Minneapolis RiverCurrent 9-1-11

Minneapolis RiverCurrent 9-1-11

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Capella Tower in Pink

To raise awareness of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Taken from our balcony in the Mill District of Minneapolis.

Mississippi Grind - Four Minneapolis Natives Embark on the River Ride of a Lifetime

On Sunday, September 4, five friends from the Twin Cities are teaming up with Red Bull to embark on the river-ride of a lifetime. The lifelong skateboarders are boarding a flat-deck barge and leaving their home port for a 1,705 mile, 28-day journey that will carry them all the way from the mouth of the Mighty Mississippi to New Orleans, LA. The catch? The 195-long vessel that they're traveling on will be decked out with an custom-designed, concrete skate park. At each of 5 port stops along the way (Twin Cities, Quad Cities, St. Louis, New Orleans), the crew is dropping anchor and giving locals a chance to board the ship and tear it up alongside some of the best skaters on the globe -- Red Bull guest athletes and local legends included. They'll also hold a special Ticket to Grind competition at each port, the winners of which will earn the opportunity to compete for a chance at $3,000 for the final "Ticket to Grind" competition in the Big Easy(expenses paid).

SCHEDULE 

Saturday 9/3
11 AM - 2 PM: 40 local skaters hand-picked by three local skate shops (3rd Lair, Pinewski's and Youth Shelter) will board the barge with a "Ticket to Ride." The group will have full access to the park, and the opportunity to skate alongside skateboarding legends.

3 PM - 6 PM: 40 more skaters hand-picked by two more local shops (Cal Surf and Familia) will board with a "Ticket to Grind"
Evening: Demos with Red Bull skaters including Pedros Barros and Zered Bssset.

Sunday 9/4

12 PM - 3 PM: Twenty top local skaters will compete for a "Ticket to Grind."
4:30 PM: Send-off celebration.

LOCATION
Upper River Landing & Chestnut Plaza
Saint Paul, MN

Visit the website for background info, photos and more...

Beaver on the Mississippi River in Downtown Minneapolis

This was captured a few days ago:

Tonight - Upper River Forum River Walk

Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm

Location: Minneapolis Park & Rec Board Headquarters, 2117 West River Road

Upper River Forum: Broadway to Boom and Back – River Walk

Meet at the Park Board and walk along West River Road to Plymouth, Boom Island, Sibley Street and back across the Broadway Bridge.  Hear about the area's past and future, and learn about the bridges.

Walking the Plymouth and Broadway bridge loop, we will see how people have transformed this riverfront in ten years, and imagine how the Upper River will change.

We will:
- walk the continuous riverfront trails;
- talk bridge rehabilitation and “knot bridges;”
- see the Scherer site and Boom Island transformations;
- highlight the economic and cultural development at Coloplast, Graco, RSP-Grain Belt, Pierre Bottineau Library, and Riverview Homes;
- spot great public art; and
- look for shorelines hot for habitat and clean water. 
Stop at Broadway Pizza for a brew and ‘za afterward.

GET YOUR FREE MAP of Destinations Above the Falls!  Limited edition for 2011!

Registration by August 29 required.

Mansion of Crown Hydro Owner Sold After Foreclosure

As reported in Finance & Commerce:

The home, which went into foreclosure late last year, sold for a little more than $4 million on July 28 to another businessman, Blake Rice, according to a Certificate of Real Estate Value filed last week in Hennepin County. Wells Fargo Bank is listed as the seller.

The sale was complicated because Hawks owns Crown Hydro, a company with plans for an $11 million hydro power plant along the Mississippi River, above St. Anthony Falls. The company worked for more than a decade with a succession of Minneapolis Park and Recreation Boards without winning the lease needed for the plant.

The Hawks had a $3 million mortgage with Wells Fargo, but with the business stalled, Hawk’s Nest went into foreclosure. Hawks had until May 9 to redeem it and even won an extension from the bank. In late May, however, the park board and Crown Hydro broke off their talks.

Read the full article...

Crown Hydro Asks for Yet Another Extension to Show Why Their FERC License Should Not Be Terminated

Download - 8-25-2011 Crown Supplemental Response to FERC on Status of Project

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Twilight of the Mississippi [Video]

From the Producer:

The trailer for a feature-length documentary film about the Upper Mississippi River coming in 2012 by the Minneapolis filmmakers Unseen Ghost Brigade.

In 2010 they happened to raft down the Mississippi, just like every year. They were searching for nothing in particular. And they found it.

They fell through a portal into the many lost worlds of the River, uncovering burners, indigenous activists, fishermen, river rats, cartographers, dream warriors, barge workers, farmers, bunnies, imposters, methodist preachers, river monsters and the Army Corps of Engineers.

This is no Odyssey. This is real.  Actually.

Scherer Brothers Riverfront Park Site Cleanup to Cost $1 Million-Plus

From the Star Tribune:

A former lumberyard purchased for a future riverfront park contains lead, arsenic, mercury, petroleum and other hazardous compounds in its soil that will cost more than $1 million to clean up.

The 11.3-acre parcel, along the Mississippi River north of the Plymouth Avenue Bridge, is seen as a key piece of a long-range plan by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to dramatically reshape the mostly industrial corridor north of downtown into recreational green space.

Federal funds must be spent by end of 2012.

Read the full article...

Minneapolis RiverCurrent 8-18-11

Minneapolis RiverCurrent 08-18-11

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