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Photo by Amanda Kushner
Passengers exit the Northstar after the inaugural ride earlier this month.
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Community notebook :: Northstar Rail
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By Amanda Kushner
North Loop
Northstar Commuter Rail opens
On Nov. 13 around 5 p.m., those waiting at Target Field Station could see a light shining in the distance. For the first time, after more than a decade of work, the Northstar Commuter Rail was roaring toward Downtown with passengers on board. As passengers exited the train the key players in the commuter rail’s launch shared the same sentiments, “It’s finally here.”
When Metropolitan Council Chair Peter Bell opened the program he stressed that the $317 million project is 10 weeks early and $10 million under budget. Speakers at the event included Rep. Jim Oberstar, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. The many speakers stressed that the 40-mile commuter rail is only halfway done and upon completion will extend to St. Cloud.
Klobuchar ended her speech with a story about the movie the Polar Express and knowing where the train is going then referring to the Northstar’s route. “It is going to Fridley. It is going to Coon Rapids. It is going to Elk River. It is going to Anoka. It is going to Big Lake. And ultimately it will go to St. Cloud.”
Peter Rogoff, of the Federal Transit Administration, said the extension can’t take as long as the rail initially took to build. On opening day, Nov. 16, when the Northstar launched and the Hiawatha extension opened, 1,207 passengers boarded that morning. About 3,400 people are expected to ride the rail each week.
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Ballpark Watch: Seat installation nearly done
The installation of seats at Target Field is nearly complete.
Twins spokesman Chris Iles estimates that less than 1,000 of about 38,500 seats remain to be installed.
Some of the installed seats are chairs with wood backs, the first installed in a stadium since World War II. Iles called the seats classic, and a lot of the ash wood is from Michigan, which has been impacted by the emerald ash borer.
Also in the past couple of months a flagpole from the Metropolitan Stadium was installed at Target Field. The flagpole ended up at an American Legion and when a baseball historian found it, the American Legion donated the pole to the new stadium, Iles said.
In the past month a piece of public art — a large glove — was added to Target Field.
“The idea is that kids can crawl up into it and have their picture taken,” said Dan Mehls, Mortenson construction executive.
Then later in the spring statutes of Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew will be added to the plaza. The statutes are currently being fabricated, he said.
Minor adjusts were recently finalized on the stadium lights.
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New stadium and a new look
In accord with changes at Target Field, on Nov. 16, the Twins announced new uniforms and logos for the inaugural season. An inaugural season logo will include the roof canopy and Downtown skyline at Target Field. Then an anniversary logo will commemorate the teams 50 years in the state. A throwback uniform will be worn on Opening Day and at Saturday home games, and the retro uniforms look similar to those worn during the Twins first season in the state. New primary road uniforms are grey and without pinstripes, and they’ll sport Minnesota in a script inspired by the player’s jackets from 1961–1986. ——— North Loop and Loring Park
Bike thefts on the rise
Bicycle thefts in Loring Park and the North Loop have increased over the past few weeks, particularly thefts from underground garages, according to a police advisory from the Minneapolis Police Department.
In many of the incidents, a white male of medium height and build wearing a coat or hoodie was seen in the area. The department advises cyclists to park their bikes in a locked bicycle storage area or bicycle locker if possible and not in garages, or if left in garages to lock it to a stationary item. Also the department suggests waiting for overhead doors to close behind cars before proceeding to avoid people slipping into garages. Also take note of the bike make, model and serial number, so if a bike is stolen it may get returned to the proper owner.
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Loring Park
Love Loring
Citizens for a Loring Park Community will host their first annual benefit on
Feb. 11. Love Loring, an event including entertainment and a silent auction, will be from 6–9 p.m. at The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis, 410 Oak Grove St.
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Curry buffet holiday party
The Loring Neighborhood Holiday Party with a curry dinner buffet will be from 6–8 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the “Mansion on the Hill,” 228 Clifton Ave. It’s an opportunity to meet your neighbors, celebrate the holidays and tour the historic mansion. A $10 donation will go to Citizens for a Loring Park Community. For more information contact 874-9002.
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Light Up Loring Park
Light Up Loring Park, a tree lighting at the park will be from 6–8 p.m. on Dec. 9 at 1382 Willow St. Following the 6:10 p.m. tree lighting there will be free horse drawn carriage rides from 6:30–7:30 p.m. and then music, refreshments, an outdoor bon fire and a performance from Kairos Dance Company will follow from 7–8 p.m. Light Up Loring Park is sponsored by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Friend of Loring Park and Citizens for a Loring Park Community.
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Downtown
Cans for a Cause offers discounted hotel rate at Hyatt
The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis will offer a discount of up to 50 percent off room rates for customers donating non-perishable food items as part of Cans for a Cause food drive. The Hyatt is teaming up with Second Harvest Heartland, the largest hunger-relief organization in the Upper Midwest, to help provide food for those in need. Second Harvest works with more than 960 local food shelves, programs and shelters. Hyatt customers will receive a 5 percent discount on the Hyatt daily rate for every can, up to 10 cans, that they bring to the front desk at time of check-in. The food drive will run through Dec. 30.
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The Scene launches at In the Heights
A new group for theater-goers ages 21–39 will allow members to network, contribute to the arts, learn and participate in service activities.
“There is so much talent and capability, especially in the Twin Cities area, within the arts community,” said Hennepin Theatre trust spokesman Karen Nelson describing the young people in the group.
The Scene will officially launch at the “In the Heights” premiere, but so far the group had a preliminary event as part of a tech rehearsal at 101 Dalmatians and taken tours of the Orpheum Theatre.
Interim Board Chair Erin Harney said she’s attended Broadway shows since she was 10, and it’s the first time she got to watch a tech rehearsal.
“This is all what the scene is all about — is these exclusive opportunities to do stuff that normally you wouldn’t get to do,” Harney said.
It’s a great way to meet people that enjoy seeing Broadway musicals, going to comedy events, or seeing musicians in smaller venues, she said, stressing that the group focuses on arts and entertainment and not just musical theater.
Membership is $45 or there is an $80 couples membership, but those attending the “In the Heights” kick-off event on Dec. 1 will pay $60 for a year membership, event tickets and tickets to a pre- and post- party. The Scene is connected to Hennepin Theatre Trust and is run by a volunteer advisory board of young professionals in the Twin Cities.
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Celebrate Movember
Joe Wilkie shaved his moustache on Nov. 1 and for the past month he has been slowly growing it back to raise money for prostate and testicular cancer.
Wilkie, sales and marketing manager for Shout House Dueling Pianos in Block E, 600 Hennepin Ave., found out about the fundraiser — called Movember — through Facebook.
Shout House funds will benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Lance Armstrong Foundation.
The Shout House will host a mo party Dec. 3 to celebrate the efforts and moustaches. The 12 members on the Shout House Team are competing with other local teams including The Moustaches Make Veterinarians More Attractive and The SlyJackets.
This is the first year the Shout House has participated, but it already has plans to continue the Movember tradition.
Wilkie said the team hopes to raise $500.
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City declares snow emergency
UPDATED February 8, 2010, 1:28pm
By Cristof Traudes
With snow falling almost non stop since Sunday, the City of Minneapolis this afternoon declared a snow emergency.
Starting at 9 p.m. today, cars will not be allowed to be parked on either side of snow emergency route streets. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow, cars should only park on the odd side of non-snow emergency route streets, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, cars should only park on the even side of non-snow emergency route streets. Cars parked on the wrong sides of streets will be ticketed and towed.
To look up what streets are affected when, click here. More information is at ci.minneapolis.mn.us/snow.
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Development update :: AIA MN kicks off weekend of pro bono design
By Gregory J. Scott
It could be a scene out of some Bravo reality television show. Beginning at about 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13, teams of student and professional designers will have less than 24 hours to turn nonprofit proposals into graphic realities. The one-day scramble is part of the 23rd annual Search for Shelter Charrette, a weekend of pro-bono design organized by the American Institute of Architects Minnesota’s Housing Advocacy Committee. Nonprofits that lack the funds to hire a professional design firm submit wish-list building proposals — anything from a simple redesign of a lobby space to an inside-out renovation of an entire apartment complex. Then volunteer architects, landscape architects and interior designers collaborate to produce visual tools
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Park Board votes to open search for next superintendent
UPDATED February 4, 2010, 9:05am
By Cristof Traudes
President says Superintendent Jon Gurban has done great work but that moving on 'happens as the natural growth of an organization' The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is set to move beyond Superintendent Jon Gurban, voting 6–3 Wednesday night to begin a search for candidates.
It’s the will of Minneapolis’ residents, said a majority of the board that included all three new commissioners. The campaign trail sealed Southwest’s Brad Bourn and Anita Tabb’s decision, they said, while Northeast’s Liz Wielinski said people brought up the issue repeatedly last fall.
But three of the board’s longest-serving commissioners fought back, stringing along a discussion that dominated the night’s meeting.
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'Beyond Our Differences' screening on Friday
UPDATED February 3, 2010, 5:02pm
By Sarah McKenzie
There will be a special screening of the documentary “Beyond Our Differences,” a film exploring the positive impact of religion and spirituality in the world, at the Mayo Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota campus Friday.
Peter Bisanz, the film’s director, will be on hand after the screening for a Q&A session.
Bisanz of St. Paul is the director and founder of New York-based Entropy Films. He is one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders — a group of people committed to turning their visions for positive change into action on a variety of important social causes.
In a recent interview, Bisanz said the concept for “Beyond Our Differences” came about while he was at the Dalai
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Twin Citites janitors vote to authorize strike
UPDATED February 1, 2010, 10:38am
By Gregory J. Scott
A near unanimous vote by over 500 union members has given Downtown janitors the authority to strike. Over 4,000 janitors in the Twin Cities have been working without a contract since Jan. 8. Negotiations with cleaning contractors have made little progress since then, and last Saturday's vote gives the bargaining committee the power to call a strike. Two more negotiation dates have been scheduled over the following weeks, but the affirmative vote means that the janitors who clean the vast majority of Downtown office buildings could walk off the job at any time. One of the major sticking points in talks is the green cleaning agenda proposed by the janitors. SEIU Local 26 has sought a transition to day shift cleaning, which the union argues could reduce
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Northeast spotlight :: Crafty entrepreneurs
By Sarah McKenzie
Stroll into I Like You and you are bound to find something that catches your eye. There are adorably hip outfits for little ones, artwork by notable local artists like Amy Rice and Adam Turman and all kinds of other handmade odds and ends you likely won’t find anywhere else. Owners Sarah Sweet and Angela Lessman recently moved their store to the neighborhood after a couple years in Kingfield in southwest Minneapolis. They plan on offering craft classes this spring to inspire other people in the community to tap into their own creative powers. Sweet recently spoke with the Downtown Journal about the business. DTJ: What do you look for when thinking about items for your store? Sweet: We look for things that you
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Community notebook :: Janitors’ union sets strike vote
By Gregory J. Scott
1 Comment
Janitors’ union sets date for strike voteAfter two full weeks of working without a contract, a union representing more than 4,000 Twin Cities janitors decided last week to set a strike authorization vote over unfair labor practices. The vote was scheduled to take place on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the union’s weekly member meeting. At press time, the outcome was not yet known, but the Downtown Journal has been posting web updates regarding this story at downtownjournal.com. SEIU Local 26 — Minnesota’s Property Services Union, which represents security officers and window cleaners in addition to janitors — had arranged for two additional weeks of negotiations at the end of last year, pushing the final deadline for a new
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Study shows uptick in Downtown skyway traffic
By Gregory J. Scott
If you’ve noticed a bit more jostling during your skyway lunch dashes, you’re not alone. Foot traffic in the elevated corridors jumped 4 percent in 2009, and in some areas pedestrian counts reached a 10-year high. The uptick is the major take-away from a report issued last week from Minneapolis-based Pedestrian Studies, a national consulting firm that analyzes foot-traffic patterns for people whose business depends on that sort of thing — shopping centers, property managers, organizers of public events. Pedestrian Studies founder Peter Bruce has conducted annual skyway counts in Minneapolis since 1991. For this study, Bruce focused on the corridors connected to Downtown’s major buildings, including City Center, Gaviidae Common, Northstar
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Biz buzz :: The Forum
By Gregory J. Scott
New restaurant to open in former Goodfellows spaceA former executive at Cargill is opening a new restaurant in City Center, taking over the space previously occupied by Goodfellows. The new restaurant, called The Forum, will blend comfort-food favorites and traditional chop house fare. It will also offer a “changing destination menu” that every month highlights a different culinary tradition from a region of the United States. Chef Christian Ticarro, executive chef at the Canyon Grille in Coon Rapids, will head the kitchen. The opening is planned for early April. The Forum takes over one of Minneapolis’ most historic spaces, the old Forum Cafeteria, which operated from the 1930s to the 1970s. The space was most recently
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Proposal would double fundraising needs for planetarium
By Cristof Traudes
In a shaky economy, it’s hard enough just to raise money. Try watching thought-to-be-secured dollars fall away. That’s what backers of the Minneapolis Planetarium project have been doing in the weeks since Gov. Tim Pawlenty presented his 2010 bonding proposal, a bill that would delete $22 million that’s been guaranteed to the Minneapolis Planetarium Society since 2005. Without the bonding, the society is looking at more than double the amount of money they need to raise to get the long-planned project up and running. “If the $22 million goes away, I think we have to really reconsider how everything looks,” said Angus Vaughan, president of the Minnesota Planetarium Society. The proposed planetarium would be a $35 million
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A tale of two housing markets
By Gregory J. Scott
// What do the 2009 numbers mean for Downtown? //The number of sales swelled, but median prices plummeted. Affordability reached a record high, but so did foreclosures and short sales. Realtors feel a twinge of optimism, but economists keep a nervous vigil. Since its release two weeks ago, a year-end report on the 2009 Twin Cities housing market has generated mixed emotions and mixed data, matching nearly every encouraging sign of a turn-around with a reason to keep hopes in check. And while real estate watchers metro-wide have chimed in with outlooks for the Twin Cities as a whole, getting an isolated assessment for Downtown has proven more difficult. “We stray from offering specific, neighborhood-level
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