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.

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.

Updated Aldi opens

by Tesha M. Christensen

Tesha M. Christensen
Despite opening a second Aldi in the neighborhood along Lake St., the company does not plan to close the Aldi a few blocks away at the Hi-Lake Shopping Center, according to the owner of both buildings.

The former Rainbow Foods at 2912 28th Ave. S. has been transformed into a brand new Aldi with wider aisles, more refrigerated items and a wider selection of fresh foods.
“We are thrilled,” stated site developer David Wellington of Wellington Management, Inc. “Aldi is a world class grocer that is unparalleled in delivering high-quality food at a premier value. Their new, bigger store looks great in the space, and we think this updated format and layout is going to be great for the retail center and the neighborhood.”
According to Wellington, Aldi plans to continue operating the store nearby at the Hi-Lake Shopping Center in another building managed by Wellington. “We know of no plans to close it,” he said. 
Aldi is in the process of revamping its stores, but was not able to redo the store at 2100 E. Lake St. because “the building footprint, access, and layout were not conducive to the significant modification that was required,” stated Wellington.
Aldi is part of a second phase for redeveloping the site. There is additional retail space for lease next to the grocery store.
The first phase was the 19,600-square-foot, second-story addition built on the back side of the building for the K-8 Universal Academy Charter School.
The third phase will include 110 units of affordable housing for seniors and 15,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level. The construction of this mixed-use building on the northwest corner of the parking lot is behind schedule as Wellington Management works to put the financial pieces together to make it affordable. 
The Rainbow site, Cub land and Target property together represent the second largest piece of continuous asphalt in the city of Minneapolis, pointed out Wellington. They have worked to align their project with the the city’s plans for greater density in the area due to the nearby lightrail line.
“We appreciate the neighborhold’s collective patience as we’ve worked through the challenging redevelopment,” stated Wellington. “We are excited about the next few years for the site and think the future is bright for the area.”

Article printed in the February 2019 edition of The Alley newspaper.

What’s possible for HOTB, MayDay?

by TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

Bruce Silcox
HOTB has been a offering after-school and summer programs for kids at Little Earth, the Waite House, and Collaborative Village (a PPL project) for several years. About 150 kids are part of this year-round program that focuses on telling the stories of the Phillips neighborhoods and participants’ cultures. Along the way, children learn shadow puppeting, stilts, storytelling and more.

In the Heart of the Beast Theater (HOTB) has already said farewell to two staff members, and by June 2019 it won’t have any full-time staff left.
But it isn’t disappearing. 
Executive Director Corrie Zoll is hopeful about the organization’s future and believes it is full of exciting possibilities.
“This is an extremely painful moment,” Zoll admitted. “At the same time, I’m really looking forward to conversations with people about what is possible.”
WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?
HOTB announced in January its plans to significantly reduce its operations in 2019 and cut staff. Grants it had been counting on when the budget was made in August did not materialize.
 HOTB relies on a variety of funding sources, including foundations, donations, and grants. Complicating things is that most of the funding available for arts is given to new projects. Programs that are ongoing are not typically given the grants that are available, Zoll noted. While Minnesota is lucky to have so much money available for the arts courtesy of the Legacy Amendment, it is not given to fund ongoing projects either. HOTB does receive some operating support through the Legacy Amendment, so it is ineligible for the festival support program for MayDay.
Last year, HOTB had expected to receive a $30,000 foundation grant that it did not get, which meant that MayDay operated at a loss of over $50,000. This was covered by reserve funds but HOTB can’t continue to do that. For about the last 10 years, MayDay has operated at a loss of between $20-30,000, according to Zoll. 
After the 2016 election and through 2017, HOTB saw an increase in individual donations, which Zoll feels was from a desire to invest in what people believed in.  In 2018, there was a significant drop in donations. “Now it seems that people are much more scared of where the economy is going and being more cautious in their investments,” Zoll observed.
Prior to the cut, HOTB had 15 permanent staff members; nine were full-time and six were part-time. By June, there will be half as many staff members and no one will be full-time, not even Executive Director Zoll who expects to work three days a week. 

Max Haynes
A central ritual of the Mayday Ceremony in Powderhorn Park is the raising of the Tree of Life puppet as a yearly commitment: of  human communities to be in right reciprocal relationship with each other and the whole of creation,” wrote organizer Sandy Spieler in a letter annoucning that organizaing MayDay 2019 will be her last year. “Remembering insight from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., my prayer is that MayDay  be a promise to uphold and nourish the whole ecosystem, our Beloved Community,  with Power that is wedded to Love. Thank you for all that has been, and thank you for all that will be!” Spieler is one of the founders of MayDay (1975), and has midwifed the artistic part of MayDay since this beginning.

Staff members will leave as grants for their programs run out. 
HOBT will present Puppet Lab performances as planned March 15-16 and March 21-22. This will close out a project that began last June courtesy of a Jerome Foundation grant that focuses on providing support for early career artists.
Puppet Cabaret (an evening of short, experimental puppet acts) will still be presented on Feb. 14, and HOTB will continue to share the Avalon Theater as a rental venue for events and performances.
Many people in Phillips don’t know that HOTB has been a offering after-school and summer programs for kids at Little Earth, the Waite House, and Collaborative Village, pointed out Zoll. About 150 kids are part of this year-round program that focuses on telling the stories of the Phillips neighborhoods and participants’ cultures. Along the way, children learn shadow puppeting, stilts, storytelling and more.
For seven of the last eight years, this program has been funded by the State Arts Board, but it has not been funded for this year.
In the two and a half weeks after its announcement, HOTB received $20,000 in individual donations. It will continue fundraising for this year’s MayDay event, which planners began working on in September.
MAYDAY: PART OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD IDENTITY
HOTB has decided that 2019 will be the 45th and final year that it will solely produce its annual MayDay celebration. In recent years, HOBT’s MayDay brings in approximately $150,000 in income, mainly from individual donors. Annual costs for producing MayDay, however, generally land between $180,000 and $200,000.
MayDay 2019 will also be the last year that the event is led by Sandy Spieler, who has been a part of the event since the beginning. She decided a year ago that it was time to step aside to make space for new artists to lead.
Zoll has been the executive director of HOTB for the last 3.5 years, but as a 25-year resident of Midtown Phillips he’s been at the majority of the MayDay events. He recalls acting in a production at Theatre de la Jeune Lune, where he first heard about MayDay. 
“People there were talking about MayDay as the greatest moment of the year in Minneapolis,” Zoll stated.
They all told him he had to go – but had troubling explaining just what the event was. 

Corrie Zoll of Heart of the Beast

He went. “As an artist, at the time it struck me as exactly everything that art should be,” he said. “It was relevant. It was dealing with current things happening in society. It involved laying around in the sun in the grass. It was running into neighbors you haven’t seen all winter. People would participate in it on any level they wanted to.”
MayDay has become a part of the very identity of the neighborhoods it goes through, as well as the ones that are adjacent to East Phillips, West Phillips and Powderhorn Park neighborhoods, he pointed out. 
There are banners up on Lake Street and tiles embedded in the sidewalk. Many south Minneapolis garages house puppets. 
“For many people it is the most important holiday of the year,” said Zoll. “There are many stories of people who get engaged in the park on MayDay; who get married in the park on MayDay; or have their ashes scattered in the place where the Tree of Life happens. 
“It’s really humbling to realize people think of it this way.”
In 2016, 50,000 attended MayDay. It grew to 55,000 the next year, and 60,000 people came in 2018.
“The event has gotten too big for us to produce on our own,” acknowledged Zoll. “A MayDay with more genuinely shared ownership could be a much stronger MayDay and more inclusive.”
Perhaps puppets will be made at more locations than the HOTB location at the Avalon. Maybe it will become a weekend event or a week-long event. 
“So many people tell us how important MayDay is to them. We want to spend the next four months having conversations about it,” said Zoll.
“What is possible for the future of MayDay?
“The best we can do at this painful moment is look at re-starting things from scratch. 
“What would be a more resilient way to do it?”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
HOTB has put out a request for proposals (RFP) to bring in a consultant to help engage the community and identify stakeholders. 
Be a part of the conversation by signing up for the email list at www.hotb.org, and pay attention to web site and Facebook updates.
“We want this MayDay 45 – if it’s going to be the last – to be a big one,” said Zoll. 
“Let’s make Sandy’s last MayDay an amazing thing.”

How to help HOTB
Give Your Financial 
Support
• Give any amount online or via mail.
• Hire HOBT to bring an arts residency to your school, park, or place of worship.
• Rent the Avalon for events up to 200 people. Beer and wine service available.
• Buy tickets to Puppet Lab and Puppet Cabaret events this spring.
Give Your Time
•MayDay relies on 1000 volunteers. Spend just part of your MayDay (or the days before or after) sharing the scores of tasks that need doing. Sign up online.
Give Your Ideas & Input
• Say what’s on your mind. 
• Find more detailed information at hobt.org/imagine

HOBT’s decision to reduce its operations comes at a challenging time for midsized arts organizations 
in the Twin Cities. Peer organizations that have been temporarily or permanently impacted by similar challenges 
over the past two years include The Soap Factory, VSA Arts, Red Eye Collaborative, Intermedia Arts, NEMAA/Art-A-Whirl, Art Shanty Projects, Patrick’s Cabaret, and Bedlam Theatre.
 Article printed in the February 2019 edition of The Alley newspaper.

INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE: Outgoing County Commissioner McLaughlin reflects on public service

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part one of a two-part series.
By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
When outgoing Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin drives through the district he’s served for 28 years, he’s proud of the work he’s accomplished.
“I feel good looking around at all the things I helped do,” observed McLaughlin, who lives in Standish-Ericsson a few blocks from the train station at 46th and Hiawatha.
“The county is a pretty amazing instrument, and I’ve put energy into making it an instrument of change.”
Photo right: “I feel good looking around at all the things I helped do,” observed Hennepin County District 4 Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, who left that office in December 2018 after 28 years of service. “The county is a pretty amazing instrument, and I’ve put energy into making it an instrument of change.” (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
From the start, he took his charge to be making things better for those who had elected him, and he worked to show up even when the heat was on.
Close to 40% of Minneapolis’ population live in McLaughlin’s district 4, and there is a steady stream of constituent calls and community meetings.
“Commissioner McLaughlin has a track record of getting things accomplished, and that has been the most exciting thing about working for him,” said his principal aide Brian Shekleton, who has worked in McLaughlin’s office for 12 of the last 21 years at three different times.
Shekleton pointed out the visible and structural investments such as LRT lines, the Midtown Greenway, Target Field Station, the Midtown Exchange, and safer street designs, that have improved Minneapolis and the region.
“But Commissioner McLaughlin has fought for the much less visible investments in people through training programs, human service support structures, supportive housing, environmental response funds, library, and youth sports investment funds, amongst many other programs.
“It’s these investments in people that have helped foster a more stable social fabric, something that is much less monumental but it is people who make a city livable, and I have found that working on these projects to be incredibly rewarding,” stated Shekleton.
His life was changed
McLaughlin didn’t grow up thinking he’d get into politics. He lived in a small town in western Pennsylvania, the son of a printer. Over the years, he watched the town wither away as the manufacturing jobs dried up.
McLaughlin earned a scholarship to attend Princeton University where he studied statistics and economics.
It was during the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson was president, New York City was going bankrupt, there was rioting in the streets, and people were fleeing the city in favor of the suburbs.
The summer before his junior year, McLaughlin took an internship working in Spanish Harlem. “The events in Spanish Harlem got me involved in community organizing and changed my life,” recalled McLaughlin. He switched his major to politics.
Then he went to work for the mayor of Trenton, N.J. The office was focused on revitalizing a dying downtown, and one tool was passing a progressive income tax to ease the property tax burden. As a “punk kid” he accompanied the mayor to Washington, D.C., among other places, and got an up-close look at the mayor’s work.
Photo left: The bike lanes on Park and Portland were the first, significant lanes to be put on a Hennepin County road and paved the way to new lanes on Minnehaha Ave, E. 46th St., and Washington Ave. downtown. McLaughlin has fought for visible, structural investments such as LRT lines, the Midtown Greenway, Target Field Station, the Midtown Exchange, and safer street designs during his 28 years as a Hennepin County Commissioner. (Photo submitted)
Force of community
McLaughlin came to Minnesota for the first time in 1975 to attend graduate school at the University’s School of Public Affairs and never left.
What struck him most were the social networks Minnesota had in place to get things done.
“You not only had tangible investments being made, but you also had this group of people that came together as a force within the community,” he observed.
McLaughlin got pulled into serving as board chair for the Powderhorn Residents Group (now PRG), helping with affordable housing developments. PRG was one of the first groups focused on that in the city. Its first project was revamping the Whittier School at 26th and Blaisdale into 45 units of affordable housing.
When he bought his first house near Matt’s Bar, McLaughlin watched how a city program that put people into vacant homes for $1 stabilized his block.
McLaughlin was hired by the Urban Coalition of Minneapolis and began focusing on social justice issues. Everything they did was cutting edge at the time, affordable housing, weatherization for owner- and renter-occupied homes, apprenticeship credits, education, and more.
Then Pastor Brian Peterson of Walker Church approached McLaughlin and asked him if he’d ever thought about running for office.
McLaughlin agreed to try it and was elected to three terms in the Minnesota House beginning in 1985. Minnesota was in a deep recession, and unemployment was high.
McLaughlin helped create the Jobs Now Coalition to offer a wage subsidy program that is still operating today, and helped pass the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) to put more control in the hands of Minneapolis neighborhoods and foster community. He sponsored the first parental leave act in the country that included six weeks for fathers, as well as mothers.
Directly affecting lives as Commissioner
Then, in 1990, he decided to run for Hennepin County Commissioner because he wanted to be more involved in doing things that directly affected people’s lives.
An experience early on shaped the rest of his career. He accompanied then-Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and others to Chicago where they met with Sears representatives to ask that the company be the anchor tenant in the redevelopment of the Sears site on Lake St. (now Midtown Global Market). Sears was focused on how much disposable income residents in the area had, and that’s when McLaughlin realized that to get development he needed to focus on jobs first.
“I’m a believer in the economy and how important it is to have jobs for people,” stated McLaughlin. “That’s what pays the mortgages, the grocery bills. That’s what goes to Sears.”
Photo right: Commissioner Peter McLaughlin led the protection of the Upper Post buildings at Fort Snelling using Sentence-to-Service Crews to stabilize the buildings. The buildings will now be redeveloped by Dominium to create housing. (Photo submitted)
He set off to create a renaissance in South Minneapolis and hopefully staunch the exodus of people leaving the city.
It wasn’t going to happen overnight.
“You have to be paying attention when the opportunity arises to do something,” McLaughlin explained.
That involves doing something before then, however. McLaughlin’s method included serving on committees, talking to people, setting up the framework needed and doing studies so that when the time is right, things are in place.
While leaving Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) one day, McLaughlin came out a different door than usual and noticed an old, vacant brick building across the street. He checked the property tax records, saw it was owned by Allina and asked them what they planned to do with it. Fast forward a few years, and the building has been transformed into housing for youth and working adults through a collaboration between the city of Minneapolis, Central Community Housing Trust (CCHT), Allina, the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, and YouthLink.
“I’m kind of always on the lookout for things like that,” McLaughlin said. “You need a network of people to make that happen.”
Look for part two in this series in the February edition of the Messenger.

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

Karen Clark honored

Tesha M. Christensen
As she retires after 38 years of service as the District 62A Representative, Karen Clark was honored by various community members, including Indigenous Peoples Task Force Executive Director Sharon Day (above) and several members of the Somali community (below) on Dec. 6, 2018. She was the first openly gay representative in America and worked on social justice issues. Clark quoted Dr. Dorothy Cotton, former Associate to MLK, Jr., “I’m here to tell you God gave my torch to me and I am still using it! I’ll be glad to light your torch so that together we may light the way and fight the fight!”  She added, “I’m not going away.”



 

Photos printed in the Decembrer 2018/January 2019 edition of The Alley newspaper.

House set ablaze by fireworks

COURTESY OF GABRIEL AND AMY PASS

COURTESY OF GABRIEL AND AMY PASS

Two families displaced, and entire house damaged by fire and water

BY TESHA CHRISTENSEN

On Thursday, July 5, 2018, an individual shooting off fireworks in Cedar Field Park set fire to a duplex at 2502 S. 18^th Ave. This was the second of two house fires in South Minneapolis that day. Firefighters also believe fireworks are to blame for damaging a home on the 3100 block of Portland Ave. and displacing a family of seven early Thursday morning.

Two families, who have lived in the home along S. 18^th Ave. for over five years now, were displaced by the fire. The residents of the upstairs apartment reported hearing two Roman candles hit the second-story porch at the front of the house at about 4:10 pm. When the mother looked outside, the front of the building was on fire, according to house owner, Gabriel Pass, who has lived along S. 18^th Ave. for over 40 years. The mother rushed out of the house with her 6-month-old baby and 9-year-old daughter, and they alerted the teenagers home inside the main floor apartment. The families made it out with their two dogs, but two pet birds perished in the flames.

Homeowners Gabriel and Amy Pass arrived a few minutes later, and firefighters shortly thereafter. “When I saw the fire it was hard to believe that it was really happening,” stated Gabriel. Twenty-year neighborhood resident Amy recalls worrying about the safety of their tenants, and also about the house next door because the fire was coming out the windows towards the nearby home.

“We are so thankful for the firefighters. The report says they got there in four minutes from the time they got the call. They worked so hard,” stated Amy. “It’s dangerous, hot, dirty work, and they were still so kind to everyone and calm. She added, “They were so thorough and it’s because of them that we will be able to save the structure of the house. It would be so sad to lose this house entirely. We already saved it from being condemned once 19 years ago.”

The entire house was damaged by the fire and water, and will need to be renovated. Two families were displaced by the blaze. The tenants on the top level lost everything (family of four) while the tenants on the main level (two parents and their four children ranging in age from 12-22) lost most of their possessions. Neither family had renter’s insurance. Two separate GoFundMe campaigns have been set up. Upstairs: https://www.gofundme.com/upstairs-family-displaced-by-fire. Downstairs: https://www.gofundme.com/87efde-family-displaced-by-fire

Legal fireworks. Illegal fireworks and launch locations

Police are investigating the incident, and the insurance company has filed a suit against the perpetrator who was identified by multiple witnesses.

Roman candles are illegal in Minnesota, as are all other fireworks that fly or explode, including missiles, bottle rockets and mortars and shells. Fireworks that are legal include: sparklers, cones and tubes that emit sparks, and novelty items like snakes and party poppers.

In Minneapolis, it is illegal to use any fireworks on public property including roads, alleys, schools, and parks.

To report illegal fireworks, call 911. Callers should provide the exact address and a description of the person or people setting off the fireworks.

“I couldn’t believe that fireworks were that dangerous, but come to think of it, it’s so obvious and now I can’t believe I wasn’t more worried before. Of course they’re dangerous,” stated Gabriel.

Second renovation in 19 years

As newlyweds 19 years ago, Gabriel and Amy Pass purchased the dilapidated duplex built in the 1890s, and invested their time and energy into it. The couple refinished the floors, painted, installed new lighting, and renovated the kitchens and bathrooms. They were thrilled to discover that the original porch pillars were hidden behind square posts built later.

Skilled craftsmen created the detailed woodwork on the small, second-story porch in the front of the house, and also contributed to woodwork features within the house. Later, the couple constructed the home’s distinctive wrap-around porch on both levels.

Their 16-year-old daughter was born in the house, and the family resided there until 10 years ago when they moved to an apartment down the block with more space as their children got older.

“We lived a lot of life in that house,” remarked Amy. The house was insured by the Pass family, but a rehab project takes lots of time and energy, and there are always additional expenses that come up. “It’s important for us to bring the house back again as a way to keep our community vibrant and beautiful, and we want to do that,” she said. “Such a lovely old house needs to be kept and restored. But it is going to take time and resources to make it happen. And we weren’t expecting to be doing that right now.”

This article appeared in the August 2018 The Alley newspaper.