Southside Pride

	Phillips/Powderhorn Nokomis Riverside
March 2008

Phillips/Powderhorn: March 2008

The lowdown on the fight against “tagging”

by DENNIS GEISINGER


The Great Graffito “Cover-up” If the City removes the graffiti on your property before you do, you will be fined. Call 3-1-1 to report it as soon as you notice a new tag and you will be given info on how to proceed. (Photo by Beth Brokering)

It’s been almost a year since the Minneapolis City Council took a swipe at the city’s graffiti problem, approving an amendment to city ordinances requiring that certain paint materials popular with the graffiti-inclined to be closely guarded or locked away by retailers.

A grant agreement was approved with the National Council to Prevent Delinquency for a pilot $42,500 anti-graffiti enforcement program and support was given to a state legislative agenda for “creating tougher penalties for offenders convicted of tagging, including suspending of driver’s licenses.”

So, how has it all worked out? Are South Minneapolis fences and garage doors, the canvasses of local “taggers,” a term used for those who like to put their mark on public spaces, ready for the Parade of Homes?
According to a review of recent posts in local issue-oriented websites and a quick run-down of recent city statistics, the jury may still be out. The number of total graffiti cases processed by the City in 2006 was 17,566, dropping 23 percent in 2007 to 13,442.

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NetWork says community key to recovery

by Dennis geisinger

A newly opened recovery facility for ex-offenders and former drug abusers is located at 3514 14th Ave. S. on the southern edge of Powderhorn Park. Owned and operated by a new start-up nonprofit called NetWork for Better Futures, the former apartment complex has 18 units and 14 current residents who, given jobs and a place to hang their hats, are being returned to the community.

Powderhorn crime watch

by Dennis geisinger

The monthly 3rd Precinct Advisory Council (3-PAC) was held on Feb. 25 in the precinct headquarters community room on Lake and Minnehaha. Inspector Lucy Gerold updated the state of the precinct with reports on recent crime activity and presented the 3rd’s Officer of the Month. Community Crime Prevention/Safety for Everyone (CCP/SAFE) officers helped field questions from attendees and a report was given on the city’s bait car program. Minneapolis started the first comprehensive bait car program in the U.S. in 1997 and has seen a reported 30 percent drop in car thefts.

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Click here for a list of articles for March 2008

Nokomis: March 2008

Candlelight vigil for victims of
government violence in Colombia

Participants at a vigil held on the evening of March 6 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis light candles and recount memories of friends and family lost to violence in Columbia’s civil war.
The fighting has cost the lives of those caught between U.S.-supported government forces and rebel factions for control of land used for the cultivation of coca, the source for production of cocaine.
Church co-pastor Luisa Cabello Hansel offered a prayer for 150 displaced and orphaned children that she has worked to assist through church donations. Rosita Balch (second from left above) is the head of the Colombia Support Network-Minnesota. (Photo by Dennis Geisinger)

Neighborhoods reject City rehaul of NRP

by Dennis geisinger


Neighborhood leaders (L to R) Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, NRP Executive Director Robert Miller, 9th Ward City Council Member Gary Schiff, Longfellow Community Council member DeWayne Townsend and NRP Policy Board member Debbie Evans hash out NRP woes at a recent meeting. (Photo by Dennis Geisinger)

Representatives of Longfellow, Corcoran, Standish Ericsson, Midtown Phillips and Nokomis East neighborhood associations joined as one voice at two community forums held Feb. 20 and 28 to ask the question, “Is the City of Minneapolis’ new proposal for continuing the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) a real plan for investing in neighborhoods, or an attempt to dismantle the program?”

Called “Framework for the Future” of NRP and put together by a six-member working group last December, the City’s plan would take $2 million each year from its own budget to finance neighborhood organization administrative costs and a variable budget amount for neighborhood development projects.

Amazon Bookstore Co-op for sale

Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, a vital part of the Twin Cities feminist and GLBT community for over 37 years, is for sale. Barb Wieser, general manager of Amazon Bookstore for the past 21 years, decided to leave the store to pursue other interests, and another longtime worker also decided she wanted to pursue a different career. After much consideration, the cooperative (Amazon is a worker owned cooperative) decided to sell the store.

Riverside: March 2008

School board limits access to students by military recruiters

by DAN DIMAGGIO


The Minneapolis School Board resolution came about after several years of struggle by Twin Cities students against military recruitment in schools, including organized petition drives, teach-ins, lobbying of school officials and direct action.

Military recruiters will no longer be able to roam the halls or table in the cafeterias in Minneapolis schools, thanks to a resolution passed by the Minneapolis School Board on Feb. 25. With nearly 30 students and community members sitting in the audience with bright yellow signs demanding “End Military Recruitment in Our Schools,” the board voted unanimously to restrict recruiters’ access to college career centers only, where they can be supervised by school personnel.

The resolution also mandates that Minneapolis schools “provide equal access for organizations that wish to counsel alternatives to, or provide additional information about, military service” (i.e. counter-recruitment groups). As the resolution states, “If literature encouraging military service is displayed for students to read or pick up, groups counseling alternatives to military service may similarly display their literature.” School administrators will now have to notify the public whenever the military is coming to table in a school and allow counter-recruitment groups to table as well.

Candlelight vigil for victims of government violence in Colombia

bY DENNIS GEISINGER

Participants at a vigil held on the evening of March 6 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis light candles and recount memories of friends and family lost to violence in Colombia’s civil war. (Photo by Dennis Geisinger) See page 10 for our coverage of the vigil, of recent bombings by the Colombian government in Ecuador and a closer look at FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), and a local event discussing union organizing in Columbia.

Met Council’s LRT budget shakes out

BY DENNIS GEISINGER

The Metropolitan Council voted on Feb. 27 to approve its final $909.1 million design for the construction of a light rail project to connect Minneapolis and St. Paul via the University of Minnesota. Construction for the new train route is set to begin in 2010 and passenger service made available by the end of 2014, with projected weekday ridership of 38,000 by 2020 and nearly 44,000 by 2030.
Expenditures for features advocated by various community and civic groups put the cost of the project around $1.25 billion and would have lost federal matching funds because of a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) cost-effectiveness index that divides operating and capital costs by travel time saved by riders.

Click here for a list of articles for March 2008