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March 21–April 3, 2019 Vol. 30, No. 6 southwestjournal.com
A lesson for every student District adds differentiation position to 2019–20 budget By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@southwestjournal.com
When the Minneapolis Society for the Blind moved to 1936 Lyndale Ave. S. in the 1940s, there wasn’t yet a freeway and streetcars still rolled by on Lyndale. Today Vision Loss Resources stands on increasingly valuable land. The nonprofit commissioned a study that envisions a 24-story tower on the site, and in mid-March a consultant started marketing the property for redevelopment. While a new tower might catch the eye, eyesight isn’t necessary to appreciate the current building.
Teaching both advanced and struggling students simultaneously might seem like standard practice in the city’s schools. But Walter Schleisman, principal at Lake Harriet Community School Upper Campus, said it’s more difficult than it appears. “You have to set up the structure of your classroom so kids can work independently,” Schleisman said. “For some teachers, that’s a complete mind shift.” Elementary and middle school teachers across Minneapolis Public Schools will soon have more help Walter catering to students of all skill levels. Schleisman Starting in the fall, every K–5, K–8 and 6–8 school in the district must hire a half-time “differentiation specialist” — a licensed teacher who will help meet the varying academic needs of students. The nearly $2.6 million initiative comes as the district focuses on Superintendent Ed Graff ’s priorities of literacy, equity, socialemotional learning and student supports. It’s one piece of the district’s proposed $620.6 million 2019–20 general-fund budget, which Graff said will deliver a “sense of stability” to schools and district departments. “We think this is a practical but much-needed addition to the work that we’re doing,” said Eric Moore, a member of the superintendent’s cabinet and interim chief of academics. Moore said the specialists will coach teachers and implement strategies such as co-planning, co-teaching, co-assessing and general problem solving. He said the specialists should allow classroom teachers to spend less time looking for materials and more time tailoring instruction to students’ needs. The specialists will be required to have an advancedlearner certificate or master’s degree-level training in gifted education, said Chris Ramsey, who heads the district’s K–8 talent development and advanced learner education
SEE VISION LOSS RESOURCES / PAGE A12
SEE SCHOOL DIFFERENTIATION / PAGE A14
Franklin & Lyndale’s
NEW VISION VISION LOSS RESOURCES SITE FOR SALE AFTER DECADES ON CORNER A Vision Loss Resources client learns safe travel skills with an instructor on Lyndale Avenue. Photo by Bruce Silcox
By Michelle Bruch
Local trivia night loses its turf to the Mafia The Uptown VFW replaced an independent trivia competition with Trivia Mafia, an expanding Twin Cities company that now serves 11 bars and restaurants in southwest Minneapolis By Zac Farber / zfarber@southwestjournal.com
For the 251st Wednesday in the past six years, patrons of the Uptown VFW drank pitchers of beer on Feb. 27 and mulled over Aaron Hartung’s trivia questions, which he read — one every few minutes — in his sonorous, sardonic voice. What animal has the longest gestation period of any mammal? What industrial rock band got its name from the spikes that affixed Jesus Christ to the cross? What unusual distinction is shared by Judy Garland, Lenny Bruce, Orville Redenbacher, Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley?
As trivia regulars pondered the answers (African elephant, Nine Inch Nails, died in the bathroom), they also struggled with the evening’s larger questions: What had Hartung’s weekly trivia game meant to them? And what would they do now that it was over? In January, the VFW decided to replace Hartung’s TwoFisted Trivia with a Tuesday night Trivia Mafia game, thereby shuttering one of the few remaining independent bar trivia operations in Minneapolis. SEE TWO-FISTED TRIVIA / PAGE A11
Aaron Hartung (right) allows Karl Turba to eat his tie on Feb. 27 as he hosts his final night of trivia at the James Ballentine VFW in Uptown. Hartung emphasized the communal aspect of bar trivia. “The actual questions and the competition itself is in a way kind of secondary,” he said. Submitted photo
A2 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
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Sol Taqueria owner Jorge Garcia inside his new restaurant. Photos by Andrew Hazzard
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10 p.m. and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options. The breakfast menu features Mexican classics like chilaquiles and huevos rancheros. The restaurant has about 16 employees, Garcia said, and eventually he’d like to offer a more robust take-out service. He said he’d been planning his own restaurant for about a year, and jumped on the Windom location when it became available. Locals have been receptive, he said. Someone in the area even brought over a cake to welcome the taqueria. “We’ve had a lot of support from the neighborhood,” Garcia said.
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A4 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
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A new player has joined the Southwest baking scene this month as Penny’s launches its own bakery inside the cafe’s 44th & Beard location in Linden Hills. The lineup of sweet, made-in-house treats is the beginning of an ambitious build-out of Penny’s offerings. “We have kind of a lot happening in the next four to six months,” said executive chef Shawn McKenzie, who has been tasked with creating and expanding Penny’s bakery operation. McKenzie came to the Minneapolis culinary scene from Portland six years ago to develop the pastry program at Burch in Lowry Hill. Now she’s been given the keys to the large kitchen at Penny’s. The first step, creating a pastry program, is well underway. The menu offers classics such as shortbreads, croissants and pain au chocolat, but also features less common pastries like the honey turmeric twist. Many of the pastries were inspired by a trip McKenzie took with Penny’s co-founder Ben Hertz to Tel Aviv, Israel. That becomes apparent quickly with her tahini babka — where challah dough is rolled with tahini spread and orange marmalade.
Once the pastry line is fully established, McKenzie plans on adding to the bread program and starting a regular Friday challah sale. After that, she’ll move on to building up the savory portion of the menu. McKenzie never thought she’d be specializing in pastry or leading a kitchen. The daughter of chef, she saw herself going toward the conventional side of cooking and being a “cog in the machine,” but when she found work laminating pastry dough — the process of wrapping dough around butter that creates the light, flaky texture and taste typical of Danish and croissant pastries — she was hooked. Now managing her own program, McKenzie has come to embrace the challenges of bakery life. “It’s really time consuming, but you also have to be able to manage your time well,” McKenzie said of life in the pastry field. She and sous chef Sadie Sayre arrive at about 4:30 a.m. each day and cook up pastries for both the Linden Hills and Downtown Penny’s locations. The two have a large, new kitchen space to create inside the Linden Hills shop. So far, the pastries have been selling well at both spots, particularly the pistachio croissants and tahini babka.
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A5
LINDEN HILLS
Local nut butter business sees rapid growth
Humble Nut Butter co-founders Jess and John Waller (right) cook with Minneapolis chef and author Beth Dooley (left). Dooley recently helped the company develop new recipes that feature their nut butters. Submitted photos
In the fall of 2017, John and Jess Waller wanted a snack. They craved something savory, but nothing in the fridge at their Linden Hills home sounded appealing. That’s when Jess Waller used some raw nuts and spices to create a new spread that satisfied their cravings. A year later, they had three different nut butter recipes and a new business venture. “We felt confident and had enough good feedback to launch the business,” John Waller said. In 2018, they took their wares to farmers markets in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs and liked the feedback they received and the rate they sold their jars. “You could see people’s eyes light up,” John Waller said. Since then, John Waller has quit his job, committing full time to their business, Humble Nut Butter. After a year of cooking at The Lynhall’s incubator kitchen at 27th & Lyndale, Humble Nut Butter expanded in 2019, and is now cooking at the commercial space at Jewish Housing and
Programming’s Nosh and Nibble kitchen in Golden Valley. Their three flavors — Sundried Basil Cashew, Truffle Herb Walnut and Spiced Maple Pecan — are now available all over the metro. While farmers markets continue to be a place for the Wallers to make personal connections with customers, their products are now on the shelf at several local grocers, including France 44, Linden Hills Co-op, Wedge Community Co-op and Lakewinds Food Co-op branches. The Wallers are partial to the Truffle Herb Walnut flavor but say the Sundried Basil Cashew is the best seller. They advise consumers use the spreads for cooking, to dip veggies or as a condiment. The couple recently partnered with Minneapolis chef and author Beth Dooley to generate original recipes that incorporate their spreads. They source their nuts, spices and packaging from area vendors. “We try to do as much locally as we can,” John Waller said.
Humble Nut Butter, a company founded in a Linden Hills kitchen, offers three flavors of nut-based spread, which are available at multiple co-ops in Minneapolis.
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The Calhoun Square shopping mall in Uptown is up for sale. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
A6 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
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A new five-story, 63-unit apartment building with a car elevator is being proposed in Whittier. The project, from Yellow Tree Development Corporation and designed by DJR Architecture, would replace two existing multi-family housing structures at 28th & Garfield. The developer presented the design to the Planning Commission Committee of the Whole on March 14 and also met with the Whittier Alliance Housing Issues Committee on March 19. The building would include an automated garage feature that will enable parking for 49 vehicles, with 25 standard stalls and 24 more units accessed by an automated stacking feature to maximize space. “The car stacking system, I think, is going to be key,” Yellow Tree co-founder Robb Lubenow said. New construction would replace one 12-unit apartment building and another, multi-unit home. Lubenow said they have been in discussions with the building residents about their plans since purchasing the properties last summer. Many of the units are vacant, but those that are occupied are currently on month-to-month leases, Lubenow said. There are about 17 people living in the building, he said. If and when the project is approved by the city, Lubenow said they would give residents an additional 90 days in the building and have been offering to help residents move into a similar property Yellow Tree owns at 28th & Harriet. Yellow Tree acquired the properties in
June 2018 for $1.66 million, according to Hennepin County property records. Most of the units would be either studios or small one-bedroom apartments, according to city documents, which also note a few two-bedroom units. Floors two through four would have 16 units each; the fifth floor would have 14 units and community space indoors and on the deck. Three walk-up units would have access to Garfield Avenue. The design calls for a lobby with a work area and fitness studio on the first floor, along with an enclosed parking garage. Lubenow characterizes the project, much like other Yellow Tree apartment buildings coming to Nicollet Avenue, as new construction for an underserved market: workers earning between about $32,000 and $50,000 per year who don’t qualify for affordable housing and likely can’t afford new luxury units. “No one is building for the market we’re trying to satisfy,” Lubenow said. The developer is seeking a conditional use permit to increase the maximum height in the area, zoned an R5 multi-family district, from four stories and 56 feet tall to five stories and 62.5 feet. Several variances are also sought, including setback reductions on three sides. Under the Minneapolis 2040 plan currently under review by the Metropolitan Council, the site would allow buildings of 2–6 stories. Lubenow said they are hoping to go before the full Planning Commission for approval in April and, if approved, construction would likely begin in 2020.
The existing, 12-unit building at 601 W. 28th St. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A7
Retail for now, mercury cleanup maybe later
Team Larry
L e l g o ust Go
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By Zac Farber / zfarber@southwestjournal.com
A former Jiffy Lube on a contaminated site near the Whole Foods in West Calhoun could soon become a restaurant, coffee shop or fitness studio. In December Nolan Properties paid $1.3 million cash for the triangular site at the corner of Excelsior & Abbott, just a few hundred feet from the future West Lake Street light-rail station. Nolan Properties is seeking remediation grants from the Metropolitan Council and the Department of Employment and Economic Development to deal with the mercury contamination left over from when the site was used as a city dump in the early 1900s. “This site goes down 80 feet of terrible, horrible soils,” developer John Nolan told the West Calhoun Neighborhood Council (WCNC) March 12. “The water table is at eight feet — that water is contaminated.” A building adjacent to the Jiff y Lube site that holds a Yogurt Lab and a My Burger is also owned by Nolan Properties. Eventually — in five to 10 years — the developer hopes to knock down both buildings, thoroughly clean up the soil around the Jiff y Lube structure and erect a multi-story residential-retail building spanning both sites. But for the short term, Nolan said, he mostly wants to “address the cosmetics” — updating the facade, adding vegetation, installing bicycle parking and potentially putting in a patio to
! s l l i H inden
make the building attractive to either one or two tenants. Contaminated soil would be replaced to a depth of four feet underneath green space and two feet under the remainder of the property. Ward 13 City Council member Linea Palmisano said she thought the proposed project would be “viable for now.” “The existing space is kind of blighty,” she said. “It’s not the best long-term use of the property.” Despite the environmental concerns, WCNC board members were mostly pleased with the proposal to spruce up the building that’s been empty for almost two years. “It’s an eyesore, it really is,” Board member Victoria Hoshal said. But they wondered whether the narrow sidewalk fronting Excelsior Boulevard could be expanded. “People in motorized wheelchairs are challenged going through there,” Board member Richard Logan said. “Yogurt Lab in the summer months is a real teen hangout. They will try to walk down the sidewalk three or four abreast, bumping into each other and stepping onto the pavement and the cars are right there, going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.” Nolan said he was unsure whether he would be able to work with the city to increase the size of the sidewalk but noted that “it is in our selfish benefit to improve the pedestrian experience.”
Nolan Properties development analyst Kim Van Dyn Hoven presents a plan to fix up a former Jiffy Lube site to the West Calhoun Neighborhood Council on March 12. Photo by Zac Farber
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A8 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
PUBLISHER Janis Hall jhall@southwestjournal.com
CO-PUBLISHER & SALES MANAGER Terry Gahan tgahan@southwestjournal.com
GENERAL MANAGER Zoe Gahan zgahan@southwestjournal.com
EDITOR Zac Farber 612-436-4391 zfarber@southwestjournal.com
STAFF WRITERS Nate Gotlieb ngotlieb@southwestjournal.com
Andrew Hazzard ahazzard@southwestjournal.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michelle Bruch Mira Klein Brian Lambert Joey Peters Sheila Regan Karen Ritz Susan Schaefer Sarah Woutat CREATIVE DIRECTOR Valerie Moe vmoe@southwestjournal.com
SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Micah Edel medel@southwestjournal.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Brenda Taylor btaylor@southwestjournal.com
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Amy Rash 612-436-5081 arash@southwestjournal.com
AD COORDINATOR Hannah Dittberner 612-436-4389 hdittberner@southwestjournal.com
DISTRIBUTION Marlo Johnson 612-436-4388
By Jim Walsh
Schooled at The Lynhall
D
on’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, said a voice in me, loudly. I was snuggled up next to the fireplace at my latest favorite work hang, The Lynhall, Anne Spaeth’s warm and inviting café/ coffee shop/bar/community hub/shelter from the bleepstorm in Lowry Hill East. The place was packed with good people and good energy. Seriously? You’re really going to do this? Here’s a better idea: JUST … DON’T, the voice hollered. But I was feeling good! I’d been writing and giving thanks for secret shovelers and connectivity and community. I’d just lingered a good long while over the James Joyce letters to Nora Barnacle that hang over the beautiful antique Corona typewriters near the kitchen, so I was feeling a certain “We are the World” oneness when six young Somali women walked in and sat down at a table near me. That’s when the voice started yelling at me. You know better than this. You work with and have interactions with Somali-Americans and Muslims every day, so why now? DON’T DO IT. At the time, “Confronting Islamophobia” and anti-Semitism workshops and think pieces were trending. At the time, a Somali-American congresswoman friend of mine and a JewishAmerican songwriter friend of mine were on very heated opposite sides of a political divide created by thousands of years of the dogma and religion of their respective tribes, and I’d spent the week standing on the sidelines, reading, listening and learning — about history, hatespeak, tolerance, politics, loudmouths and the new World War we’re all living through. I got up from my chair and approached the young women. I wanted to make contact. I wanted to talk to these women who turned the heads of some of the multi-culti customers when they walked in. I wanted to acknowledge them, and our common ground. I suppose I could’ve said, “I’ve lived near this neighborhood most of my life, and I’m guessing that you haven’t, and well, this is clumsy, but given what’s going on in the world and given some of the racist attitudes towards Muslims that I read in the daily newspaper and hear on the local TV and radio, I just hope you feel welcome and part of everything.”
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I’d spent the week standing on the sidelines, reading, listening and learning — about history, hatespeak, tolerance, politics, loudmouths and the new World War we’re all living through.
Leon Wang-created poster from the Muslim Solidarity Gathering held March 16 at the Dar Al-Farooq Center in Bloomington. Photo courtesy of Carl Atiya Swanson
Good grief. Instead, I stood at the head of their table and timidly said, “Excuse me?” The room got still. I could feel eyes from the other tables on me. The six women looked up at me, all wearing elegant hijabs on their heads and the same expression of WTF? on their faces. “I don’t want to be presumptuous,” I squeaked, “but are you coming from the RISE conference out at Best Buy headquarters?” I had read about RISE (Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment) and had recently interviewed its founder, Nausheena Hussain, and I was interested in the conference. I’d wanted to cover the conference, but when I contacted the group, my admission was rejected because “there will be no other people attending who identify as male.” In fact, this is the first time I’ve been told I identify as male, and I accepted my lot in life and rejection with a sigh. Still, I was genuinely curious, and always looking for stories. “Nooo,” they all said in unison; a couple murmured that they’d heard of the conference. “OK, thanks and yes, I guess I was being presumptuous,” I said, to nods and titters. I
apologized for interrupting, and split. A few days later, I recounted the story to my friend and fellow Southwest Journal columnist Steve Brandt, who cracked, “Hey. You’re a white guy. You going to the Final Four?” As I write this, funerals are being planned for the shooting victims of the Al Noor Mosque in New Zealand, and the world again feels very dark. That darkness is part of the reason I wanted to talk with my neighbors (next time I’ll do better and do what Minnesotans do best — talk about the weather), and part of the reason why I will continue to ask stupid questions was reinforced by something ISAIAH, a coalition of Minnesota Muslims, got to in a tweet over the weekend: “In Islam we are taught to think of all of us as connected people — created by the same Creator. The dehumanization of people has become normal and what you fear is easy to eliminate. Curiosity not suspicion, conversation instead of dislike, can move us from hate to love.” Jim Walsh lives and grew up in South Minneapolis. He can be reached at jimwalsh086@gmail.com.
southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A9
A note from the Southwest Journal’s new editor I want to introduce myself as the new editor of the Southwest Journal and ask for your help as I learn how best to cover the community. I’m a Washington state native who moved to Minnesota in 2006. I’ve worked in journalism for the past nine years and, for the past seven, have been living in the West Calhoun neighborhood. I am passionate about the mission of community newspapers and think they are one of the basic building blocks of a democratic society — a space where citizens can debate ideas and grapple with facts and check what they read against what they see. I believe the Southwest Journal’s balanced coverage and nuanced stories have been essential to the strength and vibrancy of this community. I hope to continue this tradition of excellence and ensure the paper is radically focused on Southwest Minneapolis and the stories of its residents. This is where I can use your help. What should I know about your neighborhood’s history, your child’s school, your friend’s nonprofit, your house of worship, your corner hardware store, your favorite barber, or your local mystery? Do you know someone working to fix a fractured or broken system? Should we
profile the larger-than-life character who lives down your block? Is there something in your community you wish you knew more about? I’m interested in bringing new and diverse voices into the pages of the Southwest Journal. If you feel your stories have been marginalized or underrepresented in traditional media outlets, please reach out and we can discuss opportunities for writing a story or a column. I want to thank former editors David Brauer, Sarah McKenzie and Dylan Thomas, as well as Michelle Bruch and the many other Southwest Journal veterans and community members who have already taken the time to answer my questions and offer guidance. I am thrilled by the opportunity to join this paper’s small, talented staff. And I am especially grateful to the publishers, Janis Hall and Terry Gahan, and general manager, Zoe Gahan, for trusting me with the stewardship of a publication that has accrued so much meaning, both in their own lives and in the lives of their readers. As I find my bearings in this new role, I want to hear from you! Please send me an email at editor@swjournal.com or message me on Twitter (@zacfarber), and let me know how you see your community and how the Southwest Journal can help tell your stories.
MEET THE EDITOR The Southwest Journal’s new editor, Zac Farber, will be at Royal Grounds Coffee in Kingfield from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 28. Stop by and introduce yourself!
In this March 13 photo, ice chunks flow on a rising Minnehaha Creek near 54th & Xerxes as snow rapidly melts. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
Preventing spring flooding on Minnehaha Creek The National Weather Service looks for certain indicators that spring flooding is likely. Was there a wet fall? A heavy early snowpack? A deep frost? “It seemed like all the boxes were going to get checked,” Tiffany Schaufler, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District’s project and land manager, said on March 13. “What it comes down to is what the weather is going to do in the next couple of weeks.” The unknown factor is always if hard rains will fall and how fast the snow will melt. The ideal scenario for preventing flooding is to have warm days but nights that dip below freezing, Schaufler said. If nighttime temperatures stay warm, then everything melts at once and overwhelms the creek bed. As the deep snowpack melted and rain fell between March 12–14, localized flooding occurred along the Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, which put city crews on constant
lookout to break up ice jams at bottlenecks throughout the city. “Days like today are really all hands on deck,” Rachael Crabb, the water resources supervisor at the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, said on March 14. When the snow begins to melt, crews drive up and down the creek looking for bottlenecks and flooding. “The biggest problem is ice jams,” Crabb said. Ice jams form when thick ice chunks begin to break up in creeks and rivers, which can catch on logs and at bends in the water and dam up, which causes water to back up and spill over banks. Minnehaha Creek, which flows from Lake Minnetonka to the Mississippi River, largely falls under the management of the MPRB in its Minneapolis section. When Park Board SEE MINNEHAHA CREEK / PAGE A14
A10 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
Housing advocate’s book talk hits close to home Author of ‘Generation Priced-Out’ speaks at Magers & Quinn By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@southwestjournal.com
Author Randy Shaw discusses his book “Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America,” which includes a section about Lowry Hill East, at a tour stop at Magers & Quinn in Uptown on March 14. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
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At every stop on his book tour, Randy Shaw makes an example of Minneapolis as he discusses upzoning and neighborhood battles over proposed multifamily housing, but on March 14 he found himself speaking to Minneapolitans about their own city. “I’m glad I can talk about Minneapolis in Minneapolis,” he said at Magers & Quinn in Uptown, where he was promoting his new book “Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America.” Shaw, the director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in San Francisco, has been a leading voice for affordable housing and density for decades. His book tackles the contradiction that cities with progressive reputations like San Francisco and Seattle have the biggest affordable housing problems in America. While much attention is put on developers and gentrification, Shaw identifies older, entrenched homeowners as a source of opposition to making cities more affordable. “They recycle organics at their home,” Shaw said. “They drive a Prius, so they don’t have a problem opposing new apartments.” When the Oakland Ghost Ship fire of 2016 killed 36 people in a warehouse that had been converted into a shared living space, Shaw was inspired to answer the question: Why are so many people priced out of America’s cities? The book examines the trend in cities such as Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, and also includes a short, initially unplanned, section on Minneapolis. In each city, he found that neighborhood groups dominated by homeowners had disproportionate power and influence. Shaw said he was drawn to Minneapolis by a 2016 video compiled by local journalist John Edwards, who documents a wide range of community issues on his website and Twitter account Wedge Live. The video showed a group of Lowry Hill East residents voicing opposition to a proposed 10-unit apartment building at 28th & Bryant. After watching people complain about the influx of “Bender boxes” to the neighborhood, he tracked down and interviewed City Council President Lisa Bender (Ward 10). “I was just riveted,” Shaw said. “You had the minority of homeowners in a renter neighbor-
hood demanding they don’t add any more renters to their neighborhood, so I thought I had to get into this Minneapolis stuff.” Bender, who sat in the audience during Shaw’s presentation, credited the work of groups like Neighbors for More Neighbors in speaking out about housing access and renters’ rights in the city. “To say, ‘I’m a renter, and I live here and I care about this community’ is a really brave thing to do,” Bender said during a Q & A session following the talk. Shaw praised the provisions passed in the Minneapolis 2040 plan, which will zone the entire city for at least triplex housing when it goes into effect. He said Minneapolis environmental groups’ pro-climate arguments for zoning density have made a big difference. Critics of the 2040 plan say that upzoning will change neighborhood character and give a greenlight to developers to buy up single-family homes, tear them down and build new apartments. But Shaw sees the plan, and the passage of housing bonds in cities like Austin, Texas and Portland, as part of a generation shift among power structures in American cities, with younger politicians pushing back against traditionally empowered groups. There’s room to grow after upzoning, Shaw told the crowd, starting with boosting renter rights in the city. “Even Minneapolis can learn from things other cities have done,” he said. Minneapolis is working on developing a “renter’s bill of rights” and on March 15 passed a “renter-first housing policy,” which will require city departments to “view their work through a renter-centric lens” and boost early-intervention and safety-net programs to keep renters in their homes. Shaw said he planned to attend the meeting before a tour stop in St. Paul. While his book documents local movements for housing, Shaw said much of the crisis stems from a lack of federal funding for housing, which has fallen since the 1980s. Although he said he’s seen little success in 40 years of work on housing issues, he’s excited by a new cohort of local politicians and by the response he’s received from readers. “Everywhere I go there’s great enthusiasm for the message,” he said.
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A11
FROM TWO-FISTED TRIVIA / PAGE A1
The VFW cited low attendance figures and a desire to “try something new” with Trivia Mafia — a Minneapolis-based juggernaut that now runs trivia for 119 locations in the greater Twin Cities — but some Two-Fisted fans worried the decision might portend larger upheavals at their beloved dive bar. In recent years, the James Ballentine VFW Post 246 has opened a 440-person capacity music venue, increased food options and introduced a new, brightly lit second bar on Lyndale Avenue. It has also abruptly dismissed wellliked staff, such as bartender Trish Mitchell and karaoke host Crystal Lollie. But the VFW’s back room, with its diverse clientele, popcorn-sticky floor, and jarring neon lighting scheme, has hardly changed since it opened in the 1950s. Kaylie Falk said the VFW has been one of her last remaining sanctuaries from “the general gentrification of the neighborhood.” She’s said she’s kept coming back even after being priced out of Uptown. “This is my ‘Cheers,’” she said. “It’s how I met my core friend group here in Minneapolis.” PH Copeland, an organizer with the St. Paul nonprofit Hope Community, said she’s “gone to trivia at one of the large, known spots, and there’s definitely a difference here.” “The VFW has allowed multiple different communities to come together,” she said, “not in a kumbaya-ish, post-racial way — obviously there’s no such thing — but I appreciate the continuity and the creativity and the heart.” Hartung said the “old-timey” atmosphere at the veteran-led bar was key to his style of trivia. A good host, he said, should keep their ego out of it and “focus on people hanging out, enjoying each others’ company.” “The actual questions and the competition itself is in a way kind of secondary,” the East Harriet resident said. “This is more of a communal routine for people. You have people gathering every Wednesday just like you have people who go to church every Sunday morning.”
Two twists on trivia Fernando Jackson started hosting Two-Fisted Trivia in the summer of 2009, after being recruited by his friend Hilari Bandow. (The “Two-Fisted” name comes from a drink special involving more beer than can be held in one hand.) Together, Jackson and Bandow worked out the format. Two ten-question rounds, the first round themed, the second, general knowledge, followed by a lightning round in which Jackson asked teams to send “their drunkest member” to answer four rapid-fire questions. Winners were rewarded with wooden drink tokens. After about a year, 15 to 20 teams per week were coming to Two-Fisted Trivia. Hartung played as a member of a team called “Love with Effortless Tickles.” “At the time I was a little arrogant, and would kind of critique questions,” Hartung said. “I wouldn’t say he critiqued me,” Jackson recalled. “But he’d always have a follow-up question.” When Jackson moved to San Diego in 2013, he picked Hartung as his replacement. “I’m a little more outlandish, but he’s got a good clear voice and demeanor,” Jackson said. Hartung kept Jackson’s format and continued to “pepper in some risqué questions,” but he injected more of his own personality and background. “For the first two years, every other week there was a question where the answer was Chile,” said Hartung, who is half-Chilean. “It became an Easter egg reward for the regulars, a little layup point.” Hartung would spend three or four hours a week writing questions (the best ones, he said, “actually start a debate or even an argument at the table”), and he took special pleasure in personalizing questions for special occasions. When he learned that Matt, a longtime player on Team Dragon, was moving to Michigan, he asked Matt’s teammates about his favorite movies and music. On Matt’s final evening at the VFW, Hartung wrote the questions just for him. “That’s not going to happen with Trivia Mafia — it’s going to be the same thing whether you go to Bar A or Bar B or Bar C,” Hartung said.
Crystal Lollie (left), a former karaoke host at the VFW, returned to celebrate the end of Two-Fisted Trivia with her friends Kaylie Falk (center) and Renae Totten. Submitted photo
‘Advertising and networking’ In early 2007, when Trivia Mafia co-founder Chuck Terhark started hosting trivia at the 331 Club in northeast Minneapolis, there were just a handful or so places to play bar trivia in the Twin Cities, he said. Today, the company he grew with his friend Sean McPherson serves 44 bars and restaurants in Minneapolis, including 11 in Southwest. Terhark and a team of five part-time writers produce more than 200 questions a week, enough so you could play Trivia Mafia every night of the year without answering more than the occasional repeat. Along with the quality of its questions, Terhark said much of Trivia Mafia’s allure to businesses has been its strength in marketing. “People will check out a new bar or brewery or distillery or taproom just because we are there,” he said. “We have thousands of fans around the metro who are hopping around to different Trivia Mafia nights.” Jimmy Berg, a bar manager at the VFW, said the decision to replace Two-Fisted Trivia with Trivia Mafia was purely financial. “The numbers weren’t doing awesome,” Berg said, “At Trivia Mafia, they have their own builtin advertising and networking, which makes it easier for people to find a location.” Terhark said he supports independent trivia and noted that the VFW reached out to Trivia Mafia, not the other way around. “We’re also local,” he said. “Despite our name, we’re not really a mafia. We’re not walking in like, ‘Nice trivia night, shame if anything happened to it.’” Hartung said he wished that the VFW had tried advertising Two-Fisted Trivia on its events flyers, but he isn’t bitter about the bar’s decision. “You can consider yourself a regular of an area or a city or a neighborhood when you’ve been there long enough that you can complain about an old place leaving,” he said.
Wise guys Loren Woodman, a soft-spoken counselor at Lincoln International High School, has been coming to Two-Fisted Trivia since it started. His favorite part was walking up to the front of the bar with his answer. After each question, teams would submit their response on a torn slip of notebook paper to Hartung, who would announce the correct response before reading the next question. “You get to interact with a lot of different people,” Woodman said. “I like meeting people I wouldn’t meet normally.” Over the years Woodman banded together with other solo players and formed a variety of trivia teams — Teacher’s Pet, Southsiders, Jeff, and Lucky Pierre (the answer to the sixth question of the evening). On the last night of Two-Fisted Trivia, Woodman was adamant that he would not be attending the VFW’s replacement program. “With Trivia Mafia, it’s too easy to cheat,” he said. “Trivia Mafia is like a franchise when we had our own independent.” But Woodman’s tablemates thought he might be pushing things too far. “Don’t slam, be nice, don’t be ugly,” one advised him. “Don’t make an enemy of the mafia,” said another.
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A12 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com FROM VISION LOSS RESOURCES / PAGE A1
There is a test kitchen where people with damaged sight can relearn their way around the kitchen, by adding tactile marks to teaspoons and microwaves. People can search the web with a refreshable Braille keyboard, play a hand of cribbage, learn smartphone audio functions, or learn to cross the street by listening for the direction of traffic. “People don’t like to talk about losing their vision. It’s terrifying and frightening,” said Dr. Kate Grathwol, president and CEO. “It’s freaky, but so is much of life. We’re here to help you. Get over it, and get on with your life.”
Looking back and letting go To support the organization — many services have sliding scale fees and are not covered by insurance — an onsite packaging and light manufacturing facility serves clients like Caribou Coffee, 3M and Thymes, funneling all of the proceeds back into the nonprofit. When the Minneapolis Society for the Blind was founded in 1914, such hands-on work aimed to provide good jobs for the blind and visually impaired. “At the turn of the last century they were often shuttered. Family didn’t want them to go outside because they’d be injured,” Grathwol said. Today’s mission is more ambitious, with participants riding tandem bikes on the Greenway, living independently, woodworking and bowling at Memory Lanes. Full-time students in intensive rehabilitation — perhaps someone who lost vision in a car accident and will return to work — can stay in nearby apartments that look like any other apartment, without “whiz-bang” technologies for visual impairment. Adaptive technology is expensive and the real world doesn’t always have it, Grathwol said. “Our job is to teach you to be able to go anywhere you want and function at a super high level,” she said. Gadgets like clip-on vibrating pads and wristbands can signal the door and the phone, writes
Hopkins resident John Lee Clark, who was born deaf and gradually became blind during adolescence. But at home, he doesn’t want to carry around any tools or devices. One woman sprayed a rose fragrance out the window to call her husband indoors, he said, and another woman preferred a signal using fans. At Vision Loss Resources, one support group debated the best way to put toothpaste on a toothbrush: Some use a finger as a guide, others squeeze it directly into the mouth. “There’s always another way to do it,” Grathwol said. Grathwol herself experienced low vision as a child, and she remembers wondering how on earth she ran into the neighbor’s large Chevy. But her eyesight improved as her body built up more melanin, and when her vision dramatically improved at age 12, she spent an entire summer on the front porch reading books. Grathwol relates her story in “The Way We See It,” a book of local essays by friends of Vision Loss Resources. Contributors include Southwest Minneapolis resident Juliette Silvers, who called the FBI and television stations in 1970 when she discovered her account at the New York Bowery Savings Bank had been emptied. A guard “handling” her and other blind customers’ accounts had been helping himself to their cash, she said, and the incident changed the bank’s practices. Book contributor Robert Anderson describes the “messy business of going blind by slow degrees,” seeing his view from the bus become a jumble. “Lately I’ve begun to explore giving up the struggle of trying to make sense of what I see and relaxing into not seeing, accepting confusion and trusting in what my other senses and intuition tell me,” he writes. “I’ve discovered there’s an ease, a serenity in letting go.” Vision Loss Resources operates a second location in St. Paul, and a new site hasn’t yet been determined. The relocation comes at a time when demand for services is projected to grow. Fewer than 10 percent of legally blind
A predevelopment study by Cushman & Wakefield suggests that Vision Loss Resources’ site for sale at 1936 Lyndale Ave. S. could hold a 24-story building with up to 20,000 square feet of retail space. Image courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield
people are totally blind, according to the center. “The fastest-growing population of people with visual impairment are over the age of 65,” Grathwol said. “We all know that 10,000 baby boomers a day are turning 65. So part of the reason for us to be moving on is to find a space where we can serve more people more easily.”
A panoramic view A predevelopment study by Cushman & Wakefield suggests the 2-acre site could hold a 24-story building with 350 housing units and enclosed parking. A concept designed by ESG Architects shows a three-story building along Lyndale Avenue, with a tall structure rising next to the highway. “The pursuit of a project like this for a developer is a big deal, it takes a lot of resources,” said John Breitinger, who oversees Cushman & Wakefield’s Minneapolis Real Estate Development Advisory practice. “So we wanted to do enough of the predevelopment work to give people in the development community confidence that something great could happen here.” Target, CVS and Walgreens already have a presence nearby, he said, but the site could hold a similar large retailer or two smaller retail bays, perhaps up to 20,000 square feet. “The truth is that the retail market is going through a very profound change, so we don’t really know what will be viable there,” he said. “It’s got everything going for it as a retail site,
and we hope that will be the case.” The site is zoned C2, where city guidelines allow four stories or 56 feet in height and a permit process to seek taller structures. Under the Minneapolis 2040 plan for growth currently under review by the Metropolitan Council, the site would allow buildings of 2-10 stories. “It’s a terrific site. If somebody does do a concrete tower here, it will have wonderful views in all directions of the city lakes, downtown. It’s on the bikeway, it’s in a good pedestrian neighborhood,” Breitinger said. Investments have touched the three other corners of Franklin & Lyndale in recent years. Across the street at the former Theatre Garage site, a 113-unit project is under construction, joining the new 75-unit Modi apartments on Lyndale. Mortimer’s and the Wedge Community Co-op have been remodeled, Catalyst Mental Health opened in a long-vacant building, and the former Rudolph’s Bar-B-Que is now slated to become “Cheers,” billed as a restaurant with entertainment and local brews like Gluek Beer. Grathwol said she’s fielded lots of calls over the years from groups checking to see if their site is for sale. Vision Loss Resources’ current structures were built in 1917, 1958 and 1972, and the last was considered state-of-the-art for its time. “But the world has changed, and so has the neighborhood,” she said, describing the site as a beautiful, stranded asset. “This is a large parcel, and the city needs housing.”
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A13
East Isles will shelter homeless teen parents The nonprofit Bridge for Youth is adding housing for five 16- to 20-year olds and their children
By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@southwestjournal.com
An East Isles youth homeless shelter is opening a wing exclusively for young people who are pregnant or parenting. The nonprofit Bridge for Youth will house five 16- to 20-year-olds — and their children — in the new space, which will open April 1. It is calling the facility Marlene’s Place in honor of its first executive director, Sister Marlene Barghini. Young people living in Marlene’s Place will have access to employment training, on-site health care, parenting education and lifeskills coaching, associate director Christina Woodlee said. The facility won’t have on-site child care, she said, but the young people will have help in identifying child care options. Each family in Marlene’s Place will get a room of its own, though most will share a bathroom with another family. The facility also includes a shared room where kids can play, a kitchen and a dining room. The families in Marlene’s Place will be able to stay up to 18 months and will be required to pay 30 percent of their monthly income as rent, Woodlee said. The Bridge for Youth will give priority to parents ages 16–18 when finding residents. The nonprofit won’t necessarily expect youth in the program to work, Woodlee said, but “there’s an expectation they need to be productive.” That may mean going to school, training for a job or joining the labor force. The facility will serve both moms and dads,
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GET INVOLVED The Bridge for Youth has set up a registry at Target for items to fill its new facility and is also looking for people to volunteer at Marlene’s Place. The registry can be found at tgt.gifts/ Marlenes and those interested in volunteer opportunities can email development manager Amanda Beckett at a.beckett@bridgeforyouth.org.
Toys lined the floor of Christina Woodlee’s office at the Bridge for Youth on a recent weekday. The shelter is opening a wing for young people who are pregnant or parenting. Photo by Nate Gotlieb
as long as they fit the required age range. The Bridge for Youth will allow for one parent and up to two kids between the ages of 0 and 3. Woodlee said the organization already has more requests to live at Marlene’s Place than it has spaces available, though it hasn’t officially started to accept referrals yet. The Bridge for Youth serves homeless,
runaway and abandoned youth ages 10–17 at its East Isles shelter, which has 14 beds. The organization also operates Rita’s House, an affordable-housing facility across the street for young people ages 18–21. Marlene’s Place is occupying the space that used to be the Bridge for Youth’s transitional-living program for 16- and 17-year-
olds, according to Woodlee. She said the organization saw a need for site-based programs that serve homeless pregnant mothers and their children. She added that youth in the transitional program were often leaving the Bridge for Youth for programs that offered increased independence. More than 6,000 youth experience homelessness each night in Minnesota, about a third of whom are pregnant or parenting, according to a press release from the Bridge for Youth. The state has fewer than 200 emergency shelter beds for youth, and fewer than 10 sitebased units designated as age appropriate and safe, especially for homeless teen parents.
3/15/19 10:26 AM
A14 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
MPS 2019-20 BUDGET AT A GLANCE
Kenny Community School teacher Janee RivardJohnson says she varies instruction among students at different levels for a variety of reasons. Photo by Nate Gotlieb
$102 million Total allocation for the 17 schools in Southwest Minneapolis.
$375 million Total allocation for all Minneapolis Public Schools.
$2.2 million Increase in funding for teaching positions in Southwest Minneapolis schools.
$1.1 million Reduction in federal Title I funding at Southwest-area schools. Four schools — Anthony, Southwest, Washburn and Windom — are each losing their entire Title I allocation.
11,967 Projected K–12 student population at Southwest Minneapolis schools for 2019–20 school year, compared with 12,096 students enrolled on Feb. 1. FROM SCHOOL DIFFERENTIATION / PAGE A1
programs. They will work with students at all levels, she said. “This will be very focused on student need,” she said of the position.
A ‘long-term investment’ Ramsey said differentiation is a philosophy that teachers can use to help advanced learners, who can become anxious or show perfectionist tendencies if they aren’t challenged. She said the district sometimes assumes that students who are meeting or exceeding state standards are being challenged, though that’s not always the case. About 60 percent of students in Southwest Minneapolis who took the 2018 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments met or exceeded state reading and math standards in 2018. That’s in line with statewide test scores, but significantly higher than citywide figures. Ramsey said differentiation strategies can be used for any population of students, including
those both ahead and behind. She said the position should allow teachers to take more risks and spend more time finding out what interests students. Moore called the position a “long-term investment” and said the district is trying to develop a more systematic approach to meeting the needs of families.
Parental support Some parents appear to appreciate the initiative. Kristin Farrell, a former high school teacher who has kids at Hale Elementary School, said differentiation allows instructors to teach to the whole range of kids in their classroom. She said a specialist has time teachers don’t to take a curriculum and separate it for students at different levels. Farrell is part of the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented — Minneapolis Chapter. The group advocated last year for MPS to put a half-time advanced differentiation specialist in each school. Last February, Farrell told the School Board
that her then 8-year-old son had started out loving school but hated it four years later. She said it was due to the fact that MPS identifies advanced learners but does “nothing for them.” In an interview this month, Farrell said she and her husband ended up moving their son to Bloomington Public Schools, where there’s a gifted and talented classroom in his school. But she feels like her group has been partnering effectively with the Minneapolis district for the past year, though she doesn’t think enough classroom teachers have advanced-learner training. Janee Rivard-Johnson, a fifth-grade teacher at Kenny Community School, went through the training a few years ago. She said it helped her understand different ways to cater to both advanced and struggling students and identify students who aren’t typically labeled as gifted. “Spot[ting] those traits was something the training helped me understand,” she said. Ramsey said MPS is training one elementary teacher per grade from each school in talent development and advanced-learner education this year. It plans to do the same for
33,323 Projected K–12 student population districtwide, compared with 34,128 enrolled on Feb. 1.
$620.6 million Projected general-fund revenue and expenses, compared with $610.4 million in 2018–19. Source: Minneapolis Public Schools
middle school teachers next year, she said. The differentiation position is part of a bigger differentiation plan, said Moore, the interim academics chief. He said he expects to see more engaged students, fewer disciplinary referrals and higher levels of academic growth across all ability levels because of the new position. He also predicted that teachers would feel more supported. “This is really listening to our families that want rigor and positive classroom experiences,” he said.
FROM MINNEHAHA CREEK / PAGE A9
crews spot ice jams, they call in help from the city’s Public Works department to get equipment capable of breaking up the jams and getting water flowing again. There are a few common spots for ice jams along the creek in Minneapolis, Crabb said, including one near Burroughs Elementary at 51st & James in Lynnhurst. City crews had to use a backhoe to break up an ice jam there the morning of March 14, Minneapolis spokesperson Sarah McKenzie said. The crews also used the equipment at an ice jam point near 11th Avenue South in the Hale neighborhood, she said. The city’s biggest area of concern for flooding along the creek is between Lake Nokomis and Hiawatha Golf Course, where a series of low pedestrian bridges increase the risk of ice jams, according to Schaufler. Crabb said the area just upstream from Interstate 35W is also an area of flood concern. Because Minnehaha Creek is so shallow, water is frozen down to the bed, Crabb said, so there’s not a lot of space for water to go as snow melts and rain falls. The Park Board reported creek levels were projected to fall beginning March 15, but cautioned people driving, biking and walking along parkways to not attempt passing through moving water. “Anything low is going to be a problem,” Crabb said. — Andrew Hazzard
Kenny fifth-graders meet commissioner on Pi Day Minnesota Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker recently traded “pi fives” with students in Janee Rivard-Johnson’s fifth-grade class at Kenny Community School. Ricker and the students held up three fingers and mimicked a high-fiving motion to one another. The greeting capped a lesson in which students learned about the relationship between the diameter and circumference of a circle. It came on March 14, the date known as “Pi Day” because the numbers 3, 1 and 4 are the first three significant figures of the mathematical constant pi. “We use pi,” Rivard-Johnson told the students, “to find other things out about the circle.” Ricker, a former teacher and executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the classroom how she noticed them ask each other questions about the patterns and relationships they saw. She noted how some students sought out different units of measurement as they counted how many times diameter-sized pieces of string fit around the perimeters of different-sized circles. “One group didn’t just look for the relationship of the diameter to the outside of the circle,” she said. “They looked for if there was a relationship with that little bit of extra [string] to the length of the diameter.”
Minnesota Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker works with students during a visit to a fifth-grade class at Kenny Community School on March 14. Photo by Nate Gotlieb
Ricker’s visit to Kenny came as part of what Gov. Tim Walz declared as Minnesota Math Week. Ricker said the goal of Math Week was in part to start a conversation among adults about how math is something “we experience all the time.” “Math is all around us,” she said, noting that she’s seeing many creative approaches to the subject from teachers around the state. Ricker was making her second visit to a Minneapolis public school as education commissioner, after helping serve breakfast at
Northeast Middle School the previous week. She said she appreciates how the district is intentionally building its nutrition options, much like teachers are intentionally building perseverance into math lessons. She also appreciates the district’s focus on the teaching and learning environment. “The more you invest in that teaching and learning environment, the more you are going to see the dividends of that investment,” she said. — Nate Gotlieb
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A16 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
By Mira Klein
Making Southwest’s composting program sustainable In an email sent in early January, Southwest High School Green Team leaders announced the start of a composting program aimed at cutting the school’s trash production in half. “It’s going to be a big change,” the email read, “but we want to turn our school into a more environmentally friendly and sustainable place for everyone.” There may be new compost bins in the cafeteria, but this is not the first time that Southwest has tried its hand at organics recycling. A previous iteration of the program was discontinued several years ago. Anna Smalley, a Southwest senior and co-president of the student-led Green Team, speculated that the old program ended due to a lack of student participation, miscommunication with school engineering staff and, ultimately, contamination of the compost itself — although she can’t say for sure. Smalley and fellow Green Team leader Ayva Sloo identified lackluster student attitudes toward composting as a primary barrier to its wider adoption, even among the politically minded Generation Z cohort, which has taken climate activism by storm. Engineering staff, too, identified student attitudes as a cause for skepticism over composting. As Smalley characterized their thought process: “Kids won’t even clean up their plates, how are they going to get this right?” While the Green Team works to drum up participation among classmates, they find themselves caught between framing their work as a matter of urgency while simultaneously
presenting an accessible entry point into the world of environmental activism. “We want to do activism and we want to make it big,” Smalley said, noting that she also hoped to create “an easy place for people to learn about the environment.” Student efforts to implement this composting program, however, have been far from easy. January’s kickoff marked the culmination of three years of hard work. Smalley and Sloo were there to witness it all, slogging through Southwest’s administrative channels and district-wide bureaucracy. And alongside other long-time Green Teamers, they have emerged as a hardened force to be reckoned with. As Smalley recalled, she and other Green Team members met with Southwest principal Michael Favor in the first week of the fall semester. Having already secured an organics recycling grant from Hennepin County, the meeting was about informing, not requesting. Or, as Smalley phrased it, “We’ll tell you what we need, but this is what we’re doing.” Despite this determined approach, the process dragged out far longer than was promised, Smalley said. This was only made more frustrating because, as a student-led club, they had difficulty clarifying information with the district. “Obviously we’re kids so they don’t answer our emails,” Sloo said. For the Green Team, this meant several false starts and general confusion among peers, teachers and engineers.
These issues are hardly unique to Southwest’s composting endeavor. On paper, the Southwest Green Team seems particularly well positioned to find composting success. Unlike most Green Teams, Southwest has the support of an adviser from the Community Education office, someone in a position to get answers from the school district when problems arise. Furthermore, as Sloo explained, many families in the disproportionately white and wealthy neighborhoods around Southwest compost at home already. So how is it that despite this support from community families, despite a student body that is perhaps more familiar with composting than most, despite having specialized Green Team resources and despite receiving a grant from Hennepin County, the future of Southwest’s composting program is not guaranteed? What has become apparent to the Southwest Green Team — and echoed by sibling Green Teams at other high schools throughout the city — is that there needs to be more thought given to long-term implementation support. The Green Team at Edison High School in Northeast, for example, is also in the midst of implementing a school composting program. Edison’s program relies on a daily batch of student volunteers monitoring and directing their peers through the composting process — and giving up 10 minutes of their precious lunch break to do so. But this sacrifice has received pushback
from within the Green Team itself. If even self-described environmentalists are resistant, as junior Emma Quale observed, “I’m not sure that education will be enough.” From Quale’s perspective, student Green Teams will have to think beyond peer-topeer education when it comes to supporting the long-term durability and efficacy of composting programs. As Smalley suggested, this means paying greater attention to those at Southwest who actually bear a large chunk of the responsibility for moving organics from landfill to compost: school custodians and engineers. In this way, the questions high school composters must face — questions of labor, compensation and status quo — are deeply connected to conversations held by youth everywhere from the Minnesota state Capitol to international environmental forums: how to upend a system where even well-intentioned environmental initiatives can end up burdening those who are already the most burdened. Smalley, Sloo and the rest of the Southwest Green Team have a vested interested in taking these questions on. As they see it, a successful composting program holds significance far beyond their own club’s organizing efforts. “This is us showing our peers that things can get done,” Smalley said. The next Green Digest column will explore the intersection of composting and labor with a greater focus on the words and experiences of school engineering staff themselves.
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A17
By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@southwestjournal.com
Fighting invasive species in the Chain of Lakes As of February, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has officially designated Bde Maka Ska, Lake Harriet and Lake Nokomis as infested with zebra mussels. The DNR makes such declarations in an absolute fashion: If a single zebra mussel has ever been found in a body of water, it is declared infested. But the true health of Minneapolis’ lakes is more complicated and optimistic, according to Mike Sorensen, the aquatic invasive species program administrator at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. No zebra mussels have ever actually been found in Lake Nokomis, and while one adult zebra mussel has been discovered in Lake Harriet and two juveniles were recorded last fall in Bde Maka Ska, there’s no evidence of a breeding population in the Chain of Lakes. “Although it’s declared infested, the jury’s still out on if we have a successful reproducing population,” Sorensen said. In 2012, zebra mussels, an invasive species that came to North America from Europe and Asia via transoceanic cargo ships, were discovered in Lake Minnetonka. That news awakened the metro area to the threat of zebra mussels. Apart from damaging watercraft and docks and potentially clogging infrastructure, zebra mussels attach to and kill native mussels. Lake Nokomis flows into Minnehaha Creek, which runs from Lake Minnetonka to the Mississippi River, and because water from the creek is sometimes pushed back into Lake Nokomis during flooding seasons, the DNR declared Nokomis infested with zebra mussels. But the Park Board has never found
A zebra musselinfested fishing rod the Park Board uses to show how fast the species can spread. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
a zebra mussel there, despite searching for them every year since 2012. Fast forward to the fall of 2017, when crews cleaning Lake Harriet found a mature, adult zebra mussel on a boat cover on the bottom of the lake, Sorensen said. That discovery led to a 60-hour search with scuba divers. “They couldn’t find a single other mussel,” he said. But once the discovery had been made, the DNR declared the lake infested. Additional searches of Lake Harriet last summer still turned up empty. In September 2018, two young zebra mussels were found on the bottom of a sail boat being inspected as it left Bde Maka Ska. The boat had been in the lake all summer, Sorensen said. Another large search was conducted. This one
involved scuba divers and a cutting edge method known as environmental DNA sampling, in which researchers take water samples from throughout the lake and test them for zebra mussel DNA. “We couldn’t find another zebra mussel,” he said. Because it was so late in the year, the Park Board intends to conduct a more robust search for zebra mussels in Bde Maka Ska this summer. One mature zebra mussel is capable of producing half a million eggs, Sorensen said, so populations can escalate quickly.
Preventing the spread To prevent the potential spread of zebra mussels into the waters of Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake, the MPRB is considering a change to the way it deals with another
common invasive species: Eurasian milfoil. Harvesting machines that remove milfoil, which bunch up on water surfaces and prevent sunlight from reaching native plants below, will now start on the upper Chain of Lakes before moving south to Bde Maka Ska. The machines will be cleaned before restarting the process, instead of constantly moving up and down the Chain of Lakes. Although some invasive species have entered city waters, other threats are still preventable. “There are other things out there that we don’t have yet,” Sorenson said. “We don’t want people to think that it’s a lost cause.” Two of those things the Park Board and DNR are on the lookout for in the metro are starry stonewort and spiny water fleas. Spiny water fleas feed on the native zooplankton, which native species need as a food source, and their long tails make them hard for native species to feed on. The fleas are mostly found in the Boundary Waters and on Lake Mille Lacs in Northern Minnesota. “We don’t have this here yet, we don’t want this,” Sorensen said. Starry stonewort is an invasive algae species that forms a dense layer on the surface of the water. It is currently found in 12 lakes in Minnesota, including nearby Medicine Lake in Plymouth, where it was discovered last summer. To get a better understanding of what is coming in and out of Minneapolis’ lakes, the MPRB inspects every water craft that comes in and out of a boat launch each year. In 2018 that SEE INVASIVE SPECIES / PAGE A19
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 A19
News By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@southwestjournal.com
Slower cars, more sidewalks on Girard Avenue block in Uptown
A city graphic shows how the block of Girard Avenue South between Lagoon Avenue and Lake Street would change under the proposed “slow street” design. Submitted image
Minneapolis street designers are recommending a “slow street” model that maintains two-way auto traffic for the reconstruction of a block of Girard Avenue South in Uptown, which is scheduled for 2020. The recommended concept was selected from five design options that were released in January for the block of Girard Avenue between Lake Street and Lagoon Avenue. A slow street functions like a standard two-way street but has an improved pedestrian experience due to lower speeds and traffic volumes, designers say. For Girard Avenue, the design proposes expanding the west sidewalk from 8 feet to 18 feet and narrowing the traffic space from 30 feet to 20 feet. The slow street design means there will be a slight incline for vehicles entering the block, intended to slow traffic. The design calls for a “curbless street,” which means the sidewalk and road will all be on the same level. Nathan Koster, a transportation planning manager with Minneapolis Public Works, said
the curbless slow street design provides flexibility for the present and future. Right now, the curbless design will allow the street to be easily blocked off for local events and make it easier for businesses to receive deliveries. Down the road, it will allow the city, should it choose, to convert Girard Avenue into a “shared street” for pedestrians, bikers and drivers or else into a purely pedestrian street. “We see a lot of benefits for not only deliveries but pedestrians,” Koster said. The city conducted a study of the area that found the number of vehicles and pedestrians on the street to be roughly equal during daytime hours on weekdays, with pedestrians outnumbering cars in the evenings. On the weekend, pedestrians outnumber cars, particularly late in the evening, when around 200 pedestrians per hour were counted walking the block. The average speed of vehicles on the block was 13.7 mph, the study found. The narrow street will naturally slow cars to more of a
biking pace and should discourage drivers from trying to pass cyclists, Koster said. There would be a clear distinction between the sidewalk and the street area despite the curbless design. The narrowed street would not be stripped. Public works is in the process of pitching the design to various neighborhood and civic groups, including the Lowry Hill East and South Uptown neighborhood associations. At the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA) planning and zoning committee meeting on March 13, people asked designers to consider a more pedestrian-oriented path. “Shared streets become car streets,” said Alex Bowen, co-chair of the LHENA zoning and planning committee. There was a concern among the committee that the design is too deferential to local business needs. Abigail Johnson, a co-chair of LHENA’s zoning and planning committee, said she likes the narrow street and wide sidewalk, but feels the proposed design doesn’t go far enough in providing safe pedestrian zones and reducing car use. “They’re pushing the envelope a little bit, but they’re not pushing to where they want it to be in 20 years, which is how long it’s going to last,” Johnson said. The committee expressed interest in using LHENA funds to help add plants and landscaping to the sidewalk to make it a more welcoming pedestrian zone. Koster said more than 350 people responded to a survey about the street reconstruction and, in January, about 50 people attended an open house to learn and opine about the project’s five
options. He said they try to weigh the project goals and input from as many people as possible when making designs, including those pushing for a total pedestrian space and those who want to maintain easy vehicle access. “Throughout this project we were getting input from both ends of the spectrum,” Koster said. Public works is still accepting comments on the design, which is scheduled to go before the City Council for approval this spring, with construction slated to begin in the spring of 2020. You can weigh in by visiting bit.ly/2Hxl1QJ.
FROM INVASIVE SPECIES / PAGE A17
amounted to 7,611 inspections. Those inspections found 13 boats with zebra mussels (all but one attempting to enter a lake). Inspectors also asked boaters the last body of water they’d been in. The result was finding watercraft coming to Minneapolis from hundreds of bodies of water, from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods. The inspections found 87 boats coming from bodies of water infested with spiny water fleas and 59 boats coming from lakes infested with starry stonewort. The Park Board passed the 2019 Watercraft Inspections Policy, which maintains past standards of inspecting all watercraft, at its March 6 meeting and the organization has begun the hiring process for inspectors. “Fortunately for all these [aquatic invasive species], the thing that works is to clean, drain, dry your watercraft,” Sorensen said.
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Southwest Journal March 21–April 3, 2019
Remodels redone A porch and kitchen are made warmer and more welcoming by Quartersawn By Karen Ritz
A
fter living in their East Harriet home for a few years, Sara and Tim Noel realized a redesign of their kitchen and three-season porch would best serve their busy family life and love of entertaining. Three school-aged children were often underfoot with projects and homework during meal prep, and the porch was still too chilly during the time of year when stunning sunset views of the lake were most visible. Both spaces had undergone a few remodels over time, most recently in the 1980s, but it was time to make the spaces more suitable for their specific needs. SEE QUARTERSAWN / PAGE B6
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B3
Follow your dreams A star from the Spring Parade of Homes boasts Bde Maka Ska views
By Brian Lambert
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om and dad always told you to follow your dreams, right? Well, even if they didn’t, you’ll be fine if you follow your Spring Parade of Homes map to home No. 42, 3810 Sheridan Ave. S., barely a half block off the south shore of Bde Maka Ska. For $1.9 million your dreams could include 3,800 square feet of bright open space, stylish hardwood flooring, three bedrooms, three baths, a two-car heated garage, an elevator, a maybe two-and-a-half season screen porch with its own fireplace and a user-friendly array of technology. In late February the builder, City Homes LLC, was furiously preparing the home, custom built for Ellyn Wolfenson and Michael Belzer in advance of traffic from the Spring Parade. City Homes’ partner, Chris Malooly, nursing a bit of a cold in deep winter, gave a tour, emphasizing that “custom” in this case meant a design suitable for a 50-something couple to age in place. He could have added, “very comfortably.” The age of the clients in this case is reflected not just in the open kitchen/living room area that greets everyone entering through the front door but the wide staircases, abundant glass and comparatively understated deployment of the latest technical gewgaws.
A glassy secondfloor bathroom overlooks the front lawn. Submitted photo
SEE DREAM HOME / PAGE B4
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FROM DREAM HOME / PAGE B3
As Malooly explained while showing off the glassy second-floor bathroom overlooking the front lawn, “The only real ‘smart tech’ we have here are things like the wireless blinds, so [the owner] can have privacy while she’s in the tub and plenty of sunlight when she’s not. “The home really has been designed for a generation that didn’t grow up with their phone in their hand all the time. The
younger generation, people in their 30s, want that more. [The owners] didn’t. “They understand tech gadgetry well enough. But they’ve lived most of their lives without a lot of the so-called smart stuff, where you run everything off your phone, and they don’t see any real need for it now.” That said, the home has a sound system, innumerable small LED lights overhead and on stairway walls, security cameras and plenty of TVs. The direction for the second floor was for it
to be used almost entirely as a master suite. The main staircase — one of the few areas other than the handsomely finished basement (with guest bedroom and bath) that is carpeted — delivers you to the elevator door and a small, sunlit, west-facing office. In addition to the bath, there’s a voluminous walk-in closet and washer/ dryer laundry bay. Off the master bedroom is a small deck with a quite pleasant view out over the lake toward the downtown skyline. (All that is also visible from the tub if you want to buzz the electric blinds back up.)
Did we mention the wine cooler directly outside the bath? Some old school stuff beats “smart” all to heck. “The difference between this home and others we build in this price range is fewer bedrooms,” Malooly said. “Normally in a building like this you’d be looking at maybe five bedrooms and as many baths. But because this is a somewhat older but still very active couple, there’s more of an emphasis on comfort. “It’s a luxurious space, ideal for them and for entertaining, with just enough extra room for occasional guests.” If you’re wondering, and we know you are, the lot didn’t come cheap. “Land cost was $650,000,” said Malooly. “That’s not unusual for this area.” The in-home elevator — a cozy twoperson affair — retails for $30,000– $40,000. But he said it has demonstrable resale value for future buyers also in the mood to “age in place.” The exterior, with mountains of snow and construction equipment banked up against it, is a fairly modest, modern, vaguely Scandinavian exercise in primary white and ... lots of glass. “They very much wanted something unique, something that didn’t look like every other new construction going up around town,” Malooly explained. So no “cottage” effects, no repeating waves of gables and no pyramidal support pillars. The main floor’s kitchen area naturally features not one but two service islands, with high-end built-in appliances and a pantry tucked away around the corner — out of view of whoever might be enjoying the living area fireplace or screened-in porch.
southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B5
A built-in espresso machine caught our eye. Knowing how often those things clog up and have to be serviced, we wondered how practical that really was? At which point Malooly pressed a latch and the entire unit slid out. “Just release it here,” he said, “and the whole unit can be removed and serviced.” Oh, okay. Never mind. Looking back at the main area, he said, “We call it a ‘living kitchen’. As everyone knows by now, you have friends over and where does everyone congregate? The kitchen. So the idea is to blend everything together in the most comfortable and convenient way possible.” “But,” continued Malooly, “we had to talk them into the screen porch.” He pushes on the very solid, three-section sliding thermal door (from Marvin Windows), slowly disappearing it completely into a recessed wall pocket. Open, as it could be for several months a year, it adds another 600 or so square feet (plus another fireplace and TV) to the main area. Closed, the gas-filled thermal pane doors effectively seal off the worst of Minnesota winters. Malooly said City Homes is currently building “about a dozen” homes a year and that doors like those “are becoming very common.” Or at least common enough you can dream on them.
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B6 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com FROM QUARTERSAWN / PAGE B1
One of the biggest conversation pieces in the remodel is the double island. The design added to a more open look, especially on raised legs, and separate spaces for meal prep and homework sprawl. They wanted a space that was bright, open and efficient. Sara said they chose Quartersawn for the project because “several friends had used them, and we loved their high-quality work and design.” “We were confident they could update existing spaces in a more modern style while keeping consistent with the character of an older home,” she said. “They also had a great working relationship with our interior designer, Jennie Korsbon.” Quartersawn relies on that invaluable “word of mouth” for their recommendations, but the Tangletown-based design-build firm also enjoys growing its following on Instagram (@quatersawndesignbuild). There were challenges created by previous remodels, including uncovering three different wall types. And the project was up against the lot line. Quartersawn took extra care in producing a 3D mapping study to present to city zoning officials, with favorable results and a relationship that has continued into other projects.
One wall of cabinets is built in for more depth options, housing the refrigerator (behind a matching cabinet front), an appliance pantry and ample grocery storage. Photos by Andrea Rugg
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LAKE HARRIET HOME’S NEW YARD ‘LIKE A PAINTING’ Gardening Angel brings in multiple design elements It helps to have a landscape designer in the neighborhood. That’s what Tom and Cassie Jones learned last year.
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“Our appeal for working with Margi is she had such a vision,” Cassie Jones said. “It’s sort of exciting to have someone so excited to work on it.” Gardening Angel will maintain the Joneses’ yards going forward. While off-duty, MacMurdo-Reading can’t resist pulling the occasional weed as she walks by. “It’s my favorite yard,” she said. “It was a really fun project.”
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Boxwoods line the sidewalk, intermixed with golden arborvitae shrubs. The trees will grow no taller than 10 feet, preserving the view of the lake from indoors while preserving the family’s privacy. The landscape designer, who is also a neighbor, says, “It’s my favorite yard.”
Boxwoods line the sidewalk, intermixed with golden arborvitae shrubs. MacMurdo-Reading also had boxwoods planted at the edge of the upper lawn to act as a natural fence. She redesigned the plantings in the terraced back yard, with a line of boxwood atop the back wall and the lower terrace with more golden arborvitae,
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Profile written by Nancy Crotti, a freelance writer.
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Warm and open
Designer Nathan Kaye was asked to maximize kitchen storage.
An open, beamed ceiling and beautiful stone fireplace that matched the 1925 façade quoining and entrance were both keepers from a previous remodel of the porch, as was a surround of energy-efficient windows. Quartersawn got creative with unique sources of heat and insulation — in the roof, walls and insulated radiant floor heating, warming the space enough to remove the doors separating this fab square footage from the kitchen space. Bright white paint refreshed the room and prepared a clean palette for the playful work of j korsbon designs. Radiant heat continues into the kitchen, and a modern, large-format Mosa cement tile was chosen to top it off, with a custom laser cut to create a traditional Versailles pattern in both spaces. Sara reports the kids are still underfoot as a result. She is often stepping over the 5-year-old, who enjoys playing on the toasty floor with their new English black lab puppy, Bucky.
Storage space Sara and Tim asked designer Nathan Kaye to maximize kitchen storage while SEE QUARTERSAWN / PAGE B8
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attempting to keep an open look. Burrowing into previous remodels allowed them to raise the kitchen ceiling height for an immediately bigger and brighter look. One wall of cabinets is built in for more depth options, housing the refrigerator (behind a matching cabinet front), an appliance pantry and ample grocery storage. The cabinet door profiles take the traditional frame and stile and reduce the overall proportions to a more contemporary detail. The cabinet style was continued down an adjoining hallway to harmonize existing closets. Hanging metal shelving was originally intended as decorative — a few favorite cookbooks, succulents, etc. — but evolved into a home for the kind of bowls, plates and salt and pepper shakers you might reach for in everyday use. “The cabinet hardware and metal details are all in a minimal and contemporary style, but we worked with local craftsman Josh Ritenhour, of Phenom Creative, to custommake each offset door pull, island leg and shelf support,” Kaye said. “The metal pieces were then hand-treated so that each has a slight difference in hue. It is subtle, but if you are in close you can see the variations and by-hand quality.”
Island living
Quartersawn devised a custom bar with wood to match existing built-ins. Photos by Andrea Rugg
One of the biggest conversation pieces in the remodel is the double island. The design added to a more open look, especially on raised legs, and separate spaces for meal prep and homework sprawl. It’s been a great asset, according to the homeowners. Almost every meal is prepared at home and more of the family is in the kitchen. But the Noels’ creative daughter, Mara, has deemed the second island as her command center. (Picture it:
another child and puppy on the floor and a third chatting away at the main island as meals are cooked.) The counter finish is Alta quartzite. Two sinks are another highlight of this busy kitchen — one on the island for meal prep and a larger one under the windows for everyday dish duty and entertaining. The larger sink is flanked by two dishwashers, which Sara said run every day. The window wall was finished in herringbone tile all the way to the ceiling. Inset ceiling lights, metal wall sconces to match the cabinet hardware and large drum chandeliers over each island add to the natural light that now seems to stream from the newly opened spaces. Around a corner, just before the dining room, Quartersawn devised a custom bar with wood to match existing built-ins, a soapstone countertop and a backsplash of antiqued mirror glass, giving it an originalto-the-house look.
Entertaining Kaye also persuaded the homeowners to install a pocket door that will shut off the kitchen from entertaining when needed. Sara said they have used it often, especially when there is a kids table in the kitchen while adults are dining. But guests enjoy the kitchen as much as the family does, and Sara has even had guests happily chipping in on meal prep. The Noels were glad to have the project ready in time for holiday entertaining, as promised. So when all is said and done, where do Sara and Tim enjoy their morning cup of coffee? Sara jumps to the end of the day as the charm — glass of wine, roaring fire and a glorious sunset over the lake, with Bucky curled up at their feet.
southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B9
“The cabinet hardware and metal details are all in a minimal and contemporary style, but we worked with local craftsman Josh Ritenhour, of Phenom Creative, to custom make each offset door pull, island leg and shelf support,” designer Nathan Kaye said.
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B10 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
Curating or uncluttering, KonMari or feng shui Simplifying your home promotes well-being
Text and photos by Susan Schaefer
This commissioned bookcase by Techline Twin Cities was designed to accommodate an ancient Chinese chest and organize art and book collections.
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B11
D
o you remember the junk drawer? It was typically located in a kitchen — pre-Ikea, Container Store… or Marie Kondo. This drawer was packed to the hilt with items that didn’t seem to belong anywhere else: brimming with dried up ink pens, worn down pencils, balls fashioned from rubber bands, balls of lovingly looped string, odd corkscrews or even a nowcollectible plastic Mr. Peanut spoon. The drawer was a loving jumble. Ah, but that was before the advent of contemporary commercial consumerism: the rise of the credit card that contributed to compulsive buying; the growth of the internet that fostered one-click impulse shopping and same-day delivery. Modern economic tools courted the consumer with convenience, shaping a society awash in possessions. In those simpler times, many needed only one shoebox-sized drawer to chuck “clutter.” Not so now. Many consumers are drowning in belongings — not merely drawers, but closets, rooms, garages and homes swamped. Enter the litter liberator, Marie Kondo, a gracious icon of good taste. Everyone seems to be in a frenzy of conquering their clutter, watching her series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” inspired by her best selling book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Now you can “KonMari” your life, amending your wicked ways. You may dutifully visit the organizer section of Target to nestle your whisk properly next to your latte frother in a color-coded, divider-replete Valhalla of storage! You can obediently toss those trinkets that don’t spark joy! Though Kondo’s approach seems as if it has sprung sui generis from this fresh-faced, soft-spoken naïf, the truth is that both accumulating and easing excess dates back to the dawn of civilization.
A history of clutter The Western history of word clutter traces back to the 1400s and is related to the word “clot,” loosely meaning “collected in heaps, crowded together in disorder, to litter or to crowd a place by a disorderly mass of things.” Yuk. Improbably, the word signifying the correction of this condition, the verb “decluttering” (which spell check doesn’t even acknowledge as a word) didn’t exist until 1950, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Nearly 70 years later, experts about how, why and when to clear your untidiness abound, complete with articles in “juried” scientific publications proving that if you have mess you may need a shrink (or simply the KonMari Method) to unshackle yourself from the despondency it creates. Well hold on to your hats (or toss the ones you don’t wear)! Predating medieval cluttered hovels, or 1950s Modern Architecture streamlined homes, was the Chinese practice of feng shui, an ancient art that is possibly the first system developed to create joy and promote well-being by tending to your surroundings. Dating back approximately 3,500 years, feng shui developed as early societies moved from hunting and gathering to farming and domesticating animals. In other words, no longer nomads, these folks settled down, built permanent homes, cities and societies and began accumulating stuff.
Open the DOOr... tO new pOssibilities
Qi, yin and yang The word feng shui itself translates as “wind-water,” signifying its earliest practice as a means to site a safe place for dwellings with a main purpose to create abodes where families could flourish. Sound familiar? As time progressed, the movement morphed into a tradition to help locate important SEE DECLUTTERING / PAGE B12
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Collage by Susan Schaefer.
B12 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com FROM DECLUTTERING / PAGE B11
Qi refers to ‘a complex natural force generated by a combination of both real and abstract sources including sunlight, cosmic influences, color vibrations, the movement and quality of the air around us, the flow of water, the nature of our thoughts and emotions, the form of objects, and more.’ buildings, palaces and monuments, focusing on elements in both natural and man-made environments. Feng shui consists of three different concepts: qi (pronounced chee), yin and yang, and the five elements. Qi refers to “a complex natural force generated by a combination of both real and abstract sources including sunlight, cosmic influences, color vibrations, the movement and quality of the air around us, the flow of water, the nature of our thoughts and emotions, the form of objects, and more.” Most critically, and completely in line with Kondo’s concepts, qi influences how a place feels, how you feel in it and if you can circulate in the space harmoniously.
This north-facing dining nook incorporates a feng shui metal element with red and black good luck colors to harmonize with the owner’s “Metal Tiger” Chinese birth sign.
The term yin and yang, more familiar to Western ears, means to create a balance, such as between light and shade or movement and stillness. Too much of one or the other causes disruption and therefore lack of harmony or joy. The five elements are a bit more complex, but to simplify greatly, the presence of each
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“What could I buy instead of doing my project?”
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water, fire, wood, steel, stone and more. Homeowners who employ feng shui, like those turning to KonMari, create spaces devoid of untidiness. However, objects are curated according to ancient natural principals. Unlike merely decluttering, there is an aura of magic and the mystical in this practice.
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in your home and surroundings, placed according to ancient precepts, will also greatly contribute to serenity, energy, productiveness and overall health and well-being. Feng shui has been applied to businesses, gardens, public spaces and homes. Practitioners work with concepts and objects such as natural light, views, colors, plants, images,
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B13
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I have worked with the principles of feng shui since the late ’70s, when I lived abroad for two years: one traveling India and one teaching in Bogotá, Colombia. During my foreign travels I’d picked up more than a few interesting artifacts and transitioned from an apartment-dwelling student to a home-owning professional. I enjoyed the simplicity of my student days, so when I took possession of a modest two-story, three-bedroom, side-by-side brick duplex, I sought a way to display my growing collection of art objects, textiles, books and housewares with the same attention to openness, flow and harmony that my student days had fostered. Still in my 20s, in order to supplement my role as director of bi-lingual English at a local college, I worked weekends at my friend Nancy’s organic health food counter where two charming coworkers, a Hawaiian named Leo and a Hindi named Vivekananda, turned me on to feng shui. I was hooked and have incorporated its basic principles into every home I’ve since owned. My own design principles follow feng shui and KonMari, with the emphasis on curating. Here they are:
A recent Psychology Today article lists five big reasons to pare down your “disorderly masses,” citing scientific documentation about how and why this will put you on the road to well-being. Living in clutter creates or contributes to:
1. Continuously pare down belongings to those that have both meaning and value. 2. Buy or commission furniture that is affordable, beautiful and functional, with both open and hidden storage. 3. Display possessions that are visually pleasing and meaningful to you. 4. For everything else, find a place that is organized by how you use it, keeping frequently used items within easy reach. 5. Keep open space both to navigate within your home and between objects so they can be lovingly beheld.
1. Low subjective well-being 2. Unhealthier eating 3. Poorer mental health 4. Less efficient visual processing 5. Less efficient thinking
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The conclusions seem irrefutable: the advantages of streamlining outweigh simple housekeeping by elevating your happiness at home and work while also benefiting your physical health and cognitive abilities. As with the ancient Chinese beliefs, uncluttering allows you to flourish. This doesn’t mean creating totally sterile environments, overly Zen, devoid of personal touches. Thoughtfully curated collections can also define and please you and your guests. Learn how to arrange things together for a pleasing and artistic effect. But if your surroundings are a jumble, like that old junk drawer, reach out to a local expert for help. Sheila Dingels’ business, Successful Simplicity, is a located right in Southwest Minneapolis. Dingels has been interviewed on radio, television and in-print publications and is a member of the Minnesota and National Association of Professional Organizers. Successful Simplicity can be reached by phone at 612-920-0747 or via its website, successfulsimplicity.com. Susan Schaefer is a freelance journalist and communications consultant who can be reached at insights@lifeintrans.com.
6. Seek help if you’re overwhelmed!
Ikea dividers separate kitchen utensils for ready access.
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B14 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
Small space, high efficiency Squeezing a new combi boiler into a basement remodel
W
hen Zach Zins and Tricia Brown decided to do a full-scale remodel of the basement in their Seward home, they realized they were going to need a new heating source. Their modest-sized three-bedroom home, built in 1912, includes a roughly 600-squarefoot partially finished basement that Zins described as “a little ratty.” It was last remodeled three decades ago. Zins and Brown are planning to turn the base-
ment into a master bedroom, one that guests, their daughter or even Airbnb users could stay in. To make that plan a reality, the basement will need to be warm during the winter. Because the floor is made of cement, which gets cold during the winter, Zins and Brown decided to go with in-floor heating for their remodel. Their full-scale remodel, which began last year, consists of tearing out the basement’s existing slab and replacing it with a new one that will be heated with water tubes.
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B15
Installation Zins and Brown contracted with Uptown-based Otogawa-Anschel Design+Build to install a new boiler that will heat the new basement floor. To save money and energy in the long haul, they opted for a high-efficiency boiler, with the hope that it may one day serve as the primary source of heating for their house. Currently, they rely on forced air heating from a furnace, which Zins said is costly and makes the air in his home dry during the winter. “Even if we break even, I think we will be happy,” Zins said, weighing hoped-for long-term savings against the cost of the overhaul. The boiler that ended up in his basement is compact, installed in a tight location behind the stairs. It’s a stark contrast to older, conventional boilers, which are often large enough take up the bulk of a room. Zins and Brown’s new boiler is roughly 2 feet long and a foot-and-a-half wide and deep. “I could pick it up and carry it under my arm,” Zins said. It’s called a combi boiler because it works as a water heater and also distributes that hot water to the pipes to heat up the home. They typically cost $2,000–$5,000 to install.
Improved efficiency Part of what makes Zins and Brown’s boiler efficient is its sealed combustion. Standard boilers use an open flame and share air with the home to keep the flame going. In the case of a high efficiency boiler, that flame is sealed off and uses only air from the outside through an insulated pipe. It doesn’t share air with the house, which Michael Anschel, principal of OA, said is unsafe. Standard boilers use a metal pipe attached to the top to exhaust gas from the flame through a chimney. As the boiler heats the house, the metal pipe gets hot, which wastes a good chunk of the heat that could otherwise be distributed through the house. “In that process we’d throw away 30 percent of the heat,” Anschel said. SEE SMALL SPACE / PAGE B16
It’s Tour Time.
B16 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com FROM SMALL SPACE / PAGE B15
The combi boiler instead uses an exhaust pipe made from polyethylene plastic, which traps much of the heat normally exhausted with the gas. Anschel estimates that this allows the boiler to use 96–98 percent of the heat produced to warm the water pipes. And even though Zins and Brown are adding an entirely new heating system into their house, the heating bill won’t cost more, Anschel said. To explain why, he cited the first law of thermodynamics, which basically amounts to energy moving from more to less. In other words, heat from the boiler will move from the floor to the rest of the house. That means that Zins and Brown should be able to rely less on the forced-air heat from their furnace in the future.
Waiting for savings Other improvements should help, too. OA put gravel and 3 inches of insulation into
Standard boilers use a metal pipe attached to the top to exhaust gas from the flame through a chimney. the ground before installing the new slab in the basement. Still, Zins and Brown won’t get to test out their energy savings until next winter. Remodeling on their basement won’t be completed until spring, so they haven’t started using the new boiler yet. But Zins is anxious to compare the heating costs from this winter to next winter when the time comes. “Believe me, I’m saving the energy bills,” he said.
A standard water boiler (l). Submitted photo A combi water boiler works as a water heater and also distributes that hot water to the pipes to heat up the home (r). Photo courtesy of Applied Energy
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B18 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
The house detective Kathy Kullberg’s door to history was the front door of her Wedge house
By Sheila Regan
G
rowing up on the East Coast, Kathy Kullberg always wanted to have an old house. She got her wish when she got married and moved into the Lowry Hill East neighborhood of Minneapolis, also known as the Wedge. There, Kullberg met another neighbor who had done research on their house, and she decided she wanted to do the same thing. “I thought, ‘Oh, I could do that. I think I could do it better,’” she said.
Kathy Kullberg learned that her home on Colfax Avenue once had an alligator in the basement. Submitted photos
Diving in Kullberg found out that the house where she lives was built around 1904 by a master builder named Henry Parsons. The family who lived in the house had moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin. “He had been a pharmacist, sort of. He was more of a drug salesman,” she explained. The man’s last name was Pratt, and one day, one of his many children came back to Minneapolis and stopped by the house. “We talked about the alligator in the basement and the maids, and we found out that his uncle had gone out to New York City and was a famous cardiologist who probably treated Queen Elizabeth’s father,” Kullberg said. Researching further, Kullberg discovered that another person who lived in the house had been a Methodist minister at the church where the Scottish Rite Temple is now, at Franklin & Dupont. SEE HOUSE DETECTIVE / PAGE B19
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“There’s lots of stuff in the newspaper about him,” Kullberg said. “His name was James Montgomery.” Rev. Montgomery, Kullberg said, was quite the orator, and “quite handsome.” Eventually, he moved to Washington, D.C., and was appointed to be the chaplain for the House of Representatives. “Usually the House of Representatives is [elected] every two years, and the minister is appointed every two years,” she said. “He was appointed minister in 1921 or ‘22 and he served for 30 years. He was the longest serving minister for the House of Representatives, so he went all the way through the Depression, through Franklin Roosevelt, through D-Day. He must have been — wow! The stuff that he saw.”
Bringing history to life Kullberg’s research on her own house led her to help other people find out about their homes too. “I call myself a house detective,” she said. She meets with homeowners as well as real estate agents doing research about who lived in a house, what their occupation might have been, if there are any photos and who the descendants might be. “I focus on the people and try to bring them alive,” she said. After she completes her research on a house, Kullberg writes up a history in chronological order for her client and sends a copy to the Hennepin County Library and the Northwest Architectural Archives at the University of Minnesota — “so other people don’t have to do the same research,” she explained.
‘He had been a pharmacist, sort of. He was more of a drug salesman,’ she explained.
“I hope that I’m adding to those resources with each house that I do,” she said. Kullberg also teaches classes about discovering your home’s history for the Hennepin History Museum and at Roosevelt High School, Pratt Community School and the Scott County Historical Society, to name a few. “There are so many houses in Minnesota. I’d love to do them all, but I can’t, so I if I can help you do the same thing to the best of my ability, so be it,” she said. Kullberg also writes articles for the Hennepin History Museum’s magazine and gives walking tours, including one Wedge neighborhood tour that visits sites linked to the city’s brewing history. After the big brewery families like the Heinrichs and Orths made their fortunes, their children moved to the area around Lowry Hill, she said. The tour concludes with refreshments. “We end up at LynLake Brewery for a cold one,” she said.
Research tips When teaching people about how to go about researching their home’s history, Kullberg recommends a few starting points. The first is the digital collections section of the Hennepin County Library website, hclib. org/browse/digital-collections. There you’ll find building permits and maps, photographs of old houses and city directories. “There’s a wealth of information that is updated almost weekly,” she said. In the digital collections, you can search by address until you have a name. “The goal is to find out who was the person, and then once you get the building permit, you can get the listing of different things that happened with your house,” she said. Another tool is to visit Minneapolis Development Review in room 300 of the Public Service Center Building, 250 S. 4th St., where historical records may identify the original owner of the house and if there was an architect involved in its construction. “Most houses did not [have an architect],
Lowry Hill East resident Kathy Kullberg (pictured with her family) teaches classes about researching your home’s history.
so they’ll list the builder and a contractor. If you’re lucky, there might be a floor plan on there,” she said. Another tool, according to Kullberg, is to visit the Special Collections on the fourth floor of Minneapolis Central Library, where she noted staff are very helpful. The Hennepin History Museum is another place to check out. “It’s more the old-fashioned research, where you have to do your own thing with their help, because everything is in the process of being archived but nothing is really digitized,” she said. The museum has city directories from 1895–1990, which also include a reverse lookup after 1930. “These are helpful because they give the name of the person who lived [at an address], or people, and also gives you their occupation.” she said. The museum also has huge Sanborn Insurance maps that give a birds’ eye view of streets block by block. These maps show the outline of houses and garages and even show whether a house is wood or brick.
history of Minnehaha Falls area, suggests using alternate spellings when conducting research, especially when using online search tools. Looking up Belmont Avenue? Try using two Ls, she suggested. Looking for someone with the last name Peterson? Try spelling it Petersen or Petersson. Cooper turns to ancestry.com as another source once she has the name of the person living in the house. Access to the website is free at the library. And remember, life is messy. Take for example one family Cooper recently researched, the Belmonts, whose one son was engaged three different times to different people. “There are stories to be uncovered,” she said. “Families don’t necessarily want that in the newspaper.” Other good sources, Cooper suggests, include the Star Tribune archives, which are available up until 1922 on the Hennepin County Library’s website. Cooper also subscribes to newspapers. com, which is a paid service. The most important thing when looking into home history? Both Cooper and Kullberg stress not dismissing the details. Even a tiny little house can have big stories, as long as you know where to look.
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B20 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
The new drill for homesellers Minneapolis’ updated home energy disclosure rules take effect in 2020
By Joey Peters
I
f you live in Minneapolis, own a home and want to sell it, you’re already required by the city to complete a pre-sale inspection of the condition of your home. The inspection, known as Truth in Sale of Housing, is a consumer protection measure meant to give prospective homeowners an accurate idea of what they’re getting themselves into after buying your house. Will they have to patch up your leaky roof? Replace your unsafe water heater? Install the missing smoke detectors you neglected to replace years ago? Come 2020, Minneapolis homeowners looking to sell will need to disclose information in a new category: the home’s energy use. The additional inspection requirements can be summed up by three fairly simple questions: Are the walls properly insulated? What kind of heating system does the home use? What type of windows does it have? Once these questions are tested, the Truth in Sale of Housing report will include an energy efficiency score for the house on a 100-point scale, as well as recommendations on upgrades to improve the score. The new requirements are part of the city’s longstanding goals to curb climate change.
A contractor blows insulation into an attic. Starting in 2020, Minneapolis homeowners looking to sell will need to disclose their home energy use. Photo courtesy of Center for Energy and the Environment
A peek inside the walls Of these three categories, one includes a key addition to the existing pre-sale inspection process. SEE ENERGY DISCLOSURE / PAGE B21
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B21 FROM ENERGY DISCLOSURE / PAGE B20
Come 2020, Minneapolis homeowners looking to sell will need to disclose information in a new category: the home’s energy use. For the insulation test, inspectors will have to literally look inside the wall of a Minneapolis home if it was built before 1980. They’ll do this by drilling a 2-inch hole in the interior side of an exterior wall, then using a ruler to measure the inches of existing insulation, if any exists at all. If inspectors find the house has insulation, they’ll also check to see what type. Then, they’ll patch up the hole. Homeowners will get to choose where the inspector drills the hole, which can be in a discreet area, like the inside a closet, beneath the stairs or inside a cupboard, as long as it’s part of an exterior wall. Isaac Smith, who works as the residential program development manager at the Center for Energy and the Environment, said the drilling method is a cheap and quick way to check a home’s insulation, one his company has used for a long time in its own energy audits. Checking insulation is the best way to measure a home’s heat loss, he added, which wastes energy and ratchets up the heating bill.
and energy improvements that they can make,” Smith said. Based on what they find, inspectors can recommend to homeowners the best type of insulation to use to save energy and money during the colder months of the year. They can also direct homeowners to zero-interest city loans to pay for these improvements, which Minneapolis currently offers for up to $10,000.
Other options There are other perhaps less intrusive ways to measure heat loss that the city opted to not require in the inspection. One way is using an infrared camera. But Smith said that only works well when there’s a significant difference in temperatures inside and outside the home, like during the winter. Another method the City Council considered adding but ultimately dropped is by using a blower door test. This involves setting up a fan to measure air pressure differences inside and outside to get an idea of how much air is flowing through the house. It’s also more expensive.
Ron Staeheli, owner of American Central Inspections, charges roughly $200 for an inspection under the city’s current Truth in Sale of Housing requirements, which takes about an hour. Adding the blower door test to the required inspection would have doubled the price and time, he said. Staeheli estimated that the new requirements — the insulation test, checking the heating system and checking the windows — will still bring that price up, but “only marginally, like $70 or so,” he said. Still, the drilling-a-hole method prompts the question of how effective it really can be. What about the chance that a homeowner added insulation to a remodeled room without doing the same for the rest of their home? Couldn’t this homeowner, in bad faith, simply direct the inspector to the most insulated part of their home for the inspection test? Smith contended it’s “usually very apparent” what part of a home has been remodeled and what part hasn’t, and that it isn’t realistic to require inspectors to drill holes in every room in the house.
“We don’t want to check in the remodeled area,” he said.
Patching up As for patching the wall up, the inspector must do so by the end of the inspection. “Apparently there’s an insulated plug they’ll give us,” Staeheli said, referring to the city. The plug, or wall cap, will be plastic and designed to fit in the 2-inch hole. Then, the inspector will flush the plug with drywall. If the surrounding wall is painted a color other than white, inspectors are not required to paint the patched-up plug to the corresponding color. But Smith said they won’t be limited from doing so. After the insulation test, the inspector will give recommendations on types of insulation to add to improve the home’s energy efficiency, all of which will be optional upgrades for the homeowner. Inspectors will be making similar recommendations after checking the efficiency of the home’s heating system and windows.
Inspectors can give recommendations on types of insulation to add to improve your home’s energy efficiency. Photo courtesy of Center for Energy and the Environment
Next steps Most homes in Minneapolis don’t have insulation in the walls, Smith said, and prospective homeowners usually don’t have a good idea of their new home’s energy performance. The new energy disclosure requirements seek to change that. JEAN “When the new buyer comes in, they’ll STEPHEN understand the performances and the upgrades
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B22 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
1 OF 30
Get Out Guide.
With the Weisman Art Museum’s exciting “Incubator Project,” Twin Cities artists and researchers from the University of Minnesota cross-pollinate their respective disciplines for results that are unexpected and often radical. The latest collaboration pairs kinesiology professor Thomas Stoffregen, an expert on motion sickness, and choreographer Pramila Vasudevan, of Aniccha Arts. With “1 of 30,” they are working with three movers, a dramaturg and a sculptor to use performance as a method of scientific and creative inquiry. Can this team use dance as a way of preventing getting seasick or carsick? Is art an untapped tool that can take science to the next level? Stop by the Weisman to find out.
Photo courtesy of Zoe Cinel
By Sheila Regan
When: 2 p.m. Sunday, March 31 Where: Weisman Art Museum, 333 E. River Pkwy Cost: Free Info: wam.umn.edu
MAEP OPENING: SIENG LEE
STORY CLUB MINNEAPOLIS
Hmong artist Sieng Lee collaborated with renowned shaman Wa Leng Lee for his latest installation on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s MAEP Gallery, which showcases local artists. Titled “Sieng Lee: Siv Yiv and his Wooden Horses,” the work offers a modern-day retelling of the first Hmong shaman, Siv Yiv, and investigates themes of assimilation.
Got a story you’ve been itching to share with the world? Throw your name into the hat at “Story Club Minneapolis,” the live monthly storytelling show run by the talented and funny Amy Salloway. Each month, audience members are picked to share their stories, so long as their stories are true and happened to them personally. There are two featured storytellers as well, including Klark Eversman and the mistress of morbid whimsy, Heidi Arneson.
When: 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21 Where: Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 3rd Ave. S. Cost: Free Info: artsmia.org
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, March 21 Where: Bryant-Lake Bowl & Theater, 810 W. Lake St. Cost: $15 to $18 Info: bryantlakebowl.com
PUPPET LAB 2019: WEEK TWO The second week of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s “Puppet Lab” features two new works — “The Alluvial,” by Andrew Young, and “Not here, Not there: An Adoptee’s Journey to Home,” by Kallie Melvin. Both works explore themes of identity, memory, migration, and family. It will be a night of live music, shadow puppetry, storytelling and more.
When: March 22–24 (7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday) Where: In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, 1500 E. Lake St. Cost: $15 Info: hobt.org
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southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B23
‘LITTLE RED QUARTET’
Claytopia
Artists Stephanie DeArmond, Erin Paradis, Jasmine Peck and Ginny Sims investigate ways that ceramic objects and ideas intersect as they re-imagine the White Page’s gallery space.
When: Opening reception 5 p.m. Thursday, March 28; exhibition runs March 27 to 31 Where: The White Page, 3400 Cedar Ave. S. Cost: Free Info: the-white-page.org
Photo courtesy of Heather Delisle
HIGHPOINT PRESENTS: ‘CROSSING DIMENSIONS’ Five clay artists — Heather Delisle, Edward S. Eberle, Ron Meyers, JJ Peet and Patti Warashina — blur boundaries of disciplines for this exhibition that dabbles in ceramics and works on paper, all connected to the Japanese folk art tradition of Mingei.
Excitement has been generating around Twin Cities’ galleries for “Claytopia,” the annual conference hosted by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, taking place this year at the Minneapolis Convention Center. There are many exhibitions being held in conjunction with the conference, highlighting contemporary ways artists are working with clay. Here are four places in town you can visit to see what’s happening at the forefront of ceramic art.
When: Opening reception 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29; exhibition runs through March 31 Where: Highpoint Center for Printmaking, 912 W. Lake St. Cost: Free Info: highpointprintmaking.org
AARON BECKER: ‘MENTAL SPACES’ Aaron Becker re-imagines how we choose objects to fill interior space with his wheelthrown objects at this show that takes place in a porch window in Minneapolis.
When: Opening reception 7 p.m. Thursday, March 28; exhibition runs March 27–30 Where: The Porch Gallery, 3306 Park Ave. S. Cost: Free Info: theporchgallery.com
‘THE FORM WILL FIND ITS WAY: CONTEMPORARY CERAMIC SCULPTURAL ABSTRACTION’ Minneapolis-based independent curator Elizabeth Carpenter, formerly a curator at the Walker Art Center, has put together this largescale exhibition featuring invited international artists and artists chosen from an international open call, all responding to the notion espoused by artist Peter Voulkos that painting, sculpture and pottery need not be separate and siloed art forms, but rather can co-mingle for excellent results.
When: 5 p.m. Thursday, March 28; exhibition runs through March 30 Where: Katherine E. Nash Gallery, 405 21st Ave. S. Cost: Free Info: cla.umn.edu/art/galleries/katherine-enash-gallery
CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Hornet and Matador 5 Tech-savvy school gp. 11 Higher ed. test 14 Fail to save one’s skin? 15 Bring back to the firm 16 35-state Western org. 17 Spot to spread out a ship’s map, maybe? 19 “The Racer’s Edge” 20 “American Gods” actor McShane 21 Shell material 22 Milk by-product 23 Yale’s Mr. Yale 25 Sailors dealing with a ship’s cargo? 28 Most warm 30 Barbershop staple 31 Industry mogul 32 Seedy abode 36 Sushi choice 37 Awesome things near the front of a ship? 38 Sweetie, in slang 41 Snore 42 Numerous 43 Gave one’s word 45 Often recyclable tech products 47 Backwards glance on a ship? 51 Adams who shot El Capitan 52 Tiny parasites 53 Secluded valleys 55 __ Lanka 56 Imaginepeace.com artist 57 Strength measure of the ship cook’s spirits? 60 Ref ’s call 61 “Her cheeks are rosy,
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41 Hot under the collar
12 Not for kids
42 See 34-Down
13 2018 awards event hosted by Danica Patrick
43 Hammered
18 African herd
44 “No hard feelings, dude”
22 GPS navigation app
46 Winged stinger
24 QE2 designation
47 Vegas attraction
26 Drift off
48 Rubberneck
27 Dutch artist Frans
49 Stan’s slapstick pal
29 Gardening tool
50 Naval bases?
33 Punching tool
54 Gloating word usually repeated
34 With 42-Down, like some bobsleds 35 Harley Davidson’s NYSE symbol 37 Stable environment? 38 Jazz improv highlight
57 Setting at 0 degrees long. 58 “This is so relaxing!” 59 West Coast athlete
39 Waiting area 40 Some cosmetic procedures
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3/15/19 1:41 PM
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B24 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
By Sarah Woutat
The last indoor market of winter
N
eighborhood Roots’ final indoor market of the winter runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, at Bachman’s on Lyndale, and we’ve got a great line-up for you! We’ll have live music performed by both Broken Heartland String Band and One Ukulele. In the fresh greens department, we’ll have salad greens, kale and Swiss chard from Dawn 2 Dusk Farm as well as greens and fresh herbs from Tangletown Gardens. Looking for carrots, onions and potatoes? We’ve got you covered. Stop by and visit Denny and Lynn Havlicek for Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Haralson, Fireside and Keepsake apples along with honey. Brand Farms will be there with eggs and dried apples. Both LoveTree Farmstead Cheese and Cosmic Wheel Creamery can fill your cheese needs. Looking for meat? Visit Braucher’s Sunshine Harvest Farm for eggs and a wide selection of meat. Johnson Family Pastures will be running a sale – 20 percent off beef roasts, pork roasts, and stewing hens. Dancing the Land Farm will have lamb and beautiful yarn from their own sheep! Stop by to chat with Matt from Wild Run Salmon and pick up some delicious wild-caught salmon. Peter and Carmen and Jerry from Hazelwood Creek will be there with lots of jarred treats. Dan from Walsh Ridge Farm will have plenty of jams, jellies and maple syrup. Davidson’s farm will have lots of tasty canned goods as well as raw honey, beeswax and winter squash! Visit
Minnesota Food Forest to taste their amazing maple cream and pick up some fruit leathers. “What’s maple cream,” you ask? Lynette and Clemon will tell you all about it. Michael and Sherri from Brush Prairie Farm will have lots of canned goods and maybe some winter squash. Dave will be there with all his pickled goodies from Martha’s Joy. Winter isn’t quite over yet and Red Clover Herbal Apothecary can help keep you well through the end. Nancy will have cold and flu remedies, Elderberry syrup, winter warming elixir (fire cider), herbal throat spray, an assortment of herbal teas, herbal salves and herbal extracts. Dorothy from Heath Glen will have jams and marmalades, beverage syrups, shrub syrups and spice and seasoning blends. Come to the market hungry because we have some great options for on-the-spot eating. Sun Street Breads will have pastries and bread loaves to take home for dinner. Oh Crepe! will be making both sweet and savory crepes. Wha’ Jamaican will be serving up oxtails, jerk chicken, steamed veggies and coconut basmati rice. And Chef Shack will be featuring some of their gluten-free items such as a Thai green curry. Thirsty? Cafe Palmira will be brewing coffee, and Moonchild Naturals will offer natural sodas, sparkling waters, and glass straws. And don’t forget to swing by the bar for a beer, where all proceeds go to Neighborhood Roots, the nonprofit organization that brings
Adrienne from Kiss My Cabbage shares her knowledge about lactofermented kimchi and sauerkraut with her customers. Submitted photo
you the Fulton, Kingfield and Nokomis farmers markets! A huge thank you to Lakes & Legends for donating the beer and to Book Club Restaurant for their sponsorship. Adrienne from Kiss My Cabbage will be bringing all three Asian-inspired kimchi varieties as well as lemon garlic dill, Plain Ol’ Sauerkraut, Central American red cabbage curtido, Italian-inspired giardiniera, plus seasonal apple curry Elderberry and apple juniper onion. Stop by to see Jim at Topos Ferments. He’ll have purple daikon radish with Tae-kyung peppers, green daikon with dill, green daikon with leek and dulse, and maybe some preserved lemons. Have a sweet tooth? Andrea from Groveland Confections has got you covered. Creature Comfort Hot Sauce will add some zing to your dinner, and Ancient Indian Spices can warm up your winter meals. Treats and toys for your furry friends are available from Squirrel! Also look for sterling silver jewelry and hand-painted shirts and sweatshirts, garden ornaments, mirrored garden art, hand batik scarves and headbands. And none of this would be possible without
our dedicated sponsors. Nicollet Ace Hardware will be at the market with teeny-tiny baby chicks. Place your chick orders soon, and Ace can provide you with all of your backyard chicken supplies. They’ve been a supporter of the markets for many years and we’re proud to work with them. Kamy from Augustine Team will be next to the bar hosting a kids activity so bring the kiddos by to make some flowers and learn more about what Kamy does. And Hero Plumbing, surely you’ve called them this winter when your pipes froze. If you didn’t, you should call them next time you have a plumbing need. These are the businesses that choose to support the markets that you love. So please support them. I’d also like to thank you all, our customers. If you didn’t come out every week to be part of our market communities, then our markets and Neighborhood Roots wouldn’t exist. See you Saturday! Sarah Woutat has been the Market Manager for Neighborhood Roots since 2019. Before managing the markets, she was a vendor at Fulton and Kingfield for eight years.
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Interior Design Consultants • Stunning Window Treatments Quality Carpet and Flooring
Putting “Wow” in homes like yours for over 70 years!
www.abbottpaint.com
Roofing · Siding · Windows Insulation
CALL US TODAY!
Locally Owned • MN LIC# BC010277 • A+ Rating from BBB
GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Serving the community for over 30 years Top quality at competitive prices FREE ESTIMATES Committed to customer service
Interior & Exterior
• Free Estimates • References
651-690-3956
Exteriors by Design #BC738852
Call Jesse 651-206-2454 ExteriorsByDesignLLC.com
Exteriors by Design Exteriors by Design
YOUR LAST ROOF.
EVER.
HUNDREDS OF HAPPY CUSTOMERS
apietigconcrete.com Nokomis Concrete When quality counts
e Lifetim ty n a r r a W
612-343-3301 · www.midwestplus.com
EXTERIORS
10% discount
INSULATE AND SAVE!
Licensed Bonded Insured • Lic. RR 155317
ROTTEN WOOD?
Our Contractors have local references
HYDE AND HARMSEN Window sills, casings & trim replaced, storm windows
SINCE 1983
quarve.com • (763) 785-1472 Mn Bc 006016
612.709.4980
WWW.SMITHCOLE.COM
Andy 651-698-3156 harmsenoberg.com
If you have a home, you have a list. GET IT DONE WITH HELP FROM EXPERTS AT THE 14 t h ANNUAL
HOME IMPROVEMENT FAIR Presented by
FREE!
SATURDAY, MARCH 23
10 am –3 pm
BURROUGHS COMMUNITY SCHOOL 1601 W 50TH ST, MPLS MEET WITH OVER 40 OF THE TWIN CITIES’ BEST REMODELERS, PLUMBERS, LANDSCAPERS, PAINTERS, MASONS, ELECTRICIANS, ARBORISTS AND MORE, SHOWCASING THEIR WORK AND PRESENTING SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.
Bring the kids for the LEGO ® activity hosted by Snapology of Minneapolis
swjournal.com/homefair
B26 March 21–April 3, 2019 / southwestjournal.com
We know homes! Bungalows, Colonial, Craftsman, Mid-Century, Ramblers, Modern and more. 612-781-3333 • 2536 Marshall Street NE, Minneapolis Monday–Friday 8am–6pm, Saturday 8am–4pm
FLOORING
TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205 Southwest Resident for Over 40 Years
• Installation • Restoration • Repairs • Buff & Coat
Sanding • Refinishing • Repair Install • Recoat • FREE Estimates www.earlsfloorsanding.com
612.290.1533
10-time Angie’s List Super Service Award Winner
Advertise with us to E X P A N D your business
LANDSCAPING
“We don’t cut corners – we scrape them!”
www.harlanfloors.com • 612-251-4290
Residential & Commercial
FREE ESTIMATES
612-750-5724
Craftsman RADIATOR
COVERS
Call Chris: 612-716-0545 CraftsmanRadiatorCover.com
• Painting • Plaster repair • Ceramic tile • Light remodeling • All around repairs
TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205
Hardscapes & Landscapes
612.267.3285
Free Design or 10% off for all projects booked before May 1, 2019
Design, Install & Maintain:
Commercial & Residential • ISA Certified Arborist • Owner Operated Licensed and Insured • Free Estimates / 24 hr emergency service
TO PLACE AN AD CALL 612.825.9205 PG 3 ONLY
Byron Electric
TO PLACE AN AD IN THE SOUTHWEST JOURNAL CALL 612.825.9205 TODAY!
Custom Artisan
(612) 729-9454 T Trimmer T TreesMN.com
MAINTENANCE
Patios • Driveways Sidewalks • Steps • Plantings Mulch • Perennial Beds
Our specialty is your existing home!®
Houle Insulation Inc.
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE ON ATTIC INSULATION • BYPASS SEALING SIDEWALL INSULATION
www.houleinsulation.com
612-225-8753 | dreamandrealitylandscapemn.com
763-767-8412
26 yrs. Fully Insured
Serving the Twin Cities since 1977
MISCELLANEOUS Snow Plowing & Shoveling Cleanup / Dethatching Aeration / Seeding
Lawn Mowing Fertilizer & Weed Control Gutter Cleaning
PRESENTS THE 14TH ANNUAL
FREE!
Window Washing
612-345-9301
peterdoranlawn.com
BURROUGHS COMMUNITY SCHOOL Climbing & Bucket Pruning /Removals
1601 WEST 50TH ST., MPLS
Expert High Risk & Crane Removals
Free Admission • Door Prizes
Pest & Disease Management
FREE ESTIMATES FOR: Tree Trimming · Tree Removal Stump Grinding · Storm Damage
612.706.8210 FULLY BONDED & INSURED 1 MONTH
of Snow Removal
FREE SNOW customers (new contract only) REMOVAL
SAME-DAY SERVICE 952-545-8055
www.premierlawnandsnow.com
ADS 612.825.9205 Local services. Local references. Local expertise.
SATURDAY, MARCH 23 10 am – 3 pm
ortheast N TREEInc.
Trained & Courteous Staff Questions about Emerald Ash Borer? We can help!
George & Lynn Welles
Certified Arborists (#MN-0354A & #MN-4089A)
612-789-9255 northeasttree.net
FREE ESTIMATES!
tree trimming • removal stump grinding Crew is CPR & First aid certified
612-239-2508
www.molinarotree.com
Matthew Molinaro Minneapolis resident • Owner/operator Certified Arborist with 21 years experience
MN- 4551 A
southwestjournal.com/homefair • 612.825.9205
✓ Bonded and insured ✓ 100% satisfaction guarantee ✓ No-contract cleanings Call now for a free, no-obligation estimate
Maids.com Mr. Clean brand and image trademarks are used under license from The Procter & Gamble Co.
southwestjournal.com / March 21–April 3, 2019 B27
PLUMBING, HVAC
PAINTING EXTERIOR • INTERIOR
FOR ADS CALL 612.825.9205
TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205 Lic. #61664PM
LOCAL BUSINESSES Our Readers are YOUR Clients
ADVERTISE WITH US
Place your Ad HERE!
651-337-1738
Licensed Bonded Insured Over 29 Years experience
PAINTING & DECORATING
612.360.2019
FIVESTARPAINTING.com
Wallpaper removal & hanging • Plaster & sheetrock repair • All facets of interior painting • Stripping & “trim” restoration • Skimcoating •
Accredited BBB member, A+ rating
LINDEN HILLS PAINTING Int/Ext • Paint Enamel • Stain • Cabinets Plaster repairs • Paper • Homes Condos • Decks • Fences
612-310-8023 Dave Novak
612-227-1844
35+ yrs. experience Lic • Bond • Ins
grecopainting.com info@grecopainting.com
Install a new kitchen or bathroom faucet
Cross off all your plumbing checklist items
Garbage disposal repairs & installation Leaky sinks, faucets, showers, toilets & pipe repair Hot water heaters
CallHomeWorks.com
PAGE 2 ONLY (651) 273-2442
COME SEE US AT THE HOME FAIR!
Fix low water pressure
(And get your free roll of toilet paper!)
Sinks that drain slow
• Interior/Exterior Painting • Wallpaper Stripping/Papering • Wood Stripping, Refinishing & Cabinets • Plaster, Sheetrock, Texture Repair & Skim Coating • Ceiling Texturing & Texture Removal (612) 827-6140 or (651) 699-6140 PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM
Call Jim!
promasterplumbing.com
Sales@southwestjournal.com | 612-825-9205
Experienced craftsmen (no subcontractors) working steady from start to finish. Neat and courteous; references and 2 year warranty. Liability Ins. and Workers Comp. for Your Protection.
Toilets that are always running Faucet that drips
Mention this ad to receive
CallHero.com • (612) 424-9349 Call today and SAVE
46.50 OFF
$
Your NEXT plumbing service
REMODELING
Free Estimates Interior & Exterior Painting • Insurance Claims Wood Finishing • Exterior Wood Restoration Water Damage Repair • Patching • Enameling
$20 off
any plumbing or drain cleaning!
763-425-9461
www. tjkplumbinginc .com
MN Lic#: PC644042
TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205
Custom Design, Custom Remodel Attention to details, and extraordinary design & service for your additions, kitchens, and bathrooms. Let us show you the way to something wonderful!
Come see us at the SW Journal Home Fair!
(651) 248-0252
bluejackbuilders.com
Your Sign of Satisfaction
952-512-0110
Insured | References
Family Owned for Over 60 Years greg@chileen.com
612-850-0325 REMODELING
www.roelofsremodeling.com
Create • Collaborate Communicate 612-655-4961 hansonremodeling.com Lic #BC633225
EK Johnson Construction you dream it
we build it
Lic: BC637388
Living and Working in Southwest Minneapolis
Design/Construction
Specializing in Reproduction Kitchens & Baths
Call Ethan Johnson, Owner
612-669-3486
ekjohnsonconstruction.com
612.821.1100 or 651.690.3442 www.houseliftinc.com License #BC378021
No project is too small for good design inspiredspacesmn.com 612.360.4180 Remodeling since 1960
Bathroom Remodeling homecareincremodeling.com 952.884.4187
REAL UNFINISHED NATURAL WOOD PRODUCTS AT AFFORDABLE PRICES!
2nd Stories • Additions • Kitchens • Basements Baths • Attic Rooms • Windows
Remodel • Design • Build
612-924-9315
www.fusionhomeimprovement.com MN License #BC451256
612-781-3333 • 2536 Marshall Street NE, Minneapolis
TO PLACE AN AD CALL 612.825.9205
THE BRAMAN BROTHERS PRESENT
$1,495,000
660 Hidden Creek Trail | Mendota Heights
PENDING
$249,900
$259,900 6220 4th Ave S | Richfield
ACTIVE
1846 Parker Rd | St. Louis Park
$365,000 1740 Eleanor Ave | Highland Park
$205,000 SOLD
3928 Cedar Ave S | Minneapolis
$175,000 2927 Thomas Ave N | Minneapolis
CHARLIE & JOE BRAMAN 612.643.5533 BramanBrothers.com
PENDING
SOLD
$495,000 SOLD
4848 Ewing Ave S | Minneapolis
SOLD