Mill City Times Candidate Endorsements

"A Time for Change, And the Status Quo - Mill City Times Candidate Endorsements"

A Time for Change - 3rd Ward City Council

Jacob Frey - 1st Choice for Third Ward City Council

The newly redrawn 3rd Ward of Minneapolis faces a few big challenges, and even greater opportunities to be the engine of both population and economic growth for the entire city.  Jacob Frey is the candidate best suited to meet these head on.

From the start, Frey has taken the right positions on a number of high priority issues facing the new 3rd Ward, and laid out smart plans for tackling them.  Here a few:

Downtown East Redevelopment.  We can't afford another failure in redeveloping the area around the new stadium.  We've lived with the last botched effort for 30 years.  Frey's vision of diverse mixed use and focus on small independent businesses will best serve Minneapolis for decades to come.

Northeast Arts District - Building on Momentum.  A thriving arts community has a big positive impact on the quality of life in any city.  The Northeast Arts District has been a development and jobs engine as well.  Frey will focus on building on that success.

A Northloop/Downtown School - Key to Population Growth.  With a stated goal of doubling population Downtown by 2025, this is not a "nice to have", it's a must.  We won't achieve our potential unless we meet this challenge.  Frey has already started efforts to bring this to fruition.

Crown Hydro Project - Protecting the Central Riverfront.  The City's investment on the Central Riverfront has generated $1.9 billion in private development and is a national showcase for urban renewal.  Frey is a strong supporter of the broad based community effort underway to protect our falls.  See the Park Board endorsements below for more details on this issue.

Gold Medal Park - A Long Term Plan.  Current Council Member Lisa Goodman recently announced a plan to preserve the only park in the Downtown East neighborhood - Gold Medal Park - for 50 years.  Frey came out in support of preserving the park 18 months ago, prior to the campaign.  He's publicly committed to work toward finalizing the plan next year.

Meeting the opportunities facing us in the Third Ward will require mobilizing the entire community to join in.  His effectiveness in mobilizing tens of thousands of Minneapolis residents for Marriage Equality, through founding the Big Gay Race, is an indication of what we should expect from Frey on the City Council.  Jacob Frey is our choice for the new 3rd Ward.

A Time for the Status Quo - The River Champions

Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board

Named tops in the nation by The Trust for Public Land, the Minneapolis Park System plays a huge role in the lives of Minneapolitans.  Our endorsed candidates have helped transform our park system over the last several years on many fronts.  They've also demonstrated uncommon commitment to preserving and enhancing the vital Central Riverfront area.

The River Champions

 - John Erwin / Commissioner At Large

 - Anita Tabb / 4th District Commissioner

 - Scott Vreeland / 3rd District Commissioner

 - Liz Wielinski / 1st District Commissioner

The four candidates have been especially effective on 3 key topics of concern:

Transparency.  Taking a page out of the City of Minneapolis playbook, MPRB posts video of every Park Board meeting, along with the related plans and proposals under discussion.  Besting the City Council, they post meeting agendas and supporting materials much further in advance than does the City.  This level of transparency has not been a hallmark of MPRB in years gone by.  All four candidates have played a strong role in this transformation. 

Community Engagement.  All levels of State and local government would do well to take community engagement as seriously as these four (and now the MPRB) do.  It's common to see several dozen to a few hundred residents attend MPRB events sharing plans and seeking public input.  They also listen to that feedback and adjust policies and projects - we've witnessed many examples of this "listening" in action.  All four candidates have been central to this new way of doing business.

Crown Hydro Project - Protecting the Central Riverfront.  The City's investment on the Central Riverfront has generated $1.9 billion in private development and is a national showcase for urban renewal.  Prior to this effort, the Central Riverfront was a desolate landscape of abandoned buildings and empty surface parking lots.  The Crown Hydro project threatens to damage everything that's been accomplished - under the current license, Crown would be able to "turn off" St. Anthony Falls 6 months out of the year when the flow over the falls is low.  1.6 million visitors to the Stone Arch Bridge area deserve to see more than a cement wall.  The 4 River Champions have been especially effective in protecting us from this ill-conceived project.

The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, and our riverfront, will do well with the 4 River Champions representing us.

Full Disclosure:  My wife Kim Eslinger and I have contributed the maximum allowable to the campaigns of all of the candidates endorsed above.  I am also Chair of the Frey for City Council Campaign Committee.

Twin Cities Horror Festival Runs thru November 9 at Southern Theater

Halloween may already be a distant memory, but the gore goes on until November 9 at The Southern Theater.

This is the second year for the Twin Cities Horror Festival, which features seven accomplished local performance groups exploring the theme of horror through theater, music, dance, and storytelling. The 40+ performance run also includes a Recycle-Your-Costume Dance Party Friday Nov. 8th at 10pm.

Mark Your Calendar for the Nov 14 Water Works Community Meeting at Nicollet Island Pavilion

Discover and discuss Water Works emerging concepts.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will be hosting a community meeting about the Central Mississippi Riverfront, where SCAPE and Rogers Partners from the Water Works Design Team will be featured guests. 

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 14, 6:00pm - 8:00pm, at the Nicollet Island Pavilion.
 
The Design Team has been working on the design framework and concept scenarios for Water Works since their last visit in September, and they will share their work at this meeting.

Attend the meeting to engage in the conversation about Water Works and the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park, discover emerging concepts developed following the last community input meeting, and learn about next steps.

This Weekend: ART ATTACK 2013!

Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Minneapolis

Friday, Nov. 1st        5:00 - 10:00 PM
Saturday, Nov. 2nd   Noon - 8:00 PM
Sunday, Nov. 3rd      Noon - 5:00 PM
 
Visit the Northrup King Building for an exciting weekend of visual art, live music, ballet performances, art demonstrations and food trucks for your convenience. If you're new to the Northrup King Building or simply haven't been here for awhile, put on your walking shoes and visit over 250 artists working out of 150 separate studios.

For more information and a schedule of music, performances and demonstrations, go to www.northrupkingbuilding.com/artattack.

Temporary 3-Day Closure of Historic Main Street

Via an October 31 e-newsletter from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board:

Temporary 3-Day Closure of Historic Main Street

Repairs are underway along historic Main Street, between Hennepin Avenue and SE 3rd Avenue. Beginning Tuesday, November 5 this section of Main Street will be closed to vehicular and bicycle traffic to allow for street repairs to be made. Main St. will reopen the morning of Friday, November 8. Businesses and pedestrian walks will remain open while repairs are made. Follow this link for a map that indicates the area of the closure and detour routes. Signs will be posted.

Thank you for your patience while these necessary repairs are made.

A complete list of current and upcoming parkway closures is available online.

Contact Information:
Julia Cline, Project Representative, MPRB Planning, jcline@minneapolisparks.org or 612-230-6463.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to our Mill District neighbors! :)

Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park Master Plan Public Input Opportunities

Via an October 30 e-newsletter from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board:

Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park Master Plan Public Input Opportunities

The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board will host a two-day charrette to gather public input for the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park Master Plan. This is the second charrette of five for the Master Plan and will focus on Historic Main Street and its connections.  A charrette is an intensive creative session intended to generate alternative approaches to a design problem. It is a way to immerse a project team with key stakeholders and the community in a real-time, iterative learning and creative process. Please join us!

Charrette Public Meeting Day 1:

Date – 11/6/13
Time – 8:00am to 10:00am
Location – Aster Café – River Room

Meeting Info: Comment and feedback to define key site program issues, possibilities, and limitations for Historic Main Street.

Charrette Public Meeting Day 2:

Date – 11/7/13
Time – 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Location – Aster Café – River Room

Meeting Info: Review preliminary design framework plan and concepts for Historic Main Street completed during the charrette.

The Park Board encourages the public to stop by the Aster Café’s River Room to share ideas, concerns and priorities with the Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park design team.  Later in November, ideas from this two-day charrette will be presented to the project advisory committees and the second public open house for discussion.

For more information, please go to the MPRB project page.

Thank you! 

CONTACT:   Tyler Pederson, Landscape Architect
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board
612-230-6418
tpederson@minneapolisparks.org

2013 Nice Ride Season Ends Sunday, November 3rd

According to the Nice Ride Minnesota website, the 2013 Nice Ride season comes to a close at 10:00pm on Sunday, November 3rd.    Check out the Nice Ride Annual Report for 2013, which details their mission, outreach efforts spanning 122 events, 90 led tours and more. 

Jacob Frey Endorsed by Star Tribune for 3rd Ward City Council

The Star Tribune endorsed three candidates for City Council in today's edition, including Jacob Frey for the new 3rd Ward.

From the Star Tribune:

Generating stronger population growth, creating jobs, addressing vexing inequities in educational achievement, and strategically building growth-oriented transit were the focus of our recent editorial series, “Growing Minneapolis.” Achieving these objectives won’t come naturally, however. Smart, collaborative public-policy decisions will make all the difference.

This is particularly true in the city’s Third Ward, which encompasses portions of downtown, Northeast, and some neighborhoods bordering the University of Minnesota.

Third Ward

Jacob Frey, 32, is best equipped to represent those areas and to work with other members of the City Council to craft progrowth policies that will help Minneapolis realize its potential.

Frey, an attorney and former professional marathon runner, is a clear advocate for increasing housing density within the ward and citywide. He favors the proposed streetcar line that would run north on Nicollet Avenue into Northeast, and he would expand the line into other parts of the city.

Recognizing the need to keep young families in the city once their kids are of school age, he favors creating more public-school options in burgeoning neighborhoods in his district. Keeping these families will be essential to maintaining the vitality in the North Loop and Northeast neighborhoods, which have undergone rapid transformations in the past few years.

Small businesses have also played a prominent role in this growth, and Frey wants to focus on streamlining city processes to be more “goal-­oriented” than “process-oriented.”

Frey’s ambitious agenda has won many converts among voters. And its earned him endorsements from elected officials and community leaders.

He wrested the DFL endorsement from the incumbent, Diane Hofstede, 64, and gained several union endorsements. He has the support of Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents the area in Congress, as well as several key state legislators. Most notably, six sitting council members have endorsed him over their current colleague, Hofstede.

Frey’s ability to build coalitions stands in contrast to Hofstede. While she has been elected to two terms on the City Council and led the Library Board before that, she is a polarizing figure for some, including former colleagues. There has been an unusually high degree of turnover in her office, and in response to a staffer’s claim in 2010, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development determined that there had been a “hostile work environment.”

Hofstede has several key endorsements, including Gov. Mark Dayton’s, and shares several public-­policy goals with Frey. She showed leadership by backing the Vikings stadium. But on other issues, she has been inconsistent, such as pushing for a moratorium on development in ­Dinkytown instead of leading efforts to increase investment and population in the ward.

Also on the ballot are the Green Party’s Kristina Gronquist, as well as Michael Katch, endorsed by the Libertarian and Pirate parties.

With a new mayor and several new council members soon to be sworn in, consensus-builders are needed. Frey has been that kind of candidate, and he should be that kind of council member.

Read the full story :

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/229328221.html

Restaurant/Retail Proposed at 901 Washington Ave S

From Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

Developer Mike Roess plans to build a 10,000-square-foot building at the site of a Washington Avenue surface parking lot in downtown Minneapolis.

The roughly $3 million project will include a restaurant that will occupy 5,000 square feet of space on the first floor, plus another 5,000 square feet on a rooftop patio, Roess said. The Minneapolis developer is in talks with an "upscale, urban furniture store" for the second floor

The property is located at 901 Washington Ave., next to a building that houses Wasabi Fusion Restaurant, Sactuary Restaurant, Stonebridge Bank, Level Salon and GlobalBridge Inc. Roess has owned that property since it was renovated in 2007.

Read the full article...

'Images of Africa' Film Series from The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul

Celebrating the state’s growing African communities, The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul will present Images of Africa, a film series highlighting the cinema of Africa. Films in the series will illuminate elements of the human experience that exist across all cultural boundaries. Images of Africa will present 30 narrative and documentary films, including titles from the African regions and nations represented locally.

Films will span a diverse range of topics, from African music and dance to soccer, food, war and exile, and the film industry itself. Images of Africawill draw titles from established film production regions like Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Nigeria’s Nollywood, as well as from countries such as Mali, Kenya, Somalia, Ghana, Rwanda and Liberia among others.

More Info

Week 25 at the 2013 Mill City Farmers Market

October 26 marked the end of the 2013 outdoor Market season.  Thank You to Market Sponsor, Cynthia Froid, for the complimentary apples! Look for your favorite MCFM vendors at the indoor winter Markets - the first one being November 9.

Two lovely Market artists - Annika Kaplan and Annabella Sardelis.  :)

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Crown Hydro Video

MPRB President John Erwin hosted a forum for the issues surrounding the Crown Hydro project was held last Monday at the Mill District Neighborhood Association meeting.

Tomorrow: Final 'Outdoor' Mill City Farmers Market for the 2013 Season

October 26 is the final Mill City Farmers Market for the 2013 'outdoor' season.  They'll be open 9:00am - 1:00pm, so bundle up and head over to stock up on lots of good stuff!

Don't forget - the 2013-2014 indoor Winter Market dates are:

November 9
November 23
December 14
January 11
February 8
March 8
March 15 (at the Arboretum, Chanhassen)
April 12

These are all Saturdays, all 10:00am-1:00pm.  With the exception of March 15, they'll all be held in the Mill City Museum.

ReelAbilities Film Festival Playing in Minneapolis November 1 - 5

ReelAbilities is a film festival featuring work by and about people with physical and intellectual disabilities.  It will run in Minneapolis November 1 - 5. In our neighborhood, showings will take place at the Guthrie, MacPhail Center for Music, and St. Anthony Main Theater. Click here to view the schedule at each venue.

ReelAbilities Festivals take place nationally, and include award winning films, music, dance, theater, discussions and other engaging programs.

Tomorrow Night: "A Choice of Weapons: A Living Legacy" Exhibit Opening Reception at Mill City Museum

Via an October 23 e-ALERT from the Minnesota Historical Society:

Local High School Students to Showcase Work Alongside Gordon Parks Photography in New Exhibit Opening Thursday 

WHAT: "A Choice of Weapons: A Living Legacy" exhibit will go on display at Mill City Museum Oct. 24, 2013-June 8, 2014 with a companion exhibit at Juxtaposition Arts Oct. 24-Dec. 1, 2013. Both exhibits are free.

WHEN: Opening reception and panel discussion, Thursday Oct. 24, 6 to 9 p.m. (7 p.m. panel discussion)

WHERE: Mill City Museum, 704 S. Second St., Minneapolis

COST: Free. RSVP to oneread@minneapolismn.gov or 612-673-2509. 

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT: The exhibit features approximately 30 photographs created by local high school students alongside images by Gordon Parks, on loan from The Gordon Parks Foundation. Using Park's autobiography "A Choice of Weapons" as inspiration, the students created images portraying people in their communities with dignity and pride. "A Choice of Weapons" is this year’s One Minneapolis One Read selection.

"A Choice of Weapons: A Living Legacy" is made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Long Term Plan for Gold Medal Park Announced at Mill District Neighborhood Forum

City Council Member Lisa Goodman announced a long term solution for preserving Gold Medal Park at the October 21, 2013 meeting of the Mill District Neighborhood Association.

Dubbed the “Gold Medal Park Permanence Plan”, Council Member Goodman outlined a very simple plan:  Use the existing lease arrangement between the Parks Foundation and the City, due to expire in 2 years, as the template and make two simple changes – the term of the lease would be 50 years and the foundation would no longer pay the City of Minneapolis $50,000 per year for the “right” to provide a public amenity for city residents.

Goodman stated that she believes she has the votes to pass the plan, targeting December 2013 for passage.  Prior to the vote, the plan would be heard by the City Planning Commission.

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Rental Property Owner Workshops from the Minneapolis Police Dept.

One of our Mill District neighbors recently obtained a Rental Property Owner Workshop Certificate from the Minneapolis Police Department and wanted to share the information for the benefit of others who own rental property.

The Minneapolis Police Department provides ten or more Rental Property Owner Workshops for rental property owners and managers each year.  Attending the workshop provides attendees with valuable information, resources and opportunities to network with other property owners.

If you own or manager rental property and haven't yet attended one of these workshops, or enrolled in Action Alert lists, contact Luther Krueger, Crime Prevention Analyst.  He can also provide you with a list of owners who have rentals on the same blocks as your rental properties. 

You can reach him at:

Luther Krueger, Crime Prevention Analyst
Minneapolis Police Dept., Property Information Center
350 S. 5th Street, Room 100 City Hall, Minneapolis MN 55415
612-673-5371, Luther.Krueger@MinneapolisMN.gov

Week 24 at the 2013 Mill City Farmers Market

Shoppers looking for the perfect Halloween pumpkin, decorative gourds or yummy squash for baking had the pick of the crop at the October 19 Market.

Public Comment Opportunities for Proposed 2014 Minneapoli​s Park Board Budget

Excerpts from an October 17 e-newsletter from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board:

Proposed 2014 Minneapolis Park Board Budget Continues Focus on Fiscal Responsibility, Service Delivery and Maintaining Park System.
 
The Superintendent's Recommended 2014 Budget for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) focuses on maintaining park services and facilities, strategically addressing financial and operational challenges, improving organizational efficiency and service delivery, and addressing threats to the urban tree canopy.

The proposed budget and budget related documents are available for viewing at www.minneapolisparks.org/budget or by calling 612-230-6400. The public may comment on the proposed budget during the following times:
 
Nov. 6, Public Comment Session– Administration and Finance Committee meeting, MPRB Headquarters, 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis. The Committee meeting will follow the Board's regular meeting at 5 pm.
 
Nov. 20, Public Comment Session– Regular Board meeting, MPRB Headquarters, 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis, at 5 pm
 
Dec. 11, Public Hearing – City of Minneapolis public hearing on 2014 tax levy and 2014 Budget, City Hall, Council Chambers Room 317, 350 South 5th Street, Minneapolis, at 6:05 pm

Click here for full announcement and details.