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Happening now: protest against Mayor Jacob Frey’s veto of all-day bus lanes in the Hennepin Ave. South redesign. Participants are chanting, “the climate is changing, the street needs rearranging.”
Introducing the Twin Cities Media Group – a collaborative effort from a few independent local media organizations working together to build thriving, resilient local media in the Twin Cities.
According to multiple sources, Superintendent Ed Graff has resigned from MPS. His resignation comes after a nearly three-week strike by district educators.
New business alert: Flipside, a dispensary and music store, is coming to 36th & Bryant. Their official opening date is Saturday, December 16th.
They’re filling in the long-vacant space previously held by Calhoun Pet Supply, which closed at the onset of the pandemic.
The City is encouraging people to pick up free sand to help manage icy sidewalks. We just visited the Southwest location at 60th and Harriet and there is no sand.
An encampment under the 35W bridge on 31st Street was cleared this morning. “They came early,” an encampment resident said. “My tent was the first one.” Cement barricades fill the sidewalk where the encampment was.
An update on this story that David originally broke – as of last week, this proposal is officially dead. The plan was met with opposition by a handful of residents in the neighborhood, and because they couldn't reach a consensus, the group won't be moving forward with it.
1/ Folks on Lake Harriet’s east shore are talking about spending $50,000 to $100,000 a year for unarmed security patrols who will call the cops. “Primary confrontation is not the patrol’s MO; however, they will approach to establish the nature of an unusual occurrence.”
Hi it's Melody, I'm at the City press conference about snow clearance issues. Major news. Starting tomorrow at 9 pm tomorrow, Minneapolis is going to one-sided parking.
My name is Soren Stevenson and I’m excited to announce my run for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 8! I’m running to fight for transformational change toward the kinder, safer Minneapolis we all deserve.
According to CM Jason Chavez, the City Council meeting was moved to today without consent from the Muslim councilmembers. This flipped the rent stabilization ordinance vote with three people missing. CM Jason Chavez is visibly upset and has said as much.
Out here at the official opening of the new Bryant Avenue. About 70 people out here on a chilly morning. Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher is kicking things off by thanking all of the staff members and contractors that worked on the project.
Minneapolis needs an updated flag. So let's design a new one together. Submit your design by January 15, 2024. Or Melody's weird cat flag is going to win.
The community has been fighting for safety improvements on Lyndale Ave for years. Hennepin County made some changes to the street last year. Now, crashes are down by 56%.
Hi everyone! I’m Henry, a freelance journalist based in Mpls. I’ll be livetweeting tonight’s meeting where committee members will interview finalists for Met Council’s District 6 seat! I’ve been told all the candidates will be virtual. Right now, it’s me, John Choi, and staff
Ribbon cutting this morning for the stretch of Franklin Avenue between Lyndale and Hennepin. The street reopens today with a new design, separated bike lane, rumble strips, new boulevard plantings, upgraded hydrants, and more accessible curb features.
The Uptown Transit Station waiting area is closing tomorrow until round-the-clock security can be staffed. Met Council is on its way to approve a contract with Allied Universal. Their guards have a history of killing people.
The city's subpoenaing of reporter materials sets a dangerous precedent that's fundamentally incompatible with the idea of a free and independent press. Southwest Voices stands unequivocally with the journalists being targeted by the city.
The
@MNReformer
will not be intimidated. We will continue to aggressively pursue our reporting, and protect our newsgathering rights from interference by government officials.
Bicyclists were angry that yet another vehicle was parked in the bike lane (make that two trucks with giant trailers). Can vehicles really park in a bike lane every day for a whole month?
Great night last night at the
@mnspj
awards ceremony, where
@h_pan3
took home third place in the investigative reporting for small publications category. Huge congratulations to them and all the other winners and nominees along with a big thanks to the organizers.
Loring Corners, home to Café & Bar Lurcat, HiFi Hair & Records, and more, will soon get new life with Fawkes Alley Coffee, Gai Noi, and the Birchbark Books events space.
A larger plan to convert the alley into a pedestrian mall is in the works as well.
Councilmember Chughtai writes about what it will take to help people get off the streets and into shelters and housing. "If we choose not to look away and instead respond with kindness, we can end housing insecurity in our community."
If you want to learn more about Soren Stevenson, who won the DFL endorsement for the Ward 8 City Council seat over Andrea Jenkins today, here’s our interview with him from back in March:
NEW: City Council President Andrea Jenkins, the first transgender candidate to win DFL backing in a Minneapolis council election when she first ran in 2017, has failed to get the party's endorsement this year.
The unsheltered resident we spoke with said they were not aware of the impending blizzard. When we showed them the weather report they said they’d seek shelter near the Mall of America.
Ok, we’ve had a few good additions in the comments, so we’re putting out an open call - what mysterious property in your neighborhood do you want us to track down information about?
@SWVoicesMPLS
I have a feature suggestion: What Is Up With That Long-Vacant Lot? Find the owner, ask wtf are they waiting for. (This is by Mercado Central, 38th/Nic.)
"She is free to disagree with our positions, but to say she can’t even recall the policies brought forward by our campaign is not a productive way to interact with such a large plurality of Ward 13 constituents..."
We reached out to the City of Minneapolis and they confirmed that MnDOT was responsible for the clearance of the 35W/31st St. encampment. Reached out to MnDOT this morning and are awaiting a response.
We just tried calling the Hennepin County adult and family shelter lines. The adult shelter phone line closed at 5 p.m. and the family shelter line went to voicemail. We left a message hoping to hear back about how many shelter beds are currently available.
A young woman almost died when she was hit by a driver speeding down Hennepin Ave. The driver had a suspended license and spent 45 days in jail. With another high-speed crash in the news, the question remains: why are consequences for drivers so lax?
VERY COOL THING ANNOUNCEMENT: We partnered with
@JXTA_ARTS
to make a map of Southwest MPLS. And it’s…very cool.
We’re doing a small screen-print run of these maps. Anyone who is a booster-level member by July 1 will have a map hand-delivered to them.
OPINION: founding members of the Southwest Equity Alliance argue CM Linea Palmisano didn't represent her racial and social justice voting record accurately at the Ward 13 forum last week.
That didn’t take long - a new restaurant called Thai Curry Restaurant is going into the space that Young Man vacated at 3752 Nicollet. They’ll be open in the next couple months.
The family that is opening the restaurant is the same one behind Mela Thai Cuisine in West St. Paul.
Here’s the latest construction update on the new Bde Maka Ska pavilion. It’s scheduled for a mid-summer opening date. The pavilion will host Pimento Jamaican Kitchen and Lola's on the Lake.
Eat Street Crossing, featuring Bebe Zito ice cream, burgers, and their new Ouro Pizzaria Brazilian pizzas, Ramen Shoten and Sushi Dori from the Zen Box Izakaya team, Chatime boba tea, a new bottle shop, and more officially has an opening date: March 4th.
SECTION 2A BOYS HOCKEY FINAL
Minneapolis 3
Delano 1
Go crazy, Minneapolis. You’re headed to
#TheTourney
Heck of a game between two great teams.
#DHJSports
@FollowThePuck
"An end of an era," John Edwards said, who popularized Lake Chipotle through his
@WedgeLIVE
posts. A tourism bureau and TV news crews came many years later. Construction crews are expected to be done paving the paradise of Lake Chipotle by June.
Votes are pouring in. A brief snapshot... Ward 7 is close to deadlocked.
1st choice:
CASHMAN – 48.4%
GRAHAM – 47.7%
FOXWORTH – 3.6%
2nd choice:
CASHMAN – 32.3%
GRAHAM – 31.4%
FOXWORTH – 34.1%
After a closed session today, the City Council failed to pass a motion by CM Vetaw to award Sgt. Andrew Bittell's workers comp claim of $150,000 (there was a previous clerical error of the claim being $145,000).
After serving as the home for Hilltribe’s rotating pop-ups, including Slurp, Mee-ka, and Mov, the restaurant on the southwest corner of Lake & Bryant will officially become Union Hmong Kitchen’s 2nd location later this week.
We sat down with Ward 7 City Council candidate Katie Cashman to hear more about her views on climate, public safety, Downtown, housing, the Hennepin Avenue redesign, why she decided to run, and more.
She also shared her favorite National Park (Arches).
A recording of the school board meeting shows Graff present up to about 41:08. After the board came back from a recess, he had left. His stated reason for leavng the meeting was because student protesters had used profanity.
A dispatch from Guse Hardware at 46th & Bryant: “Better that they drive six blocks to get here or 10 blocks to get here than 10 miles to go to Home Depot, plus the money stays in the city. Home Depot’s money goes to Atlanta.”
The Bad Waitress has announced they will be closing their doors at the end of this month. The restaurant has been an Eat Street staple on the corner of 26th & Nicollet for the last 18 years. They’ll be open through January 29th if you want to stop by and pay your respects.
We’re collaborating with MinnPost this year on some election coverage. Check out this guide on All of MPLS, Minneapolis for the Many, the Downtown Council, Faith in Minnesota, and other influential groups that will play a role in this year’s election.
Ward 7 candidate Scott Graham's 290 housing code violations can mostly be attributed to setting up rental licenses, some tenant behaviors. Jiahong Pan
@h_pan3
has the full story and all of the violations here. 👇
BREAKING: In an email from YWCA Minneapolis President and CEO Shelley Carthen Watson,
the organization announces they will be closing their Uptown and Downtown locations in November. They are planning to sell the buildings.
Josh Martin (
@JoshMartinMpls
) has crunched the 2022 City Council voting numbers. Here is his year-end analysis of what kind of votes the City Council were divided on and the common voting blocks seen during those votes, with a focus on Southwest CMs.
The City is encouraging people to pick up free sand to help manage icy sidewalks. We just visited the Southwest location at 60th and Harriet and there is no sand.
SK Coffee is officially open at 2401 Lyndale Ave S. Here are a few shots of the new space.
They’re open 8 - 4 every day, and will have food from Vikings & Goddesses (Saturday - Wednesday) and Laune Bread (Thursdays & Fridays).
New clues revealed in the Uptown Theater sign mystery at City Hall yesterday: New owners chucked the historic letters, new sign will be installed in six months. All without permission from the City.
We believe the Twin Cities is entering another renaissance era for local media, and it’s important that we support each other along the way if we want to continue to thrive and grow.
The City Council chambers is at capacity this morning as people show up in support of a rent stabilization policy and a resolution honoring drag as a form of free speech.
We caught up with Rae Bullinger who was recently featured in the New York Times' "The Hunt" series. She decided against buying a house in Southwest but told us it wasn't personal. Read more about her experience here. 👇
An organizer with the Justice for Justine group formed in the aftermath of Justine Damond's death talks about his experiences trying to change the Minneapolis Police Department, Amir Locke, and what he think all Southwest residents need to do now.
The workers comp claim for Sgt. Andrew Bittell does not pass at City Council Policy & Gov't Oversight Committee, with a vote of 1-4. (Vetaw yes, Koswki, Chavez, Wonsley, Johnson no).
If the three absent members were present, the motion would have likely passed. CMs Chughtai and Osman wrote the ordinance and Ellison routinely votes in support of rent stabilization and voted in favor of this ordinance on May 25.
Looking at the further decimal places, it appears this is correct.
Jenkins is technically at 48.3186% vs. Stevenson’s 47.8471%. That comes in at a difference of 0.4715%, or under the half a percentage point threshold needed for a publicly-funded recount.
Now split into two retail spots, the former Larue's space at 40th and Lyndale will be filled with women-owned businesses Dandelion Fiber Company and Love Token in September.
The Southwest Business Association asked a neighborhood org to write a letter asking for last minute changes to the Bryant Ave reconstruction. They did. Now those changes are being made.