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Civic beat // City to lose $30 million in unallotment
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By Cristof Traudes
Minneapolis is expected to lose almost $30 million in local-government aid (LGA) over the next two years as part of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s state budget-balancing unallotments.
According to estimates from the Department of Revenue, the cuts would be back-loaded: $8.54 million would go this year, followed by $21.34 million in 2010.
LGA pays for basic services such as snow plowing and police and fire departments. When Pawlenty unallotted about $18 million in LGA from Minneapolis last December, Mayor R.T. Rybak rebalanced the city’s budget by proposing such cuts as $2.2 million from the Public Works Department, including a $250,000 reduction to snow and ice removal. Because of federal stimulus money, Rybak said he was able to prevent any police officer layoffs, although a recent report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune said the city won’t receive as many of those funds as originally anticipated.
Despite the latest cuts, announced June 16, it’s not expected that Minneapolis will have to make any revisions to its 2009 budget. But for 2010, when the city also is facing a steep increase in pension fund payouts, Rybak said his budget focus will have to remain on paying down debt, controlling spending and maintaining public safety.
“I deeply disagree with Governor Pawlenty’s choices,” Rybak said in a news release. “But as mayor I have a job to do, and that job is to preserve and create jobs and keep my city safe.”
Minneapolis’ LGA losses are part of $300 million worth of statewide aid cuts that Pawlenty proposed as part of $2.7 billion in spending shifts and eliminations. The number is lower than some had predicted — Pawlenty originally came up with more than $500 million in aid cuts in his January budget proposal — but will still leave all but the smallest towns of Minnesota affected.
During a news conference, Pawlenty defended his decision by arguing that today’s economy requires governments of all sizes to go through what many citizens are experiencing — less income and less spending.
“All cities, especially large cities … need to reduce their budgets,” he said.
Pawlenty specifically called out Minneapolis for annually raising its property taxes and said that for any city to try to prevent any cuts to LGA — one of Minneapolis’ goals during the recent legislative session — was a mistake.
Referring to Rybak, Pawlenty said, “My message to him is reduce. And try to do it in priority order.”
The mayor balked.
“The governor has offered no plan for putting people to work, only for cutting jobs during a tough economy,” Rybak said in his release. Pawlenty “has offered no strategy for fixing a broken state budget that continues to lurch from deficit to deficit.”
Rybak is frequently mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in next year’s election.
Beyond aid cuts, Pawlenty’s proposal also includes $100 million in cuts to higher education appropriations and $236 million in cuts to human services spending, which he said the Legislature had allowed to reach “out-of-control” and “unsustainable” levels.
“We have been sounding the alarm for years. Now I think we might have their attention,” he said.
Minneapolis City Council President Barb Johnson (4th Ward) saw it differently. It isn’t just the loss of LGA that will affect the city, she said.
“Cuts to higher education and health care will also hit those two fields hard, and as some of Minneapolis’ biggest employers, the region’s economy will suffer,” Johnson said.
When this edition of the Southwest Journal went to press, Pawlenty’s unallotments were at the proposal stage. Finalized numbers are expected by July 1, the start of the state’s next biennium.
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Filings for candidacy open on July 7
Filing for this year’s municipal election begins July 7. Those interested in becoming official candidates should go to the city’s elections office, located in Room 1B of City Hall, 350 S. 5th St.
The final date for filing is July 21. The deadline for withdrawal is 5 p.m. July 23.
To track filings, go to www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/elections. The city is expected to update its website daily.
The election is Nov. 3.
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Newest development proposal: A courtyard with pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene
UPDATED August 31, 2010, 11:04am
By Nick Halter
A new development proposal in Uptown calls for the construction of a three-level restaurant with a rooftop patio, plus a private, ground-level courtyard with a pool and movie screen in the heart of the Uptown nightlife scene. The courtyard would go between Cowboy Slim’s and the new restaurant, which would be built directly across from the Lagoon Cinema on Lagoon Avenue, according to a plan submitted to the city of Minneapolis. The owner of the site is Uptown Gassen LLC, which is owned by Clark Gassen. Gassen is proposing a 3,000 square-foot, single-level retail building that would go along Girard Avenue between Lake Street and Lagoon. Underneath the proposed development would be a 125-car parking ramp. The restaurant’s three
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Harriet concession contract nears approval
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 1:00pm
By Jake Weyer
2 Comments
The board will decide this month whether to approve local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle.
After more than a year of community review and a selection process that narrowed a field of nearly a dozen applicants, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is scheduled to vote this month on a new Lake Harriet concession contract.
Staff recommended local restaurateur Kim Bartmann’s concept, Bread & Pickle, based on the suggestion of a community group that reviewed and interviewed the applicants. That group was made up of former members of a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) the Park Board assembled last year after public outcry over a proposed concession change that would have required a new building. The CAC examined concession opportunities and drafted recommendations used to review applicants.
“The CAC was really a lengthy, drawn-out, long process,” said Park Board General Manager Don Siggelkow. “But it yielded the information and the understanding that I think brought this conclusion the way it needed to happen.”
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Urban fashion store and art gallery opens on Hennepin
UPDATED August 26, 2010, 10:14am
By Nick Halter
With rare Michael Jordan sneakers dating back to 1985, local art work, a DJ table and pinewood floors, Moh Habib on Aug. 21 unveiled Studiiyo 23, an urban fashion store and art gallery at 2319 Hennepin Ave. Everything about Studiiyo 23, from the name to the design to the merchandise, is a reflection of Habib, a 34-year-old world traveler who spent his high school and college years in Minnesota. “In those travels — I’ve been to 30 countries and 169 cities so far — I picked up the best of what I like from all those spots, and what I did was try to merge everything I love in life into one space,” he said. Habib has spent the last eight years working in Japan and Switzerland, first for Northwest Airlines and later as a
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Bryant Lake Bowl operator plans to buy Casey’s Bar and Grill
UPDATED August 25, 2010, 2:12pm
By Nick Halter
Kim Bartmann, who runs popular Lake Street establishments Bryant Lake Bowl and Barbette, said she has a purchase agreement for Casey’s Bar and Grill, 3510 Nicollet Ave. Bartmann wouldn’t offer specifics on what she will do with the space. She is asking to present to the Kingfield and Lyndale neighborhood groups soon to show them her plans. She said the renovation will last a couple weeks and said work will be done on the kitchen and dining area. Casey’s has a very limited food menu. “We’re a very food-focused company, so I think that will be a major change,” she said. Bartmann said Casey’s current owner has taken good care of the place and kept it clean. “It has a lot of potential,&rdq
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Neighborhood notebook
By Dylan Thomas, Nick Halter and Sarah McKenzie
THE WEDGELHENA hires new newspaper editorLowry Hill East Neighborhood Association hired a new editor for its monthly newspaper, The Wedge. Wedge resident Quentin Skinner took over with the July issues of The Wedge. Best known as the theater critic for City Pages, Skinner also has written two novels set in the Wedge, where he has lived for 15 years, according to an announcement posted Aug. 2 on thewedge.org. ——— WHITTIER Rex Hardware demolishedWrecking crews in early August demolished the former Rex Hardware building at 2601 Lyndale Ave. S. The demolition came 11 weeks after the Minneapolis City Council overturned a Heritage
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Parks update // Lake Harriet health
By jake weyer
Park Board applies for grant to study Lake Harriet healthThe Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has decided it’s time for Lake Harriet to get a checkup. The board frequently receives complaints about the lake’s smells and surface algae and is hoping to perform a diagnostic study — funded by a $55,000 matching grant from the state — to see just how healthy the popular body of water is. “These grants are specifically being put out to prevent lakes from being designated as impaired lakes,” said the board’s Environmental and Field Services Director Debra Lynn Pilger. Pilger presented the details of the “clean water partnership grant” to the board at its Aug. 4 meeting. A
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Green digest // More mini markets
By Dylan Thomas
Farmers market season is at its late-summer peak, and more neighborhoods this year have easy access to fresh tomatoes and sweet corn thanks to an expansion of mini farmers markets sites. The number of mini farmers markets located mainly in low-income neighborhoods has tripled between 2008 and 2010, reported the Whittier-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), which established the market program in collaboration with the city. The Walker Place Farmers Market in the East Harriet neighborhood near a senior housing facility was one of the mini farmers markets to debut this summer. The Stevens Square Farmers Market, Southwest’s only other mini farmers market site, opened in 2008. The mini farmers markets are limited to five or fewer
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Wine may flow, after all
By Dylan Thomas
Uptown wine tasting was in question this springStart working on your swirl, sniff and slurp technique: The annual wine tasting sponsored by Hennepin Lake Liquors may go on this year, after all. This spring it appeared the wine tasting, an important fundraiser for Uptown-area neighborhoods, might not return for its 28th year. In mid-August, though, event organizer Pat Fleetham said he was nearly ready to announce a fall wine tasting. Fleetham said he was “tentatively proposing” a date in October for the tasting but still needed to finalize agreements with event sponsors before he could announce a time and location. The event in recent years had been held in early June. In March, though, Fleetham wrote in an email to
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Biz buzz // New improv theater
By Nick Halter
New Lyn-Lake improv theater will focus on long-formA new improv theater is coming to Lyn-Lake this fall, leasing the space formerly held by Lava Lounge clothing store at 3037 Lyndale Ave. Huge Improve Theater, the nonprofit company that is leasing the space, plans to have a roughly 100-seat theater open in late October and is pursuing a beer and wine license from the city. While Minneapolis already has improv theaters like Comedy Sportz and Brave New Workshop, HUGE Executive Director Butch Roy said the Lyn-Lake theater will be dedicated to a unique form of improv — long-form. No theater in the Twin Cities is devoted to the form. Most know improv in its short form through the “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” TV
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Schools notebook // Southwest steady on AYP
By Dylan Thomas
Six Minneapolis Public Schools in Southwest met goals for student proficiency in reading and math this year, down from eight schools in 2009. The district as a whole saw slightly fewer schools making AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress, toward student achievement goals. About 14 percent of district schools met benchmarks on state standardized tests, down from nearly 19 percent in 2009. The slide means more district schools will face escalating sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law, although many in education say the law sets an unachievable goal. Approved by Congress in 2001, No Child Left Behind set a goal of 100 percent proficiency on math and reading assessments by 2014. But the ever-rising benchmarks mean more schools every year are
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Park Board organizing LRT advisory group
By jake weyer
Adding another facet to the ongoing Southwest light rail discussion, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted last month to organize a citizens advisory committee (CAC) to mitigate the impact of the route on parkland. Park Board commissioners, City Council members, neighborhood associations, Mayor R.T. Rybak and County Commissioner Gail Dorfman will appoint the 17-member CAC. The group will consider historical, cultural, visual, social, and safety issues associated with the 14-mile Southwest Light Rail Transit line (LRT). The route will start Downtown, travel along the Kenilworth trail between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, then stretch through St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Minnetonka, ending in Eden Prairie. Along the way, it will intersect or run
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