Southside Pride

Phillips Powderhorn
Nokomis
Riverside

	Phillips/Powderhorn Nokomis Riverside.

May 2010

Phillips Powderhorn:

Phillips Center seeks tenants

BY SHEILA REGAN, TC DAILY PLANET

On April 21, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) voted unanimously to seek tenants to utilize the space in the Phillips Community Center. The park board recently completed $1.5 million in renovations to the center, including a new HVAC system, and a new roof. The building is set to re-open this summer.

For the past 35 years Glenn Sampson has headed up the Powderhorn Community Council (PCC), a community development group that has successfully developed 63 units of owner-occupied, single-family homes. Glenn is standing in front of a home on East 36th Street that PCC built in 1991-92. PCC also did commercial revitalization and initiated exterior improvements for businesses at 38th and Cedar; developed the area’s first assisted living facility exclusively for low-income seniors; developed a 10- bedroom shared housing building and participated in the development of a 40-unit residence for people with MS. On March 1 the board of PCC voted to dissolve the corporation and cease operations because money was no longer available. There will be a Farewell and Celebration Party Tuesday, May 11, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Curran’s Restaurant at 42nd and Nicollet.

Midtown Farmers’ Market is open

BY AIMEE MCADAMS

The Midtown Farmers’ Market is back for its eighth season. The Market’s location on East Lake Street and 22nd Avenue South is unique in that it is so accessible. There are several bus routes that stop nearby, the lightrail station is above the market, and it’s just off the Greenway bike trail. In fact, access is a big part of the market. “It’s about equity and local food access,” says Eric Gustafson, assistant director of the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization (CNO). “The market provides access to locally grown food for many who cannot safely grow their own, primarily due to the arsenic contamination and related ongoing cleanup at residential properties in East Phillips and Corcoran.”

Unintended consequences

BY TONY BOUZA

Unintended consequences: a harsh law of public life that visits well-intentioned officials out to fix serious problems. Unlike the simple answers of demagogues out to gather cash, power or sex—and we have a plethora of those—those acting in good faith rarely expect the negative results that pop up in unexpected places. These heroes see a problem—homelessness, addiction, crime, poverty, disease, unemployment, whatever—and apply a solution. Education would be a beacon to the benighted. Policing would be the answer to crime.

Listening for the Saw-whet Owl

BY JOHN KARRIGAN

Last month I mentioned the Saw-whet Owl reports and said I had never seen them or heard them and I might try again that night (March 31). I did try again. It was actually 1:15 a.m., April 1, and again at 10:45 p.m. that same day. And I did hear them both times, and several times since, but I have still never seen them in the park. Every time I hear the owls, it is along the paved walk on the east side of the athletic fields. It can be on the north end, south end or middle section of the path, but in my experience, it has always been in that area of the park. Maybe someone could organize a middle-of-the-night owl listening event.

The Eastern Phoebes that another reader wrote about have returned, but of course I don’t know if they will stay, as they do some years. I do know they are sticklers for spelling and they are mad as hell that their name (Phoebe) was spelled wrong in the April Southside Pride. I will see to it that all the minions responsible for the error are harshly disciplined.

Re: “Understanding Gaza, Sderot and Najd”

A REBUTTAL BY CHERYL FIELDS

Southside Pride (March 2010) recently examined the history of the Israeli town of Sderot, a target of many Palestinian rocket attacks. Quoting Wikipedia, the article stated that in 1948, the Arab village of “Najd was occupied by Jewish soldiers” and “the inhabitants were expelled and fled to Gaza. The village was then completely destroyed and leveled to the ground. In 1951, the town of Sderot was built over the village lands.”

Taxed Enough Already? Then, let’s Party

BY ED FELIEN

You just filed your State and Federal Income Taxes. You’re going to have to pay your property taxes May 15. You pay a 7.775 percent Sales Tax on everything you buy in South Minneapolis. Plus, you pay sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco, excise taxes on anything else the government thinks they can get away with and fees on everything from dogs to building permits.

What are we doing over there?

BY ED FELIEN

Recent public screening of a U. S. Apache helicopter gunship massacre of unarmed civilians in Baghdad in 2007 should convince even the most skeptical that the U. S. attempts to invade and occupy the Middle East are doomed and carry with them tragic consequences. The official video from the gunship is available at www.collateralmurder.com.

Remembering 38th Street

BY ED FELIEN

When I was 10 years old my mother would put me on the 28th Avenue bus at noon and send me to the Saturday Movies. I would take the bus to 38th Street and 23rd Avenue and the Nile Theater. She gave me 27 cents. A nickel for the bus each way. Twelve cents for the movie: 20 cartoons, three short subjects, two serials and a double feature. My heroes were Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Dennis Morgan, Humphrey Bogart and Wallace Beery. There was a nickel left over for a candy bar. It was a world that amazed my sensibilities.

The origins of Islam: the Kaaba and the Hajj

BY BARNABY DEVITT

Most of the time we think of Islam as the last of the three largest Western religions, following Judaism and Christianity. All three tell many of the same stories, and all three are said to come from Abraham. But even before Abraham there was a religious culture in the Middle East. There was a Kaaba and there was a Hajj. There was the month of Ramadan. There are important parts of Islam that predate Christianity and Judaism.

Steve Seltz honored

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN

South Minneapolis resident Steve Seltz was honored on April 24 at a Minnesota Literacy Council luncheon celebrating people whose volunteer work supports literacy in the Twin Cities. Seltz was nominated by the volunteer coordinator at SHAPE (South Hennepin Adult Programs in Education) where he has put in a thousand hours. For much of his adult life, Steve Seltz took care of the elderly. From the time he graduated from high school, in the late ’70s, he worked as a nursing assistant at a number of nursing homes. One of the places disbanded and he continued to take care of two of its clients on a personal basis until they passed away. Then he passed his civil service exam and worked at the state nursing home, then the veterans home. He said, “I saw myself as a caregiver and friend.

M&I Bank recognizes local student for work ethic, determination

At just 17, Luis Nava-Torres was named employee of the month by M&I Bank’s Lake Street location in December for his outstanding work ethic and dedication to the job.

"Alice in Wonderland" is coming to the Parkway Theater

but this isn't your mother's Alice. The Urban Spectrum Theatre Company production directed and written by Judy Cooper Lyle is a rap, hip-hop fashion fantasy. It plays only Saturday, May 22, at 2 p.m. and Sunday, May 23, at 7:15 p.m. Penny Masuku, pictured, plays Alice. She has choreographed eight dance numbers. There will be two fashion shows in the middle of the production.