.
Fundraising through an ‘online garage sale’
Minneapolis Public Schools parent Erin Sjoquist
in February launched Exchange4Good.com, an
“online garage sale” to raise money for schools.
The aim is to find new homes for gently used
toys, books, electronics and other items while
giving schools a new format for fundraising. The
site operates like a consignment service, and
when donated goods sell the profit goes to the
school of the buyer’s choice.
“It’s really around reusing, recycling and
raising money,” Sjoquist said.
She said Exchange4Good takes a 17-percent
fee off the sale price to cover advertising and
processing costs, but the other 83 percent goes
to the school. Donations to the site are taxdeductible.
Sjoquist is testing the site at a handful of
schools in Southwest Minneapolis, but may
expand the service if she gets a positive response.
Haney, Zeb SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
2/24/15 2:17 PM
CALL SHANNON — SHE’S THE LOCAL EXPERT!
26
Shannon Plourde
Realtor®
612.298.4623
shannon@shannonplourde.com
Each office is independently owned and operated. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
If your home is currently listed with another broker, this is not intended as a solication of that listing.
Plourde, Shannon SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/3/15 3:09 PM
Outstanding Service,
Outstanding Value
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Dr. Peter Hinke
Dr. Chas Salmen
We welcome new patients!
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Linden Hills Dentistry SWJ 031215 6.indd 2
3/10/15 8:44 AM
A4 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
Brandy Dressen, co-owner of Carver Junk Co., with her daughter Delainey. Photos by
Michelle Bruch
48TH & CHICAGO
Now open
Carver Junk Company
Carver Junk Co. started out as a hobby. On
impulse, Brandy and Chad Dressen signed a
lease at an old fire station in downtown Carver,
Minn. to start an occasional store with restored
antique furniture.
Today it’s Chad’s full-time vocation,
clocking 60-70 hours per week, complete
with a new store at 48th & Chicago open
Thursday thru Sunday.
The shop includes a tractor wheel
converted into a table, standing on a pipe
taken from a farm’s water well. A former
work bench is refinished for use as a high-top
dining or bar table. An old warehouse cart is
repurposed into a coffee table.
“It’s kind of like putting makeup on,
modernizing something and bringing it back
to life,” Chad said.
They’re careful to use durable paints that
will hold up on furniture over time, and they
sell milk paint, which is a nontoxic paint
Spectacle Shoppe SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/9/15 4:23 PM
This is the year —
make the move!
Contact me for a free market assessment.
Call or text at 612-827-5847
christopherfriend@edinarealty.com
www.christopherfriend.edinarealty.com
Friend, Christopher SWJ 011515 6.indd 1
made with milk protein, limestone, clay and
natural pigments.
They partnered with Minneapolis Chandlery
to create candle scents like “leather and rose”
for the store, sold in jars leftover from Brandy
and Chad’s former wedding rental business.
Monthly DIY craft workshops called
MakeMN will start in late April.
Brandy and Chad aren’t afraid to pile on new
challenges — when they signed a store lease in
Carver two-and-a-half years ago, they closed on
a new house the same day, one hour earlier. And
while caring for a firstborn baby girl, now age
seven months, they opened their new store at
4748 Chicago Ave. in mid-December.
“We’ve been on the lookout for a place here
in Minneapolis. We love this neighborhood,”
Brandy said. “We couldn’t really pass it up.”
1/12/15 2:28 PM
48TH & NICOLLET
Now open
All About You Catering & Deli
A longtime caterer has replaced the hot
pink Cupcake Caramel awning with his own
logo (created by a friend) for All About You
Catering & Deli at 4747 Nicollet Ave.
Alongside the catering kitchen, Joel
Frampton offers a front-of-the-house deli full
of “healthy alternatives,” such as sandwiches
with roasted salmon and oven-baked chicken
cooked in the style of his grandmother Fern.
Instead of chips, Frampton offers better-foryou sides like chopped coleslaw, sautéed
Brussels sprouts, or potatoes tossed with
olive oil and parmesan. He also carries salads,
soups and his own bakery recipes for mojito
bars and chocolate chip cherry cookies.
Everything is made from scratch, he said,
including the salad dressings.
“In the kitchen, I’m like a scientist with
the soups,” he said. “I don’t use any recipes,
I just throw things together.”
Frampton previously spent 12 years as
a flight attendant, and he’s worked as a
manager of Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar at the
State Fair for 19 years. He started catering
at age 16, and today his catering business
Joel Frampton has opened a deli and bakery
in the former Cupcake Caramel storefront at
48th & Nicollet.
incorporates traditional silver service and
fresh flowers.
Frampton plans to add sidewalk seating
this spring.
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A5
Realtor® and Lakes Area Homeowner for Over 30 Years
612.229.5415
Visit
JimGrandbois.com
KENWOOD
Now open
HMM Design Collaborative
A new architecture firm is using gaming
industry technology to give clients a virtual
experience of their projects.
Mathias Mortenson of HMM Design
Collaborative said the technology is becoming
more cost-effective, and it allows people to
wear goggles and virtually walk through a new
house or restaurant design.
Mortenson is a member of the Mortenson
Construction family, and he and his older
brothers started working in the family business at age 15.
“When we all were able to drive, we would
drive ourselves to construction sites,” he said.
He’s been involved in a wide variety of
projects, working as a draftsperson on a war
veterans memorial in San Francisco, estimator
at the Mall of America, and construction coordinator at Target Field.
Quintessential Linden Hills Charm
3816 Abbott Ave S | Listed at $739,900
Beautiful all brick jewel near
Lake Calhoun in the heart of
Linden Hills.
“I’ve spent time on both the design side
and the construction side,” Mortenson said. “I
have this strange, equal alliance to both sides
that is kind of unusual. There is often a big gulf
between the two.”
Mortenson said he enjoys taking on projects
of any size.
“Especially with old houses, for instance,
every project is a puzzle to be solved,” he said.
One recent puzzle: A renovation of a twostory Minneapolis house with eight different
levels throughout.
Spotless condition, meticulously
maintained inside and out.
This home features hardwood
floors, formal dining room,
eat-in kitchen, main floor
family room, main floor bath,
living room, sun room and a
wonderful deck. Lower level
family room, den, bath and
private screened porch and
walk-out to back yard.
3 bedrooms up including a
master suite. Attached garage.
Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated.
Grandbois, Jim SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/6/15 10:21 AM
Jane Paulus doesn’t just have
her picture sit on bus benches.
She sells houses FAST.
• Went pending
first day on
the market
• Great location,
steps to
Lake Harriet
• Original character
to the house
612-702-5694 | janepaulus@edinarealty.com
Paulus, Charles SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
Araya Jensen’s Wind and Willow Home showroom at 48th & Grand carries her line of colordipped housewares.
RE/MAX Results
48TH & GRAND
Now open
3/4/15 3:29 PM
Wind and Willow Home
The Wind and Willow Home showroom
is now open regular hours at 319 W. 48th
St., offering workshops in weaving, block
printing and “Selling on the Internet 101.”
Araya Jensen displays wooden bowls and
spoons that she dips in synthetic rubber to
make seasonal designs (ice cream was the
inspiration last summer), and she ships them
to stores as far as Australia and Thailand.
Jensen started creating the merchandise after she was laid off from work as an
interior designer during the recession. She
couldn’t find color-coordinated spoons for
gift baskets she was putting together, so she
decided to make them herself.
“I put them on Etsy, and within a month I
started getting wholesale requests,” she said. “I
grew up DIYing pretty much everything. We’d
see something we liked and then we’d make it.”
The former chiropractic office on 48th
became a DIY project as well, remodeled by
Jensen and her husband. They put up walls
inlaid with wooden polka dots, created a
rope screen to partition the workshop area,
and freshened the studio and basement with
more than 40 gallons of paint.
Jensen never expected to be working
in such a bright, sunny space. She was
outgrowing her chilly basement workshop
when she passed 48th & Grand and saw the
For-Rent sign in the window.
“I imagined a warehouse space with no
light,” she said. “I’m amazed to have all that
natural light.”
PENDIN
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4933 1st Avenue South • Offered at $425,000
This beautiful home sold quickly in multiple offers.
If you’re interested in buying or selling, contact us today.
612.817.2805
team@mattengengroup.com
MattEngenGroup.com
real estate redefined.
Engen, Matt SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/2/15 1:10 PM
A6 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
Denny Bennett
Mortgage
Lender
NMLS# 543275
612-804-0488 • denny@dennybennett.com
Bennett, Denny SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/11/15 12:17 PM
Peace Coffee is now a “Public Benefit Corporation,” a designation that formalizes goals to
operate as a socially-minded company. Photo by Michelle Bruch
22ND STREET & 1ST AVENUE
In the spotlight
keeping it real since
1998.
Located on the Far East side of Calhoun Square.
ChiangMaiThai.com (612) 827-1606
Chiang Mai Thai SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/11/15 9:13 AM
Peace Coffee
Peace Coffee is among the first companies
in Minnesota to formally file as a “Public
Benefit Corporation” (PBC).
PBCs place “public benefit” among their
primary objectives, and the new status
allows more flexible use of profits than only
dividends for shareholders.
“The decision for us was just an additional acknowledgement of something that
has been present in the company since our
founding,” said Kate Hoff, vice president of
development for the Whittier-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which
is Peace Coffee’s parent company. “We really
wanted to be part of it.”
Hoff explained that at many corporations,
delivering profits to shareholders is the “No.
1 reason for being.” If executives decide
to dramatically increase staff wages at the
expense of profits, they risk being sued by
shareholders.
“It gives the company some protection,”
Hoff said. “There should be more public
ways to recognize businesses that are doing
good things in addition to making money.”
Other local companies first in line to
file as a PBC include Sunrise Banks and
Finnegans (all of the beer’s profits go to
charity). Each company files a public annual
report detailing how proceeds help achieve
public benefit as defined by the company.
Peace Coffee’s designation marked a
significant moment for Mark Ritchie’s last
day in office as Secretary of State. Ritchie
helped found the Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy in 1986. IATP in turn
founded Peace Coffee 10 years later, to
demonstrate a successful fair-trade company
that could pay farmers fairly and grow
organic beans sustainably.
“All of the values inherent in our
nonprofit work we were able to apply to a
for-profit venture,” Hoff said.
Noted
Storefronts at 50th & France will display
2313 West 50th St, Mpls
(50th & Penn)
612.250.9249
transform4good.com
PAIN: fix it.
WEIGHT: lose it.
PERFORMANCE: refine it.
STRENGTH: build it.
DOUBT: eliminate it.
artwork in the windows by art students and
professionals in a March 21 art crawl.
From 3-5 p.m., patrons can meet the
artists inside each store and view more of
their work.
For more information, visit 50thandfrance.com.
Rustica’s Stephen Horton and Barbara
Shaterian are turning over the business at
3220 W. Lake St. to Greg Hoyt, co-founder
of Dogwood Coffee.
Horton said in a statement that he needs
some time away after 10 years, though he’ll
remain as a consultant for the coming year.
Hoyt said he isn’t planning any major
changes.
“How can you improve on something
that’s already amazing?” he said.
A Bank of America branch is slated to open
in May at 2700 Hennepin Ave., featuring
drive-up ATM service.
Spokesperson Diane Wagner said the
new financial center will employ a personal
banker, banking financial advisor, small
business banker and mortgage loan officer.
A new Giordano’s restaurant is slated to
open in the same building, and the opening
date is not yet finalized.
TRANSFORM: here.
 Got a buzz tip? Email Michelle Bruch at mbruch@southwestjournal.com
Transformation Training SWJ 031215 6.indd 1
3/5/15 4:29 PM
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A7
By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com
City joins White House effort to train people for tech jobs
Minneapolis is one of 20 regions in the country
to participate in a new White House TechHire
initiative focused on training people for the fastgrowing technology sector.
Mayor Betsy Hodges joined President
Barack Obama at the National League of
Cities’ Congressional City Conference
in Washington, D.C., on March 9 as he
announced details of the initiative.
“Now, we tend to think that all these tech jobs
are in Silicon Valley, at companies like Google
and eBay, or maybe in a few spots like Austin,
Texas, where you’ve seen a tech industry thrive,”
Obama said. “But the truth is, two-thirds of these
jobs are in non-high-tech industries like health
care, or manufacturing, or banking, which means
they’re in every corner of the country.”
The country has about 5 million job vacancies and more than half are in the high-tech
sector, according to the White House. The
jobs also pay 50 percent more than the average
private sector wage.
The 20 regions kicking off TechHire have over
120,000 vacant technology jobs. “As technology changes the way we interact as
individuals, it is also shaping our work environment and shifting the nature of skills needed to
fill today’s jobs,” Hodges said. “While Minneapolis does enjoy great economic momentum with
just a 3 percent unemployment rate, we know
that not all share in that momentum.”
She said the TechHire project is a good opportunity to close the unemployment gap between
white people and people of color.
TechHire will focus on helping job seekers
acquire high-tech skills through universities and
community colleges along with coding boot
camps and online courses.
Three local accelerated training programs
— Prime Digital Academy (primeacademy.io),
IT-Ready (creatingfutures.org/it-ready-students)
and Concordia University (bootcamp.csp.edu)
— will expand to provide training for 300 people
this year for entry-level software jobs.
The Nerdery, a custom software design and
development company, launched Prime Digital
Academy in December 2014. It’s an 18-week
accelerated learning program that focuses on
foundational software engineering skills.
Concordia University’s Bootcamp, which
also launched in 2014, is the first IT coding
bootcamp offered by an accredited university for
college credit. It’s a 12-week program designed
to train students for jobs as junior developers in
local businesses.
IT-Ready got its start in Minneapolis in 2012.
It’s a program of the Creating IT Futures Foundation, which focuses on helping unemployed
and underemployed people with limited IT
experience train for jobs in the industry.
More than 60 employers and apprenticeship
partners have committed to support the training
programs.
“Our partnership will continue to increase
accessibility of the programs by making funding
available for qualified students who would other-
Local training programs will help get 300 people ready for entry-level software jobs this year.
wise be unable to afford to attend,” Hodges said.
Minnesota has more than 120,000 tech
workers with a payroll near $10 billion, according
to the Minnesota High Tech Association. The
jobs have an average salary of $79,200. Within 10
years, the state is expected to have 200,000 technology jobs — not including those in healthcare.
The TechHire initiative also includes a $100
million grant competition from the Department
of Labor for innovative ideas to get more under-
22 yrs. Fully Insured
represented people — like women, people of
color and veterans — into tech jobs.
“At a time when we all lead digital lives,
anybody who has the drive and the will to get
into this field should have a way to do so, a
pathway to do so,” Obama said.
a chance to win $500
The
Quest
for
5 clues in all
Morrissey’s
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Sat, march 14 - noon
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Gutter Cleaning
Begin your Quest at Morrissey’s Irish Pub
at noon on Saturday, March 14th.
Grab a beverage & receive your first clue.
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3/10/15 1:08 PM
Then continue on to our good friends and neighbors at: Bryant Lake Bowl
(for clue 2), Muddy Waters (for clue 3), Tinto Cocina + Cantina (for clue 4).
Then return to Morrissey’s for your 5th and final clue. With all 5 clues in
hand, let the Quest begin! May the luck of the Irish be with ya!
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Morrissey's Irish Pub SWJ 031215 H12.indd 2
3/10/15 2:52 PM
MoveWithMichael.com Are you
I am your neighbor ... and that matters! thinking about
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•
2013 and 2014 Super Agent by Mpls/St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Monthly
• 2014 Edina Realty President’s Circle • 2015 Edina Realty Master’s Circle
• Member of Exceptional Properties
612.619.6855
michaelkaslow@edinarealty.com
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Kaslow, Michael SWJ 031215 H3.indd 1
3/6/15 10:08 AM
A8 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
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By Jim Walsh
‘We’d give the ball to Prince’
W
hen Gene Anderson saw the photo of
Prince’s junior high school basketball
team flying around the Internet last
week, he said, “I’ve had that photo for 40 years. I
might’ve even taken it, I can’t remember for sure.”
What Anderson does remember for sure is his
days as basketball coach at Bryant Junior High, the
feeder school for the former Central High School
that, in the early and mid-’70s, was located at the
current Sabathani Community Center at 310 E. 38th
St. No school basketball team existed at Bryant at the
time, until Anderson helped launch an after-school
intramural program.
“In 1968 they were having some trouble at
Central High School as a result of some of the crap
that was going on in this country,” said Anderson,
73, a grandfather of three who taught for 32 years
in the Minneapolis school system and now lives in
Taylors Falls with his wife Marion, who once upon
a time ran Guse Hardware and wrote and published
The Guse News, a lively and informative one-sheet
straight outta the corner store on 46th and Bryant.
“What was happening in the Minneapolis Public
Schools then was that all the athletics money went
to the senior highs, and the junior highs didn’t get
anything. But yet, 13- and 14-year-olds have all that
energy and they needed something to do. We came
up with a play-off situation and all that, and the kids
just loved it.”
Eventually, Anderson and crew outgrew intramural play and wanted to play other schools in
Minneapolis — though no money existed to
support a team.
“Somehow we came up with the money and I
contacted Folwell and Sanford and some of those
other schools, and they all had similar experiences
going on. So we all put together traveling basketball teams and that’s what you see in this picture,”
said Anderson.
The picture’s most famous ballplayer is Prince,
which is why it went viral last week, and why
members of Prince nation are undoubtedly lusting
after Bryant #3 throwback jerseys right about now.
For added clickbait, the Deadspin article that blew
up the Jon Bream-penned StarTribune clip came
with the headline, “Prince was once an afro-rocking,
coach-hating high school basketball player.”
Coach-hating?
“I don’t know who said that, but I never saw that.
I never felt that at all,” said Anderson. “He had a little
The 1971 Bryant
Junior High
basketball team
included (front
row, right-toleft) Russell
Gary (4), Herb
Wilburn (14),
Joey Wilburn,
Prince Rogers
Nelson (3), and
(back row) Greg
Boone (20),
Calvin Anderson
(31), Duane
Nelson (21), and
Paul Mitchell
(12).
bit of an attitude, but what junior high kid doesn’t?
In my estimation, he was a normal junior high kid
and he was with a bunch of guys who were really
good guys.
“But on my little basketball team, when we needed
to kill something, we’d give the ball to Prince. He
could dribble like crazy. He’s a real good athlete. He
just didn’t have the size that some of those other kids
did, but he was quick, and he was really smart. He
didn’t have to study too hard to do junior high work;
he’d do it once and he had it. I always said, ‘Make
sure you put your education before music,’ and he
was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
In addition to being one of the first photos of
Prince, the yearbook photo is historic for the fact
that it includes future members of Central’s 1975-76
basketball team, long regarded as one of the best
high school basketball teams in the state: Greg
Boone, who was runner-up to Kevin McHale for Mr.
Basketball in 1976; Prince’s late half-brother Duane
Nelson, a smooth Puma-wearing shooting guard;
the equally smooth Wilburn brothers; Russell Gary,
who played football for Nebraska and was an all-pro
defensive back in the NFL with New Orleans and
Pittsburgh, and others — Larry Travis, Matt Bolden,
Kenny Trawick, Gary Fisher — whose names roll off
Anderson’s tongue like he coached them yesterday.
“They all hung together, and Prince hung with
those kids all the time, but he was kind of his own
guy. He was already starting a little band, and
[Time member and Flyte Time and Jam and Lewis
co-founder] Terry Lewis from North High School
— he won the 100-yard-dash in the state tournament — he and Prince and all those guys were
starting to form up and getting together to jam, even
in junior high.”
In terms of a budding genius’s initial inspiration,
it’s hard to beat the combination of a high school
basketball powerhouse made up of peers and the
music of the day (Parliament-Funkadelic, Ohio
Players, Al Green, Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye,
Wild Cherry, Stevie Wonder), all of which led to a
career as Minneapolis’s most well-known and influential musician — the fruits of which Prince’s old
coach has never partaken in.
“I’ve heard his music but I’ve never seen one of his
performances,” said Anderson. “The only other time
I’ve ever talked about this is one night when ‘Purple
Rain’ was about to come out, some guy from the
New York Times called me at home and said ‘I heard
you had Prince in school, what was he like?’ I said,
‘If you’re looking for dirt, you’ve come to the wrong
place because he was a good kid.’ He was a smart kid.
He was a very smart kid and he pretty much paid
attention to business in school.”
beyond me. This simple fact has me puzzled.
Why are they being asked to learn math that in six
decades of life I’ve never needed?
In fact, outside of science and engineering or
university mathematics teaching, I can’t imagine
where these sorts of calculations are useful.
This prompts me to wonder: just what is the
agenda of mathematics education in this fashion
and at this level? This curriculum, as directed by the
Legislature and implemented by Minneapolis Public
Schools, certainly has nothing to do with utility. I
wonder if it has to do, in part, with submission: you
(student) will do these problems in this way because
the powers that be so decree. The lesson is not about
mathematics, it’s about power.
But I think there’s more. When I graduated from
the University of Wisconsin I read in my program
that the commencement speaker was a statistician. I
sighed and resigned myself to a stretch of boredom.
Jim Walsh lives and grew up in East Harriet. He can
be reached at jimwalsh086@gmail.com
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A9
Viewpoints
By Tane Danger
The Orth
House, which
was recently
demolished, has
been the subject
of social media
drama.
File photo
A bad sign
N
ormally, my job is to get people to
tune in to public policy topics that
to the casual observer, might seem
boring or dry. The company I co-founded, The
Theater of Public Policy, uses improv comedy to
deconstruct issues and advance civic dialogue,
particularly on a local level.
So it feels more that a bit unusual for me to
suggest that we have gotten too wrapped up in
an episode of byzantine public policy and city
politics. That some of the players involved have
gone so far as to be beyond satire. And that
things are pretty bad if the improv comedy guy
is the one telling people to grow up.
For more than a year, a tempest has been
brewing in a Minneapolis hot-dish pan. A 19th
century house in the Wedge neighborhood,
became the focal point in an unending debate
over development, historic preservation, property rights, and who gets to decide the true
character of any city block. Throw in a reality
television star, the crucible of local politics, and
a throng of Internet trolls and this tater tot hot
dish turned radioactive.
Originally designed and constructed by
master builder T.P. Healy, the former home
in question suffered many fires over the years
and was eventually converted to a 16-room
boarding house. (Take a moment to appreciate
that there was still a boarding house in Minneapolis, a type of business that seems more
at home in a time of separate twin beds for
married couples than the era of Airbnb).
More than a year ago, the owner submitted
an application to demolish the old house. He
wanted to sell to developer looking to build a
45-unit apartment building on the site. After
months of bureaucratic reviews and multiple
legal challenges, both the City Council and the
courts said there was not adequate justification
to halt the demolition.
At this point, you’d be forgiven if you found
this a sad, if altogether un-newsworthy tale.
Yet as the bulldozers moved in on this Healy
house last week, the temperature was turning
up online. Facebook and Twitter pundits, led
by HGTV television personality Nicole Curtis,
focused their energy and vitriol squarely on
Minneapolis Council Member Lisa Bender.
To read Curtis and her ilk, you might think
Bender filled the house with orphans, tied the
whole thing to a train track, and laughed maniacally, stroking her long curling mustache as the
steam engine approached. What else could
justify the commenter on Curtis’s various posts
to call to bulldoze Bender’s own house? Or cut
the brake lines on her car? Or “bend-er over”
and sexually assault her with a wrecking ball?
If you’re thinking that nothing justifies calling
for someone’s sexual assault, good news! You’ve
passed the bare minimum threshold for being a
member of civilized society.
Some will argue it’s not the role of a reality
television show host to offer civility lessons
to Internet commenters from as far away as
Florida and Pennsylvania. Demonstrating and
facilitating adult civic discourse isn’t something
we should ask of HGTV show stars.
That’s clearly a job best left to an improv
comedy show host.
We have had Council Member Bender on
The Theater of Public Policy twice, where live
on stage I have asked her about the tensions
between historic preservation and new development. She has answered the questions of
any audience member who attended. And
through entirely unscripted theater, our cast
poked at both Bender’s positions and those of
her opponents.
Both events were civil affairs (I’ll leave how
far short they fell of entertaining to others). No
audience member raised their hand to suggest
inflicting bodily harm on Ms. Bender. None
of the cast’s unscripted scenes were threats of
violence or implications of sexual impropriety.
Perhaps that’s because it is harder to debase
oneself and one’s opponents when you actually have to look them in the eye, as opposed to
taunt them from behind a keyboard. But had
any of that kind of rhetoric arisen from the audience or my cast, I would have felt my role as a
host (and as a human being) would be to stop
it, call it out as beyond the pale, and apologize.
So if a small local comedy show (with a
fan base numbering in the dozens) and its
untrained, unpolished, and arguably unfit host
can set some standard of decency for the kinds
of conversations it wants to inspire and facilitate, certainly more well-known, prominent,
and powerful people can do the same. If Nicole
Curtis and her backers have the resources to
bring a camera crew to Minneapolis City Hall
for some dramatic television, and she can offer
to fund Bender’s next council seat opponent,
certainly she can offer some example of how to
have an adult, respectful political disagreement.
Because who wants to live in a world where
the local improv comedy team has to be the
mature ones in the conversation?
Tane Danger is the co-founder of The Theater of
Public Policy, a 2014 Bush Fellow, and a Masters
of Public Policy Candidate at the Humphrey
School of Public Affairs. He lives in Minneapolis.
MORE ONLINE
To read City Council Member
Lisa Bender’s thoughts on the
Orth House controversy, go to
southwestjournal.com and click on
“A call for civility and cooperation.”
A10 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
News
RIPPLE EFFECT: HOW WILL TARGET
LAYOFFS IMPACT CITY?
By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com
Target’s plan to shed 3,100 jobs is certain to
have a significant impact on downtown and the
region’s economy.
The corporation is downtown’s largest
employer and the state’s fourth largest company.
Its bullseye brand is ubiquitous in the city.
Target announced plans March 10 to layoff
1,700 employees and permanently close 1,400
vacant positions, said Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for the corporation.
“While today’s news is difficult, it’s important
to know that we will continue to make investments in our business and team — particularly
in areas such as digital, personalization, data and
analytics, and engineering — to position Target
for future success,” she said. “Our goal is to treat
all affected team members with the respect they
deserve. Therefore, Target will provide each individual with a comprehensive package including
more than 15 weeks of pay plus additional severance based on years of service.”
Laid-off employees will also receive career
outplacement support, access to free executive
education courses and a portion of their benefits
coverage paid by Target for the next six months,
Snyder said.
“Today is a very difficult day for the Target
team, but we believe these are the right decisions for the company,” she said. “We will
continually review opportunities to control cost
and fuel growth.”
The reboot plan was announced by Target
leaders at a meeting March 3 with investors in
New York City. Target Chairman and CEO Brian
Cornell said the new roadmap comes after a
“thorough, strategic review” of the corporation’s
business and the “changing retail landscape.”
“We’re focused on our future and building the
capabilities that will take us further, faster,” he
said. “Redefining Target will require a renewed
emphasis on prioritization and innovation, and
above all else, putting our guests first in everything we do.”
Before the cuts, Target had about 10,000
employees based at its Minneapolis headquarters.
Government and business leaders have
expressed sympathy for those who will be
impacted by the layoffs at Target, but spoke with
optimism about how downtown will weather the
major restructuring of its largest employer.
Gov. Mark Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith
met with Cornell to discuss the layoffs March 9.
The governor has raised concerns about the cuts
and suggested other states might recruit laid-off
workers away from Minnesota.
After the meeting, Dayton said Cornell
assured him that Target is committed to the state.
Dayton’s family opened the first Target store in
Roseville in 1962, but is no longer affiliated with
the retailer.
The layoffs come as many new high-end rental
developments have recently opened downtown
and more are in the pipeline. A renovation of
the Nicollet Mall is also nearing fruition and
Downtown East is poised for a major transformation with the new Vikings stadium, Wells Fargo
towers and the Commons.
Mayor Betsy Hodges called Target a “great
Minnesota company” and noted that “all great
companies go through ups and downs.”
“Target is resourceful and resilient, and I know
that it has the ability to weather this setback,”
she said. “My thoughts are with Target’s talented
employees at this challenging time.”
Hennepin Theatre Trust CEO Tom Hoch,
the new chair of the Minneapolis Downtown
Council/DID board of directors, said Target and
its employees are “a cherished and important
part of our community.”
“The loss of so many jobs is surely devastating
for employees and certainly impinges on the
vitality of our downtown,” he said. “But, the
overall health of Target is also important and
all of us in Minneapolis both want and need
Target to be vibrant and successful. Every
single member of our community — business,
government, schools, cultural organizations
— is behind Target as they forge their path to
improved performance.”
Carl Runck, director of development at downtown-based Ryan Cos., said overall downtown’s
Central Business District has about 160,000
workers and new companies are on the way.
“Despite this news, the inflight of knowledge
workers wanting to work and live in downtown
BY THE NUMBERS:
10,000
Target employees downtown before cuts
13,000
Target employees throughout Twin
Cities (including downtown) before cuts
1,700
Employees laid off
1,400
Vacant positions eliminated
$2 billion
Anticipated cost savings from
restructuring
1962
Year first Target store opened
Minneapolis is a trend that is here to stay,” he
said. “Dozens of companies including Be The
Match, Aimia, Young America, Weber Shandwick, Eide Bailly (among others) have recently
chosen to relocate downtown to attract and
retain top talent. Downtown’s other largest
employers including Wells Fargo, US Bank, and
Ameriprise continue to grow and invest here.”
He predicted downtown’s newest housing
developments would be “minimally affected” by
Target’s layoffs.
“Nearly half of residents in the new generation
of projects are reverse commuters who work at
employers in the suburbs and opt to live downtown for its amenities and active lifestyle,” he
said. “Apartment and condo communities downtown are not solely dependent on proximity to
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FROM AN EXPERIENCED
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CBD employers.”
Fritz Kroll, a real estate agent with Edina Realty’s downtown office, said he’s also hopeful the
residential real estate market will remain strong.
“In my experience, Target employees are the
most likely to live downtown,” he said. “They
tend to be urban, from other cities, and can
afford to live in the city. There are many other
companies that are hiring, and I hope that many
of those laid off can find other jobs downtown.”
As for downtown retail, Andrea Christenson, vice president at commercial real
estate firm DTZ, said she anticipates retailers
closest to Target’s headquarters on the south
end of Nicollet Mall will be most impacted by
the job losses, including the Target store at 9th
& Nicollet.
Overall, she predicted the changes at Target
would have a “negligible” effect on downtown
retailers because residents make up an increasingly larger chunk of the shoppers downtown.
“You hate to see these jobs go away, but we
have a diverse economy,” she said.
As for its reboot, Target will focus on
continued growth in digital sales and prioritize style, baby, kids and wellness as its key
merchandise categories. Those four categories
accounted for more than a quarter of Target’s
sales in 2014, according to a statement released
by the company.
It will also focus on launching more of its
smaller urban stores, TargetExpress and CityTarget. Target has 1,795 stores in the U.S.
The changes are expected to save Target $2
billion over the next two years, according to
Target leaders.
“While we’re in the early days and there’s no
doubt that transformation can be challenging,
we’re taking the steps necessary to unleash the
potential of this incredible brand,” Cornell said.
“I’m encouraged by our early momentum, and
am confident that by implementing our strategy,
simplifying how we work, and practicing financial discipline, we will ignite Target’s innovative
spirit and deliver sustained growth.”
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A11
FROM LETTERS / PAGE A8
What a surprise to find the speaker fascinating, engaging and
thought-provoking. Through examples sometimes comic, sometimes frightening, he challenged the graduates to be very skeptical
of mathematical data by showing many clever ways it can be
presented so as to distort its real meaning.
That day, I gained a window into mathematical understanding
that is still useful to me many years later. But that kind of critical
understanding appears to be the polar opposite of the forced
march to conformity that I see in my sons’ homework.
No wonder so many people were hoodwinked into impossible
mortgages during the housing boom: they never learned the math
skills to understand the papers they signed.
How many voters today comprehend the numbers involved in
the Vikings stadium — or the impact of an $8-an-hour minimum
wage? More practically, how many high school students have
the mathematical and analytic skills to understand the risks and
benefits of college debt — a calculation of immediate significance
and long-term consequence?
These days the mainstream media for the most part “reports”
whatever politicians say without challenge: “so-and-so said this will
cost/save x-million dollars over five years.”
How can we as citizens evaluate such a statement? While my
son’s math teacher makes an eloquent case for the beauty of pure
mathematics, my sons and their peers are not gaining mathematical tools for citizenship. They are not learning to comprehend or
critique the numbers that fly at us all from politicians and hucksters.
There is, I believe, a citizenship deficit today. Far too often in
our political discourse argument overwhelms or ignores data. The
tools for living democracy include a critical understanding of the
significance of numbers. As a humanist, I appreciate a love of mathematics, but as a citizen, I want understanding.
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Thank you to Commissioner Marion Greene and the entire
Hennepin County Board for taking a strong stand to protect clean
indoor air in our county.
Your vote to prohibit the use of e-cigarettes wherever smoking
is currently prohibited ensures that everyone’s right to breathe
clean indoor air is preserved. As a public health researcher, I am
impressed with the commissioners’ recognition that prevention
is the essence of sound public health policy. Preventing unwanted
exposure to the aerosol of these unregulated products means we
are protecting the most vulnerable among us, including children,
pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses.
Hennepin County has long been a leader in passing healthfocused policies. The clean indoor air ordinance that the county
passed in 2005 helped set the stage for a statewide law that has
prevented illness and saved many lives. I applaud the county board
for once again voting to safeguard the health of Hennepin County
citizens, workers, and visitors.
TE
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A thank you to county leaders
for taking a stand on e-cigs
PROPERTY SHOWCASE
Deborah Hennrikus
Gratitude for the SWJ
I’ve just finished reading the most recent issue of SW Journal (vol
26) and realized that every time I read the Journal I feel deep gratitude for this place I call home. I appreciate the coverage you give to
things happening in our school district, our arts community, and
events that make us an entertaining city 12 months of the year! Thank you for helping us celebrate Minneapolis with the great
work your team does with the paper.
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A12 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
News
From substation to ‘aquarium’ to home office hub
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
A Kingfield couple (he’s an architect, she
coaches entrepreneurs) plans to buy a former
NSP substation at 33rd & Garfield known as
the “Garfield Aquarium” and convert it into four
residences and a co-working hub.
In a second phase of the project, they would
use the open space on the lot to build six apartments surrounding a garden between the
buildings. New structures along the alley and
fronting Garfield would match the height of the
aquarium, and a bungalow on the north side of
the lot would stand one-two stories.
They’re also considering public art, fruit trees
along the south wall, a historic designation for
the building, and beehives or a greenhouse on
the roof.
“We’re making a place the community can
continue to connect,” said Aaron Parker, who has
a purchase agreement to buy the building.
In the co-working area, Parker envisions
serving Bull Run coffee, providing business
development trainings, and offering video or
recording technology that people may not have
at home.
“Our preference, because of our community
orientation, is really to provide that local service
to people who home office in the area,” Parker
said. “It’s not a front door to somebody’s house,
and it makes sense to use it that way. ... I don’t
think it’s as good for the neighborhood to have it
just be residential.”
“It’s not about the building, it’s about the
neighborhood,” said Karen Parker.
Aaron Parker’s firm has done eight projects
for the American Swedish Institute, and his
architectural work includes Humboldt Greenway
residences in North Minneapolis, higher-ed
buildings like the Drake University Law Library,
and government buildings like the U.S. Embassy
in Chile. He also worked as co-leader of teams
that prepared small area plans for Uptown and
Lake Street/Midtown Greenway. The Garfield
Aquarium would be his first project as developer.
In order to build the project as currently
envisioned, the new owners would need the city
to rezone the site from R2B to OR1, which is a
“neighborhood office residence district.”
The project would include parking for five
vehicles, with parking under the new development. Aaron noted that the site is near bike paths
and bus routes. He said people are increasingly
foregoing cars to rely on biking and mass transit,
and some millennials don’t want to spend the
money to own a car.
In a March 3 meeting designed to solicit
feedback from the neighborhood, some residents raised concerns about parking. Next-door
neighbor Lisa Lewis said that in the “here and
now,” most people do own cars and need a place
to put them. Some said parking is already a
problem, and they are nervous about adding new
residents with only five spaces allocated for them.
Some residents also expressed concern about
the zoning change, which would be permanent
even if the development falls through.
Other residents said they were happy the
building would be preserved.
Linda Alton works as a facilitator and strategic planner, and said she hops between several
public workspaces.
“I think you’re on the edge of something
terrific,” she said.
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A plan to restore
the “Garfield
Aquarium,” a
former NSP
substation at
33rd & Garfield,
would convert
the lot into
residences and
co-working
space. Photo by
Michelle Bruch
Residents were encouraged to submit feedback on the project to Mark Hinds, executive
director of the Lyndale Neighborhood Association, at mark@lyndale.org.
The Lyndale Neighborhood Association
looked at the building when it came up for sale,
but couldn’t afford to take it on.
“We would love to, but we didn’t want to
spend two years raising half a million dollars,”
said Hinds.
The building is already well-known to the
neighborhood. In 1996, neighbors hid the
former NSP generator behind paintings of fish,
and called it the “aquarium.”
According to a Lyndale Neighborhood News
story by Jennifer Arnold: The building caught the
attention of Steve Lick when he moved in nearby.
It reminded him of the Shedd Aquarium in
Chicago, and he imagined covering the boarded
windows with fish. With the help of the Lyndale
neighborhood group, Lick and artist Leisa Luis
created a community “paint by number” project
(telling kids to paint magenta on every space
numbered “4,” for example). They took design
ideas from kids, who created the smaller imaginative fish and suggested cultural elements like the
eel with a Native American beaded pattern.
An annual “Fish Fest” at the aquarium each
summer celebrates the public art. Last year, there
were fish tacos from Cafe Ena and live music by
Tom Hunter’s blues band.
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A13
FROM PAID LEAVE / PAGE A1
the Institute for Women’s Policy Research
noting that if all workers had access to paid
sick leave, emergency room visits would
decline by 1.3 million visits a year and save
$1.1 billion annually.
President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget
proposal includes $2 billion to encourage
states to establish paid family and medical leave
programs. The Department of Labor is also
using a $1 million grant this year to help states
and cities launch feasibility studies for paid
leave policies.
The paid-family leave proposals, backed by
Democrats, face an uphill battle in the GOPcontrolled Congress.
The United States is one of the few industrialized nations without paid family leave laws.
Canada provides 15 weeks of paid maternity
leave, according to the Department of Labor.
The United Kingdom allows mothers to take
up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, including 39
weeks of paid leave.
At the state level, a new coalition called
Minnesotans for Paid Family Leave is pushing
for legislation that would allow all workers in
the state a chance to take a paid leave of absence
from their jobs to care for loved ones.
Legislation introduced by Rep. Ryan Winkler
(DFL-Golden Valley) and Sen. Katie Sieben
(DFL-Cottage Grove) would allow Minnesota
employees the opportunity to take a paid leave
with a percentage of their wages up to six weeks
to care for family members.
Doran Schrantz, executive director of ISIAH,
a member of the coalition pushing for the Paid
Family Leave Act, said workplace policies haven’t
kept up with changing family dynamics as single
parents lead more families and most two-parent
households can’t afford to have one full-time
caregiver at home who isn’t earning a paycheck.
“Families have the same responsibilities to
each other now that they have always had. We
care for new babies. We care for sick children.
And we care for elders in their senior years,” she
U.S. Sen Al Franken recently met with Common Roots Cafe owner Danny Schwartzman and Jes Eiklenberg to discuss paid sick leave
policies. Photo by Sarah McKenzie
said. “Our workplace policies haven’t kept pace
with our changing way of life, and that means
many workers are forced to choose between
caring for loved ones and bringing home a
paycheck to meet basic needs. Nobody benefits
when workers have to make that choice.”
Only about 12 percent of American workers
have the option of taking a paid family leave
from their jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
About 60 percent of the country’s workers
are covered under the federal Family and
Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows for
unpaid leaves. The act covers private-sector
employers with 50 or more employees, public
agencies and public and private elementary and
secondary schools.
However, about 50 percent of workers
covered by FMLA can’t afford to take an
extended unpaid leave, according to the Labor
Department.
Peggy Flanagan, executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, said parental
leaves have a big impact on families.
“When parents can afford to take the time
they need to bond with a new baby or care for a
seriously ill child, we strengthen families and we
all benefit,” she said.
The City of Minneapolis will consider a new
paid parental leave policy in coming weeks, said
Kate Brickman, communications director for
Mayor Betsy Hodges.
In December, the City Council’s Executive
Committee asked city staff to research parental
leave policies and report back with recommendations by the end of the first quarter.
Two Minnesota cities — St. Paul and
Brooklyn Park — have adopted paid leave
policies.
The City of St. Paul’s policy allows four weeks
of paid leave to mothers of newborns and two
weeks paid leave for the non-birthing parent.
Adoptive parents are eligible for two weeks of
paid leave as well.
The City of Brooklyn Park allows employees
to take one week of paid leave to care for babies
— both mothers and fathers. Parents also can
take an additional week of paid leave after the
end of the 12-week unpaid leave allowed under
the Family and Medical Leave Act.
A14 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
FROM RENTERS / PAGE A1
“I prefer to discuss everything directly
with the tenants,” said Fernando, who has
previously declined to print his last name.
Nine renters met in an apartment and
decided to visit the rental office together,
hoping for power in numbers. To spread the
word beforehand, Lozano and volunteers
from the Lyndale Neighborhood Association knocked on every door at 3019, 3023
and 3027 Pleasant Ave.
About 15 renters, including kids, visited
the rental office on March 2 to discuss
their concerns about paying online. Staff
responded by saying the billing change
would only apply to residents upon lease
renewal, according to Jennifer Arnold, lead
organizer of the Lyndale Neighborhood
Association.
Fernando declined to discuss the issue, and
said staff explain terms directly with tenants.
“People have options, it is a free market,” he
said. “We comply with all Fair Housing laws.”
HOME Line Managing Attorney Mike
Vraa said landlords can’t mandate changes in
payment mid-lease. He said he doesn’t think
current law prevents them from requiring
payment online for new leases, however.
“At some point they’re going to alienate
their market,” he said. “I’m not sure how
much the landlord is going to gain by doing
it this way.”
Vraa said he’s seen some landlords ask
tenants to take rent money directly to the
property’s bank. That way tenants don’t
need a bank account, he said, and staff still
have the benefit of easily resolving questions over late payments and don’t have to
directly handle money.
Council Member Elizabeth Glidden said
the online billing issue is “quite concerning”
to her.
“We have a large number of residents who
are unbanked,” she said.
Arnold said she’s talking to staff at Legal
Natasha Villanueva (right) and Anain Lozano door knock at Pleasant Avenue apartments. Photo by Michelle Bruch
Aid about whether a discrimination case
might apply to the issue.
Another area of concern at Lake &
Pleasant relates to rules about the yard.
Lozano and resident Maria Guadalupe
said signs were posted on exterior doors
saying kids should not play in the yard or
hallways. One neighbor playing ball with his
son in the yard was asked by staff to stop,
they said. The women said kids typically
play in a yard across the parking lot they
believe is not owned by QT Properties.
“Our apartments are very small,” Lozano
said. “Why do the kids have to be all the
time in the apartment?”
When asked whether kids are prohibited from playing outside on the property,
Fernando said that is not the case.
“Kids are kids,” he said. “They have to be
under supervision.”
A lease started in November says children
are not allowed to play in hallways, stairways or entryways, but says nothing about
the outdoors.
Vraa said it’s safer for a landlord to
prohibit everyone from using outdoor
space, rather than only kids, which would be
deemed more discriminatory in court. It’s
more common to see rules about outdoor
activity in high-traffic areas, he said, where
landlords are worried about kids running
out in the street. He said the issue also crops
up if many teenagers are hanging out on
a property, which some landlords view as
more dangerous.
Another letter to tenants prompted legal
action early this year. QT Properties staff
wrote that beginning in January, they would
start charging each unit for parking in the lot,
with monthly fees of $25 for the first vehicle
and $50 for the second.
In response, Guadalupe and Lozano
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A15
RESOURCES FOR
RENTERS
• HOME Line offers free legal advice to
renters in Minnesota: homelinemn.org
• Legal Aid offers free legal assistance
to low-income people: mylegalaid.org
• Landlord and Tenant Rights and
Responsibilities, from the Minnesota
Attorney General’s office: ag.state.
mn.us/Consumer/Handbooks/LT/
Default.asp
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• United Renters for Justice
meets regularly at the Lyndale
Neighborhood Association
community center at 3537 Nicollet
Ave: 612-824-9402 x 12
sought help from Legal Aid and filed a rent
escrow action in Hennepin County Housing
Court. They argued that the landlord was
denying parking as established in the lease,
and endangered tenants by requiring them to
park blocks away from the building.
In a Feb. 4 hearing, Housing Court Referee
Amy Draeger made a judgment in favor of the
tenants and ordered the landlord to immediately issue them one parking permit.
Although the judgment impacts Lozano
and Guadalupe, it doesn’t alter the parking
charges for the other units in the complex,
Arnold said. The parking lot is nearly empty,
Lozano said, as people now park on the
street to avoid extra charges.
Lozano and Guadalupe said they don’t
think anyone else will challenge the parking
fees, because most other tenants don’t want
to cause trouble and risk eviction.
Guadalupe said it is difficult for Latinos
to find new apartments. Many apartments
require a social security number from applicants, she said.
“When you knock on the door, most
people feel scared,” she said. “I think many
people don’t know about their rights.”
Lozano said some people are so nervous
about the possibility of eviction they don’t
want to ask for basic repairs.
Glidden said she’s heard those worries
anecdotally before.
“The fear of retaliation is very common
for making complaints about necessary
repairs and health and safety issues,”
Glidden said. “I’ve heard about it multiple
times, and I think it is a very real piece of
the atmosphere out there. It’s especially
concerning right now, knowing that it’s such
a tight rental market.”
She said Regulatory Services staff are
meeting with Corcoran and other neighborhood groups on tenant issues.
“Over the past year in particular, a
number of neighborhood groups are doing
what is really hard work to engage with
tenants who may not have typically been
the subject of doorknocking to this extent,”
Glidden said.
QT Properties’ buildings at 3019
Pleasant, 3023 Pleasant, 3027 Pleasant and
3032 Pillsbury are not on the city’s “Good
Cause” list, which uses a scoring system
to restrict some properties from obtaining
additional rental licenses. Violations at the
buildings over the past two years included
trash removal, bedbug extermination,
repairs to units and propped doors.
Glidden said she wonders if the city’s “Good
Cause” list doesn’t always track with the variety
of legal concerns a tenant might have.
Glidden said the city could augment
resources already given to HOME Line
and Legal Aid, perhaps helping Spanish
and Somali speakers access advice. She said
she’d like to find ways for the city to be
more responsive to tenants.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll see additional
action from the city on this topic,” Glidden said.
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A18 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
Crime Update
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
5th Precinct update: New recruits on the way
Five new officer recruits start night shifts at the
5th Precinct in March.
As the new officers arrive, two other officers
are transitioning to the 4th Precinct where they
anticipate busier shifts, said Insp. Todd Loining.
“Some of the younger officers want that
opportunity,” he said.
The precinct is currently testing two different
body camera technologies and gauging their
usefulness during inclement weather. A department-wide rollout for the technology is slated
for late 2015.
“My understanding is they have really been
helpful,” Loining said. “In numerous incidents
we have not just the visual, but the recorded
audio, which is always helpful.”
He said Southwest-area schools haven’t
received any additional bomb threats since
January threats were aimed at Southwest and
Washburn High Schools. The threats are still
under investigation, he said.
Also under investigation is a Jan. 31 incident
in which a car holding suspected shoplifters
struck an officer in the Cub Foods parking lot
at the 5900 block of Nicollet. The officer shot at
the vehicle one time, police said, and the vehicle
fled. The officer is back to work and recovered
fully, Loining said.
Loining said the precinct is seeing a pattern
of burglaries in apartments, storage lockers and
laundry rooms.
Teen sentenced to 14 years in prison for robberies
A Hennepin County District Court judge
sentenced Antonio Deshawn Timberlake, age
17, to more than 14 years in prison for his role
in four robberies in Southwest Minneapolis and
Edina. Timberlake pleaded guilty in adult court
to aggravated assault and robbery for incidents
including a March 2014 robbery and stabbing
in Armatage.
In a memorandum, Judge William Koch
shared some of Timberlake’s background,
writing that “we cannot ignore his youth or his
circumstances.”
“In this case, the court is confronted with a
17-year-old defendant who was 16 years old at
the time he engaged in an extended crime spree
resulting in six victims and terrorized a community,” Koch wrote. “Unbeknownst to anyone at
the time of the crimes rocking the southwestern
portion of Minneapolis, one of the youthful
perpetrators (and perhaps both) had a history
of mental illness, drug use, and a chaotic childhood marked by involvement with the juvenile
justice system — first as the focus of protective
services due to situations beyond his control
and influence; and then the subject of juvenile
justice matters responding to his escalating
behavior.”
In three of the incidents between June
2013 and March 2014, Timberlake and other
youth followed victims off the Route 6 bus and
assaulted them and attempted to rob them,
according to court documents. All three victims
went to the hospital, two of them with lifethreatening cuts or stab wounds.
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At a sentencing hearing March 2, Timberlake
offered a “simple apology” to victims for his
actions, according to court documents.
In Koch’s sentencing memorandum, he
said Timberlake’s mental health and supervision crashed at about the time of most of the
offenses. He hadn’t attended school for months,
Koch said, and in March 2014, two close family
members died and a cousin was shot.
“The three violent March robberies, while
not excusable, seem in part to be triggered by a
perfect storm of negative factors and influences
in Mr. Timberlake’s short life,” Koch said.
Timberlake will serve a minimum of twothirds of his sentence in prison, Koch said, with
a maximum one-third on supervised release. At
a minimum, he would be 27 when released.
“This is an old enough age that he will have
matured, yet a young enough age where he can
work to rebuild his life,” Koch wrote.
Co-defendant Navarr Jodia Ross, age 19,
pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and
abetting first-degree aggravated robbery related
to an incident involving Timberlake in March
2014 at the Southdale Center parking lot.
He was sentenced to 68 months in prison in
December.
Juvenile court records are private for another
13-year-old suspect.
The judge said he received community
impact statements from residents, and he
applauded an Armatage community meeting
that drew several dozen people last year in
response to the incidents.
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A19
News
Legislators’ commute highlights
transit funding needs
By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com
At least 25 state legislators recently pledged
to ride buses and trains to work at the state
capitol to draw attention to the need for more
dedicated transit funding.
Those lawmakers took part in the March 1–7
Roll With Us Transit Challenge co-sponsored
by 13 local organizations, including nonprofits
ISAIAH and Neighborhoods Organizing for
Change. Transit advocates say transit funding
has been flat for a decade, even as more people
opt to make it part of their daily lives.
“It’s a big conversation and a priority at
the capitol this session,” Lars Negstad, a strategic campaign coordinator with ISAIAH,
said. “The need (for transit funding) is big
and growing, and it’s a need that, from our
perspective, you need new revenue to fix it.”
Over the past decade, bus ridership rose 14
percent in the metro area and 25 percent in the
rest of Minnesota, Negstad said. Metro Transit
users logged more than 84.5 million individual
trips in 2014, the highest total in more than
three decades, the agency reported in January.
Gov. Mark Dayton in January proposed a
transportation funding package that would
invest $6 billion over a decade into roads,
bridges and transit, including $280 million per
year in additional revenue for Twin Cities and
suburban transit funded though a half-cent sales
tax increase in the seven-county metro area. A
different transportation funding proposal from
Senate DFLers includes a three-quarter-cent
metro sales tax increase and would raise $351
million annually for transit, local roads and
bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
Negstad said the existing quarter-cent sales
tax was “instrumental in building out the lightrail system,” but that money is dedicated to
capital expansion and operation of transitways as
opposed to regular bus and light-rail operations.
House Republicans, meanwhile, have
pitched a much smaller transportation funding
package that includes no new revenue dedicated to transit. The $750-million package
includes $200 million for local roads and
bridges taken from the state budget surplus.
“For the time being, the House is reluctant
to raise any revenue around transit,” Sen. Scott
Dibble, co-author of the Senate transportation
funding bill, said.
On March 2, Dibble (District 61) and
Rep. Frank Hornstein (61A) both started
their commute to the capitol on a Metro
Transit 6 bus from Southwest Minneapolis to
downtown. As the bus pulled away from the
Uptown Transit Center, Hornstein argued
transit users are “less stressed, safer and save
tons of money” compared to those who drive
to and from work.
Hornstein said a strong transit system is also
crucial to the local economy because it’s one
factor in attracting younger workers who are
less likely to own cars. The 6 bus was standingroom-only by the time it passed the Walker
Art Center, and many of the riders appeared to
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Sen. Scott Dibble, left, and Rep. Frank Hornstein chatted at a Minneapolis light-rail station as
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“I’m the only bald guy on this bus,” Hornstein quipped.
He and Dibble exited the bus downtown and
transferred to a Green Line light rail train for
the second leg of their commute to St. Paul.
Both said that busy schedules and long days
at the capitol could make relying solely on
transit tough. Instead of busing home some
nights, Hornstein opts to carpool with Rep.
Jean Wagenius, a DFL colleague who represents an adjacent district.
Dibble said he usually commutes by transit
only once every two weeks or so during a
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But, Dibble added: “When we’re not in
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A20 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
FROM BAE / PAGE A1
for a voice like BAE’s, Stewart, who is director
of outreach and external affairs for Education
Post, said: “There are no great guardians of black
students in the policy sphere of Minnesota.”
The group’s founders describe BAE as a “for
us, by us” social justice movement. One of them,
University of St. Thomas law professor Nekima
Levy-Pounds, said BAE exists “to frame the
issues from our own perspectives as AfricanAmerican parents and community members.”
“We’re unapologetic about being black, about
raising concerns on behalf of black children and
about being direct in our activism and advocacy
for what it is we’re asking for,” Levy-Pounds said.
That directness is nearly the opposite of
‘Minnesota nice,’ and although BAE has won a
diverse group of supporters it also offended some
with its blunt rhetoric. Stewart’s Twitter account
was even blocked by @MPS_News for a time,
meaning he couldn’t follow or view tweets from
the district.
After inquiries were made during the
reporting of this story, a district spokesman said
the blocking was unintentional and had been
reversed. Stewart professed to find it humorous,
adding the district was “not the first or the best”
to attempt to ignore him.
“To be fair, the Commissioner of Education
(Brenda Cassellius) has also blocked me,” he
said.
Highlighting disparities
BAE coalesced last summer around former
Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson’s decision
to launch the Office for Black Male Student
Achievement with just $200,000 in funding
— far too little and a “setup for failure,” said
Levy-Pounds. Johnson later added $1 million
to the office’s budget, and the district maintains
it was “standard operating procedure” for the
office’s director, Michael Walker, to draft a formal
request and plan for the funds before the full
amount was allocated.
Then, at the start of the school year, controversy erupted around the awarding of a $385,000
contract to Community Standards Initiative,
a group led by African-American community
activists Al Flowers and Clarence Hightower.
The contract was cancelled in October when
it became clear the group would not be able to
fulfill its goals of working with families to close
the achievement gap.
BAE framed the controversy as symptomatic of a situation where education leaders and
policy makers engage with just a small group of
black leaders instead of the wider community. It
launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag
“#JimCrowJr” criticizing the district for lacking
Law
professor
Nekima
Levy-Pounds,
second from
right, spoke
on a panel at
the University
of St. Thomas
law school
in downtown
Minneapolis
in March.
Photo
by Dylan
Thomas
transparency in the awarding of the CSI contract,
while at the same time highlighting racial disparities in academic proficiency and graduation rates.
“When we started looking at Minneapolis
Public Schools, started looking at the statistics,
started looking at the uneven allocation of
resources, started looking at the proficiency rates
amongst the different schools, we said this is
reminiscent of the of the Jim Crow era,” LevyPounds said, referring to laws that codified racial
segregation in the South after the Civil War.
It was intended to point out examples of
institutional and cultural racism, Levy-Pounds
said, but to former Superintendent Johnson,
who grew up in Selma, Ala., the tweets felt like
a personal attack. In an interview in January,
Johnson said, “It felt vile, it felt ugly and it was so
hurtful to me.”
“I thought it was an inappropriate term,
knowing what Jim Crow meant,” Bill English of
the Coalition of Black Churches said. “… I lived
through rigid segregation, so I’m very much
familiar with Jim Crow.”
English said, in his experience, “using
emotionally laden terms is not effective” when
trying to address issues around race. Despite that
disagreement, he said he respects and admires
BAE’s advocacy, viewing them “co-collaborators.”
‘Facebook exploded’
While English is a regular and vocal presence
at School Board meetings, he doesn’t engage
as much in the online debate. (“I’m not the
greatest social media person, because that’s not
my media,” he said. “I’m of another generation.”)
But the CSI controversy highlighted how BAE’s
members can speak directly to their peers in
Generations X, Y and Z.
The acronym BAE mimics a teen slang term
— a reference that might sail over even some
30-somethings’ heads.
And when Levy-Pounds showed up to an
October School Board meeting to protest the
CSI contract, she brought a young man in a
Kermit the Frog costume, evoking a popular
Internet meme. The meme’s “But that’s none of
my business” punch line is used to humorously
or ironically express disdain.
“When we did the Kermit memes, Facebook
exploded,” she said.
But do memes and tweets sway district decision makers? Although BAE and former School
Board Chair Richard Mammen exchanged open
letters on the CSI contract, Mammen said he
lacked “an informed perspective” on BAE.
Also on the receiving end of the “#JimCrowJr”
tweets was School Board Member Rebecca
Gagnon, who said “being inflammatory and
hostile, pushing people’s buttons” was not an
effective way to carry on a dialogue. Gagnon
said BAE criticized her involvement in the CSI
contract online, but no members ever attempted
to have an in-person conversation about it.
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School Board Member Tracine Asberry
expressed a different point of view, calling their
contributions to the debate around Office of
Black Male Student Achievement funding and
the use of the slavery simulation “essential.” In an
email, Asberry wrote that their actions “moved
the educational experiences of Black students
from the margins to the center in these two
critical decisions.”
BAE’s members recently outlined their top
priorities in an open letter to School Board
members, and they include keeping tabs on the
search for a permanent superintendent and the
Office for Black Male Student Achievement.
They’ve also asked the School Board to reinstate
its Equity and Achievement Committee, which
was recently eliminated in a consolidation of
board committees.
Stewart said they don’t plan to alter their audacious style of advocacy.
“We think what we’re saying is really serious,
even though it’s not always scholarly in the way
that we say things,” he said. “We think it’s important to call out injustice. It’s that simple.”
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A21
News
By Dylan Thomas & Michelle Bruch
Spring forum focuses on organics recycling
The expansion of residential organics recycling in
Minneapolis is the focus of the Lynnhurst Environmental Committee’s March 14 Spring Forum.
Three guests are scheduled to discuss the
arrival in August of curbside organics pickup in
some parts of the city not already served by a
pilot composting program. The citywide rollout
of organics recycling won’t be complete until
2016, and the city hasn’t yet decided in which
areas the service will be added first.
The scheduled guests are Minneapolis Recy-
NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHBOOK
cling Coordinator Kellie Kish; John Jaimez, an
organics and recycling specialist with Hennepin
County Environmental Services; and Minnesota
Composting Council Board Member Anne
Ludvik of Specialized Environmental Technologies and The Mulch Store. Also expected at the
meeting are Linden Hills residents already served
by a pilot organics-recycling program.
The spring forum is 9 a.m.–11:30 a.m. at City
Church, 1501 W. 54th St.
Minnesota FoodShare seeks donations to
boost local food shelves
Southwest food shelves join 300 in the state
collecting extra food this month as part of the
annual Minnesota FoodShare campaign.
Last year’s drive raised more than $8 million
and more than 4 million pounds of food.
Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church at 5300
10th Ave. S. is hosting a March Madness drive in
an effort to raise more than $3,300 for Community Emergency Services. They’re linking the
food drive to the NCAA bracket — the more
wins you pick, the more you give.
Other local participants include The Aliveness
Project at 38th & Nicollet, Bethlehem Lutheran
Church at 4100 Lyndale Ave. S., Lynnhurst
Congregational United Church of Christ at 4501
Colfax Ave. S. (their “Pack the Pews” weekend
is March 22), Incarnation Catholic Church at
3817 Pleasant Ave. S., Joyce Uptown Food Shelf
at 3041 Fremont Ave. S., Sabathani Community
Center at 310 E. 38th St., and Simpson Food
Pantry at 2740 1st Ave. S. A March 15 collection at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, 5025
Knox Ave. S., will benefit food shelves including
Community Emergency Services.
Minnesota FoodShare recommends
donating high-quality, nutritious food such
as flour, couscous, applesauce, dried fruit,
100 percent fruit juice, lentils, peanut butter,
vegetable oil, dried herbs and coffee.
Minnesota Foodshare reports that 1 in 10
Minnesotans experiences food insecurity on
a regular basis, which is more people than
attended Vikings home games during the 2014
regular season.
Whittier Alliance hosts annual meeting
Five at-large seats on the Whittier Alliance
Board of Directors will be filled at the neighborhood organization’s annual meeting March 26
at Whittier International Elementary School,
315 W. 26th St.
Neighborhood residents and business and
property owners are eligible to vote in the
board election and on a proposed reallocation
of funds in Whittier’s Neighborhood Revitalization Program plan. The agenda for the annual
meeting also includes presentation of the Good
BY
Fulton awards grants to local groups
Farmers market youth art and bully prevention workshops will soon appear in Fulton,
using funds from the inaugural year of the
Fulton Small Grants Program.
The Fulton Neighborhood Association is
using $500-$2,000 grants to support programs
that focus on youth education or enhanced
community engagement.
Out of seven applicants, four grant recipients include Simply Jane and ArtAble at 54th
& Nicollet, which received $1,900 to provide
free painting and youth art at the Fulton
Farmers Market and Fulton Fall Festival.
Southwest High School Music Boosters
will use a $1,700 grant to support a student
concert at Lake Harriet, and broaden exposure
for guest artists.
Lakes Martial Arts, which holds evening
classes at Pershing Park, will use $993 for
bullying prevention workshops.
Students in Action, which works in 300
schools across the U.S., received $500 to
develop community leaders. At Southwest High
School, students meet weekly to plan service
activities, and they take leadership training
courses at the University of Minnesota.
East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood
Association (EHFNA): Board meets 1st
Wednesday monthly at Walker Methodist,
3737 Bryant Ave. S. (Health Service door)
Kingfield Neighborhood Association
(KFNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday
monthly at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 41st
& Nicollet.
Stevens Square Community
Organization (SSCO): Board meets 3rd
Thursday monthly at the Loring-Nicollet
Community Center, 1925 Nicollet Ave. S.
East Isles Residents Association (EIRA):
Board meets 2nd Tuesday monthly at
Grace-Trinity Community Church, 1430 W.
28th St.
Linden Hills Neighborhood Council
(LHiNC): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly
at Linden Hills Park, 3100 W. 43rd St.
Tangletown Neighborhood Association
(TNA): Board meets 3rd Monday monthly
at Fuller Park, 4800 Grand Ave.
Fulton Neighborhood Association (FNA):
Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at
Pershing Park, 3523 W. 48th St.
Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association
(LHNA): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly
at Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W.
Franklin Ave.
West Calhoun Neighborhood Council:
Board meets 2nd Tuesday monthly at 6
p.m. at The Bakken, 3537 Zenith Ave. S.
Hale Page Diamond Lake Community
Association (HPDL): Board meets last
Monday of the month at 5144 13th Ave. S.
Lowry Hill East (Wedge): Board meets
3rd Wednesday monthly at Jefferson
Elementary School, 1200 W. 26th St.
Kenny Neighborhood Association (KNA):
Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at
Kenny Park Building, 1328 W. 58th St.
Lyndale Neighborhood Association
(LNA): General membership meetings
are on the 4th Monday monthly at Painter
Park, 34th & Lyndale.
Neighbor and Business awards.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for voter registration, a resource fair and social hour. The annual
meeting runs 6:15 p.m.–8:30 p.m.
Business and property owners who wish to
vote must pre-register in person at the Whittier Alliance office, 10 E. 25th St., prior to the
annual meeting. For more information on the
meeting, proof-of-residency guidelines for
voters and the proposed NRP plan change, go
to whittieralliance.org.
SOUTHWEST NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP MEETING TIMES
Armatage Neighborhood Association
(ANA): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly
at Armatage Park, 57th & Russell.
Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association
(BMNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday
monthly at Bryn Mawr School, 252 Upton
Ave. S.
Calhoun Area Residents Action Group
(CARAG) meeting: Board meets 3rd
Tuesday monthly at Bryant Square Park,
3101 Bryant Ave. S.
Cedar-Isles-Dean Neighborhood
Association (CIDNA) meeting: Board
meets every 2nd Wednesday of the month
at 6 p.m. at Jones-Harrison Residence,
3700 Cedar Lake Ave.
East Calhoun Community Organization
(ECCO): Board meets 1st Thursday
monthly at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox
Church, 3450 Irving Ave. S.
Kenwood Isles Area Association (KIAA):
Board meets 1st Monday monthly at
Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W.
Franklin Ave.
Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association
(LYNAS): Board meets 2nd Thursday
monthly at 6 p.m. at Lynnhurst Community
Center, 50th & West Minnehaha Parkway.
Whittier Alliance: Board meets 4th
Thursday monthly at the Whittier
Recreation Center, 425 W. 26 St.
Windom Community Council: Board
meets 2nd Thursday monthly at Windom
Community Center, 5821 Wentworth Ave.
A22 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com
Helmet? Yes. Car? No.
Minneapolis Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Matthew Dyrdahl says he walks the talk
Now that Matthew Dyrdahl, hired by the city
in February to lead planning for bicycle and
pedestrian projects, is settling into his new
role, it’s time to ask him the tough questions,
like: What do you think about bike helmets?
“I enjoy wearing a helmet,” Dyrdahl
responded brusquely midway through a Feb.
24 phone interview. “Next question.”
There was a brief pause followed by the
sound of hearty laughter pulsing over the
phone line. Dyrdahl, 33, only Minneapolis’
second-ever bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, is well aware of his predecessor’s
controversial choice to ride bareheaded like a
Copenhagener.
Sure, Dyrdahl continued, there’d been “a
time or two” when he’d checked out a bicycle
from the Nice Ride bike-sharing system and
pedaled off without a helmet. Not everyone
carries head protection when a commute
blends a bus ride, cycling and walking.
“I think that will stop now, just because of
my position,” he said.
But here’s the true test of a bicycle and
pedestrian coordinator’s bona fides: What
about a car?
More online
Go to southwestjournal.com to read an
expanded version of this story.
Dyrdahl got rid of
his almost a year ago.
“Part of the reason
I don’t have a car is
because I want to
make sure I underDyrdahl
stand the issues I’m
working with,” he
said. “So, (I) walk the talk in this work.”
“Not owning a car, you have a different
perspective, and you can really relate to people
who might not have a choice to bike or walk,”
he continued. “I value that personally, and
professionally I think it’s a good thing, as well.”
When Dyrdahl ditched his car he picked up
a new set of wheels. A Brompton folding bike
fits in the storage compartment of a Jefferson
Lines bus, and that means he doesn’t have
to bum rides up north to Nisswa, where his
mother lives.
His day-to-day bike is a red and black Trek
fx 7.5, a commuter model he sometimes used
to ride from his apartment in Northeast to
his old job in at the Minnesota Department
of Health in St. Paul, where he was the active
transportation coordinator in the Physical
Activity and Nutrition Unit. That’s a 12-mile
commute, one way.
“If you do that both ways, it’s about two
hours of physical activity without trying,” he
said. “That’s something we try to promote in
this work.”
A Minnesota native, Dyrdahl grew up in
Coon Rapids, graduated from Blaine High
School and attended St. Cloud State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in community development and went on to receive
his master’s in planning from Florida State
University.
After his stint in Tallahassee, Fla., Dyrdahl’s
first job brought him back to Minnesota,
where he worked as a transportation planner
for the Headwater Regional Development
Commission in Bemidji. He moved to Minneapolis when he started working at the state
health department in early 2012.
As the active transportation coordinator,
Dyrdahl worked with cities across the state
on improvements to encourage more bicycling and walking. During his three years in
that role, he said, there was “a fairly dramatic
increase in the number of Bike Friendly
Communities officially recognized by the
League of American Bicyclists” in Minnesota,
including the cities of Bemidji, Grand Marais
and Litchfield.
He is also a league-certified bicycling
instructor.
In an interview after Dyrdahl’s hiring
was announced, Director of Public Works
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Steve Kotke said he was looking for a bicycle
and pedestrian coordinator who was at the
“cutting-edge” of designing cities for cyclists
and walkers. What does that mean to Dyrdahl?
He said he’s excited by the city’s recent push
into the area of protected bikeways, designs
that physically separate motorized and nonmotorized traffic. They should encourage
“more people who aren’t currently comfortable riding right next to cars” to choose bikes
for day-to-day transportation, he said.
“We have a fantastic, world-class trail
system in Minneapolis, and I think if we really
connect those trails with places people go on
a daily basis — such as grocery stores, parks,
(the) library, work — I think Minneapolis will
really be in a position to be the best cycling
city in the nation,” he said.
On the pedestrian side of things, he
continued, a top-priority for Minneapolis
continues to be improving snow removal
from sidewalks during the winter. But he
said encouraging people to walk year-round
requires a greater focus on the built environment, on destinations and the experiences of
walkers as they move through the city.
“It’s not just looking at infrastructure but
making sure people have places to go,” he said.
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 A23
By Eric Best / ebest@southwestjournal.com
Divided Park Board passes SWLRT agreement
The Park Board passed a tentative agreement to a
bridge over the Kenilworth Channel and a more
prominent role in future light rail planning.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
narrowly passed a tentative agreement with
Metropolitan Council on March 4 that includes
dropping a tunnel option in favor of a bridge
over the Kenilworth Channel for the Southwest
Light Rail Transit Project.
In exchange, Met Council would agree to
give the Park Board a more prominent role in
its planning of light rail projects. Met Council
would also reimburse the Park Board for staff
time up to $250,000 for current and future
light rail projects, including approximately
$21,500 for staff time and nearly $150,000 for
the anticipated costs of the board’s engineering
studies on tunnel options. The agreement would put an end to the
dispute between the board and council over the
$1.6 billion project, which would extend the
Green Line from downtown Minneapolis to
Eden Prairie.
The Park Board withdrew pursuing alternative tunnel alternatives options due to $115 to
140 million in additional costs, including $75
to $90 million for construction and $40 to $50
million for delays. A tunnel could also trigger
the municipal consent process over again and
affect President Barack Obama’s recommendation of funding the project for the 2016 federal
budget, according to the resolution. “While a tunnel option has been determined
to be feasible and the least impactful channel
crossing alternative, the board may consider a
tunnel to be not prudent because it results in
costs of extraordinary magnitude,” said Park
Superintendent Jayne Miller to the board.
“The time required for additional review under
Municipal Consent results in additional costs
of extraordinary magnitude and threaten the
viability of the SWLRT project.”
According to Section 4(f) of the Federal
Transportation Act, a transportation project
that uses parkland can only move forward with
a proposed route if there’s no “feasible and
prudent” alternative. On top of that, however,
some planning is necessary to minimize adverse
environmental effects. Under the agreement,
the Park Board and Met Council assert that a
tunnel option would not be “prudent.”
The Park Board would get a formal role in
light rail projects to voice its concerns earlier,
much like the city and county. Unlike most park
departments that are part of the city, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is independent and isn’t included in Municipal Consent
under state law.
Met Council staff will use some of the board’s
engineering work in its examination of the project’s impact on parkland. The board anticipates
receiving a $148,800 reimbursement from Met
Council, which is half the cost of two engineering studies into the feasibility and prudence
of tunnel options.
Met Council is expected to approve
the agreement March 11. The two parties
jointly announced the agreement in late
February.
Commissioners air grievances on
SWLRT
The board voted 6-3 to approve the memorandum of understanding (MOU) after several
amendments and impassioned speeches. A couple Park Board commissioners used
the opportunity to criticize years of SWLRT
decisions. Commissioner Anita Tabb, who
joined fellow commissioners Meg Forney and
Annie Young as the board’s dissenting voices,
criticized the project’s process for a lack of
public engagement, poor leadership from
several public entities and increasing costs. “That we’ve gotten to this point in the Southwest LRT project, I think should be a Harvard
case study in how not to run government,” she
said prior to the vote. “The Park Board is the
only entity that has had the backbone to ask for
a process that is fair and right.”
She described Gov. Mark Dayton’s recently
proposed $3.77 million cut to the Park
Board’s budget over concerns of project
delays as a “temper tantrum.” On a lack of
Legislature support and increasing pressure
on the board, Tabb said she was “incredibly
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Forney echoed her dissent and tried to
send the agreement back to staff for additional work, citing a disjointed relationship
between the two entities. “This process has
been flawed the entire way,” she said. “Trust
has been eroded completely here.”
President Liz Wielinski and commissioners Brad Bourn, John Erwin, Steffanie
Musich, Jon Olson and Scott Vreeland
approved the resolution. Musich and Wielinski said they felt more
optimistic for the next light rail project on
the horizon, the Bottineau Blue Line extension to Brooklyn Park, which has a 2018
construction start.
“While this doesn’t make us 100 percent
happy I think we’ve got a good agreement,”
Wielinski said. “I know we’re going to have
a better relationship going forward with
Bottineau... I think that we’ll have a much
better outcome there.”
Meanwhile, a lawsuit was pending in
federal court when this issue went to press
alleging that the Metropolitan Council didn’t
do adequate environmental review before it
secured approvals for Southwest LRT.
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www.judsonchurch.org
612.822.0649
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Southwest Journal
March 12–25, 2015
New book reflects on the gifts
of a terminal illness
Embracing
Life
as death draws near
MPR’s Cathy Wurzer
and Bruce Kramer
share a laugh.
Photo courtesy of
MPR News
By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com
Bruce Kramer has transformed his terminal illness into an opportunity
to cherish his life and loved ones with a renewed vigor.
Kramer, former dean of the College of Education, Leadership and Counseling at the University of St. Thomas’ downtown Minneapolis campus,
hopes his reflections and insights from living with ALS can help other people frame their lives and learn to focus on what’s important.
He has collaborated with MPR’s Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer on a series of radio conversations exploring how he has adapted to his
new life after being diagnosed in 2010 with the neurodegenerative disease that causes muscles to weaken. The two have also teamed up on a book
project called “We Know How This Ends: Living While Dying,” which will be released in April by the University of Minnesota Press.
SEE EMBRACING LIFE / PAGE B6
B2 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
Focus
Sing-along
Photographer Alec Soth returns
with “Songbook”
By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com
If not forgotten, the American songbook of a previous century lingers, today, only
Antonio dressed in a Stetson and a wool-lined Wrangler jean jacket, holding a
at the edges of our national consciousness. The sheet music is tucked away in greatburning cigarette in his lips while a young woman nuzzles into his shoulder; his
ALEC SOTH:
grandma’s old piano bench.
smooth chin is just sprouting its first dark whiskers, but he stares back at the camera
Katy Perry is a long way from Cole Porter, but although the tune has changed
with brash confidence. Then we’re in the bedroom with Dave and Trish of Denver,
SONGBOOK
again and again, the popular themes of American life and song endure: religious
Colo., who are dressed like they’ve just returned from a wedding reception and kiss
WHEN: Through April 4
faith, the pursuit of wealth and happiness, our unity, our individuality, risk, love. The
while hidden behind the brim of her organza hat.
WHERE: Weinstein
same themes suffuse “Songbook,” the latest monograph by Magnum photographer
Soth is alert to moments of serendipity, like when a skywriter paints “JESUS” in
Gallery, 908 W. 46th St.
and Minneapolis native Alec Soth.
smoke above one of those forlorn Kissimmee motels. Two teenage boys, their bodies
As with previous projects “Broken Manual” and the reputation-making “Sleeping
toned by summer football practice, stride across a parking lot, and Soth’s shutter
INFO: 822-1722,
by the Mississippi,” “Songbook” finds Soth once again roaming the byways of
opens at the exact moment they’re almost identically posed.
weinstein-gallery.com
America with car and camera. In the small towns, suburbs and cities he visits, there’s
There’s another type of Soth photo, one that excavates the uncanny from the
a sense that the economy sets the tempo of life, from the allegro of the North Dakota oil boom to the
duff of everyday life. A white clapboard house in Georgia looks like it’s about to be swallowed up by a
largo of Kissimmee, Fla., where he finds near-homeless families sheltering in the cheap motels ringing
mountain of kudzu vines. A cliff diver’s leap into a river near Kaaterskill Falls, N.Y., is framed in such a
the Magic Kingdom.
way that it’s almost impossible for the eye to resolve. Will he be dashed on the rocks or plunge safely
Soth took some of these photos while on assignment (it was New York Times Magazine that sent
into the water?
him to the oil fields near Williston, N.D., back in 2012) and others while role-playing as a small-town
Soth provides the diving board, but that’s your leap to take.
photographer and reporter duo with pal Brad Zellar for the LBM Dispatch, the newspaper of record
for their travels. All were shot between 2012 and 2014.
The Weinstein Gallery is showing selections from the monograph here in Minneapolis while
Alec Soth
concurrent “Songbook” shows are staged at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco and Sean Kelly Gallery
crisscrossed
in New York City. In the gallery, the large-scale, black-and-white prints are accompanied by a minimal
America for
amount of text — nothing more than labels that follow a simple formula: subject, location.
the making of
“Songbook,”
In a video interview posted on the Fraenkel Gallery’s website, Soth said: “I’ve started
stopping at
thinking of photographs as being like a diving board, and you can just sort of bounce off it into
one point in
this pool of meaning.”
Kissimmee, Fla.,
When one of his photos runs in a magazine, he continued, the headline and body of the story
to photograph
confine the image’s meaning to “one little pool.” But when they’re untethered from any explanation of
the work of a
skywriter.
the why or how, these photographs float into a space of free-association.
Submitted
“What ‘Songbook’ is about for me is keeping it really wide-open,” he said.
photos
Supply your own lyrics, in other words.
While in the past Soth has sought out oddballs and outcasts, here he zooms-in on quintessentially American experiences, like a high school prom in Cleveland. He shoots from the middle of
a sweaty dance floor, a jungle of bare limbs and glistening faces, so close that we can follow the
teens’ darting glances.
Soth has a remarkable ability to shrink the space between the camera lens and the human body,
placing the viewer in intimate proximity with his portrait subjects. There’s the young man from San
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B3
By Linda Koutsky
A creative corner in Plymouth
J
ust a few blocks from Highways 55 and
169 is a nondescript office and industrial park that unless you work in the
area you really wouldn’t notice. I’ve flown past
it going 55 miles an hour countless times and
never wondered what was even in those buildings. But these days you just never know what’s
around the corner.
I needed fabric the other day and thought
about my options. Sewing isn’t really my thing,
but I always seem to need fabric every now and
then. Like most creative supply businesses, a
lot have consolidated or closed. The pickings
get slim — and ordinary. So I Googled “fabric
stores” in the Twin Cities and found Blue
Bamboo. They cater to quilters, but welcome
everyone. According to their website, they
specialize in Asian and batik fabrics. I wasn’t
looking for either of those but thought I’d head
over and take a look anyway.
Blue Bamboo is so tucked away on the side of
an industrial building you’d never even know it’s
there. And that was fine with them because they
started out as an online fabric store. But when
so many local customers began picking up their
fabrics they decided to go bricks-and-mortar.
The bright, clean, expansive warehouse space is
filled with custom-made shelves that hold bolts
of fabric. I stood in awe as the entire color spectrum blended through the space from yellow
to green to blue to purple then red right before
my eyes — all in neatly rolled bolts of fabric. A
special section by the door held new arrivals —
monochromatic marbled fabrics in every color
For First Time
Clients
12865 Industrial Park Blvd., open
Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
and Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.;
mybluebamboo.com
ANCHOR PAPER
EXPRESS
12855 Highway 55; open Monday–
Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday,
9 a.m.–5 p.m.; anchorpaper.com
The color spectrum circles the warehouse at Blue Bamboo. Photo By Linda Koutsky
and shade imaginable.
Fabric is available by the yard or in cute little
precut packages of varying sizes. Since the store
is geared for quilters, all the printed patterns
are small and most fabrics are cotton — there’s
no upholstery or curtain sheers here. I didn’t
think I liked batiks, but they were out-of-thisworld gorgeous! I had no idea they could get
that much color and detail and layering in a
batik. It completely changed my mind on what
I thought of the process. Other fabrics include
Australian aboriginal abstracts, bright and
cheerful Charley Harper illustrations, holiday
themes, novelty prints, and lots and lots of small
patterns. They carry really beautiful and unusual
fabrics — nothing ordinary here.
Display racks are filled with patterns for
quilts, pillows, table runners, tote bags and
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purses. Buy a pattern or take a class. Follow Blue
Bamboo on Facebook for upcoming events and
classes.
Just across Highway 55 in another industrial
building is Anchor Paper. Serving businesses
since 1923, Anchor Paper opened their first
Express store in 1990 to make smaller quantities of papers along with paper craft supplies
available to their customers. The store is
attached to the giant paper warehouse. Anchor
Paper Express also offers classes and has a
monthly e-newsletter. Wander the rows stocked
with paper, pens, glues, ribbons, stamps and
everything you need for making collages, scrapbooks, cards and invitations.
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B4 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
GAZILLION STRONG GIVES A MEGAPHONE
TO THE MARGINALIZED
By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com
The new nonprofit Gazillion Strong is
something of a storyteller. It’s designed to
help marginalized community members tell
their stories, whether they fall under the
labels of LGBTQ, people of color, adoptees
or foster kids.
The nonprofit has lots of work in the
pipeline. Staff are planning an online film
festival. They’re showcasing comics that
feature minority voices at book shops — the
first one in February was standing room
only. And they’re launching free workshops
called “Through Our Eyes” that teach teens
the basics of film production.
A recent “Through Our Eyes” screening
at The Third Place Gallery was packed with
more than 100 people. The teen participants
came from places including Jordan, Minn.;
St. Paul and Linden Hills, and their film
shared a bit of their struggles, their artistic
talents and their hopes for the future.
“A lot of stories are absolutely unique to individuals,” said Kevin Vollmers, executive director
of Gazillion Strong. “But it’s very striking to me
that there are some similarities and overlaps
despite the fact that teens are coming from
completely different backgrounds. ... How each
of them were seeking their own identity countered the traditional narrative.”
The teens took quick lessons in storytelling, filming, editing and video distribution. Then they developed interview questions and documented one another’s stories.
“What we were able to do in those eight
hours was really amazing,” said Eleonore
Wesserle, facilitation director of Line Break
Media, a partner in the project.
The resulting video includes the story
of Mark, who said his mom is preparing
to relocate to Texas. Mark will stay behind
with three older kids, while he works three
full-time jobs.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger. I live by that,” he said. “I always
find myself in some kind of crappy situation,
but I always find a way out.”
A Jordan High school student named
Cole is transgender, born a female, and
today lives as a male. He said he grew up
seeing abuse, alcoholism and drugs.
“I didn’t want to be like those people, and
I didn’t want to go down the wrong path,” he
said. “I think, personally, that I can make a
difference in this world, and that’s partially
the reason why I’m here today, so I can learn
how to put my voice out there through filmmaking and really show people that it’s OK
to be different than the normal norms in
society. ... It’s OK to be who you want to be.”
Gazillion Strong is looking to expand
“Through Our Eyes” and another program
called Comics from the Margins nationally,
perhaps starting with Portland.
At Comics from the Margins, authors
and comic book connoisseurs talk to teens
about comics in which the central character
is a person of color, LGBTQ, adoptee, foster
child or disabled. Upcoming dates include
March 21 at Ancestry Books in North
Minneapolis and April 18 at Moon Palace
Books off Minnehaha Avenue.
Vollmers lives in the Seward neighborhood. He was adopted from Korea at the
age of 7 by a Minnesota family, and he has
become a voice for adoptees who is quoted
in media outlets like the New York Times.
He founded Gazillion Voices, a subscription-based monthly online magazine, to
help amplify adoptee voices. He also hosts
Gazillion Voices Radio on KFAI, which
covers issues ranging from adoption and
A youth film project called “Through Our Eyes”
draws a crowd for a February screening at The
Third Place Gallery. Photo by Gazillion Strong
GAZILLION STRONG
What: Develops resources and
tools that aid marginalized
community members — such as
adopted people, foster alums,
LGBTQ, immigrants and people of
color — to speak and advocate for
themselves and others
Who: Founded by Kevin Vollmers,
a Seward resident and adoptee
advocate
Upcoming events:
Comics from the Margins,
March 21 at 2 p.m., Ancestry Books,
2205 Lowry Ave. N.
Writers of Color Showcase,
April 8 at 7 p.m., Aster Cafe,
125 Main St. SE
Comics from the Margins,
April 18 at 2 p.m., Moon Palace
Books, 2820 E. 33rd St.
Website: wearegazillionstrong.org
race to performance and social movements.
He recently interviewed Korean adoptee
Adam Crapser, who was adopted twice by
families who never finalized his naturalization, and now has a wife and children and
risks deportation to Korea.
Vollmers wants conversations about
adoption to expand beyond the adoption
community. Adoption intersects with much
broader issues, he said, like war, immigration and struggles to balance an identity
between cultures. Locally, black youth can
identify with adoptee experiences if they
grow up in foster care, he said, or grow up in
white families.
“If people can see themselves in each
other’s lives, they can identify with each
Kevin Vollmers at a recent fundraiser for his new nonprofit, Gazillion Strong. Photo courtesy of
Erin and Troy Photography
other, and it’s through identification that
people are motivated to do something
together,” Vollmers said.
Gazillion Strong keeps a list of projects in
the wings that need additional donor funding.
One such project is a film that profiles Ethiopian adoptee Aselefech Evans, who travels to
Ethiopia with her daughter to visit her biological family. Another project would expand
Gazillion Voices magazine to Korea.
Long-term, Vollmers anticipates opening
a brick-and-mortar home for Gazillion
Strong. He has no qualms about juggling so
many ventures at the new nonprofit.
“If you’re not busy and you’re running the
place, there’s something wrong,” he said.
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B5
Grows on trees
By Eric Braun
Top 10
to-do’s
for new
parents
W
hen you have a newborn
in the house, who wants to
spend their limited non-baby
attention span on financial planning?
Answer: Nobody. Unless you’re a financial-planning geek, in which case you’ve
got this wrapped up already. Go ahead
and watch Better Call Saul and sleep
soundly tonight. Well, maybe not soundly
— you’ve got that newborn.
For everyone else, it’s important to realize
that your finances will change now that
you have a child. (Sounds obvious, but
new parents sometimes miss the obvious.)
Maybe your income is slated to remain the
same, but you’ll be adding child-care costs.
Maybe one spouse is taking a break from
work — keeping down child-care bills but
reducing income.
Whatever your child-care situation,
you’ll also have costs related to diapering,
clothing, feeding, health care and toys, as
well as one-time costs including strollers,
car seats, a crib and so on. And that doesn’t
even cover saving for college (mnparent.
com/saving-for-college).
A excellent resource for getting a grip on
how much your budget will be affected is
BabyCenter’s First-Year Baby Costs Calculator (babycenter.com/baby-cost-calculator).
A rough estimate shows you’re probably
looking at about $10,000 in costs that first
year and a quarter of a million dollars to raise
the kid.
Most of us would plan pretty carefully for
an expense that size, yet most new parents go
relatively unprepared into that good night.
Luckily, a few simple steps can dramatically decrease financial worry and set you on a
healthy path — and much of it can be checked
off in the months before Baby is born.
But don’t worry if you didn’t get to any of
these done before your joyous noisemaker
arrived — or even before her first few birthdays. It’s always a good time to reassess your
family’s financial health.
 Make a will. Name a guardian, and
make an estate plan if you need to. A will
is super-important even if you think you
don’t have enough assets to warrant one.
 Get life insurance. For most
consumers, term life insurance is the best
option, but do some research to figure out
whether term or whole is better for your
family. No one wants to think about dying,
but suck it up: You don’t want to leave
your family in a lurch.
 Get disability insurance. If thinking
about death is hard, consider this sad fact
— or happy one, depending on your point
of view: During your working years you’re
more likely to become disabled than to
die. So get income-replacement insurance
(often available through employers).
 Sign up for a dependent-care
account. If you (or your spouse) have
this option through work, you can put
up to $5,000 per year (pre-tax) toward
qualified child-care expenses such as
daycare and before- or after-school care.
And that can save you a bundle in taxes.
 Assess your tax implications. There
are lots of benefits available to parents,
and it may be that a dependent-care credit
on your taxes is more valuable than that
before-tax dependent-care spending
account. If you use a tax preparer, he or
she can help you figure out which choice
is right for you. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer
when it comes to taxes, try running
the numbers both ways with an online
calculator: Many will let you run the
numbers for free, even if you don’t end up
filing through their service.
 Save for retirement. Most new parents
should save for retirement before saving
for college. (Roth IRA s can be used for
retirement and college.)
Start w
as littl ith
e as
 Set up a savings account. You could
$25
also call this your emergency-spending
account. I know, I know: You’re saving
for retirement, you’re paying an arm and
a leg for child care, can you really sock
more away? Answer: Sock it. You really
do want to have six to months of savings
just in case.
 Save for college. But first be sure to
have emergency savings set aside, plus a
healthy retirement-savings plan.
 Get out. Make a line item in your budget
for regular date nights. You’re going to
need them for your sanity. And sitting up
bleary-eyed in bed, streaming Hulu on the
iPad is not a date. This special adult time is
a good opportunity to discuss many of the
items on this list — though you’re more
likely to recount stories of cute things your
baby did.
Eric Braun is a Minneapolis-based writer, editor
and dad of two boys. He’s currently working
on a financial literacy book for young readers.
Learn more about his other published works at
heyericbraun.com. Send comments or questions
to ebraun@mnparent.com.
You can get there. We can help.
Visit www.MN529today.com
or call Chris McLeod
952-830-3127
 Reassess your healthcare plan. Not
all plans are created equal. If you have
two working parents, compare plans to
see which is more affordable — and best
— for dependent or family coverage. You
might be surprised what you find.
MN College Savings Plan SWJ NR3 V2.indd 1
1/6/15 12:21 PM
B6 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
FROM EMBRACING LIFE / PAGE B1
Wurzer has formed a special bond with
Kramer and his wife Evelyn Emerson as they
have explored what it means to truly live in
the face of death. Wurzer said Kramer has
been an inspiration as she has grieved the
recent death of her father after he battled
dementia.
“The story is all of us are given a choice
about what we are going to embrace in our
lives,” Kramer said. “All of us know we are
going to die. If you look at those two realities, then the question is do you embrace
life as you die? Or do you embrace death?
I feel that I have been very lucky that I can
talk about embracing life.”
Here are highlights of a recent conversation with Kramer and Wurzer.
Q: How do you feel now that the book
is complete?
Wurzer: I feel gratified — a great sense
of gratitude that we’ve reached this point
and that the University of Minnesota
Press thought there was value in this story.
Writing a book is difficult — your whole
soul gets poured right out there in front of
God and everybody. I am happy we can see
that all of our efforts have come to fruition.
It’s right in front of us, which is really
wonderful.
Kramer: I am musician and when I finish
something I always feel a certain sense of
letdown. I have to really fight that. When
we sent in the most workable version of the
book, I really did feel letdown. I didn’t want
to stop working on it. …
More online
To listen to an excerpt of a conversation
with Bruce Kramer and Cathy Wurzer, go
to southwestjournal.com.
It’s interesting
now that since
we’ve turned in the
book I have had
the chance to do a
little more blogging.
Kramer
There are parts of
it I wish I could
include in the book.
… I really think
what lead up to
— the time Cathy
and I have spent
together, the deepWurzer
ening of a friendship — the book
represents all of that. That part of course, I
feel enormous gratitude. …
One of the things that has interested me
so far is how young people have reacted to
[the book.] I kind of thought this is a book
framed by a dying man. The fact of the
matter is that the younger people who have
had access to it, they’ve talked about how
much it has helped them to think about the
meaning of their own lives — what they
want to do with the time that they have.
That is also quite gratifying. …
I don’t look it as a project anymore
— projects have beginnings and endings.
What I see with this is the potential for it
to become more of a movement that people
begin to really use some of this to frame
their own lives and help others that they
love.
It just seems that in 2015 we keep being
pushed and encouraged to be very superficial — to really not deepen meaning. We
keep turning back to a consumer and materialistic culture for a sense of meaning yet in
the end, that sense of meaning is meaningless.
Something like this asks people to really
deepen their own thinking about what
makes a well-lived life, and we all know that
this life is temporary. We know there is an
BOOK LAUNCH EVENT
What: A celebration for “We Know How This Ends: Living
While Dying” by Bruce H. Kramer with Cathy Wurzer.
MPR News host Kerri Miller will lead a conversation with
Kramer and Wurzer.
When: Wednesday, March 25, 6:30 p.m. (doors open),
7 p.m. (program). Books will be available for purchase
Where: O’Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium,
University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul
More info: WeKnowHowThisEnds.brownpapertickets.com
ending to it. We know we’re not going to get
out of it alive.
What would you say are some of the
key gifts you’ll cherish from this
experience working together?
Kramer: To me the key gift is that when
you look at the receipt of a diagnosis like
ALS, the neurologist that diagnosed me
honestly believed that he was giving me a
death sentence. And yet when you look at
the work that Cathy and I have started to do
and then the friendship that Cathy, Ev and
I have developed, you see this juxtaposition
of something that says, ‘you’re dying,’ but
at the same time, the experiences we’ve
had say that we’re living — and we’re living
beautifully and we’re living in ways that have
touched us both.
I prefer to focus on that side of it. The
dying part is a given. All that it has done
is to allow me to focus on the gifts — the
unseen gifts that ALS has brought, and one
of them is this wonderful friendship with
this wonderful person (Cathy) to my left
that has really enriched all of our lives — Ev
and my life together.
Wurzer: Most of my friends and co-workers
when I first got into this project thought,
‘boy — what a downer.’ It’s about death and
it’s all about darkness, sadness. And yes,
there has been sadness talking about death,
dying and diagnosis. During the course of
our conversations, my father was diagnosed
with dementia and he died a year ago March
2. During our conversations, Bruce was
almost like my dad’s voice. It was really
interesting because I would talk about my
dad and what was going on. Bruce prepared
me for my dad’s death better than anybody
could have really, which was a huge gift.
Bruce is absolutely correct — the friendship all three of us has had against the backdrop of what most people would think is
dark and sad is actually this bright, brilliant
loving relationship. My life will never be
the same because of Bruce Kramer and Ev
Emerson. It has been so enriched and deepened in such a wonderful way that I never
thought possible.
You talk about ALS turning you inside
out? What do you mean by that?
Kramer: We all work so hard at putting
up boundaries — facades. We construct a
public persona that people often have a hard
time deconstructing in their private life so
that we think that is what we are about.
But when you have ALS there is no lying
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B7
Cathy Wurzer
interviews Bruce
Kramer for a
radio segment.
Photo courtesy
of MPR News
about it. There’s no such thing as hiding
the fact, and so all of those boundaries get
put on to the inside and there you are —
you’re pretty well laid out for people. The
public and the private merge and become
one. That turning the inside out is the loss
of those facades and a real focus on being
honest and being truthful.
Remember that’s coming from someone
who had to play the politics of leadership.
University politics can be pretty brutal,
believe it or not. There just isn’t space for
playing those games anymore. So being
Murray's SWJ 011614 H2.indd 1
turned inside out has been another gift. In
being more honest with myself, I find myself
being more honest with others. I say ‘I love
you’ a lot more. I cry a lot more, and there’s
nothing wrong with that.
What do you hope comes from the
release of this book?
Wurzer: The space (for readers) to do their
own reflecting on their own lives, and also
not to fear death. I know that sounds strange
because we don’t know what’s beyond, and
that can be a very fearful thing.
Bruce is one of the most joyful people I
have ever run into even against this backdrop of impending death. I have also had to
change my personal views about death and
dying because of our conversations. Also
watching Bruce and Dad on parallel paths, I
don’t have that fear of dying anymore. It’s a
part of life. … It can be very beautiful.
well with birth and life even though life
can be extremely challenging and hard. I
think one of the things that ALS has helped
me to realize is that those challenges only
get harder. In many ways, each iteration of
living is going to be more difficult, and yet
we prepare for that. Then we hit the reality
of our deaths and suddenly this great fear
is thrown up. We love our lives. We love
it when a baby is born, but there is this
tremendous fear of this unknown thing
— death. One of my favorite cartoons is two
babies in womb. One of them asks the other
one: ‘Do you think there is life after birth?’
In a way it kind of points to the way we
see death. What death has done for me is
it has allowed me to focus so much more
deeply on the things that mean more to me
than anything else in life. If you take that
as a gift, it’s a wonderful gift. As I think of
these final months of my life and the fact
that death is sitting in the room with me all
of the time, and yet what death has become
is a way of looking at life that is so much
more joyful. Just having my kids come over
and hangout — I’m so happy to have them
here. Before I would have been happy, but
I don’t think it would have meant as much
to me.
To me one of the things that I hope that
comes out of this is the message we don’t
have to fear. We’ve been given this great
gift. By avoiding it, we’re probably avoiding
one of the most wonderful parts of our life.
It’s not about what happens after. What
happens afterward is going to happen
whether I believe it or not, it’s about what
we do with this life right now. So in the long
run, what I see is the greatest possibility
is the idea that we can live fully as human
beings and that’s the message that comes
out of the book.
Kramer: We are given three things we know
we can count on — there is birth, there is
life and there’s death. We generally do pretty
1/9/14 2:35 PM
B8 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
#mplswishlist
Sharing your dreams for the city
presents the summer 2015
Writing
Contest
Judged by author and
teacher Allison Wyss
Allison Wyss’s stories have
appeared in [PANK] Magazine,
the Southeast Review, the Doctor
T. J. Eckleburg Review, Juked
and elsewhere. She also teaches
at the Loft and writes a column
on craft for the Writers’ Block.
CHANCE TO BE PUBLISHED*
ALSO WIN A $100 GIFT CARD TO BRODERS’
AND A $150 LOFT GIFT CERTIFICATE
 A St. Paulite’s wishes for Mpls
In honor of the Loft’s upcoming
Pitch Conference held November 13–14, 2015,
write a poem (45 lines or less) or story (fewer than 800 words)
that includes someone or something taking a risk.
Submit your entry online at https://www.loft.org/contest
(include contact information and a 1-2 sentence bio) • Deadline is April 15, 2015
* Published in the The Journal, Southwest Journal and Minnesota Good Age
Loft Literary Center DTJ 022615 4.indd 1
Journal reader Chris Brummund would like to see more community events at sports venues.
File photo
2/23/15 4:37 PM
I love this project and hope it keeps going. I’m
a St. Paul resident, but commute to work via
bike or Green Line to my office on the edge
of downtown Minneapolis by the Dunwoody
College. Here are the things I see every day and
dream about:
• The Armory: I visited the city of Toronto
a few summers ago and went to the Saint
Lawrence Market. I was blown away by all
the food and craft vendors there and immediately thought, “They could do something
like this in the Armory building in Minneapolis.” With all the new office and residential development in the area, I believe it will
have the population density and traffic to
succeed. The thing with an open market
space is that you can put anything in it:
year-round farmers market, local crafts,
permanent dining, artist studio/booths.
• Plaza Potential: I often venture to
2nd Avenue in the summer to get some
food truck grub and always end up sitting
on Canadian Pacific Plaza to eat. That large
amphitheater seating with the shady trees
is always full of other people who had the
same idea I did. As I look around downtown, there are many of these beautiful
plazas that are largely unused because
there’s nothing to draw people there.
What if we start partnering more food
trucks with property owners so they can
park their truck right on the plaza (much
like the Dandelion truck that is always in
front of the IDS Center on Nicollet). I
see Government Plaza and The 5th Street
Towers as prime opportunities for this.
• Bikeway Improvements: Between both
the Greenway in Uptown and Cedar Lake
Trail downtown, I count only one business
that opens up to the bike trail. As much as
I love these trails, they sometimes feel too
much like an interstate highway: it’s hard to
actually access all the businesses you pass
by. Let’s take down all those chain link
fences on the Cedar Lake Trail downtown
to give trail users more two-way access. Let’s
also encourage developers to add retail
space on the trail level when they build up
these apartment buildings. I feel like Dock
Street Flats wasted a good opportunity.
• Open up these “Peoples’ Stadiums” to
the people: If we’re going to put a large
amount of public money into new stadiums,
let the public get as much use as possible.
Start regularly showing “movies in the
park” at Target Field during the summer
nights. If there’s a big Twins road trip, have
a night where folks can go right onto the
field with their picnic blankets. Make
sure they bring back Rollerdome to the new
football stadium. Have days in the winter
where people can also access the field level
and play on it like it were a public park.
Chris Brummund
 Please do something about
those wind tunnels!
I wish we could figure out how to reduce/slow
down cold winter winds downtown. I feel
like non-decidious trees and shrubs, combined
with artsy wind turbine walls, mechanical
kite flying robots if they exist, etc. Basically
anything that would look good and reduce
the cold winter winds would be amazing and
dramatically improve street life/activity.
Riley Curran
Kingfield
SHARE YOUR WISHES WITH US!
We’d love to hear your visions/ideas for the city. Send them to smckenzie@
southwestjournal.com, post them at Facebook.com/SWJournal or tweet
them using the hashtag #mplswishlist.
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B9
Ask the Veterinarian
By Olivia Mirodone
Tips for a lethargic cat
Q My cat Jazz has been having difficulty jumping lately and doesn’t want to
walk down the stairs to his litter box. I think he might have arthritis. Is there
something that can be done for him, or is he just getting old?
Arthritis is a very common condition in
cats. In fact, research shows that 90 percent
of cats over 12 years of age suffer from some
degree of arthritis.
Arthritis is a chronic degenerative disease of
the joint in which the cartilage of the joint is
damaged. Cartilage covers the ends of bones
and helps cushion the joint and allows it to
glide smoothly. When cartilage is damaged, a
series of inflammatory changes occurs, eventually leading to destruction of cartilage and the
underlying bone. Cartilage contains no nerves,
so if your pet is showing any signs of pain, the
source of it is the underlying bone.
Signs of arthritis include: reduced jumping,
more matting over the back (because it is more
difficult to bend to reach the lower back),
resistance to being brushed (because it hurts to
press on a sore back or legs), irritability, lameness and sometimes inappropriate urination
(because getting to and from the litter box is
more difficult). As the occurrence of these symptoms is
gradual, and usually happens in senior cats, pet
owners naturally think that their kitty is simply
getting old. Many times it is not until advanced
symptoms, such as limping, or other signs of
debilitation occur, that owners seek help from
their veterinarian. Your veterinarian can often
diagnose arthritis based on a physical exam and
radiographs of the suspected joints. Arthritis is almost always painful, and once
established, it does not go away. In fact, it
usually gets worse over time. Chronic pain,
even mild, will affect your cat’s disposition and
quality of life. Fortunately, with the advances in
the medical and pharmaceutical fields, there are
many options for treatment. In more advanced
cases a combination of the following therapies
will be employed.
Environmental changes are often
needed to accommodate cats with reduced
mobility. Some tips include: low profile litter
boxes, placement of steps to ease the cat’s access
to his favorite spots, moving the litter box from
the basement to the floor where the cat spends
most of her time, and heating disks or pads
(when supervised).
Weight control is extremely important. Overweight cats are predisposed to arthritic changes
and simply getting them to a good weight may
greatly reduce the severity of their clinical
signs. Cats that do not have kidney disease will
often benefit from a switch to a high protein,
low carbohydrate diet. It is easier to make a
low carbohydrate canned diet than a dry-food
diet, so many veterinary nutritionists recommend canned food exclusively for cats. For cats
that will eat only dry food, you could consider
Young Again, a Minnesota Company that
makes high-protein dry cat foods. There are many options for medications
when weight loss is not enough. Nutritional
supplements such as Glucosamine and omega
fatty acids can be very helpful. Dasequin is the
brand name of a joint supplement for cats that
you can sprinkle on their food. At Westgate Pet
Clinic, we have found that cats respond well to
injectable glycosaminoglycan (Adequan). These
injections are given in the muscle or under the
skin and are administered as an initial series
of six shots and then every four to eight weeks
as maintenance. Most cats will start to show
improved mobility after just a couple of injections. Acupuncture is also very helpful for cats
with arthritis and they tolerate the acupuncture
treatment quite well. For cats that are still having pain
and mobility issues from arthritis, your
veterinarian may prescribe a non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drug (like Onsior), a medication for chronic pain called Gabapentin, or
opioids in severe cases.
Despite the progressive nature of arthritis,
many things can be done to ensure that you
kitty will live a long and comfortable life.
Dr. Olivia Mirodone is a veterinarian at Westgate Pet
Clinic in Linden Hills. This column rotates among
vets at Westgate. Email your pet questions
to drhershey@westgatepetclinicmn.com.
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B10 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
Get Out Guide.
By Eric Best / ebest@southwestjournal.com
LARRY MILLET
Hot off the heels of his new book “Minnesota’s Own: Preserving Our Grand Homes,” local
author and architectural historian Larry Millet will give a talk on the state’s fascinating
houses. Photographer Matt Schmitt will join him, sharing photos of these historically
preserved buildings. Millet has made a name for himself combining his years as Pioneer
Press’ architecture critic and love of mystery novels with several Sherlock Holmes
books. He’ll also be appearing at the Cathedral of Saint Paul on Sunday, March 22 at 2:30
p.m. to talk about the highly regarded architect of the cathedral, Emmanuel Masqueray.
Where: Mill City Museum, 702 S. 2nd St.
When: Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m.
Cost: Free
Info: millcitymuseum.org
50TH & FRANCE ART CRAWL
Submitted photos
THERE ARE OTHER WORLDS
“There Are Other Worlds,” the first project of art collective Free Black Dirt, was met with
sold-out shows when it premiered in 2012. The play, set in 1999, tells the story of Amri
Akenyemi, a mother, activist, yogi and convict who goes through a journey of mending
relationships with her teenage daughters. The performance features aerial arts, music
and poetry to tell a relevant, yet complicated story. “There Are Other Worlds” also raises
questions of justice in the era of the Prison Industrial Complex.
The businesses at 50th & France are
hosting the fourth annual Art Crawl
with local and student artists. Local
businesses will have art on display
and guests will have a chance to meet
artists and view in-store exhibits.
Several celebrity judges, including
style expert Grant Whittaker, salon
owner Denny Kemp and blogger
Nicole Trigger, will also name the “Best
Of” works of art. Do a little shopping
and take a walk around participating
stores, from Red Cow to Fashion
Avenue, to enjoy some local art.
Where: 50th & France
When: March 21 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Cost: Free
Info: 50thandfrance.com
Where: Intermedia Arts, 2822 S. Lyndale Ave.
When: March 19 to March 21
Cost: $10 to $25
Info: intermediaarts.org
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B11
100+
St. Patrick’s Day:
Our picks
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ “100+”
exhibition features a photograph for every
year since the museum’s founding. The
work, selected from more than 12,000
images, reveals a timeline of the MIA’s
history and a snapshot into a century
of curating art. The “+” comes from the
collection, which pre-dates the building
and the MIA. This exhibition is a unique
opportunity to celebrate a museum that
Minneapolis residents have treasured for
decades or to bring first-time guests to
appreciate a breadth of art and history.
EVERYBODY’S
IRISH 5K
Where: Minneapolis Institute of Art,
2400 3rd Ave. S.
When: March 19 through Oct. 18
Cost: Free
Info: artistmia.org
If you’re looking for a more low-key St. Patrick’s Day, or
simply want to offset your beer consumption, then a
charity run around Lake Calhoun might be just what you
need. Everybody’s Irish 5K is a festive, non-competitive
race to raise money for Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of
Minnesota. For Northeast and downtown residents, look
out for the Get Lucky 7K and half marathon on the same
day, which begins in the Mill District and runs along the
Mississippi River’s east and west banks. These morning
excursions may just be the perfect way to celebrate with
family and friends or to get in the mood for a night out.
COUCHTRIPPIN’
TOUR
Where: Lake Calhoun Park,
2510 W. Calhoun Pkwy.
When: March 14 at 9:15 a.m.
Cost: $20 to $40
Info: busybodypromotions.com
Lagunitas and O+ Festival are once again
hosting a “CouchTrippin’” tour across the
country, bringing bands and beer along
the way. Soulful indie rockers Delta Spirit
and local up-and-comers Hippo Campus
are set to perform at the Minneapolis stop
of the tour at Aria. Artist Josh Reisz will
also be creating live art at this 21-and-up
party. Expect a sizable lineup of taps from
Lagunitas.
ST. PATS
BAR CRAWL
If you’re more inclined to the modern festivities of St.
Patrick’s Day, look no further than the St. Pats Bar Crawl.
In its second year, the crawl hits several lively hotspots
in downtown Minneapolis, including The Pourhouse,
508 Bar & Restaurant, Brothers, Jackson’s Hole and
The Depot. There’s an early check-in from 11 a.m. to 2
p.m. and the crawl will end around 6 p.m., so crawlers
can move onto another pub, grab dinner or call it quits.
Tickets include admission, gift cards for beverages,
drink specials, a St. Pats medallion and other prizes and
activities.
Where: Downtown Minneapolis
When: Saturday, March 14 from 12 to 6 p.m.
Cost: $12 to $25
Info: mydrinkon.com
ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
Perhaps the most historic tradition of Minneapolis’ St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, the parade has been a family-friendly mainstay
for nearly 50 years. Floats, musicians and other festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Nicollet and 11th and finish around 5th. The
host, the Saint Patrick’s Day Association, has a long list of sponsoring pubs and restaurants if parade-goers want to continue the
festivities on what is sure to be a busy bar night. If you’re looking for the pub experience, here are a few of our picks: Kieran’s Irish
Pub or Dan Kelly’s Pub in downtown, Morrissey’s Irish Pub in Uptown or George and the Dragon in Lynnhurst.
Where: Aria, 105 N. 1st St.
When: Thursday, March 12 from
7 to 11 p.m.
Cost: Free, but first come, first serve
Info: lagunitas.com
Where: Nicollet Mall between 11th and 5th streets / When: March 17 at 6:30 p.m. / Cost: Free / Info: mplsstpats.org
CROSSWORD PUZZLE
ACROSS
1 Cavern effect
5 Cornfield call
8 “Frozen” studio
14 Amorphous mass
15 “Say again?”
16 Mercedes-Benz sedan
line
17 Disapproving cries
from bleacher “birds”
18 Prefix with meter
19 “I do” setting
20 *Ornamental flower
with clustered blooms
23 Wall St. index
24 Steeped brew
25 Badlands bovine
29 “Green Eggs and Ham”
guy
31 Marshmallow-filled
snack
33 “I do”
36 *Blab about one’s
romantic life
39 Brainchild
Swiss folk tale suggested
by the ends of the
answers to starred clues
8 Tenth: Pref.
38 Elton John’s title
9 Crane who fled the
Headless Horseman
40 Linked while walking,
as friends
41 “Dancing With the
Stars” move
66 Online form entry
10 Hit very hard
67 __-fi
44 Circle of friends
42 Law school newbie
11 Snooze
68 Ireland, in poetry
45 H2O, to a toddler
43 *Luxury car until the
1930s
69 Sonnet features
12 Peoria-to-Cincinnati
dir.
49 Burrowing rodent
70 1930s N.L. home run
king Mel
13 French designer’s
initials
53 Put into law
46 Like deadpan humor
47 Bringing up the rear
48 Tail movement
71 __ avis
21 Shipbuilding wood
22 Hedy of Hollywood
52 Sculpted figure
55 “The Marriage of
Figaro,” e.g.
DOWN
26 Use up cash
56 Knack
51 Had a meal
1 Flows back
27 Persian Gulf ship
58 Rolls of money
54 Comment from Fido
2 Kids’ party performer
28 Nice __: prude
59 Agitated state
3 Twaddle
30 Teeny parasites
60 Funny Dame
4 Think constantly about
something
32 At the minimum setting
61 Big __, California
33 “Goodness me!”
62 Hearth remains
5 Food on the trail
34 Twin Cities suburb
63 “Yo!”
6 Review of books?
35 Like a run-down motel
7 Unbroken
37 Go after, as a mosquito
50 “Speak up!”
57 *Former PBS science
show with a fruit in its
title logo
61 African desert
64 Beat it
65 Body support for the
end of 57-Across, in a
Crossword Puzzle SWJ 031215 4.indd 1
Crossword answers
on page B12
3/9/15 2:01 PM
B12 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
Community Voices
By Ryan Stopera
A tale of two cities
T
here have been several articles written
lately on gentrification in Minneapolis.
The City Pages recently cited a study
published by Governing Magazine claiming
that Minneapolis is the third fastest gentrifying
city in the country.
A map in the study measuring patterns
across Minneapolis showed that over half of
the city has areas where home values were in
the bottom 40 percent of the metro in 2000,
while the median home values and percentage
of adults with bachelors degrees rose to the
top third percentile by 2013.
Most recently the Atlantic praised our city
in “The Miracle of Minneapolis” for its mix of
“affordability, opportunity, and wealth.” This data
and its implications have led to debates about the
changes happening in our city.
For some, gentrification can be exciting and
create new opportunities, for others it can be the
beginning of an anxiety-ridden struggle to keep
up. There is a loss of culture, welcome spaces
and, often, a place to live.
Historically gentrification has led to the
displacement of people from their homes.
Take the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, for
example. The construction of Interstate 94 forced
608 families, mostly African American, out of
their homes with no options for relocation. The
gentrification that exists today is slightly more
responsible, more complex and more nuanced.
Although families are not currently being
displaced by the economic progress of Minneapolis, they face tight budgets with a rising cost
of living. According to the National Low Income
Housing Coalition, Minneapolis has one of the
worst affordable rental markets in the Midwest,
with average rent for a two bedroom recently
surpassing $1,000 a month, and the vacancy rate
idling below 3 percent. A 2012 report by the U
of M stated that, “68 percent of female-headed
households in rental housing are paying costs
that exceed 30 percent of their income.” This is
not a result of people not working hard. Productivity has drastically increased over the past 40
years, while wages have stagnated.
Contrary to national praise, Minneapolis has
some of the country’s worst racial disparities in
education, employment, housing and low-level
arrests. Students of color are being suspended
•
We should look at the social
capital we have in our
residents and invest in a
future that creates a positive
change from the inside out.
— Ryan Stopera
at significantly higher rates than white students,
leading them down the school to prison pipeline.
By falling behind in underfunded schools and
communities early in life, it is nearly impossible
to reap the benefits of the utopian Minneapolis
that others enjoy as adults. This dichotomy
creates a city where some residents thrive, and
others struggle to simply survive.
I interviewed a senior director (who asked
to keep his name confidential due to license
requirements) at a major financial services
company in town to ask him about his perspective on life in Minneapolis. As an upper level
employee for a multinational company he stated,
“My job affords me the ability to live a comfortable lifestyle.” This level of comfort is a result of
his income increasing 475 percent in the 10 years
he has been employed there.
Like many successful people in Minneapolis he finds himself seeking housing in
one of the rapidly developing areas of the
city in Uptown. “I am moving to the Uptown
area in the spring,” he said. “I chose Uptown
because several friends live there and love it,
the proximity to a variety of restaurants and
entertainment, and the feeling of living in the
city while still having access to parks, lakes and
the Greenway.” Minneapolis has been good to
him, and has rewarded him for his hard work.
But do these opportunities exist for everyone?
I also interviewed Cecilia Guzman, who is a
cleaning worker for some of the newly developed
apartments in town. Cecilia reported working
Lights or power out,
circuit troubleshooting
if you are a fan of courage,
then you are already a fan
of Special Olympics.
•
Storm damage repair,
24 Hour Emergency service
volunteer, support, coach or compete.
•
Electrical panel upgrades,
fuse to circuit breaker panel
•
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fan installation & servicing
specialolympicsminnesota.org
763-544-3300
Harrison-Electric.com
for five days a week without pay for a month at
a time, and stated, “I went a month, then two
months, and I finally told my boss I can’t work
for free.” After months of not receiving compensation for her work, and going through the
stress of trying to keep up with her bills with no
income, she decided to leave. “I was afraid but
my friend told me about CTUL,” the Centro de
Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, who teach lowwage workers about their rights and train them to
organize. “I told my story, and after seeing other
workers leading their fight, I went to court and
won $1,200 in recovered wages.”
When I asked Cecilia, the 15-year resident
of Central Neighborhood, what she likes about
Minneapolis, she ironically said, “I like when the
weather is nice in the spring, and I also like the
cold. I really only have time to go to work, and
church on Sundays with my family.”
The mother of two lives with her children,
husband, and another family in a four-bedroom
house. We discussed what she would do if she
had a job with fair wages, and was paid on time.
Cecilia said she would simply, “Find a dignified
place to live to improve the lives of my children
and improve their well-being. The way we live
now is not dignified.”
So what does all of this mean? Economic
progress and growth is good for communities.
Nobody wants to see boarded up homes and
businesses going bankrupt.
The question is how do we create a city that
all of us can live in and enjoy? We must invest
in leaders in communities of color that exist
right here, support local business development,
affordable housing construction, and innovative
ventures such as renewable energy projects.
The Clean Energy Partnership in Minneapolis
holds great potential for Minneapolis to continue
to be a national leader in addressing climate
change. This is an opportunity to create green
jobs for frontline communities that are the most
directly affected by climate change, such as North
Minneapolis where children have the highest
rates of asthma in the state.
We must support the thousands of workers in
Minneapolis fighting to pass $15 minimum wage
at the city level, so that lower-income families
have more support in paying for rent and basic
needs, which would subsequently stimulate the
local economy. We should look at the social
capital we have in our residents and invest in
a future that creates positive change from the
inside out. Because in the words of Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.”
Ryan Stopera is a social worker and community
organizer in Minneapolis. He is on the board
of directors of MN Neighborhoods Organizing
for Change and the Lyndale Neighborhood
Association. Ryan is also working on clean
energy programs to create jobs in lower income
communities around the city. In his free time he
enjoys rock climbing and cycling.
Average Sale Price
in Southwest Minneapolis —
Feb 2012 — $260,000
Feb 2015 — $325,000
Do you know what your house
is worth today?
Join a health
MoveMent
Minneapolis Downtown YMCa
30 South Ninth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402
(P) 612-371-9622 (W) minneapolisymca.org
CROSSWORD ANSWERS
Find us at TodandLarry.com
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8:53 AM
Larry SWJ 031215 9.indd 1
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southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B13
Classifieds
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LINE CLASSIFIEDS
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MN # 5276
ROOF SNOW & ICE REMOVAL
we’re the replacement
window company!
(952) 746-6661
replacementwindowsmpls.com
FOR 35 YEARS
Roofing • Siding • Gutters • Insulation
Licensed • Bonded • Insured
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD COMPANY
A+
RAting
Phone/Fax: (612) 869-1177
BASEMENT WINDOW GUY
4/22/13 1:25 PM
Replacement Windows
Glass Block Windows
1
11/14/14
3/9/15 3:09 PM
651-216-2617
www.bernardosmasonry.com
Bernardo's Masonry SWJ 021215 2cx1.5.indd 3
Stylish Choices
Practical Solutions
Expert Service
|
ThompsonExteriors.com | Lic# BC007039 | Bonded | Insured
Commercial & Residential
PAINTING, LAWN & SNOW
TINY SANDMAN’S Painting, Lawn
& Snow Services for reliable and
quality work. Interior Finishing. Free
estimates. Accepting major credit
cards. Michael 612-729-2018.
www.tinysandman.com.
PLUMBING
EMPLOYMENT
EARN EXTRA MONEY
612-353-4646 EpicMasonryRestoration.com
CERAMIC TILE
AND NATURAL STONE
New contract customers only.
PREMIER LAWN & SNOW INC. Now
signing winter contracts:
Get same-day snow removal all
winter long! Over 25 years of quality
service. 952-545-8055.
www.premierlawnandsnow.com.
CHIMNEY, CONCRETE,
BRICK & STONE REPAIR
PERSONAL
SERVICES
Installation / remodeling / repairs.
35 years experience/references.
Steve 612-986-6947.
No job too small. Call Andrew,
612-363-0115
GUTTER CLEANING
Gutter cleaning, system flush,
maintenance, repair and gutter
guard installations. Handyman
Services. John 612-802-7670.
Alterations, repairs, hems, zippers,
buttons, unfinished projects.
Instruction. Dar, 612-867-7675.
PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES
SPRING FORWARD HOME
ORGANIZING
Free consultation; references.
612-377-9467.
HANDYPERSON
TM & © 2012 MGM.
Retired Handyman. Prefer small jobs;
Lake Harriet area. 651-247-1525.
Roofing · siding · Windows
Insulation
e
Lifetim ty
n
a
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War
FREE MONTH
THE SEWING TABLE
Call Tom Seemon 612-721-2530.
INSULATE
AND
SAVE!
FURNITURE REFINISHING, expert
refinishing and repair. 40 years
Experience, exc. refs.
Richard, 952-475-3728.
Painting, lawn mowing and furniture
refinishing. 612-202-5514.
Steps, sidewalks, patios, driveways,
Your Local Contractor For Over 40 Years!
etc. Licensed, bonded, insured.
1/28/14 10:55 AM
9/9/14 11:10
Epic Masonry
AM
Restoration SWJ 013014 2cx1.5.indd 2
REFINISHING
SNOW REMOVAL —
CONCRETE WORK
Thompson Exteriors SWJ 091114 2cx2.indd 1
Athena Care Plumbing #63580PM.
Serving Southwest since 1996.
Recommended by Settergren’s Ace
Hardware. Paul 612-558-2564.
www.athenacare.com.
HOME SERVICES
2/4/15 9:15 AM
Tuckpointing · Concrete Restoration · Brick-Block-Stone
Chimney & Foundation Repair · Waterproofing · Caulking
612.722.8428
Painting, wallpaper removal. 30 years
experience. Small jobs wanted.
Jim 612-202-5514.
Deliver to homes in Southwest
every other week. Must be 18+ with
vehicle and auto insurance. Average
route is 500-600 papers, takes
4-5 hours and pays $50-60. Email
distribution@mnpubs.com or call
612-436-4388.
Brick | Block
Stone | Concrete
IT’S MORE THAN YOUR ADDRESS. IT’S YOUR HOME.
Basement Window Guy SWJ 031215 2cx1.indd 1
PAINTER JIM
Experienced. Dave at 612-823-8955.
12:32 PM
FREE ESTIMATES 651-208-8210
Lic. #BC646746
ALONG CAME MUSIC
OFFERING MUSIC LESSONS
IN YOUR HOME!
One-on-one, weekly. Michael
O’Connor, MA 612-922-2640
SpanishMN.com.
A+ RATING
Bernardo’s Masonry
Topside Inc SWJ 112014 2cx2.5.indd
Window Outfitters SWJ 042913 2cx2.indd 1
PAINTER
LEARN SPANISH
Rob.olson@topsideinc.net
Topsideinc.net
Lic BC441059
EDUCATION
All instruments for all ages. Piano,
Voice, Guitar, Strings, Percussion,
Woodwinds, Brass taught by
professional musicians in your
home. Call Along Came Music
today! 651.204.0929 or visit
alongcamemusic.com.
Minneapolis, MN
basementwindowguy.com
MISCELLANEOUS / Music Lessons, Sanitation +
Call Us Today!
Local services. Local references. Local expertise.
612-343-3301 · www.midwestplus.com
Locally Owned • MN LIC# BC010277 • A+ Rating from BBB
Midwest Exteriors DTJ 120312 2cx3.indd 1
11/28/12 10:11 AM
@swjournal
government
parks
people
schools
C IT I E S M A S O N R
N
I
Custom Brick & Stone
W
Y
T
Tool Icons - Spring SWJ 2013 2cx2 filler.indd 1
3/29/13 10:37 AM
TO PLACE A LINE CLASSIFIED AD CALL
612.825.9205
Ron, 612-282-7957
pollandbrothers.com
Lic.# Bc667963
Owen Masonry SWJ 031314 2cx2.indd 1
Plaster Repair
Experts
3 Generations
Experience
FLOORING
1/30/14 10:56
TwitterAM
SWJ 2011 1cx2 filler.indd 1
7/19/11 Polland
3:27 PM
Brothers SWJ 110614 1cx2.indd
11/4/14
1
3:18 PM
“Repair Masters”
• Natural & Manufactured Stone • Chimneys • Steps
• Walkways • Pavers • Fireplaces • Retaining Walls
Southwest Resident for Over 40 Years
www.twincitiesmasonry.com
612.702.9210
Friendly Professional Service
• Serving the community for over 25 years
• Top
Twin Cities Masonry SWJ 100608 2cx1.5.indd
1 quality at competitive prices
9/24/08 10:00:50 AM
651-690-3956
SWJ 031215 classifieds_VAL.indd 1
Pates Roofing SWJ 031813 2cx1.indd 1
5% OFF
Call today!
“We don’t cut corners –
we scrape them!”
• Free estimates
• Committed to customer service
Licensed Bonded Insured • Lic. RR 155317
ESCOBAR
HARDWOOD FLOORS, LLC
• Installation
• Restoration
• Repairs
• Buff & Coat
Owner Operated • Bonded & Insured
www.harlanfloors.com • 612-251-4290
Harlan Hardwood SWJ NR2 2cx2.indd 1
2/12/13 2:44 PM
• Installation
• Repair
• Sanding
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Free Estimates, Insured • 14 years experience
952-292-2349
Escobar Hardwood Floors SWJ 092514 2cx1.indd 2
9/17/14 1:56 PM
TO PLACE AN AD CALL 612.825.9205
SOUTHWESTJOURNAL.COM
7/22/11 5:22 PM
3/10/15 10:03 AM
B14 March 12–25, 2015 / southwestjournal.com
FLOORING
8-time Angie’s list super
service award winner
There IS a Difference!
Interior Design Consultants • Stunning Window Treatments
Quality Carpet and Flooring
The Best Kept Secret
in the Twin Cities
www.earlsfloorsanding.com
Putting “Wow” in homes like yours for 70 years!
www.abbottpaint.com
Sanding
Install
Refinishing
Repair
9349 Bryant Ave S, Bloomington
Ask about our maintenance program
(952) 994-9696
www.uniquewoodfloor.com
LANDSCAPING
Abbott Paint SWJ 012915 2cx2.indd 1
1/13/15 Earls
3:36 Floor
PM Sanding SWJ 110614 2cx2.indd 1
10/31/14 11:20
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3/6/14 3:26 PM
FREE ESTIMATES FOR:
Tree Trimming · Tree Removal
Stump Grinding · Storm Damage
• Retaining Walls & Stairways • Landscape Renovation
• Paver Paths & Patios
• Grading & Drainage
• Tree & Shrub Planting
Corrections
LINDA WESTLING • 612-724-6383
Tree Service SWJ 091712 2cx2.indd 1
4/16/07 10:58:37
CleanAM
Slate SWJ 022615 1cx2.indd 12/24/15 Matt's
8:37 AM
Lawn Mowing
Cleanup / Dethatching
Aeration / Seeding
612-345-9301
Northeast
Peter Doran SWJ 012915 2cx2.indd 1
TREE
(612) 789-9255
northeasttree.net
Residential & Commercial
Free Estimates
Willie’s All Types
of Rubbish
Rubbish
Byron Electric
SWJ 052713 1cx1.indd 5/20/13
1
Hauling Clean Up
Parking Lots • Driveways
Patching & Repairs
FOR EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL
Residential & Commercial
Free Estimates
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connect with us
11/12/14 11:26 AM
WWW.MJELECTRICMN.COM
MJELECTRIC@COMCAST.NET
612.267.3285
MJ Electric SWJ 112014 1cx3.indd 111/13/14 That
1:19Handy
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10/3/14 12:03 PM
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Houle Insulation Inc.
• Owner Operated
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE ON
ATTIC INSULATION • BYPASS SEALING
SIDEWALL INSULATION
Licensed and Insured • Free Estimates / 24 hr emergency service
CleanSlate
612-598-0793
@swjournal
facebook.com/swjournal
Our specialty is your
y
existing home!®
(612) 729-9454
MISCELLANEOUS
FAST - AFFORDABLE - TRUSTED
Willies Rubbish Hauling SWJ 091007
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10:17:24
1 AM
George & Lynn Welles
7/2/09 2:58 PM
Our Contractors
•
www.houleinsulation.com
763-767-8412
PAINTING
Houle Insulation SWJ 010107 2cx21 1
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•
Storm damage
Emergency
service
Bath exhaust
fan installations
& servicing
Interior • Exterior
612-978-8158
Mention this ad for 10% OFF!
www.rhp.mn • 612-221-8593
reachhigherpainting@gmail.com
703 19th Ave. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418
TOTAL SANITATION SERVICE, INC. Reach Higher Painting and Drywall SWJ 082814 2cx1.indd
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8:45 AMGuy SWJ 2013 1cx2 filler.indd3/28/13
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•
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breaker panel
upgrades
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11/24/14
1
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(612) 250-8631
•
763-544-3300
Harrison-Electric.com
REACH HIGHER PAINTING
cleanslatemn.com
1
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612-861-2575
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RESIDENTIAL – COMMERCIAL
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See website for more info: www.totalsanitationmn.com
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15 years as a handyman and
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Free Estimates
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Lights or
power out
•
•
Serving the Twin Cities since 1977
have local references
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1:13 PM
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Certified Arborists (#MN-0354 & #MN-4089A)
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8/31/12 10:15 AM
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612-861-6009
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1/27/15 11:35 AM
cell: 612-310-5559
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Stump Grinding
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• Commercial & Residential
• ISA Certified Arborist
(new contract
customers only)
612-750-5724
peterdoranlawn.com
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Residential
Commercial
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Snow Removal
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1 MONTH
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of snow
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1/15/15
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612.706.8210
changingleaflandscaping.com 612-483-2800
changingleaflandscaping@gmail.com
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Insured
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Landscape Design/Maintenance
Patios/Retaining Walls • & More
Licensed
SPRING’S AROUND
THE CORNER
greg@chileenpainting.com | chileenpainting.com
Local Painters. Green Solutions.
612-850-0325
7/2/12 10:37 AM
– Linden Hills
Painting & Wallcovering Co.Chileen Painting SWJ 031813 2cx2.indd
1
3/8/13 8:32 AM
A SW tradition of excellence
since 1970
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612-227-1844
grecopainting.com
together, realizing potentials
(612) 799-0068 | Jack.Eickhof@gmail.com
JACK EICKHOF
College Pro Painters
Franchise Manager
CALL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE, NO OBLIGATION ESTIMATE
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7/21/14
1
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Tiny Sandman's SWJ 031215 1cx1.indd
3/9/15
2
11:18 AM
College Pro Painters SWJ 022615 2cx1.5.indd 1
3/10/15 10:03 AM
2/16/15 3:05 PM
southwestjournal.com / March 12–25, 2015 B15
REMODELING, CONTRACTORS
PAINTING
Carson’s Painting,
Insured • Lic # BC639759
Bathrooms • Basements
Kitchens • Additions • Garages • Decks
Exteriors • Concrete • Landscaping
Handyman Services,
& Snow Removal
(612)
390-5911
www.bwbe.net • 763-350-9588 • Free Estimates
• Wallpaper removal
& hanging
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repair
• All facets of interior
call today!
painting
• Stripping &
EXTERIOR &9/19/141 1:43 PM “trim” restoration
Carson's Painting SWJ 092514 1cx1.5.indd
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Your vintage home remodeler
612-310-8023
HomeRestorationInc.com
Dave Novak
30 yrs. experience
Lic • Bond • Ins
PROTECTPAINTERS.com
SouthwestJournal.com
%Daily Value*
Local News
100%
Design/Construction
•Tables
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612-964-4037
VANMADRONEMETALWORKS.COM
inspiredspacesmn.com
612.360.4180
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11/18/08 10:22:14 AM
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National News
PLUMBING, HVAC
Hyperlocal SWJ 2013 2cx1 NR2.indd 1
7/22/13 11:38 AM
Under One Roof
Architecture New Construction
Remodel Custom Cabinetry
Millwork
3:02 PM
• PATIOS
2/17/14
• STEPS
• DRIVEWAYS
1
UrbanConcreteWorks.com
National Custom Builder of the Year
Custom Home Magazine, 2006
Cole Montgomery • 612-202-1069
cole@urbanconcreteworks.com
A Luxurious
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651-426-3289
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Specializing in
Reproduction
Kitchens & Baths
No project is too small for good design
F R E E E S T I M AT E S
WWW
W. PA I N T I N G B Y J E R R Y W I N D. C O M
Hyperlocal Facts
Lic: BC637388
11/4/14 1:55 PM
•Hand Railings
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(612) 827-614
(612
827-6140 or (651) 699-6140
Painting byServing
Jerry Wind SWJ
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Building Traditions & Remodeling Homes
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pollandbrothers.com
Polland
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2:15 PM
1Brothers SWJ 110614 2cx1.5.indd 1
• Interior SWJ
& Exterior
Painting82/10/10 3:29 PM
NovakPaint
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2/24/14
1 •3:53
PM
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•
•
•
•
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(612) 221-4489
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6/3/13 11:04 AM
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3/10/15 10:04
1 AM
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1/23/121 1:41 PM
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3/24/14 10:02 AM
6/10/13 3:28 PM
Do something Zen. Remodel.
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Boilers
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•
Tool Icons - Fall SWJ 2013 1cx2 filler.indd
3/25/131 11:35 AM
•
since 1904
612-282-2959
www.zahlerheating.com
Cross off
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all your p
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2/20/15 11:41 AM
(612) 789-7070
www.otogawa-anschel.com
Install a new kitchen or
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3/2/15 10:53
Otogawa-Anschel
AM
SWJ 082211 2cx3.indd 1
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46. 50
OFF
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EST. 1914
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8/9/11 3:53 PM
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and save
Garbage disposal repairs
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Faucet that drips
BC-20322423
3/10/15 10:04 AM
3/7/13 3:35 PM
Fusion Home Improvement SWJ 021314 2cx3.indd 1
1/31/14 10:44 AM

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