It’s a wrap for Fifth Element PAGE A3 • City’s ‘dire financial position’ PAGE A5 • Isolation a risk for vulnerable populations PAGE A6
April 16–29, 2020 Vol. 31, No. 8 southwestjournal.com
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Whittier resident Scout Ober and their roommates paid partial rent in April. Photo by Michelle Bruch
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stuck with the rent
By Michelle Bruch
At a Whittier apartment off the Midtown Greenway, two roommates lost work and can’t pay the full $1,750 rent. A third roommate, Scout Ober, has started a bittersweet temp job processing home mortgage loans, imagining a system where student loans wouldn’t stop Ober from buying a small house of their own. “We’re taking it week by week,” Ober said, adding that the landlord has been flexible so far. Ober has gauged friends’ interest in a rent strike, drafted letter templates asking for a rent freeze and chipped in a few dollars for a struggling neighbor. “How does our lease document hold up against the catastrophe that’s happening now?” Ober asked. SEE RENTERS / PAGE A15
Merchants seek relief Southwest businesses, banks navigate loan confusion during pandemic
By Andrew Hazzard
A wave of new federal and state loan programs designed to help small businesses badly wounded by the coronavirus pandemic is offering both relief and confusion to companies in Southwest Minneapolis. With the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) offering emergency relief options, many small business owners, desperate for aid and worried funds will be exhausted, are rushing to apply for the programs as quickly as possible, even if they are not quite sure about all the details. “It’s been insanely time consuming and confusing,” said Lyn Williams, who runs Brown & Greene Floral and Wax Paper in Linden Hills. Businesses across Southwest Minneapolis are facing uncertain futures due to the pandemic and while emergency forgivable loans offer needed relief, the process is creating many questions for stressed merchants. SEE SMALL BUSINESS / PAGE A14
Like many news outlets reeling from the coronavirus pandemic’s financial fallout, the Southwest Journal has been hard hit at a time when accurate information and detailed reporting are more critical than ever. For the past three decades, we’ve delivered free community news to your homes and businesses because everyone deserves access to professional, unbiased journalism. We believe community newspapers 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. We take pride in offering the most comprehensive coverage of Southwest neighborhoods, businesses, schools, parks and development. Our stories let you know who’s running for office in your local election and who’s launching a new pizza shop on your block, while our advertising space showcases competent roofers, remodelers, realtors and plumbers. In recent weeks, we’ve been reporting on the pandemic’s local impact — on how elected leaders, doctors, schoolteachers, small business owners and laid-off workers are grappling with a suddenly altered landscape. And in the tumultuous months ahead, we promise to do everything we can to keep telling the essential stories of Southwest Minneapolis. But the Southwest Journal is currently facing unprecedented challenges. In normal times, our paper is supported almost wholly by advertising from local restaurants, shops, service providers and other small businesses. While our advertisers have been deeply sympathetic, their budgets are being tightened, some have been compelled to close and all are making difficult decisions against a backdrop of historic uncertainty. As a result, our business model has been upended, and we’ve been forced to lay off three full-time staff members, cut pages from our print edition and temporarily suspend the columns of longtime freelancers. The Southwest Journal is an independent, family-owned business that was launched in the Linden Hills kitchen of co-publishers Terry Gahan and Janis Hall. In our 30 years of serving Southwest Minneapolis, we’ve never before asked readers for financial support.
But today is different. We need your help. If reading our paper has made your life in Southwest a richer, more meaningful experience, we hope you’ll consider supporting the work we do in shaping and informing our community. Please go to swjournal.com/donate and support us in any amount you are able, so that the dedicated staff of the Southwest Journal can continue bringing you the news. Whether or not you are able to contribute financially, thank you for being a reader of the Southwest Journal. We welcome and deeply value your voices, so please email us at feedback@swjournal.com.
GO TO SWJOURNAL.COM/DONATE to submit a recurring or one-time donation.
Donations fund the paper’s production and distribution. They are not tax-deductible. We prefer donations via credit card but will also gladly accept checks made out to the Southwest Journal and mailed to us at: Lyn Williams arranges a bouquet at her Linden Hills shop Brown & Greene. Williams has been working to fill orders while navigating new government loan options for small businesses. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
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Grocery workers at risk
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A2 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A3
By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com
24TH & HENNEPIN
Rhymesayers signs off at Fifth Element Fifth Element, a longtime haven for Minneapolis hip hop culture, has closed the doors of its store in The Wedge after 21 years.
Fifth Element, a record and merchandise store for Minneapolis hip hop label Rhymesayers, has closed after 21 years at 24th & Hennepin. Photo by Andrew Hazzard
The store, founded by Minneapolis independent hip hop label Rhymesayers in 1999, announced it was closing in a message to fans on March 27. “Countless memories have been made in that time and space, while serving our local community as well as traveling visitors and artists alike, and we are thankful for all the love and support you’ve all given us in return over the last 20-plus years,” the store posted on Facebook. Fifth Element sold vinyl records and CDs, clothing and merchandise of affiliated acts, art supplies and more. While the store had shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic in March, Rhymesayers posted that the group had begun planning to transition away from Fifth Element last year. The store will continue online, but will be rebranded as shop.rhymesayers.com, where the label will continue to sell albums and merchandise.
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Lynnhurst life partners Lois Kehl and Mark Kryzer developed a shared passion for spices over very different careers and are eager to share their knowledge and products at their new Windom store. Spice Your Life, a destination for highquality spices and olive oil, opened at 54th & Garfield in late March. As a grocer, the store has been allowed to operate during the coronavirus pandemic. Kehl is a neuroscience Ph.D. and dentist who worked as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her partner, Kryzer, was a longtime State Department employee who served as a diplomat in the Middle East. While Kehl became interested in the health benefits of spices in the lab, Kyzer was developing a passion for the flavors while stationed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Nepal. “If you have the right ingredients, food is very flavorful and very healthy,” Kehl said. It was walking through the Dubai spice market a couple years ago that inspired Kryzer to want to begin selling some of the rare spices he’d been exposed to. The couple began to sell online and at the Linden Hills farmers market. “The response was good enough that we said,
‘Let’s take it to the next level,’” Kryzer said. Their new shop is full of high-quality blends of familiar spices like chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika and turmeric. But Spice Your Life also carries harder-to-find products like Urfa Biber (Turkish pepper flakes), Pipelchuma blend (a mix of crushed chilis and garlic popular in Libya and Israel) and Berbere spice blend (an Ethiopian mix of cumin, paprika, turmeric and coriander). “These are things you won’t find at your local grocery store,” Kehl said. The couple keeps a blog full of recipes and hopes to bring in local chefs for events and demonstrations down the road. “We want the shop to be a bit of a social place in the future,” Kehl said. During the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, Spice Your Life is offering delivery in most of Southwest Minneapolis and has added a curbside pickup option. The retail store remains open during the shutdown but is closed on Mondays.
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A4 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
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At the beginning of the Minneapolis school district’s second week of remote education, the district had distributed internet-connected devices to about 70% of the roughly 13,000 MPS students who need one, communications director Julie Schultz Brown wrote in an email. The district had also ordered about 3,400 WiFi hotspots for students who lack internet access. Teachers say devices are critical to student success during the closure. They allow students to access materials, conduct research, record videos, turn in assignments and connect with teachers and peers. “Can we put a packet in front of a kid? Sure. But, again, look at the inequity of that,” Clara Barton Open School science teacher Tracey Schultz said. “It’s not good enough, and it’s especially not good enough when the technology is out there.” Minneapolis superintendent Ed Graff said the district wants to provide 2,000 devices per day to students during the week of April 13. About 75% of deliveries are successful, Schultz Brown wrote. About 25% of the time, no one is home, a student doesn’t live at an address or the district can’t get ahold of the family. Device dissemination has been the top priority at Jefferson Community School in Lowry Hill East, where about 90% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. “We are working a lot of hours to do it,” principal Holly Kleppe wrote in an email. Tracey Schultz said some families are sharing one device between multiple kids and many kids are still working out of packets. Lyndale Community School principal Mark Stauduhar said his staff has been focusing on contacting all families, many of whom don’t have internet access. Stauduhar said teachers have been engaging students who are online through virtual morning meetings, “goofy” videos and magic tricks. Students can communicate with one another through online commenting. Attendance has improved in the days since Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) began remote education. Teachers are tracking attendance through phone calls, text messages, emails and student participation in online activities. The absentee rate was 20% on April 6, the first day of remote education, and 15% on April 13, Graff said. Meal distribution has also been a top district priority. Between March 17 and April 13, the district’s Culinary and Wellness Services (CWS) department had provided over 220,000 meals to students at sites throughout the city. CWS provides students with five breakfasts and five
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Can we put a packet in front of a kid? Sure. But, again, look at the inequity of that. It’s not good enough, and it’s especially not good enough when the technology is out there. — Tracey Schultz, science teacher, Clara Barton Open School
lunches each week, with locations viewable on the Free Meals for Kids mobile app. Families can take one free box of meals per child. Boxes have included everything from Eggo waffles to French toast sticks and pizza. Ellie Lucas, CEO of Hunger Impact Partners, the nonprofit that built the mobile app, said the district worked hard to develop an afterschool snack and meal program but is still concerned about kids not getting an evening meal.
Comprehensive District Design
The final draft of a plan to remake the MPS through a series of structural changes was discussed for the first time by the School Board during its mid-April meeting. The Comprehensive District Design (CDD) would centralize magnet schools and high school career and technical education (CTE) and redraw school boundary zones. Additionally, it would create a new lottery system for magnet schools and give the district the discretion to limit enrollment at high schools for equity purposes. Students would still be allowed to enroll in schools outside of their attendance zones. Hundreds of people voiced opinions about the plan in voicemails left for the School Board before the meeting. Over 140 were played during the meeting, held online in an audio-only format. Some parents at affected schools predicted the plan wouldn’t save money, close achievement gaps or meaningfully integrate schools, and many said the board shouldn’t vote on it during the pandemic. Windom parent Amy Gustafson said the plan is “no more than a shuffling of bodies” so that MPS has fewer racially identifiable schools and can “stay ahead” of a segregation lawsuit. “This plan does nothing to get at the root causes inside of schools that are the impediments to opportunity to students who are not achieving,” she said. Justice Page Middle School parent Heather Anderson, who supports the plan, asked the board to “stay the course” and perform “healthy governance” for its most marginalized students. “We need to do the equitable thing,” she said. School Board chair Kim Ellison said in an interview that she has long supported centralizing magnet schools and emphasizing neighborhood schools. She wanted to know about options for families who would no longer be part of the attendance zone of the school that’s closest to their homes. High school students in the Windom neighborhood, for example, would be in the Southwest attendance zone, though Washburn is closer. School Board vice chair Jenny Arneson said delaying the vote a few months would force the district to stay in its unsustainable financial structure for another year. She urged the board to adopt clear implementation goals and timelines with the plan and asked Graff for more specificity on implementation steps. At the meeting, board member Bob Walser said he “can’t believe” the board is having this discussion now and that the plan has “silenced” and “ignored” many parents. “I simply don’t believe this plan will deliver equity,” he said. The board is slated to vote on the plan on May 12.
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A5
City is in ‘dire financial position’ By Zac Farber / zfarber@swjournal.com
Minneapolis is currently in a “dire financial position,” according to Mayor Jacob Frey, with the city’s external revenue expected to drop this year between 7% and 15% — by roughly $100 million to $200 million. The city has imposed wage and hiring freezes and is delaying large purchases in an attempt to forestall layoffs and keep providing core city services, such as responding to 911 calls and repairing roads, during the coronavirus pandemic. “While we hope and expect the COVID-19 crisis to ease in the months ahead, the negative impact on our local and national economy will be felt long after our public life returns to normal,” Frey wrote in an email to city staff. “These cost containment measures will help keep hundreds of our staff employed for as long as possible.” Limited data is available so far to city budget forecasters, but the pandemic is expected to deliver a one-two punch to the city’s fiscal health. The first pains are already being felt, with the governor’s stay-at-home keeping out-of-towners from coming into Minneapolis, which means no taxes collected off of sports games, concerts, festivals and conventions; fewer people paying to park in city ramps; and less revenue from utilities, like water and sewer, used during events. The cost of social distancing is estimated at between $45 million and $120 million. Other troubles will persist even after the worst of the pandemic is over. The city is forecasting that it will spark a recession lasting months to years, further depressing revenue from local taxes and fees and leading to $20 million to $30 million in delinquent property taxes for 2020, though next year residents could pay back some of that money.
Micah Intermill, the city’s budget director, noted that “there’s a large caveat” around all of these estimates. Right now, the city is relying primarily on proxy figures, such as drops in hotel room sales and freeway traffic, and won’t get clear data about tax collection for March — the first month the pandemic impacted Minneapolis — until early May. “The place we’re at is question mark times question mark equals question mark,” Intermill said, paraphrasing a state official. “Our city revenues outside of property taxes are dependent on consumption.” Intermill said one bright spot is that the city was already planning for a recession during the 2020 budget development process. “The indication that we might see a slowdown soon was [already] with us,” he said. At a March 24 meeting, City Council Member Lisa Goodman (Ward 7) cast doubt that the city would be able to make it through the crisis without major reductions in service. “I want to remind everyone without being Debbie Downer or alarmist that 70% of all of the money we spend in the city is on people,” she told her colleagues. “When we’re looking at a reduction in service level, we’re talking about laying off people. … It’s going to be scary and I’m not sure you really realize the amount of trauma that potentially could come from this.” In an April 10 interview, Frey said he was determined to try to prevent layoffs, but the city is facing much uncertainty. “We are putting cost controls in place today because we are committed to doing everything in our power to preserve jobs,” he said. “It’s impossible to know the full scope of how the recession will impact Minneapolis, but we do know that the impact will be significant.”
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The city of Minneapolis will soon begin posting daily updates on how many residents have tested positive for the coronavirus and the number of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, officials said. Minneapolis has been receiving daily updates on coronavirus cases and related hospitalizations and deaths from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and plans to start sharing those updates online with the public by April 17, according to Luisa Pessoa-Brendao, manager of the city’s epidemiology and research team. Mayor Jacob Frey has updated the City Council twice in April with the number of confirmed cases at the body’s weekly meeting. As of April 10, there were 131 positive coronavirus cases in Minneapolis. No hospitalization or death figures have been shared in those updates. As of April 14, the state of Minnesota has recorded 1,695 positive cases of the coronavirus, 588 of which have been in Hennepin County. “The bottom line is our city and our state are outperforming others,” Mayor Jacob Frey told
the City Council on April 10, adding that social distancing must continue. Council President Lisa Bender (Ward 10) and others asked for more specific data on racial demographics of cases. Nationwide, COVID-19 has caused disproportionately high death rates among African Americans in cities like Milwaukee, Chicago and New Orleans. “I think it makes complete sense — we should be tracking based on demographics and race,” Frey responded. The city will start with more basic aggregate data on the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Pessoa-Brendao said. Right now, she said there are not enough cases for the department to release demographic data without making people identifiable. The Minneapolis Health Department is waiting for there to be at least five cases among each racial group tracked before putting out race-specific data; publishing simply white and nonwhite cases wouldn’t be helpful, she said. If case numbers rise to the point the city’s
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Isolation a risk for vulnerable populations
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Vail Place’s clubhouse in South Uptown gives people with serious and persistent mental illnesses places to go for work, support, meals and social activities. Vail Place closed its physical spaces on March 17, the day Gov. Tim Walz’s first stay-at-home order went into effect. File photo
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Duane Schley spent three days each week at Mount Olivet’s adult day service facility in Windom. Schley, who has Alzheimer’s disease, loved the program, said Sandy, his wife of 54 years. He’d made a lot of friends there, she said, and he enjoyed the camaraderie, education, music and visits from children in the affiliated day care program. “Every single day, he would just talk one stream all the way from Mount Olivet Day Service home about how wonderful the day had been,” she said. People of all ages and backgrounds have dealt with the shuttering of gathering spaces because of the pandemic and the governor’s stay-at-home order. While the isolation is difficult for many, it’s perhaps toughest on people who are already on the margins of society, such as those with mental illness and functional disabilities. Service providers said their participants have remained in good spirits, although many don’t have smartphones and lack internet access. One expert said people with such conditions may be more susceptible to the loneliness that comes with prolonged closures and social distancing. “Social isolation among the most vulnerable is going to be even worse,” said Donna McAlpine, a medical sociologist at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “This crisis is going to hit people who are marginalized or vulnerable in the best of times way harder than it’s going to hit the middle or the upper class.”
Support systems
Research has shown that prolonged social isolation and loneliness can lead to increased mortality rates and that people with certain conditions are more susceptible to it. In a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation study, 22% of U.S. adults reported feeling constant loneliness. But that figure jumped to 45% for people with a debilitating disability and 47% for people with a mental health condition. While there hasn’t yet been clear data, McAlpine predicted that people with severe and persistent mental illness will be hit harder by the coronavirus than other populations.
Many people with serious mental illnesses don’t have deep family or community support systems, said Chad Bolstrom, a licensed counselor who runs the Vail Place clubhouse in South Uptown. Vail Place is a community resource center for people with a serious or persistent mental illness. It provides its members everything from socialization and recreation activities to daily meals, work and education opportunities. “We’re one of the places that they know people see them for their strengths,” Bolstrom said. Bolstrom said Vail Place closed its physical spaces on March 17, the day Gov. Tim Walz’s first stay-at-home order went into effect. Bolstrom said many members have co-occurring conditions such as asthma that would elevate their risk should they contract COVID-19. Since physically closing, Bolstrom said food security and physical isolation have been issues for members and that many feel unsafe venturing out of their homes. The organization, which has retained its entire staff, has been coordinating grocery deliveries and connecting people to resources. It has also built a “virtual” clubhouse and has been trying to get members who don’t have laptops or smartphones access to low-cost devices. So far, most Vail Place members have remained stable, Bolstrom said. The one member who was hospitalized has been released, and a lot have been talking about how they’re managing anxiety, boredom and depression. “I’ve been impressed with how the community has pulled together,” he said. Vail Place member and Southwest Minneapolis resident Lori Megow has been attending virtual clubhouse meetings and classes and remotely working for the organization’s business department during the pandemic. Megow, who has bipolar and anxiety disorders, said working remotely has gone smoothly and that she cried during her first telephone meeting because she was so happy to hear other people’s voices. “It’s important to try and keep the clubhouse running so that way we have a place to go back to,” she said. SEE VULNERABLE / PAGE A7
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A7
COVID-19 hits senior homes
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Six cases reported at Jones-Harrison By Andrew Hazzard and Zac Farber
As the coronavirus continues to grow in Minnesota, senior living centers in Southwest Minneapolis are adjusting their protocols to attempt to limit exposure to vulnerable populations and trying to isolate residents who contract the virus. Several senior living facilities in Southwest Minneapolis have confirmed COVID-19 exposures of either residents or staff, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. About 1 in 5 confirmed cases statewide have come from exposures in congregate living centers. The elderly are particularly susceptible to COVID-19; the average age of the 79 Minnesotans who’ve died from the disease is 87. The Jones-Harrison Residence in Cedar-IslesDean had six known cases among residents as of April 15, up from three on April 9, and one staff member who has tested positive, according to the home’s president, Annette Greely. Those residents are isolated in their living units and the residential center has established an isolation unit for any future cases. All residents are screened daily for symptoms of COVID-19. “It is difficult to determine how it was transmitted,” said Barb Joyce, Jones-Harrison’s infection prevention specialist. “Everybody from outside the facility is a risk, including staff.” She said she suspects it’s been transmitted through asymptomatic carriers. None of those cases have required hospitalization at this point, Greely said. The Minnesota Department of Health has assigned a case worker to Jones-Harrison and all other senior living centers with outbreaks. While testing for residents has been accessible, Greely said finding tests for staff members has been harder. The staff member who has tested positive is isolating at home and others who are feeling ill or have family members who are sick have also had to selfisolate. There are three Jones-Harrison staff members staying in empty rooms in the residential home to decrease the likelihood of bringing the coronavirus in from the outside.
Other Southwest Minneapolis senior living facilities with confirmed exposures include Mount Olivet home in Windom, The Villa at Bryn Mawr, Walker Methodist Health Center in East Harriet and The Waters on 50th in Fulton. The Kenwood retirement community had yet to see any cases as of April 9, according to executive director Jennifer Volkenant. The Kenwood is doing relatively well on supplies for personal protective equipment (PPE), but Volkenant said she is worried about resupplying with rising prices and prioritization of supplies for hospitals. Jones-Harrison is also trying to procure more PPE for its staff, Greely said. Even senior homes without cases are dealing with another pressing issue: loneliness. At senior homes across Minneapolis and the nation, most residents have been largely isolated for their own protection. Visitors are not allowed and interactions with others and staff are restricted. Meals are consumed in rooms alone or with a spouse. “I think the isolation is starting to take its toll on them,” Volkenant said. There are around 150 residents at The Kenwood and only four couples. The overwhelming majority spend most of their days alone. At 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., The Kenwood encourages residents to open their doors and talk with their neighbors in the hall. The center has puzzles, movies and books for residents to share, she said. Senior homes and community members have gotten creative to entertain their residents during the lockdown. On April 2, a Lynnhurst family performed a circus act outside Mount Olivet while residents watched from windows and cheered them on (see page B5). Jones-Harrison has put signs outside near its center encouraging neighbors walking dogs to bring their pets up to the window, Greely said. Kirby Goodman contributed reporting to this story.
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‘Void in his life’
At Mount Olivet Day Services, operations have also been shut down since March 17, program director Ginny Cullen said. That was nearly two weeks before the state Department of Human Services ordered any adult day programs that remained open to close. Before the pandemic, up to 35 adults with functional disabilities came to the program each weekday for meals, socialization and activities such as exercise and crafts. About 60 people are enrolled; their average age is 79. Most program participants live with a family member or live in group housing, Cullen said, noting that participation provides a respite for caregivers. Over the past month, Cullen has been calling participants, most of whom have been confined to their homes. She and her staff have mailed puzzles and other activities to participants. Some participants have struggled, and others have been able to establish routines, Cullen said. One has been talking daily with a program volunteer. Another is sorting through pictures with her daughter. Sandy Schley said her husband, Duane, has remained in good spirits during the quarantine
— particularly after their son came by one day to play guitar — but that he sleeps more. She said she tries to keep him active but it’s hard for her to provide the same level of excitement as Mount Olivet did. “There’s a void in his life,” she said. To be Duane’s full-time caregiver, Sandy left her full-time “post-retirement” job as a software project manager at Epicor. She had been there since 2011. “It was bittersweet,” she said. “It wasn’t really the way I had intended for it to go.” Windom resident Marie Morocco had been sending her mom, Fran Jones, to Mount Olivet since last summer. She said her mother, who has dementia, is doing fine during the pandemic but that it’s hard to consistently keep her engaged. Morocco, a nurse who works full time, said she cares for Jones on her own. That hadn’t always been easy before the pandemic for Morocco, who is starting an organization aimed at easing caregiver burnout. When Mount Olivet closed, Morocco scrambled to find friends who could watch her mother. She said she has struggled to find quality caregivers and wishes the federal government would have provided relief to people in her situation. “I imagine I’m not the only one who’s scrambling,” she said.
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A8 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
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An unknowable risk for grocery workers
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When Trace Brandt returns home from his job at the Linden Hills Co-op, he removes his shoes before walking in the door. Then he strips off his clothes, tosses them in the laundry and takes a shower. Brandt lives with both his parents and two of his siblings, and he wants to protect them from the coronavirus. “I am the only one in my family who’s going out in public right now,” he said. “I’m the most likely to get exposed, and if I do, I don’t want it to spread to my family members.” Brandt describes himself as an anxious person, and in mid-March, with shoppers coming to the co-op in droves and confusing news proliferating online, he said there were days he struggled to show up for work. The precautions taken by his store — such as handing out disposable gloves and capping the number of simultaneous shoppers at 35 — have relieved his anxiety somewhat. But while customers are no longer swarming the aisles, working at the co-op has gotten only stranger. Brandt’s shifts are now spent repeatedly spraying carts, baskets, cash registers and phones with a bleach solution spray. He’s tasked with enforcing rules requiring 6 feet of distance between shoppers. And most of his coworkers and customers are now covering their faces with masks. “It’s crazy how fast people are able to adapt,” Brandt said, adding that he’s proud his retail job has taken on a sudden importance. “When I wake up and feel healthy, then I’m going to continue to take the steps to stay that way and keep others healthy, too.” Under stay-at-home orders, grocery staff have become some of the country’s highestprofile essential workers. Out of a sense of duty or the need for a paycheck, they’re shouldering unknowable risks as their employers scramble to implement safety standards amid quickly shifting information. “It’s a spotlight I don’t think any retail grocery worker asked for, but they certainly have stepped up to the plate,” said Matt Utecht, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 663, which represents most Southwest grocery workers. “Who would have thought when they filled out that application at Kowalski’s or Cub or Lunds & Byerlys that they would end up on the front line of a global pandemic and be an
Mayra Leal rings up a customer in early April at the Linden Hills Co-op. The co-op recently placed plexiglass dividers between cashiers and shoppers to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
essential link to keep society running?” In mid- to late March, with local residents stockpiling items like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, canned goods, beans and rice, Southwest grocery stores saw sales double or triple. In the weeks since, stores have been getting creative as they seek to answer a fundamental question: How do you balance the need to keep employees and shoppers safe with the community’s need for access to groceries? Solutions have included new signage (“2 carts = 6 feet apart”), physical changes (plexiglass dividers between cash registers, foot-operated door openers) and altered schedules (reserving the first hour for vulnerable populations, closing early for extra cleaning). Kowalski’s employees are required to wear plastic gloves and change them when they get soiled, dirty or torn, but cloth face masks are not being mandated because the store hasn’t been able to secure enough masks for all workers to wear. Josh Resnik, the CEO of the company that owns the Wedge and Linden Hills co-ops, said the stores are planning to debut a curbside pickup
service on April 16, with 2,500 items available at launch. “Something like that would usually take six months to get all the details right,” he said. “We fast-tracked it to three weeks.” Today, customers at grocery stores are shopping fewer times each week, but they’re spending more each trip and business is still booming. While the customer count at Kowalski’s is down about 35%, chief operating officer Mike Oase said, hiring is up 10%. Local grocery stores have been sharing some of their increased revenue with employees. At Cub Foods, Kowalski’s and the Wedge and Linden Hills co-ops, workers are getting a $2 per hour wage bump during the pandemic — an increase from $16.70 to $18.70 for an average floor worker at the co-ops. At Lunds & Byerlys, full-time employees have gotten a $500 bonus, with part-timers getting $200, whether or not they’ve chosen to work during the pandemic. And employees of Cub, Kowalski’s, Lunds and the co-ops are now getting paid double for overtime, instead of time-and-a-half.
from a system that leaves our neighbors’ children behind, we signal that some kids deserve less and are destined to be forgotten. We’d rather be the change we wish to see in the world. The CDD is intended to disrupt the status quo. Significant changes to boundaries, curriculum, teaching staff and magnet programs create uncertainty and discomfort — but this is what it will take to begin counteracting a staggering failure to provide basic academic proficiency to many black, Indigenous and other children of color. The current system is a collec-
tive failure by all of us, and it requires a collective change. We cannot wait another year to do right by all children in our community. We are eager to step into these changes with courage and humility. If children teach us anything, it’s that we can do hard things and hard things are worth doing. Let’s not look back and say we spoke of values we did not fight for.
SEE GROCERY WORKERS / PAGE A14
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southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A9
Voices from the pandemic
Stories of coronavirus in Minneapolis How do you tell the story of what it’s like to live through a pandemic? Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the Southwest Journal is keeping in touch with a selection of local residents — an infection preventionist, a religious leader, a retired couple, and ER physician, a pair of small-business owners, a Hennepin County commissioner and a laidoff restaurant worker. All interviews are edited for length and clarity. Reporting for this project is by Zac Farber, Nate Gotlieb and Andrew Hazzard.
Barb Joyce, infection preventionist, Jones-Harrison senior living
“I’m so impressed they still show up to work.” THURSDAY, APRIL 9 We now have three confirmed cases that we are trying to contain. I am in a battle to prevent illness and harm to the staff. I feel this is the tip of an iceberg that we are on. At the end of the day, I am saying,
“Come on God, help me out.” Yet in the morning, I am angry that yesterday stole my power! I pray powerfully to God to protect those in most need of his mercy. I pray that we get through the day safely. I pray for those who are missing their loved ones. But mostly I pray for those in leadership roles to make decisions that are right and just to all people. Health care professionals are not expendable. Please pray for our community to prevent, to protect and to recover. The three residents are in three different units, so we have created an isolation unit to move anyone with positive results. We are screening every one of our residents every day and assessing for symptoms of COVID. We are catching fevers early before symptoms begin and testing early to contain early. It is difficult to determine how it was transmitted. Everybody from outside the facility is a risk, including staff. We are certain it can be transmitted before symptoms appear and asymptomatic carriers are my [suspicion] at this time. Unfortunately, some of our exposed nursing staff have developed symptoms after exposure and are having difficulty getting tested. This seems incredibly sad — that the testing is still hard to get. We are working with the Department of Health, and I am committed to getting the staff what they need and what they deserve. I see the fear in the staff ’s eyes and yet I’m so impressed they still show up to work. I am grateful for my coworkers and my friends. I am also grateful that I have waterproof eyeliner, as most of us no longer worry about makeup! There have been some shining stars from our community outside our facility — people who ask, “How can I help?” We’ve received many cloth masks, made with love.
We are so incredibly thankful. Chipotle also brought us lunch this week, and it lifted our spirits up. I asked nurses this evening what they wanted non-health workers to know. One said simply, “It is the oath we took when we became a nurse.” Another added, “For better or worse.” Both of those nurses have agreed to a 16-hour shift today and still have smiles on their faces. This is why I love my job, even in the worst of times. Today was a good day!
Marcia Zimmerman, rabbi, Temple Israel
“We have people with really heavy hearts.” THURSDAY, APRIL 9 It’s been a lot of preparation. For temple we’re having two nights of Zoom Seder. Last night there were 130-plus households tuned in. In some ways we have more engagement. It’s not exactly the engagement that replaces person-to-to person, but it does engage more people in Jewish ritual and Jewish ceremony. We split the staff; last night I was off. We just had a Seder with our kids and my sister and brother-in-law and their kids, because they all live in Minnesota and we always spend Passover together. That was fun. It was a lot of fun. We called it the Apocalypse Seder of 2020. It was just perfect. Usually we read through the entire Haggadah. My husband’s family has a tradition of having all the kids tell a liberation story that they experienced
in the year, so we kind of brought that back. All the kids — they’re young adults — told their own liberation stories. They’re all involved in social justice work, so everyone told a social justice story that they experienced. That felt really good to come back to an old tradition from my husband’s family, who are Holocaust survivors. It was just a beautiful night. You can’t do it in the way we would normally do it, so how do you make it meaningful? You have to be really thoughtful beforehand, whereas we’re so used to doing this tradition and everyone shows up and I might look at the Haggadah a little bit and ask some questions. But I really had to think about what was going to make this meaningful. We had a pre-meeting about the secondnight Seder. There are three of us rabbis. We’re sort of switching it up to keep it interesting. There are the questions and the story you tell. We’re telling the story in more of a script. We’re trying to do it in a fun way to keep it more interesting. We usually ask a table to read or call out people’s names, but it’s harder to do that with Zoom — it’s too much interaction. We’ll keep it centered around the leaders and try to engage people with a little bit of humor and a little bit of telling the story. People are coming with varying degrees of heavy hearts. Some people are alone in their house and we would normally do everything in our power to get them to somebody’s house if they didn’t have friends here. So we’re reaching out to people who are alone. We’re reaching out to people who have lost several family members in our congregation to COVID19. We have people whose loved ones are in the hospital, so we have people with really heavy hearts. Not that we don’t have that on a normal day, but usually not as many in our community have a heavy heart in as major a way. SEE VOICES / PAGE A10
A10 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
Voices from the pandemic FROM VOICES / PAGE A9
This is really the first time I’ve not been with a family when somebody is dying. It feels so wrong to me. And they’re not with their loved ones. We’ve had to do blessings at the end of life over the phone. The dying people are comforted by that, just hearing it. But the survivors are feeling so bereft. We have had congregants pass away from COVID-19. I’ve done 13 funerals since we’ve started talking. The last five who have died have been COVID positive, all with underlying conditions. Then I’ve talked to people who have relatives who were in very good health, maybe in their early 70s, who have died. It’s getting to be a lot for the community overall. What’s so hard is sometimes the people are in situations where they can’t understand what this is, and they feel we’ve abandoned them. People we’ve been visiting once a week or twice a week in nursing homes, and all of a sudden, we’re not there. They don’t understand. That’s what’s so hard is the feeling of abandonment. It’s so painful, and there’s no way of explaining.
Arminta and Ron Miller, residents, Waters on 50th senior living community
“They say anybody over 80 shouldn’t go out of their apartment.” FRIDAY, APRIL 3 Arminta: Our church, Mount Olivet, would come over and give us communion, but they sent a paper over saying they’ve canceled all the services. We’re doing our own cleaning. We wound up cleaning both our bathrooms and sanitizing them. Ron: It’s been boring. Arminta: It’s very tiring, which I’d forgotten. We’re spoiled because we had cleaning at least once a week, but we manage. We went outside in the sunshine on our patio and it felt wonderful. We saw our kids through the gate and they waved at us. It was good to see them, but it makes you feel like you’re in prison. It’s an odd sensation. The gal here sent us more exercises, and we’ve been faithful in doing them every day, so I feel stronger and better than I ever have. They gave us a little bag full of crossword puzzles, Sudoku and Easter candy. So they’re trying to cheer us up. Ron: The only problem is that nobody’s getting haircuts in here for another month. Arminta: Everybody’s looking pretty raggedy. The ladies here always get their hair done once a week, and they’re hiding. Ron: We’re all going to be called hippies. We’re seeing the true colors of hair now.
MONDAY, APRIL 13 Arminta: We have one staff member who has tested positive. She was someone serving the food to the different apartments, and, evidently, she had a slight fever and a sore throat. She went to the hospital and three days ago they told us she does have it. She was one of the girls who’d bring food around to our rooms with tray tables. I think she’s a teenager. Ron: They put the cart right up to your door and you take what you order off the end of the cart. The cart is about 4 feet long. Arminta: I’m not worried. I’m glad they caught it right away, so I really feel safe here. It was a weird Easter. We watched Mount
Olivet on our computer. They had all of Holy Week on there, and I wish I had known that earlier. But the service was gorgeous as always and our head pastor spoke. It was really good food — in fact they overfed us. We got too many croissants, a hard-boiled egg and some fruit for breakfast. Then for lunch we had a good-tasting egg bake, two sausages and French toast with butter and syrup and fruit. And then at night, they gave us a ham dinner! I’ve gained a pound since this started, but I needed to — I had lost weight after my car accident. Ron: Volunteers are making masks for the residents here. They came door-to-door for whoever needed masks. We had them, but some people didn’t. Everybody here is probably in danger if they go out without them. Arminta: Even outside in the courtyard, they want you to wear the masks. And now they say anybody over 80 shouldn’t go out of their apartment at all. Ron: So it’s a good thing I’m 79. Arminta can’t go anywhere. Arminta: I’m 81 and my birthday is the end of April, so that’s going to be a bummer, too.
a couple of times last week when I got positive feedback about work kids are doing. Then you actually think, “Maybe this is more successful than I think right now.” I’m trying to try different things. Last week I tried an online textbook. Some kids really liked it, but it’s written at a seventh- and eighth-grade level, and I have a lot of students who aren’t reading at that level yet. That makes it really challenging. This week I’m not going to use the textbook. I have other resources. There’s a great video the students are going to use this week, there’s an article from our lab guide and then I’ve made videos. I have to give a huge amount of credit right now to the kids. I want them to know that they’ve been put in a really difficult situation. My colleagues have been amazing. Our families are really rallying. It’s a huge team effort right now.
Peter Kumasaka, Linden Hills, Regions Hospital emergency room physician
“The lack of testing creates a big problem.” Tracey Schultz, science teacher, Clara Barton Open School
“We still have kids who are working out of packets.” SUNDAY, APRIL 12 Now that kids have officially been working for a week, you start to see more clearly what you need to change and do differently. On the one hand, a lot of kids are engaging, so that’s fantastic. On the flip side, having seen their work for a week, it’s not what we could do if we were together. I’m going to do some things differently this week, but I also have to make my peace with the fact that there are limitations. In the week ahead, we’re going to start our astronomy journals, and I’m going to use a platform called Flipgrid, where students record short videos. They’re going to have a chance to show their interpretation of rotation versus revolution. Those are good chances to push them to be more active. The access issue just hasn’t gone away. We have kids who have felt from the get-go that they did everything they were supposed to do to advocate for a device and still don’t have one. We are hopeful that a bunch of devices will get delivered this week, but we still have kids who are working out of packets. If you’re online, I can see the work you’ve done. But if you aren’t, I don’t know for certain that you have a packet. And if you do, I don’t know what you’ve done in that packet. It’s really challenging to assess everyone’s work when you can’t just say, “Everyone stack your work in the middle of the table.” There were a number of times when students have been unsure about how to turn an assignment in. With some of my English language learners, I often realize I need to go back and be clearer, and it’s just really hard to do that with Google Classroom. I can write a comment to a kid on their document and then I can post it right away, but are they reading that comment? Do they understand what I mean by that comment? When I can’t read your nonverbal communication, it’s really hard to see if you get it and, when you don’t get it, where this is breaking down. Hearing from kids who you hadn’t heard from in a few weeks and talking to families and parents are the big successes. There were
THURSDAY, APRIL 9 It’s still relatively slow in the emergency department. There’s been good messaging from the media, government and health plans to stay away from hospitals and clinics. Most of what we’ve been doing is preparing for the expected surge. I’m being set up to work in the intensive care unit if they get overrun. We’re trying to figure out how we can manage patients who may or may not have COVID. The screening criteria for COVID is growing. It used to be just fever, cough and shortness of breath, but now they’re starting to include GI and other symptoms. The lack of testing creates a big problem. Normally, if you came in with emphysema and had difficulty breathing, we’d handle it a certain way. Now we’re more likely to have to intubate you because we don’t know if you have COVID or not. Even if everything else may say you don’t have COVID — that you have an emphysema or COPD exacerbation — we can’t treat you that way because of the potential you do have COVID and we can’t find out. This means more ventilators are being used. But everything is in flux and changing every day. In New York and Italy, there are schools of thought that intubating some of these COVID patients may be wrong and that we should be doing something else to buy them time and keep them off the ventilator as long as possible. We’ll find hitches in how we do things and make changes the next day. In the emergency department, if you had someone very ill who needed to be intubated, normally a whole team would come into the room and help check their blood pressure, resuscitate them, intubate them or whatever. Now we’re trying to minimize the number of people in the room to prevent potential exposure to COVID. This makes communication much more difficult. We now have pharmacists and techs outside the room. How do you communicate to them when that door is closed? We put our phones on speaker but there’s ambient noise and multiple people talking and it gets jumbled, so it’s hard to tell a specific person saying, “This is what I need now.” We’ve tried different methods. We have these little Vocera communicators, and we’ve tried Bluetooth headsets. But it’s an imperfect setup that detracts from the ability to care for people. We’re using a ton of personal protective equipment [PPE] to deal with COVID. We haven’t yet felt a big pinch, but we’re
running at pretty low volumes, and if this picks up, there’s a potential we’ll run through it pretty quickly. We’re looking at how to extend PPE, including our N95s, and seeing if there are ways to reprocess them for reuse. If you leave things standing for a while and don’t touch them, the COVID virus will die, so you can place your personal N95 in a paper bag and let them sit. We may also be able to use UV light to disinfect them. And people are getting creative with Tupperware, finding a way to take them off and put them on without touching the mask or straps. I’m in a situation at work where I have more potential exposure to COVID than most people. I’m divorced and my 15-year-old daughter is with her mom. I haven’t seen her for more than five minutes in two-plus weeks, and that’s difficult to deal with. My fiancée, Karen, also lives in Linden Hills and she has two boys who stay both with her and their father. Karen’s kids are at her place and if I expose them, then they go to their father’s place — and he also has another marriage and his kids also spend time with their dad. So now all of a sudden there’s a chain of connection. So we figured the better thing is for Karen and I to limit our contact. We interact once a day when we can by going on walks, and that’s about it. We try to keep our distance to 6 feet. We don’t eat together, we don’t do anything else together. So it’s a bit tough from that end of things. At home, my 19-year-old son is staying with me with his college closed. He has basically self-quarantined himself in the house by isolating himself in his room. We still interact and have dinner, but we’re conscious of everything, keeping some road distance, and I’ve been pretty diligent about cleaning. I’ve been dealing with the stress pretty well. I’m focusing on researching more about the pandemic. I’ve been debunking certain ideas on Nextdoor, such as explaining that there’s [limited] data showing the effectiveness of taking zinc or Vitamin C. I’ve also been looking into things more related to my work such as UV-C sterilization of PPE and the utility of the sort of HEPA filters you might use to purify air in your home. Can I incorporate a HEPA filter to help the guy with emphysema? Can we isolate him in the room by putting an enclosure over his head and then run the BiPAP to him and create a vent out of that enclosure that will run through a HEPA filter that will blow air back into the room, essentially creating a negative-flow isolation area? I’m trying to find the data behind that and whether it will work or not. There’s a lot of MacGyvering going on in the medical field right now. This is a community-wide project, and people are generally doing the right things and socially distancing and sacrificing. That’s pretty uplifting and great to see in this world where we’re always yelling and screaming at each other. It’s good to know we’re all pulling together. And, selfishly, it’s going to make my life a lot easier.
Jen and Marcus Wilson, co-owners, True Grit Society gym
“It took forever to cut through all that red tape, and we didn’t get anywhere.” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8 Jen: It’s easy to find information, but it’s not easy to find anyone who can elaborate on that information. The loans are the toilet paper of the information. Our banker at Wells Fargo told us the applications [for the Paycheck Protection
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A11
Program (PPP), part of the federal coronavirus relief act] should be up Friday night. I literally sat online Friday until 1 a.m. waiting for the application to become available. It became available at 8:15 a.m. Saturday, and I filled it out. It turns out we don’t qualify. We pay more in rent than in paychecks. We don’t qualify for the state loans either. We don’t have three months of projected income because we didn’t make any money last year. I was bummed out yesterday because it took forever to cut through all that red tape, and we didn’t get anywhere. We could take out a loan, but we don’t want to. It’s such a Catch-22. I try to be present and available and understand my emotions. It’s been overwhelming this week. I don’t feel victimized. I’m just frustrated. I had put the PPP up there as our saving grace and then it wasn’t. I did apply for the SBA [Small Business Administration] disaster loan. They’ve streamlined the process. Our landlord did slash rent 30% for six months. But we are not the type of people who will not pay our rent. Patience has never been my virtue. It can be very overwhelming to try to figure all this out. Our daughter just had her fifth birthday. This year we overcompensated with really huge presents. She got a Barbie house; we had to get it shipped. Our instructors and a friend asked how they could make it special. Members and instructors came to the gym parking lot and sang happy birthday to her while standing 6 feet apart. They wrote signs out of pizza boxes. She was so happy. She said it was her best birthday ever. She’s only had five. We check in with our members on an almost daily basis, just to see how they’re doing. When you have a consistent routine and you don’t have that routine anymore, it’s hard. It can start to affect someone’s mental health. We’re at this stage now where we’re in it. Things are getting real. People are really starting to get cabin fever. We do a talk every Friday with our mental health coach. This week they’re talking about nutrition and how to feel grounded.
Marion Greene, board chair, Hennepin County
“The work is in front of us and we need to do the work.” MONDAY, APRIL 13 This last week was a perfect example of really focusing on two things. One was property taxes because the due date is May 15 and we wanted to provide a delay, a reprieve or something for property taxpayers. The second thing I was focused on was shelter and how we can expand our bed capacity quickly. I think our shelter partners are amazing. It’s been tough for each of those organizations to keep their staff on. Everybody’s very nervous and fearful, and so having that staffing stability has been their big hurdle in the past couple weeks. On property taxes, the county would really like to see a statewide approach that protects people from being the good guy or the bad guy. Short of a statewide approach, we’ve been working to have a regional approach so the seven-county metro has a regional response. What we’re finding there, too, is nobody is the boss, so nobody can say, “Look, this is how this is.” Hennepin County will end up signaling by communicating what we anticipate doing. A third topic I’ve been thinking about is: What is in place to support folks who are undocumented? The mayor and City Council of Minneapolis have really stepped up and zeroed-in on how they can support the community members and make money flexible enough to reach folks who are not reached by the federal dollars. Hennepin
County, when we’re spending our own money, we don’t ask questions about documentation, so it’s just a matter of federal dollars. In general, some dollars are more flexible than others. I would say there is routine in my schedule. The routine contains really long days. There’s less hecticness and it’s more the work is in front of us and we need to do the work. A lot of it involves conversations with a lot of people. My family does celebrate Easter. My husband and I, on our own, did not plan anything special for Easter. We did have a lot of family conference calls, with different branches of the family and that was really nice. I have to admit that I sort of started the weekend thinking we’re not doing a special meal ourselves, so there isn’t going to be much to this. But by the end of Sunday I was really glad for the many conversations.
Jesse Vasquez, Uptown resident
still able to be social while keeping distant. We actually met my mom out at the dog park and waved from afar. It was just kind of a break in the schedule. We’ve been cooking more and more. I have carnitas in the slow cooker now. [My boyfriend] Shane did parmesan-breaded red potatoes and a ricotta-stuffed chicken thigh that were both pretty good. My kind of day-to-day hasn’t changed too much. Shane has been going crazy. He used to perform [as a drag queen] three or four times a week. Now that he’s less active, his asthma is acting up. He’s had it his whole life but just in the last month has been the only time I’ve seen him regularly use his inhaler. We got our [unemployment] benefits for this week. I think they’re still behind on the disbursement of the extra funds [from the federal stimulus]. With rent relief and some other help from family, we’re not in too crazy of a situation right now. I’m still cautiously optimistic, still hoping for the best.
ONGOING COVERAGE Keep reading local residents’ stories as the crisis evolves at tinyurl.com/ voices-from-the-pandemic.
“With rent relief and some other help from family, we’re not in too crazy of a situation right now.”
Barb Jones: tinyurl.com/vfp-barb-jones Marcia Zimmerman: tinyurl.com/vfp-marcia-zimmerman Arminta and Ron Miller: tinyurl.com/vfp-the-millers Tracey Schultz: tinyurl.com/vfp-tracey-schultz
TUESDAY, APRIL 7 I have started making some fabric masks. I got a template and got my pattern cut out and made about 20. I’m getting a little better at it. I was originally going to try and donate them to a health care facility, but I have a lot of close family members and people I know who are looking for them. The dog park has been great. People are
Peter Kumasaka: tinyurl.com/vfp-peter-kumasaka Jen and Marcus Wilson: tinyurl.com/vfp-the-wilsons Marion Greene: tinyurl.com/vfp-marion-greene Jesse Vasquez: tinyurl.com/vfp-jesse-vasquez
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4/13/20 11:21 AM
A12 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com
Resolute during a pandemic Southwest Minneapolis environmental activists press on
Since 2015, East Harriet resident Emily Moore has urged state leaders to divest fossil fuel-related holdings from public employee retirement funds. Recently, that’s meant working to get unions and the State Board of Investment, which manages the funds, to coalesce around the idea. Moore and other activists have gotten support from the state teachers and professional employees unions and have secured meetings with board staff. But with the coronavirus throwing the economy into peril, she said it’s likely that decisionmakers have their minds elsewhere. “It may be more difficult to get anybody to listen to the connection between COVID-19 and climate change,” she said. Southwest Minneapolis environmental activists say the pandemic has delayed or, in some cases, hampered efforts to achieve goals such as fossil fuel divestment and the elimination of single-use plastics. But they say their determination hasn’t been tempered and that the pandemic may help galvanize others into action. “You can’t pause our efforts on fighting the climate crisis,” said Linden Hills resident Evan Mulholland, an environmental lawyer and volunteer with MN350. “It’s urgent and
we’ve got to keep working on it every day, even when we’re in this coronavirus crisis.”
‘No letup’
Mulholland is part of MN350’s volunteer transportation team, which has supported Gov. Tim Walz’s plan to adopt stricter fuelemission standards for cars and trucks. Those standards would require car manufacturers to sell new cars that meet more stringent emission targets and also to sell a certain number of new cars with ultra-low or zero emissions. The state remains on track to adopt the standards, but it has delayed the effort because of the pandemic. Mulholland said his team plans to push Walz’s administration to move forward with the standards. He’s also staying busy in his day job at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Recently, he appealed the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s granting of an air-quality permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine on the Iron Range. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in his favor last month. “There’s no letup,” Mulholland said of the work. “Polluting companies out there are not hitting the pause button.”
Linden Hills resident Evan Mulholland, an environmental lawyer and volunteer with MN350, has been encouraged by the amount of interest in climate-related causes in recent weeks. Photo by Nate Gotlieb
Meanwhile, Moore and fellow divestment activists have been planning to present their case in May before the State Board of Investment, which includes the governor, state auditor, attorney general and secretary of state. Moore, a former MPCA pollution prevention specialist, began lobbying state leaders in 2015 to divest from fossil fuel-related holdings. She has since joined MN350’s volunteer divestment team. She and other activists have said fossil fuels are a poor long-term investment and that any new fossil fuel investments would be counterproductive to efforts to meet urgent climate change goals.
While the team continues to meet virtually, Moore said she’s not sure a presentation to the board would be effective right now, given the economic uncertainty. Regardless, she said it’ll be beneficial to have the information prepared to use.
Plastic bag efforts
East Harriet resident Theresa Carter said she’s hoping the pandemic doesn’t hamper efforts to curb the use of plastics. In December, Carter presented Target a petition with over 455,000 signatures asking the company to stop using plastic checkout SEE GREEN DIGEST / PAGE A15
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southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A13
By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com
Park Board cancels summer
Parkways close to vehicles
Minneapolis beaches, pools closed for summer; events in parks called off
In an attempt to provide more space for pedestrians and cyclists to practice social distancing, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has closed portions of parkway roads to vehicles, including several stretches around the Chain of Lakes in Southwest. Current closures include Cedar Lake Parkway (from Cedar Lake Road to Sunset Boulevard), East Bde Maka Ska Parkway (from Lake Street to West 36th Street), West River Road (from Fourth Avenue South to Minnehaha Park), Main Street Southeast (from Hennepin Avenue to the Stone Arch Bridge) and all of the parkways around Lake of the Isles, Harriet and Nokomis. Residents should walk or run in the parkway roads, on existing pedestrian paths or in the grass while cyclists should stay on designated bike trails, MPRB officials say. Park users are asked to keep at least 6 feet of space between themselves and nonhousehold members. Park Board leaders are asking residents to walk around their neighborhoods and visit local parks instead of flocking to regional spaces. The closure durations are tied to Minnesota’s stay-at-home order, currently scheduled to end May 4. Even when outdoors, the risk of spreading the coronavirus exists in close quarters, according to Kelly Searle, an assistant professor with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Searle recommends people walk in less popular areas and urges people to get outside at off-peak times if their schedules allow. If you see a crowded area, turn around and go elsewhere, she said. For the most part, running and biking past others is OK because people are sharing space for a very short amount of time.
Walkers circle Lake of the Isles on April 10. The Park Board is keeping public spaces open but events and recreational sports will be canceled this summer to slow the spread of COVID-19. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
The coronavirus pandemic will upend summer in Minneapolis this year. Beaches and pools will not open, officials say, and events and recreational sports hosted by the Park Board will be canceled in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will keep its public spaces open but the water and event closures are aimed at discouraging group congregations and promoting social distancing, the organization announced April 1. “Social distancing will be a part of our lives for many months to come,” MPRB Superintendent Al Bangoura said. Events like Earth Day, Arbor Day, Juneteenth and the Fourth of July Red, White and Boom music and fireworks won’t happen this year. All recreational sports leagues that place competitors in close proximity are canceled. Athletic fields are not being
striped this summer, soccer goals will not be put out and volleyball nets will not be set up, Bangoura said. The MRPB has chosen not to remove basketball hoops, though games are prohibited. People can shoot hoops and play catch, Bangoura said, but most team sports will be discouraged. Sports like tennis that can be played at a distance are allowed. Golf is currently not permitted under the statewide stay-athome order, but the MPRB is hoping to open its courses to the public soon. Park Board commissioners approved a resolution giving Bangoura some emergency authority powers to respond to the crisis. To encourage social distancing in the parks, the MPRB has installed signs across the system and on April 11 started sending out employees in ambassador roles to promote social distancing and tell people about the new rules. The ambassadors have
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A14 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM SMALL BUSINESS / PAGE A1
“I have applied for everything on the days they have come up and haven’t heard anything back other than, ‘I’m in line,’” Erica Gilbert, who owns Bryant Lake Bowl in LynLake, said on April 8. The $2 trillion federal coronavirus relief act, signed into law on March 27, included a $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which offers businesses forgivable loans to keep workers on the payroll and cover major expenses like rent. The SBA is also offering emergency disaster loans with low interest rates and broad eligibility, which include up to $10,000 in forgivable grants. The state is also offering small business emergency loans to companies that closed due to Gov. Tim Walz’s executive orders; they’re partially forgivable and have low interest rates. On April 3, the city of Minneapolis rolled out gap funding for hard-hit impoverished areas and lowered interest rates on small business loans citywide. In the midst of a crisis, local businesses are sorting though all of these programs and trying to pick the best option. “It’s a lot of information and no one really knows [all of it], even the government who is putting it out,” said Amanda Olusanya, proprietor of James Irving Grooming in Uptown. “[We’re] educating our clients about how it works while we’re trying to figure out how it works ourselves,” said Nick Place, chief lending officer with Bridgewater Bank, a midsize community bank with an Uptown branch.
Application rush
For banks, the rush of clients applying for PPP loans when they became available on April 3 has required all hands on deck. Banks knew the PPP loans were coming but weren’t sure what the SBA was going to ask of them for implementation until the night of April 2, Place said. Once the guidance came, things kicked into high gear. If the borrower uses the loan correctly, allocating at least 75% to payroll and meeting other stipulations, the loan will be forgiven and the government will essentially pay the bank the principal amount outstanding. Banks originate the loans, which the SBA has given a 100% guarantee. Once the application was available, Bridge-
FROM DASHBOARD / PAGE A5
health department believes it can release more demographic breakdowns of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, it will, PessoaBrendao said. But that would mean having many more cases in general. “It’s sort of this weird dichotomy of wanting more data and not wanting more
FROM GROCERY WORKERS / PAGE A8
Workers say they appreciate the extra money and the fact that they still have jobs when hundreds of thousands have been laid off across the state. But many are worried about what will happen to them if they become sick and some say they deserve more compensation for the risks they’re taking.
Hair salons have been completely shuttered since the governor’s March 17 order, making business impossible for local shops like James Irving Grooming. Since the crisis closed shops, Olusanya has been getting a barrage of emails about different loan options from the state, from professional salon groups and from women-owned small business groups. When the SBA loans rolled out, she applied for both a disaster relief and PPP loan right away. The applications were fairly simple, Olusanya said, but deciding what to apply for was not. When she did apply, she didn’t receive a confirmation number immediately. “It’s kind of a hurry-up-and-wait situation,” she said. As of April 13, she doesn’t know if James Irving’s loan has been approved. Sunrise Banks has told clients it is not sure when applications will be processed. The
bank is giving out confirmation numbers to applicants and letting people call Sunrise’s PPP hotline to check the status of the loan. Bryant Lake Bowl — a bowling alley, cabaret theater, restaurant and bar rolled into one — has been closed since before Walz’s initial March 17 order. Most of Gilbert’s 50-employee staff has been laid off, though she is continuing to pay for their health insurance throughout the shutdown. The business is selling gift cards and has a donation page for staff on its website. Gilbert has applied for the PPP loan and state emergency loans through DEED but had not heard back on those loans as of April 13. Luckily, Gilbert said, the establishment’s landlord has been very helpful and understanding. The Theater of Public Policy, which regularly hosts shows at Bryant Lake, received permission to keep recording its shows at the theater as long as the host is alone. Other shows have, of course, been canceled and knowing when to reschedule remains a challenge. Florists like Brown & Greene do not qualify for DEED emergency funding because they are not closed due to state order, which Williams found frustrating. She applied for an SBA emergency loan right away and later applied for the PPP loan — though she said the stipulations about when she must rehire staff are confusing and could be hard to meet given the uncertainty of future business. She said the federal government boosting unemployment insurance by $600 a week during the crisis means it might make more sense for many part-time workers to stay on unemployment rather than coming back to work. Initially flower shops were not allowed to be open under the governor’s executive order, but were later granted permission to do business, which excludes florists from the state emergency loans. Now Williams is working alone and while she did a decent amount of business around the Easter holiday, supply chain changes have made it hard to get flowers from markets like Holland. She’s been assembling floral arrangements for pickup and said customers are mostly buying flowers for birthday gifts, as sympathy messages or “to brighten someone’s day.” Being busy “is both a blessing and a curse,” Williams said. She’s unsure if the business will be running at full strength by Mother’s Day, traditionally her biggest day of the year. “That’s going to be a kick in the pants,” she said.
data,” Pessoa-Brendao said. The data the city receives from the state are not broken down by neighborhood or address, she said. MDH just asks people their city of residence. The Minneapolis Health Department plans to update its figures daily shortly after the state, which releases new numbers around 11 a.m. each morning.
The city has been receiving updates on Minneapolis cases, hospitalizations and deaths from MDH since at least April 3, according to city documents. Frey and city spokespersons have deflected questions about why these numbers have not been made public on a regular basis sooner. “As the cases accumulate, it becomes less of an issue for privacy, which was a reason
originally why we didn’t have access to the Minneapolis-specific data,” Minneapolis Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant told members of the City Council on April 10. The state has been releasing information detailing cases at the county level. An MDH spokesperson said the state leaves it up to local public health departments whether to share city-level data with their residents.
(Employees at Cub, Aldi and Lunds are prohibited from talking to the media.) The UFCW Local 663 lobbied unsuccessfully to include grocery workers in a bill making it easier for front-line responders to get workers’ compensation. The bill, signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz on April 7, creates the presumption that a COVID-19 infection is work-related for doctors, firefighters, police, child care providers and others. Mar Losoya, a worker at the Wedge, said grocery workers’ jobs have become much more difficult and dangerous since the start of the pandemic. “Hazard pay started in March, after the first big surge of the pandemic, and we didn’t see any back pay,” Losoya said. “We are on the front line and we’re not seeing a lot of fair compensation for that at the moment.” Executives at Kowalski’s and the Wedge and Linden Hills co-ops said they are currently reevaluating their policies during the pandemic to better serve workers. Resnik said the co-op will be extending hazard pay a few days beyond the end of the stay-at-home
order. Responding to employee feedback, the co-op is also making a change so workers won’t need to dip into negative paid time off
if they get sick with COVID-19. “If an employee gets COVID or has symptoms, they will be paid,” Resnik said.
Lyn Williams, of Brown & Greene Floral, is one of many Southwest business owners to apply for the federal payroll protection loan. Florists are now allowed open under state guidelines, making the shop ineligible for Minnesota-specific loans. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
water Bank had several clients reaching out saying they wanted to apply and giving the bankers their forms. But it’s a bit more complicated than that, Place said, and bankers need to work with clients to calculate the right loan amount. Social distancing guidelines mean this is all done using Excel spreadsheets and applications like DocuSign. Once the banks have the information, bankers get the loan approved internally and enter the information into the SBA’s website. From there, the SBA can approve the loan quickly and issue a loan number, essentially allocating the money, Place said. Bridgewater Bank started entering information into the SBA’s website the morning of Sunday, April 5. “Now we’re at a point where we’re trying to crank through these as quickly as we can,” Place said. Sunrise Banks, a local firm with a Whittier branch, has received more than 1,000 applications for PPP loans since April 3, according to CEO David Reiling. Both banks are processing loans for existing and new clients. “I think it’s important to keep in mind that a relief package of this size is unprecedented — we’re doing our best to keep up but we don’t have all the answers,” Reiling said in an email. “This is a novel program that’s new to everyone, including us.” Getting 100% of the loan forgiven requires
companies to be paying at least 75% of February 2020 payroll to employees by June 30. “One of the things we’re trying to work with our clients on is, ‘Do you realistically think you can hire your staff back?’” Place said. Both banks have had staffers working well into the evening and on weekends trying to process the applications and help clients navigate the programs. “It’s a big lift,” Place said.
Choosing a plan
Margaret Esslinger said she’s been shopping at the Linden Hills Co-op for two decades. Photos by Isaiah Rustad
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 A15 FROM RENTERS / PAGE A1
Ober’s landlord, Morgan Luzier, is also brainstorming. Two of her renters in the food service industry have signed new leases, agreeing to pay half the rent now and the balance later. She’s offered to help her tenants find side hustles for extra money and personally hired one person. She’s paying her CPA to help with tenants’ aid applications. And she’s applying for a small business Economic Injury Disaster Loan. As a first-generation business, Luzier said she has cash reserves to last about three months, then ultimately she will have to work with her bank. “It can’t be an us versus them relationship. It has to be we’re in it together. Nobody is going to walk away completely whole,” Luzier said. Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order remains until at least May 4, with a moratorium on evictions for the duration of the emergency. Minneapolis cases of COVID-19 numbered 131 as of April 10. Since the order began, some Minnesota landlords have barely registered a change in payment, while others have seen a jump to 25% nonpayment, according to a recent survey of 28,000 units by the Minnesota Multi Housing Association. The most notable increases were in older Class B and C properties. In Class C apartments, the metro’s most common building class, typically more than 30 years old with the least expensive rents, late and non-payments increased from 9% to 15% between March and April. Market-rate landlords in Minnesota normally collect about $640 million per month and see $48 million in late payments. As of April 6, the association estimates an additional $33 million outstanding, describing “a noticeable increase but not dire as we believe much of that rent will still arrive.” Depending on the timing of federal and state resources, May and June rent collections could be very challenging, the association said. The association has supported calls for rental assistance while urging people to sign up for unemployment benefits and continue paying rent. Council President Lisa Bender has expressed disappointment that the state legislature did not pass a $100 million housing assistance proposal and told the City Council she’s hopeful the next round of funds will include rental aid. Council Member Jeremiah Ellison wrote a letter April 6 urging Walz to suspend
FROM GREEN DIGEST / PAGE A12
bags. The petition was in line with efforts to ban or tax plastic bags in cities and states across the country out of concern over plastic pollution. That includes in Minneapolis, where a 5-cent plastic bag fee was implemented in January as part of a push to get shoppers to use reusable bags. While disposable bag surcharges have remained in place in Minneapolis, some states and cities have banned reusable bags during the pandemic out of concern that they could harbor the coronavirus. And a number of local grocery stores, including Target, Kowalski’s and Lunds & Byerlys, have decided to stop charging customers the fee mandated by the city during the pandemic. But health experts have said single-use plastics could also contain traces of the virus and that people should instead focus on basic public health measures, such as hand-washing. Still, the plastics industry, which stands to lose economically with bag bans, has asked the federal government to label them a “public safety risk.” In a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the head of the Plastic Industry Association said researchers have found bacteria on reusable bags, most of which go unwashed. The researchers whose work was cited have recommend washing reusable bags. Carter said there is no evidence of anyone contracting COVID-19 from reusable bags and that it’s unacceptable for the plastic
rent and mortgage payments and stop commercial evictions. The letter was signed by Bender and Council Members Alondra Cano, Phillipe Cunningham, Steve Fletcher, Cam Gordon, Andrea Jenkins and Jeremy Schroeder, and by Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley. “Even with unemployment insurance, families already spending so much of their income on housing will not be able to cover their basic needs,” Ellison wrote. Drivers honked and waved signs April 8 during a downtown rally to cancel rent near US Bank Plaza, hosted by United Renters for Justice – InquilinXs UnidXs por Justicia, Jewish Community Action, OutFront Minnesota, TakeAction Minnesota and CTUL. Signs on cars stated: “My home is not your profit,” “Cancel rent,” “Homes not investments” and “The rent can wait.” “After losing one of my jobs, and not qualifying for any assistance or unemployment, it became clear that I simply could not pay my rent,” Vanessa Del Campo Chacon, a member of Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, said in a statement. “My neighbors and I are struggling, and our priority has to be to survive this pandemic, not to make rent.” Blois Olson, a spokesman for the Minnesota Multi Housing Association, said calls for a rent strike are “extreme,” not mainstream, views. Association Board Chair Bernadette Hornig said that Hornig Companies, which owns apartments throughout Southwest Minneapolis, is offering flexibility for renters to pay what they can, when they can, without worrying about late fees. Communication is key, she said, and she wouldn’t expect people to be paid up immediately when the eviction moratorium is lifted. “Our goal is to help people stay as current on their rent as they possibly can, just so that they don’t get too far behind. If they are back to work, then they’re not faced with a big bill,” she said. “We don’t want anybody to lose their housing as a result of following the governor’s and federal direction.” Case-by-case, pay-what-you-can agreements are coming into place for 12,000 residents of Aeon, a nonprofit housing group that recently acquired apartments in the Whittier and Lyndale neighborhoods. Aeon’s nonpayment rate is currently 9.5%, and it varies by building, said President Alan Arthur. Section 8 voucher holders should be fine, he said, but some residents aren’t eligible for unemploy-
ment due to immigration and other reasons. Immigrants are eligible for unemployment if they are permanent residents or have work visas or work permits. Renters at one property alone have 100 payment plans, Arthur said. Aeon, in turn, can ask for three months of mortgage forbearance from its lenders. “They also expect us to catch up at some point,” Arthur said. “There is no free lunch.” As part of the Minnesota Homeownership Center, advisors at PRG Inc. and CLUES are taking calls from people worried about their mortgages. Homeowners can talk to their lenders and delay monthly payments without late fees under loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Any delayed payments still need to be made eventually, however. “We know that loan modifications are already happening through the mortgage industry right now,” Mayor Jacob Frey said at a recent council meeting. “We want to make sure that people who own a home, who are perhaps under stress because of a loss of job, have the right contacts so they can get those necessary loan modifications, they can stay in their homes, and hopefully we do not see another foreclosure crisis like we did in 2008, 2009.” Open since January, Hennepin County’s Tenant Resource Center aims to serve as a one-stop-shop for people in a housing crisis at 612-302-3180. A single call connects people to legal help, emergency cash or mediation with a landlord. It’s an entry point to access $2 million in new Minneapolis aid to residents affected by COVID-19. The money is targeted for people who aren’t eligible for other assistance, regardless of immigration status, and earn under $21,000 for a single person or $30,000 for a family of four. Rental assistance for most families would max out at $1,500. An additional $1 million in emergency cash is available through the existing Stable Homes Stable Schools program for low-income public schoolchildren and their families. Hennepin County also has year-round emergency cash for rent, but the pool of money is limited. “Even before COVID-19 happened, there was not enough emergency assistance for people facing a housing crisis. There is never enough each month,” said Dawn Zugay, interim co-executive director of the Conflict Resolution Center in the Wedge. As a mediator, Zugay expects to handle more remote mediation sessions between renters and landlords while the courts are closed. “There
industry to use the pandemic as justification for rolling back bag bans. She said she’s not begrudging people who are apprehensive about using reusable bags during the pandemic but that society needs to get serious about plastic pollution, the effects of which on human health are unknown. “I don’t think we want it to get worse before we fully understand the implications,” she said.
FROM PARKS UPDATE / PAGE A13
‘People want to help’
Despite a potential setback, Carter said she thinks there is more awareness now about the dangers of plastic pollution. She also said it’s easier in some ways to reach people during the pandemic, because many have more time on their hands. Minneapolis Climate Action executive director Kyle Samejima said her organization, which advocates for environmental policies and best practices, is facing uncertainty because of the pandemic. The organization postponed a fundraiser and has pivoted from sewing reusable “boomerang” bags to cloth face masks. It’s also planning online meetings and an online “zero waste” happy hour. “In some ways, we’re in this holding pattern,” Samejima said. It’s a sentiment expressed by activists across the city, but it’s not dampening their resolve. “People want to help, and they want to keep working on the issues that people care about,” Mulholland said. “I’m encouraged.”
Bangoura said he is hopeful the ambassador program will be effective and said Park Police will not be enforcing social distancing with punitive measures. Public water fountains and bathrooms throughout the park system will remain closed at the recommendation of MDH. The MPRB staff are working on getting some hand-washing stations installed in parks, especially in areas where people experiencing homelessness congregate, and will be adding additional portable toilets, which receive regular cleaning. Lakes will still be open to the public for kayaking, canoeing and other activities, but beaches will not be staffed with life guards this summer and congregating at beaches will be discouraged. Permitted events in parks not hosted by the MPRB, like the Twin Cities Half Marathon and 5K on July 4, are still scheduled unless canceled by the host. Several of those events, like Rock the Garden in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, have been canceled. Others, like Twin Cities Pride Festival in Loring Park, have been postponed. Permitted events like weddings and other small gatherings in rented MPRB spaces are allowed to occur after rec centers reopen, currently scheduled for May 3. Playgrounds remain open, but the MPRB is not regularly sanitizing equipment and
aren’t a lot of other alternatives right now and everybody’s facing a crisis,” she said. She’s hearing from renters who can’t pay rent and landlords who can’t pay the mortgage. “There’s a lot of desperation on both sides,” she said. Staff at Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), which primarily serves Latino families, said they’re hearing many concerns about food and housing. Families barely able to make the current rent payment are worried about next month’s payment, said Alice Rubin De Celis, housing services coordinator. She advises residents to ask for help now and contact landlords and lenders immediately. CLUES is taking calls at 651-768-0000. Ukasha Dakane works at Karmel Mall, where he sees more than 200 shuttered Somali-owned businesses. Business owners who derived a living from the shops often don’t qualify for unemployment and are struggling to make rent, he said. As founder of the Fortune Relief And Youth Empowerment Organization, he’s created a network of volunteers to donate and deliver face masks and halal food. “That’s the only hope we have right now,” he said. The volunteers discovered one family of eight children eating once per day. Dakane said he’s nervous as Ramadan approaches, when families begin to fast. He can’t imagine what would happen if the mall is closed for months. Alex Rausch, a booker and bartender at Part Wolf, shared employee Venmo names on social media, noting that their bills and rent are still expected to be paid on time. Occasionally she wakes up to find that regulars deposited a few dollars in her account. Making meals at home, not going out, it’s easier to not spend money, she said. “As for now, we’re still making it by,” Rausch said. Ober wants to see more conversation about what will happen when the stay-athome order is lifted. “Once you lose housing, it’s pretty much impossible to get back in,” Ober said. For the moment, Ober is focused on health. “I think I’m not panicking, because there’s just so much to worry about,” Ober said. “I’m not going to worry about housing until I have to.” Visit minneapolismn.gov/coronavirus/ housing-coronavirus for information on local housing resources.
users are encouraged to thoroughly wash their hands before and after use and limit play to one household at a time. The Park Board is considering closing down playgrounds, removing hoops from basketball courts and taking down tennis courts if officials don’t feel the spaces are being used responsibly, Sommers said.
Financial impact
The sudden loss of revenue from recreational sports and hosting events could add up quickly for the MPRB and severely impact the organization going forward, according to financial director Julia Wiseman. The agency is estimating a loss of $3.4 million through June 30. If events are unable to take place all year, the MPRB could lose about $8 million in expected revenue. The MPRB, like other public entities, is required to maintain a reserve general fund balance of 5% of its budget, about $4.5 million, but can dip into that money in case of an emergency like the coronavirus pandemic, Wiseman said. Should the events be canceled through the summer as currently planned, the agency could miss out on $2.2 million in expected revenue during peak activity months. That will mean looking at ways to cut expenses and costs. “Everything is on the table as we look at long-term impacts,” she said.
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Southwest Journal April 16–29, 2020
Brandon Vasquez, digital marketing manager at the Berg Larsen Group, photographs a $1.475 million listing on Kenwood Parkway, where a sale is now pending. Photo by Michelle Bruch
3D
home tours
Real estate industry finds way forward for ‘essential business’
By Michelle Bruch
I
n the days before the governor’s stay-at-home order, Brandon Vasquez made a “mad dash” through Minneapolis shooting virtual home tours. As digital marketing manager at Coldwell Banker’s Berg Larsen Group, he uses rotating cameras that take 360-degree images, shot in the quality of a virtual headset, scanning with lasers that measure the dimension of each room. When he’s done, the Matterport platform allows residents to virtually walk down the hallways, peek in closets, measure a countertop or zoom out for a 3D “dollhouse” view of each floor. A listing can generate more than 1,000 virtual tours, Vasquez said. Two years ago, the firm sold a home on Lake Harriet to an out-of-state couple where one partner had only seen it online. “Right now it’s really important to allow people to try to virtually tour the homes,” Vasquez said. SEE REAL ESTATE / PAGE B6
REAL ESTATE GUIDE
B2 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
Unsung Architecture
By Hailey Haferman
The architecture of working from home
T
he Locus Architecture team started working from our homes on Tuesday, March 17. Because much of our day-to-day work relies so heavily on collaborating with each other, it was initially difficult to imagine a way for our practice to function in the digital realm. It was, and continues to be, an exercise in adaptability, creativity and optimism. While this situation is certainly not ideal for any of us, I can’t help but feel a sense of gratitude and privilege for the fact that I can do my job from the safety of my home. That said, adapting your living space (and mind) to accommodate your work life in the middle of a pandemic isn’t necessarily easy. Locus has plenty of experience with the home office. Many of our clients’ lifestyles involved working from home prior to the pandemic, so we’re familiar with the ins and outs of creating the perfect space to get work done at home. The following tips and Locus-designed examples demonstrate how you can optimize your work environment at home — and hopefully make social distancing feel a little more like normal life.
1. Create a dedicated work zone
Before COVID-19, many of us commuted to a physical location to focus on work. When we leave or enter a space, our mental state has a chance to shift in accordance with the energy and associations we’ve built with that place. Now the line between “work space” and “life space” is much fuzzier. Where you eat breakfast might also be where you build spreadsheets all day. However, you can still work to maintain this boundary by dedicating a specific area in your home as your office and leaving it when your workday is over. If your living situation doesn’t allow you the luxury of a dedicated office room, you can make an effort to establish a divide by using fabrics, changing screens or furniture. Whatever you do, be mindful of where you’re spending your time and try not to work where you sleep.
2. Improvise, adapt, overcome
Perhaps it’s just downright impossible to dedicate a workspace where you live. Maybe your children have overrun every square foot of your home or you just lack the space. There are still crafty ways to cobble together some workplace zen. In one of our residential remodels, we designed a Murphy desk that can fold away at the end of the workday, ideal for someone with a laptop and minimal desk clutter. In another home, we created a rolling bookcase that, when tucked away, opens up a home office to a TV room, giving a sense of open space. At night, the bookcase closes off the office space to create a cozy nook for watching movies.
A home office featuring a window looking out to Kings Highway and Lakewood Cemetery. Submitted photos
In my apartment, I cleared away the clutter on my IKEA desk from college and dragged it into a sunroom. My colleague Maggie didn’t own a desk, so she acquired one to avoid working at arms length from her two roommates at their dining room table. Several years ago, Locus founder Wynne Yelland renovated a bedroom into a workspace at the base of the stairs, including shelving and space for multiple workstations. You might not possess the architectural and construction know-how to tackle such a project on your own, but inspiration might just come from understanding what you need — and attacking the problem using existing underutilized space. Look around to see if there’s somewhere that nobody goes, including spaces currently in the air. A loft or platform has the potential to double the functionality of a tall space. Whether it’s a DIY project done in a new abundance of freetime or making plans for a more intense architectural intervention, get creative about how your space might better suit your needs.
3. Windows!
You don’t have to be an architect to know that natural light is good for you. Try to set up your workspace close to a window, or anywhere you can get natural light. If this isn’t possible for you, consider using a sunlight bulb to supplement some serotonin. Being close to windows has advantages beyond sunlight. Productivity and happiness are linked to proximity to nature, many studies have found. Connecting with the outside world, even if just visually, can also help you to feel more in tune with your community and create a sense of normalcy. Waving to your postal carrier, observing the beginnings of spring, watching the clouds pass by — whatever it is, making meaningful connections with other people and the outside world is now more difficult but arguably more important than before.
4. Curate your happy place A Murphy-desk and custom chalkboard.
A workspace in the past South Minneapolis home of one of Locus’ founders, Wynne Yelland.
Many people adorn their desks at the office with personal artifacts, a practice that brings a piece of their home life or personality to their
workspace. Now that philosophy is reversed, as we carve out spaces for work within our homes. It makes sense that surrounding ourselves with things that make us happy makes us happy. It’s easy to forget about the curation of your physical atmosphere when there’s so much going on in your mental space, but it has the potential to make a big difference. Take a look around your living space. What do you see that brings you joy? Bring some of those items to your workspace at home to make it a place you’re excited to go each day. If you’ve been itching to do some retail damage since isolation began, there are a litany of products and books out there designed to help improve your desk space and bring you closer to nature. Maybe you take a more minimalist approach and the absence of “things” is what sparks joy for you. Whatever your taste, this can be an
opportunity to really evaluate the curation of your living space and, if you’re feeling up for it, take spring cleaning to a whole new level. Making your home office better suited to improve your mental health won’t cure a virus, but it can make a difference in your outlook. If you take the time and energy to perform a little self care, you can be better prepared to steady your mental state and get “out” there to impact change. Whether that’s sewing masks, donating to a worthy cause or making spreadsheets, a good home office — where you might be spending a fair amount of time — can be a good first step. Hailey Haferman is an architectural designer at Locus Architecture, located in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis. She is currently operating out of her Uptown apartment. Visit locusarchitecture.com to learn more.
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 B3
He’s walking every neighborhood in the city Linden Hills resident Max Hailperin is over halfway to his goal of strolling through all 87 Minneapolis neighborhoods By Becca Most
M
ax Hailperin has made it his mission to walk every block of Minneapolis’ 87 neighborhoods. Armed with a water bottle and a camera, the Linden Hills resident started his “All of Minneapolis” project in 2016 after retiring from teaching at Gustavus Adolphus College. In walking every neighborhood block of Minneapolis, Hailperin said he hopes to keep himself active and encourage others to explore their own neighborhoods. While he’s taking a break during the coronavirus pandemic, Hailperin plans to work his way alphabetically through each of the city’s neighborhoods, trekking five to eight miles at a time. After each walk, he updates his blog (allofminneapolis.com) with pictures, personal observations and historical context about the homes and areas he visits. Including colorful pictures of interesting houses, public art, local food and parks, Hailperin said he tries to share his experience with others and encourage them to get out and walk, too. “One big thing was just recognizing that I kept going back to the same places and walking the same walks,” he said. “I needed some sort of specific goal to get me out of my comfort zone, out of my routine and see other places.” Hailperin is very organized, mapping out his route carefully into grids on Google Maps before he sets out to ensure that he doesn’t walk the same street twice if he doesn’t have to. His careful methodology is what first appealed to Dee Tvedt. Tvedt, a retired catalog librarian who lives in Stevens Square, learned about Hailperin’s mission after finding his blog online. As someone who has been car-free her entire life and is a member of her local neighborhood block patrol, she said she was drawn to his mission almost immediately. “When I learned that he was walking the neighborhoods in alphabetical order by name, that just makes a librarian’s heart go pitter patter,” she said. “This is someone I need to get to know.” Although Hailperin usually walks alone, he sometimes takes along others — usually curious strangers like Tvedt. Tvedt said she’s gone on about 10 walks with Hail-
Max Hailperin walks around his neighborhood in Linden Hills on March 15. He said he has a soft spot for houses built in the 1920-30s, although he enjoys postmodern homes as well. Photos by Becca Most
perin, including his strolls through Kingfield, Lowry Park and Lynnhurst. She said walking with him helped her see streets she had walked down before in an entirely new way. “When you drive by or even bike by, you’re going too fast. You don’t hear the birds that are singing,” she said. “There’s nothing better than walking a neighborhood to get to actually know it.” Jermey Iggers, a retired food critic for the
Hailperin said he will sometimes browse the selections of little free libraries during his walks and add some books of his own.
Star Tribune who lives in the South Uptown neighborhood, has also accompanied Hailperin on some of his walks. Something he admired about him is his keen eye. “Max has this very, very analytical mind,” Iggers said. “He’ll point at something on a house and say, ‘That must’ve been built around 1920 to 1930 because that’s when that architectural detail was popular.’” In his blog posts, Hailperin examines the great variety of styles and types of homes that exist just on one block. While walking through the Armatage neighborhood in June 2016, he detailed the curious nature of a three-story house with a wide-open porch and protruding attic, which appeared to be a completely different style from other homes nearby. “I’ve remarked before on some anachronistic houses that stand out from the rest of the neighborhood,” he wrote. “I saw another as I came up to the Wagner’s Greenhouses and Garden Center property. On the northeast corner of that property, instead of another post-war bungalow or duplex there is an old farmhouse such as one might find in rural Minnesota. As it turns out, this is a perfectly logical spot for an old farmhouse, because Wagner’s got its start in 1901 growing vegetables.” After walking, Hailperin often turns to public libraries or the internet to research the neighborhoods he’s walked, digging into historical archives and city directories to uncover the biography of certain houses, buildings or street signs he passes by. Hailperin said there are many remnants of the streetcar era in Minneapolis, evident in the way retail spaces are designed and in the vintage buildings that line certain street
It’s fun having something to pay attention to while you walk. It’s more than just a house. — Max Hailperin
corners. Likewise, the names of street signs sometimes indicate the name of a farmer who used to own the land or serve as a reminder of an ethnic group that immigrated to a neighborhood 100 years ago. Through his walks, he said he has come to appreciate the depth of Minneapolis’ historical layers. Hailperin has put his project on hold during the pandemic. He’s trying to avoid crowded areas to protect his own health, he said, and he wants to witness the city’s neighborhoods “as they ought to be” — with restaurants full and residents going about their normal business. Like many of his fellow Minneapolitans, Hailperin said he’s been taking shorter walks around his own neighborhood. He still enjoys looking at Linden Hills’ unique lawn decor and architectural styles and exploring details of the city that many overlook. “We live in an era where a lot of people, if they have free time, are in and not out,” he said in late February. “If they’re not paying attention, they don’t get to see how weird the world is.”
B4 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
Managing stress and trauma during the pandemic By Merav Silverman
It’s now common to hear the coronavirus pandemic referred to as “unprecedented.” Certainly, our society has never endured a crisis like this one in the modern era. Yet for the many of us who have previously experienced traumatic events, such as living through a war, a sexual assault or a car accident, this is far from the first unprecedented lifeshaping event. In my own life, a close parallel for this current moment is living through 9/11 in New York City — I recall being afraid of bombings on bridges and trains for many months, which reminds me of the daily fear of contracting this insidious virus. The pandemic is amplifying symptoms and stress reactions familiar to those who’ve experienced these sorts of traumas before. In part, that’s because reactions to the coronavirus pandemic can resemble common posttraumatic reactions. As a clinical psychologist with a specialty in treating traumarelated disorders, I have been thinking not only about the similarities in the responses, but also about resources that we know work well for managing trauma symptoms that are likely to help in this moment. After traumatic events, some people bounce back quickly but others experience a range of responses, including negative beliefs (such as “other people cannot be trusted” or “the world is really dangerous”), difficulty concentrating and difficulty sleeping. It’s too early for large-scale studies, but, in our clinic, we’ve seen many people have these reactions in response to the pandemic. My colleagues and I have had more patients report difficulty sleeping and concentrating and increased negative thinking about other people and the world. In particular, many describe thinking the world is a very dangerous place or that other people cannot be trusted to be sufficiently vigilant about social distancing and coronavirus awareness. The novelty of virtual meetings has worn off, the timeline for when life will return to normal is uncertain and there is still much we do not know about this disease — all of which means the increase in mental health complaints is predictable. Our current moment is particularly challenging for those who’ve experienced previous trauma, since the coronavirus has similarities to a traumatic event, even for those who don’t get sick or lose loved ones. But we also know that some of the tried and true coping skills for post-traumatic reactions are critical for enduring this difficult time.
Merav Silverman meets with a client via telehealth in her Lyndale dining room, which has become a makeshift virtual therapy clinic during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo by Ian Ramsay
One of the best things we all can do — particularly people finding themselves more activated right now — is to develop a routine and a schedule. Research has found that we are all more vulnerable to intense, negative emotions when our basic physical needs are not met. Yet it is easy to veer off schedule when you may not have a job to wake up for or a school bus to greet. When you do, physical and mental well-being suffers. It helps keep the body in a healthy rhythm to set a daily alarm or wakeup window, regardless of whether it’s a weekend or weekday, or whether you have an early Zoom meeting. Likewise, you can inoculate your body against stress reactions by focusing on eating regular, healthy meals, taking prescribed medications and finding opportunities for daily exercise — whether that’s a walk outside, lifting weights with the canned food you’ve stockpiled or just walking the stairs in your house or apartment. And it’s extra important to monitor intake of alcohol and other illicit substances right now. While you may have more time and
NEIGHBORHOOD SKETCHBOOK
might be looking for diversions or ways to unwind or cope with stress, substances typically further activate negative emotions and stress reactions in the long run. You may be having negative beliefs about the trustworthiness of other people or the world being very dangerous. It’s important to monitor these thoughts and identify what is true (e.g., it is important to avoid other people to keep everyone in our community safe) with what may be a cognitive distortion (e.g., that other people are trying to spread coronavirus or can never be trusted in the future). Aspects of your negative beliefs may be accurate in the present, but it is important to place them in context, instead of globalizing them. If you’ve had an increase in nightmares or flashbacks, it could be good to take up a mindfulness practice. Five minutes of focusing on the breath or listening to guided meditations about gratitude or self-compassion can help calm the mind. Insight Timer, a free app with a large library of options, is one of many that can be found online.
A healthy relationship with media consumption (such as not watching or reading the news after 7 p.m.) can also help shore you up for better, calmer and more restful sleep. This is a challenging time for everyone, particularly those whose traumatic memories are being triggered. Practice selfcompassion — it’s OK that you haven’t become a yoga instructor, mastered the art of the French baguette or learned how to quilt — and remind yourself that this feels hard because it is hard. And, if your symptoms are becoming hard to manage by yourself, many mental health professionals, including the University of Minnesota Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic (tinyurl.com/uofm-psych), are offering telehealth sessions and are accepting new intakes. So seek out help! Merav Silverman, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, where she specializes in treating trauma. She lives in the Lyndale neighborhood.
SNAPSHOT
BY
The Hunt & Gather antique store in Fulton on Friday, April 10. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 B5
Family circus cheers isolated Mount Olivet seniors By Kirby Goodman
A family of circus performers found a creative way to bring joy to the Mount Olivet senior home in Windom, where visits to residents are restricted amid the coronavirus outbreak. Lynnhurst siblings Henry, Olivia, Oliver and Simon Monson-Haefel performed a circus act of unicycling, juggling, handstands, acrobatics and contortion on April 2 as residents watched from the windows of their rooms. The performers’ mother, Hollie, said her children learned the skills by taking five years of classes at Circus Juventas in St. Paul and thought their talents could be applied as socially distant entertainment. “I drove by [Mount Olivet] a few weeks ago, and I saw a big placard sign that said ‘No visitors,’” Monson-Haefel said. “I started to think of how lonely it was for the people there and how we could give back and bring some joy to them.” Mount Olivet resident Shirley Oquist said the performance helped ease the loneliness she feels from not getting visits from her daughter. “It makes you feel like people are working together, and it gives us a time so that we don’t have to think about everything that’s going on right now,” she said. “Time goes slow when you can’t do anything or see your family.”
During the performance, residents looked out their windows, clapped their hands and shouted cheers. “They were really happy to see us and it was really fun to perform again since we can’t really do circus anymore,” said 12-year-old Simon, the youngest in the family. The older siblings, 18-year old Henry and 16-year old Olivia, spend up to 25 hours per week training and socializing at Circus Juventus but the governor’s stay-at-home order has closed the facility. “It’s been very eye-opening to how much circus means to me, because without it, part of my life has just disappeared,” Henry said. The homeschooled family said that while they’re accustomed to spending a lot of time together, they miss the social camaraderie of training. “Not being able to see my circus people” has been the hardest part, Olivia said. The family said their sidewalk circus presented challenges of limited equipment and space they don’t usually face in their usual performances at Circus Juventus, churches and carnivals. “A lot of the equipment is only at circus,” Olivia said. “It was a narrow space to perform on, but we kind of make it work anywhere — you see your stage, figure out what you’re
Henry, 18, and Oliver, 14, juggle while Simon, 12, and Olivia, 16, perform contortion for residents of Mount Olivet senior home to watch from their windows on April 2. Submitted photos
going to do and work around all the little problems that come up.” The first case of COVID-19 at Mount Olivet was confirmed on April 3, and the senior home continues precautions put in place March 13 that include restricting residents to their rooms and conducting daily symptom assessment and temperature readings. Oliver, 14, said the excitement of residents was the highlight of the performance. “There was whistling, there was whooping,” he said. “Everyone was really excited. Everyone was pressed to their windows — it was really cool.” The family said they are in contact with other area nursing homes and plan to continue their socially distant performances, hoping to inspire people to share what they have with others. “Especially in these times, sharing and being kind to other people — we really need that right now, so it hopefully will inspire some people to do some kind things for other people,” Olivia said.
“Sharing and being kind to other people — we really need that right now,” Olivia Monson-Haefel says.
By Dr. Teresa Hershey
Short stories from the vet to lift your mood
M
y patient Sammy, a black lab, was very overweight. He weighed 120 pounds when he should have weighed about 70. I asked the owner how much he was feeding the dog. The owner told me, “Ten cups of food a day.” When I asked the owner why he was feeding him so much food, his response was, “Sammy won’t let me feed him any less.” ***** When I was in vet school, we learned to examine all manner of species. For my goat examination class, we received written instructions on how to do an appropriate goat exam. I entered the pen with my patient, and while I bent down to listen to his heart, he ate the instructions detailing how to examine him out of my back pocket. The goat ate my homework. ***** Although it hasn’t happened for a long time, in my younger years as a veterinarian, I would occasionally get hit on in the exam room. After several coy remarks, John finally asked me, “So, what’s your first name,” to which I responded, “Doctor.” ***** When my son was growing up, we were very involved in the Boy Scouts. Because I am the parent in the family who loves to hike and be outdoors, I would attend all of his camping trips with him. On one trip we were all asked to share a story around the fire. Many of my best stories come from my
time as a large animal veterinarian right after I graduated vet school. I decided to share the story of a time I had to replace a prolapsed uterus in the middle of winter. I described in detail how by the time I arrived, the uterus was very swollen and parts of it were frozen and needed to be debrided. The uterus weighed about 100 pounds and it took all my strength to shove it back into place. I was so into my story that it took me a while to register the look
of shock and chagrin on the fathers’ faces around the fire. To their credit, the boys seemed mostly unfazed. ***** A grey tabby named Jack used to come in dressed in a black bomber jacket for all of his vet visits. The dad would always bring the cat in and one day I commented on how stylish Jack was. Dad let out a sigh and said, “My wife makes me do it.” *****
I had a beloved professor in veterinary school who used to give any student a sixpack of beer if they could find an anomaly on their dissection specimen. Curiously, one member of my class was exceptionally good at finding anomalies. ***** Whenever I would bring my pug mix dog with me to visit my grandmother, she would always stroke her and say in her thick German accent, “What a nice pelt you have.”
COVID CONFIDENTIAL
By Stewart Huntington
B6 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
REAL ESTATE GUIDE FROM REAL ESTATE / PAGE B1
Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order includes an exemption for work related to real estate transactions. Up until mid-March, the spring real estate market looked “quite strong,” with listings and sales largely running ahead of last year, according to Linda Rogers, president of Minneapolis Area Realtors (MAR). Some agents were finally expecting more homes to come on the market, and the mild spring and winter allowed builders to get ahead. Since the pandemic hit, the luxury market appears to be the hardest hit, Rogers said, with some speculating that those buyers are sensitive to stock market swings. The mid-market and affordable segments seem to be faring better. According to MAR’s unofficial estimates, 260 listings per day would be common for early April, which is about 27% higher than the 190 listings in its most recent report. Weekly pending sales and new listings are now at the lowest level since at least 2017. According to MAR, showings abruptly hit a plateau just after the state’s first confirmed COVID-19 case March 6 and began declining sharply after schools closed March 15. NorthstarMLS suspended Open House scheduling. Linden Hills resident Lesley Hauser said it’s “a crazy time to be thinking about moving,” but she’s doing it anyway. After three years searching for an intergenerational homestead for herself and her daughter’s family, they secured a purchase agreement for a 57-acre property (before COVID-19 hit)
Courtesy of Minneapolis Area Realtors and RMLS of MN, Inc.
contingent on Hauser selling her Linden Hills home. She took a long walk during an April 4 showing and, an hour later, received an offer for the $675,000 listing. “I felt like it was worth it to try to make this all come together,” Hauser said. “I will take it one step at a time, and if it falls into place, that’s great.” Tangletown resident Andrea Rugg is searching for a new home near the lakes, and she said the market is still competi-
Wishing us all health and safety!
tive. There hasn’t been much to look at. One house she wanted to see in mid-March was snapped up the next day. Given the pandemic, work preparing her own house for sale might need to go on hold, she said. (The governor exempted construction work from his stay-at-home order, including electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and all other service providers necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation and essential operation of homes.)
“If it takes a year or more, we’re OK with that. We’re in it for the long haul,” she said. Normally Kermit Escribano and his wife would book at least 10 jobs per day for their company USA Family Moving, which is based in Crystal and operates a dispatch location on Hennepin Avenue. Now his movers are wearing gloves and bandanas and keeping their distance from customers. They often work with retirement homes, where moving
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southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 B7 FROM REAL ESTATE / PAGE B6
has largely stopped, and the company is down to two or three jobs per day. “They’re afraid to move,” Escribano said. He immediately applied for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program to help retain his workforce, but Wells Fargo told him there was no money available on April 6, three days after the program launched. When the pandemic hit, Robin LeVine of Fulton brought out a canvas and new paints, thinking her staging company Sorted Affairs would slow down. But she said she’s still working consistently, helping clients stage homes for virtual tours. “It’s a whole different ballgame,” she said. “It’s kind of fun in a way, until my dog starts barking.” She tells clients where to move furniture and where to add pillows purchased online. She sends photos of her ideas and tries to think creatively, perhaps suggesting that kids hang artwork in their rooms. LeVine sees low interest rates continuing to drive the real estate market for busy agents. “The heavy hitters are not delaying,” she said. If a client is committed to selling, they are putting it on the market now, said Realtor Chad Larsen of Coldwell Banker’s Berg Larsen Group. He’s finding new ways to do business. He recently toured a home alone to assess the condition of a house, bringing the client along via FaceTime. “If we’re practicing social distancing, that’s the key,” Larsen said. “This is business that needs to be done, and certainly as it relates to real estate, people have made commitments. I have clients that are scheduled to close on Monday.” A home listed March 24 for $429,900 on the 4400 block of Wentworth recently sold quickly with several offers. The only people who entered the house were very serious buyers preapproved for a loan and not showing signs of illness, said listing agent
Matterport tours embedded in some listings allow viewers to see a “dollhouse” view of the layout, virtually walk through the home and take measurements. Image courtesy of Matterport
Cristina Edelstein-Skurat, of RE/MAX Kerby & Cristina Real Estate Experts. Only the decision-makers could walk through — no children — and the realtor, wearing gloves, was the only one who could touch anything. She’s about to list another $2.5 million home in Linden Hills. Following the pandemic, EdelsteinSkurat speculated that inflation could become an issue, making this a good moment for renters to buy a home and lock in a low mortgage rate. While some of her
clients are waiting, others are hoping to buy with less competition. Feeling like the only person at FedEx wearing a mask, realtor Jen Kyllonen said she’s proceeding cautiously. It can feel frivolous to continue working at this time, but people need homes and shelter, she said. Some clients have expiring leases, or job transfers, or already purchased a home with plans to move. So she’s using gloves and shoe covers and telling sellers to leave their lights on, leave doors slightly ajar and sanitize
thoroughly after showings. At one shuttered title company, she and the closer sat on either ends of a table, the only people in the building. They slid documents back and forth, along with a pen wrapped in plastic, which they sanitized before each use. Weeks before COVID-19 arrived in Minnesota, Kyllonen sold four homes priced under $400,000 within a weekend. “It’s my strong hope that because we went into this strong, it’s going to help us carry through economically. All of us,” she said.
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B10 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
Spring poetry Perhaps a little poetry can offer relief during a very difficult spring. In this collection, compiled before the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Minneapolis, you’ll find celebrations, hikes around Lake Harriet, a little love, a little laughter, travelers, towering cranes, dancers, sailors and echoes of “Star Wars.” This is our 14th year of curating these poetry pages. Thanks to all who have contributed … and all who have enjoyed the journey! Doug Wilhide is the poet laureate of Linden Hills and poetry editor of the Southwest Journal.
“I hear melting winter.” “It’s tickling my toes.” “I feel about to pop.” Like the children talking and giggling and ready to go without jackets.
Prayer to Spring James P. Lenfestey
Open the door. So many births! A sun! And the vernal equinox, what is that but words In an ancient tongue changing everything to tulips? Open the door, what is out there but the rain? Let the floods come. Let the warblers tread home to their nests. Let the worms glisten in love under the covers of old leaves. Let jack-in-the-pulpit open his sermon with praise. Let new words erupt: crocus, daffodil, jonquil, petals moving their colorful lips. And buds! Billions of buds! May they burst with joy. Let the bumblebee stumble from her grassy cave. And the bear with her cubs the same. And the spade and the plow, let them come, punch seed into soil – how much good the dirt knows! Let oak and elm unfurl their thousand paws to shelter with shade the open door. Who can stop this clapping? This audience of everything!
Worries Shannon King
The grass doesn’t worry no matter how many times it is stepped on, smashed, trampled underfoot, driven over, mowed down, over and over and over .... It knows its nature is to rise again, delicately, greenly, celebrating the soil, the sun.
Pledge Week John O’Connor
The god is calling for Minnesota Public Radio. His hammer is near by — And a flagon of something disguised as coffee, With persuasive faux steam It’s a phone bank, after all — not a mead hall — And he wishes to be Minnesota Nice. He coaches himself to be pleasant. And then someone in Edina says no. Edina! Odin would be rolling his eye. It’s not like they don’t have the money. The hammer falls. The lightning strikes. There are screams. And then — another renewal. Sometimes, of course, he has to ask twice. But his pledge rate is one hundred percent.
Take My Hand — Laguna Beach, California Carolyn Light Bell
Just after I said, “Come walk with me, close to the waves,” hoping you would see her strength, the foamy beast surged up and knocked you to your knees. There you were, on all fours, struggling to regain your stature. You stood. She came again to drive you down. An angel came — a young man — to help you upright. However unsteady, your feet wobbly, your knees and legs in pain, we struggled to find a place to sit and rest — some stairs. We perched awhile. Together once more, at least for one more day, we watched the surf at play with children who were somehow able to hold their ground. How did it happen — this reversal of power?
Fellow Travelers — for Jim and Roseann Shannon King
Some people just throw things into a suitcase, zip it up — and go! But the packers have to do all the dishes first, close the windows, pay all the bills, clean off the table, sort out the books choose the shoes go to the bank change the cash to pay for the washer to wash the shirts and clean the jeans to put in the suitcase and then zip it up. Then open it to make sure they didn’t forget. Yes, I know there are many kinds of travelers, But, dear Lord, why, oh why, must they marry?
Sailors Daniel Shaw
We are born sailors abandoned to the arms of once-sailors well-intentioned lubbers ground-bound beasts on a planet of water. They instruct us in the laws of land a world of plans, intentions as though desirable and undesirable could be closeted, sifted, wheat from chaff.
Conversations
They bind themselves to the blessings of stasis, refuge from rain and wind presuming to parse the elemental.
I stood still, Still, now quiet Quiet, now listening. And sure enough, It was real.
They betray their roots rocking us in our distress instinctively offering the roll of the ocean, the comfort of transition.
The murmur turned to giggling And the giggles turned to words. It was the seeds talking of Spring.
I will teach my children to be sailors to learn of life ashore to know the refuge of rock and roof yet ever to treasure their sea legs.
Sandra Burwell
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 B11
Sister Lucille
Fonteyn and Nureyev
Sister Lucille, the Sith lord — Cleverly disguised as a Catholic nun — Roams the hallways of Holy Rosary, Her light-saber at the ready. She’s the most violent samurai chick That Emperor Palpatine ever feared. She is ready to strike you down.
a single ring of light, barely big enough to hold them — all else empty darkness, potent darkness for an audience that seemed to give up breathing so as not to disturb the air
John O’Connor
The grade-school boys are restless and bored. They wish they were having fun. They daydream of something military — Something dangerous and exciting and unsteady — Not realizing that a fantastic, Shape-shifting, dungeon-dimensions lizard has appeared In a wimple and a habit in their hometown.
Tower Crane Weather Vane David Griffith
On the west side of Bryant, near 36th Street A 200 ft. boom on a crane tower Moves concrete and steel beams Wood framed wall sections and floor trusses To the building rising From the hole where the senior center Once stood … where an old women once Spoke to me about her classmates In the one room schoolhouse On the prairie south of Minneapolis Where, as it happens, the boom points When the workers have gone home. The boom swings with the wind, looming … One evening over the little houses south on Bryant, Another over the old brick art deco building to the east And, in a SE wind, over the donut shop to the NW. That interests me about boom cranes: In the days they raise the buildings. In the nights, untethered, they tell Which way the wind blows.
Toni McNaron
though he was electric, my focus was on her left leg planted, head almost on the floor, right leg touching some imagined sky, a perfect “six o’clock” beyond most 20 year olds; right leg en pointe, left at 90 degrees, her hand in his for crucial balance — suddenly he let her go the audience gasped, no usual tremor along her upper arm no sudden rescue by his steady hand no one had the nerve to clap our noise might undo their bond she’d topple back to earth
he held her with eye-beam threads she stayed upright: a miracle was complete
One Last Kiss, Cold and Wild Weary Northerner, tonight, wrestle your cold feet into boots this one last time. Glove your hands and walk with me. Now then, lift up your chin. Can you feel it? The ping of infinitesimal darts, the icy bites on the delicate skin of your nose, before they vanish.
Tell me: is this really so bad?
He thought I don’t think I can think anymore Not deeply anyway, anymore Not like before, he thought.
April, yes, but soon enough, slush will trickle down the sidewalks, gray and messy. Green will shoulder up through the mud. Sun will baste us sticky, and sodden air will suck away our breath. I know what you’ll do then …
Before, he not only thought He knew — he even believed, And others knew he thought And believed him.
You’ll hurry down to the lake, slip your skin into the water’s dark cloak. You’ll pull your head below the surface, propel your steamy form to the underwater ladder of the floating dock
And then he began to think That perhaps he had never thought Really, that deeply, or that well — That it had all been some kind of … Delusion, a mental mirage, even a lie —
all the while cooled by water not so long ago frozen by our long and generous winter.
Doug Wilhide
Though it wasn’t and it hadn’t been He thought, on his better days.
Scott Devens
Just finished running around the lake in about 15 degree temp on a cleared asphalt path. The conditions were cold and windy and not very motivating. What kept me going were the grueling expeditions of Bancroft, Steger, Dupre, Buettner and others. I know Dupre crossed Antarctica pushing a heavy sled through bone-chilling, icy water. Today, I had a bead of sweat freeze on my forehead. Buettner pushed a touring bike loaded with tons of gear through a Siberian swamp for days. I go all the way around the lake without stopping. When I get bored, or kinda tired I think about those explorers pushing on for days, weeks, months. One foot in front of the other. Keep pushing. You can make it. Someone must plant that flag atop the summit at the bandshell.
Kathleen Kimball-Baker
Can you hear it? The squeak of boots that make your teeth itch. Can you see it? The night that cannot go dark because the ground billows white, scented like a sheet pulled from a clothesline.
Dementia
Harriet Expedition
On Our Walks Around the Lake Joe Alfano
A brush of the breeze, against deep grooved bark, the smell of wet loam, cardinals, and red wing blackbirds sing to all awake. People congregate, swimming birds dive, the life we’re a part of on our walks around the lake. Leaves just emerged reflect rays of daylight in all shades of green. Holy strollers roll, dogs, children & adults amble along the path. This lucky life we live, on our walks around the lake. When the seasons flip, the thermometer dips, the wind bites, over a landscape of snow and ice, as the moon shines, we seek memory of warmer times, cold winter paths we will survive, spring will arrive, once again we’ll be a part of all renewed and alive, on our walks around the lake. ILLUSTRATIONS BY
B12 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
$1,200 can fund a lot of good deeds How donating your stimulus check would advance local nonprofits’ missions By Sheila Regan
Payments from the coronavirus stimulus package are expected to start showing up in Southwest residents’ bank accounts in mid-April, with people making under $75,000 per year due to receive a one-time sum of $1,200. This money will serve as a lifeline for the many who have lost work or are otherwise challenged by this moment’s severe economic uncertainty. But if you are privileged to be in a place of relative economic stability right now, you may be thinking of ways you can help others who are struggling. One way to help is by donating to a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving some of those hardest hit by the economic impact of COVID-19. We checked in with a few organizations doing crucial work and asked them how a $1,200 donation would be used to advance their mission.
Joyce Uptown Foodshelf
3041 Fremont Ave. S. 612-825-4431 joyceuptownfoodshelf.org
St. Stephen’s Human Services
Northpoint Health & Wellness Center
St. Stephen’s Human Services, a Whittier-based homeless shelter, has ramped up its services to ensure safe and stable housing and shelter during the COVID-19 crisis, including expanding its operating hours to 24/7 at both of its shelters during the stay-at-home order since many day facilities and public buildings have closed. The organization also instituted hazard pay for its shelter staff and street outreach team and added lunch services and more substantial breakfast offerings.
In North Minneapolis, Northpoint Health & Wellness Center helps its community in a variety of ways — through its food shelf, mobile food delivery, housing and homeless prevention programs and through culturally responsive, traumainformed services for youth, adults and seniors. A donation to Northpoint would address folks who urgently need access to food and stable housing in particular.
309 Nicollet Ave. 612-874-0311 ststephensmpls.org
WHAT $1,200 BUYS:
If you were to donate your whole $1,200 stimulus check, that would be enough to fund St. Stephen’s for one full day, paying for both shelter and meals.
1313 Penn Ave. N. 612-767-9500 northpointhealth.org
WHAT $1,200 BUYS:
It could pay rent and utilities for one month for a family of four earning 40% of the area median income. It could also pay for four days’ worth of food for 60 families of four at Northpoint’s community food shelf, which is currently providing emergency food to about 100 households a day.
LEADING THE WAY TO HOPE GIVE HELP 612.825.3333
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“One of the silver linings of all of this is seeing the creative ways that people come together during this time to support the community,” said Lorrie Sandelin, Joyce Uptown Foodshelf ’s director. Sandelin is one of two part-time staff members at the volunteerdriven nonprofit that provides groceries for low-income individuals and families. In 2019, Joyce saw an 11% increase in visits to the food shelf, and Sandelin expects the impact of COVID will mean that number will rise even more. “Right now, we are responding to an immediate need; however, this is a marathon,” she said. “The need will continue to rise with our current economic situation.” Joyce is typically open five afternoons and one night a week. People are free to come once or twice a month to pick up food. No one who comes to the food shelf is generally turned away.
WHAT $1,200 BUYS:
It costs just $3.39 to provide food to one person for one month (about 18 pounds in all). A $1,200 donation would feed 353 individuals, or about 128 households.
Tubman
3111 1st Ave. S. 612-825-0000, tubman.org
At the end of March, Gov. Tim Walz said at a press briefing that the state’s stay-at-home order didn’t mean people needed to stay in a dangerous situation. “There are places of sanctuary for you to get out of that,” he said. One of those places is Tubman, an organization that helps people who have experienced violence, elder abuse, addiction, sexual exploitation or other forms of trauma. As shown by an increase in domestic violence 911 calls, it’s more important than ever to have safe places for people to go who are in unsafe situations.
WHAT $1,200 BUYS:
Tubman’s Freedom Fund covers things like changing the locks of an apartment or covering storage fees so a person’s belongings can be in a safe place while they seek shelter. It can also pay for a few groceries or to get new copies of official documents. Two hours of an interpreter’s time cost $100, taking a GED test is $90, a housing application for a new apartment could cost $45 and uniforms for work or school are about $30. The costs covered by the Freedom Fund may seem small, but to someone in fear, pain and trauma, they can feel like enormous barriers to an unknown future different from what they’ve known in the past,” Tubman’s Alison Hobson said.
NOW OFFERING VIRTUAL APPOINTMENTS GET HELP 612.825.0000
Tubman helps people of all ages and genders facing relationship violence, sexual exploitation, addiction, mental health challenges, or other forms of trauma.
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The Aliveness Project 3808 Nicollet Ave 612-824-5433 aliveness.org
Before there was COVID-19, America faced another pandemic, HIV. In the wake of that crisis, the Aliveness Project was born, building community for those who had tested positive, delivering meals and providing health services. The Aliveness Project continues this work, which is all the more essential now, as many of those living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. The Aliveness Project has had to postpone its annual fundraiser, Dining Out for Life, where restaurants around the Twin Cities donate a portion of their earnings to the nonprofit, and shut down its charitable gaming operation in partnership with bars and restaurants. Even as its income has dropped, it has significantly expanded its food shelf program, which currently serves 60 pounds of groceries to 30 people per day.
WHAT $1,200 BUYS:
It could support food and groceries for low-income and homeless people living with HIV and home delivery of food and groceries. It would also go toward cleaning supplies, masks and other protective equipment, and toward technology for telehealth and remote case management for people living with HIV.
southwestjournal.com / April 16–29, 2020 B13
Community Calendar.
LAND OF 10,000 STREAMS ONLINE MUSIC FESTIVAL This three-day live-streaming festival will feature dozens of bands and musicians each day, including Chris Koza, Charlie Parr, Jillian Rae, Martin Devaney, Ben Weaver, Carnage the Executioner, Katy Vernon and Dan Israel.
By Ed Dykhuizen
When: Friday-Sunday, April 24-26 Where: Online Cost: Free, but donations accepted Info: landof10kstreams.com
TELLING STORIES, BECOMING VIRTUAL NEIGHBORS: 8TH ANNUAL VIRTUAL GALA
DARE TO LEAD: A CALL TO COURAGE
Have meaningful conversations and story exchanges in this fundraiser for Green Card Voices, a Minneapolis nonprofit committed to sharing immigrants’ stories.
The Daring Venture presents this virtual workshop about lessons derived from Dr. Brene Brown’s inspirational book “Dare to Lead.”
When: 4-6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18 Where: Online Cost: $55-$125 Info: tinyurl.com/gcv-fundraiser
When: 12:30-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22 Where: Online Cost: $25 Info: modernwell.co
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B14 April 16–29, 2020 / southwestjournal.com
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RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL — INSURANCE CLAIMS WELCOME! — SERVING THE TWIN CITIES SINCE 1972
licensed and insured
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www.molinarotree.com
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ortheast N TREEInc.
George & Lynn Welles
Matthew Molinaro
TM & © 2012 MGM.
Northeast Tree SWJ 011019 2x2.indd 1
7/12/18 1:35 PM
as seen on
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1/7/19 12:08 PM
MN-4551 A
612-343-3301 · www.midwestplus.com
Midwest Exteriors SWJ 040220 2cx3.indd 1
8:45 AM
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MN3/25/20 # 5276 2:07 PM
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3/24/20 11:37 AM
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3:40 PM
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Houle Insulation Inc.
10:16 AM
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8327 Little Circle Bloomington
612.267.3285
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4/14/20 4:40 PM
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8/31/10 1:41 PM
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3:43 PM
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u: for yo an do c e w what Here’s
6/1/18 1:05 PM
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License #BC378021
MN License #BC451256
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3/17/20 4:45 PM
Quality
CONSTRUCTION, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
& Trust.
BEFORE
AFTER
CUSTOM CABINETRY · ADDITIONS & DORMERS KITCHENS & BATHROOMS · WHOLE HOUSE RENOVATION PORCHES & SUN-ROOMS · FINISHED BASEMENTS
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9/16/19 2:43 PM