The Journal, April 5–18 by The Journal

THE NEWS SOURCE FOR DOWNTOWN & NORTHEAST MINNEAPOLIS RESIDENTS APRIL 5–18, 2018

INSIDE

PAGE 8

STUDENTS MARCH TO PROTEST GUN VIOLENCE

Designing for growth

PAGE 17

MINNEAPOLIS ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Minneapolis’ next comprehensive plan aims to add housing while tackling disparities and climate change PAGE 18

BEST PICKS: EUSTACE THE DRAGON

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@journalmpls.com

draft of Minneapolis 2040, an update to the city’s comprehensive plan that continues to focus density along transportation corridors and opens all neighborhoods to fourplex construction, was released March 22 in the form of an interactive website. Like past comprehensive plans, the document is meant to shape the future growth of Minneapolis, touching on land use, economic development and the natural environment. But this comprehensive plan — a draft that could change as the public offers feedback over the coming months — differs from those that came before, said Heather Worthington, the city’s director of long-range planning, because its guidelines are focused on two key city priorities: achieving racial equity and responding to climate change. “It’s not just about infrastructure,” added Public Works Director Robin Hutcheson, who said the draft comprehensive plan places land-use and development planning “in a supporting role”

BIZ BUZZ

CIVIC BEAT

DEVELOPMENT TRACKER

PARKS UPDATE

MILL CITY COOKS

SEE MINNEAPOLIS 2040 / PAGE 14

Food trucks get ready to roll out With warmer weather on the way, the city’s mobile restaurants prepare for a new season

By Eric Best / ebest@journalmpls.com Tony Fritz spends his winters thinking of new ways to make grilled cheese sandwiches for hungry Twin Cities residents. Fritz and his wife Haley run O’Cheeze, a food truck business specializing in the gooey comfort food, and Dough Dough, a mobile eatery that serves safe-to-eat cookie dough. Now that a spring thaw is on the horizon, the two and the rest of the growing Twin Cities food truck community are returning to their trucks and preparing for a new season of music festivals, weddings and farmers markets. “We’ve been very, very, very dialed down for the winter,” he said. “I get really excited when the food trucks come out.” Winter means a lull for this buzzing industry. The bitter cold months in Minnesota are particularly hard on food trucks and the employees.

Some may think it’s hot inside a food truck because of the kitchen and generator. But Fritz said the air outtake and winds breezing through the open window make it a cold, potentially dangerous work environment. The equipment is prone to break under freezing temperatures, a particular problem for Marcus Parkansky, founder of Misfit Coffee Co., a coffee trailer that’s typically parked near Gold Medal Park during the spring and summer. Freezing temperatures mean ice, which can crack a water heater or an espresso machine. Parkansky has moved the shop inside the nearby Izzy’s Ice Cream in the past, but thanks to five straights weeks of Holidazzle and then Super Bowl events, Misfit has stayed busy through the winter. SEE FOOD TRUCK PREVIEW / PAGE 13

Reverie, a vegan cafe that’s become a food truck, will serve plant-based items like a Cuban sandwich with jackfruit. Submitted photo

2 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018

Voices

Moments in Minneapolis By Cedar Imboden Phillips

THE WASHING CREW

he Minneapolis Steam Laundry, shown here circa 1896, was headquartered at 109 2nd St. Look closely and you can see their hardworking employees on the sidewalk, by the wagons, in the windows and even on the ﬁre escape! Doing laundry at the time was dirty, hot, physically intense and often dangerous work, and both businesses and individuals often looked to commercial laundry businesses to take care of their washing needs. The Minneapolis Steam Laundry oﬀered pickup and delivery service to all of Minneapolis and handled everything from washing sheets and towels from the city’s hotels and rooming houses to laundering individual garments from private households.

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Image from the Hennepin History Museum’s collection.

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News

WHAT ARE YOU DOING

By Eric Best ebest@journalmpls.com @ericthebest

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A new art gallery recently opened in Northeast’s Northrup King Building. Founder Thomas Unise opened Revel Art Gallery on March 24 on the artist studio building’s third floor. Unise, who also runs a co-working space called Growth Lab, said he’s excited to have the opportunity to contribute to the area’s arts community. “The Northeast area has always been an area I love, and as someone who lives and works in the neighborhood, this gallery

project is something I’m very happy to see come to life,” he said in a statement. Revel’s opening art pieces features work from artists Julie Garretson, Barret Lee, Darren Terpstra and Janella Fesenmaier. The 1,500-square-foot gallery space is rentable as a private meeting and event room with hourly, half-day and full-day options. Revel, at 1450 Van Buren St. NE in the Logan Park neighborhood, is studio 309 in the building. More information is available at revelartgallery.com.

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Three film industry veterans and a chef have come together to open Sweet Chow Takeaway, a takeout-focused Asian bar and restaurant, in the North Loop. The 88-seat restaurant opened in late February in the former Hennepin Steam Room space, where chef John Krattenmaker and partners Amy Francis, Julie Hartley and Greg Cummins have built out a casual pan-Asian dining spot. The four have been working for more than three years to develop and find a home for the concept, which is a high-quality source of quick Asian takeout for the neighborhood. “We wanted everything to be high (quality), the quality of the space, the quality of the food. So, we’re really happy with where we are,” Cummins said. Jamie Malone and Erik Anderson, two rising stars in the culinary world, consulted on the menu, a combination of Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Chinese and Korean dishes. There’s green papaya salads and lemongrass sausage from Thailand, banh mi sandwiches and pot de crème from Vietnam, and rice cakes with kimchi from Korea. Krattenmaker, formerly of Barrio, Sea Change, the American Swedish Institute’s Fika and Café Alma, uses bread from Alma for the Vietnamese sandwiches. Cummins said they hope to open a Kickstarter soon to fundraise money to support a staff delivery service utilizing electric bikes that assist the driver. Sweet Chow will employ its own delivery people, rather than using several food delivery companies in the city. The delivery range will be

restricted to the North Loop neighborhood. “The idea is to get it there fast and get it there warm,” he said. Cummins said they developed the menu to be ready for takeout and delivery. Only two items, a Vietnamese coffee or pot de crème pudding and rice cakes, aren’t available for takeout, which is available online at chowtakeaway.com. Sweet Chow has a full bar and will soon roll out its own cocktail program. In the meantime, the bar offers $9 glasses of wine, sake and soju, a popular Korean liquor. There are five local beers currently on tap, from Miraculum from Pryes Brewing Co. just outside the neighborhood to the Nice STP dark ale from Bang Brewing of St. Paul. Sweet Chow offers a happy hour from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. during the week when patrons get $1 off drinks and discounts on small plates like fried cashews and Korean sticky wings. The restaurant isn’t done building out its space. The team plans to put the sweet in Sweet Chow by opening an ice cream shop within the building. The concept will share a liquor license with the restaurant, so Cummins said they’ll be able to serve adult ice cream drinks like floats and frozen grasshopper cocktails. Patrons can expect the house ice cream shop to open sometime this spring. Sweet Chow, at 116 N. 1st Ave., is open for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m.– midnight Friday and Saturday. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations.

Sweet Chow Takeaway oﬀers a variety of popular Asian dishes, including Korean chicken wings. Submitted photo

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News

AUDUBON PARK

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The Coﬀee Shop Northeast

Unless you’re flying through the skies of Northeast Minneapolis, you won’t see the latest addition to the Coffee Shop Northeast. The café at 29th & Johnson in Audubon Park cut the ribbon March 27 on new solar panels on its roof. Not only do the panels produce the equivalent of about 25–35 percent of the shop’s energy needs, they double as an aerial landmark, spelling out “NE.” “The solar company actually came up with it, so it ended up just working out,” said Rich Horton, whose owned Coffee Shop Northeast for seven years. “They told me at first and I thought they were joking.” Horton and his wife had to fix the building’s roof, so it was a cost-effective time to add the 64 panels, which were installed late last fall and generate 20 kilowatt-hours worth of electricity. With the help of federal tax and utility credits, Horton said the panels will pay for themselves in about 10 years.

The older building necessitated fewer panels that were more evenly spaced out than traditional solar projects. That’s when staff at Roseville-based IPS Solar suggested the unique configuration. “Most of our customers want to maximize the roof space available and we fill it as much as possible. Normally they’re kind of boring squares,” said Brian Keenan, a solar sales executive with the company. “With the area the way it is, I don’t think you’ll ever be able to see it from the ground… (but) there’s Google Earth.” There’s also Facebook, and the Coffee Shop Northeast has shared drone images of the panels online. The project has doubled as advertising, Horton said, by generating a buzz among the shop’s following. “Customers are pretty excited about it so it’s pretty exciting,” he said. The Coffee Shop Northeast, at 2852a Johnston St. NE, is open 6:30 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.

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Pedestrians aren’t able to see them, but newly installed solar panels generate 25–35 percent of the Coﬀee Shop Northeast’s energy needs. Photo courtesy of IPS Solar

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Luke Shimp, the founder of Red Cow and Red Rabbit, is planning to open a catering and event center on Lowry Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis. Expected to open next year, the unnamed project would be the Twin Cities-based restaurateur’s first business in Northeast. Shimp announced March 27 he’s in the early stages of negotiation with the City of Minneapolis to open the multi-level event center at 201 Lowry Ave. NE. “We’re very excited about this project coming to Northeast,” he said in a statement. “We’re in the beginning stages of planning, but we’re excited to build a venue where people can gather and celebrate.” The site is the former Little Jack’s restaurant, a two-story building in the Marshall Terrace neighborhood that has seen failed redevelopment proposals in recent years, according to a city staff report. Paul Dzubnar, a partner with the Green

Mill and Crooked Pint Ale House chains, had previously proposed turning the building into a Town Hall Brewery, a chain that started in Seven Corners and has since spun off other locations in south Minneapolis and Edina. Supportive housing developer Clare Housing went forward with its phase, developing the 36-unit Marshall Flats building, which opened last summer on the rear portion of the site. Dzubnar’s Tied House Properties is now looking to sell the site to Double Black Diamond, Shimp’s development entity. He’s anticipated to close on the property in April and has until May 31, 2020 to complete the project, the report said. Shimp operates Red Rabbit, a pizza, pasta and oyster restaurant, in the North Loop and four Red Cow locations in the North Loop, Uptown, St. Paul and near 50th & France in Edina. A second Red Rabbit location will open this summer in St. Paul.

journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 5

News

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10TH & MARQUETTE

17-story high-rise will target car-less college grads IN DEVELOPMENT

City Club Apartments celebrated the March 21 groundbreaking of a 17-story apartment building at 10th & Marquette in downtown Minneapolis. Developer Jonathan Holtzman said the 307 units of City Club Apartments CBD Minneapolis will be marketed toward twentysomethings who make $45,000–$65,000 a year and, with only about 20 parking spaces in the building, who don’t own a car. Mayor Jacob Frey said the project will “bridge the affordability gap” for young people who’d rather have a central location and downtown’s amenities over a spacious apartment. “They want to sleep in their apartment, but they want to live in a great city, and that style of living is exactly what we’re pushing for in City Club Apartments,” he said at the ceremony. “I think it should be replicated again and again.” Work has been underway since September at the site where a non-historically designated 1914 addition to the 1907 Handicraft Guild Building on the block has been demolished. However, the project will preserve the main three-story building and the two-story Guild Assembly Hall by converting them into oﬃces and a 3,500-square-foot bar, restaurant and event space, respectively. The buildings were the original home of the guild, an organization central to the Arts and Crafts Movement whose members included artisans and crafts workers. Prior to the project, they were home to several small businesses, from a violin shop to an art gallery and an electronic music school. “It’s important to me that our city look to the past to guide us,” said Ward 7 Council Member Lisa Goodman, who represents the area. “You know that we can honor our past while thinking in a very forward way.” City Club Apartments CBD Minneapolis will have unique amenities like an upper Minnesota cabin-inspired Sky Club on the roof where residents can host their own private events with a gourmet kitchen. A Sky Park will have an outdoor pool, spa and movie theater. Residents will have access to a 24-hour concierge service, a Bark Park and

exercise rooms. Holtzman said the developer and its architect, BKV Group, have designed everything down to the shower heads in the bathrooms. They plan to have programming so residents can socialize — even set up dates with their dogs. “You walk to work. You walk to play. You walk to sports. You get on mass transit. It’s in the center,” he said. “These things exist in Manhattan and Boston and San Francisco, but they’re not here.” City Club Apartments did not disclose what rents for the units will be, but said they will be affordable to the many young professionals getting their first jobs after college. The building will have about a dozen different floor plans with four distinct finishes. While most residents won’t have access to parking in the building, Holtzman said they will partner with a parking ramp across the street. Frey praised the project for creating more housing at a time of “sky-high demand” and for its affordability, which comes from its small units and not from government assistance. “What we need to be looking towards right now is a new model of doing residential, a new model that doesn’t rely on subsidies or subsidies exclusively,” he said. Pre-leasing is scheduled to begin as soon as this fall. City Club Apartments expects residents to begin moving in the spring of 2019 with a full completion in the summer. More information is available at cityclubapartments.com. Holtzman, who launched City Club Apartments with developer Alan Greenberg, is the former CEO of Village Green Holdings. Village Green is behind the renovation of the Soo Line Building at 5th & Marquette. Prior to his leave from the company, Village Green and the building’s previous owner, Pratt Ordway Properties of Vadnais Heights, had proposed a similar residential tower on the site. City Club Apartments paid nearly $5.7 million for the properties at 1000 and 1016 Marquette Ave. S., according to a certificate of real estate value made public in January.

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Government

Volume 49, Issue 7 Publisher Janis Hall jhall@journalmpls.com Co-Publisher & Sales Manager Terry Gahan tgahan@journalmpls.com General Manager Zoe Gahan zgahan@journalmpls.com Editor Dylan Thomas 612-436-4391 dthomas@journalmpls.com @DThomasJournals Assistant Editor Eric Best ebest@journalmpls.com @ericthebest Staff Writers Michelle Bruch mbruch@journalmpls.com @MichelleBruch Nate Gotlieb ngotlieb@journalmpls.com @NateGotlieb Contributing Writers Jenny Heck Jahna Peloquin Client Services Delaney Patterson 612-436-5070 dpatterson@journalmpls.com Creative Director Valerie Moe 612-436-5075 vmoe@journalmpls.com Senior Graphic Designer Micah Edel medel@journalmpls.com Graphic Designer Kaitlin Ungs kungs@journalmpls.com Distribution Marlo Johnson 612-436-4388 distribution@journalmpls.com Advertising 612-436-4360 sales@journalmpls.com Printing ECM Publishers, Inc.

Next issue: April 19 Advertising deadline: April 11 30,000 copies of The Journal are distributed free of charge to homes and businesses in Downtown and Northeast Minneapolis.

CIVIC BEAT

By Dylan Thomas dthomas@journalmpls.com @dthomasjournals

Public hearing set on higher age for tobacco sales A proposed ordinance that would raise the minimum age for tobacco sales in Minneapolis to 21 is set for a public hearing in May. Edina was the first Minnesota city to raise the age for tobacco sales with an ordinance that took effect last year. Since then, St. Louis Park, Bloomington, Plymouth and North Mankato have all raised the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21 from 18. In March, the City Council’s Public Health, Environment, Civil Rights and Engagement Committee voted to set a May 14 public hearing on the ordinance co-authored by City Council members Andrew Johnson (Ward 12) and Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5). If passed, their ordinance would take effect Aug. 1. “We want Minneapolis to join the growing list of Minnesota cities taking this common sense approach to the serious public health issue of tobacco use,” Johnson wrote in a Facebook post.

“When we speak to smokers trying to quit, they tell us how they wish they never started in the first place. With 95 (percent) of smokers starting before the age of 21, our focus should be on preventing youth from picking up their first cigarette,” he continued, citing statistics compiled by ClearWay Minnesota, an antismoking nonprofit established in 1998 with funds from the state’s $6.1 billion settlement with tobacco companies. The City Council last year approved new restrictions on the sale of menthol tobacco products, which anti-smoking advocates say are marketed to young people and the AfricanAmerican community. An ordinance that takes effect Aug. 1 limits the sale of menthol products to liquor stores and tobacco shops that admit only adults. The ordinance prompted concern from some small business owners who said the restrictions would cut into sales. In an interview, Johnson

City reimbursed $7.5 million for Super Bowl costs The Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee will reimburse the City of Minneapolis nearly $7.5 million for expenses related to the Feb. 4 game and the celebration leading up to it. The total costs were more than 50 percent higher than estimated in an agreement between the city and host committee, according to a report presented March 29 to the City Council Enterprise Committee. That agreement anticipated about $4.9 million in costs to the city. “And frankly, we knew that number was going to go up,” city CFO Mark Ruff told committee members. Ruff said the agreement didn’t include a contingency fund and instead allowed for the committee to file change orders as issues emerged in the months and days leading up to the game. Most of the expenses covered in

change orders were related to parking, lane-use fees and additional police overtime hours. Ruff said the agreement worked well for both parties. “I think it’s a very good model to be looking at whether it’s for small events or large events going forward,” he said. Steve Fletcher, the Ward 3 City Council member who sits on the Enterprise Committee, asked how the city accounted for the staff time spent working on the Super Bowl instead of their regular duties. Ruff said a roughly $2.5 million, Super Bowl-related “bump” in revenues from the city’s sales and entertainment taxes was expected to more than cover those costs, although the city has not yet received final sales tax numbers from the state.

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A few of the statistics presented to the Enterprise Committee captured the outsize impact of Super Bowl 52: • More than 1 million people attended the 10-day Super Bowl Live celebration on Nicollet Mall, including an estimated 235,000 people on Saturday, Feb. 3, the day before the game. • 210,000 additional rides were taken on Metro Transit’s Green and Blue light rail lines and the North Star Commuter Rail line during Super Bowl week. • The 61,000 passengers traveling through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday, Feb. 5, the day after the game, set a record. • Covering Super Bowl 52 were about 5,800 credentialed members of the media from 25 different countries.

Regulations on bike sharing set for public hearing An ordinance that anticipates the next evolution of Minneapolis’ bike-share program — so-called “dockless” bike sharing — is set for an April 17 public hearing. City Council Member Kevin Reich (Ward 1), the author of the proposed ordinance, said it was intended to “tee up a framework for a whole new generation of shared bike facilities” and ensure the city could manage the service “on its own terms.” Nice Ride Minnesota operates a fleet of more

than 1,800 neon green bikes that can be rented from any of 200-plus stations located in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Last year, it announced plans to add a new dockless bike-share program. Instead of being rented and returned to a station, the dockless bikes can be trackeddown with an app and left in any approved parking area. Reich said his ordinance sets licensing requirements for bike-share operators meant to manage some of the issues that come with a

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acknowledged his proposed ordinance could raise those same concerns again. Johnson said 18- to 20-year-old customers account for only about 2–4 percent of tobacco sales in most stores. The loss in sales would be a “tiny, tiny number” for most of them, he argued. “We’ve got to compare that to the costs of these young people starting smoking,” he said. “… We’re all paying for that in our health insurance premiums.” Johnson said Minneapolis becoming the sixth city to increase the minimum age for tobacco sales would add to the momentum building behind a new statewide age limit. He noted that Rep. Dario Anselmo (R–Edina) introduced legislation this year to do just that. “It’s not about hurting people who smoke, it’s about preventing people from smoking in the first place,” Johnson said.

PARKING THAT HITS THE SPOT

dockless system, including bikes left in clusters near popular destinations, where they can clog the public right of way and block access to local businesses. He said it would be up to the dockless system’s operator to track the location of its bikes and prevent clustering. The ordinance would also make clear that most bicycle racks are reserved for non-bikeshare bicycles and set out a process for identifying and impounding illegally parked dockless bike-share bikes.

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journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 7

Voices

Streetscape / By Ethan Fawley

WILL IT BE EASIER TO WALK & BIKE NEXT WINTER?

now and ice are melting away, but for many the challenges of getting around in the winter on icy sidewalks, snow-filled crossings and disappearing bike lanes remain a source of lingering concern and frustration. “Lack of ice and snow clearance is so limiting for me and people like me who are blind or have other physical limitations,” said Scott Engel, a pedestrian advocate and executive coordinator of the CARAG neighborhood. “I don’t know how someone in a wheelchair gets through on many streets. You feel almost trapped in your home.” That sentiment is echoed by Mary McGovern, president of the Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council.

“Many residents don’t go out much in the winter time because they are afraid of slipping and falling on ice or snow,” McGovern said. “For many elders that is especially concerning because a fall can mean a broken hip and an extended hospital stay. This leads to people being isolated in their apartments for the winter, which is concerning from many perspectives.” Concerns about icy or snow-covered sidewalks are the top reason people call the city’s 311 service in most winter months. Last December (the last month data are available), there were more than 1,700 reports of problem sidewalks. Hundreds of other problem spots go unreported. “Winter sidewalk snow clearance has always been among the top priorities of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee,” noted the committee’s chair, Julia Tabbut. The committee adopted a six-page memo on winter maintenance in 2014 in which they asked for a number of improvements, and it was a focus of conversation at the committee’s annual report to the City Council last month.

Hope for change There is active work on ways to make winter maintenance better.

An unshoveled sidewalk. Submitted photo

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“From what we’ve seen firsthand as recently as this past weekend, this isn’t a problem limited to the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood,” Marcy-Holmes Executive Director Chris Lautenschlager noted. “We’ve seen these terrible bike lane conditions from 8th Street Southeast to East 38th Street.” While many bicycle supporters applaud the city’s clearance of trails and protected bike lanes, which have been generally rideable for most of the winter, unprotected bike lanes

The long-awaited study leaves many advocates hopeful that improvements may be coming soon. “I hope they come up with a plan that greatly increases the city’s role in clearing snow,” offered Engel. McGovern said, “We’d love to see the city take up plowing the sidewalks more because now it is so hit and miss from property to property.” The Pedestrian Advisory Committee’s Tabbut added: “We would love to see more pilots that explore creative solutions, possibly even including municipal clearance of priority corridors, and hope that the winter maintenance study will dream big and lead to changes that will finally allow the same consideration for those on foot as has long been assumed for those who choose to drive.”

often become unusable after a snow or ice builds up against the curb. That forces people biking into traﬃc lanes, and fear of the extra interaction with cars and ice keeps many from venturing out on their bikes — even if they are willing to bundle up for the cold. Bicycle boulevards, like Bryant Avenue in the Wedge, also are typically challenging. They are plowed a day or two after most snowstorms, and ruts can form that make them un-rideable. Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Nick Mason said winter maintenance was “a major priority for the committee.” “Our city works to implement our excellent complete streets policy to build and maintain facilities that support all users,” Mason said. “We need our bicycle network to work in all four seasons, as many who ride in Minneapolis need or choose to bicycle all year round.” The city’s winter maintenance study will also include ways to improve bikeway maintenance. Some previous ideas have included creating a priority winter biking network, so that a core set of routes are maintained more consistently. I’ve been told that staff hope to present the final Winter Maintenance Study in early May. That would provide time for significant potential improvements for next winter. That would be very welcome for Engel. “Winter sidewalk maintenance needs to be bumped up the priority list,” he said.

Bike lanes also getting attention The Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association recently raised the alarm on lack of snow clearance in bike lanes after a person was hit while biking on University Avenue Southeast. Tweeting a photo of a snow-filled University Avenue bike lane, they added the comment: “This is the ‘bike lane’ where the bicyclist was struck by a minivan tonight. We need this fully plowed, and then, improved.” They later posted pictures of Hennepin County plows clearing the bike lane a few days later.

Ethan Fawley is executive director of Our Streets Minneapolis.

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“The City of Minneapolis is wrapping up a Winter Maintenance Study which will provide information and context related to current winter maintenance processes in Minneapolis as well as other winter climate cities,” said Jenifer Hager, director of Transportation Planning and Programming for the city. “The study will also identify next steps and actionable work tasks as the conversations regarding improvements to winter maintenance in Minneapolis continue.”

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8 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018

Schools

SCHOOLS NOTEBOOK

By Nate Gotlieb ngotlieb@journalmpls.com @NateGotlieb

Thousands march against gun violence Rally comes after Florida school shooting Thousands of students and people from around the Twin Cities participated in the March for Our Lives on March 24 in St. Paul, demanding that politicians take action to curb gun violence. The estimated 18,000 marchers chanted slogans such as “Hey hey, ho ho, the NRA has got to go” as they walked through downtown St. Paul, cheered on by supporters. Students on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School boys’ hockey team, in town for a national tournament, walked at the front of the group, holding signs memorializing their 14 classmates and three staff members who died in the shooting on Feb. 14 at their school. Speakers at a subsequent rally called for measures such as an assault weapons ban, mandatory background checks and protection orders. Multiple speakers criticized the Republican leaders in the Minnesota Legislature for ignoring efforts to change gun laws. “Nothing is happening in the Capitol to reduce gun violence,” said Sen. Matt Little, DFL-Lakeville, who authored bipartisan legislation that would require universal background checks and mandatory reporting of lost or stolen firearms. The rally included a speech from Sami Rahamim, whose father, Reuven, died in the Accent Signage shooting in September 2012 in Bryn Mawr that left six people dead. Rahamim recalled sending a report to his dad about the shooting while riding a bus

to Madison, Wisconsin, before realizing he would be personally affected. “As the details trickled in, it became clear that my world was about to change forever,” he said. Roosevelt High School junior Ben Jaeger noted that March 24 was the 20th anniversary of a deadly shooting at a middle school in Jonesboro, Arkansas, that left five people dead and 10 injured. Jaeger, the student representative on the Minneapolis School Board, said that politicians have spoken to the necessity of smarter gun laws but that mass shootings have continued. He noted that gun violence affects people every day in the U.S. and that those stories oftentimes go underreported. Jaeger also said he had to anxiously follow the news when a person who appeared armed was seen entering Patrick Henry High School last month. The school was locked down and police did not find any weapons or other suspicious items in the school. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined the students as they began their march at Harriet Island Park. He said he was proud to continue supporting the momentum the students and young people have brought to the issue. The students are the National Rifle Association’s “worst nightmare, and if change is going to happen, it’s young people that are going to bring it,” Frey said. Frey said Minneapolis is doing everything it can under the law to bring change, though he

Students prepare to march to the Minnesota State Capitol as part of the March for Our Lives on March 24. Photo by Nate Gotlieb

noted that it is preempted from taking certain legislative action. He said his oﬃce has a role to play as a bully pulpit and that the city has a major interest in stopping gun deaths. “There’s no reason that someone should have the ability to reel off 30 shots before reloading through a magazine clip,” he said. “We’re talking about sensible gun reform that would prevent the loss of life through mass shootings, and it’s happening all the time.” Four students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas spoke at a rally. One, a freshman, said she lost four close friends in the shooting. “Not a day goes by where I don’t think of my friends Jamie, Gina, Cara and Alaina and how they were the happiest people I have ever met,” she said. Marjory Stoneman Douglas freshman Stephanie Horowitz said she was outside the

building where the shooting occurred when the fire alarm went off. “Thanks to coach (Aaron) Feis, who sacrificed his life protecting me and my classmates, and my teacher, I was directed back into my class,” she said. “Twenty other students and I plus our teachers squeezed into a tight closet for two hours.” She said she couldn’t think straight when she finally made it home and that days kept getting harder and harder, instead of easier. “We should not be arming teachers,” she later said, drawing one of the biggest cheers of the rally. Solutions, she said, should include longer and more thorough background checks, raising the legal age to purchase a gun to 21 and not allowing anyone with any mental illness buy a gun.

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10 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018

News

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Loring Park

30 3RD ST. S. UNITED PROPERTIES

The Gateway Nicollet Mall-based United Properties has attracted an anchor office tenant for its 33-story Nicollet Hotel Block tower. A spokeswoman with RBC Wealth Management confirmed the Canada-based company has entered into a lease agreement to move into the project, proposed for the now-vacant site on the north end of Nicollet Mall. A final agreement is subject to RBC board approval. United Properties has yet to officially purchase site, but the $10.4 million sale is expected to close in December. RBC would occupy floors 12-14 of the building, which would feature an eight-story, 275-room Four Seasons Hotel, a first-floor restaurant and a skyway connection. The penthouse levels would contain 18 condominiums. United Properties estimates the development cost at approximately $330 million. The developer has until this August to submit completed land use applications.

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RSM Plaza Golub & Co. and Oaktree Capital are set to complete the second phase of renovations to RSM Plaza this June. The firms are overhauling the former home of Barnes & Noble and redoing the building’s skyway level. Once completed, the office and retail building will have a greater presence on Nicollet Mall thanks to a large lobby, a renovated pocket park in front of Panera Bread and a 11,000-square-foot high-end restaurant on the ground floor. Steve Sise, Golub’s senior vice president of portfolio management, said the skyway will be reformatted and will have 7,500 square feet of commercial space. A first phase that began in 2016 added tenant amenities, such as a 6,000-square-foot fitness center and a 55-person conference center, to the building. Golub hasn’t announced any new commercial tenants yet.

Downtown West

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City Club Apartments Developer Jonathan Holtzman has officially broken ground on a 17-story apartment building that will target college graduates taking entry-level positions at downtown’s big companies. The 307-unit City Club Apartments CBD Minneapolis will have smaller micro-apartments that the developer said will be affordable for people earning $45,000–$65,000 annually. The project only has about 20 parking spots, and the expectation is most residents won’t have cars. A non-historically designated building built in 1914 was demolished to make way for the apartments, but the project will preserve the 1907 Handicraft Guild Building on the site. The three-story building will be offices and its two-story Assembly Guild Hall will be renovated into a restaurant, bar and event space. A central courtyard will connect the two buildings through green space, which may host movie nights and other public or resident programming.

501 4TH AVE. S. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS

City offices The City of Minneapolis will borrow $108 million over five years to build a 11-story office building in order to consolidate facilities it leases outside of City Hall, according to a capital improvement plan the City Council approved in March. The 382,000-sqaure-foot building, which will have 10 occupied floors, will replace a parking garage kitty-corner from City Hall. Mark Ruff, the city’s chief financial officer, told the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee that demolition will start June 18. The project won’t increase property taxes and will be partially funded

D E

journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 11

Sponsored by:

By Eric Best ebest@journalmpls.com @ericthebest NE

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The City Council has adopted a five-year capital improvement plan that will support the creation of a new Public Works facility in Northeast Minneapolis. The project, known as the East Side Storage Facility, will cost between $40 million and $45 million and will be paid for through $15 million tax coming from a bond redemption levy and $32 million from solid waste and recycling revenues. The facility would replace two existing maintenance and storage facilities built in the 1940s. The city is nearly finished with drawing out final construction documents for the facility. Once it’s completed, the city would seek LEED Gold certification. SE

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The City Council’s Zoning & Planning Committee has approved an appeal from a church to block a sexually oriented use, in this case a topless bar in the former Imperial Room building in the Warehouse District. Non-profit religious institution 3 Degrees Ministries, represented by pastor Nancy Aleksuk, appealed a decision of the city’s zoning administrator. A city ordinance includes a distance requirement that sexually oriented uses cannot be within a 500 feet of a religious institution place of assembly, in this case the nonprofit located on the fourth floor of an office building.

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by an existing annual debt levy for countyoperated libraries, savings on leases and operating expenses and revenue from city departments. Staﬀ from the Minneapolis Police Department, the city’s planning department and Finance and Properties Services would move out of City Hall and into the new building. Scattered oﬃces like human resources, risk management and Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board would move into City Hall in their place.

206 WASHINGTON AVE. N. JOHN RIMARCIK

Lowry-Morrison building A dilapidated warehouse building with a prime location on Washington Avenue in the North Loop will look brand new by the end of April. JoAnna Hicks, a principal at Element Commercial Real Estate, said they plan to ﬁnish exterior renovations of the three-story Lowry-Morrison building at Washington & 2nd this month. The building has been vacant for much of the past two decades, but Hicks said they’ve leased a ground-floor space to a restaurant and are nearing leases for the upper oﬃce floors.

An entity of Santa Monica-based PCCP has sold the Northstar Center in downtown Minneapolis to an entity related to New Yorkbased Taconic Capital Advisors for nearly $62.8 million, according to a certiﬁcate of real estate value made public in late March. The complex is comprised of three retail and oﬃce buildings between 6th and 7th streets and Marquette and 2nd avenues. Wells Fargo, once a major tenant in the building, now occupies its own buildings, two 17-story towers overlooking the Commons park.

NordHaus Residents will begin moving into the tower portion of NordHaus on April 16, leasing staﬀ said. Tenants have lived in the lower portions of the 19-story apartment complex since last fall, but the tower had yet to be ﬁnished. NordHaus, developed by Floridabased Lennar, features about 280 units, from studios that go for $1,479 per month to three-bedroom penthouse units that will rent for nearly $9,800 a month.

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Gaviidae Common United Properties has sold a portion of Gaviidae Common on Nicollet Mall for $24.55 million, according to a certificate of real estate value filed in Hennepin County. The buyer is KB Minneapolis, an entity related to Las Vegas-based real estate advisory firm KB Property Advisors. United Properties, which is based in the building at 7th & Nicollet, sold portions of the first and second floors, along with the location of Walgreens. YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities recently opened a new facility that occupies pieces of all five floors.

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11 The Legacy condominiums Downtown East

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3/22/18 1:31 PM

12 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018

News By Eric Best ebest@journalmpls.com @ericthebest

Downtown boosters envision a redeveloped post office From an expansive aquarium to a highprofile event center, young designers from the University of Minnesota have bold ideas for what a redeveloped downtown post oﬃce could look like in the next decade. Graduate architectural students from the university’s College of Design recently unveiled their own ideas for transforming roughly 8 acres of high-profile riverfront real estate. Local leaders are taking the designs and starting conversations about how the public and private sectors can begin to plan a singular vision for the 1930s Art Deco building, its surrounding buildings and the nearby Gateway Park. Downtown boosters took a moment April 2 to reflect on where the site was nearly a century ago and where it could go in the next five or 10 years. “It was not a place where people played along river. It was not a place where people lived. It was an industrial site,” said David Wilson, who chairs the Downtown Council’s Greening and Public Realm Committee and Green Minneapolis, a nonprofit developed by the council to take over operations of downtown park sites. “Today, the post oﬃce is almost an island surrounded by residential and commercial development.” The student visions for the site are just ideas meant to create conversations at this point. A representative with the U.S. Postal Service did not attend the meeting. No developer or public agency has released a proposal

for the site, and no funds have been allocated toward a redevelopment yet. But local leaders say the decline of mail volume coming out of the post office and the building’s irksome location blocking the riverfront have renewed plans to repurpose the site for future uses. “The post office has served a wonderful purpose over decades, over many, many years right now, but the truth is that snail mail is slowing to a trickle,” said Mayor Jacob Frey, who called the site the “most valuable real estate” in the city. The site features four buildings, including the main post office building, an annex building built shortly after, a much newer addition and a parking garage from the 1970s. Wilson said this represents more than 1 million square feet of space and hundreds of parking spaces, both in the garage and underground. A redevelopment would likely feature a private historic reuse of the building and a public park component, he added. “It’s a huge, huge facility, so I think we can have lots and lots of uses, both private and public, on that site,” he said. Rich Varda, a design principal with RSP Architects and a board member with the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, said what they’ve learned from the student designs is that the building can become a destination, from an active town center serving residents and workers to a huge green space rivaling Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Models and studentcreated concepts of a redeveloped downtown post oﬃce will be on display in the IDS Center’s Crystal Court through April 13. Photo by Eric Best

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner Jono Cowgill, whose District 4 includes the riverfront, thanked the students for getting people excited so they can dig deeper into a redevelopment vision. “We have thousands, tens of thousands of new residents that are going to be moving to downtown Minneapolis if we have anything to do with it. And if we’re going to do that, we need to have a vision for green space in all of those spaces,” he said. As far as the next steps go, Wilson said Green Minneapolis will serve as a shepherd, working with government oﬃcials, such as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, to make them aware of

a redevelopment plan. Ultimately, he said, the Postal Service will need to agree with the City of Minneapolis and Park Board on a plan. “We’re really playing the organizing role to get all these different parties working together and headed in a similar direction,” he said. The student visuals will be on display at the IDS Center Crystal Court through April 13. “This is the beginning of a long process that is going to inspire many conversations on the part of many stakeholders, but the reason we want to get going now is that the opportunity is enormous,” said Jay Cowles, a board member of the Minneapolis Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District.

journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 13

New wheels

FROM FOOD TRUCK PREVIEW / PAGE 1 “Most food trucks don’t use much water, but our business is primarily water,” he said. “Every year I’ve ruined my hot water heater.” The de-wintering process in the spring involves a deep clean of everything, “even the things you touch twice a year,” Fritz, a self-described neat freak, said. He uses a power washer to get a clean slate every single season. Then there’s hiring new employees, developing menus and stocking the truck. The drop off in business affords some food truck vendors time to develop their menu, market their business or simply take time off. Last spring, after a long winter, Tony and Haley Fritz created the Dough Dough truck, which has already spawned a shop in the Mall of America. This winter, O’Cheeze went from the streets and into the skyway, adding its first brick-and-mortar location in the Baker Center Roanoke Building at the end of January. Each new business was preceded by a winter lull. “It all stems from us having to sit down and think of new ideas and put pen to paper,” Fritz said. Parkansky said the winter has brought a bit of downtime so he can focus on growing other parts of the business, such as selling wholesale nitro cold brew coffee to local purveyors. He’s now looking for a brickand-mortar home for the coffee trailer. One thing Fritz said he’d like to see is Minnesotans embrace winter with a winter food truck festival. The season has few outdoor events for mobile eateries outside the annual Winter Beer Dabbler and Red Bull Crashed Ice. “We would think something would do really well, but somebody would have to take a risk to do it the first time,” he said.

Several new food trucks are coming out this season, including two for plant eaters. Herbivorous Butcher, a vegan butcher shop based in Northeast Minneapolis, announced earlier this year it will be rolling out a mobile version of its lunch operations. Joining it on Twin Cities streets will be a food truck version of Reverie, a plant-based café that closed last summer in Southwest Minneapolis. Kirstin Wiegmann, who co-owns Reverie with partner and chef Jeffrey Therkelsen, said the trucks will be a win for those with plant-based diets. “It’s an exciting new development for the Twin Cities food community,” she said. The Reverie food truck will actually be an expansion of the restaurant in a way. The mobile eatery will have a full kitchen, while the brick-and-mortar space didn’t have the ventilation hood required of a typical restaurant operation. “I know it’s super-weird. We’re pretty pumped about it,” she said.

Wiegmann said they may also support the truck and a catering service through a commissary kitchen. She plans to pick up the truck in Portland in early April, drive it back and have it ready for events later this month. A preliminary menu features barbecue mushroom tacos with pickled veggies and spiced peanuts and a Cuban jackfruit sandwich on a Vietnamese French roll. There may also be breakfast options like a Mojo Veggie Hash with sautéed tempeh. Aubry and Kale Walch, the brother-sister duo behind the Herbivorous Butcher, plan to have their truck out in downtown Minneapolis this June. The shop already creates daily hot meals like meat-free burgers and jerk chicken sandwiches. A spokeswoman said they will announce the truck’s first locations and menu items in April. One of the city’s newest food trucks has been a friend to the growing craft brewing scene. Fused Craft Brewed Eats, which co-owners Mark Smail and chef Jamie Miller and their spouses launched last August, infuses beer from local breweries into its recipes.

The food truck serves creatively named pub grub and chili, from the Voodoo Verde, a green chicken chili, to the spicy veggie Red Headed Step Chili. Smail said they plan to roll out a menu of sliders this year. Fused also serves pretzels — with beer cheese and beer mustard, of course — cheese curds with bloody mary ketchup and totchos, or tater tot nachos. “Got to have a hotdish in Minnesota, right?” he said. Fused makes regular stops at Northeast Minneapolis breweries like Dangerous Man Brewing Co., Indeed Brewing Co. and 612Brew. Fans can also find the truck parked outside breweries in Maple Grove and Spring Park. Fused uses a commissary kitchen in the Sheridan neighborhood to support the truck. Smail said in a busy Twin Cities food truck scene Fused rises above others with its charm, which comes through in its eccentric menu items and partnerships with breweries. “We take a lot of pride in the quality of food that we have, but … the biggest thing for us is to have personality,” he said.

The Misfit Coffee Co. trailer from owner and barista Marcus Parkansky has been serving coffee drinks near the Mill District since 2016. Submitted photos

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14 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 FROM MINNEAPOLIS 2040 / PAGE 1 to 14 goals identified last year by the City Council, such as increasing civic participation, improving the health and safety of Minneapolis residents and attracting new residents and jobs. To address the creeping unaffordability of Minneapolis housing, the plan encourages new multifamily housing development in all parts of the city, including those currently zoned for single-family housing. It proposes eliminating minimum parking requirements, a significant factor in the cost of new development. It also includes clearer, more specific guidance for new development, including a built form map that illustrates, parcel-by-parcel, the intended height and bulk of structures the city wants to see developed in the future. Vague area descriptions from past comprehensive plans, such as Activity Center and Community Corridor, have been replaced with 13 new built-form districts with titles like Interior 1 and Core 50. “Hopefully, it will more clearly communicate what we want to see from development,” Joe Bernard, a principal city planner, said.

Creating clarity Taking an example from the current comprehensive plan, Bernard said that the definition of Activity Center described what type of use the city intended for the site but did not give specific guidance on the height of buildings. In some of those Activity Center districts, such as the core of Uptown around the Lake & Hennepin intersection, the height of new developments is a regular focus of community debate over new developments. In Minneapolis 2040, even the lowestintensity built-form district, Interior 1, allows for buildings of up to 2.5 stories with up to 4 units. Fourplexes are not currently allowed in many residential neighborhoods, and that aspect of the draft plan — leaked early and reported on by the Star Tribune — has already sparked debate. Multifamily buildings constructed “on a limited number of combined lots” would be allowable in the plan’s proposed Interior 2 districts, which cover residential areas between 38th Street in the south and Lowry Avenue in the north. Buildings up to three stories tall would be allowed in many of the neighborhoods closest to downtown with good transit access, including parts of St. Anthony East and Marcy Holmes identified as Interior 3 districts on the proposed maps. Minneapolis 2040 makes the case that those changes are necessary, noting that the

Minneapolis 2040 targets neighborhood-serving mixed-use projects to this section of Broadway Street Northeast across from Logan Park. Photos by Dylan Thomas

The plan focuses development on corridors well-served by transit.

city is growing faster today than it has since 1950. Since 2000, the city has lost an estimated 15,000 units considered affordable for those earning 50 percent of the area median income, and the number of households burdened by housing costs is growing. The city’s black, American Indian and Spanishspeaking residents are more likely than white and Asian residents to feel the pinch. The new Corridor 6 district would allow buildings of two to six stories along high-frequency transit routes and near transit stations. Many of the parcels lining Central Avenue north of the East Hennepin Avenue intersection are proposed Corridor 6 districts. In Transit 10 districts, including the Lowry & Central area, building heights of up to 10 stories would be allowed.

consideration if they meet other comprehensive plan goals. “We would like to address the small area plan issue this time by retaining the things that are in the small area plans that help to guide those areas for development but think about in the future a process that would allow for more involvement on the part of the city directly in those planning processes,” Worthington said.

A separate land-use map shows the proposed guidelines for the types of uses allowed in different parts of the city, including varying intensities of mixed-use development depending on whether the area is intended to serve just the surrounding neighborhood (the south side of Broadway Street Northeast between Washington and Van Buren streets); users of a transportation corridor (the business node centered on 13th & Broadway); or regional visitors drawn to a bustling destination (parcels lining downtown’s major corridors). “Separating out the (land) use from the built form allows us to be more targeted and specific about the scale of development in these locations, so when a constituent wants to know what is allowed in what was formerly called an Activity Center near their property, they can get a much clearer answer,” Bernard said.

Plans in conflict

Re-use of industrial buildings is encouraged in the plan’s proposed Production MixedUse districts.

Suggested height guidelines were often addressed in small area plans, a patchwork of local planning documents for commercial nodes and corridors. The authors of Minneapolis 2040 say it was “informed” by the small area plans. But some of those plans will soon be in conflict with the new comprehensive plan. For example, the Uptown Small Area Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2008, recommends heights of primarily three to five stories — but up to 84 feet in some cases — for the Activity Center in the area’s core. In the draft comprehensive plan, that core is one of the new Transit 10 districts, where building heights of up to 10 stories would be allowed and even taller buildings would get

Coming up State law requires Minneapolis to update its comprehensive plan every 10 years, and the City Council is likely to vote on the adoption of Minneapolis 2040 in November. It must be sent to the Metropolitan Council for review by the end of 2018. Once approved by the Met Council, “then it becomes a regulatory document,” Worthington explained. “Then we can use this document to inform changes to regulations and policies like the zoning code,” she continued. “That’s the next step. So, in 2019 and ’20, we’ll be working on those regulatory and policy things that will flow from the (comprehensive plan).” For any development proposals that come to the city in between adoption of a new comprehensive plan and the updating of the city zoning code, “we would sit down with them and try to talk through what’s coming so they can hopefully adjust that project to meet the new goals,” Worthington said. She said the zoning code likely would be updated in late 2019. Go to minneapolis2040.com to review the draft comprehensive plan and offer feedback. The deadline for comments is July 22.

NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHBOOK

journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 15

Maple mustard roasted rutabaga and turnips

Voices

Mill City Cooks / By Jenny Heck

Recipe by market chef Beth Jones

MAPLE SEASON

old nights and warm sunny days are when all of us begin to wake up from winter — including maple trees. The trees need freezing night temperatures and daytime thaws for pressure to develop in the tree and make sap “run,” or drip out when tapped. Farmers like Stephen Horner collect this sap and boil it down into syrup. Last week, I had a chance to talk to Stephen, owner of Horner’s Corner, a maple syrup and fruit farm located about 70 miles west of Minneapolis in Boyceville, Wisconsin. Stephen has been mapling for over 25 years, and he says the season is just getting underway.

Turnips and rutabagas are often considered the ugly ducklings of the food world. But given some love and sweetness with a bit of spring maple syrup, some rich roasted onions and the smokiness of bacon, these highly nutritious roots can become the highlight of your meal. Leave out the bacon and you’ve got a gluten-free, vegan dish.

“It looks like we are in for a good run for the next week or more. We have great hopes for the season despite the slow start,” explained Stephen. “Historically, March 21 is the average start date for this region. All but one season in the last decade has started well before the equinox.” You can find Horner’s Corner maple syrup, locally grown root vegetables and spring greens at the Mill City Farmers Market’s remaining indoor winter markets on April 14 and April 28. The Winter Market takes place 10 a.m.–1 p.m. inside the Mill City Museum with over 30 local farmers, food makers and artists. Learn more at millcityfarmersmarket.org.

Stephen Horner, left, has been mapling for over 25 years. Submitted photo

Feel free to substitute a variety of roots in this recipe — beets, parsnips or carrots. In the summer and fall, wash and save the green tops of the roots and add them to the pan to wilt for the last minute of roasting. This is a great dish to serve hot with a roast chicken, as an easy main dish topped with two fried eggs or chilled and served as a salad with local microgreens. Ingredients 2 small–medium turnips, peeled, medium dice 2 small–medium rutabagas, peeled, medium dice 1 large sweet onion, peeled, medium dice 1–2 Tablespoons sunflower oil 1 teaspoon coarse salt 2 grinds of black pepper 2 Tablespoons Horner’s Corner maple syrup 1 Tablespoon grainy mustard 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar 4 slices bacon from Sunshine Harvest Farm, chopped and fried until crisp (optional)

Method Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Lightly oil a large baking sheet. Toss the turnips, rutabagas and onions with the sunflower oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20–30 minutes, turning once or twice with a spatula for even browning. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, mustard and cider vinegar. Take the sheet pan out of the oven and pour the maple mixture over the vegetables. (Be careful — it may splatter!) If using the green tops of the vegetables, add them to the sheet pan at this time. Stir the vegetables and return to the oven for 1 minute to caramelize. Stir in the bacon and serve hot with roasted chicken or fried eggs. Or, if serving as a salad, chill completely and top with colorful microgreens.

The syrup sold by Horner’s Corner is produced on a farm near Boyceville, Wisconsin. Submitted photo

WHERE THE WORLD COMES INTO VIEW

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‘Striations’ and ‘Aerials’ In their new dual exhibition at Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis abstract artists Shawn McNulty and David Malcolm Scott explore the relationship between man-made structures and the natural world. McNulty’s “Striations” comprises canvases covered in layers of acrylic and pumice applied with unorthodox methods such as a shoe palette knife, Plexiglass and brooms, rather than a paintbrush. In a move away from his signature geometric abstractions, the artist’s new pieces feature heavily textured, organic forms and complex compositions that bring to mind ancient structures and eroded rock formations. In “Aerials,” Scott uses a variety of mediums, including watercolor, acrylics, pencil and ink, collage and photography, to draw the viewer into a historical narrative made up of rivers, prairies, lunar cycles and human settlements.

OUT

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By Jahna Peloquin

When: April 7–29. Opening reception Saturday, April 7, 7 p.m.–10 p.m. On view Saturdays & Sundays noon–4 p.m. or by appointment. Where: Rosalux Gallery, 1400 Van Buren St. NE, #195 Cost: Free Info: rosaluxgallery.com

‘Garden of Names’ Born out of a collaboration between Zorongo Flamenco Dance Company’s founder and artistic director, Susana di Palma, and dancer/choreographer Joe Chvala in 1991, “Garden of Names” is a critically acclaimed dance work inspired by Lawrence Thornton’s novel of political torture inspired by real-life events, “Imagining Argentina.” More than 20 years later, the powerful, provocative show is being restaged by di Palma with Chvala and his Flying Foot Forum dance troupe and an all-star cast of internationally renowned flamenco dancers, singers and musicians, including Edwin Aparicio — one of the most soughtafter flamenco performers in the U.S. — and dancer/percussionist José Moreno, the son of famous flamenco artists Estresa Morena and Pepe de Málaga. Set in 1970s Argentina, where people disappeared to be tortured and killed during a reign of government terror, the performance shows the strength of the human spirit and the power of the imagination to ﬁght injustice. When: April 6–15 Where: The Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave. Cost: $30 Info: thecowlescenter.org

Paisley Park Prince Celebration 2018

‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ Based on the iconic, thought-provoking 1967 film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” which starred Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as affluent Californians whose liberal leanings are put into question when their daughter comes home with Sidney Poitier on her arm, this stage adaptation by playwright Todd Kreidler in 2011 is as relevant today as ever. The play respects the key moments of the film while offering a different reading of the story — while the film is a situation-driven, socially conscious story delivered in a too-neat package, the play is more nuanced and character-driven, focusing on the relationships of the characters and touching on complex issues of race, gender and class in modern-day America. The Guthrie production stars prolific Twin Cities actress Sally Wingert in Hepburn’s role.

Last April, to mark the anniversary of Prince’s death, his Paisley Park studio-turned-museum in Chanhassen gathered some of his closest collaborators for a weekend of live performances, panel discussions and presentations. While this year’s Celebration is less star-studded than the inaugural 2017 event, it features several Prince-associated acts missing from last year’s lineup, including Sheila E. and fDeluxe (formerly known as the Family). A supergroup of alumni from various Prince bands, including New Power Generation, will also perform. Like last year, passes are sold in alternating timed blocks that move patrons in and out of Paisley Park. They also include access to the Prince Live on the Big Screen at Target Center on April 21, where musicians will accompany unreleased video of the Purple One performing live.

When: April 7–May 27 Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St.

When: April 19–22 Where: Paisley Park, 7801 Audobon Road, Chanhassen Cost: $550–$1,050 for Celebration passes; $39–$199 for Prince Live on the Big Screen Info: oﬃcialpaisleypark.com

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Minneapolis St. Paul

International Film Festival The 37th-annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Fest is the largest film fest in the upper Midwest, drawing up to 50,000 attendees annually. This year’s lineup features 268 films from 75 nations, all screening in the Twin Cities for the first time. This is down from last year’s whopping 350-plus films — an effort to focus on the very best films out there.

HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

When: April 12–28 Where: Various locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul Cost: $14 ($11 members, $8 for youth under 25 and students with ID) Info: mspﬁlm.org

Ingmar Bergman Tribute

‘RBG’

MSPIFF presenting organization, MSP Film Society, will present a 16-film Bergman retrospective in May. To offer a taste, it will screen two films by the Swedish filmmaker, “Summer with Monika” (1953) and “Persona” (1966), plus the 2013 biography “Trespassing Bergman” with co-director Hynek Pallas in attendance.

The 2018 documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg makes its Twin Cities premiere for MSPIFF’s opening night, and it’s also one of more than 50 features and 40-plus shorts at this year’s festival by and about women. The ﬁlm’s co-director, Betsy West, will be in attendance (and Justice Ginsberg has been invited).

‘Deep Astronomy and the Romantic Sciences’ As front man for San Francisco’s infamous cult combo, the Billy Nayer Show, Cory McAbee became known for his brilliantly kitschy pop songs in the ’90s. He went on to write and direct experimental short ﬁlms with a similarly irreverent vibe. For MSPIFF, he’ll present and star in a live sci-ﬁ event that features a mix of music, animation and artwork.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Sounds showing revelation 4 Actress Winger 9 Beer, casually 13 Speedy shark 15 Bars between wheels 16 Travel aimlessly 17 Angling method using hand-tied lures 19 Bar orders 20 City recaptured from ISIL by Iraq in 2017 21 Sincerely 23 Hunk of concrete 25 Tic-tac-toe diagram 26 Memorization technique 29 One doing the Electric Slide, e.g. 34 Brian of ambient music 35 DDE’s WWII command

67 Jekyll’s alter ego

36 Renter’s document

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10 Part in a play

44 Green-eyed monster

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48 Absolute ruler

70 One of an inning’s three, which can follow the first word of 17-, 29-, 47- and 63-Across

12 __ Virginia

49 Actress Shields

14 Handy

50 Tree that sounds like a summer vacation spot

42 Like the Magi 43 What the beverage cart blocks 45 Sellout letters 46 Brit. pilots’ squad 47 Hamburger meat 50 Beach or Backstreet follower, in music 51 At any point 52 Subway charge

DOWN 1 Bedside toggle switch 2 Angel’s overhead circle 3 “The __ the limit!”

54 Mark McGwire rival 58 IHOP handouts

5 Prosecutor’s first piece of evidence

63 Beatles’ Shea Stadium performance, e.g.

18 Down with the flu 22 Yemeni money 24 Knighted Guinness

4 Prosecutors: Abbr.

62 Furthermore

factory

6 Russian pancake 7 Back out

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8 Home of primary 30-Down gods

66 Steinbeck migrants

9 Fresh from the

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41 Couch

53 Pres. pardoned by Ford 54 Jewelry protector 55 “Sadly ... ” 56 Car sticker fig. 57 Whirl around 59 “So Sick” R&B artist 60 Pakistani language 61 “Cancel that deletion” 64 Sugar suffix Crossword answers on page 18

3/26/18 10:04 AM

18 journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018

BEST

PICKS

MUSIC / FOOD / DRINKS / ART OUTDOORS / ENTERTAINMENT SOCIAL / SHOPPING WHAT TO DO DOWNTOWN AFTER WORK BY ERIC BEST

MUSIC

Campfire songs

Chitchat and laughter are nearly as central to Eustace the Dragon’s music as moving vocal harmonies and melodic string arrangements. “There are sections where you can just hear us goofing around and talking. It makes you know there are people singing the songs,” said Danny Churchill, a singer and guitarist in the trio. Churchill, singer and wife Amanda and their friend Jessica Smith formed the Twin Cities-based band several years ago after meeting in church. Following time as an indie cover band, the three took on the name — a reference to the parable of a boy whose greed and arrogance gets him turned into a dragon — and now make their own music, a stripped-down blend of folk and country. Eustace the Dragon release its debut album, “Glad Friends,” last fall. Recorded at the Churchill household, the 16-track record features some of their musical friends, such as Andrew Thoreen of local band Har-di-Har and Peter Miller of We Are the Willows. Their music is too genuine and original to be written off as twee, and despite its sweet sound, there is a bitter side to the songs. The title track “Glad Friends,” which delves into the costs of a past relationship, was originally called “Glad We’re Still Friends.” It begins with Danny singing a charming melody and then builds over time with trombone and more voices, asking a lingering, affecting question (“You took everything that I had / What was it worth?”). “We called it ‘Glad Friends’ because that’s often the settings that we’re singing in, like hanging out with friends in houses or around a bonfire just having jam sessions,” Smith said. “It felt honest also to make that the title track because there’s some dark, bitter parts in our writing too. We really care about

Danny Churchill, Jessica Smith and Amanda Churchill are the voices behind Eustace the Dragon, which will play First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry on Tuesday, April 17. Photo by Bethany Joy Schrock

writing about our hard experiences.” The song is representative of the members’ approach to music, which they describe as a stirring group experience that feeds off their friendship and their own stories. Their genre is as accurately described as “alternative folk” as it is “choral campfire hang,” Smith said. Their goal? To be friends forever. “Whenever we’re really all super into it, everyone is just singing whatever they want and it works together and sometimes it doesn’t, but you get that full feeling that everyone is just free,” she said. “That’s the goal for me, that late-night abandon.” Like a campfire performance, there’s a live element to their music. When the three took to putting together the album they put new spins on old songs they’ve carried with them for years. On stage, the three make tweaks and switch out lyrics to better connect to their current lives. “Half the songs we’ve written, the circumstances surrounding them are totally different, but people continue to connect with the sentiment,” Danny said. Eustace the Dragon will play First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry on Tuesday April 17 at 7 p.m. The Collection, a chamber pop band out of North Carolina, and local duo Inside Voice, a project from Hilary James of Bathtub Cig and Peter Miller, will open the 18-plus show.

SHOPPING

One for the record books

If you’re looking for a nearby place to head to on Record Store Day (Saturday, April 21), try Flashlight Vinyl. The Northeast Minneapolis new and used record store is one of the latest to open in the city and is nestled in the Alamo building on Central Avenue across the street from Diamonds Coffee Shoppe. Owner Raoul Benavides promises more LPs, tapes and 45s than you can handle. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., the shop will be slinging records out of its parking lot. Plus, shop-turned-food-truck SSSDUDE-NUTZ will be selling their wacky square donuts and coffee. I’d recommend picking up Jeremy Messersmith’s newly released album, “Late Stage Capitalism,” which we featured in our last issue. Then go through Benavides’ considerable collection to find an old favorite.

Drink it all in

DRINKS

What if everyone had a story to tell? If they did, what drink would be in their hand when they told it? These are questions raised at Nicollet Island-East Bank’s latest bar, the Sonder Shaker. It’s a small cocktail lounge in the apartment building that replaced parts of the old Nye’s Polonaise Room. Inside, a dimly lit room filled with bar stools and velvet furniture offers plenty of non-stuffy places to tell a story of two. For a drink, you couldn’t go wrong with the Matcha Man ($10) whose earthy, bitter green tea flavors are balanced with a smooth egg white and bright, sweet citrus liqueur. Or try the cocktail

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A Boy Named Suze ($10), which pairs Plymouth gin with Cocchi Americano — a brilliantly bitter, yet sweet quininelaced aperitif wine — and Suze, whose earthy taste comes from the gentian root. I’d recommend making this one at home, because the aperitifs will at the very least make great things to sip on the porch this summer with a big lemon or orange garnish. For food, the Sonder Shaker offers a happy hour from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. that will get you deals on scallop ceviche, which would pair well with a citrusy drink, and a roasted carrot and sunchoke dish that comes decorated with reduced red wine and pickled spices. Neither of these options is boring — they may even tell their own story.

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journalmpls.com / April 5–18, 2018 19

LOCAL

ai Hai means “two two” in Vietnamese, and the title was chosen for this new Northeast restaurant as a salute to the so-named dive bar/strip club that previously occupied its 22nd & University address. I’ll adopt it as my critical assessment: two thumbs up. Probably the only holdouts to this accolade are residents for blocks around, whose curbs will be forever occupied by the vehicles of foodies. Those foodies’ appetites for chef and co-owner Christina Nguyen’s fresh flavor combos from her homeland, Vietnam, are as bold and bright as the café’s vivid, almost tropical design scheme, favoring eye-popping jolts of turquoise green. (If you’ve visited Nguyen’s first culinary endeavor, Hola Arepa, you know what I mean.) The dining room — reminiscent of steamy Saigon with ceiling fans and lampshades wrought of fiber-woven hand fans — the lengthy faux-zinc bar and the patio, filled with those little white plastic stools that serve customers in the alleyways of Saigon, provide generous seating. But don’t get your hopes up: They’re usually all taken, with a waiting line (no reservations) snaking halfway to Uptown (well, almost). Worth the wait. The menu leads off — and you should, too — with snacks ($7–$10). Two or three could compose a light meal, although I defy anyone to halt. We began with Christina’s spring rolls — two huge logs ready for her palate-igniting dipping sauce. The chef ’s twist: bits of fried-till-crunchy eggroll skin within the un-fried, translucent wrappers, plus-sized to accommodate fresh green herbs along with full-flavored bits of pork sausage and spears of pickled jicama and carrots. Next, a quartet of petite water fern cakes composed of steamed rice patties mounded with mung beans, savory ground pork and pork crispies enhanced with scallion oil and fish sauce. Finally, the fried cream cheese wontons. You’re thinking, “Why? Please, not this tired, accommodate-theMidwest concoction.” Well, read the fine print. They also incorporate creamy chicken liver pate (shades of Vietnam’s

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French occupation?), all set to dip into the accompanying pert and fruity chili sauce. Next, the vegetable list ($8–$10), from which we summoned the green papaya salad, that Southeast Asian staple, to which the kitchen has added green beans and tiny tomatoes to balance the threads of tart green papaya amply heaped with the customary fish sauce, lime, peanuts and miniscule dried shrimp. They’re nicely ignited with Thai chilies balanced with lush green herbs. The list continues with yummy sounding East-meets-Midwest dishes like Balinese cauliflower dressed with kale, bean sprouts and coconut cream; braised collards topped with spicy ground pork and chili oil; and Brussels sprouts fried with green chili paste, pork belly and puffed rice. (See what I mean?) Next up, plates ($9–$16), including Hanoi sticky rice, a dense heap of rice topped with a collage of ground pork, pork floss (shredded threads), coins of densely-textured, boldly flavored Chinese sausage, mung beans, fried shallots, pickled veggies and cucumber in fish sauce. Good but not compelling. Next time, the Balinese chicken thigh and crispy skin accompanied by kale, bean sprouts, jasmine rice, coconut cream and a spicy sambal favoring Thai chili and lime leaf. The usual lettuce wraps also join the list. I’ll return for the Vietnamese crepe, to stuff with pork belly and shrimp or shiitake mushrooms. Or the shrimp mousse cooked on sugarcane; there’s plenty of it stacked above the bar. But for now, let’s see the dessert menu ($5.50–$7). Coffee pot de crème, flourless chocolate cake with enhancements, housemade silken tofu in lemongrass-ginger syrup and our choice, Vietnamese che: a tall, frosty glass (which we shared) layered with Pandan jello, equally slippery lychee, “grass” jello of similar texture, basil seeds, pink tapioca (slippery again), jackfruit, coconut cream and crushed ice. Cool. So are the inventive cocktails, decorated with fronds of herbs and, yes, little paper umbrellas. The friendly staff is well trained in menu nuances and prepared to answer queries and forward recommendations. All in all, two thumbs up (and more if I had them).

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EA VE

ENWOOD AVE

G Ho ra te ves l

Target Center

Xcel En er gy

H Cn en t r ne fo pin rA rt s

Clean, convenient 4T HS and affordable TS

394 6T

nly

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Minneapolis ry Public Libra

rqu

Cancer Surviors Park

AV E

GT ON la z a

W ar eh

Fine Line

Gat eway Park

st ric t 3R

31 North 9th Street

Target Field

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e tt

AV E

2N N

AV E

TO N

Hawthorne Ramp 3R

ST N

Hen n Co En v Serv

Hen n Co In cinerator

3RD

ONLY $130! 2N

W AS

AV E

M O N T H LY CONTRACT PARKING N

AV E

612-343-7275 • mplsparking.com • info@mplsparking.com

Park • Walk • Save

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4T H

Ass nC Wo athol ic me n

En er gy Cen ter 4/3/18 11:46 AM