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Neighborhood notebook // Southwest LRT
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By Sarah McKenzie, Dylan Thomas and Jake Weyer
CITYWIDE Southwest LRT open houses lined up for August There are four open houses planned in August to brief people on three potential Southwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines. A number of factors will be considered to evaluate the three options, including: ridership forecasts, cost estimates, cost-effectivness calculations and transit mobility measures, among other things.
The information gathered will be used to name the preferred LRT route, referred to as the Locally Preferred Alternative or LPA. The Southwest Transitway is expected to pick an LPA and forward it along to the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) later this month.
Here’s a schedule for open houses:
— Aug. 11, 6:30–8 p.m. Hopkins City Hall, 1010 1st St.
— Aug. 13, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall.
— Aug. 13, 6:30–8 p.m. Marriott Southwest Hotel, 5801 Opus Parkway
– Aug. 18, 6:30–8 p.m. St. Louis Park City Hall, 5005 Minnetonka Blvd.
— Aug. 19, 6:30–8 p.m. Eden Prairie City Hall, 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie.
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East Calhoun
Neighborhood barbecue planned for Aug. 12
The East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO) is hosting a neighborhood barbecue Aug. 19, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Gateway Art Park, located at Lake Street and Calhoun Parkway. Hot dogs and soft drinks will be provided. Attendees are asked to bring a salad or dessert to share.
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East Isles
Ice Cream Social set for Aug. 13
The East Isles Residents Association (EIRA) is hosting an ice cream social on Aug. 13, 6–9 p.m. at Joanne Levin Triangle Park, 1600 W. 26th St.
Other activities lined up for the event include an exotic petting zoo, face painting and fun-jump bouncers for children. For more information, visit eastisles.org.
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KENNY
Summerfest scheduled for Aug. 8
The Kenny Neighborhood Association’s annual Summerfest is set for Aug. 8, from 5-10 p.m. at Kenny Park, 1328 W. 58th St. Live music, food from local restaurants, inflatable rides and a variety of activities are planned. Visit kennyneighborhood.org for more information.
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WHITTIER
Affordable housing project wins support
A proposed mixed-used development near the intersection of Lyndale Avenue and West 28th Street won the support of the Whittier Alliance Board of Directors July 23.
Known as Lyndale Green, the mixed-use development would be built on land adjacent to the Salem Lutheran Church building at 610 W. 28th St. The four-story building will include 61 affordable housing units and ground-floor retail space.
The Board voted to approve the site plan review and a variety of requests for variances and a conditional use permit.
There are also plans to rehabilitate the church building on the site, which has been vacant for several years.
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Southwest neighborhood group meeting times
Armatage Neighborhood Association (ANA): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Armatage Park, 57th & Russell.
Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association (BMNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Bryn Mawr School, 252 Upton Ave. S.
Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG) meeting: Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Bryant Square Park, 3101 Bryant Ave. S.
Cedar-Isles-Dean Neighborhood Association (CIDNA) meeting: Board meets every 1st Tuesday at Jones-Harrison Residence, 3700 Cedar Lake Ave.
East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO): Board meets 1st Thursday monthly at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, 3450 Irving Ave. S.
East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association (EHFNA): Board meets 1st Wednesday monthly at Lyndale Farmstead Park Building, 3900 Bryant Ave.
East Isles Residents Association (EIRA): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly at Trinity Community Church, 1430 W. 28th St.
Fulton Neighborhood Association (FNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Pershing Park, 3523 W. 48th St.
Kenny Neighborhood Association (KNA): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Kenny Park Building, 1328 W. 58th St.
Kenwood Isles Area Association (KIAA): Board meets 1st Monday monthly at Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W. Franklin Ave.
Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 41st & Nicollet.
Linden Hills Nezighborhood Council (LHiNC): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly at Linden Hills Park, 3100 W. 43rd St.
Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association (LHNA): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly at Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W. Franklin Ave.
Lowry Hill East (Wedge): Board meets 3rd Wednesday monthly at Jefferson Elementary School, 1200 W. 26th St.
Lyndale Neighborhood Association (LNA): Board meets 4th Monday monthly at Painter Park, 34th & Lyndale.
Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association (LYNAS): Board meets 2nd Monday monthly at 6:30 p.m. at Lynnhurst Community Center, 50th & West Minnehaha Parkway.
Stevens Square Community Organization (SSCO): Board meets 3rd Thursday monthly at the Loring-Nicollet Community Center, 1925 Nicollet Ave. S.
Tangletown Neighborhood Association (TNA): Board meets 3rd Monday monthly at Fuller Park, 4800 Grand Ave.
West Calhoun Neighborhood Council: Board meets 2nd Tuesday monthly at The Bakken, 3537 Zenith Ave. S.
Whittier Alliance: Board meets 4th Thursday monthly at the Whittier Community School, 2620 Grand Ave.
Windom Community Council: Board meets 2nd Thursday monthly at Windom Community Center, 5821 Wentworth Ave.
For more information about Southwest neighborhood organizations, go to www.swjournal.com and click on “Resources.” Send neighborhood news to Journal editor Sarah McKenzie at smckenzie@mnpubs.com.
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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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