Franklin Aldi closed until mid-April

Remodel will remake store with wider aisles, more fresh foods, and more refrigerated products
by Tesha M. Christensen

TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
Finding it hard to get to the grocery store since the Franklin Aldi’s closed? Get free delivery via Instacart, Aldi’s grocery delivery service.

Look for an updated Aldi at 1311 E. Franklin Ave. in mid-April.
The Franklin Aldi store closed on Jan. 28, 2019 for an extensive remodeling that will make the store over into one similar to the new Aldi that opened in the former Rainbow Foods at 2912 28th Ave. S. It will feature wider aisles, more refrigerated items and a wider selection of fresh foods.
“The new store layout will provide an improved in-store experience and features additional refrigeration space to accommodate even more fresh, healthy and convenient products,” according to Matt Lilla, Aldi’s Faribault division vice president. 
Compared to last year, 20 percent of the Aldi product selection is new — and the company isn’t finished.  In all, the company’s national growth plan calls for increasing its fresh food selection by 40 percent with many organic, convenient and easy-to-prepare options. 
With that model, Aldi hopes to double its sales again over the next five years.
The Franklin Aldi is one of 28 Aldi stores being remodeled and expanded in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and the surrounding metropolitan area in 2019. In all, Aldi is investing $1.9 billion to remodel more than 1,300 U.S. ALDI stores by the end of 2020. 
The remodeled store at Franklin will bump the size of the store floor from 10,000 to 13,000 square feet of sales floor space. 
Aldi buildings feature open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally-friendly construction materials. There are only four or five aisles, and every Aldi has a similar layout.
“This is a significant investment in our stores, but it’s really an investment in our shoppers,” remarked Lilla. “We’re evolving to meet their changing tastes and needs.”
He added, “As one of the fastest-growing retailers with a long history in the U.S., we’re confident in our current business model. We’re always looking for ways to innovate but we don’t get distracted by what’s happening across the industry. We’re focused on providing people with outstanding value on quality food and products.”
Aldi caters to shoppers who are pressed for time and money.
“We pioneered a model that gives people more of both,” observed Lilla. “Our shopping experience is designed to make life easier for people and to offer high-quality food at affordable prices.”
SHINGOBEE PROJECT
The project is being managed by Shingobee, a nationally-acclaimed commercial construction and development company. With two offices located in Minnesota, Shingobee operates throughout the upper Midwest. It was founded in 1980 by Gae Veit, a Native American woman who retired in 2007. In September 2018, the Loretto-based company returned to its roots as a woman-led construction company when industry veteran and 14-year employee Nancy Samson became its new owner, president and CEO. She previously worked as the CFO and corporate secretary/treasurer.
Recent Shingobee projects include a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in St. Louis Park, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Woodbury, the Gardner School in Edina, and Crisp and Green in Dinkytown.
Shingobee Project manager Shane Johnson said they appreciate the business they get from Aldi. “Each project has its own set of challenges and it is rewarding at the end,” Johnson observed.
Food resources
• Messiah Lutheran/Community Bridge, 2400 Park Ave. S., 612-746-4108 or 612-871-8831. Tuesdays, noon: Free hot meal following community Bible study. It is not required to attend the Bible study, but the food will be served at noon and go quickly. Thursdays, noon: free hot meals except on holidays. Food shelf: second Fridays and fourth Saturdays, 8-11 a.m. 
• Community Emergency Services, 1900 11th Ave., 612-870-1125. Food shelf, Monday-Thursday; people start lining up at 10:30 a.m. Meals on Wheels, weekdays, noon: free hot lunch meal delivery service available to ages 60+ or people with limited mobility.
• MN Food Helpline, 1-800-936-1154, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Calls connect residents with resources like SNAP, food shelves, farmers markers, meal programs and discount grocery programs.
• Nutrition Assistance Program for Seniors (NAPS), 651-484-8241 or 800-365-0270, box of nutritious food each month to eligible low-income seniors, 60 years and over. Boxes are distributed at many locations; call Second Harvest for more information about eligibility, applications, and delivery sites.
• Help at Your Door is a nonprofit offering a grocery delivery service for elderly and people with disabilities; people can use a printable product catalog to order food via phone or online. The service is available on a sliding scale from $5-$35 with a minimum order of $40. Participants can use EBT to pay for groceries, unless people get cash benefits on their EBT card. In the 55404 zip code, people would get called on Wednesday or Thursday for their order and then have groceries delivered the following Tuesday. More info at https://helpatyourdoor.org/services/,  (651) 642-1892.
• Fare for All is an organization that purchases fresh produce and frozen meat in bulk from wholesalers and manufactures, and then pre-packs the produce and meat into affordable food packages that range in price from $10-$30. It then sells the packages at delivery sites once a month. Cash, credit, debit and SNAP accepted; anyone is able to participate. No pre-payment or pre-registration required. Pricing and package details available at https://fareforall.org/pricing/. There is a current Fare For All pick-up site at Open Arms of MN, located .6 miles away from the Aldi  at 2500 Bloomington Ave S (https://fareforall.org/directory/listing/minneapolis-little-earth-of-united-tribes-2). Winter/spring schedule for the Open Arms site is Friday from 1-3 p.m. on March 22 and April 19.  
• Minneapolis’ staple foods ordinance (SFO) is a local law that requires grocery stores – including most corner stores, gas stations, and pharmacies – to stock nutritious foods in six basic categories (dairy/dairy alternatives, animal and vegetable proteins, fruits and vegetables, 100% juice, whole grains, and beans/peas/lentils). There are several stores located near Aldi and stocked most or all of the required staple foods when last inspected (summer 2018).

Article printed in the March 2019 edition of The Alley Newspaper.

MURDERED & MISSING but not forgotten

THEY WALKED FOR WOMEN ON VALENTINE’S DAY
by Tesha M. Christensen

Over 1,200 people braved the winter weather to march for missing and murdered Indigenous women on Feb. 14, 2019. Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Brunelle, who works in South Minneapolis, was walking to raise awareness of this issue. She pointed out, “Most cities don’t have a number on how many Indigenous women are missing in this country.” She is pushing for policy changes that will pinpoint why so many Indignous woman are targeted and what can be done to fix the problem. Brunelle was walking in memory of her friend Brandi, who was murdered 1.5 years ago. “We’re all part of the same life. We all live here,” Brunelle said. “I just want the violence against Indigenous women and men to stop.”
Organized by Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center with help from the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and others, this year’s walk was filmed by TPT-Twin Cities PBS for an upcoming documentary. All My Relations Arts brought equipment so that participants could create screen prints stating “Justice! For Missing and  Murdered Indigenous Women” and “Bring Her Home,” and then wear the red fabric during the walk. Stations set up inside the Minneapolis American Indian Center, where the walk began and ended, educated attendees on the sexual violence and sex trafficking issues facing Native peoples in North America.

TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Brunelle, who works in South Minneapolis, was walking in memory of her friend Brandi Lynn, who was murdered 1.5 years ago. “I just want the violence against Indigenous women and men to stop,” Brunelle said.

Murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaska Native women and rates of violence on reservations can be up to 10 times higher than the national average, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 
The National Crime Information Center reports that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, although the U.S. Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases.
And no research has been done on rates of such violence among American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas despite the fact that approximately 71% of American Indian and Alaska Natives live in urban areas, pointed out a study done by the Urban Indian Health Institute in 2018.
For Kristin Jones, these statistics are more than numbers. Her mother, Delma Elizabeth Hardy, went missing when she was six. It took 12 years for the family to find out the pregnant woman had been murdered and buried in Chicago, and to bring her body home. Authorities wouldn’t take a missing report when the 23-year-old mother of three from Ponemah, Minn. went missing, pointed out Jones.
“Our people are murdered and missing every day,” remarked Jones’ aunt, Melody Johnson. “Law enforcement is no help.”
Jones, her five children, Johnson and other family members participated in the Feb. 14, 2019 walk to make sure women like Hardy are not forgotten.

TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
Kristin Jones (third from left) and her family walk in memory of her mother, Delma Elizabeth Hardy, who was murdered Aug. 7, 1996, outside Chicago, Ill., a day before her 24th birthday.

Article printed in the March 2019 edition of The Alley.

Uproar over planning commission vote on TCGIS building project

City attorney rules vote invalid after complaints from SHSA; but commission says it will not revisit the issue

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

When the planning commission voted on the variances and site plan requested by the Twin Cities German Immersion School (TCGIS) for the teardown of the former St. Andrew’s Church and construction of a new 25,000-square-foot addition, the votes were both ties at 6-6.

A questionable vote by St. Paul’s Planning Commission Chair Elizabeth Reveal on Jan. 25, has some Warrendale neighbors in an uproar.
Typically a chair does not cast a vote unless it will break a tie. In this case, Reveal cast a vote that created the tie. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, a motion fails on a tie vote, pointed out members of Save Historic St. Andrew’s (SHSA) in a letter to St. Paul Director of Planning Luis M. Pereira expressing the group’s frustration.
“If this meeting had been conducted properly—and in accordance with both past and best practices—the recommendation from the Zoning Committee to deny the variances would have been carried forward on a 6-5 vote, and we would have no reason to appeal,” wrote SHSA officers.
According to an email written by Pereira on Jan. 29, “The city attorney’s office has advised staff that the variances and site plan were not properly approved because the commission reached a tie vote.” Because of this, the planning commission was expected to re-open the vote on the same items at its meeting on Feb. 8.
Instead, they voted to not review the issue. The full impact of a non-decision was unclear as of press time. However, an appeal by either SHSA or TCGIS is expected.
Under state law, the school’s variance requests will be considered approved if the city does not act otherwise within the statute’s 60-day timeline, explained Dist. 10 Community Council Executive Director Michael Kuchta. “In the case of the variances, that timeline runs out Mar. 26. Among things that are not clear is the status of school’s site plan (deadline Mar. 6), which version of variances would take effect, and whether the planning commission’s denial, approval, or non-decision on the school’s variance requests can—at this point—be appealed to the city council.”
“We urge the city council to correct this action by placing a moratorium on any expansion request by TCGIS and to deny the variances requested,” stated SHSA members.
TCGIS did not comment on this latest action.
Approval not valid
Early reports following the Jan. 25 meeting stated that the planning commission approved the site plan on a 7-5 vote. However, as Kuchta explained, the vote is not valid.
“Before the final vote on the site plan, commissioners voted twice on the three zoning variances the school would need to move forward,” explained Kuchta. “First, the planning commission rejected the recommendation of its zoning committee to deny the variances. That vote was 6-6. (Under normal procedure, a tie vote means a motion fails, because it does not have a majority.) Immediately after that, commissioners voted 6-6 on a motion to approve the variances. The tie vote meant that motion also failed.
“The commission charged forward, however, and rejected its zoning committee’s recommendation to reject the site plan; this vote was 5-7. Finally, the full commission voted 7-5 to approve the site plan. The site plan includes dozens of conditions the school must meet to receive building permits.
Among these conditions: the three zoning variances—a 3.1-foot variance on height, a 1 percent variance on lot coverage, and a 34-space parking variance. The problem? The site plan relies on variances that have been rejected.”
Reveal’s experience
Reveal also serves on the zoning committee, although she was not present at the Jan. 17 meeting during which the committee recommended denial of the variances and site plan on a 5-1 vote.
Reveal, a resident of Ward 2, was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2011. Her term expires in 2020. She served as an ex-officio member of a planning commission in Philadelphia and worked closely with planning departments and commissions in Seattle and Washington, D.C. before returning to St. Paul in 2009.
There are currently 17 members on the planning commission, which has space for 21 members. Only 12 members were present at the Jan. 25 meeting.
Zoning committee’s opinion
The recent planning commission votes come after a series of meeting over several months as the teardown and new construction proposal by TCGIS moves through the approval process.
On Dec. 18, 2018, the District 10 Board voted to approve the three variance requests and a site approval plan while expressing that this was not a vote against or for historic designation of the former church. The District 10 votes are considered advisory to the city council.
This was followed by the Jan. 17 zoning committee meeting that recommended the planning commission deny the variances and site plan. The five commissioners who voted to deny expressed concerns about TCGIS being a “commuter school,” heavy traffic during pick-up and drop-off times, lack of off-street parking, and a school that is too much for the site. In his opinion, Commissioner Kris Fredson said that he thought city staff gave too much weight to the land use policy versus the historic preservation policy.
In support of the school, Commissioner Cedrick Baker pointed out TCGIS owns the building.
The city council has final say on the TCGIS building project, as well as the historic designation of St. Andrew’s Church. It is planning a public hearing on Mar. 20.
Traffic and congestion relief
As reported in the Jan. 17 zoning committee minutes, TCGIS has agreed to use crossing guards at Como and Oxford, and direct staff and parents to avoid parking on Como to facilitate better traffic flow. A crosswalk will also be added to designate a single point of crossing at Como and Oxford, and the signal light at Lexington and Como will be tweaked.
TCGIS is also exploring offering discounted Metro Transit passes, encouraging the use of the Zipcar car-sharing app, increasing school bus use, and investigating staggered release times.

What’s it like growing up a Hmong immigrant in America?

Neng Thao, of Neng Now online fame, visits Hamline to talk about the Hmong-American mindset

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
What is it like to grow up a Hmong immigrant in America?
A celebrity refugee and Hmong American answered that question at Hamline University on Jan. 10, and his visit was so popular that the presentation was moved to the college’s largest auditorium, the Klas Center.
Neng Thao is an immigrant success story and is now sharing his life with thousands of online followers through his Neng Now channels.
Born in a refugee camp, Thao grew up in Wisconsin and earned a degree in regenerative biology from Harvard University. Two years out of college, he followed a calling to get out among the people and share his experience and knowledge. He began traveling around the world in December 2017. He shares his hopes and dreams with others through videos and Facebook posts. As of January, he had 38,000 Facebook followers.
“He comes with an important message that all of us can learn from,” stated Hamline President Fayneese Miller.
Photo left: Neng Thao of Neng Now, wearing his trademark smiley face shirt, speaks to a crowd at Hamline University on Jan. 10, 2019. Thao was born in a Thailand refugee camp, grew up in Wisconsin, and now travels around the world sharing his life with Facebook followers. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
Thao’s talk, “Hybrid Cultural Identity: The Hmong-American mindset in mainstream America across first, second, and third generation Hmong Americans,” is part of a free series organized by the English Learners in the Mainstreet (ELM) Project at Hamline.
“These projects help everyone understand a culture and the importance of culture,” observed Miller, who is the university’s second female and the first African American president. “Difference makes us great. Difference allows us to do things we might not have imagined before.”
She added, “We still have a long ways to go, but this project is a step forward.”
Miller pointed out that one of the only top Hmong college leaders in the country, Mai Nhia Xiong-Chen, is employed at Hamline University. She grew up in Wisconsin and now works as Hamline’s Vice President of Enrollment.
“There are leaders among you,” Miller stated, acknowledging that Hmong immigrants have been in the United States for a relatively short period. “I hope you’re proud of all that you have accomplished. You have added so much to the fabric of this nation.”
Connections are key
Forty years ago, Hmong were sustenance farmers in Laos. Today they are world leaders and activists, pointed out Thao. “There’s not a time in history when we’ve seen any demographic do that.”
With that has come challenges—even between generations of Hmong families.
Thao’s grandfather was pulled into the Army at age 14 to fight against the communists. When they fled to a Thailand refugee camp, he somehow got a herd of pigs and made a living off them. Thao was born in that refugee camp, while some of his siblings were born in America.
Thao breaks down Hmong immigrants into three generations. The first, which include his grandparents, was born in Laos. The second includes his parents and himself, those who experienced refugee camps. The third was born in the United States.
“There are three very different demographics,” Thao observed, and understanding that is key to figuring out how to fit into American culture.
The problem is that each generation experienced a disconnect from the other. As he grew, Thao didn’t want to bother his parents, who were so busy trying to survive day to day that they didn’t necessarily have the time to share their language, stories, and culture with their children. During his travels, Thao has seen this pattern repeated in immigrant communities over and over.
“I think that intergenerational connections are the key to success,” Thao stated.
When they were in Laos, families worked together in the fields, and there was time to connect. “That’s when you just talked to your parents,” Thao said. “You felt safe and could talk to anybody about any problem.”
In the refugee camps of Thailand, families connected over their shared struggle to survive. The entire community connected through struggle, sharing when they had extra, and asking for help when they had nothing. “It’s that struggle that has made the Hmong community from Laos and Thailand so strong,” Thao remarked.
In America, the immigrants lost that common ground. Kids spent their days in schools instead of working alongside their parents. Many parents worked multiple jobs and left childcare of the younger kids in the hands of the older kids. Kids stopped talking to their parents and lost the mentorship former generations had experienced.
Thao realized on his first day of college that he had only one person he could go to and talk to. It wasn’t either one of his parents.
“I never believed there were people who genuinely wanted me to succeed and help me,” observed Thao.
Part of that he attributes to a contradiction inherent in the immigrant community. “As new immigrants we want our kids to succeed, but if their kid succeeds and ours don’t, it’s bad on us,” Thao said. He believes that part of this attitude sprang from the experience of genocide the Hmong experienced.
Thao has worked to establish a connection with his parents so that he can go to them, and it’s something that’s developing every day.
A place to belong
Where do I belong? It’s a question immigrants ask as they navigate between cultures, pointed out Thao.
“I just wanted a place where I could be myself and feel like I belonged,” stated Thao. As he travels around the world, he explores these topics in his Neng Now videos.
It was hard to consider asking for help within the Hmong community. “My grandparents got through the war and the refugee camps. How can I ask for help on my math test?” said Thao.
Thao believes the Hmong community is at a pivotal point. The first generation worked hard to survive. The second began picking up on cultural cues. It is the third generation with the skills and resources to succeed culturally and professionally.
“You don’t ask for help in the Hmong community,” Thao observed. “It wasn’t until I started to ask for help that I began to grow.”

Upcoming ELM Talks

• Feb. 20, 4:30-6:30pm, Advocating for Multilingual Students through the LEAPS Act, featuring Rep. Carlos Mariani
• Apr. 18, 4:30-6pm, Working with Refugee Students who Have Experienced Trauma
• May 22, 4:30-6 p.m., Immigration Law and the Classroom
All events take place in the Hamline University Center for Justice and Law, are free and open to the public
More at tinyurl.com/elmproject.

Former Commissioner McLaughlin reflects on public service

‘Patron Saint of Lost Causes’

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part two of a two-part series. The first section ran in the January 2019 edition of the Messenger and can be found online here.
By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
If there’s one thing that defines Peter McLaughlin’s career as a public servant, it may be his attitude towards what others consider to be lost causes.
“I’m sort of the Patron Saint of Lost Causes,” admitted McLaughlin.
There’s something about certain projects that kept him searching for solutions, even over decades, observed McLaughlin, who was elected as District 4 Hennepin County Commissioner first in 1990 and left office in December 2018.
Photo right: In an effort to make it more cost effective to plant trees in the county, former District 4 Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin supported adding a tree nursery specifically focused on replacing trees lost to Emerald Ash Borer. Starting 20 years ago, the county has planted over 5,000 trees during Arbor Day celebrations. In addition to these plantings, a small food forest was planted in Adams Triangle in Longfellow, and 163 trees were planted along Hiawatha Ave in 2015 and 2016. (Photo submitted)
Take the Fort Snelling Upper Post, a group of 27 historic buildings that were falling apart. There wasn’t a fund of money available to pay for fixing the buildings nor anyone interested in using them. But McLaughlin believed they should be saved and so he kept talking about it with others. When the site was listed as one of the top endangered historic sites in the United States, he realized there might be a source of workers he could tap into.
Even better, the county was already paying for the Sentence-To-Service crews so it wouldn’t cost additional money.
When one of the buildings collapsed, others also started shuffling things around, working hard to find funds to pay for building materials to stabilize the buildings.
A group began meeting to talk about the future of the site, and McLaughlin chaired the Fort Snelling Upper Post Task Force. They put together a land use plan and waited for the right opportunity.
It came in 2018 when the Plymouth-based Dominium, no stranger to historical renovation projects, and the Department of Natural Resources struck a deal to redevelop the site into 176 units of affordable housing. Soon veterans and families will be breathing new life into the 47-acre site that’s the last unincorporated area of Hennepin County.
Systematic change for libraries
Things shifted for McLaughlin 12 years ago. His daughter was born, and he battled prostate cancer. “I decided at that point to work on bigger projects,” he said.
McLaughlin added, “You can do individual projects, but you have to turn them into something bigger, into systematic change.”
Around the same time Minneapolis started closing libraries—an option they hadn’t done even during the Great Depression, McLaughlin pointed out. And they planned to close more. Two of the three closed libraries were in McLaughlin’s district, Roosevelt and Southeast.
McLaughlin learned about the issues while attending a spaghetti dinner in the basement of a Lutheran church in his district. He didn’t hesitate about taking this project on. He supports walkable, bikeable cities, and to have that one needs destinations such as libraries. “They are places that anchor neighborhoods,” observed McLaughlin.
Photo left: Roosevelt Library was shuttered by the Minneapolis Public Library board but was then reopened after a Library fund was created to invest in libraries across the county. Former District 4 Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin had supported the merger of the Minneapolis and Hennepin County library systems that made these renovations and expanded hours happen. (Photo submitted)
There had been discussions about merging the Minneapolis Library and the Hennepin County Library systems for years, but it had never progressed. McLaughlin believed the time had come, and he worked to make the merger happen within a few months.
There were issues, such as the suburban libraries worried their money was going into a declining system, and the city libraries worried their referendum money would be used outside Minneapolis. But a deal was struck, and the merger became official on Jan. 1, 2008.
“Libraries are one of the great democratic services we provide,” stated McLaughlin. “It needed to be solid.”
Since the merger, all the closed libraries have been re-opened, nearly every library in the system has been renovated (the last project just began), and hours added. For the first time since the Kennedy administration, Central Library downtown is open seven days a week.
Fight for light rail
Neighbors stopped the freeway from going in during the 1960s, but then nothing happened along the giant swatch of right-of-way along Hiawatha Ave. for years. It took until 1985 to reach a deal about what the road would look like, and until the early 1990s to finish the project. Meanwhile, discussions had gone back and forth for years about light rail lines and which one should be the first.
“I took on the fight for rail transit,” McLaughlin said. He knew one of his biggest battles was to reach an agreement between Hennepin and Ramsey counties and keep that in place until federal and state funding was appropriated and work could begin. It was agreed that because right-of-way was available along Hiawatha, and the Environment Impact Statement already done (because of the road work), that it would be the pilot project.
Governor Carlson signed off on a $40 million appropriation, and then Governor Ventura (who had attended Roosevelt High School) made the line a priority. A bonding bill was passed in 1999 during Ventura’s first year in office that included the last $60 million needed from the state.
“I always told people, we put all our chips on red 26 and spun the wheel,” said McLaughlin.
Once the Blue Line was operating (2004), the Green Line followed in 2014, connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul along University Ave. The Southwest extension of the Green Line is next. When McLaughlin attended the Green Line groundbreaking on Nov. 30, 2018, he brought the same shovel he used at the Blue Line groundbreaking.
Photo right: Former District 4 Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin speaks during the South Minneapolis Hub opening along Lake St. and Hiawatha Ave. The South Minneapolis Hub represents a move to decentralize human services from downtown to make it easier for people to get county social services at a site that’s more accessible. (Photo submitted)
McLaughlin’s focus on “transit ways” has also included bus lines (such as the Orange line that will be going down 35W), and he’s had a whiteboard in his office for decades that shows a transit map of the region.
“Why do I care so much about this? Transit reinforces the center as the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,” McLaughlin explained. It goes back to the lessons he learned in Trenton, N.J. and from Sears, and the exodus of people from the city that happened across the nation. How do you keep people in the city? If you’re McLaughlin, you give them something to stay for.
“It’s all part of how do we attract people to the city and make a more prosperous life?” McLaughlin said.
Development has come
Some of the light rail supporters, including McLaughlin, promised that there would be development along the lines. Every year for many years, a Star Tribune reporter would call him to ask when development was going to happen.
After a recession and years of planning, in 2015 McLaughlin helped broker a deal for the county to anchor a large development at Hiawatha Ave. and Lake St., and things began to snowball.
In addition to the new development on the southwest side of Lake and Hiawatha, there is a new building on the north side, and another multi-story apartment building a few blocks south. Several buildings are planned around the 38th St. Station, and Longfellow Stations was built there on the southeast side a few years ago. A major development is in the works at 46th St., and five more are in progress.
McLaughlin tries to work within existing plans to make other things happen.
Some have accused him of being too patient. “It takes a long time to work these puzzles out,” he observed.
Hennepin County had already decided to decentralize its services and spread out buildings to be more convenient the communities it serves. It needed a hub somewhere in south Minneapolis, so McLaughlin pitched the idea of putting a service center at Hiawatha and Lake. It became part of a development that will add more than 500 housing units and a permanent space for the Midtown Farmers’ Market. The first housing unit opened on Dec. 1, 2018. Next year, a site that wasn’t generating any tax revenue while owned entirely by Minneapolis Schools will generate $300,000 in property taxes, and that’s just a start.
“You can’t do all the things you want to do with new money,” said McLaughlin. “You’ve got to do it with money you were going to spend anyway. You have to be intentional about it.”
Battling crime and building a Greenway
The Midtown Greenway is an iconic part of south Minneapolis now, but when McLaughlin started his career it was a trench where folks threw their old mattresses and trash. The city had just been dubbed “Murderopolis” by the New York Times, and south Minneapolis was the epicenter of the crime issues facing the city.
“I used to say if you’re going to go down to the Greenway to do an inspection, you need to be sure to get your tetanus shot up to date,” said McLaughlin.
He got involved with the Midtown Community Works Partnership, and they worked to convince first Honeywell and then Wells Fargo when they took over the Honeywell facility at 600 S. 4th St. to support the Greenway project.
Construction on the line began in 2000 and the final phase was done in 2007. Organizers are now considering an extension across a rail bridge to St. Paul.
“We said there would be development along the trench, and people laughed at us 20 years ago,” recalled McLaughlin. “Success will beget more success—and that’s what happened.”
The line has become one of the busiest bikeways in Minnesota and recognized as the best urban bike trail in the nation. Plus, new housing and retail have gone in along the trail.
The trail was one of several prongs of an approach focused on building up the neighborhood and reducing crime.
“You’re not going to solve crime without a comprehensive approach,” observed McLaughlin, or solve racism. For him, one part always includes adding jobs, and so he worked to build up what was already existing in the neighborhood, including Wells Fargo and Abbott hospital through work with the Phillips Partnership. They supported Abbot’s heart hospital expansion, keeping it in the city versus out in the suburbs.
They offered funds to rehabilitate old homes and increase the number of owner-occupied houses, supported by the Project for Pride in Living (PPL) Selvaggio Fund.
The group worked to create the Pathways Program to provided training at the Minneapolis College for jobs at Abbott, as well as jobs within the county itself.
McLaughlin once found himself in the elevator with three women who were part of the Pathways program. As they got out, one told him, “This job changed my life.”
“That’s why I do this work,” remarked McLaughlin.
Entrepreneurial policymaker
McLaughlin has approached policymaking by trying to fix community problems, even when there was no clear role for Hennepin County in the solution, pointed out his principal aide Brian Shekelton.
“Life’s problems aren’t categorized by a series of neat silos, and he believes that silos shouldn’t define the way to fix problems.
“Before Commissioner McLaughlin took office Hennepin County wasn’t helping to build train lines, it wasn’t helping to build permanent homes for farmers markets. It wasn’t leading a partnership to build Greenways (Midtown was a community development project, not just a transportation/recreation project). It wasn’t investing in Minneapolis parks or Minneapolis libraries. It wasn’t creating train stations like Target Field Station, and it didn’t have a tree nursery to replenish the lost Ash trees,” Shekelton
Shekelton summed up, “I’ve always thought that of Peter McLaughlin as an entrepreneurial policymaker, and I think that’s why he has been able to achieve so many goals.”
What’s next?
So, what’s next for the man who left office in December after 28 years?
He’s not sure.
“I’ve devoted my entire adult life to community work,” he said.
He doesn’t think he’s done yet.
“I’m still a believer that government can play a positive role in changing people’s lives,” remarked McLaughlin.

Article printed in the February 2019 Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger and by permission in the March 2019 edition of The Alley newspaper.

Demonstrators at Hiawatha and 54th call for end to shutdown

EDITOR’S NOTE: The longest federal government shutdown in history ended as the February Messenger was going to press.
By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
“I would like the government shutdown to end so I can go back to work and get a paycheck,” stated Brian Garthwaite while standing along Hiawatha Ave. on Jan. 10.
He was among about 30 people holding signs and demonstrating at Hiawatha Ave. and 54th St. near the Veterans Affairs Health Care complex from noon to 2pm. The event was organized by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Sign slogans included, “End the Shutdown,” “Do What’s Right,” and “Let Me Do My Job.”
Photo right: About 30 people holding signs demonstrated at Hiawatha Ave. and 54th St. near the Veterans Affairs Health Care complex on Jan. 10. The event was organized by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). (Photo courtesy of Minneapolis Labor Review)
The demonstration was held to bring attention to the public, according to Gregg James, National Vice President of AFGE’s 8th district, and was planned for the day before workers missed their first paychecks. The federal government shut down some departments on Dec. 22, 2018, a move that affects 800,000 government workers. While some are working without pay, 350,000 have been furloughed.
One of those is Brain Garthwaite of Bloomington. He’s been a compliance officer for the Food and Drug Administration for the past 16 years and serves as the AFGE Local 3381 President.
“My empathy is with federal employees who for reason not of their own doing, are required to work without timely pay, cannot afford the gas it takes to get them to work that they are doing without timely pay, cannot provide adequately for their family because they are not receiving their pay timely, or are not allowed to do their job,” remarked Garthwaite.
“I would ask the Senate Majority Leader if he thinks it’s fair that he is drawing a government paycheck for not doing his job of advancing for a vote appropriations bills that had universal and unanimous support before the shutdown commenced? Yet he expects federal employees to do their jobs without getting timely pay. Does he think it’s fair that his spouse, the Secretary of Transportation, also is drawing a government paycheck, but many other couples who are federal workers are not both receiving timely government paychecks for work they are doing? And I would ask if he needed to watch Schoolhouse Rock’s ‘I’m Just a Bill’ as a remedial refresher on the regular order process for how a bill becomes a law.”
While Miranda Kiwelu was still working at the VA, she decided to demonstrate to show her support for those who weren’t working. “It’s not fair we’re being used as pawns,” said Kiwelu. “There are a lot of people who are being punished and will be without places to live and food to eat. It’s sad.”
“We want this to end quickly so they can get back to their everyday lives,” agreed Ednika Dabney of AFL-CIO, who was demonstrating in solidarity with those on furlough.
A shutdown “destroys morale, creates hardship and anxiety, and cost taxpayers millions,” pointed out James. As his organization represents a five-state region, they were considering holding a demonstration in Iowa next. Complicating things, however, is that “federal employees are fearful of retaliation for exercising their first amendment rights,” he said.
Like many others, Garthwaite is drawing on his savings while he waits for the shutdown to end.
“Citizens should understand that, even though legislation has been signed to provide back pay to affected federal employees after the shutdown ends, bills and expenses cannot be paid with a promissory note,” remarked Garthwaite. “Citizens should understand that a shutdown and furlough is not a vacation for federal employees. Citizens should understand that with very few exceptions, federal employees want to go to work to be paid for the work they are doing or are prevented from doing.”
He encouraged those who want to help to donate to local food shelves.
“There are many acts of kindness that citizens are taking to help affected employees, and these acts are received with heartfelt gratitude,” Garthwaite said. “There are some instances, however, when federal employees must decline assistance.” These stipulations are laid out at https://www2.oge.gov/Web/oge.nsf/Resources/Gifts+from+Outside+Sources.

Article printed in the February 2019 Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.