A&E: THE FILLMORE TO BRING VINTAGE VIBES TO NORTH LOOP PAGE 4
EARLY WEEK MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2020
MNDAILY.COM
SERVING THE UMN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900
NEIGHBORHOODS
Chemicals in Como A 2020 report found GreatbatchGlobe Tool Inc.’s Como facility was emitting the chemical TCE above recommended levels. BY YVES DE JESUS yjesus@mndaily.com
After entering into an agreement 12 years ago, Como residents and a local manufacturing facility are still weighing how to eliminate toxic chemical emissions in the neighborhood. A 2020 Minnesota Pollution Control Agency report, which came out last month, found the site of Greatbatch-Globe Tool, Inc. in the Como neighborhood emitting trichloroethylene (TCE) above the state-recommended levels. Community members said the neighborhood has been working with the company for years, but the chemical, widely used in manufacturing as a degreaser, continues to pose a concern in the area. “I’m really concerned to hear about more TCE up there,” said Ward 2 City Council member Cam Gordon, who represents the
STATE GOVT. neighborhood. “This actually has been an ongoing problem, I would say, for decades up there.” Greatbatch-Globe Tool, Inc., a subsidiary of Integer Holdings Corporation, manufactures parts used in medical implantable devices such as stents and catheters. The affected site is located in the industrial area at 730 24th Ave, just south of Elm street. The company has said it plans to eliminate the use of TCE by December 2021 and has already made investments to make the change. Discussions with the neighborhood The Southeast Como Improvement Association entered into a non-binding “Good Neighbor u See CHEMICALS Page 3
CITY GOVT.
Dinkytown’s council member champions data privacy Ward 3 Council member Steve Fletcher’s data privacy principles will be voted on this month. BY J.D. DUGGAN jduggan@mndaily.com
When Steve Fletcher was elected to represent Ward 3 in Minneapolis, he was struck by an immediate problem. Seventeen cameras were left operational following heightened security from Super Bowl LII, alongside more than 200 existing cameras around the city. His prior background in technology consulting especially sensitized him to the issue of facial recognition and how Minneapolis uses, collects and stores resident data. This week, Fletcher championed a new set of data privacy principles for Minneapolis — the first of their kind in the city. The principles were proposed and unanimously approved at the Feb. 6 Minneapolis Enterprise Committee meeting. They will go to the full City Council for vote Feb. 14. Starting with broad strokes
As it stands, the City of Minneapolis collects a multitude of data from residents: everything from your water bill to your property taxes to notes from calls placed to your council member’s office. However, as Fletcher’s proposal acts as the first official steps in a conversation about data privacy expected to continue well into the future, the principles are broad strokes. “This is the first time that the City Council is ever saying data privacy is something that the city cares about,” Fletcher said. “What we’re saying is, [city employees] have to consider data privacy as one of the factors you think about when you think about whether this is a good technology to use.” The city also works with private companies that may collect data. For example, the city’s public works department has recently worked with electric scooter companies, which collect data on each rider. Fletcher said the city has made sure the data is anonymized and no personal information is tracked. He said other companies have approached the city with ideas like interactive kiosks and “smart parking” meters that can detect license
Minneapolis City Council Member Steve Fletcher poses for a portrait at City Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 5. On data privacy, Fletcher asserts “We’re becoming a smarter and more responsive city, and we’re using data to do it. Our residents and visitors deserve to know that we are responsible with their information and respect their privacy – while also keeping our government open and transparent.” (Jasmin Kemp / Minnesota Daily)
plates, and he wanted to get ahead of the conversation. The principles are “aspirational” and “high level,” said Christian Rummelhoff, assistant city clerk in the clerk’s records and information management office, at the Enterprise Committee meet-
ALUMNI
u See DATA PRIVACY Page 3
The bill comes after a high-rise fire in CedarRiverside killed five residents in November. BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM mibrahim@mndaily.com
Local state lawmakers are looking to install sprinklers in high-rises statewide after a deadly fire in a public housing property in their district. Minneapolis DFL lawmakers Rep. Mohamud Noor and Sen. Kari Dziedzic introduced legislation late last month calling for residential high-rises 75 feet or more above a fire vehicle’s access to install automated sprinklers on every floor. Lawmakers hope the bill will prevent fires similar to the blaze in a Cedar-Riverside apartment building that killed five residents and injured four others, including a firefighter. “These are critical maintenance repairs and upgrades that are needed to keep the people in public housing and other buildings safe,” Dziedzic said at a press conference Wednesday. “We don’t need anybody else to die — we can do this.” The 14th floor of the Cedar High public housing building caught fire in late November. The 25-story building, owned and operated by the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, only has automated sprinklers on its main floor and lower maintenance levels. Retired St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said most fire department ladders can only reach up to six or seven stories, making sprinklers even more important in high-rise buildings. “[Sprinklers] put water directly on the fire almost immediately — long before the fire department can even arrive,” Zaccard said at the press conference. “It only makes sense to sprinkle these high-rise buildings and protect the thousands of people that live in them.” Lawmakers say options for funding federal and state governmentowned properties include allocating money in the state’s bonding bill. The backlog in critical improvements in Minneapolis public housing currently sits at $152 million, with sprinklers and related plumbing between $30 and $60 million, Dziedzic said. Similar legislation was proposed and passed twice by the Legislature in the 1990s, but Gov. Arne Carlson vetoed both bills. Carlson has since come out and said failing to pass the bills was a mistake. St. Paul Public Housing Agency, u See SPRINKLERS Page 3
STUDENT LIFE
UMN creates first-ever group for Muslim alumni
Spaces for marginalized students essential to campus life, study says A new study says that designated spaces are key to engagement and inclusivity on campus.
The group held its first event last Friday in an effort to expand the U’s Muslim alumni network. BY FARRAH MINA fmina@mndaily.com
Shamaila Usmani graduated from the University of Minnesota 10 years ago, but never got involved as an alumna until Friday, when the Muslim Alumni Network hosted its first event. Though the University Alumni Association regularly hosts events, the kickoff was a first for not only Usmani, but several other Muslim alumni. Dozens of attendees filled the basement of Masjid Al-Iman in Northeast Minneapolis Friday evening to network over refreshments and celebrate the launch of the affinity group. The Muslim Alumni Network, the University’s first religious alumni affinity group, was founded
ing. While they are not a policy or ordinance, they will be used to guide decision making in future city endeavors. Fletcher echoed this and said the city must first set a foundation of underlying principles before stepping
After fire, sprinkler bill is proposed
Attendees greet each other at the Muslim Alumni Association kickoff event at Masjid Al-Iman on Friday, Feb. 7. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)
in October by Rami Shaker, a 2017 graduate who saw a need for the resource in his community. At the alumni events he attended, Shaker said he noticed there were not many Muslim alumni present, so he created an avenue for Muslim alumni to come back and connect. Despite finding significant interest in maintaining ties with the University, Shaker said that many did not attend alumni events because they were not sure whether they would know people there.
“I really want to see a lot more Muslim alumni involvement in alumni affairs, both in attending events and in the chances where alumni can speak,” Shaker said. Alumni events feel big and less intimate, Usmani said, noting she received several invitations for them in the mail. For her, the Muslim Alumni Network provides a more personal environment to connect with other professionals. u See MUSLIM ALUMNI Page 3
BY JASMINE SNOW jsnow@mndaily.com On historically white campuses, spaces designated to minority students and their allies helps create a “sense of belonging and connection,” according to a study published last month. The University of Chicago study found that for Black, Latinx and other marginalized students, “counterspaces” can be essential in the transition to college life on these campuses. Many University of Minnesota students with marginalized identities say spaces like these have made a difference to their time on campus. The study began in 2013 and tracked over 500 Black and Latinx students who enrolled in historically white institutions in Illinois. Student experiences were documented over their first five years after enrolling in college. Black and Latinx students had
a harder time adjusting to life at historically white institutions, said Micere Keels, the University of Chicago associate professor who headed the study. “We did have probably about a third of the students in our sample that [went] to predominantly white high schools,” Keels said. “So for those students, it was not as much of an adjustment or culture shock, but for other students of the study, it was much more different than the communities that they knew.” Keels said that counterspaces help with that shock, and that concerns for these spaces adding to existing tensions is unfounded. “If they’re able to find those smaller group spaces of belonging on campus, they absolutely become more — not less — engaged with the rest of the campus life,” she said. “They have some spaces where some of the time there’s an easy cultural familiarity and they’re not always under cultural stress.” University of Minnesota sophomore Emma Vanhdy, ambassador u See COUNTERSPACES Page 3 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 37