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Photo by Nicole Aufderhar
Southwest High School junior Louisa Carroll, a member of the Minneapolis Alpine Ski Team, competes in a slalom race at Hyland Ski and Snowboard Area in Bloomington.
By Dylan Thomas
For Minneapolis Alpine Ski Team racers C.J. Savage and Kyle Schwartz, the appeal of their chosen sport is found in both the head-to-head competition and the chairlift camaraderie.
Then there is a third factor, the one that drew them to skiing in the first place: speed.
“It’s fast,” Savage said. “It entertains me a lot more than many sports.”
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City declares snow emergency
UPDATED February 8, 2010, 1:27pm
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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Neighborhood notebook
By Sarah McKenzie, Dylan Thomas and Jake Weyer
CARAG
Newspaper proposal withdrawn CARAG residents approved a motion to support the current management structure of the Uptown Neighborhood News in January, putting an end to a months-long discussion of a possible reorganization. CARAG Board of Directors Member Anna Matthes and Jill Bode, a CARAG representative to the newspaper’s managing board, requested in November that CARAG consider transferring management of the newspaper to them for several months. Matthes and Bode proposed they eventually take control of the paper, which they said was operating under an inefficient management structure. In January, Matthes also said newspaper managers had lost focus on community-building efforts, instead focusing on
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Green digest // Making Bryant a bike boulevard
By Dylan Thomas
Making Bryant a bike boulevardCARAG — If you bike, live or work along Bryant Avenue South take note: An upcoming public meeting is your chance to contribute to plans for a future bicycle boulevard. City planners expect to make changes to the street this summer that will make the north-south street more bike-friendly. Area residents have an opportunity to voice their opinions on some of those changes 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Bryant Square Park, 3101 Bryant Ave. S. New pavement markings and signage to identify the bicycle boulevard are a given, but other elements intended to slow vehicle traffic and improve the safety of intersections will be put to a vote. Ballots will ask voters to rank new street features such as curb extensions,
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Crime reports
By Jake Weyer
Editor’s note: Alleged crimes against persons (assault, murder, etc.) will feature the + symbol. Note, this compilation of crime reports provides highlights of area criminal activity. It’s not intended to be a comprehensive overview of Southwest crime.
CARAG+ Jan. 26, 8:20 p.m., 3200 Emerson Ave. S.Officers were dispatched to a report of a robbery at gunpoint. The victim was a 26-year-old man and two suspects, who fled in a car, were involved. Police thought the robbery might be related to several others that have been reported recently in the area. EAST ISLESJan. 30, between 3:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., W. Lake St. and East Calhoun
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Biz buzz // Guse Green Grocer
By By Lana Walker and Jake Weyer
Guse Green Grocer opens at 46th & BryantWhen Tom and Terry Thomson, owners of the long-awaited Guse Green Grocer, put in an order for 40 pounds of organic bananas, their supplier commented that the order was too much for such a little store. When the following Monday morning rolled around, however, it seemed the supplier could eat his words. “I called him and said, ‘We only have five bananas left!’” Terry Thomson said. Located on the corner of 46th Street and Bryant Avenue, the grocery store celebrated its soft opening on Jan. 23 and 24. It didn’t have an advertising scheme or a grand event, but 400 eager customers showed up on day one and the weekend was full of positive feedback and neighborhood
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Schools notebook // Board recommends Johnson
By Dylan Thomas
School Board recommends Johnson to lead districtWhen it came time to name candidates who might replace Minneapolis Superintendent Bill Green, the School Board had only one person in mind: current Deputy Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. School Board Chair Tom Madden, reading from a prepared statement at the Board’s Jan. 19 meeting, emphasized the importance of “stability” in a district rocked by a decade of enrollment declines, budget deficits and school closings. “The constant churn which has come to characterize Minneapolis Public Schools has taken a toll on our children, our families and our staff,” Madden said. He also said the district was “fundamentally on the right track,”
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Co-op loan drive short $100,000; deadline extended
By Jake Weyer
The Linden Hills Co-op needs $1.5 million in member loans to help pay for a move to the west side of the neighborhoodLINDEN HILLS — The Linden Hills Co-op arrived at its Jan. 31 loan-drive deadline about $100,000 short of the $1.5 million needed to help pay for a move from 43rd & Upton to the former Almsted’s Sunnyside Market site near 44th Street and France Avenue. That was close enough for Bob Olson, who owns the new site, to grant an extension for the drive and for the co-op to move forward with its plans, said spokeswoman Jeanne Lakso. “We’ll continue to collect loan agreements for at least the next two weeks and we’re fully confident we’re going to meet if not exceed our goal,” Lakso
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Kingfield unveils plans for new community gardens
By Jake Weyer
KINGFIELD — It’s hard to think about gardening in frigid February, when hoes, rakes and seeds are stowed away and snow blankets frozen plots, but green thumbs are buzzing right now in one Southwest neighborhood. Following up on years of resident interest, the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) this spring will launch two community gardens, one on the Center for Performing Arts property at 3754 Pleasant Ave. S. and the second on another private lot at 3912 Van Nest Ave. The sites will serve as the first of four community gardens KFNA would eventually like to develop in the area. “Our goal is really to create a network of gardens and gardeners throughout the neighborhood,” said KFNA executive director Sarah
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Civic beat // Most caucusing complete
By Cristof Traudes
Most caucusing complete, election season gets goingWith most parties’ caucuses all done, the 2010 election calendar has officially kicked into high gear. Voters statewide will be weighing in on seats from the governor’s to those of all 67 senators and 134 representatives. The state’s eight U.S. representatives, including Southwest’s Keith Ellison, are up for reelection, and Minneapolitans also will decide on five school board seats. The ballot will be rounded out by auditor, attorney general and judiciary elections. Events will come faster than they traditionally have. That’s because caucuses and conventions were moved up an entire month. Another factor: a new federal act that could force the state to move
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City council actions // City backs Pawlenty ruling
By Cristof Traudes
City officials back court ruling that Pawlenty erred with unallotment The city is supporting a district court decision that Gov. Tim Pawlenty overreached last year in his unallotment of funds for two state programs. In a unanimous vote, the City Council directed the city attorney’s office to file an amicus brief with the state Supreme Court, which is fast-tracking an appeal of the December ruling.
Unallotment exists to allow the governor to make emergency cuts to balance the state’s budget. But opponents of Pawlenty’s use of it last year, when he single-handedly cut about $2.7 billion, argue that he overstepped the tool’s purpose.
“The authority of the Governor to unallot is an authority intended to save the
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DFL hopefuls for 60A seat want new governor, fair LGA
By Cristof Traudes
If there is one overarching theme to take away from a Jan. 26 forum for candida tes seeking to succeed Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the state House of Representatives, it is that those who took part all have similar values. Each wanted a new governor, he or she said they disagreed with last year’s $2.7 billion in unallotments and each said he or she wants the state to stop forcing cities to rely as much as they do on property taxes. The three candidates acknowledged their similarities. And they said they understood why: each is a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party member hoping to carry one of the state’s stronges
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Spot-on Healing
By Sarah McKenzie
You don’t have to fly all the way to Hawaii to get a sense of what it feels like to experience bodywork on the island. Nell Rueckl, owner of Spot Spa in Northeast and Uptown, is an expert in Lomi Lomi Hawaiian Massage. The specialty is rooted in the Hawaiian philosophy called Huna, which emphasizes healing and harmony. It involves deep, flowing massage strokes. Rueckl has been in the wellness business for 16 years. She has studied chi qigong and has experience with many other body treatments. Before she opened Spot Spa in Northeast in 2001, she worked at the Horst Salon in St. Paul (now known as JUUT) and the Aveda spa in Osceola, Wis., before it closed. She did more than 3,000 massages when she worked there. She opened Spot Spa in Northeast in
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Furniture of the future
By Dylan Thomas
Now here’s a show that puts the gallery imperative — “Don’t touch!” — to the test. Pass by Isaac Arms’ “Southbound” — a steel chair with the sweeping lines of a Jazz Age sedan and a light-absorbing patina — and it’s impossible not to wonder: But is it comfortable? Arms is one of 15 young artists whose work is included in “Studio Furniture: The Next Generation,” a traveling exhibition of sculpture expressed in the vernacular of furniture design. The pieces range from eminently functional to esoteric, but it’s difficult to tell just how far a steel chair, for example, veers in one direction or the other without taking a seat. There are security guards stationed near
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Flavor // With a cherry on top
By Carla Waldemar
The Black Forest is more than a German restaurant (and the best one in the metro), it’s a cultural — or, make that counter-cultural — institution. For more than 40 years on Eat Street — long before there was an Eat Street — it’s been serving goulash and gemütlichkeit in equally heaping portions to art students from MCAD, its graying alums (now accountants) and other idealists gathered to quote Zen, plot political movements, or simply practice their German with owner Erich Christ, a butcher from the Old Country, and his wife, JoAnne. Straight from Germany’s Black Forest itself, it’s cloaked in murals of pine-fringed Bavarian lakes and castles — painted, one might guess, in lieu of payment for a starving artist’s
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Rants & Raves
By Journal readers
This new feature gives you a chance to tell us what you love and what irks you in Southwest. Send your rants and raves to Journal editor Sarah McKenzie at smckenzie@mnpubs.com. Or go online to southwestjournal.com and post your comments on the R&R link. Here are some thoughts from a few folks here at Minnesota Premier Publications to get the ball rolling.Raves: Lowry Hill Liquor store clerkTo the Lowry Hill Liquor Store clerk in the Vikings beret for your tireless insistence that all customers “have a magical evening.” You have teetered brilliantly between sarcasm and sincerity. Thanks to you, my weekend evenings have indeed been magical, and I now hang a Lowry Hill cocktail recipe
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That whiff of bitter almonds
By Luther Krueger
OK, I know I’ve ranted here before about how people should get involved to make a difference in their communities. Generally I keep a positive attitude about any way that a person wants to get involved, but lately there’s been a trend that I wish I hadn’t noticed.
First, a little history. I stumbled across a long-lost Internet discussion list the other day, the Twin Cities Freenet’s SafetyNet group. It was archived on their old site.
On more than a lark back in 1997, a bunch of TCFNer’s decided to get a metro-wide group to chat about crime and safety issues, and volunteers with the TCFN had set up the best of both online forum worlds — online for those who wanted to log in and chat in real time, and by e-mail following the
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Show love for local theater
By Tom Hoch
“Minneapolis is such a great theater town,” a new acquaintance said to me the other day. “That’s what makes this such a great place to live!” he continued. “He’s right,” I thought. But then I asked him, “Which theater production did you last see?” He hemmed and hawed and then confessed that he could not actually remember the last performance he had attended. To my surprise, later that same day, another individual commented on the “local theater scene” expressing amazement at the opportunities we have in the Twin Cities and asking if it’s true that Minneapolis has more theater seats per capita than any other American city outside of New York. (It does.) Unable to
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