February 25, 2016 by The Journal

THE NEWS SOURCE FOR DOWNTOWN & NORTHEAST MINNEAPOLIS RESIDENTS FEBRUARY 25–MARCH 9, 2016

CITY UNVEILS UPDATED NICOLLET MALL DESIGN

After a high bid surprised the city it was forced to use poured concrete in place of pavers 5Though they’ve changed the ground beneath it, a signature art walk will be a focus of the new Nicollet Mall. Image courtesy of James Corner Field Operations

Eric Best / ebest@journalmpls.com The city and its designers recently unveiled a new cost-saving plan for the Nicollet Mall reconstruction that they expect will keep the project within its $50-million budget. After getting a single construction bid last December that was $24 million over budget, the city is now planning to use poured concrete instead of thousands of brick-like, concrete pavers. James Corner of James Corner Field Operations, the firm designing the reconstruction, said the switch to the simpler material is the only change to their design. SEE NICOLLET MALL / PAGE 8

UNDER

FIRE

INSIDE

A SPECIAL REPORT ON GUN VIOLENCE

A HIGH-TECH APPROACH TO TRACKING GUN CRIMES A national network of ballistics images helps Minneapolis police solve gun cases

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com A key piece of technology Minneapolis Police use to link guns to crime scenes and uncover hidden connections between weapons cases is housed in a small, windowless office inside the department’s crime lab. Inside that room is one of just two computer terminals in the entire state connected to the National Integrated Ballis-

tics Information Network, or NIBIN. From that terminal, investigators can access a database of bullet casings left at crime scenes across the city and the country. NIBIN has turned those casings — bits of crime scene debris that once might have sat uselessly on a shelf in the property storage room — into potentially crucial pieces of

evidence, Lt. Mike Taylor of the department’s weapons unit said. “It’s connected shots fired cases and homicides to a gun recovered on a search warrant,” Taylor said. “It’s helped develop and helped connect cases and individuals that, for long-term investigations, multiple SEE INVESTIGATORS / PAGE 14

WHERE WE LIVE

AMERICAN REFUGEE COMMITTEE Improving quality of life in Africa. PAGE 18

2 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

News

Get ready to caucus By Sarah McKenzie / smckenze@journalmpls.com High turnout is expected for the state’s precinct caucuses March 1. The caucuses signal the start of the 2016 election in Minnesota. Political parties organize caucuses to give people the opportunity to discuss party issues and priorities and vote for delegates to support political candidates. The competitive race between presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, who are vying for the Democratic nomination, will Kahn likely drive many to DFL caucuses in Minneapolis, a longtime stronghold for the party. Some have raised concerns that party leaders haven’t Noor secured enough spaces in South Minneapolis neighborhoods given the anticipated increase in turnout. DFL Chairman Ken Omar Martin said local party leaders are working on securing new venues. “We could see a record turnout at Minnesota’s caucuses on Super Tuesday,” he said. “It’s a real unknown. We instructed all of our county unit chairs and Senate district officers to prepare for very high turnout, and that’s what we’re prepared for.” He predicted 150,000 to 175,000 people would attend DFL caucuses. Sanders and Clinton recently traveled to the Twin Cities for the DFL’s annual HumphreyMondale dinner in St. Paul on Feb. 12. Before the dinner, Sanders also attended Neighborhoods Organizing for Change’s forum on issues facing black communities at Patrick Henry High School. Secretary of State Steve Simon is urging

all Minnesotans to get involved in the election process. “Our vote is our voice, and I encourage all Minnesotans to go out and caucus on March 1 and make their voices heard,” Simon said. “This is an important election year in Minnesota and going to a caucus is a great way for Minnesotans to show support for their preferred candidates, raise an important issue, and meet people in their community.” To participate in a caucus, Minnesotans must be eligible to vote in the November general election, live in the precinct and generally agree with the principles of the party hosting the caucus, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Besides the presidential race, the 2016 ballot in Minneapolis will include races for U.S. House (District 5), the state Legislature, Minnesota Supreme Court and Minneapolis School Board. In Minneapolis, one noteworthy race to watch is the battle for the state House 60B seat. The district includes Nicollet Island and neighborhoods near the University of Minnesota. Longtime legislator Phyllis Kahn faces competition from Mohamud Noor and Ilhan Omar for the DFL endorsement. Noor, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, ran against Kahn in 2014 and lost to her in the primary election. The caucus for the race erupted in violence Feb. 4, 2014 at the Brian Coyle Community Center, leaving Omar injured. She was serving as vice chair for Senate District 60 at the time. The incident didn’t deter her from remaining active in politics. A self-described “extreme extrovert,” Omar said she’s running to unify the district and increase opportunities for community engagement and co-governing. She currently serves as director for the Women Organizing Women Network, a group advocating for first- and second-generation immigrant women in Minnesota to get more involved in their communities. Previously she served as an aide to City Council Member Andrew Johnson (Ward 12). “We need a new representative with a new

A scene from Minneapolis DFL caucuses in 2013. File photo

MINNESOTA’S 2016 PRECINCT CAUCUSES What: Parties hold caucuses to endorse candidates, select delegates and discuss party values and goals. When: Tuesday, March 1, 7 p.m. Where: To find your caucus location, go to caucusfinder.sos. state.mn.us For more info: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website (sos.state.mn.us) voice and a new perspective,” she said, adding that given the significant racial disparities in the state, it’s time for new leadership to address the problem. Her top priorities include pushing for ways to make college more affordable, tackling disparities in education through increased access to early education programs, advocating for reforms in the criminal justice system to end mass incarceration and pushing the University of Minnesota and state officials to divest from fossil fuel companies.

Noor, meanwhile, said he’s eager to run again and energized a lot of people with his first campaign. A former School Board member, he’s also focused on improving educational outcomes and addressing the state’s disparities. If elected, he’d focus on pushing for more investments in education, including universal pre-K programs with wraparound social services, addressing poverty and youth radicalization. Kahn, who was first elected to the Legislature in 1972, said she’s running on her experience and strong relationships at the capital. She said she’s campaigning with the message to voters that she’s the person in the best position to do the most for the district as a veteran lawmaker. For the upcoming legislative session, some top priorities include promoting her bill banning people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list from owning guns in Minnesota and lobbying for funding for University of Minnesota projects and the Cedar Cultural Center’s renovation in the bonding bill.

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The Downtown YMCA is considering a move to Gaviidae Common. Submitted image

HENNEPIN & 9TH

YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities IN DEVELOPMENT

The YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities announced Feb. 17 that it is exploring a new potential downtown site. The nonprofit is looking at the Gaviidae Common building at 6th & Nicollet Mall, according to a news release. The YMCA in downtown Minneapolis owns its current building at 16 S. 9th St. near LaSalle Plaza. Greg Waibel, chief operating officer for YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, said in an email that they will put

their current space up for sale if they move forward with the Nicollet Mall site. The YMCA is still determining what programs and services they would move to Nicollet Mall, he added. “We are intrigued by this potential downtown location and we now have the opportunity to perform a thorough evaluation of the site,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, in a statement.

NORTH LOOP

ON THE MOVE

Russell + Hazel

Russell + Hazel will be moving its flagship store from Edina to a larger space in the North Loop. The design-driven office product store will be reopening this spring next door to D.NOLO near 2nd Street & 3rd Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. “We are dreaming up the design — so watch for updates as our transition

happens! What a great neighborhood to be joining,” the company said in an announcement last month. The company’s flagship store was located in Edina’s Galleria. Russell + Hazel has products in stores nationwide and in several countries. It plans to reopen the store this June.

NORTH LOOP

NOW CLOSED

Local D’Lish

The North Loop’s Local D’Lish has closed its doors after nearly eight years. Owner Ann Yin announced Feb. 8 that she is closing the store to find a new career with a better work-life balance. The store was a pioneer in the local foods and farm-to-table movements in Minneapolis, launching the food-related careers of several locals, especially women, Yin said in an announcement. “Close to 8 years ago I opened Local D’Lish with a goal to help connect people through the power of food. I wanted to highlight and feature local farmers and food artisans by building a community centered on slow and intentional food. I feel confident that through my little ‘magical’ store, ‘WE’ have been able to do that. What an honor it has been

to get to know all of you and introduce you to amazing local farmers, food artisans and chefs,” she wrote. The store, located at 208 1st St. N., sold local food products and hosted culinary classes. “Owning a business takes such a huge commitment of time and resources. I am so incredibly proud of what I have created and nurtured in this little store but it is time for me to find a new career that will offer me more balance in my family life,” she wrote. Cooks of Crocus Hill confirmed on social media that it will be taking over the space beginning March 1. Owners Marie Dwyer and Karl Benson said in a statement that they’ve been planning a Minneapolis location.

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4 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

News

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Clockwerks Brewing

Lonnie Manresa and Brett Michlitsch are turning their passion for homebrewing into a new downtown taproom and brewery. The two co-founders, who grew up together in Brooklyn Park, are planning to open the steampunk-style Clockwerks Brewing this spring at 25 4th St. N. The space, known for former tenants The Belmore/New Skyway Lounge and City Billiards, sits just down the block from Gay 90s in downtown’s entertainment district. Although they’d like to avoid the late-night brouhaha, the two have envisioned their brewery in the thick of Minneapolis. “We were always looking downtown. If we couldn’t do it downtown, then we really wouldn’t do it,” Manresa said. Michlitsch, a software engineer, a certified beer judge and Clockwerks’ head brewer, has been brewing for the past 15 years, honing his own flagship recipes for the past 12. Manresa, who currently works at 112 Eatery and Eat Street Social, is handling the taproom’s operations. Clockwerks will focus on lagers and session-style brews with a seven-barrel system. Manresa said they’ll emphasize lighter, more drinkable beers in their five flagship recipes, which the duo hope will get beer fans to come back for more. “Once you start drinking beer for longer periods of time, you start to realize you want to drink something that’s still flavorful, but you can have four or five,” Manresa said. So far, their fans’ favorite is their rye lager, which they’ve been testing out at tastings around the city. On top of their core beers, Clockwerks will have dedicated taps for a seasonal brew and another recipe crafted by homebrewers. The two plan to audition a homebrewed recipe and brew it themselves on the Clockwerks system. The rotating homebrewer will get their own opening night and a dedicated tap.

“It’s a way to pay homage to the homebrewing community we came from. When we go to these homebrewing tastings, they’re still making some of the best beer around,” Manresa said. The two aren’t planning to distribute beyond the taproom and growlers. Still, they’ve set a goal of brewing 800 barrels in their first year. Manresa and Michlitsch are bringing a modern twist to the 1919 warehouse building with a steampunk style. While it won’t be “kitsched out,” the duo said the style, inspired by the steam-powered machines of the 19th century, fits with Clockwerks’ steam-powered brewing system and historic space. “The idea is to emphasize what is already there,” Manresa said. “We want to put more emphasis on the interior. A lot of taprooms kind of feel sterile.” The 3,000-square-foot taproom will feature original steampunk art and details, bar and communal seating and an original City Billiards pool table. The two crowdsourced some extra funds from Indiegogo, which will help fund some of the taproom’s artistic details. Clockwerks will have a cold kitchen and serve small charcuterie plates and other snacks. They also plan to partner with food trucks. Despite their location a short walk from the late-night bars and nightclubs of the Warehouse District, the two aren’t planning to become a nightlife destination. The taproom is actually located next door to the 1st Precinct. “We could probably make a lot more money if we stayed open until then, but it’s just not our thing,” Manresa said. “We actually want to avoid all that.” Clockwerks Brewing will open this spring at 25 4th St. N.

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 5

News

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NOW OPEN

Bank of America

Bank of America has opened its first downtown Minneapolis financial center in the IDS Center skyway. In addition to normal bank services, the enhanced bank branch location has relationship bankers to guide client visits and ATMs with an option to chat live with tellers. The new branch, the first of its kind in the country, also has digital ambassadors to answer questions about Bank of America’s mobile app and website. The branch is the company’s third in the Twin Cities area with openings last year near Lake Calhoun and Wayzata. The downtown location is the company’s largest and most visible so far. “In opening our new downtown location at IDS Skyway, we’re expanding access to Bank of America services and making it easier for clients in Minneapolis-St. Paul to get expert advice for all their financial needs,” said Larry Kloth, Minnesota state and Minneapolis-St. Paul market president for the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank. Bank of America, the nation’s secondlargest bank, is planning to open branches

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MAYO CLINIC SQUARE

ON THE MOVE

HDR

HDR, an architecture and engineering firm, has relocated its St. Paul office to downtown Minneapolis’ Mayo Clinic Square. In late January, the company moved into a nearly 10,000-square-foot office on the newly renovated building’s skyway level. The 30-person office primarily consists of HDR’s architecture practice, which had been located in UBS Plaza in downtown St. Paul. Jim Thomson, managing principal for HDR’s Minneapolis architecture office, told The Journal that the move now has the firm closer to other architecture firms, mass transit and the Twin Cities community. As part of the move, HDR changed its business culture with an open seating arrangement with casual and lounge seating, describing the concept as “coffee shop meets design studio.” “This truly is a space of collaboration. The intent was for people to get up and interact, share ideas, and critically and positively

review their peers’ work,” Thomson said in a statement. The office will likely be a common sight for skyway users due to its glass storefront. HDR’s new office also has movable multitier seating and a hospitality-style kitchen. “Our studio now reflects our intent to create the most innovative, inspiring and flexible workspaces for studio members, clients, guests and the local community,” said Mike Rodriguez, HDR’s design principal in Minneapolis. The office’s new home, Mayo Clinic Square, recently went through a multimillion dollar rehabilitation. Thomson said the biggest amenity to the building is access to light rail and busses with 40 percent of the office’s staff using mass transit. The space has room for HDR’s Minneapolis office to double in size, Thomson said. The office’s biggest local client is Allina Health.

NORTHEAST PARK

COMING SOON

Hazel & Rose

Hazel & Rose, a new women’s boutique, is opening this spring in Northeast Minneapolis. Owner Emma Olson is planning a 1,600-square-foot store in the Land O’ Nod Mattress Factory, known for tenants Spyhouse Coffee Roasters and 612Brew. Hazel & Rose specializes in sustainably and ethically produced women’s clothing, accessories and skincare products largely manufactured by independent designers in the United States. Olson hopes the focus will set her apart from other Minneapolis boutiques. “Once I realized there was this untapped niche in the Twin Cities, I knew I had to go after it,” she told The Journal. Before venturing on her own, Olson, a Minnesota native, worked in merchandising with a corporate retailer in Minneapolis. After six years of that, she’s now pursuing this

FROM ACNE TO WRINKLES...

“passion project,” named after two of her great grandmothers. Hazel & Rose will carry several brands from around the country that will be new to Twin Cities shoppers. Olson is also working with several local designers to carry exclusive collections, she said. In addition to clothing, the store will have jewelry, stationery and chocolate, among other items. Despite the focus on sustainability, Olson said shoppers won’t have to compromise on fashion. “You can still follow your own personal sense of style by shopping at Hazel & Rose,” she said. “It’s just a better way to shop.” Olson plans to open Hazel & Rose at 945 Broadway St. NE #220 in Northeast Park on March 18.

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6 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

Government

Volume 47, Issue 4 Publisher Janis Hall jhall@journalmpls.com Co-Publisher & Sales Manager Terry Gahan 612-436-4360 tgahan@journalmpls.com Editor Sarah McKenzie 612-436-4371 smckenzie@journalmpls.com @smckenzie21 Assistant Editor Dylan Thomas 612-436-4391 dthomas@journalmpls.com @DThomasJournals Staff Writers Michelle Bruch mbruch@journalmpls.com @MichelleBruch Eric Best ebest@journalmpls.com @ericthebest Client Services Zoe Gahan 612-436-4375 zgahan@journalmpls.com Lauren Walker 612-436-4383 lwalker@journalmpls.com Emily Schneeberger 612-436-4399 eschneeberger@journalmpls.com Creative Director Dana Croatt 612-436-4365 dcroatt@journalmpls.com Senior Graphic Designer Valerie Moe 612-436-5075 vmoe@journalmpls.com Graphic Designer Amanda Wadeson 612-436-4364 awadeson@journalmpls.com Distribution Marlo Johnson 612-436-4388 distribution@journalmpls.com Advertising 612-436-4360 Printing ECM Publishers, Inc.

Next issue March 10 Advertising deadline: March 2 Advertising: sales@journalmpls.com 35,000 copies of The Journal are distributed free of charge to homes and businesses in Downtown and Northeast Minneapolis. The Journal 1115 Hennepin Ave. Mpls, MN 55403 Tel: 612-825-9205 Fax: 612-436-4396 Subscriptions are $32 per year

By Sarah McKenzie smckenzie@journalmpls.com @smckenzie21

Police body camera program set to launch in May A City Council committee has given city leaders a green light to execute a five-year, $4-million contract with Taser International for police body cameras. The police department will start rolling out the body camera program in mid-May, starting with the 1st Precinct (downtown neighborhoods), said Deputy Chief Travis Glampe. The program will be fully up and running by late fall. The full Council will consider the contract Feb. 26. It allows for the purchase of 587 body cameras, docking stations and storage, among other things. The U.S. Department of Justice also recently awarded the city $600,000 to help fund the body camera program. Thirty-six police officers tested out body cameras made by Taser International and VIEVU during a pilot project in 2015. Police departments around the country have launched body camera programs to help prevent false claims of police misconduct and

A Taser International police body camera. File photo make officers more accountable. The Minneapolis Police Conduct Oversight Commission forwarded recommendations on the use of police body cameras to Police Chief Janeé Harteau in October. They include barring supervisors from reviewing footage of direct reports; notifying video subjects when videos have been made public pursuant to a data practices request; and seeking an academic institution to study the use of the body cameras for

the program’s first two years. The commission also recommended that cameras be turned on for all “consensual community contacts,” calls for service and law enforcement activities and turned off when officers are interviewing a confidential informant. City Council members questioned whether the MPD was ready to handle requests for body camera footage. Currently the budget covers two employees who will oversee data requests. Glampe said the department plans to release its proposed body camera policy in a few weeks and will seek input from the public. The Council committee also passed a staff direction authored by Council Member Cam Gordon (Ward 2) calling on the MPD to present a plan for community engagement and outreach on the proposed body camera policy to the committee on March 2 and a final policy no later than April 6.

BCA completes investigation into police shooting of Jamar Clark The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced Feb. 10 that it has completed its investigation into the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark in North Minneapolis and handed over its findings to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he would like to decide whether to pursue charges in the case by the end of March. Prosecutors plan to review the BCA file and determine if additional investigation is needed. Clark, a 24-year-old black man, was shot during an altercation with police on the 1600 block of Plymouth Avenue North around 12:45 a.m. Nov. 15. Police say he was not handcuffed at the time — a fact disputed by witnesses at the scene. The FBI is also conducting an investigation into the shooting. BCA spokeswoman Jill Oliveira said videos gathered during the investigation and other public data will be released once the case is closed. The case remains open during the review process. The ACLU of Minnesota and the NAACP Minneapolis filed a lawsuit against the BCA and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety on Feb. 9 to compel the release of video footage of Clark’s shooting death. They are arguing that failing to release footage violates the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and the NAACP Minneapolis have long been calling for the release of the Jamar Clark tapes. Protesters demonstrated at Freeman’s office on

Michaela Day stands with other demonstrators in County Attorney Mike Freeman’s office Feb. 12, holding a sign that says “#No Grand Jury” in the Jamar Clark shooting case. Photo by Annabelle Marcovici Feb. 12 urging his office to press charges against the officers involved in Jamar Clark’s shooting rather than having a grand jury consider the case. “We’re here to demand that that does not happen,” said Loretta VanPelt of the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar. “Since 2000 in Minnesota, there have been around 141 people who have been killed by police, and not one

time has a grand jury indicted.” Protesters plan to hold other “Freeman Friday” events in coming weeks to keep attention on the case.

— Annabelle Marcovici contributed to this report

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journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 7

Government

City leaders considering single-use plastic bag ban City Council Members Cam Gordon (Ward 2) and Abdi Warsame (Ward 6) have proposed the “Bring Your Own Bag” ordinance — a measure designed to reduce waste and ease the burden on one-sort recycling facilities. Plastic bags wrap around recycling sorting machines, prompting them to shut down. A public hearing has been set for March 21 at City Hall before the City Council’s Health, Environment & Community Engagement Committee. The ordinance includes several exemptions and allows plastic bags for newspapers, pet waste, dry cleaning, produce bags without handles and reusable plastic bags of a certain thickness. The ordinance would also place a 5-cent fee on single-use paper bags at grocery stores and other retailers. “We are trying to address some concerns about litter and waste in the city, but there is also some bigger impacts about greenhouse gas emissions and pollution,” Gordon said. The St. Louis Park City Council also considered a plastic bag ban last year, but ultimately shelved the idea in favor of a Zero Waste Packaging Ordinance. Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, food establishments will be required to use packaging that is reusable, returnable, recyclable or compostable for takeout food. The Minneapolis City Council passed

Minneapolis could become the first city in the state to ban single-use plastic bags at the checkout line. File photo

a ban on polystyrene take-out containers that went into effect April 22, 2015. As currently drafted, Gordon and Warsame’s “Bring Your Own Bag” ordinance would have a phased-in implementation in 2017 if approved by the City Council. More than 160 U.S. cities have passed a single-use plastic bag ban and or fee for disposable carryout bags, including Seattle, Portland and Washington, D.C. California’s legislature was the first in the nation to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at larger retailers in August 2015. The ban went into effect in July 2015. Minnesotans throw away 87,000 tons of plastic bags each year, according to a fact sheet on Gordon and Warsame’s proposed

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runner-up 57 Wood-scratching tool 58 Pakistani bread 59 Loosen, as laces 60 Award to be announced February 28, previously won by the first words of 17-, 23-, 39- and 51-Across 64 Cellular messenger 65 Take the helm 66 Trees yielding caffeine-rich nuts 67 Staples of many websites 68 Giveaway bag 69 One-for-one deals 70 Touch gently DOWN 1 British Invasion drummer 2 Hibachi spot 3 Mali money 4 Real people? 5 Maestro’s forte 6 Refrain bit 7 Many a reggae musician 8 Additional 9 “Fifth Beatle” Sutcliffe 10 “Sure, take it!” 11 Picasso supporter 12 “Set Fire to the Rain” singer 15 Call for help

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The City Council voted 9-3 on Feb. 12 to give municipal consent to the Blue Line Extension project — a 13-mile LRT line linking downtown with Brooklyn Park. Council members Blong Yang (Ward 5) and Cam Gordon (Ward 2) voted no and raised concerns about the proposed design for the line on Olson Memorial Highway. They have pushed for lane reductions to improve pedestrian safety, but Minnesota Department of Transportation officials have so far denied that request. Council Member Alondra Cano (Ward 9) also voted against granting municipal consent for the project. The current plan for the project is to keep six to seven lanes of traffic on Olson Memorial Highway. The entire stretch of the highway from I-94 to Theodore Wirth Park will be reconstructed and the posted speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph, said Blue Line LRT project director Dan Soler. Traffic lanes will also be narrowed. Yang said his constituents’ safety is more important than fast commute times for workers from the western suburbs. Gordon also expressed frustration that the proposed design doesn’t include more pedestrian improvements and noted that Crystal is in line to get a pedestrian bridge for the project. Service is expected to start in 2021 for the $1.496 billion Blue Line Extension project. In addition to Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park, the line will pass through Golden Valley, Robbinsdale and Crystal. Planners anticipate 27,000 weekday boardings by 2030.

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ordinance. In Minneapolis, most of those plastic bags wind up at the downtown garbage burner. Bruce Nustad, president of the Minnesota Retailers Association, said the organization hasn’t taken a formal position on the proposed plastic bag ban in Minneapolis. Nustad said he hopes city leaders are as open to conversation about a potential plastic bag ban as leaders were in St. Louis Park. He noted that many local retailers are leading efforts to recycle plastic bags. Lunds & Bylerys, for instance, has plastic bag recycling drop-off boxes at many store locations.

Council gives municipal consent for Blue Line Extension

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8 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

News

Head of MN Business Partnership reflects on state of the workforce By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@journalmpls.com Charlie Weaver, executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership — a downtown-based organization representing the CEOs of the state’s largest companies — sees challenges and opportunities on the horizon for the state’s economy. For the upcoming legislative session, the partnership will be lobbying for commercial property tax relief and a transportation bill, among other things. “I think both sides of the aisle and the governor have all coalesced around a need for a comprehensive transportation solution,” he said. Weaver has lead the Minnesota Business Partnership since 2003. Before his current post, he served as chief of staff for former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Here are highlights of a recent interview with Weaver:

Q: What are some of the key issues the partnership is focused on now? The biggest thing for my members, which are the leaders of Minnesota’s largest companies, is education. It is probably issue one, two and three. If you’re Medtronic, 3M, Target, St. Jude or Boston Scientific, or any of these awesome companies we have here, they’re looking down the road five and 10 years and looking at the graduation rates here in Minnesota, especially in Minneapolis. Frankly there are going to be more jobs than there are qualified people here, unless we really get a handle on this — especially in Minneapolis.

Q: What key areas are you focused on in terms of education? There’s really two avenues — one is at the capital. We’ve been very strong in trying to get rid of LIFO (Last In, First Out) — this

FROM NICOLLET MALL / PAGE 1 “We decided that rather than trying to cut a little bit out of everything — cut the trees down, cut the furnishing down and cut the lighting down and cut everything down — that we’d pick one thing that we thought would be the drastic cut. And that is the paving surface,” he said. “We took the approach to actually retain everything that we have and to simply change out the floor.” Corner said the poured concrete would need various textures and colors to give it a similar aesthetic appeal to the pavers. New renderings show a few different shades of gray concrete in a spectrum of rough and smooth textures. “We believe there are ways to work with poured concrete that are creative and will produce a really elegant and durable surface,” Corner said. The switch won’t affect the 12-block project’s greening and pedestrian efforts, such as the number of trees or signature features like the Light and Art Walk planned between 6th and 8th streets. The redesign will overhaul the thoroughfare between Washington Avenue and Grant Street, bringing the street flush with the curb, which Corner said is meant to calm traffic for pedestrians. New renderings show several looks to the new concrete separating pedestrian, seating and traffic areas.

Q: What about early education? What should be the priorities? We think the scholarship approach makes the most sense. We supported that at the capital. … Frankly in the wealthier suburbs they don’t need scholarship money, but they do need it in [inner city neighborhoods.] Lets focus it on the parents who need it— the people who are economically disadvantaged and have a tough time making ends meet. Lets get their kids the help they need. Statistics show that those are the kids who need it the most and would benefit the most.

Submitted photo crazy law that forces school districts to fire the most recent person hired if they have budget problems, which is insane. There’s only 10 states that have that law and it causes us to fire some of our best and brightest teachers. We support more money for Teach for America. We strongly opposed getting rid of graduation standards. That was a horrible setback. Before in Minnesota you had to at least demonstrate basic competence in math, science and reading. … Basically if you have a pulse, you’re going to graduate, and that’s not helpful to any business that wants to hire a Minnesota graduate. They now don’t know what they’re getting. We aren’t holding kids accountable. … In light of what is happening in Minneapolis at the School Board this last couple weeks, we should rethink whether we should break up that district — break it into four or five smaller districts. … I think a lot of parents are intimidated by the size of the district. It’s hard to get things done because everything is done at a massive scale.

City officials expect the shift will deliver a project within its original budget. The city received and rejected a single $59-million construction bid — much higher than the estimated $35 million project cost — for the reconstruction work. “It took a little bit of a punch,” said Steve Cramer, president and CEO of the Downtown Council and Downtown Improvement District. “The question is how you roll with it.” Council Member Jacob Frey, whose ward includes much of downtown, was optimistic about the change, despite some worry. “When I initially heard this news, I will admit, I was taken aback. I was frustrated and I was worried that the project may turn out dramatically different than anticipated,” Frey said at a Feb. 10 public forum. “The brilliance of Nicollet Mall is still entirely present.” The city will rebid the project this March with the hope of garnering more offers. Intensive utility work, a separate project with a separate budget from the redesign work, has closed Nicollet Mall since last summer. The $50-million overhaul already has secured $21.5 million in state bonding and $3.5 million from the City of Minneapolis. The city plans to collect the remaining $25 million through assessments on thousands of property owners near Nicollet Mall. The process has received two appeals, Cramer said.

Q: What other key business trends are you focused on this year? We got to keep an eye on state spending given what’s going on China right now. We’re just one crazy dictator away from fluctuations in the stock market. … It’s a global economy and so that should cause all of us as we go into this legislative session to be careful. We have this $1.2 billion [state budget] surplus. We’re going to be cautioning legislators to not spend it all. ... Most of the companies here in Minnesota are hopeful and optimistic, but the economy still is fragile.

Q: Are there some areas of the state’s economy that are stronger this year? Any companies that aren’t dependent on a global market are doing well — so the banks. US Bank is doing well. Wells Fargo is doing well. Medical device continues to be a strong area. Even though the commodity prices are down a little bit, still Cargill and Land O’Lakes are doing well and poised to do even better. One of the reasons you have very low unemployment here is we’re diversified. … Frankly in Minnesota we have more jobs

than we do potential workers. We need to do a better job of linking graduates to jobs. A lot of graduates are graduating with degrees that really aren’t worth much. The businesses could do a better job of telling colleges or two-year schools what we need.

Q: What are some of those jobs in high demand? Well, like welders and nurses. There are emerging markets that didn’t exist five years ago — 3D printers. The are lot of retirements in the trades. If you look at carpenters or electricians or plumbers or welders, there’s a real need. … One of the challenges with the trades is that there is a feeling among parents that if their kid doesn’t go to college they’re a failure. It’s so wrong, but we need to work at dispelling that and let kids know that these are great careers — you can grow your family, get a house and do all the things you want to do by being in the trades.

Q: Another big issue in Minneapolis is the debate over a paid sick leave ordinance. Do you have a position? Our position is that this is not a problem that requires a one-size-fits-all solution. Most of my members provide all of these benefits. Frankly what is being proposed by the Council would hurt a lot of those employees because employees prefer PTO instead of paid sick leave. It’s also a patchwork problem. If you’re Target — you have 6,000 employees in Minneapolis that would be effected, but you also have 4,000 people in Brooklyn Park. How are you going to do that from an HR perspective? Putting this as a mandate is a bad idea.

Poured concrete replaces pavers in updated Nicollet Mall plans. Image courtesy of James Corner Field Operations Several property owners around Nicollet Mall attended the forum, some with the concern that the project will once again go over budget. The city’s project team said costs wouldn’t surprise them again. In another effort to recoup costs, the city is also expecting Metro Transit to cover about $4

million in expenses associated with building bus shelters on Nicollet Mall. City officials now expect to have a groundbreaking early this summer and a substantial completion in late fall 2017, about a threemonth delay from their original plans.

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 9

Government

SCHOOLS NOTEBOOK

By Dylan Thomas dthomas@journalmpls.com @dthomasjournals

Board takes charge of recruiting superintendent candidates Minneapolis Board of Education members decided Feb. 16 to take on the responsibility of recruiting district superintendent candidates themselves. Board members also agreed on the makeup, but not the membership, of the search team that will sort through the candidates and select up to three finalists for the district’s top job. The team is expected to include nine members: the board’s student representative, up to five people drawn from the community and just three School Board members, a number that falls short of the board’s quorum, allowing the search team’s deliberations to remain private. The board is also promising a much deeper level of community engagement as it prepares to re-launch the search for Minneapolis Public Schools’ next superintendent. The previous search — conducted last fall and largely managed by executive search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates — crumbled in December and January when news broke of an abuse investigation in the home district of finalist Sergio Páez. Interim Superintendent Michael Goar was the board’s second choice, but Goar removed himself from consideration in January. The new process hashed-out by

board members over several hours will require assistance from a search firm, but that firm, which has not been named, will mainly manage the application process. Board members are expected to tap their own professional networks, including links to organizations like the Council of Great City Schools, to recruit applicants. “If we want an adequate pool there will have to be nine of us activating every network we have,” School Board Chair Jenny Arneson told her colleagues. A few of them, including board members Carla Bates and Josh Reimnitz, expressed concerns about their lack of expertise. But Board Member Nelson Inz noted the publicity around the previous failed search should help. “I’ll just say at this point it’s not a secret that we’re looking for a superintendent,” Inz said. “We have that going for us.” The board is also offering candidates a greater level of privacy this time around. It plans to make public only the names of the finalists. Some board members said the openness of the previous search process discouraged applicants who might have feared angering or offending colleagues at their current jobs.

The Rubies’ award-winning robot. Submitted photo

Rubies robotics team heads to state I’ll just say at this point it’s not a secret that we’re looking for a superintendent. We have that going for us. — Board Member Nelson Inz

Arneson said the board still aims to name a new superintendent by May. It plans to carry over a leadership profile developed for the previous search, but that outline of desired characteristics may be tweaked based on community input. The board pledged that parents, students, teachers and other community members would play a greater role throughout this new selection process. In hopes of avoiding the kind of lastminute revelation that sunk Páez’s candidacy, the board aims to hire a firm to conduct investigative background checks of the finalists. A site visit to Páez’s home district in Massachusetts was tacked-on to the end of the previous search, but now that visit is an explicit part of the board’s plan for all finalists.

A team of five Minneapolis middle and high school students took home the Control Award from the FIRST Tech Challenge Minnesota State Championship robotics tournament, held Feb. 5–6 in Bloomington. The Rubies, whose members are all Minneapolis Public Schools students in the 8th and 9th grades, were also the first all-girl team from the city to compete at the Minnesota championship. FIRST Tech Challenge is an international robotics competition for students in grades 7–12. The judges gave the Rubies the Control Award in recognition of the team’s mastery of robot intelligence. The award honors the team’s innovative use of sensors and software to control their robot. The FIRST Tech Challenge requires teams to design and build a robot that can run both autonomously and by remote control. The challenge is slightly different each year; for 2015–2016, the robots were required to rescue model “climbers” while navigating a playing field randomly covered in debris. Robots earned additional points for climbing a “mountain” on the edge of the playing field. Of the 133 teams that entered this year’s Minnesota FIRST Tech Challenge, just 48 advanced to state. Seven state tournament teams qualified for the FTC Super-Regional Championship to be held March 17–19 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

10 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

Matt Thompson of Skyline Neon hangs restored beer signs in his Northeast Minneapolis studio.

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

With more challenges than ever before, local neon sign makers have trouble keeping the lights on

Story and photos by Eric Best / ebest@journalmpls.com You likely don’t know their names, but if you’ve walked by a storefront or grabbed a seat at a bar in Minneapolis, you’ve likely seen the handiwork of Brian Crawford, Matt Thompson, Jeff Monzel or Robert Johnson. The four are neon “benders” — the makers of neon signs and lighting — and collectively they are responsible for much of the custom neon lighting in the Twin Cities metro. Both locally and nationally, the neon sign industry has shrunken to a small fraction of what it once was before the last recession, due in part to cheap and easily

maintained LED lighting, now ubiquitous on storefronts. Despite the downturn, each bender continues their own, usually one-man shops in Northeast Minneapolis, the state’s unofficial capital of neon sign manufacturing. “We’re dinosaurs. We truly are,” laughed Monzel, a bender of more than 25 years who runs Lightadot Neon & Glassworks. For this generation of benders, Minneapolis was a regional hub for neon sign manufacturing because of its cheap studio space, its businesses — bars and beer companies, as well as neon tubing

The North Star Blankets sign (far left) was recently relit with LED lights. The Gold Medal Flour sign (left), originally lit with tungsten lights, is one of the most iconic neon sights in the city.

suppliers — and its proliferation of neon schools. Local colleges and the American School of Neon, once located in the North Loop’s trendy Colonial Warehouse building, churned out benders for larger sign companies, instead of just neon-specific shops. Then as the economy dropped, LEDs, or light-emitting diode lights, advanced into the mainstream, touting energy efficiency without the craft of local artisans. “The neon industry probably lost 80 percent of our work to LEDs, at least,” said Thompson, an alum of the American School of Neon and founder of Skyline Neon. “There’s almost no schools in the United States.” Now a smattering of benders — named for the act of heating and forming the sign — are adapting to keep the lights on. Brian Crawford, who was in the first class at the American School of Neon, founded Ne-Art Custom Neon of the Marshall Terrace neighborhood nearly 32 years ago. The shop hosts two auctions each year offering restored beer signs, which are popular in “man caves,” garages or home bars. “I think [neon] is becoming less local. It’s local here because we’re a scene here in Minneapolis,” he said. Robert Johnson of Neoneon Art & Design came into the industry as a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Though he does commercial and custom interior work like other shops,

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 11 A developer replaced the aging neon lights of the Pillsbury’s Best Flour sign with LED lights last year.

Jeff Monzel of Lightadot Neon & Glassworks heats neon tubing with a ribbon burner.

Johnson also creates unique art pieces that combine neon and clocks or acrylic backdrops. As another source of income, he also sells Star Wars collectibles, a business that has at times rivaled the neon work. Monzel, who started learning through elective classes at the University of Minnesota, has survived by combining glassblowing and neon bending. “If you don’t find new applications for your studio, you’re in trouble. If you don’t diversify, you’re going to die in this business,” he said.

Signs of a different time In recent years, the switch from traditional neon lights to LEDs has been most noticeable in the relighting of the city’s iconic riverfront signs. Last fall, a developer renovated the Pillsbury’s Best Flour sign, a 75-year-old neon sign, with LED lights. On the other side of the Mississippi River, the North Star Blankets sign on top of the historic factory building was relit with similar lighting. The nearby Gold Medal Flour sign is perhaps the most iconic neon landmark still lit in the Twin Cities. Two more aging signs with neon components, the Grain Belt Beer sign and St. Paul’s “1st” sign upon the First National Bank Building, are now dark as their respective owners plan to relight them, whether in neon, LEDs or other combinations. A spokesman for August Schell, which recently bought the Grain Belt Beer sign, said in a statement that the company hasn’t made a decision on the type of lighting it plans to install by 2017. For these historic signs, the material that developers use in relighting them is decided largely by cost, along with historic relevance. Aaron Hanauer, a senior planner with the City of Minneapolis, worked on the Pillsbury’s Best Flour and North Star Blanket projects. He said because of the steep price tags that come with these highprofile projects, the material largely comes down to what the owners can afford, though the city might not always support replacing neon with LED. “They’re expensive projects,” he said. “If it was a close estimate [between LED and neon], there could be a time when we would not support replacement.” Elizabeth Gales, a historian with Hess, Roise and Company, said local, state and federal reviewers, who approve grants and other funding for these projects, have been open to the long-term viability of LEDs over neon. The historic consulting firm is working with August Schell on the Grain Belt Beer sign relighting.

“We’re in an interesting period where LED has really been impressive as it has evolved so it’s interesting to see how open the historic reviewers are. What it helps to confirm is that they want to see these historic signs reused and relit,” she said. For Larry Abdo, owner the Nicollet Island Inn, the price and cost of operations are too high to add a neon sign. For the latest addition to the historic building, he’ll be adding a LED sign, a move that needed city approval. “We love the look of having a neon sign up there,” he said, but “there’s a lot of maintenance.”

Monzel bends the heated glass into position over a sign blueprint protected by a screen.

Who will be the next generation of benders? With just a handful of benders left in the city, several shop owners worry that there won’t be another generation to carry the torch. Shops used to be able to afford to pay people to learn, Thompson said, but the same model doesn’t exist anymore. While aspiring benders may find classes, several shop owners said they can only afford to hire experienced sign makers or apprentices who are ready to make commitments to the art. Johnson has taken on four apprentices in 25 years, but the cost of training can be prohibitive and there are barriers to opening a shop with fewer neon suppliers and materials than ever before. “No one is going to hire a neon bender straight out of a neon school. I wouldn’t hire anyone without five years of experience,” he said. For Monzel, training the next generation of benders is just too costly. Monzel said he can’t take on apprentices because of the liability, and there wouldn’t be enough interest to keep another school open. “The market wouldn’t support a batch of new kids coming up,” he said. There are local programs, such as through the Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, that are taking on hobbyists, artists and other students to advance the medium. It’s programs like these that make Thompson optimistic there will be some benders to one day fill the demand. “When you think about neon, it’s been around for 100 years. There’s a million neon tubes out there, so there’s always going to be a market, but it keeps getting smaller and smaller,” he said.

Monzel keeps the neon tube uniform with air pressure from a tube in his mouth.

Monzel’s finished product, a custom interior neon sign, hangs in his Northeast Minneapolis shop.

12 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

News

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U.S. Bank Stadium U.S. Bank Stadium is now 90-percent complete. Mortenson Construction recently announced that the $1.1-billion project is on track to open this summer after several big milestones. It said approximately 1,300 workers are on the site daily to finish the remaining 10 percent of the stadium, which has so far seen $780 million worth of work. Mortenson has installed two-thirds of the stadium’s more than 66,000 seats and will finish the work by April, and it will begin to install the field’s turf in May. Beginning in March, the LRT station outside the stadium will change from its current name, Downtown East / Metrodome Station, to U.S. Bank Stadium Station. Through the deal, Metro Transit will receive $300,000 in in-stadium promotions, print and radio advertising and direct marketing to boost ridership to events at the venue.

651 NICOLLET MALL YMCA OF THE GREATER TWIN CITIES

Downtown YMCA The YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities announced that it is exploring a new potential downtown site. The nonprofit is looking at the Gaviidae Common building at 6th & Nicollet Mall and its evaluation of the Nicollet Mall site will extend until early June. The YMCA in downtown Minneapolis owns its current building at 16 S. 9th St. near LaSalle Plaza. Greg Waibel, chief operating officer for YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, said they would put their current space up for sale if they moved forward with the Nicollet Mall site. The YMCA is still determining what programs and services they would move to Nicollet Mall.

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TCF building Franklin Street Properties, the owner of the TCF Tower and adjacent building, expects to release more details in a month regarding its redevelopment plans for the bank’s downtown office buildings. The Massachusetts-based real estate investment firm told investors last year that it plans to build a 50-story tower in place of the TCF’s four-story building. The firm would contribute $80–90 million for the development, which would likely include a hotel, office space and apartments. TCF and about 1,000 of its employees exited the office building last year, relocating to Plymouth. Franklin Street said it would also enhance the adjacent 17-story tower.

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501 Washington The home of Crooked Pint Ale House and other businesses has been sold to an affiliate of Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based LS Capital for $6.1 million, Finance & Commerce reported. The building, which is 86-percent leased, is also home to pingpong bar Hop 21, a yoga studio and Caribou Coffee. The previous owner was Azzuri Investments, associated with Minneapolis-based Maplewood Development Inc.

NICOLLET MALL CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS

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14 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

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A SPECIAL REPORT ON GUN VIOLENCE Forensic firearms technician Tim Sittlow first scanned a bullet casing at high resolution (left), then compared it to other casing images in the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (below left). A gun’s firing pin leaves a unique mark. Photos by Dylan Thomas

parties were charged.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives owns and operates NIBIN, which launched in 1999. Since then, ATF reports, the network has produced nearly 70,000 “hits” linking two or more bullet casings back to the same gun. Last year, NIBIN connected a Ruger .380 pistol recovered by Minneapolis police from an April 2015 assault to bullet casings found near a March 2015 shots-fired incident. That pistol ultimately was tied to a 28-year-old St. Paul man who allegedly bought the weapon just a week before the shots-fired incident and resold it without a license. The NIBIN hit was one piece of a larger case assembled by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger against the man, Eitan Benjamin Feldman. On Feb. 18, Feldman was indicted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on one count of dealing in firearms without a license and nine counts of making false statements during a firearm purchase. Calvin Meyer, a group supervisor for the ATF’s St. Paul Crime Gun Intelligence Center, said the ability to quickly link evidence from multiple crime scenes to one weapon is the “biggest difference” NIBIN has made for investigators. “NIBIN has allowed ATF and our local partners to focus our time and our resources on the people who are actually pulling the trigger,” Meyer said.

Making connections In Minnesota, just the Minneapolis Police Department and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have NIBIN terminals. After the MPD’s system got an upgrade in 2014, the department committed two officers on what’s called the “shoot team” to the collection of casings. “Every time someone fires a gun — or a semi-automatic handgun, we’ll say — it leaves a shell casing that’s ejected who knows where,” Taylor said. “By and large, criminals don’t collect the shell casings.” Police do. Members of the shoot team will return to crime scenes by daylight to pick up casings that were overlooked, and they regularly follow-up on suspected shootings detected by the department’s ShotSpotter technology, a network of audio sensors attuned to gunshots. Meyer said ShotSpotter is one big reason why the ATF placed a NIBIN terminal in Minneapolis. The department is a significant source of ballistics data for the network. Once the casings are entered into NIBIN,

there’s a possibility investigators will find links to other crimes committed with the same weapon. “There have been occasions when the discharged cartridge casing at one scene a month earlier can be connected to a totally different scene two months down the road and maybe a third scene in-between,” Taylor said. “You look at similar parties in all the cases and try to develop a case form there.”

“A matching game” Tim Sittlow is the forensics firearms technician who works with the NIBIN terminal in

Sittlow inside the Minneapolis Police firearms reference collection. Photo by Dylan Thomas

Minneapolis. Sittlow’s office houses a second machine that’s nearly as important, a big black box dubbed IBIS. The Integrated Ballistic Identification System is basically a high-powered scanner used to capture images of casings in superhigh resolution. Those images are then fed into NIBIN. IBIS is used to scan casings, not bullets — an important distinction. Both are components of an ammunition cartridge, but the bullet is the actual projectile that gets shot out of a gun while the casing is left behind. “Bullets are more difficult (to identify) because they go through bodies, hip bone,

sheetrock, cars, metal,” Sittlow said. “It’s just too difficult.” Casings, however, retain the mark made by a gun’s firing pin. That mark is as unique as a human fingerprint, and it’s that uniqueness that makes NIBIN a powerful tool. “Whatever is on (the firing pin) from the factory — scratches, anything that’s left over — gets imprinted on (the cartridge casing),” Sittlow explained. At his computer, Sittlow can pull up images of multiple casings and compare them side-by-side, examining tiny striations scratched into the metal and comparing evidence of “flow back,” or metal that became molten at the moment of firing and then hardened again. “Basically, it’s a matching game for me,” he said. “… It can be really obvious. It can be real difficult.” In 2015, Sittlow made more than 1,200 entries into the NIBIN system and examined close to 4,000 cartridge casings. He got 263 hits, matching one casing to another already in the system. Sittlow can also search through NIBIN entries made in other parts of the country. “If I go down to the property room and I see that the gun is stolen out of, say, Chicago, I will automatically search Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota — follow the trail of wherever it was stolen out of,” he explained. Sittlow usually only has to look at just the top 20 or so casing images that NIBIN determines are the most-likely matches. He passes evidence of the match along to the department’s firearms examiners, who confirm a match by examining a casing under a microscope. NIBIN narrows the possibilities, but ultimately the human eye makes the match. “Up until that point, we just have a potential hit,” Sittlow said.

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 15

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A SPECIAL REPORT ON GUN VIOLENCE

HOW ONE CITY HAS REDUCED GUN DEATHS By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@journalmpls.com An innovative program tackling gun violence in Richmond, Calif. is credited with a substantial reduction in firearmrelated homicides in the city northeast of San Francisco. DeVone Boggan launched the Office of Neighborhood Safety in late October 2007 in the city of roughly 100,000 people. “The office is a non-law enforcement government entity with one single focus — and that is to reduce violent assaults and associated deaths,” Boggan said during a recent interview. The program reaches out to active firearm offenders in the community and offers them Operation Peacemaker Fellowships. Fellows are matched with case managers who help them develop “life maps,” get opportunities to travel around the state and country and are offered paid internships, Boggan said. Potential fellows are identified through street outreach work, tips from the community and from past fellows. Boggan said nearly everyone who is offered a fellowship and a pathway out of violence accepts. The office typically serves about 40 fellows every 18 months. “Most of them don’t want to live this way. They’re born into this sh**,” Boggan said. “No one has presented a real, responsive, robust, credible, legitimate alternative to what they are experiencing.” The City of Richmond covers about

ABOUT THIS PROJECT The Journals have taken an in-depth look at gun violence in Minneapolis. To read stories from our Feb. 11–24 edition and see a map of homicides in Minneapolis, go journalmpls.com.

$980,000 of the program’s annual operating expenses and another $1 million to $1.5 million in private fundraising makes up the rest of the budget, Boggan said. In 2007, the city had 45 homicides involving firearms — making it one of the most dangerous cities in the country with a homicide rate of 45.9 per 100,000 residents, according to a report on the program by the National Council on Crime & Delinquency. Young black men — as in other major American cities — have disproportionately been victims of gun violence in Richmond. For homicides between 2005 and 2012 in the city, 73 percent were African American, 88 percent were male and 36 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24, according to U.S. Department of Justice data. By 2014, the homicide count dropped to 11, the lowest level in the city since 1991, according to the Contra Costa Times. In 2015, however, homicides spiked to 21. Still, Boggan said the work of the Office of Neighborhood Safety has had a tremendous impact. “We went from the sixth most dangerous city in the country based on the FBI ratings to the 61st most dangerous city in the country,” he said. He said 79 percent of the program’s fellows give up gun violence and don’t end up involved in another gun crime. Overall, the Office of Neighborhood Safety has provided gang prevention services to more than 1,600 young people. Outreach workers check-in with fellows several times throughout the day to see how they are doing and to get progress reports. Case workers are assigned to each fellow to help them create their life map, which outlines goals related to personal safety, transportation, employment, education, mental health and anger management, among other things.

DeVone Boggan launched the Richmond, Calif., Office of Neighborhood Safety in 2007. The office reaches out to offenders in an effort to stem gun violence. Submitted photo “We literally help them negotiate their life map and achieve goals on a daily basis,” Boggan said. After six months as fellows, they become eligible for $1,000 monthly stipends for the remainder of their time with the program. They also get the chance to travel around California to meet with business and community leaders. When they go on trips out of the state, fellows travel with people in rival gangs or someone they have had a dispute with in the past. “When they travel out of state or out of the country, they are traveling with people

they are trying to kill — that is provocative,” Boggan said. Since it launched, the Office for Neighborhood Safety has taken 35 excursions with fellows, including trips to South Africa, Mexico City and Dubai. The trips are “intense as hell,” Boggan said, but often transformative. “They begin to see the humanity in one another,” he said. “A common testimony from our fellow is, ‘I actually like this dude more than the guys I used to go out shooting at him with.’” Fellows are also offered subsidized internships that typically last nine to 12 months and the opportunity to network with a group of retired men of color who offer mentoring and guidance called the Elders Circle. Other cities have taken notice of Richmond’s model for approaching gun violence. Neighboring Oakland is launching a similar program this year and Boggan has also worked with officials in Washington, D.C., to launch fellowships. Boggan said he hears from new cities every week interested in learning more about the Office for Neighborhood Safety. He said it’s important for city leaders to come to grips with the realities of gun violence and let the young men who have been victims and perpetrators of the violence help steer a path toward peace. “We got to engage these young men who are most responsible or closest to this violence directly, and it has to be around authentic relationships and partnerships,” he said. “We need to embrace these young men as partners around solving a very critical problem in our cities.”

HOW MINNESOTA COMPARES TO OTHER STATES ON GUN LAWS By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@journalmpls.com Minnesota earned a grade of “C” for the strength of its gun laws as part of the 2015 Gun Law State Scorecard compiled by the California-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The national law center focuses on gun violence prevention and promoting smart gun legislation as a way to address the country’s gun violence epidemic. It notes that 117,000 Americans are shot each year and 33,000 die annually as the result of gun violence. In its annual surveys, it has found a correlation — states with stronger laws have fewer gun deaths per capita than states with weaker laws.

California ranked number one on the list of the states with the strongest gun laws, followed by Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York. All of those states earned a grade of “A minus.” For several years California has required all gun sales to be processed through a licensed dealer and for buyers to undergo background checks. It also bans most assault weapons and prohibits the sale or transfer of large capacity ammunition magazines, according to the Gun Law State Scorecard. It was also the first state in the nation to require handgun microstamping, which would allow law enforcement to match

a cartridge case found at a crime scene with the person who bought the gun. Each bullet fired by the gun is microstamped with the make, model and serial number of the firearm. California also has a gun violence restraining order law that allows family members or law enforcement to petition the court for the restraining order when there is sufficient evidence that an individual might harm his or herself or other people. When the restraining order is in place, that person is barred from buying or possessing firearms or ammunition. Law enforcement can also remove firearms and ammunition the person already has in

their possession. It went into effect Jan. 1. Kansas got the worst score in 2015. It recently enacted a law that allows people to carry hidden, loaded guns in public. It also does not require a background check for unlicensed gun sales. Minnesota ranked 43rd among the states with the highest level of gun deaths and 12th among states for the strength of its gun laws. Minnesota doesn’t require background checks on the private sale of firearms between unlicensed parties. Minnesota gun laws highlighted by the center include: requiring child access prevention requireSEE GUN LAWS / PAGE 16

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A SPECIAL REPORT ON GUN VIOLENCE

LOCAL LEADERS LOOK TO CURB VIOLENCE IN WAREHOUSE DISTRICT By Eric Best / ebest@journalmpls.com City leaders are implementing a holistic plan to improve public safety in the Warehouse District, an area that has been a hotspot for gun violence after bar close on the weekends. The Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District (DID) recently released an assessment from the Responsible Hospitality Institute (RHI) outlining ways to improve downtown’s late-night atmosphere. Steve Cramer, president and CEO of the DID and Downtown Council, called RHI’s a report a “roadmap” for local leaders, who have begun regular meetings to realize RHI’s recommendations. City leaders hope the group’s recommendations, which range from promoting better business practices to reconfiguring roads, will enhance safety in late-night venues and on the streets of the Warehouse District, The 1st Precinct, which includes downtown neighborhoods, had 35 shooting victims in both 2015 and 2014, a 25 percent increase from 2013, according to Minneapolis police records. Over the same period, violent crime, including homicide and aggravated assault, was up nearly 20 percent. These are the trends that local leaders hope to reverse now that they’ve begun to realize some key goals from the assessment.

Can changing traffic patterns reduce crime? RHI put a particular focus on 1st and Hennepin avenues near the Warehouse District where nightclubs, bars and restaurants line the streets. It’s the streets themselves that need to change, according to the report. MPD closes the two thoroughfares near 5th Street during peak bar hours on the weekend, which is also when crimes like aggravated assault and robberies most often occur, according to MPD crime data. The practice, started years ago to manage crowds, RHI says, has made finding ways to leave downtown “unpredictable” during bar close, when patrons leave en-masse only to find traffic jams or pedestrian-

packed blocks. Joanne Kaufman, executive director of the Warehouse District Business Association, is part of an implementation committee following the report and will be the first to say 1st Avenue needs to change. “At midnight to 2 a.m., it becomes a different place. I don’t feel safe when there’s no traffic. I feel like it almost makes it more scary,” she told the Journals in December. “Everybody agrees there’s a problem.” Council Member Jacob Frey, whose ward includes the Warehouse District, said 1st will be reconfigured later this summer, with the current proposed configuration switching the bike lane, now located next to the curb, with the parking lane, which is open for cars during rush hours. Steve Kotke, director of the Minneapolis Public Works Department, said they are also looking to have pop-up parks, café seating or other uses to temporarily replace parking. The changes are similar to RHI’s recommendation that 1st Avenue have a more active, multi-use sidewalk to make room for more pedestrians and place-making efforts. Kotke said the reconfiguration would better accommodate valet zones or cab stands, which could ease crowds during bar close and reduce time when patrons would be vulnerable to crime. Tom Hoch, president and CEO of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, said getting more eyes is key. The Trust began using metaldetecting wands and searching bags in its Hennepin Avenue theaters (the Orpheum, State and Pantages) a few months ago much like downtown’s nightlife venues. “Really the best thing to do is have more people on the street. The more people we attract downtown, the safer we are,” he said. Other takeaways from the report include adding a nightlife association that could mentor businesses in adopting best practices, training security staff and sharing information on problem patrons or promoters. RHI says this would reduce risky practices and level the playing field between bars in paying for security efforts,

such as hiring off-duty cops. Kaufman said she is working to form such a group or find room within existing organizations. It’s these new strategies that the city hopes to use to shake up its existing policies. “I think we’ll end up seeing different approaches than we see today,” Cramer said.

Business owners take security into their own hands On a warm night Ken Sherman isn’t afraid to work his nightclub’s doors on the corner of 5th & Hennepin. He co-owns The Exchange nightclub and the Lumber Exchange Building. He also heads Citizens for a Safer City, a loosely affiliated group consisting of the partners behind the Pourhouse and Exchange, among other citizens. Sherman got the group together last year to voice their concerns against crime and advocate for security efforts. “Our hope was by starting that organization that it would be a vehicle for other concerned citizens and, more importantly, other establishments in downtown Minneapolis to reach out to us when they saw what we accomplished and say ‘I’d like to help in making Minneapolis a safer city,’” Sherman said. The group’s other function was to collect stories and evidence — mostly videos — of unlawful behavior in order to campaign for a requirement for parking lots to maintain their own security and more vigorous police enforcement, among other goals. “[Citizens for a Safer City] is really an idea that we invite people downtown and we have a responsibility to satisfy a reasonable expectation of safety,” said Augie’s Cabaret owner Brian Michael, one of Sherman’s security partners. Sherman and Michael have started a joint effort to aggressively enforce their rights as property and business owners through a security team that trespass unwanted patrons who they witness causing disturbances or committing crimes. Their security teams will then

FROM GUN LAWS / PAGE 16 ments for gun owners; banning firearm possession by certain convicted criminals and domestic abusers; and regulating the possession and sale of some semiautomatic military-assault weapons. Minnesota Rep. Kim Norton, a DFLer from Rochester, unveiled a gun safety bill Jan. 28 for the upcoming legislative session designed to reduce accidental deaths, suicides and impulse shootings. The bill calls for universal background checks on gun sales to close a loophole in state law that currently allows gun sales to be made without background checks at gun shows by unlicensed dealers or via online sales. The proposal also increases the waiting period for the issuance of a transfer permit for a gun from seven to 28 days and imposes new safety requirements for storing guns and training requirements for gun buyers.

MINNESOTA’S GUN LAW GRADE: C The center indicated Minnesota could improve its score by requiring background checks on private sales, limiting the number of guns a person can buy at one time and requiring the removal of firearms from the scene of a domestic violence incident, among other things. For more information, visit gunlawscorecard.org. Source: Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s 2015 Gun Law State Score Card “Without safeguards like the ones under this bill, it is only a matter of time before the next accident, injury or death caused by a gun in the wrong hands, and it is simply unacceptable to do nothing,” Norton said. “While President Obama’s executive order was a good step forward, states like Minnesota need to take action to address preventable tragedies.” Bryan Strawser, executive director of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said Norton’s bill is “filled with failed gun

control strategies of the past.” Instead, Strawser suggested other remedies for dealing with gun violence, including improving access to mental health, dealing with under-sentencing of firearm crimes in the courts and increasing funding for urban police forces. “In the San Bernardino and Colorado Springs shootings, the shooters passed a background check,” he said. “Therefore imposing universal background checks as Rep. Norton proposes to do in this bill

MORE ONLINE RHI’s report is available online at minneapolisdid.com/pressroom report them to nearby police. Michael said they want to train other venues in downtown Minneapolis to do the same, though, he added, not everyone can afford it. “Through this collective group that we’ve organized, we’ve got some real traction in the way that we address [crime],” he said. Ben Quam, general manager of The Exchange, said their corner with Augie’s has also seen success with a valet zone in front of the nightclub, which they started as a six-month trial, but have since extended through at least the end of the year. With the closing of Hennepin on Friday and Saturday nights, the service has been vital. “It’s such a huge thing for us,” he said. “On a microcosm of our block it’s been really neat to see show things have changed.” Beyond that, the nightclub has its cameras registered with the 1st Precinct and has also tried keeping its kitchen open past the usual 10 p.m., a move that some city officials think could help stagger the rush at bar close. Like other businesses that have tried, they found the money wasn’t there. With the success of their partnership, several members of the group are also optimistic about a possible nightlife association. “I think it’s going take all the club owners coming together. We need a village mentality,” said L.A. Nik, who participated in RHI report discussions and is affiliated with Citizens for a Safer City. Sherman hopes to see his efforts replicated. “We did what we did on our little corner to make it safe. If other people were to say, ‘that’s great, how can we expand it?’ It would be great,” he said.

would do nothing but impose an undue burden on law-abiding gun owners.” Norton, however, said an “overwhelming majority” of Minnesotans support universal background checks. “A failure of the Legislature to act on an issue as common sense as this one, which ensures everyone who purchases a gun is able to pass a background check, fails the victims and families of these heartbreaking occurrences,” she said. “It’s incomprehensible to me that what amounts to the minor inconvenience of requiring a background check for every gun sale or transfer is so objectionable in the wake of what’s happened.”

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American Refugee Committee

Where We Live

A JOURNAL COMMITMENT TO HIGHLIGHTING GREAT COMMUNITY CAUSES

 After months of work and dedication, the second Asili primary care clinic has opened. The clinic will provide residents of Karambi, a community of nearly 10,000 people, with high quality, affordable health care. Photo courtesy of the American Refugee Committee

American Refugee Committee pioneers new project fighting childhood mortality in Africa

A humanitarian project built from the ground up The American Refugee Committee (ARC) has been helping refugees regain control of their lives for 35 years. Location While the conflicts change from year to year, ARC’s commitment to refugees worldwide has never wavered. ARC 615 1st Ave. NE, Suite 500 teams are currently on the ground delivering humanitarian relief in Thailand, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Pakistan, Myanmar, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Contact The Democratic Republic of Congo is the site for ARC’s pioneering new social enterprise called the Asili project. 612-872-7060 Asili means “foundation” in Swahili. The project takes a holistic approach to fighting childhood mortality and improving quality of life in Africa’s second largest country. Website ARC leaders believe human beings experiencing the most difficult time in their lives are the experts at knowing arcrelief.org exactly what they need. To begin the Asili project, ARC partnered with a San Francisco-based design firm called IDEO. Staff from IDEO traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and interviewed scores of villagers to get their input for Year Founded this social enterprise designed to run as a business — not as a charity. 1981 What they’ve learned has been the driving force behind the Asili project. The businesses under the Asili umbrella include a health care clinic, a clean water distribution system with centrally located kiosks, and an agricultural co-op to help farmers increase their yields and incomes. Services are linked through a small monthly membership, which allows members to use the services at reduced rates. Each Asili business is projected to be profitable within three years, creating new jobs and offering the possibility of franchisement to local entrepreneurs. Why was this place chosen? The DRC was torn apart by the Great African War, which raged from 1998 to 2013. The war involved nine African countries, countless heavily armed militia groups and resulted in the deaths of more than 5.4 million people. In its aftermath, the DRC has struggled to establish any kind of reasonable progress. Though extremely rich in natural resources, the political turmoil, lack of physical infrastructure, deep-rooted corruption, and centuries of both commercial and colonial exploitation have been devastating. Asili business manager Tad Lunden said the people involved in the Asili initiative have created sustainable business models that will make life better for the Congolese people. “ARC believes that three Asili Zones will be operating in the DRC in the next three years,” Lunden said. “The zones will be in areas where there is no longer active conflict, and each will provide services to about 10,000 people. The agricultural co-op is always established first, giving a boost to the local economy. That makes it possible for families and individuals to invest in the sanitary drinking water systems and greatly improved health care.” With the Asili project, ARC is testing out a new way to deliver social services, save lives and transform communities. They flipped the usual model of humanitarian aid on its head by first listening to the Congolese, and designing sustainable services with their needs and ability to pay in mind.

By the numbers

309

The number of tons of potatoes purchased by the first agricultural co-op with a guaranteed, fair price paid to farmers for their work.

792,516

The number of gallons of pure drinking water delivered to centrally located kiosks in the first Asili Zone. The kiosks reduce the walk children must make to gather water from two hours to 10 minutes.

2,205

The number of health consultations completed in the first Asili Zone since it opened in 2014.

What you can do Make a donation to the ongoing work of ARC. Ninety cents out of every dollar goes to support refugees reclaim their lives. Shop the Maker’s Collection of high quality gifts from Minnesota artisans. Every purchase from the Maker’s Collection supports local businesses, while investing in ARC projects worldwide: (shopmakers.org) Read Adam Hochschild’s book “King Leopold’s Ghost” to understand the back story of Belgian colonization in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

About the Where We Live project This project is an ongoing series spearheaded by Journals’ publisher Janis Hall showcasing Minneapolis nonprofits doing important work in the community. The editorial team has selected organizations to spotlight.

CITY

VOICES

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 19

What’s your biggest strength as a person?

Photos and interviews by Stephanie Glaros

5KENE MAXIE, MINNEAPOLIS Resilience. Just being able to bounce back. Get knocked down, get back up. Glaros: Where do you think you get that? By example of loved ones prior to me. You think about what your parents go through, what an aunt has gone through, what friends have gone through. Your experience is a lot, but I think just watching and observing other people as they go through adversity. Glaros: Is there an example in your life where you depended on that resiliency to get through?

5MICHELLE GILSON, MINNEAPOLIS My ability to laugh at the world and myself. Sometimes life hands you a bowl full of … we’ll go with “excrement,” and the best thing to do is to be able to laugh, whether it’s at yourself, or the world. Don’t take yourself too seriously. And that’s what I try and do all the time. Both my parents and my extended family are really funny, and there’s always a lot of jokes going around, and a lot of laughter. Last year I was getting divorced, I got a new job, I moved twice, and my cat of 16 years died. That was probably one of the hardest times of my life, other than the year I got sober. And if I wouldn’t have been able to laugh, I would’ve just been pissed off all the time, and that’s no fun. I’ve been sober for about five years, and if I would not have been able to laugh at my own alcoholism — oh my god — I would totally be dead in a gutter.

The economy 2006-2008. Having to take my craft as an artist, put it on the back shelf, and clean a bathroom to make ends meet. I’m a freelance makeup artist, and it’s all billable hours. The books dried up, but the overhead stayed the same, so I had to figure out ways to make money. I cleaned houses and apartment buildings, and whatever else I needed to do. Glaros: How did it go when you realized that you could go back to doing what you wanted to do? My good friend of 20+ years, she had a medical condition. My dance back into the economy was to help and support her. I showed up, took care of her business. She’s now better, it’s all good. She kind of held my hand as I came through an economic crisis. The support of each other, me helping her out, she threw some change in my bucket.

3ROBERT HALLADAY, MINNEAPOLIS Art. Ever since I’ve been working, I’ve worked in advertising and art. I did all the artwork in our high school annual, that kinda got me started. I was a Marine Corps combat artist in Vietnam. I have four paintings in the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, (Virginia). I started working at a big store, the Dayton’s of Cleveland, which was called Higbee’s. From there I moved around from one job to another, Houston, wherever there was a women’s fashion store. I was the Creative Director at Dayton’s. Finally I got to Neiman’s, they made me Art Director when we opened the San Francisco store, which was fun, because then we had a lot of promotional stuff to do. A hundred other jobs in between everything, but I finally retired.

20 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

ART

BEAT

Mia charms with an exhibition on forgotten Minneapolis illustrator Richard Holzschuh

AN ILLUSTRATOR REDISCOVERED By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@journalmpls.com

Who is Richard Holzschuh?

RICHARD HOLZSCHUH: STORYBOOK When: Through April 17 Where: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Ave. S. Info: artsmia.org

Until very recently, even Google wouldn’t have been much help answering that question. But now the obscure Minneapolis illustrator is the subject of a surprising and utterly charming exhibition of prints and drawings that is a must-see for anyone visiting the museum with kids. The improbable story behind the exhibition begins with an unexpected call to Tom Rassieur, Mia’s John E. Andrus III Curator of Prints and Drawings. The voice on the other end of the line introduced himself as Jim Hogan. “He said his stepfather liked to draw and he was interested in a museum that would want to keep his drawings,” Rassieur recalled. “This is not usually a propitious kind of call. But I said, ‘Show me what you’ve got.’” Hogan, who lives in Hudson, Wis., drove to Minneapolis and brought with him several three-ring binders filled with reproductions of his father’s artwork. At Mia, he and Rassieur flipped through the richly detailed fantasy images, many inspired by fairy tales and fables, others drawn from Holzschuh’s lively imagination. “From the first page, I was enchanted,” Rassieur said. “I mean, they were really wonderful, you could see. I just couldn’t believe it.” Holzschuh (1898–1968) was active during and after what’s referred to as the “golden age” of illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before photography came to dominate visual culture. At the time, new technologies for reproducing and printing detailed illustrations combined with a growing appetite for illustrated books and mass-circulation magazines. It was also a golden era for children’s books; think of Beatrix Potter, the English author and illustrator who created Peter Rabbit, or American illustrator N.C Wyeth, whose paintings brought scenes from “Treasure Island,” “Robin Hood” and the King Arthur legends vividly to life. Regarding Holzschuh’s work, Rassieur

The density of Holzschuh’s line work reminds some of classic golden-age illustrators like Arthur Rackham, but unlike Rackham, Holzschuh produced art mainly for the enjoyment of family and friends. Submitted images

draws comparisons to Arthur Rackham and Kay Neilson, children’s book illustrators who set their intricately detailed fantasy scenes in a lush natural world of forests, lakes and mountains. With Rackham, Holzschuh shares a penchant for near-microscopic pen work — both artists will delineate every twisting twig and leaf on a gnarled old tree — and his bulbous-nosed hags and spindly-legged elves demonstrate a gift for humorous caricature. The big difference is Holzschuh never made illustration his main profession, despite years of training at art schools in Minneapolis, Chicago and New York City. “Along the way he realized his passion was for book illustration, but he (also) realized the probably would be unable to support a family on that as a career,” Rassieur said. “So he wound up becoming a bookkeeper and subsequently an accountant — I believe for Standard Oil — but he continued to be a very creative guy for his own pleasure and that of his family and friends.” Holzschuh and his sister, Alma, collaborated on several now-forgotten children’s books that were published in the 1920s. (The interwar period was an era of widespread anti-German sentiment, so the siblings used the last name Hudson instead of Holzschuh in print.) In modern parlance, the books are “mash-ups” that mix-andmatch other author’s characters and settings, sending Peter Rabbit on adventures in Wonderland, for instance. Holzschuh was an active member of a Minneapolis artists’ group, the Attic Club, and taught etching classes. Rassieur dug up a newspaper notice for a solo show at the Beard Gallery in 1929. “He had some local notoriety, but basically he was forgotten,” he said. Thanks to donations from Hogan and his siblings, Holzschuh’s archive now has a home in Mia’s collection of prints and drawings. For Holzschuh’s Mia debut, Rassieur mounted the framed prints, drawings and watercolors at child’s-eye level. Older (or taller) fans of illustration have to stoop to take in the rich details of Holzschuh’s work, but this rediscovery is worth it.

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 21 Eureka Recycling recently won a City of Minneapolis recycling contract. Submitted photos

Voices

Sustainable We / By Mikki Morrissette

THRIVING IN A LAND OF NO WASTE Time, to an atom locked in a rock, does not pass. The break came when a bur-oak root nosed down a crack and began prying and sucking. In the flash of a century the rock decayed, and X was pulled out and up into the world of living things. He helped build a flower, which became an acorn, which fattened a deer, which fed an Indian, all in a single year. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

t is a romantic notion that all the elements of our world are interconnected, as Wisconsin author Aldo Leopold captured in his 1949 ode to our ecology. But, it is also an accurate notion. This is, after all, how the cycles of our world have survived, century after century, adapting and adopting new formations of atoms and cells. A scientist I met at a conference a few years ago put it even more simply. He is a liver pathologist who looks into microscopes at cancer cells all day. For someone like him, he said, it is easy to see that our “selves” are transformed into other selves all the time. Nothing about the make-up of our foundation is permanently “us.” We share bacteria with others. Pheromones, sweat, breath, all extend the boundaries of self. We eat and drink that which largely comes from plants. So why, he wondered, do we tend to see the biology of a “self ” as an independent entity? Aren’t we more like a cluster of always transitioning, interconnected bodies? Like a flock of birds migrating south, we are a constellation of networked elements shifting together as one. As much as anything, that is what the “Sustainable We” forums and column are about. Reminders of the ways that what we do here entangles with what happens there — that we are universally responsible for sustaining one another.

The Eureka moment The co-founders of Eureka Recycling understand this concept. It is an innate aspect of their business model. I visited Eureka the day before its 1 billionth pound of recyclables was tipped into its Northeast Minneapolis facility. The City Council was deciding whether to accept a staff recommendation that the nonprofit be awarded a five-year contract to collect Minneapolis recyclables. (The City Council has since approved Eureka’s bid for the recycling contract.) Shortly after we sat down for a conversation, co-founder Tim Brownell said: “In nature, there is no such thing as waste.” Ultimately, he said, the mission of Eureka is to help more of us see that “waste is preventable, not inevitable.” Through its zero-waste events like Rock the Garden, the nonprofit works with residents, companies and city leaders to see recycling as “not just a service, but as part of a broader social movement.” Eureka wants to work with more consumers and manufacturers in getting smarter about creating recyclable products and packaging. In the end, Brownell said, it is consumers and city budgets that pick up the tab for disposing of the packaging that makes products look pretty on the shelves. Brownell’s childhood in Philadelphia was rooted in a family in which re-use and thrift was “a way of life.” He grew up questioning why the human element in nature “gets to generate waste. What is our allowance for that? There is no allowance for that.” We forget that in the natural order, “one thing leads to the next.” In other words, we aren’t supposed to be creating products that can’t be cycled into something else. Brownell graduated with a degree in economics from Tufts University, prior to working on the first wave of recycling efforts in San Francisco, and eventually Ann Arbor,

Mich. In the meantime, the concept of a zerowaste society was also gripping Bryan Ukena in another part of the country. As a young adult in Key West, Ukena was intrigued by a hill that rose up from the flat landscape as the sun set each evening. Eventually he learned that the hill was, in fact, a haystack of incinerator ashes, roughly 10 stories high. “It was my aha moment,” said the affable Ukena. He went back to his home state of Arkansas, fired up to be part of a different solution. There he and Susan Hubbard set about to create a new system of dealing with waste. “We were wild young things who needed to get something going,” he said. “We marched down to the state Capitol, into [thenGovernor] Bill Clinton’s office, and told him what we needed in order to create a new infrastructure.” After doing similar work in Boulder, Colo., Ukena reconnected with Hubbard in the

Twin Cities — an area of the country she had determined was ready for progressive policies around waste. Together with Brownell, they formed Eureka in 2001. Eureka’s vision is that the life cycle of a community’s sustainability is not only about not wasting the bottles and cans that come to its center, but also in “not wasting people.” Its employees earn a living wage with full-time benefits, which is rare in the industry. Brownell says Eureka operates with a triple bottom line. “We need to be financially sustainable, environmentally beneficial, and supportive of the community — internally and externally,” he said. “If we do only two of those things, without benefitting the people who are doing the work, that’s a problem.”

Mikki Morrissette, founder of MPLSGreen. com, is building toward a citywide “Sustainable We” event at Surly Brewery in June. She welcomes supporters in the effort.

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22 journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016

GET

OUT

GUIDE

By Eric Best / ebest@journalmpls.com

The Averagers Comedy Suitcase is putting a distinctly Minnesotan spin on today’s favorite superheroes with “The Averagers.” According to the local theatrical company, the team, led by middle-aged gym teacher turned not-so-super solder Captain Average, consists of trust-fund kid turned inventor Iron Range Man, brilliant scientist turned bottled rage monster Passive-Aggressive Bulk, overworked mother turned super spy Black Wood Tick and God of Lumber turned idiot man-child Paul Bunyan. The family-friendly show brings the big screen to the Bryant Lake Bowl’s stage. Where: Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St. / When: March 3 through March 19 / Cost: $12–15, $6 for kids 12 and under / Info: bryantlakebowl.com

Skyway Open

The Working Dead

The Minneapolis skyway will yet again become a miniature golf course for downtown workers and residents. The 2016 Skyway Open, presented by the Downtown Council, features a challenging and innovative mini golf course with holes designed and built by local architects and designers. The transformation of downtown’s skyways will bring in teams of mini golfers to take on the course’s 17 holes — 10 new and seven classic — for one whole weekend. Golfers can register online or on-site at the City Center’s first floor. Golfers will also get free admission to the 19th Hole Celebration on Friday, Feb. 26 at Union’s REV Ultra Lounge.

The comedians of the Brave New Workshop once again bring their knack for satire with “The Working Dead,” a workplace comedy at heart “with some zombie thrown in for good measure,” the company promises. The show marks the cast debut of Nissa Nordland and Kory Pullam alongside veteran BNW cast members Lauren Anderson, Ryan Nelson, Tom Reed and Taj Ruler. With a Brave New Workshop twist, the show hits home for anyone who has been, or will be, a working stiff.

Where: Minneapolis City Center, 40. S. 7th St. When: Feb. 26-28 Cost: $5.45–$36.35 per person, ticket packages available Info: skywayopen.org

Where: Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre, 824 Hennepin Ave. When: Feb. 13 through June 11 Cost: $28–36 Info: bravenewworkshop.com

The Wong Street Journal Described as “part plushy TED lecture, part amateur hip-hop extravaganza and part travelogue,” “The Wong Street Journal” breaks down everything from global poverty to privilege using live hashtag wars and more. San Francisco-based performance artist, comedian and writer Kristina Wong puts on the one-woman show, which will get its Twin Cities premiere at Intermedia Arts. The performance blends self-skewering personal narrative with an interrogation of America’s legacy on the rest of the world against an all-felt, handmade backdrop of the New York Stock Exchange. “The Wong Street Journal” tells the true story of how Wong, as a not-so-white savior, became a hip-hop star in Northern Uganda. Where: Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S. When: March 11-12 at 7:30 p.m. Cost: $15–18 Info: intermediaarts.org

Art(ists) on the Verge The Soap Factory and Northern Lights presents Art(ists) on the Verge 7, which features new work from five Minnesota-based artists. Art(ists) on the Verge is an intensive, yearlong, mentor-based fellowship program for emerging artists working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology and digital culture. This year, the exhibition will showcase work from Eric Avery, Torre Edahl, Jessica Henderson, Joshua McGarvey and Liza Sylvestre. Art(ists) on the Verge 7 will have an opening reception on March 12 from 7–11 p.m. The Soap Factory’s gallery hours are 2–8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 12–5 p.m. on weekends. Where: The Soap Factory, 514 2nd St. SE / When: March 12 through April 17 Cost: Free / Info: soapfactory.org

The Fear of Islam Todd Green, author of “The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West,” will be interviewed about his new book at the Woulfe Alumni Hall in the Anderson Student Center on the University of St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus. Hans Gustafson, associated Green director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, is hosting the event, which is sponsored by the center. In his book, Green, associate professor of religion at Luther College, explores the historical roots and contemporary forms of anxiety regarding Islam within the Western world. Where: Anderson Student Center, 2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul When: Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. Cost: Free Info: stthomas.edu/jpc

WARM Guerrillas: Feminist Visions The Guerilla Girls are taking over the city with art events all over Minneapolis to celebrate their 30th anniversary. One such event, the “WARM Guerillas: Feminists Visions” exhibition at the Grain Belt Bottling House, features work from artists who introduced feminist art to the Twin Cities art scene with the founding of WARM, the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota. Totaling 75 pieces of art, the multi-generational show addresses sexism and racism in a variety of mediums. The exhibition opens Feb. 26 and runs through March 12 with a “Hot Flash!” event on March 4 with the artists and refreshments from Dangerous Man Brewing and Sociable Cider Werks. Where: Grain Belt Bottling House Gallery, 79 13th Ave. NE When: Friday, March 4 from 7–10 p.m. Cost: Free Info: guerrillagirls.com

journalmpls.com / February 25–March 9, 2016 23

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Vineland Place Ramp

LYNDALE AVE S

ALDRICH AVE N ALDRICH AVE N

BRYANT AVE N

VE L A ND TE RRA CE

VE A VE

LAS AVE

LET AVE

ALDRICH AVE S

11TH ST N Emerson School

S VE TA BR YA N

VE S

ES T

HIG