February 11, 2016 by The Southwest Journal

Scenes from the Loppet Page B6

February 11–24, 2016 Vol. 27, No. 3 southwestjournal.com

UNDER

FIRE

A special report on gun violence

FEDERAL RESPONSE

VICTIMS’ STORIES

HCMC PROGRAM

CAUSES OF VIOLENCE

A closer look at President Obama’s recent executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence

Conversations with a shooting victim and someone who lost a brother to gun violence

HCMC launches pilot program to intervene in lives of shooting victims

An examination of what is fueling the increase in gun violence in Minneapolis

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256 People were victims of gun violence in Minneapolis in 2015 PAGE A10

Community weighs Park Board overrides in on Police Chief mayoral veto of Harteau’s reappointment parks referendum By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com By Eric Best / ebest@southwestjournal.com

Park commissioners overrode a rare mayoral veto Feb. 3 of the proposed parks referendum. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted 7-1 to override Mayor Betsy Hodges’ veto of a resolution seeking a November referendum that would raise

roughly $300 million over the next two decades to maintain the city’s nearly 160 neighborhood parks. In her veto message released Feb. 1, Hodges said the Park Board needs to redraft its resoSEE PARKS REFERENDUM / PAGE A17

Many community leaders had high praise for Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau during a public hearing Feb. 3 on her reappointment for another three-year term. The City Council’s Public Safety & Regulatory Services Committee took public comments on her reappointment and was scheduled to the continue the public hearing Feb. 10 at the Council’s Committee of the SEE HARTEAU / PAGE A9

Harteau

A2 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

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SotaRol Agra Culture co-owner Aaron Switz has been incubating a new restaurant concept at 5005 Ewing Ave. S. SotaRol is more than a sushi place. There are sushi rolls filled with sweet potato and teriyaki sauce, SotaRitos (with choices like Korean ribeye and snow crab wrapped in soy paper) and dessert sushi (made with cream cheese and blueberry). The only raw foods on the menu are the spicy salmon and tuna. “You don’t have to be a sushi person to like the place,” Switz said. The restaurant opened in November after sitting in development for well over a year. It’s been a busy period for Switz. He franchises Yogurt Lab locations under a separate ownership group, and operates Agra Culture locations in Uptown, Fulton, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

“We opened three restaurants in four months,” Switz said. The brand includes a nod to Minnesota — tater tots are on the menu — meant to be recognizable when the concept goes national. There are no peanuts, MSG, GMOs or gluten at the restaurant. The deep fried potstickers are made with rice panko — Switz said gluten-free customers are excited about the chance to have potstickers again. Switz said he feels confident in the quality of ingredients. His family eats several meals a week from their restaurants. And he said he’s pricing the sushi to be lower than competitors. “We’re making it affordable if you do want to eat it more regularly,” he said. Delivery is available through BiteSquad and Caviar.

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Each office is independently owned and operated. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. If your home is currently listed with another broker, this is not intended as a solication of that listing. A Greenway view of plans for Rana Village, a 127-unit building at 2900 Pleasant Ave. Image courtesy of City of Minneapolis

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MIDTOWN GREENWAY & PLEASANT AVENUE

Rana Village Whittier may see a new skyway crossing Pleasant Avenue as part of a housing project proposed for 2900 Pleasant Ave. S. “Rana Village” would include a five-story building with 79 residential units and a 48-unit assisted living facility. The project would front the Greenway between Pleasant and Grand avenues, and it would retain portions of the storage and shop buildings along the Greenway. A new skyway would connect the third floor to Karmel Plaza’s mosque and shops across the street. The project would include underground parking with 40 stalls dedicated to Karmel West at 312 W. Lake St. and would internally connect to Karmel West on the first and third floors. (The current parking lot on the site leases 46 spaces for Karmel West.) Seventy-five parking spaces for residences would be enclosed in the structure’s main level. The assisted living portion of the building would offer one-bedroom units, with two- to four-bedroom units available elsewhere in

the building. The developer is proposing to remodel the roofs of existing buildings along the north property line and use them for second-floor decks. The building would have walk-up units along Grand. The building would step back at the second and fourth floors to reduce shadowing on the Greenway. The developer said the proposed height and distance from the Greenway matches that of Karmel Plaza. The property owner of 2900 Pleasant is Rana Village LLC, which shares an address with Karmel Plaza developer Sabri Properties. The project as proposed would need a conditional use permit to increase the height from four to five stories. Conditional use permits are also needed to allow the assisted living facility as well as parking dedicated to Karmel West. The developer would seek to rezone the site from a Light Industrial District (I1) to a Multiple-Family Residential District (R5) and a Transitional Parking Overlay District.

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MIDTOWN GREENWAY & HARRIET AVENUE

Harriet Avenue Apartments

AFTER

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A rendering of the Harriet Avenue Apartments proposed between Harriet and Grand south of the Greenway, designed by Tushie Montgomery Architects. Image courtesy of City of Minneapolis

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The Midtown Greenway continues to attract new development, with the Harriet Avenue Apartments proposed for the south side of the Greenway between Harriet and Grand. Curt Gunsbury of Solhem and Rob Miller of TE Miller are proposing a six-story project with 110 market-rate units and two levels of underground parking with 96 stalls. The site currently holds surface parking, two houses (one unoccupied), a garage, vacant lots and part of a city alley. The new gray and black metal building would include a rooftop kitchen and patio and a glasswalled fitness room. “A ‘glass box’ containing the exercise room hovers at the verge of the Greenway, creating ‘eyes on the street’ and a focal ‘lighthouse’ for Greenway bicyclists and pedestrians,” Gunsbury said in a letter to city staff. A public path would stand north of the building and function as an east-west walkway with flowering trees and limestone pathway markers. “We hope this new Philosopher’s Walk will some day be connected to the woonerf and other public amenities envisioned for nearby

locations on the south side of the Greenway,” writes Gunsbury. Eight parcels of land included in the development are 2903, 2905, 2907 and 2911 Harriet Ave. S. and 2900, 2904, 2910 and 2912 Grand Ave. S. Gunsbury previously developed the Solhem apartments in Uptown. “High density residential is an expected use for this site and other sites in such close proximity to the Greenway,” he said in a letter to city staff. In an interview, Gunsbury said much of the building is dedicated to one-bedroom units a bit smaller than other apartments in the area, about 500-700 square feet. The project as proposed would need rezoning into a Multiple-Family District (R5) instead of the current Light Industrial District (I1) and Two-Family District (R2B). The project would need a conditional use permit to increase the height from four stories to six stories (74 feet). The project would also need approval to reduce setbacks and reroute the alley to the south.

43RD & UPTON

Rose Street Patisserie While having coffee at Dunn Bros in Linden Hills, Patisserie 46 owner John Kraus looked out the window and decided he should open a pastry shop across the street. Rose Street Patisserie is slated to open this spring at 2811 W. 43rd St., attached to Upton 43. “I thought it was the right spot and the right time,” he said. Kraus’s original inspiration for expansion stemmed from his time in France, participating in the 2015 Coup du Monde de la Patisserie (World Pastry Cup). “While I was there I realized there is so much need for neighborhoods to have a community center that goes beyond what we as a culture provide here,” he said. “I really appreciate the pastry shops in France.” Kraus said he wants to give more people moments of happiness where they can “just breathe” and take five minutes to “sit back and enjoy what a pastry can do for your life.” The name “Rose” has special significance for Kraus.

“I love roses, that’s my favorite flower, and throughout my career it keeps coming back,” he said. He vividly recalls the perfect flowers in the Queen’s rose garden in London, where he once stopped to eat a piece of brioche on the way to work. “I realized I was going to do pastry for the rest of my life,” he said. Kraus said customers walking into the shop will be greeted with a display of all the treats — “like a kid when you walk into a candy store,” he said. A mezzanine will allow people to retreat for a bit of solitude, but big tables will encourage conversation among strangers. “You may sit next to someone you don’t know,” he said. He said staff will help guide patrons through the menu selections. “I want to share what I’ve learned from my travels,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the chocolate.”

Noted The Whittier gift shop Greater Goods at 2515 Nicollet Ave. donates at least $1,000 to a different organization each year. The shop recently presented its 2015 donation to St. Stephen’s Human Services. The 2016 donation will go to Walk-in Counseling Center at 2421 Chicago Ave. S., a nonprofit that provides free counseling to anyone who walks through the door. The Copper Hen Cakery & Kitchen has announced a partnership with investor Joe Bastianich

following its recent appearance on the CNBC show “Restaurant Startup.”

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A5

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Float Foundation Two “float rooms” are under construction at 4302 Bryant Ave. S., where patrons will undergo flotation therapy in 4-by-8-foot tanks. Owner TJ Stalzer said there are many benefits of floating. A thousand tons of Epsom salt dissolved into the water helps pull toxins from the body, he said. People who suffer from chronic pain say floating provides relief. It’s akin to floating in the mineral-rich Dead Sea, Stalzer said. “For a lot of athletes, it shortens the recovery time for muscles and joints,” he said. A segment on ESPN last December followed NBA players Stephen Curry and Harrison Barnes into floating tanks to learn about their therapy. Stalzer said the concept of flotation therapy has been around since the ‘60s, when tanks were sarcophagus-like cocoons that were a bit intimidating to people. “I’ve provided a lot more inviting atmosphere,” he said. There is a spiritual side to the therapy as well,

Stalzer said. “A lot of people say it’s one of the most relaxing things they have ever done, even more so than massage sometimes,” he said. “It’s a fast track to meditation.” Sessions last 60-90 minutes. The salt water keeps bodies buoyant, but some opt for neck pillows if they’re concerned about falling asleep or water in the eyes. Lights dim and music becomes softer until everything fades to black and quiet, Stalzer said. The water temperature is about 94 degrees, designed to be the same temperature as the skin. Stalzer works as a supply chain analyst, and he first heard about flotation therapy through a podcast. He gave floating a try at a tank in St. Paul, and became a big believer in the effects. “You can’t really explain it, you just have to experience it,” he said. For more information, visit the facebook page Float Foundation. The opening date is targeted for late February.

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Amber Page, owner of Wanderland at 38th & Grand. Photo by Michelle Bruch

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38TH & GRAND

Wanderland Some of the merchandise at Wanderland has been hidden away for decades. Owner Amber Page has contractor friends who demolish old houses, and they save odds and ends for her: old bottles tucked between walls, or oneof-a-kind hardware salvaged from furniture. “If you don’t have an eye for it, you don’t know what to look for,” she said. Page also visits estate sales to collect pieces. She gravitates to old maps, typewriters, vintage Disney, and discarded crates she can repurpose. She types notes on antique paper and frames them, quoting people like writer Charles Bukowski: “Find

what you love and let it kill you.” Page previously worked as a nurse, and she was a vendor for Scout & Haggle, the former shop in the storefront. She keeps a selection of plastic army men and other characters to give away to customers. “Everybody loves the free dinosaurs,” she said. Store hours are 12-5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 10:15 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit facebook.com/ uptownwanderland.

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LAKE & ALDRICH

New Bohemia Wurst + BierHaus New Bohemia is taking over Louie’s Wine Dive’s old spot at 800 W. Lake St., installing multiple garage doors on the corner. “It will literally feel like a patio,” said Brian Ingram, chief operating officer. “In the summertime it will feel like you’re outdoors.” The restaurant is also installing a bicycle air fill station and a spot for minor repairs. Ingram said the restaurant overhauled production of the menu’s 21 sausages in the past year. The sausages now come from whole-muscle shoulder cuts of meat sourced from a Colorado farm, without nitrates or artificial flavors. Choices range from mac and cheese-stuffed kid-friendly sausages to the “jackalope,” which is

made with antelope, rabbit, pork, dried cranberries and habanero peppers. Pretzels each weigh three pounds — Ingram compared them to the size of a large pizza — and they’re handmade in Milwaukee. The mustards are brined in local beer, like the spicy saison done in Lift Bridge Farm Girl Saison. Thirty of the 36 craft beer taps are local. New Bohemia is aiming to launch at least 10 Minnesota venues by the end of 2016, with locations in Eagan and Roseville opening in the months after Uptown. The Uptown restaurant will open as soon as the garage doors are installed, likely around March 1.

A6 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

f o s t lo

By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com

New report spotlights stories of sex trafficking survivors

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“If you aren’t going to help us with jobs and housing then you can’t complain about we do to survive.” That’s a statement from a survivor of sexual exploitation featured in “Voices of Safe Harbor,” a new report from the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault commissioned by Hennepin and Ramsey county officials featuring interviews with 72 survivors of sex trafficking. The goal of the project is to help guide the work of service providers who are helping victims of sexual exploitation rebuild their lives. The Hennepin County Board approved a No Wrong Door Response Plan a year ago that aligns with the state’s Safe Harbor legislation, which directs law enforcement to treat youth involved in prostitution as victims and help match them with service providers. “These children have been abused and marginalized, and until the passage of the Safe Harbor Law were treated as criminals rather than victims and survivors,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Marion Greene, who represents southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods and St. Louis Park. “This report is an incredible opportunity for all of us to better understand why that characterization was so harmful and misleading. These direct voices will inform policy makers’ ability to support survivors, and to prevent future sexual exploitation.”

The survivors interviewed ranged in age from 14 to 42. Many of the people interviewed called for more sexual health education with an emphasis on healthy relationships — something many said they lacked in their own lives. They also asked for more empathy and cultural awareness from people in their lives, including social service providers. Jeanne Ronayne, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said victims are the “true experts on the issue of sexual exploitation.” “Recognizing and addressing those connections is key to effectively responding to sexual exploitation and preventing,” she said. Many of the survivors interviewed in the report also emphasized that they turned to prostitution because they didn’t have any other options. “Whatever men asked of me I did so I could eat,” one victim said in the report. According to a report released in late 2014 by University of Minnesota researchers, the juvenile sex trafficking market in Minneapolis is driven by violent recruiting methods targeting vulnerable girls who are often exploited by traffickers and pimps from their own neighborhoods. Youth with vulnerabilities who struggle to meet their basic needs are most at risk of being preyed upon.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and the NAACP Minneapolis filed a lawsuit Feb. 9 against the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety in an effort to compel authorities to release video footage of the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark. The lawsuit asserts that state authorities are violating the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act by refusing to release video footage of the shooting death of Clark in North Minneapolis on Nov. 15. According to the police report on the incident, Clark, a 24-year-old black man, was interfering with paramedics helping a domestic assault victim around 12:45 a.m. on the 1600 block of Plymouth Avenue North. Clark got in a physical altercation with officers on the scene and was later shot in the head. He wasn’t armed at the time. Police say he was handcuffed, but witnesses at the scene have disputed that. The officers involved in the shooting, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, who are both white, have been placed on paid administrative leave and are under investigation by the BCA and FBI. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans has said video footage gathered at the scene won’t be released because it would “impact the integrity of the investigation.” In late November, he said several videos

have been gathered related to the incident, but none captured the event in its entirety. He said investigators have reviewed video from an ambulance on the scene, a mobile police video station, cellphones and a public housing building camera. There were no videos from a squad car dash cam or police body cameras. Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and the NAACP Minneapolis have long been pushing for the release of footage of the shooting. “Our community is in a great deal of pain as a result of the shooting of Jamar Clark at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the NAACP Minneapolis. “It’s imperative that we demand accountability and transparency, which includes being able to gain access to the video footage of this tragic incident. We demand an end to police brutality, the police shooting of unarmed persons, and the criminalization of African Americans in the city of Minneapolis.” Charles Samuelson, executive director of the ACLU-MN, said releasing the footage is necessary to hold police accountable. “The police have tremendous authority, including the ability to use reasonable force. It’s entirely consistent with our democratic values for the public to demand government accountability and transparency when police use force, especially if it results in a life being taken,” he said.

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A7

Rendering courtesy of Collage Architects

Planning Commission OKs plans for Moxy Hotel By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com

The city Planning Commission approved plans Feb. 8 for the six-story Moxy Hotel at Lake & Emerson. The project has been a major source of scrutiny for the neighborhood — city staff said they received 215 pages of correspondence that seemed to consist of a pretty even split for and against the project. The Uptown Association circulated a petition with 445 signatures in support; residents said another petition had 428 signatures in opposition. Ben Graves of Graves Hospitality said that after many community meetings, they brought down the height from nine stories to six, reduced the massing 20 percent, and turned windows so they no longer overlook homes. The original plan called for extensive brick on the hotel, which was switched to fiber cement following neighborhood feedback. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a lowerquality material, but it is a more modern looking material,” Graves said. “…The feedback was all the other development on Lake Street is much more modern, and they wanted something a little more … edgy.” In recommending rezoning approval, Senior City Planner Kimberly Holien said Lake Street has seen a significant change in character since 2008. She listed developments like The Walkway at 1320 W. Lake St. (six stories, 92 units), the Cheapo site at 1300 W. Lake St. (seven stories, 125 units), and the Lumen at 1211 Lagoon Ave. (five stories). A vacant site near Calhoun Square is also “suspected to be a high-density mixed-use development,” she said. The Uptown Small Area Plan, a guiding document the city adopted in 2008 following extensive neighborhood input, calls for no more than four stories on the site. City staff argued that the impact of a sixstory building would be similar to a fourstory building. It wouldn’t shadow neighbors to the south, and the tallest portion of the building fronts Lake Street, staff said. Staff said the building would present a similar impact as viewed from the pedestrian scale, properties to the south and along Lake Street. “That perception of a four-story building versus a six-story building, from those vantage points, there’s not a lot of difference in the impact,” Holien said. Council Member Lisa Bender voted in favor of the project, and said the city’s policies aim to concentrate growth on commercial corridors. “There is no commercial corridor in the city that I can think of that is busier than Lake Street,” she said. “…It’s a place where I think the low-scale development that’s there now is not appropriate, it’s under-utilizing

the land. … The sort of auto-oriented, 1950s-style, surface parking lot development is not what I think most people want to see in the community, and it’s certainly not what the policy guidance in the Small Area Plan envisions. It envisions dense, mixed-use development.” Bender noted that she was not supportive of the previous design. The hotel would lease 35 spaces at the Calhoun Square ramp and would use valet parking to meet the city’s parking requirement. Commissioner Scott Vreeland said that as the newest member of the Planning Commission, he was looking for clarity on the role of the Small Area Plan. “My understanding is that it’s not discretionary for me to not look at the Small Area Plan as the basis for my decision,” he said. In response, the city planning manager referred him back to city staff ’s recommendation to approve the hotel. At the public hearing, mono co-founder Michael Hart said one of Uptown’s few drawbacks is the lack of a hotel. He said mono would use an Uptown hotel as a recruiting tool for potential hires to check out the neighborhood. The Calhoun Area Residents Action Group wrote in opposition to the project. The letter said a hotel would be a fine addition to Uptown, but not at the proposed site and scale. At the public hearing, several residents said they would prefer to see a hotel stand north of Lake Street. Resident Clark Olsen said that if conditions have changed since the Small Area Plan’s adoption in 2008, a process should be undertaken to revise it. “Do not make ad hoc decisions that determine who the winners and losers of this community are,” he said. Resident Jerome Chateau said he understands his neighbors’ views, but he takes a different angle. The city’s many parking lots are an eyesore, a blight, and an invitation for crime, he said. “Originally I am from Paris, and each time I come back here I find the urban space rather ugly and inconsistent and not urban enough. I think this is an opportunity to change that,” he said. The Planning Commission voted 5-3 to approve the rezoning and voted 7-1 to approve the height. The project would not include rooftop decks as a condition of approval. In voting to approve the plan, Commissioner Sam Rockwell highlighted the transit on Lake. “This is a perfect location and if we can’t develop in these locations, then we can’t develop anywhere,” he said.

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A8 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

PUBLISHER Janis Hall jhall@southwestjournal.com

CO-PUBLISHER & SALES MANAGER Terry Gahan 612-436-4360 tgahan@southwestjournal.com

EDITOR Sarah McKenzie 612-436-4371 smckenzie@southwestjournal.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR Dylan Thomas 612-436-4391 dthomas@southwestjournal.com

STAFF WRITERS Michelle Bruch mbruch@southwestjournal.com

Eric Best ebest@southwestjournal.com

CONTRIBUTORS Stephanie Glaros Steve Kotvis CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dana Croatt dcroatt@southwestjournal.com

CLIENT SERVICES Zoe Gahan 612-436-4375 zgahan@southwestjournal.com

Lauren Walker 612-436-4383 lwalker@southwestjournal.com

Emily Schneeberger 612-436-4399 eschneeberger@southwestjournal.com

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Valerie Moe vmoe@southwestjournal.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Amanda Wadeson

By Jim Walsh

In Goddess we trust

hen Hillary Clinton told a worldwide town hall audience last week that she faces her own ego and obstacles by “practicing the discipline of gratitude,” it was an unprecedented comment coming from a politician, not to mention a presidential candidate, one highly unlikely to ever be uttered by a male, and but one reason why a female thought leader who isn’t afraid to invoke sensitive new age philosophy and a mother and grandmother’s hard-won wisdom sounds so fresh amid the campaign chaos. I had all this on my mind, along with the sounds of recent galvanizing shows by Babes In Toyland, Lizzo, GRRRL Party and Bruise Violet ringing in my ears, when I stopped by the Eye of Horus Metaphysical store, which sits across the street from Morrissey’s Irish Pub and just down the block from the Corner Store and the Bryant-Lake Bowl on Lake Street in Minneapolis. At the moment, the Metaphysical window display asks unsuspecting pedestrians, “What Sets Your Heart On Fire?”— a good question for all of us, all of the time, and especially for mid-February. But at Metaphysical, the patron saint isn’t necessarily Valentine. “We just had Imbolc, or [Saint] Brigid’s Day, which is also Groundhog’s Day,” says Thraicie Hawkner, owner of the 13-year-old alternative spirituality and mystical supply store, now in its third Uptown location at 910 W. Lake Street. “The [Celtic] goddess Brigid is very much about fire—the fire of the hearth, the fire of the forge, and the fire of the heart. She’s a multi-faceted and wonderful gal. My understanding is that she was a goddess in Ireland long before Christianity came along, and when Christianity came along, they had a lot of trouble getting folks to reject her and embrace the Christian way of things, so they made her a saint. “She’s all about the caring, and the creativity, and the nurturing, and all of these things that pull us together as community and into relationships. She’s kind of the spark and the fire that connects one to another. She’s been there forever, maybe quietly, but she’s been there, with a longstanding tradition that brings in her aspects of fire and the

Thraicie Hawkner of Eye of Horus at 910 W. Lake St. Photo by Jim Walsh

passion of the heart. She brings us into not just love for one another, but love for nature and art and beauty in general.” As she speaks, Hawkner is surrounded by books with titles like “Sex and Transcendence,” “Love Stars,” “Venus Signs,” “Gandhi’s Truth,” “Wicked Voodoo Sex,” “Witch Heart,” and “The Living Goddess.” She’s a firm believer in reading as a spiritual ritual, and for anyone looking for love in all the wrong places this Valentine’s Day, she suggests first getting in touch with the inner, followed by heaps of self-love via the negativity-squelching and positivity–affirming “365 Ways To Raise Your Frequency: Simple Tools to Increase Your Spiritual Energy For Balance, Purpose, and Joy.” “So often, especially in our culture, we get unhealthy and start leaning in toward co-dependent stuff: ‘I need, I need, I need my sweetheart.’ Well, wait a minute,” says Hawkner. “Wouldn’t it be a better relationship if you were both sturdy individuals who could stand up straight on your own? Doesn’t your sweetie deserve somebody who’s in better emotional condition than that? Half of being in a relationship is making sure that you’re an appropriate half. We get so clingy sometimes, and that’s not as healthy as we could be.” Part of the Metaphysical mission is to make the soul whole. For Valentine/Bridgid’s Day (and every day), the shelves are stocked with lovers’ baubles and tools, including runes, tarot cards, jewelry, and

love scent sprays. “We have rose petal water here, which is the essence of rose, distilled from roses, which I’ve heard of people pouring into bath water and making a nice bath out of it,” says Hawkner, taking me on a tour of the cozy incense-spiked shop. “If you have some gem stones that you’re working with, rose quartz is really good for love spells or enhancing current relationships and romance. Candles are always a favorite of mine, that classic romantic candlelight stuff. We also have some nice incense. Rose is actually the classic scent for love that corresponds with the planet Venus, so it’s perfect for this time of year. “We have Love Spray, which are essential oils, meant to raise the mood a little bit and you can even wear it. It also makes a good pillow spray, and we have it as oil in case you want to add it to a candle before you light it.” Sounds good, and sane, and oh-so civilized in these crazy and too often lonely times. We are lovers, losers, and seekers, and the Metaphysical crew is here to help. “We get folks coming in looking for help in how to fix the loneliness and correct the situation, and we can give them helpful little luck charms and things that might help scoot the energy in the right direction for them,” says Hawkner. “We’ve all got something that’s messing us up. It’s just part of the human condition. We have tarot cards and tarot card readers, and that’s fun if you want to sit down and chat about your situation and what to do next. Sometimes people come in on a first date and we do a tarot card reading for them. “Love is a basic human need. We all need love, and to find it in a deep and sincere way can be a tricky thing. But finding that deep and sincere place within your own heart seems to be the first step toward connecting to someone else’s heart, and that brings us back into the exploration of spirituality in general that we like to do in this joint.” Jim Walsh lives and grew up in East Harriet. He can be reached at jimwalsh086@gmail.com

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Support for a citywide paid sick time policy I’m lucky to be part of a local business that takes care of its employees. In the summer of 2014 I tore both my patellar tendons and was bedridden for two weeks, and my boss Lonnie M. not only let me keep my job but paid me a partial wage while I wasn’t able to work.

At 36Lyn gas station, we see first-hand that many Minneapolis residents aren’t as lucky, which is why we as a business support a citywide ordinance to set a basic floor for sick days. My five co-workers and I see 1,500 customers a day at 36Lyn gas and service center in South Minneapolis. We see customers nearly every day who stop by on the way to work, and we often can’t help but notice they are under the weather. Just this week, I saw my own roommate told to work after she called in sick. As an employee in the skyway downtown, she probably had contact with hundreds of people, and I’m sure none of them would have appreciated the germs she brought on the job. Some of them may have even gotten sick

themselves and missed work as a result. The goal of this ordinance is to prevent those practices from happening, and to create a better quality of life in Minneapolis. People should stay home when they are sick, and not worry about rent or the bills. We know people drive a little farther to come to 36Lyn to save money on gas — every nickel and dime counts. When people can stay home and recover, its benefits all of us — and when people have more money in their pockets, we all do better.

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southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A9 FROM HARTEAU / PAGE A1

Whole meeting after this edition of the Southwest Journal went to press. The chief’s reappointment comes as the MPD is under increased scrutiny in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark on Nov. 15 and the 18-day occupation of the 4th Precinct that followed. Mayor Betsy Hodges, who first announced her decision to reappoint Harteau in September, said she recommends the chief for the job again without “reservation or hesitation.” She commended the chief for organizing the MPD around a central question, which asks officers to consider how they would want their family members to be treated when they interact with people on the job. Hodges also lauded the chief for seeking out the opportunity to be part of the National Initiative for Building Community Trust & Justice — a three-year national project designed to improve police department’s relationships with the communities that have long histories of tensions with the police. The city’s 2016 budget includes funding for all officers to go through implicit bias and procedural justice training as part of that project. She also highlighted their recent request to have the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office to do an independent review of the city’s response to the occupation of the MPD’s 4th Precinct. “We stand by our officers, but if there are places where we could have done better, we need to know that,” Hodges said. Harteau, who begins her 30th year with the MPD this month, said the important work of reforming the department is just beginning. “When I became chief we began a long journey of transformational change, and it starts from the inside out,” she said. “... I will tell you that change is inevitable, but progress is not. Progress is intentional and I am so proud of this department and this city with the progress we’ve made.”

Ron Edwards, a longtime civil rights activist, offered a strong endorsement of Harteau and called her one of the best chiefs the city has had in recent years. “This chief if visionary. She can’t do everything for everybody,” he said. “Police reform is one of the toughest elements in this society.” Metro Police Chief John Harrington said Harteau is working toward creating a department of “guardians of the public and the Constitution,” rather than warriors. Some people did speak in opposition to the chief’s reappointment, including Asha Long, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis. She criticized the city’s process to vet complaints about police misconduct and how the department responded to the protests at the 4th Precinct — calling officers’ conduct “atrocious.” “It is important that we don’t allow the murder and criminalization of our most vulnerable communities,” Long said. Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality raised similar concerns. She said the organization isn’t opposed to Harteau’s reappointment but urged Council members to push for changes to the way the city reviews complaints about police officers. Former Mayor R.T. Rybak first nominated Harteau for police chief in 2012 after Tim Dolan announced plans to retire. She’s the city’s first female police chief and also the first openly gay and Native American chief. In addition to Harteau, Hodges has recommended seven other city department leaders for reappointment: City Assessor Patrick Todd, City Attorney Susan Segal, City Coordinator Spencer Cronk, Civil Rights Department Director Velma Korbel, CPED Director Craig Taylor, Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant and Fire Chief John Fruetel. The City Council is holding public hearings for each department head before voting on reappointment.

City leaders seek federal review of city’s response to 4th Precinct protests Mayor Betsy Hodges and Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau announced Feb. 2 that they have made a request to the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office to do an independent review of the city’s response to the 18-day occupation of the MPD’s 4th Precinct station. The goal of the review is to gather insights from the experience to help Minneapolis and other cities across the country improve relationships and ensure civil rights are protected in the communities they serve, according to the mayor’s office. Protesters demonstrated outside the MPD’s 4th Precinct in North Minneapolis following the police shooting death of Jamar Clark on Nov. 15 just blocks from the police station. Two officers involved in the shooting are under investigation by the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI. Police have said Clark was interfering with paramedics trying to help an assault victim and then got in a struggle with police when he was shot. They say he wasn’t handcuffed at the time, which has

been disputed by witnesses at the scene. Protest leaders have been highly critical of how Hodges and Harteau responded to the protests at the 4th Precinct. “To move forward and grow together, we must constantly assess our actions and pursue continuous improvement,” Hodges said in a prepared statement. “An independent review of the City’s response to the protests at the 4th Precinct will provide the city — our leaders, our departments, and our residents — with important insight into what was done well and where we can do better in the future. This assessment will have value not only for Minneapolis, but for cities around the country.” Harteau said that COPS is often called to conduct reviews into incidents that may become a future trend. “This process will help the Minneapolis Police Department and other law-enforcement agencies nationally look at some new challenges and new opportunities for us to improve our profession,” she said. — Sarah McKenzie

A10 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

UNDER FIRE

A special report on gun violence

Tracking the toll of gun violence By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com

Gun violence claimed the lives of more than 40 people in Minneapolis in 2015 and two people this year — including a 25-year-old Brooklyn Park man in North Minneapolis on Jan. 26 and a 20-year-old West St. Paul man on New Year’s Day in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood. Hundreds more have been injured during shootings. A total of 256 people were injured by gunfire in Minneapolis in 2015 — up from 227 in 2014, according to Minneapolis police records. As of Feb. 8, there have been 29 shooting victims in 2016. They include a bystander hit by gunfire during a fight around 1 a.m. Feb. 6 at Asian Tastes, 1400 Nicollet Ave. S. A group of males starting arguing in the restaurant and a single shot was fired, according to Minneapolis police. A male customer — not involved in the argument — was shot in the leg and suffered a non-life threatening injury. The men then moved outside and continued fighting and shooting at one another. The suspects fled the scene when officers arrived. Police recovered a handgun. Later another person showed up HCMC with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the torso, according to police. Reports of shootings on the weekends after bar close in the city have become routine. The Warehouse District has been a hot spot for gun violence, as have neighborhoods on the North Side and in South Minneapolis. The city reported 49 homicides last year — up from 32 in 2014 — and the highest number since 2006 when Minneapolis had 57 homicides. Many of the victims were black men under the age of 30 who died from gunfire.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT The Journals have taken an in-depth look at gun violence in Minneapolis. To see a map of homicides in Minneapolis in 2015 and 2016, go to southwestjournal.com. In the Feb. 25 edition, we will take a look at investigators working on gun crimes, among other stories.

The number of homicides, however, is down considerably from the record 97 murders in 1995 — the year the New York Times gave the city the nickname “Murderapolis.” Minneapolis had a higher murder rate than New York City that year. Still, the uptick in violence is troubling in a city that has seen historically low rates of violent crime for many years.

MINNEAPOLIS HOMICIDES 2006

2015

2004

2005

2007

2010

2008

A national trend The increase in homicides mirrors trends in many major American cities across the country. Chicago had the most homicides of any city in America in 2015 with a total of 468 — up from 416 in 2014, according to the Chicago Tribune. Overall, more than 2,900 people were shot in the city last year. The increase in gun violence in Minneapolis prompted Police Chief Janeé Harteau, Mayor Betsy Hodges and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to announce a new strategy in mid-November targeting violent gun offenders. Six veteran MPD investigators have formed a new violent crimes investigations team. Freeman has assigned a prosecutor with experience working on gang and gun violence cases to work closely with the team. The Minneapolis Police Department also has two new National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) investigators that work closely with the ATF on shooting cases. Minneapolis Police Deputy Chief of Staff Medaria Arradondo said the new violent crimes investigations team can take a deeper dive into gun crime investigations. They look at each incident, “peel back the layers,” and determine what kinds of risk factors the victims faced, he said. Harteau has also been active at the national level in calling for more action to address gun violence. At the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference in Chicago in late October, she said more needs to be done to keep guns out of the wrong hands. “The only common denominators we’re finding in every city that has been plagued with this increase is that repeat offenders are illegally getting their hands on firearms. That is why these conversations are vital to addressing this

42 2014

Source: Uniform Crime Reports & Minneapolis police records

problem with a sense of urgency,” Harteau said. She was also invited to speak at the launch of former Congressman Gabby Giffords’ new bipartisan coalition focused on combatting gun violence and domestic abuse in mid-October in Washington, D.C. The Women’s Coalition for Common Sense will focus on preventing stalkers and abusers from accessing guns. Harteau was the only law enforcement official invited to be part of the coalition. “As a law enforcement officer, too many times I’ve seen the tragic and horrific results of gun violence against women and their families,” she said. “And too many times, I’ve seen how deadly of a mix that domestic abuse and access to firearms can be.” City Council Member Cam Gordon (Ward 2) plans to introduce a resolution Feb. 18 at the City Council’s Intergovernmental Relations committee meeting that calls on Congress to pass legislation repealing the ban on gun violence research as a public health crisis through the Centers for Disease Control. Gordon joins several other local leaders across the country affiliated with the National Network to Combat Gun Violence in pushing for the repeal on the research. “Gun violence is clearly a public health issue,” Gordon wrote in a recent letter to constituents.

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“Minneapolis has recognized this for a long time. Indeed it is an important element of our Youth Violence Prevention plan. As a city and a nation we need our best scientific minds and resources to help us address this major public health crisis, which resulted in 12,518 deaths and 22,886 injuries in the U.S. in 2014.”

The victims Three people were shot to death in Minneapolis as the result of domestic violence last year, according to the 2015 Femicide Report recently released by the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women. In total, 34 people throughout Minnesota were killed due to domestic violence in 2015, up from 23 the year before. The domestic violence victims in Minneapolis who were killed by guns include: Ayan Abdi Abdulahi, Eugenia “Gina” Tallman and Victoria Alvarez. Abdi Abdulahi, 21, of Bloomington was shot and killed by a boyfriend on April 11 in South Minneapolis. Ahmed Abdirahim Abdi, 17, was later arrested in Kansas City, Mo., and charged with second-degree murder. Gonzalo Galvan, 50, has been charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting his wife Tallman, 48, and her daughter Victoria Alvarez, 15, in South Minneapolis on Sept. 25.

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A11

NUMBER OF SHOOTING VICTIMS

309 256 227 197

2012

2013

2014

2015

Source: Minneapolis Police Department

The couple’s 7-year-old son was at home during the murders and has been taken into protective custody, according to the Femicide Report. Tallman had told family members that she had planned to leave Galvan. He had three separate domestic assault charges, but none resulted in convictions. The most high-profile homicide of 2015 was the shooting death of Jamar Clark, 24, by police during an altercation on Plymouth Avenue on the North Side in the early hours of Nov. 15. Two officers involved in the shooting remain under investigation by the FBI and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The shooting prompted protesters to setup an encampment at the 4th Precinct. Eight days after Clark was shot, another shooting near the police station made national news. Four men shot five protesters (all black men) around 10:40 p.m. on Nov. 23 near the police station — a racially motivated crime that sparked outrage locally and across the country. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23, of Lakeville with second-degree assault and riot charges on Nov. 30 in connection with the 4th Precinct shooting. Three other men with him at the time were also each charged with one count of second-degree riot-armed with a dangerous weapon. Other people fatally shot in 2015 included Julio Mozo-Cuate, 42, in Kingfield. He was shot multiple times in an alley after an apparent robbery on Oct. 18. Three men and

one woman have been charged in connection with his murder. One day later, Abdi Liban, 61, a security guard at the nearby Horn Towers, was shot to death near Lake & Pleasant in the Lyndale neighborhood. His case remains under investigation. Other high-profile shootings in downtown Minneapolis left many unnerved as well. Dejon Frazier, 18, of Burnsville was charged Sept. 23 with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Sabrae Mcalester, 16, by a bus shelter near 4th & Hennepin shortly after 2 a.m. on July 5. The Warehouse District was rocked by gun violence again on Sept. 12 when three men engaged in a gun battle near 5th & Hennepin around 2:30 a.m. Six people were injured in the shooting. The county attorney’s office charged Maurice Carter, 25, and Detroit Davis-Riley, 26, with nine counts of first-degree assault for shooting in the direction of police officers three days later. Then on Sept. 21, Demarco Lavelle Gunn, 23, was charged with seconddegree assault for his role in the gunfight. Freeman addressed the City Council’s Public Safety & Regulatory Services Committee following the shooting spree. “We know that crime has bumped back up,” Freeman said. “It’s increased everywhere. … Nobody can really explain all of this. The one thing that we know and we’re very aggressive about is trying to keep guns out of the hands of felons.” Minneapolis police inventoried 685 guns as evidence in 2015 with more than half recovered from the city’s 4th Precinct (North Minneapolis.)

Sentences for gun crimes Many people involved in gun crimes are repeat offenders. When police leaders announced the formation of the new gun violence investigations team, they also provided an analysis of gun offenders in 2015. By the end of October, 526 people had been arrested in incidents where guns were recovered. Of that group, 17 had been arrested more than once with a gun in 2015. Since 1990, that same group of 526 have been arrested by the MPD a total of 6,271 times. In mid-October, Harteau denounced the spike in gun violence after a homicide occurred in Kingfield. “This community needs peace. We need people to put the guns down. These (recent) cases aren’t necessarily related but the common denominator is gun violence,” Harteau said, as she was surrounded by community members at the scene. “Addressing

gun violence is a priority for Mayor Hodges and me. We are looking at all of our resources right now. Many of our suspects in the shootings this year have lengthy criminal histories. They’re not first time offenders in the criminal justice system and we need to find ways to connect those dots, and try to predict and prevent shootings before the next one occurs.” The mandatory minimum sentence for a felon in possession of a gun in Minnesota is five years, but judges don’t always stick to that guideline. Gun crimes can also be difficult to investigate because witnesses often want street justice and retaliation, making it difficult for police to gather information, police leaders have said. A jury found a 30-year-old St. Paul woman guilty of second-degree murder Feb. 1 in the shooting death of a 32-year-old Minneapolis woman at Augie’s Cabaret at 5th & Hennepin on Oct. 18, 2014. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 14 for Jasmine Nicole Jones. Jones turned herself into the Hennepin County Jail later in the day after the fatal shooting of Lakisha Marie Neal and handed over a 9mm handgun to authorities. Surveillance video at Augie’s captured the entire shooting, showing Jones pulling out a handgun and shooting Neal. The women had been fighting for a while, according to the criminal complaint filed against Jones. They got into a verbal dispute in the club that later turned physical. Bouncers separated the women and then they headed to the back of the club. Witnesses also confirmed that Jones pulled out a gun and shot Neal in the head before heading out the back door. Neal was pronounced dead at the scene. In another case of gun violence, a Brooklyn Park man recently pleaded guilty to shooting a cab driver on the Hennepin Avenue Bridge on Sept. 4 — an attack that left the driver with bullet wounds in his right thigh and right forearm, according to the criminal complaint. Anthony Terell Ford, 21, also pleaded guilty to a drive-by shooting at a McDonald’s at 45th & Lyndale shortly after the cab driver shooting. He admitted in court to the shootings and said he was drunk that night. Ford shot at the taxicab around 2:50 a.m. and then later fired at a woman while she was in the McDonald’s drive-thru. Two children were also in her car at the time. Ford has pleaded guilty to one count of firstdegree assault, one count of drive-by shooting and one count of being a felon in a possession of a gun. His sentencing hearing is Feb. 12 and he faces the potential for more than 14 years in prison.

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ADVENTURE

2015 HOMICIDES BY MINNEAPOLIS POLICE PRECINCT

4th Precinct 2nd Precinct

1st Precinct

3rd Precinct 5th Precinct

Source: Minneapolis Police Department

Another Minneapolis man also recently pleaded guilty to murder charges for the shooting death of a 19-year-old man in the Stevens Square neighborhood on May 6. Eugene Watkins, 19, is facing a 30-year prison sentence for killing Jason Adams. He will be sentenced March 7. Watkins went to an apartment in Stevens Square with the intention of buying marijuana from Adams. He then pulled out a gun and told one of Adams’ friends to hand over all of the drugs, according to the criminal complaint. Adams also pulled out a gun and the two men started shooting at each other. Watkins, who was also wounded, was arrested at the hospital. Adams died at HCMC of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Adams grew up in the Armatage neighborhood. Denis Houle, a neighbor of Adams’ family, told the Southwest Journal that his son grew up playing basketball with Adams. “Jordan was a really nice kid,” he said. “He was definitely the best player on the team. There was never a reason to think that anything like this was going to happen.”

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A12 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

UNDER FIRE

A special report on gun violence

At a glance: Obama’s recent executive actions on guns By Sarah McKenzie / smckenzie@southwestjournal.com

More than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of gun violence across the country in the past decade, according to statistics from the White House. President Barack Obama said the violence has become so routine that the country has become numb to it. “Every single year, more than 30,000 Americans have their lives cut short by guns — 30,000,” the president said before outlining his executive actions aimed at preventing gun violence earlier this year. “Suicides. Domestic violence. Gang shootouts. Accidents. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost brothers and sisters, or buried their own children. Many have learned to live with a disability, or learned to live without the love of their life.” The president’s actions clarify federal law to ensure that anyone engaged in the business of selling firearms must get a license and conduct background checks. There is no threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement, according to a White House fact sheet. Courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two guns were sold. Someone who engages in the business of selling firearms without the required license can face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The FBI is also overhauling the background check system to make it more efficient. Improvements include processing background checks 24 hours a day, seven days a week and improving the notification of local authorities when a

person banned from owning guns tries to by one, according to a White House fact sheet. In 2015, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) received more than 22.2 million background check requests — an average of 63,000 a day. The president’s 2017 budget also includes funding for 200 new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearm (ATF) agents to help with better enforcement of gun laws. The Obama administration has also proposed $500 million in new spending to increase access to mental health care. The Social Security Administration has proposed including information in the background check system about beneficiaries who are banned from owning a firearm for mental health reasons. The president has also directed the Defense,

Justice and Homeland Security departments to conduct or sponsor research into new gun safety technology that could help reduce the number of accidental discharges or unauthorized use of firearms and help trace lost or stolen guns. In a statement on its website, the Minnesota Gun Owners Lobby noted that what the president has proposed in terms of requiring people in the business of selling guns to get a license, is already the law and that other actions will likely have little impact on reducing gun violence. “At last, President Obama has unveiled his long-promised ‘I have a pen and a phone’ list of actions he wants to take, unilaterally, to single-handedly take on the straw man of ‘gun violence,’” the organization posted on its website. “What it turns out to be is a combination of sternly-worded memos, budget proposals Congress will ignore, restatements of existing law, and a few proposed rules likely to face considerable opposition.” Meanwhile, Protect Minnesota, an organization focused on ending gun violence, commended the president for his actions. “The president is carrying out his Constitutional duty to enforce existing gun laws for the safety of our communities,” said Heather Martens, executive director of Protect Minnesota. “This is a positive step. Anybody against this is against basic responsibility when dealing with firearms.” As for the action requiring all people engaged in the business of selling firearms get a federal license, she said that the clarification of the law is an important step. “This might seem like a no-brainer. But if you

Stories from people impacted by gun violence By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com

Someone new lives in the Northeast apartment that belonged to Eulalio Gonzalez-Sanchez, who was killed in a 2014 robbery a block from the door. But the new resident is no stranger to gun violence either. Timothy Martin has been shot twice. At age 17 in Flint, Mich., he said he was walking down the street and met a spray of gunfire intended for someone else. Then at age 18 in Indianapolis, he said he kicked a man out of his apartment who wanted to gamble over a chess game. Martin said later that night, he opened the door and was hit with a shot to his stomach and spine. Although the incidents are 30 years old, they’re still a major part of Martin’s life. He has night terrors. Nearly 100 shotgun pellets are still embedded in his body. He takes medicine for back pain. Relationships are hard, because he’s spent so many years bottling up the shooting experiences and trying to forget about them. He deals with post-traumatic stress disorder. “People in urban areas and rough areas get PTSD too,” he said. “…Sometimes when you live in a rough neighborhood, you think it’s not going to affect you, but it does.” Jessie McDaniel of North Minneapolis said he feels blessed to reach age 22. “When I was growing up, I was nervous as hell walking through North Minneapolis, because

who knows?” he said. He said violence alters the mentality of some young people, particularly kids who expect to die young. “They get that mentality, where like, ‘F*** it, I ain’t afraid to die. So I’m gonna carry a gun. And I’m not gonna fight you, I’m gonna kill you.’ And you get to that mentality after you see your friends get killed, after your cousins get killed, after your brothers get killed. There’s no more fighting. There’s just gunplay,” he said. McDaniel’s brother Anthony Titus was killed at age 16 in the summer of 2010. “My brother was just walking down the street, going to a graduation party and shots let off and he was the one hit,” he said. Titus was never part of a violent lifestyle, he said. “My brother wasn’t in a gang. He was a hockey player, a babysitter, a little brother, Prince Charming to most of the ladies. He was just a cool dude,” he said. “I was the one in the gangs and sh** — like I wasn’t really gangbanging but I was into getting money.” McDaniel said it’s hard to see Facebook posts calling for the shooter to be freed. “I always felt like over [in] North, when people get killed, I ain’t gonna lie, they really don’t be finding the murderers. It’s a lot of murderers who

still out in North Minneapolis walking around, living life. Everybody in the hood know, dude ass killed so-and-so. Don’t be smooth around him.” When McDaniel thinks about what might stop the violence, he concludes there would have to be no more guns. No one simply fights anymore, he said. “When I was growing up, like that’s what it was. I liked to fight. Everybody knew how to fight. If you got beat up, you got beat up,” he said. But deadly retaliation for violence is the new norm, he said. “Once blood spills, it’s hard to clean blood off the ground, it’s hard to forget that, so it’s like an ongoing thing,” he said. “Now it’s generational, it’s inherited.” If someone is killed, he explained, his friends would retaliate in another murder, and the killings would continue back and forth. He said that in some communities, shooters have clout. “You killing this man because he came up on you and stepped on your shoes, you’re gonna kill him? He’s gonna kill this man over a jersey? I don’t know how it got to that, but I think it’s over a title of being a real … gangster, being real, being hard, being tough,” he said. “That’s like their passage of becoming a man is killing somebody, and going to jail for it, and not telling on anybody. Becoming a man is spending the rest of

GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA More than 30,000: Number of gun deaths in America each year Over 20,000: Number of Americans who commit suicide with a firearm each year More than 4 million: Number of American victims of assaults, robberies and other crimes involving a gun in the last decade 3: Number of days after which a gun dealer can sell a gun to an individual if a background check is not yet complete Source: White House

go to a gun show, you will find glaring inconsistency in the enforcement of background checks,” she said. “Federally licensed dealers have to conduct background checks on buyers. So-called ‘private sellers’ don’t. Even if you see them at gun shows, week after week, selling firearms. It’s about time we stopped that charade.” She noted that law enforcement shut down a trafficking operation in Minnesota that was buying guns from “private sellers” and supplying them to gangs in the Twin Cities. “Wherever there’s a loophole to make it easy to avoid a background check, someone exploits it,” she said.

your life in jail.” McDaniel said he receives applause for his achievements — he works at community gardens and helps run cooking classes as part of the nonprofit Appetite For Change. But if he was in a gang and on the news, everybody would be talking about it, he said. “Negative energy brings a bigger crowd,” he said. “If the news was always posting positive sh** people wouldn’t watch it.” He visited the Black Lives Matter protest last fall at the 4th Precinct. He expected to see lots of youth there, similar to the high school and college students who protested during the Civil Rights Movement. That’s not what he found. “It was a whole bunch of old people,” he said. “As they [were] protesting about Black Lives Matter, a black dude got killed. A few blocks up the street, got murdered.” McDaniel still feels nervous occasionally in North Minneapolis. But his work at Appetite For Change helps him focus. He said eating healthier gives him a healthier mentality, prompting him to visit the gym and live a different lifestyle. “I feel better with myself. Even when sometimes I be in f****ed up situations I just feel better about it, I feel more comfortable,” he said. “I feel happy.” Though Martin continues to recover from his own gunshot wounds, he said he feels safe now in Northeast. It’s quiet at night. He said having a son at age 25 helped him move on, because it forced him to take responsibility for his child. Now he’s interested in mentoring other young people. Martin said he isn’t afraid of guns. But if a group of teenagers is causing trouble on the bus, he leaves them alone. “I understand how young kids are thinking. I was thinking the same way,” he said. “You think you’re invincible, and you can’t get shot, you can’t get hurt.”

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A13

UNDER FIRE

A special report on gun violence

A hospital steps in to stop cycles of violence HCMC adopts a tested approach to shifting lives away from guns and knives

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com

A brief, precious window into the lives of young victims of violence opens the moment they arrive in Hennepin County Medical Center’s emergency room. HCMC aims to seize on that critical moment when it launches the nation’s newest hospital-based violence intervention program this year. Similar programs at other hospitals have shown promising results, including lower rates of re-injury and reduced costs for emergency departments. The idea behind the intervention is simple: If they speak with the right person at the right time, young victims of violence might choose to pivot away from knives and guns and the risky decisions that got them hurt. They might be willing to accept some help. Ann Eilbracht, senior director of support services at HCMC, said the program grew out of a realization that just patching up those patients and putting them back out on the streets is “not enough.” “We help them recover, but then send them back out to that same dysfunctional lifestyle,” Eilbracht continued. “Chances are they may be back with another injury, and we’d rather help them find a better approach to life so that they don’t end up back in the emergency department with maybe a more serious wound.” The National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs counts more than 30 similar programs already up-andrunning, including Oakland’s Caught in the Crossfire, a pioneering project that started in 1994. The programs are found mainly in bigcity U.S. hospitals, but the model has been replicated in Canada, England and El Salvador. Linnea Ashley of the National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs said the approach hinges on “that golden moment” in the hospital when victims feel vulnerable and open to change. Trained intervention specialists try to reach the patients before they pass that critical stage and begin to think about retaliation.

Ann Eilbracht is leading HCMC’s hospital-based violence intervention program pilot. The hospital is attempting to replicate an approach to addressing youth violence that has worked for other big-city hospitals. Photo by Dylan Thomas

“At that moment, people are pretty earnest and pretty raw about what’s going on and how someone might be able to help them,” Ashley, the network’s director, said. HCMC’s program would focus on patients between 12 and 28 years old who arrive at the hospital with gunshot and stabbing wounds. The hospital sees about two to three of those patients in a typical week, Eilbracht estimated. The intervention specialists will be trained to connect those patients with the services they need to shift their lifestyles. “It could be safe housing, it could be a

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job, it could be finishing high school, it could be getting out of an abusive relationship, it could be help with legal matters,” Eilbracht said. “The services will be wrapped around the individual based on what they think they need.” She said the program would launch with two or three part-time intervention specialists on call during peak hours, like early on weekend mornings. “At some point, because we’ll have limited staff initially, we’ll probably do a warm handoff to either a government or a private social service agency that hopefully can

help that individual continue to pursue that healthier and safer lifestyle,” Eilbracht said. City of Minneapolis Youth Intervention Coordinator Josh Peterson said the program has about $75,000 to get up-and-running this year, including $25,000 included Mayor Betsy Hodges’ 2016 city budget and a $50,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The grant through the department’s Office of Justice Programs was “intended as seed money to develop and pilot implementation,” Peterson said, adding that it’s not yet clear how much the HCMC program will cost. Planning for a local hospital-based violence intervention program goes back at least to the city’s original Blueprint for Action to Prevent Youth Violence, an initiative launched in 2007 by former Mayor R.T. Rybak. The Blueprint was drafted in response to a significant rise in violent crime in the city, an increase that was largely driven by young people and gang activity. Between 2003 and 2006, homicide was the leading cause of death of Minneapolis residents aged 15–24. The Blueprint proposed treating youth violence as a public health epidemic. The research underlying the approach showed violence begets violence; youth who were victims of violence were more likely to become perpetrators. There’s evidence those victims also are more likely to end up in the hospital again with another violent injury. At that point, they face an increased risk of dying from their wounds, said Dr. Carnell Cooper of the University of Maryland Medical Center. Home to one of the busiest trauma centers in the country, the Baltimore hospital introduced a violence intervention program in 1998. Since then, rates of recidivism, or return visits, for violent injuries have “decreased dramatically,” Cooper said. Baltimore’s hospital-based violence intervention program operates on an annual budget of about $300,000. Although the hospital hasn’t analyzed the cost-effectiveness of its program, Cooper estimated threequarters of those patients were uninsured in the pre-Obamacare era, “so we’re eating most of the costs.” Cooper said the success of hospital-based violence intervention requires a change in attitude, not just in the minds of the patients who are victims of violence but in the hospital staff who treat them, too. “There’s too often a laissez-faire attitude that says you can’t do anything. That’s not true,” he said. “… We can impact them. We can save their lives.”

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A14 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

UNDER FIRE

A special report on gun violence

RISK FACTORS LINKED TO THE LIKELIHOOD OF YOUTH VIOLENCE Prior victim or witness of violence; suicide attempt by friend or family member High levels of emotional distress Learning problems, repeated grade, skipped school Alcohol and marijuana use Easy access to firearms Perceived prejudice among fellow students An incarcerated parent

YOUTH ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE INVOLVED IN VIOLENCE WHEN THEY HAVE A sense of spirituality A positive sense of the future MAD DADS volunteers pass out stuffed animals and pose with a family at a convenience store at Penn & Glenwood in North Minneapolis. Photos by Michelle Bruch

What’s driving the violence?

A feeling of safety in the neighborhood Source: 2008 Blueprint for Action: Preventing Youth Violence in Minneapolis

MAD DADS staffers V.J. Smith and Joann Wade (at right) recruit volunteer Amber Jackson (left) and greet Tico Wesson (second from left) at a bus station near Lake & Chicago.

Traditional gangs have broken into a multitude of small groups, sometimes affiliated with a particular neighborhood, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. “Gang violence has changed profoundly,” he said. “It used to be fairly well-organized.” In reviewing complaints the last few years, Freeman said he’s noticed guns are increasingly used to resolve disputes. “In days past, people who disagree might use fists and fight,” he said. “Now almost universally you see the guns come out.” Smith said he’s noticed the same shift in the past 10 years. Shootings arise over girls, drugs and robberies, he said. “People who do fight, and fight fair, get shot,” Smith said. “Many of us would have been dead a long time ago if we fought the way they fight now.” A single investigative unit now handles all gun violence cases in order to piece together patterns of retaliatory gun violence. People are continually appearing in the system as

A higher grade point average Parents who set high expectations

By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com

A shooting in the Warehouse District last fall continues to amaze law enforcement. Near the train platform at 5th & Hennepin on Sept. 12, an estimated 18 officers were patrolling the area. Bar closing time was winding down, and the streets were filled with at least 50 people. “Somebody still pulled out a pistol and started firing,” said Deputy Chief Bruce Folkens. The shooting — the result of a “prior beef,” police said — wounded six people. Police, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and local leaders point to several deep-rooted factors driving gun violence in Minneapolis. Poverty plays a role, according to VJ Smith of MAD DADS. When some young sons of single parents want the best tennis shoes or clothes, he said they take action. “They steal, they rob, they do what they have to do to get that,” he said. Smith said gun ownership is prevalent among young men involved with gangs or cliques who may carry guns to protect themselves. With guns priced at $50 and up, guns are easier to obtain than books for college, he said. MAD DADS (Men Against Destruction, Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder) works with kids coming out of probation. “Many of them have said they would like to stop using guns,” Smith said. But he said they feel trapped — they have so many enemies in North Minneapolis, they either risk being caught unprotected, or caught by police and convicted for carrying a gun. He said men acquire guns through pawn shops, gun shows, the Internet, home breakins or girlfriends who serve as buyers. Deputy Chief Folkens said police seize about 700 guns a year, a number he said has remained fairly constant over time. “What the difference is, is the willingness of folks to use those firearms has gone up,” he said. The violence is attributable to more than gang activity, he said.

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both suspects and victims, Folkens said, which allows investigators to put cases together. By analyzing shell casings, they’re discovering that a single gun can be involved in a number of different crimes, with a small percentage of the population driving the crime stats. “One person can create a multitude of cases,” he said. Freeman said he’s also noticed a disturbing increase in guns used in domestic violence incidents, with women increasingly pistol whipped or threatened with a gun. Domestic aggravated assaults have increased nearly 6 percent from the prior year. Folkens said police are partnering with other organizations to intervene in youth exposure to violence. The goal is that “violence isn’t normal to them, it should be abnormal to them,” Folkens said. “Violence is a learned behavior.” Research shows a strong association between a young person’s early exposure to

violence and the likelihood they will commit a violent act later in life. “When children are asked about the causes of youth violence, they cite violence in the home and bullying at school as the number one and number two causes,” stated a 2008 Minneapolis report on youth violence. Homicide was the leading cause of death for African Americans ages 15-24 in Hennepin County from 2004-2014, accounting for nearly half of deaths, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health. Many in North Minneapolis are living with grief and trauma, Smith said. “They’re so scared,” he said. “They’re seeing so much violence and homicide and killing. They’re living in danger constantly.” On a frigid February night, Smith loaded boxes of stuffed animals into a converted ambulance that serves as the MAD DADS van. He gave the animals to kids at the emergency room at Hennepin County Medical Center, parents at a bus stop near Lake & Chicago, and staff at a McDonald’s near Dupont & Broadway. The group recruited volunteers and tried to connect families to whatever they might need, whether it be schooling, job help or parenting classes. “We’re trying to go to the hardest neighborhoods we can find,” said Joann Wade of MAD DADS. (Wade gave up Timberwolves tickets to volunteer that night.) “When you have more options, it’s easier to stay out of trouble.” Smith also stopped at a convenience store at Penn & Glenwood, because he said a woman was recently shot nearby while walking her dog. “I want to see if I can find that lady,” he said. Smith tries to meet with every Northside family hit with a violent death in the family. “First you see how they’re doing and what their needs are,” he said. “Mostly they need prayer and they need comfort.” MAD DADS is working to fundraise and reach 500 new families. “We need everybody out here, there’s a lot of work to do,” Smith said. “People want to do something, they want to help. We’ve just got to show them how. They want to believe there is hope.”

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A15

News

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com

Teacher contract awaits approval Details of a tentative agreement on a new contract between Minneapolis Public Schools and its teachers union were released in late January. The proposed 2015–2017 contract tweaks and condenses the interview-andselect teacher hiring process, expands teacher prep and collaboration time and would commit the district to specific actions when class sizes exceed certain levels. The contract still requires approval by the Board of Education and a majority of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers members.

District and union negotiators reached the tentative agreement on Dec. 18, six months after they began talks. The Board of Education and union leaders met in executive session in January to review the new contract language. Nordgren said a two-week window for teachers to vote on the contract was scheduled to open in mid-February. A district negotiator did not respond to a request for comment on the tentative agreement.

Union President Lynn Nordgren noted the contract, if approved, would also rein-in the number of meetings teachers are required to attend. “You have to do the work, you can’t just talk about the work,” Nordgren said. The contract calls for a 2.5-percent increase to teacher pay in January followed by a 2-percent increase in July. Nordgren said the union pushed the district higher than it wanted to go on wages, but in exchange agreed that teachers won’t see a retroactive increase in pay for 2015, the first year covered in the contract.

Project SUCCESS heads to Mexico Project SUCCESS sent a delegation of nine student performers to Mexico in February. The delegation, including five students from Minneapolis Public Schools, planned to perform an original student-created musical, “And So I Did,” for students and community members in Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Cuernavaca is located in Morelos, one of the smallest states in Mexico but one of the main origin points for Minnesota’s Mexican immigrant community. The students are also scheduled to meet

with local dignitaries during their visit. The trip was scheduled for Feb. 9–13. Accompanying the student delegation were three Project SUCCESS staffers, including Executive Director Adrienne Diercks, and Minneapolis Public Schools Deputy Education Officer Elia Bruggeman. “And So I Did” is based on the students’ own experiences transitioning from middle to high school. It was performed in front of about 2,700 Twin Cities students last year, Project SUCCESS reported.

Project SUCCESS, a non-profit organization founded in 1994, reaches about 12,000 Minneapolis and St. Paul middle and high school students each year with its programs, including goal-setting workshops, theatrical productions, college tours and other enrichment experiences. To learn more about the organization or the students’ trip to Mexico, go to projectsuccess.org.

Recruiting creative mentors Art Buddies is seeking adult professionals who work in creative fields to volunteer for its spring after-school program. The non-profit organization pairs students from low-income families in grades 3–5 with adults who work in advertising, graphic design, architecture and other creative professions. They work one-on-one on projects that aim to expand the students’ imagination and instill self-confidence. The program has expanded to three locations, including Whittier International Elementary School and Bancroft Elementary in Minneapolis and Riverview West Side School of Excellence in St. Paul. The spring session runs weekly from late March through May. Dates and times vary between the three host sites. The deadline to apply for spring is March 3. For more information, or to apply online, go to artbuddies.org

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A16 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com

Watershed district offers runoff project grants Minnehaha Creek Watershed District is offering grant funding to help district home and property owners manage stormwater runoff. The watershed district is offering grants of up to $2,500 that can be used for the installation of a raingarden or pervious pavement. Grants of up to $5,000 are available for projects that improve lake or creek shorelines by adding native plants.

Swap seeds at Tiny Diner Tiny Diner hosts the third-annual Twin Cities Community SEED Swap 12:15 p.m.–3 p.m. Feb. 21. The event begins with some tomato talk 12:15 p.m.–12:45 p.m. and then shifts at about 1 p.m. into seed swapping. Tiny Diner is partnering with Gigi’s Café to provide light food and refreshments. Attendees can also learn more about Seed Sages, a local educational initiative that aims to start offering seed-saving classes and open “seed hubs” for sharing, storing and learning about seeds. The project appears to be moving ahead after falling short of its $30,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal last fall. You don’t have to bring seeds to swap to attend. Email seedsages@gmail.com for more information on the event.

The goal of the grant program is to add features that allow rainwater to soak into the ground instead of running off into storm drains, streams or lakes. Stormwater runoff carries with it pollutants and debris, and is the state’s top source of water pollution, the watershed district reports. Any organization or watershed district resident is welcome to apply for one of the grants, which can be used to cover

up to 75 percent of the costs for project design, materials and labor. Projects must be located within the 181-square-mile watershed district, an area that includes large portions of South and Southwest Minneapolis. For more information, or to apply, got to minnehahacreek.org. Homeowners have until June 17 to apply. Non-homeowner projects have until March 18 to apply for the spring round of grants.

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Environmental Initiative accepting awards nominations A local nonprofit is accepting nominations for the state’s best collaborative environmental projects. Since 1994, Minneapolis-based Environmental Initiative has held an annual awards ceremony to honor partnerships that protect and improve the environment. Ongoing projects or projects that have been completed within the last two years through the cooperation of two or more entities, including government agencies, nonprofits, private companies, community groups or individuals, are eligible to be nominated. Last year, Environmental Initiative honored successful projects in seven categories. South Minneapolis restaurant Tiny Diner won

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District residents can apply for grants of up to $2,500 for the design and construction of raingardens. File photo

in the “Sustainable Business” category and the Master Water Stewards program — a collaborative project involving the Freshwater Society and Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, among other groups — took top honors for “Environmental Education.” The Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council was a finalist in the “Food Stewardship” category. Nominations for the 2016 awards will be accepted through Feb. 19. Finalists will be posted online in March. Winners will be honored at an awards banquet in May. For more information, or to nominate a project, go to environmental-initiative.org.

The Recycling Association of Minnesota’s annual sale on rain barrels and compost bins returns in March. The spring sale is the St. Paul-based nonprofit’s way of encouraging more residents to conserve water and cut the amount of household waste sent to landfills (or, in the case of Minneapolis, the incinerator). Rain barrels, which typically tie in to a home gutter system and store rainwater for later use watering yards and gardens, also reduce stormwater runoff, a major source of pollution for Minnesota’s lakes, streams and rivers. The rain barrels in RAM’s online sale go for $74 and are available in two different designs, each of which holds more than 50 gallons of water. Compost bins are $59. A quick online search shows the prices compare favorably to major home stores. RAM’s sale also includes kitchen pails for collecting scraps in between trips to the compost bin. They’re available in plastic ($15) or stainless steel ($25). Those who order online can choose to pick up their items at any of the local distribution events scheduled between May and early June. The Minneapolis distribution event is 9 a.m.–1 p.m. April 30 at the Department of Public Works’ Snelling Avenue Garage, 3607 E. 44th St. Online ordering begins March 1 at recycleminnesota.org.

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southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A17

FROM PARKS REFERENDUM / PAGE A1

lution to include more flexibility if the city faces unforeseen fiscal pressures and language addressing what would be done if it collected more than projected. Hodges acknowledged a need for consistent investment into Minneapolis parks, but wrote the board’s resolution “simply goes too far toward that goal.” “It would provide an unprecedented level of guarantee for park dollars, a guarantee that does not exist for essential services like police and fire,” Hodges wrote. “If the language is redrafted, this will increase the chances of success.” The measure needed support from six members of the semi-autonomous Park Board to override the veto. Last month, the resolution garnered an 8-0 vote with one commissioner absent. Several commissioners who voted to override the veto said they’re open to the mayor’s comments and in continuing conversations with her and the City Council. In her veto message, Hodges outlined her main concern: a lack of flexibility in the “extremely aggressive” proposed agreement that would change the fiscal relationship between the board and the city. If the city faced disproportionate funding cuts, Hodges wrote, the city should be able to use excess funds collected from the referendum to preserve fire, police or other essential services. Because the proposal would collect a percentage (.0388 percent) of estimated market value of the city, rather than an exact dollar amount, the board would only be able to estimate its revenue, Hodges wrote. Commissioners Annie Young and Meg Forney said they are interested in adding a hold harmless clause to the resolution’s agreement component

The Park Board seeks to close a growing annual funding gap to maintain the city’s 157 neighborhood parks. Photo courtesy of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

with the city. There was some pushback from the board. Commissioner Anita Tabb defended the proposed referendum’s built-in growth for inflation due to increasing costs over its 20-year life. “If you look 20 years down the road, we’re trying to protect the system for a significant period of time,” she said. Young said they should not lose any extra funds raised from the referendum because even with the additional money the board is simply closing its funding gap.

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“We have plenty to fix in this system,” she said. District 6 Commissioner Brad Bourn, who represents Southwest Minneapolis and previously criticized the referendum resolution, said the mayor’s veto brought an opportunity to add language regarding equity and to work with other city officials. “I think that sends a message that we don’t want to work with our friends at City Hall and our friends at the mayor’s office,” he said of the veto override. Parks Superintendent Jayne Miller said

they are proactively working to strengthen the language regarding equity, but with limitations to the ballot language itself, she could bring a decision-making framework to guide the board’s referendum-related spending. Commissioner John Erwin, who previously supported the referendum proposal, was absent for the vote. The referendum proposal was the result of a year-long initiative from the Park Board to find a solution to the park system’s growing $140 million backlog in maintenance and infrastructure needs. Commissioners are seeking to raise property taxes by approximately $15 million per year for the life of the referendum. Miller estimates the increase would translate to $66 a year for taxpayers with a $190,000 home, about $112 a year for those with $300,000 homes and about $174 annually for those with $450,000 homes. While the Park Board is seeking the tax increase, it lacks the power to place it on the city’s November ballot. Miller and commissioners are working with the City Council, Charter Commission, the Legislature and a citizen group to move it forward. The board recently hosted an annual event with local lawmakers to showcase their legislative agenda and discuss the referendum. Mark Andrew, a former Hennepin County commissioner, is chairing a citizen effort to support the referendum and reiterated his support at the board’s meeting. They would need to collect approximately 6,900 signatures between May and July to authorize a referendum, according to the board. “The citizen group stands ready, willing and, hopefully, able to assist this effort in the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

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A18 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

News

By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com

New bikeways planned for Nicollet, Blaisdell New bikeways are slated for construction in 2016 on portions of Nicollet and Blaisdell avenues. A protected bike lane with an eight-foot buffer from traffic would stand on Blaisdell between 31st and 40th streets. Dedicated bike lanes would be striped on both sides of Nicollet from 40th-61st streets. In order to install a protected bikeway on Blaisdell, one travel lane would need to be removed. City staff have determined that current and projected future traffic would continue in a similar fashion on the roadway, regardless of the lost lane. Turn lanes would

be available at signalized intersections including 35th, 36th and 38th. Protected bikeways are designed to provide more space and comfort to bikers and attract a wider range of cyclists. On Nicollet Avenue, city staff have determined that dedicated bike lanes would have a minimal impact on eight-foot parking lanes. Staff are developing the designs with input from city council members and impacted stakeholders. For more information, visit the project pages at minneapolismn.gov/bicycles/projects.

Street Width Typical : 36’

West

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SB Travel Lane 11’

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Parking Lane 10’

East

Proposed protected bike lane on Blaisdell between 31st and 40th streets. Submitted image

SOUTHWEST NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP MEETING TIMES Armatage Neighborhood Association (ANA): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Armatage Park, 57th & Russell. Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association (BMNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Bryn Mawr School, 252 Upton Ave. S. Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Bryant Square Park, 3101 Bryant Ave. S. Cedar-Isles-Dean Neighborhood Association (CIDNA): Board meets every 2nd Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. at Jones-Harrison Residence, 3700 Cedar Lake Ave. East Calhoun Community Organization (ECCO): Board meets 1st Thursday monthly at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, 3450 Irving Ave. S.

East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association (EHFNA): Board meets 1st Wednesday monthly at Walker Methodist, 3737 Bryant Ave. S. (Health Service door)

Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 41st & Nicollet.

Stevens Square Community Organization (SSCO): Board meets 3rd Thursday monthly at the Loring-Nicollet Community Center, 1925 Nicollet Ave. S.

East Isles Residents Association (EIRA): Board meets 2nd Tuesday monthly at Grace-Trinity Community Church, 1430 W. 28th St.

Linden Hills Neighborhood Council (LHiNC): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly at Linden Hills Park, 3100 W. 43rd St.

Tangletown Neighborhood Association (TNA): Board meets 3rd Monday monthly at Fuller Park, 4800 Grand Ave.

Fulton Neighborhood Association (FNA): Board meets 2nd Wednesday monthly at Pershing Park, 3523 W. 48th St.

Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association (LHNA): Board meets 1st Tuesday monthly at Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W. Franklin Ave.

Hale Page Diamond Lake Community Association (HPDL): Board meets last Monday of the month at 5144 13th Ave. S.

Lowry Hill East (Wedge): Board meets 3rd Wednesday monthly at Jefferson Elementary School, 1200 W. 26th St.

Kenny Neighborhood Association (KNA): Board meets 3rd Tuesday monthly at Kenny Park Building, 1328 W. 58th St.

Lyndale Neighborhood Association (LNA): General membership meetings are on the 4th Monday monthly at Painter Park, 34th & Lyndale.

Kenwood Isles Area Association (KIAA): Board meets 1st Monday monthly at Kenwood Neighborhood Center, 2101 W. Franklin Ave.

West Calhoun Neighborhood Council: Board meets 2nd Tuesday monthly at 6 p.m. at The Bakken, 3537 Zenith Ave. S. Whittier Alliance: Board meets 4th Thursday monthly at the Whittier Recreation Center, 425 W. 26 St. Windom Community Council: Board meets 2nd Thursday monthly at Windom Community Center, 5821 Wentworth Ave.

Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association (LYNAS): Board meets 2nd Thursday monthly at 6 p.m. at Lynnhurst Community Center, 50th & West Minnehaha Parkway.

Public Safety Update By Michelle Bruch / mbruch@southwestjournal.com

Fulton sees rash of burglaries in unlocked garages Fulton was hit with at least seven garage burglaries overnight between 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24 and 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25, police said in a crime alert. In all of the cases, suspects entered through unlocked service doors or rummaged through unlocked vehicles, police said. At the 4700 block of Washburn, police said a suspect entered a garage and attempted to steal a vehicle upon finding keys in the console. The vehicle became stuck in the snow and the suspect fled, however. The resident heard noise and discovered the vehicle in the driveway with the car door open and vehicle running, according to Crime Prevention Specialist Jennifer Waisanen. In other incidents, suspects reportedly took loose change, an iPod, wallet, gift card, a camera, CDs, an iPhone cord, vehicle

registration and insurance documents. Incidents were reported at the 4700 block of Washburn; 4800 block of Xerxes; 4800 block of Upton; and the 4900 block of Beard, York and two homes on Zenith. Since the crime alert was issued, residents have reported additional break-ins, Waisanen said. “I’m sure there is a lot more out there,” she said. Police will provide extra patrol in Fulton. Police are asking residents to secure garage doors and lock vehicles parked inside. Burglars commonly knock on doors to see if anyone is home, police said. Police recommend calling 911 to report any suspicious people at the door, perhaps looking for someone who doesn’t live there. For those who are burglarized, police ask them not to contaminate the crime scene or clean up until after the investigation.

Grand jury indicts man in attempted rape in The Wedge A grand jury has indicted a Minneapolis man in two December rape attempts, and prosecutors have filed charges in a third incident. Keith Eugene Washington, age 39, would face a mandatory life sentence as a repeat offender, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. One Dec. 6 incident took place at the 2800 block of Emerson Avenue South, in which Washington allegedly choked a woman until she passed out. Two passersby interrupted the assault and asked the woman if she was alright. Washington allegedly pointed something at them and they fled and called police. Police found Washington a short time later, and police said he was carrying the victim’s cell phone as well as a bag of groceries that belonged to another sexual assault victim. The second woman told police she had been choked to unconscious-

ness and assaulted two hours earlier, a few blocks away. New charges stem from an alleged sexual assault on July 23. In that case, Washington allegedly became angry with a woman he had been spending time with, punching her and choking her until she lost consciousness. He later raped her, according to the complaint, and she feared additional violence. Washington allegedly kept her car keys and refused to allow her to have hospital treatment. He allowed her to leave unaccompanied on July 24, according to the complaint, and two days later she visited the hospital and decided to report the incident.

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 A19

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Southwest Journal February 11–24, 2016

Richard Holzschuh illustrated popular fairy tales and fables, including Aesop’s story of the ant and the grasshopper. Submitted image

An illustrator rediscovered Mia charms with an exhibition on forgotten Minneapolis illustrator Richard Holzschuh

ho is Richard Holzschuh? 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

By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com

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 SEE ART BEAT / PAGE B9

Where We Live

A JOURNAL COMMITMENT TO HIGHLIGHTING GREAT COMMUNITY CAUSES

Neighborhoods Organizing for Change

 Sondra Jones speaks in favor of a citywide earned sick time policy at the Minneapolis Urban League in January.

Neighborhoods Organizing for Change focuses on building power in communities of color

Leading a fight for racial equity One thing has become painfully clear: Minnesota, long known for its high quality of life, has some of the worst racial gaps in the country. The median household income in 2014 for black Minnesotans was $27,000 compared to $64,800 for white residents, according to the Minnesota State Demographic Center. Thirty-eight percent of black Minnesotans were in poverty in 2014 compared to 8 percent of whites. Location Study after study reveals the state’s significant racial disparities in income, education, health and other measures of 1101 W. Broadway Ave. living standards. Despite the grim statistics, North Minneapolis-based Neighborhood Organizing for Change (NOC) — a key organization Contact in the local fight for racial equality — had an incredible year in 2015. 612-246-3132 After losing their building to a probable arson last April, they’ve more than doubled their full-time staff, moved into new offices on West Broadway and raised their profile and awareness about the challenges facing workers of color in the city. Website NOC is a grassroots, member-led movement building power in communities of color across the Twin Cities to tackle the mnnoc.org state’s racial disparities from the ground up. Brit Fry, a communications associate for the organization, said NOC will remain focused in 2016 on advancing a workers’ Year Founded rights agenda by lobbying for paid sick time and fair scheduling policies, an end to wage theft and a $15 minimum wage. 2010 Several NOC members attended a Jan. 25 listening session at the Minneapolis Urban League to show support for a proposed mandatory paid sick time ordinance in Minneapolis. About 40 percent of the city’s workers lack access to paid sick days and they’re disproportionately low income workers of color. Sondra Jones, a NOC member, spoke at the listening session. She’s become increasingly active with the group in recent months. Jones, 25, entered the foster care system at the age of 2 and has lived in 23 different homes. “I finally feel like I have a home,” she said of NOC. She has been involved in the organization’s push for a fair scheduling ordinance, which would require employers to give workers advance notice of their schedules. She worked for two summers as a temp worker at Target Field and said she experienced the frustration of erratic scheduling. “We could be called as little as two hours before we needed to report for an unscheduled shift and, if we couldn’t make it a couple of times — that was grounds for being fired,” she said. “I started going to the worker demonstrations.” Last fall she bumped into NOC organizer Chase Elliot, a former classmate from Henry High School. He invited her to the NOC office to talk about her protest experiences at Target Field. “Right away the staff welcomed me, embraced me, just like they do everybody. First by volunteering, and then by working part-time at NOC, I’ve developed a sense of personal power that I’ve never felt before,” she said. “At NOC, we do everything from really tough community organizing to helping old people shovel their snow when it gets too deep. We stand for building the community up one person at a time, and doing whatever it takes to accomplish that.”

By the numbers

$27,000

Median household income for black Minnesotans in 2014.

$64,800

Median household income for white Minnesotans in 2014.

38%

Percentage of black Minnesotans in poverty in 2014

Percentage of white Minnesotans in poverty in 2014

25%

Percentage of black Minnesotans that own a home

77%

Percentage of white Minnesotans that own a home (Source: Minnesota State Demographic Center)

What you can do Become a dues-paying member and come to monthly meetings. Everyone is welcome to participate in the community-building work of NOC. For upcoming meeting times, go to mnnoc.org. Host a house party for NOC to raise awareness and money for the organization. More details at mnnoc.org/houseparty. Follow NOC on social media to stay abreast of their work in the community and get alerts about upcoming events. (Facebook.com/MNNOC and on Twitter @mnnoc)

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. Margie O’Loughlin is the writer and photographer for the project.

southwestjournal.com / February 11–24, 2016 B3

City Voices.

Photos and interviews by Stephanie Glaros

What’s your biggest strength as a person?

Michelle 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.

Kene 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?

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-plus 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.

Robert 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.

B4 February 11–24, 2016 / southwestjournal.com

Neighborhood Spotlight. CARAG

Neighborhood rundown

33RD ST

Special attractions: Calhoun Square is the CARAG landmark everyone knows. Two-hundredfifty-acre Lakewood Cemetery, located just across CARAG’s southern border, turns 145 years old this year and is a must-see for local history buffs.

CARAG

LYNDALE AVE

— Dylan Thomas

LAKE ST

HENNEPIN AVE

CARAG’s funny name is a quirk of history; it’s one of the few Minneapolis neighborhoods named after a neighborhood organization (Calhoun Area Residents Action Group) instead of the other way around. It’s fitting. Even though the neighborhood has a toe in two of the liveliest nightlife nodes in Minneapolis, Uptown and Lyn-Lake, CARAG’s essential character is more residential than commercial. The neighborhood’s core is stocked with century-old single-family homes and apartment buildings. CARAG residents enjoy easy access to the Chain of Lakes and one of the bike-friendliest neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The neighborhood is well served by transit, too, but it’s easy to run errands on foot. Bryant Square Park is the heart of the neighborhood and not just geographically. Host to a summer concert series and park league athletics events year-round, the park’s ice-skating and hockey rinks make it a wintertime destination, too.

How to get involved: The CARAG neighborhood association (carag.org) holds a neighborhood meeting every third Tuesday of the month at Bryant Square Park. Anyone who lives in the neighborhood or owns a business or property in CARAG is allowed to vote on motions.

LAKE CALHOUN

A primer on CARAG

36TH ST LAKEWOOD CEMETERY

A perfect day in the neighborhood By Dylan Thomas

1) For breakfast, head to CARAG’s southern border, West 36th Street. Between Aldrich and Colfax you’ll find three ways to satisfy your morning cravings: classic diner comfort at Our Kitchen, 813 W. 36th St.; a cozy café vibe at Gigi’s, 824 W. 36th St.; or elevated doughnuts at Bogart’s Donut Co., 904 W. 36th St. Take your pick.

and tasty takes on American bar food (wings, burgers). Morrissey’s tends to draw more of a neighborhood crowd than other Uptown bars, so you’ll feel like a local.

2) After breakfast, hop on a bike.

CARAG is the perfect launching point for a bicycle ride through Minneapolis. Bryant Avenue’s bike lanes head north into downtown and south to Minnehaha Creek. A protected bicycle lane on West 36th Street connects CARAG to Lake Calhoun and the Chain of Lakes biking and walking paths. Here’s a wintertime alternative: Bryant Square Park’s ice skating and hockey rinks are open as long as the cold weather holds, and skates are free to borrow from the recreation center. 3) Worked up an appetite, yet? If you didn’t hit Gigi’s at breakfast, the array of soups, salads and sandwiches on offer make it a solid choice

Our Kitchen is one of a trio of breakfast spots along CARAG’s southern border. Photos by Dylan Thomas

for lunch. An excellent alternative on the north end of the neighborhood is Morrissey’s Irish Pub, 913 W. Lake St., where the menu includes both pub standards (fish and chips, bangers and mash)

6) Digging through back issue boxes at

Comic Book College, 3145 Hennepin Ave. S., is a perfectly fine way to kill an hour (or two) in the afternoon. If you prefer guitar heroes to superheroes, head to Twin Town Guitar, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., for its vast selection of new and used instruments and gear.

4) Head to Calhoun Square to shop or just browse and you’ll find the Uptown landmark in the midst of its latest reinvention. The 30-yearold urban mall changed hands in 2014, and a recent remodel has added art and interest to the building’s formerly bland interior. For a different kind of shopping, take a trip through the aisles of Bill’s Imported Foods, 721 W. Lake St. Those in the know choose this hidden gem for Mediterranean delicacies, including a half-dozen varieties of fresh feta cheese, from tart and creamy French to briny, funky Bulgarian. 5) Time for an afternoon pick-me-up.

Dogwood Coffee takes brewing a cup super-seriously, and its Calhoun Square coffee bar serves one of the best espressos in town.

7) Libertine in Calhoun Square is a modernized steakhouse, both more hip and less pretentious than that term implies. And it’s fun: Once diners finish the unctuous bone marrow toast appetizer, the halved marrowbone becomes a whisky luge. One shot of Rebel Yell, down the gullet. Former La Belle Vie chef Tim McKee helped to guide the restaurant through its 2014 opening, and it remains the best spot in CARAG for dinner and drinks.

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Neighborhood Spotlight. CARAG

Liz Abene behind the counter of Canteen. Abene’s cafe also carries her line of Canteen Girl baked goods. Photo by Dylan Thomas

A view on CARAG from behind the espresso machine

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A conversation with Canteen owner Liz Abene By Dylan Thomas / dthomas@southwestjournal.com

Liz Abene has had a barista’s-eye view on the intersection of 33rd & Bryant for about eight years. That’s around the time Abene started working at the corner coffee shop in the heart of CARAG, then an outlet of Urban Bean. Formerly an investor in that business, Abene took over the location in 2014, renamed it Canteen and launched the city’s first toast bar. Stop in on weekends for a smorgasbord of breads and spreads. You’ll also find Abene’s own line of Canteen Girl granola and baked goods on the café counter. Her convection oven turns out about 600–800 of her vegan oat Holly Bars each month, and her goal is to double production by this summer. The space feels cozier after a recent remodel. While she appreciated “mod, spare lines” of Urban Bean, Abene said she prefers an “up north” vibe now that the shop is hers. The Southwest Journal sat down with Abene in early February. The following conversation was edited for length and clarity. You’ve been coming to this space almost every day for eight years. What do you learn about a neighborhood?

I do feel a little bit like “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” I see the same people. Even my client base is probably 90 percent regulars and 10 percent new people, which is great. What Urban Bean wanted to be was a hip, destination shop. I’ve always wanted a regular, community-based coffee shop that’s for the community. I don’t care if we’re the coolest shop in town or doing the most current things. I just want to provide good product to nice people, and so that’s what we’re trying to do here. We know all the babies’ names. There’s one baby I hold, Agnes, every single day. She came here before she went home. (On their way home) from the hospital, they stopped here to get coffee. She called me “dada” for a while, but she’s out of that phase now. I’m like, “Stop trying to correct her. I don’t get to be a dad for very long.” So cute. So, I just like that about it here. It’s a great space. It’s got really good energy in here, good light and all that.

What do you like about this neighborhood?

All the people are just approachable. There’s some money and some not-money. There’s some rentals, which I like, because we do get some 20-somethings in here and it’s nice to get a wide range of ages. I like that. I volunteer at the VOA (Volunteers of America, just over the neighborhood border in East Harriet) once a week because it’s nice. I love it. It’s weird, because I’m an introvert, but I’m an extroverted introvert. I just like people, I like people’s stories, the whole thing. So, I get little bits and pieces of people’s stories every day. You have a lot of regulars here, so I wonder: Can you just open up a café and people will show up with their laptops? Or is there some secret to creating a welcoming space?

I was really lucky taking over here because I had already been here, so I had kind of a built-in client base. Because they already were familiar with me, that made my transition really easy. What I really try and do with my staff here is I try and have everyone be very welcoming and inviting. I try and have them find their people. I always tell them, “You can be as hipster and cool as you want to, but you have to be nice.” You have to be nice to people. People are everything. Being a café owner, do you get any special insight into your neighbors, beyond their coffee preferences?

Sometimes. I get all kinds of stuff. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I get told. I’m like a bartender, only no one’s drunk so there’s a little bit of a boundary, but sometimes not. Yeah, I get windows into people’s lives because I see them every day, and it’s mostly nice. I’m actually a very open person, so I feel like if they give me something I can share something, too. Because, you know, sometimes if you tell someone a whole bunch of stuff about yourself, when you leave you’re kind of like, ‘Oof.’ But I try and have it be so people know about my children and my life a little bit. That’s good.

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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.

A Eureka recycling truck. Submitted photos

— 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.

Eureka is competing for the city’s recycling contract.

east 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. 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

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 North-

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?,” he asked, noting in nature one things 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 [then-Governor] 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,” she 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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