Southside Pride

	Phillips/Powderhorn Nokomis Riverside

March 2013

Riverside :


Photo by Minnesota DNR

The Asian carp are coming!

BY ED FELIEN

On Wednesday, April 17, from 7 to 8 p.m., the Longfellow Community Council will be sponsoring a discussion of The State of the Mississippi River at the Minnehaha Academy, 3100 W. River Pkwy. (please park in the east lot and enter at the clock tower door). The State of the River Report has been written in partnership with Friends of the Mississippi River and the National Park Service’s Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

South High student walk-out protests lack of visibility, resources for All Nations program

BY SHEILA REGAN, TC DAILY PLANET

Photo by Dave Snyder

The smell of burning sage filled the commons area of South High School on Monday morning as what was planned as a student walk-out became a school-sanctioned assembly—and then ended up being a walk-out anyway. Students from the All Nations Program, which offers American Indian-specific programming at the school, were protesting the lack of visibility of the program, as well as a lack of cultural activities. They said activities such as drumming and “smudging,” a cleansing act using burning sage, were once regular parts of the program but have been discontinued.

They want to burn more garbage

BY ED FELIEN

[Full disclosure: My wife, Carol Hogard, ran against Mark Andrew for DFL endorsement for county commissioner 20 years ago because he led the effort to build the garbage burner downtown and concentrate the poisonous emissions of mercury and dioxin in poverty-impacted central city neighborhoods, areas where we already knew there were high levels of asthma hospitalizations and elevated blood lead levels.]

Murderer pleads guilty

From Hennepin County

The home invasion murder of Shea Stremcha two summers ago ended with a guilty plea by the third man involved in the break-in and shooting.

Xavier Demia Walker, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Monday as his trial was about to begin. He agreed to a sentence of the statutory maximum of 40 years in prison.

Wounded Knee Commemoration:

A report from Pine Ridge

BY DAVID TILSEN

The last few days of February have been observed on the Pine Ridge reservation every year since 1973 by a four directions walk onto the gravesite at Wounded Knee with speeches, food and powwows. This year, which marks 40 years since the occupation or Siege at Wounded Knee, was marked with the same, although more people came from around the world because of the anniversary. I brought my 85-year-old father who (along with my mother, myself and my siblings) have spent the last 40 years working as allies of the Lakota people. He was honored for his work as the legal coordinator for the Wounded Knee Defense/-Offense committee, and arrests coming out of the same struggle since then. We spent three days meeting old friends, honoring those who have left us, and celebrating the new generations both emerging and established.

Handicapping the race for mayor

BY CAROL BECKER

Mayor R.T. Rybak has announced that he will not run for a fourth term. So far, nine people have declared their intention to run for mayor. Eighty percent of Minneapolis voted for Barak Obama in the last election so one would expect the next mayor would be a Democrat. Today it would appear that there are three viable candidates for the DFL endorsement. These are current Council Members Gary Schiff and Betsy Hodges and former County Commissioner Mark Andrew.

Occupy Homes takeover of 3325 2nd Avenue: a public discussion on the Minneapolis Issues List

BY ED FELIEN

I think Andrea Schaerf echoes the sentiment of most readers on this list when she says, “I just am not sure I get what Occupy is doing here.” I think there is clear agreement on what they’re doing, but there are no easy answers to “Why?” and “What do you hope to accomplish with squatting in a house?”

Jason Stone announces for Park Board At-Large

BY ED FELIEN

Jason Stone was the executive director of the Resource Center of the Americas and La Conexión before they closed in 2007.
He ran for Park Board in District 5 in 2005 and 2009. The Star Tribune endorsed him and said, “In 2005, upstart Jason Stone nearly knocked off incumbent Carol Kummer. Stone, who won our endorsement four years ago, has earned it again. Stone was the rare candidate who understands that enlisting City Council members as park advocates—not casting them as mortal enemies—is the key to protecting parks. With his management experience, he’s the right person to rebuild these strategic ties. Stone also has a realistic view of the board’s financial challenges. He is mindful of taxpayers and ...

The hungry insurgent

BY CHARLEY UNDERWOOD

As I write, snow and ice are still thick on the ground and it’s below freezing, but I am planning for the spring. I’m getting ready for maple syrup season. As daytime temperatures inch above freezing, the sap starts to flow. To get ready, I have contacted friends and neighbors with maple trees, bought my taps, checked my buckets. I am feeling a smug self-satisfaction at using an “untapped” urban resource.

13 arrested at Wells Fargo

BY ED FELIEN

Photo by T. K.

Thirteen people were peacefully arrested at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage on 26th Street Feb. 27 demanding turnover of vacant homes to community control and fair banking practices.

A march of about 200 people, organized by Occupy Homes MN, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and allies from faith and labor communities, began at the home of Gayle Lindsey, fighting her foreclosure with Occupy Homes and her neighbors in the Foreclosure and Eviction Free Zone in the Central Neighborhood. It proceeded to Jessica English’s reclaimed vacant home, which had turned into a drug house after being abandoned by Wells Fargo. Jessica, a single mom of four experiencing homelessness, has rehabilitated the house with Occupy Homes as a place to raise her children.

A memory of clothes

Kaplan Bros., Inc.
The good old days,
the end of an era

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN

Former customer Elaine Klaassen stands in front of the empty store wearing her gloves, Caterpillar hooded sweatshirt and boots from Kaplan’s. She feels, like many loyal fans in the Twin Cities area, “Kaplan’s was my kind of store.”

Kaplan Brothers store, founded in 1926 on the corner of Franklin and Bloomington, and relocated to Lake Street and 15th in 1988 after a terrible fire, closed for good on Feb. 16, 2013, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.

Some musicians introduced me to Kaplan’s almost immediately upon my arrival in Minneapolis, in 1981. I bought my first pair of winter boots there, which finally wore out 16 years later. I had paid $16 for them so I thought that was a pretty good deal. For years they showed not one sign of wear.

I went to Kaplan’s at the first snow this winter to get new boots (now they cost $40, which, if I can rely on precedent, my kids will inherit …) and while shopping thought I’d get some socks, too, those wool Army socks I’ve worn every winter since 1981. They were out. I went back a few weeks later and learned that the company didn’t make them anymore and furthermore had gone out of business.

After the war

BY ED FELIEN

Americans feel pretty good about the ending of the Afghan war. Obama says he will withdraw 34,000 troops (more than half the total U.S. troops in Afghanistan) by the end of 2013 and turn all responsibility for military operations over to the Afghan government. In his State of the Union Address, he said, “[W]e can say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al Qaeda.”

March

Riverside Community Calendar

Announcements

Single Sort Recycling
When you get your cart, please continue to rinse your recyclable containers. Please do NOT put the following into your recycling bin: yard waste, Styrofoam, plastic foam or plastic bags. These steps will help the city to keep costs down and to retain the value of the recyclables. The money from the sale of the recyclables helps fund recycling services.

Riverside Religious Calendar

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Help Give Simpson Shelter Kitchen a Makeover
Simpson Housing Services has been selected as a top finalist for The Family Handyman Rescue Remodel Contest, sponsored by IKEA. The organization with the most votes will receive a fully customized kitchen makeover valued at $25,000.
The renovation would be carefully constructed to serve the needs of shelter staff, volunteers and guests, and would better equip Simpson Shelter to serve the 66 men and women who stay in the shelter each night of the year.
Voting is open to the public from now until March 30 at RescueRemodel.com. You can vote once each day, and just for voting you’ll be entered to win a $100 IKEA gift card.
The final winner and completed kitchen will be unveiled in The Family Handyman’s September issue and on its website, as well as on RescueRemodel.com