Southwest Journal May 28-June 10

HCMC critical care physician: ‘We’re not in a crisis quite yet, but we’re teetering right at that brink’ PAGE B6

May 28– June 10, 2020 Vol. 31, No. 11 southwestjournal.com

INSIDE MISSING SHIP’S WHEEL FOUND

‘Mad as hell’

COVID-19 hits high-rises, senior homes

By Michelle Bruch

Historic wheel was given to suburban high school along with missing bell B1

LAKE AND GARFIELD

Lindsey Metzler with her mother, Jacqueline Linton, who died April 23 with COVID-19 at age 61. Submitted photo Two big apartments approved A8

BRYN MAWR MILL SITE

Police want security upgrades A9

DEMANDING WHAT’S OWED

Protests follow death of black man choked by police Thousands of protesters march east on 38th Street toward Hiawatha Avenue during a May 26 rally in anger over the death of George Floyd. Photo by Isaiah Rustad

By Nate Gotlieb

Bystander video of a handcuffed black man gasping and struggling to breathe as a white police officer kneels on his neck at 38th & Chicago has drawn outrage from Southwest Minneapolis residents and leaders. The man, George Floyd of St. Louis Park, is now dead.

The video does not appear ambiguous. “Please, I can’t breathe,” Floyd, 46, tells the officer in the May 25 video. “My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts.” Floyd, his face flat against the pavement, asks for water and his mother before going limp. The officer’s knee remains on Floyd’s neck for more than seven minutes as bystanders plead for him to lift it, saying, “He is a human” and “Let me see a pulse.” An ambulance arrives and takes Floyd’s motionless body to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he is pronounced dead.

SEE FLOYD / PAGE A15

Bartmann employees protest A11

FREMONT BRIDGE

Unclear waters Harmful algae bloom on Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles

By Andrew Hazzard

Greenway coalition irked by construction A6

CAFE ENA

Tasting take-out at the Tangletown restaurant B7

Officials are warning residents of a harmful algae bloom in Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles and investigating if the natural phenomena caused a dog’s death.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is advising residents to stay out of Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, where a blue-green algae bloom is believed to have developed. The harmful algae bloom (HAB) produces cyanotoxins that can cause illness in humans and animals.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is investigating the death of a dog that drank from Cedar Lake on May 12, according to MPRB spokesperson Robin Smothers. Dogs are generally banned from swimming in Minneapolis lakes, but officials are reemphasizing the safety risk for animals in Cedar Lake during the HAB. SEE HARMFUL ALGAE BLOOM / PAGE A13

Keith Prussing, president of the Cedar Lake Park Association, observes the now murky waters from Hidden Beach. Prussing hopes the harmful algae bloom will be a catalyst for a robust conversation about water quality. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

Four in 5 Minneapolis residents who have died after contracting COVID-19 lived in senior homes, long-term care facilities or large condo and apartment buildings, according to an analysis of the first 100 deaths recorded in state data. The residents who died were between the ages of 50 and 101.

But seniors ages 55 and older only account for about a third of the positive cases in Minneapolis. The city’s nearly 3,000 positive COVID-19 tests appear to be more prevalent in North Minneapolis and an area described as “south central” Minneapolis, encompassing Cedar-Riverside and the Phillips and Powderhorn neighborhoods, according to the city Health Department.

Minneapolis Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant said that while cases appear to be prevalent in areas with historic health disparities, testing isn’t providing a complete picture. Some symptomatic people may not be tested at all, and some clinics are offering more testing, she said. Tests only recently became available for people without symptoms.

“There is a lot going on out there that we might not see,” she said.

Nine days

“Just sitting around being bored so I decided to get CoVid,” Jacqueline Linton, age 61, wrote on Facebook on April 19, adding that she threw in pneumonia to top it off.

Before that post, she’d been sharing jokes about the proper time to change from day pajamas to night pajamas and how long toilet paper would last if frozen. She had contracted a rare lung disease 18 months prior and relied on medical care at Bywood East Health Care in Northeast Minneapolis, where she lived with two roommates.

One day at lunch, Linton became alarmed when someone wearing full protective equipment walked in and pulled her lunchmate away, according to her daughter Lindsey Metzler. Linton asked if they were testing for COVID; staff said they couldn’t say, and she never saw her lunchmate again. Days later, she spiked a fever in the middle of the night and later tested positive for the virus.

“The shit gets real ... real fast / Just admitted to ICU with talks about ventilator …Thanks for all your wonderful thoughts and prayers I really do appreciate it... keep them coming!!”

Linton wrote April 20.

“She just said she was really scared,” Metzler said.

SEE COVID-19 / PAGE A10

A2 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A3

Burger Jones well done in Minneapolis Burger Jones will not be reopening its patio on the north side of Lake Street near Bde Maka Ska come June 1.

The Parasole Restaurant Holdings establishment in Cedar-Isles-Dean has closed its doors for good, the company announced May 19. It had been in business since 2009.

“It was a pretty good run,” Parasole marketing director Kip Clayton said.

Because of the financial turmoil for the restaurant industry due to COVID-19, groups like Parasole are looking to consolidate when possible, he said. The company has a second Burger Jones location in Burnsville, and when the group had an opportunity to get out of its lease with Doran Commercial in Calhoun Village, the firm accepted.

“The whole future is a bit uncertain as it relates to this business, and I think there’s going to be a lot of restaurant closings and consolidations,” Clayton said.

He cited the cost of doing business in Minneapolis with higher minimum wage requirements compared with Burnsville as part of the reason the company chose to shut the location.

Clayton said the group would try to find work elsewhere in the company for the workers at Burger Jones “to the degree that we can.”

The restaurant group owns several establishments in the metro, including Chino Latino in Uptown and Salut Bar Americain at 50th & France in Southwest and Manny’s Steakhouse Downtown. The company has not been offering takeout service during the pandemic

Burger Jones will not be reopening when restaurants return from the coronavirusrelated shutdowns. The burger joint had been in business at Calhoun Village since 2009. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

but plans to start doing so at all restaurants but Manny’s starting May 26, Clayton said.

Before the pandemic, Parasole had a deal in place to sell its business to Minneapolis firm FS Funds, but that agreement was not finalized prior to statewide restaurant closures and subsequently fell through, Clayton said. For now, the firm is focusing on trying to make the business healthy again.

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District’s debt wouldn’t exceed 15% of operating revenue

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

A pared-down Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) five-year capital plan would ensure that the district stays in compliance with its borrowing policies, officials said at a virtual School Board Finance Committee meeting on May 19.

The revised plan, which would cost about $136 million less than one released earlier this spring, would ensure that district debts between 2021 and 2025 don’t exceed 15% of operating revenue, according to officials. That’s the maximum level allowed under district policy.

To reduce costs, officials have reduced allocations for school improvements related to the recently passed Comprehensive District Design (CDD) restructuring plan by about $60 million. They’ve also proposed postponing a $6.1 million entrance and lunchroom project at Kenwood Community School and spending less on districtwide supports such as fleet replacement, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

At the Finance Committee, chief operations officer Karen DeVet said officials revised the capital plan based on feedback from an internal steering committee and also considered the number of students potentially affected by any changes.

She said officials have paused plans to install cooling systems at the final 11 MPS schools that lack them and have pared down CDD-related projects at schools such as North, Jefferson and Andersen.

Under the revised plan, North’s proposed allocation for building upgrades would be reduced to about $83.5 million from $111.1 million. Proposed projects at the school include creating spaces for career-technical education courses and renovating the lunchroom/kitchen, entrance and technology and performance spaces.

Starting in fall 2021, incoming ninthgraders living in South Uptown and the seven Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods north of 36th Street and west of Hennepin Avenue will matriculate to North unless they open enroll. That’s in addition to Stevens Square, Loring Park and all or parts of six North Minneapolis neighborhoods.

DeVet also said officials decided against proposing the construction of a new North High School, which would have cost “north of $110 million.”

District capital plans, required by policy to be evaluated every year, cover construction and maintenance projects for the foreseeable future.

MPS has spent over $856 million on capital projects over the past 20 years. Recent projects in Southwest Minneapolis have included renovations and new classrooms at Washburn High School and additions at Armatage Montessori School and Southwest High School.

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Brad Bryan and Dylan Boyer pose outside of The Aliveness Project center in Kingfield.

“The HIV community has been through a pandemic before,” Boyer says. Submitted photo

Tea Rozman, founder of the Whittier-based nonprofit Green Card Voices, said she had to modify her organization essentially overnight in mid-March.

Her staff could no longer record video interviews sharing immigrant stories or travel around the country to promote their new book at national conferences. Confined to working from home, they adapted, launching a new podcast series on March 25 titled “#LoveYourAsianNeighbor.” The show responds to a spike in anti-Asian rhetoric and racism with a variety of stories from Asian Americans, immigrants and refugees.

Adele Della Torre, an East Isles dentist who founded Ready Set Smile, said the pandemic has reaffirmed the significance of her nonprofit’s work.

Summer is normally the time her team reaches out to educate students and parents in low-income communities about the importance of oral hygiene. They’re now trying to work virtually to connect with parents, give culturally sensitive guidance and send families necessities like floss and toothpaste. “I try to find the silver linings,” she said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to what we once considered normal, but we will get back to services that are needed.”

Southwest Minneapolis nonprofits say the pandemic has brought both operational and fundraising challenges. For many, it has also highlighted the importance of their work and the support of their communities.

Financial worries

With spring normally ushering in fundraising galas for nonprofits, the adjustment to social distancing has hurt many traditional methods of raising money.

Large fundraising events are being postponed or hosted online. While some nonprofits have seen an increase in donations and been awarded grants and federal aid, many are worried about the long-term effect of COVID-19 on their organizations. Most still aren’t at the financial level they were at pre-pandemic and don’t know when they will get there again.

Carley Kammerer, an owner of Wildflyer Coffee, said COVID-19 has halted almost everything. The Southwest-based nonprofit employs homeless youth and teaches classes on personal and professional development.

Normally stationed at local farmers markets or other pop-up events in a mobile coffee cart, Kammerer said she doesn’t know what the next month will bring.

Coffee bean sales on Wildflyer’s website have risen, but the revenue from wholesale coffee they normally sell at events like church gatherings and business meetings has essentially vanished.

Many donors have stepped up to support the five youth currently in her program, something Kammerer said she is grateful for. But the pandemic has disrupted a milestone the company has been working toward for three years: a brick-and-mortar coffee shop. “[In] the shop we would have been able to have a full cohort of young people,” she said.

“Not being able to do our mission as well as we had been hoping to this year has been hard.”

Some organizations like the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge — which provides residential drug and alcohol treatment — have fared better. Their annual gala on May 1 was held online, and the nonprofit saw a record number of donations, bringing in over $1 million despite the event only lasting for about an hour. In addition to mask and hygiene supply donations, donors have been able to support their clients on an individual level, purchasing goods clients request through an Amazon wishlist.

“The generosity has just been over the top and so incredibly inspirational,” said Tim Walsh, the group’s vice president. “We had so many people step up.”

Apart but growing stronger

At the Aliveness Project, a community and wellness center in Kingfield for people living with HIV and AIDS, members have been working hard to adjust to physical distancing, spokesperson Dylan Boyer said.

Founded during the height of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, the Aliveness Project was designed to foster community through shared meals and shared space. Although case managers are still meeting members over the phone and staff are still packaging to-go meals for pickup, the loss of community gathering has been hard, he said.

Given the community’s immunocompromised status, staff have been especially careful to keep their distance from members. Several meeting groups, including one for those newly diagnosed with HIV and one for trans women, have stopped all together. Despite this, Boyer said, the community has come together in other ways. Some members have offered each other rides home so they won’t have to carry bags of groceries on the bus, and others have waited in their parking lot upwards of 20 SEE NONPROFITS / PAGE A12

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A5

Retailers’ futures uncertain despite partial reopening

By Becca Most

The morning of May 18, Joan West reveled in running through the motions of unlocking her storefront door, putting a “We’re open” sign on her window and counting the money in her register.

Her store, the Schatzlein Saddle Shop in Whittier, has been open for 113 years. First run by her grandfather in 1907, the family business has been passed down for three generations. What started as a horse harness shop transitioned to a Western clothing and gear store now frequented by horse owners and lovers of cowboy boots and Levi’s jeans.

During the pandemic, West’s sales have dropped 80%. Before opening in-person on May 18, she offered curbside pickup and revamped her website to offer more options for online shoppers. Running a small storefront that rarely sees more than 10 customers at once even in normal times, West said she wishes she was able to open sooner.

Gov. Tim Walz’s partial reopening of retailers on May 18 was a welcome relief for many local businesses. Reopening comes at a price however, and retailers are scrambling to get financial help and properly equip their shops to enforce social distancing. Although opening quickly is essential for many to remain open, store owners worry about a second wave of the virus and how to keep their workers and customers safe.

Aaron Meyerring, an owner of the popular Whittier music and record store Electric Fetus, said the store’s closure due to COVID-19 has been especially hard. Without their normal crowd of customers thumbing through record albums or coming to intimate in-store concerts, the shop has lost 97% of its revenue since mid-March.

“It’s hard for retail stores, especially like ours, because we’re a browsing store,” he said.

“You touch everything.”

He’s put some of the shop’s products online, but it has been labor-intensive to sort and ship packages. The store’s inventory also changes so frequently it is hard to keep the site current.

“Trying to navigate how to reopen has been a nightmare to be honest with you,” Meyerring said.

Many of his questions about loan forgiveness and finances have gone unanswered by the government and an influx of new information often forces him to keep delaying his reopening plans.

One of the reasons Electric Fetus didn’t open on May 18 was because it has been hard to come up with a sanitizing plan that will make workers feel at ease, he said. The current plan includes limiting the number of people inside the shop at a time, setting up

sanitizing stations and creating “one-way” lanes for shoppers to look through boxes of records and still keep their distance.

Meyerring has also supplied his workers with cloth masks, rearranged the break room to offer more space and installed plexiglass shields by the registers. A majority of his staff have been with the shop for over 10 years, one member as long as 41. Making sure they are comfortable and healthy will not only help keep the shop open but is central to their community-oriented model.

“Our staff is like family to me,” he said.

“Without them we wouldn’t be who we are.”

Thraicie Hawkner, an owner of Uptown Eye of Horus metaphysical shop, has been floating through the shutdown of her spiritual shop without financial assistance. As someone who uses a credit union rather than a bank to keep her business community-oriented, she has not been able to apply for certain government loans like the Paycheck Protection Program.

Although many of the tarot readers that work independently through her shop have been doing online readings, Hawkner said she doesn’t know when she will be able to open her physical shop again. Her wife is especially vulnerable to the virus, and Hawkner said she doesn’t want to risk putting her health in jeopardy.

It’s difficult to imagine how she would disinfect all of the books customers look through, so Hawkner said she’s settled with selling her materials online and meeting people in their entryway to exchange the goods they’ve purchased.

“We’re just not quite psychic enough to know when it’ll be time to open properly,” she said with a laugh. “So we’re doing this kind of open-ish.”

Thomas Norton, owner of Bryant Hardware in South Uptown, counts himself as one of the lucky ones. His business was designated as “essential,” so Bryant Hardware has been able to stay open. This has allowed Norton to continue paying his employees. Businesses like clothing stores and restaurants are faring worse, he said.

“A lot of these businesses … realize that they don’t have enough money to restock their stores so that they can open,” he said. “A lot of these jobs aren’t coming back. And that’s scary.”

Rick Haase, an owner of the Minnesota-based knick-knack store Patina, said mid-March was, with the exception of blizzards, the first time he’d ever had to close all eight of the chain’s stores.

Patina’s 300-person staff was reduced to three in March as the shop transitioned to online ordering and curbside pickup, something made difficult for a store that’s business model SEE BUSINESSES / PAGE A15

Joan West (left) poses with her siblings Janet and Paul Schatzlein in their Whittier Western clothing shop on May 26. Photo by Isaiah Rustad Northern Star Botanicals SWJ 052820 V3.indd 1

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A6 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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Hennepin County has closed down a stretch of the Midtown Greenway in Uptown while crews work on the new Fremont Avenue bridge in a move that has upset the nonprofit that cares for the bike and pedestrian route in South Minneapolis.

Starting May 18, the Greenway closed between Girard and Bryant avenues to allow for pier construction work anticipated to last about four weeks, according to Hennepin County public works. It’s the second major closure of the trail for the Fremont Avenue bridge reconstruction; in 2019, that segment closed for three months. Cyclists are detoured to 28th Street, which has been converted to a two-way bike lane between Girard and Bryant.

For the Midtown Greenway Coalition, a nonprofit that maintains and advocates for the trail, that’s too long.

The bridges that cross the Greenway are all about 100 years old, and the county has been slowly replacing the structures over the years. When bridges over Cedar and Portland avenues were reconstructed, the county did a great job of minimizing trail closures, according to Soren Jensen, executive director of the Midtown Greenway Coalition.

“We just don’t feel they’re doing everything they possibly can; maybe they are, but it doesn’t feel that way,” Jensen said.

There are differing circumstances that make Fremont more challenging than Cedar and Portland were, according to project manager Amanda Shotton. The space under the Fremont bridge is narrower than those under other reconstructed bridges, she said via a county spokesperson, and there is a larger elevation difference between the existing Greenway trail and the access road, which impacts the working space beneath the bridge.

The project was also complicated by the need to replace an old Minneapolis water main that was under the bridge, she said. The bridge is expected to be completed by the fall.

“It is always our goal to limit the impacts our projects have on the public,” Stratton said. “We are very sensitive to this importance of the Midtown Greenway for both

Construction work continues on the Fremont Avenue bridge, leading to a new four-week closure of the Midtown Greenway in Uptown.

Midtown Greenway Coalition trail watcher Joshua Jackson watched the construction on May 19. Photo by Zac Farber

those using it for commuting and recreation.”

The 28th Street detour isn’t terrible, Jensen said, but it’s much less safe for bikers than the Greenway, especially if people are riding against the typical one-way traffic on the street.

The idea of a four-week closure at a time when people are relying more on the outdoors for recreation and exercise is not ideal, he said.

“It’s never a good idea to detour the Greenway, and it’s especially not a good idea to do it now,” Jensen said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has only asked for a couple brief closures for its Interstate 35W project, which Jensen said has been appreciated. With future bridge reconstructions likely coming in the future, the coalition hopes the Fremont detours will be the exception not the rule.

“They’ve got to work harder to keep the Greenway as open as possible; this can’t be their default,” Jensen said.

City to reconstruct West Franklin Minneapolis public works officials are in the early stages of planning the reconstruction of a three-block stretch of Franklin Avenue West.

The project would rebuild the city-owned portion of Franklin Avenue between Hennepin and Lyndale at the tip of the Wedge. Construction is planned for a six-month period in 2022, according to Katie White with Minneapolis public works. Hennepin County controls Franklin Avenue east of Lyndale and is also in the process of designing a reconstruction of the street, though a project year is not set.

Franklin Avenue is on its last legs, with 60-year-old infrastructure and sidewalks “in pretty rough conditions,” White told a Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association committee May 13. The project will aim to add a bicycle infrastructure and boulevard space for tree growth and snow storage, she said.

Franklin Avenue is included in city and county plans for future bicycle networks.

Each day, 5,000-7,000 vehicles pass through this stretch of Franklin Avenue, White said, with most drivers exiting to Hennepin or Lyndale. There is also heavy bike traffic from riders crossing the street on the Bryant Avenue bike boulevard heading to and from Downtown.

Franklin Avenue was identified in the city’s Vision Zero crash studies as a “high-injury network” where a disproportionate amount of serious crashes take place.

“There’s too many fatalities and serious injuries here,” White said.

Public works is attempting to establish a concept design in 2020 with a more detailed design coming in 2021. The project is scheduled for 2022 and construction is expected to last about six months.

The city will host a virtual open house for the project on June 4 and an online survey is open to residents through June 12.

Reconstruction planned for Bryant Minneapolis is planning to reconstruct Bryant Avenue south of Lake Street in 2022 with a project that will seek to increase green infrastructure and improve pedestrian and biking facilities.

The project will reconstruct 2.5 miles of the road between Lake Street and 50th Street, where the 60-year-old infrastructure is beginning to give way. City public works SEE ROUTES AND ROADS / PAGE A7

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A7

Apartments, retail planned at ill-fated Uptown restaurant site A Chicago-based developer plans to convert an ill-fated restaurant site adjacent to the Uptown Transit Station into a seven-story apartment building with retail space.

Trilogy Real Estate Group is redeveloping the land at 2841 Hennepin Ave. that has been host to a horde of restaurants over the years, most recently Piggy Bank, which closed in November. The developer has partnered with Minneapolis architecture firm ESG to design the building.

The project is still in early design phases, Trilogy representative Bryan Farquhar told a Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA) committee during a Zoom meeting May 13. The building site plan will likely go before the Minneapolis Planning Commission in August.

The early design calls for a seven-story, 86-foot-tall building totaling 192,000 square feet with about 2,200 square feet of retail space on Hennepin Avenue, ESQ architect Burt Coffin said. The plan is to have about 150 residential units and 105 underground parking stalls.

Coffin, a Wedge resident, said they hope to create a U-shaped terrace facing the Midtown Greenway and create a public promenade connection to the bike and pedestrian path.

The new development will remove the existing curb cut on Hennepin Avenue and add walk-up units along the Midtown Greenway and Girard Avenue.

“This will really greatly improve the pedestrian experience on Hennepin Avenue,” Coffin said.

Trilogy, which owns properties across the Midwest, is making its first foray into the

FROM ROUTES AND ROADS / PAGE A6

is in the early stages of the design phase and is currently collecting resident feedback through an online survey.

“It’s really important we hear from folks now on those basic elements and what they want to see in the design feature,” senior transportation planner Liz Heyman said at a virtual open house.

A city study found Bryant averages 3,000 daily users, with most trips using the street for a few blocks. As planners design the reconstruction, Heyman said, they will be influenced by the Vision Zero initiative to reduce serious injuries and deaths, the underconsideration Transportation Action Plan and the city’s declaration of a climate emergency.

“We know we need to design the streets we want to see for the activities we want to see,” she said.

Bryant is a well-used north-south bicycle route in Southwest, but today its designation as a bike boulevard offers no physical protection for riders. There’s parking on both sides of the street and two-way traffic through the center.

But as part of the Transportation Action Plan’s “all ages and abilities” bike network, it will likely receive built protection.

“We’ll design a bikeway that allows people to feel comfortable riding on Bryant. We know the sharrows aren’t working,” city planner Trey Joiner said.

Exactly what kind of bike infrastructure will come is still to be determined, though Heyman noted public works favors behindthe-curb bike lanes in reconstruction projects.

Today, Bryant Avenue lacks boulevard space for trees and snow storage between the

A preliminary site plan for a former restaurant site on Hennepin Avenue in Uptown calls for about 150 units, retail space and underground parking.

Submitted image

Minneapolis market since 2011. Farquhar said the firm is a long-term owner that hopes to form “long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships” within the neighborhoods it builds in.

The LHENA zoning and planning committee is collecting feedback online for the project that the neighborhood group will submit to the developers.

The location in the heart of Uptown had been rough for restaurants in the past decade.

Since Old Chicago closed at the location in 2012, no restaurant lasted much longer than a year. In 2014, it was Boneyard. In 2015, it became a second location for Salsa a la Salsa. By October of 2016, it was GAME, an LGBTQ sports bar. Loring Park Vietnamese favorite Lotus came into the building in 2017 and closed about 18 months later before the space was taken by Piggy Bank, which was in business less than a year.

— Andrew Hazzard

street and sidewalk, Heyman said. Adding new green infrastructure to Bryant, like trees, plants and engineered stormwater capture, is a high priority.

Public works believes there is “room to work with” in terms of parking availability on adjacent streets. There are 783 parking spaces on the road between Lake and 50th and 618 spaces on adjacent side streets between Colfax and Aldrich. A study found about half of available parking spots were in use during the Saturday evening peak, mostly near business nodes. Accommodating business delivery and customer access will also be a priority, Heyman said.

While some residents expressed interest in converting the street to one-way vehicle traffic, its designation as a municipal stateaid route would mean the city would need to convert either Colfax or Aldrich Avenue into a one-way in the opposite direction, Heyman said, adding complications to that plan.

Calming vehicle traffic will be a goal of the project. A city study found nearly a quarter of vehicles were exceeding the 30-mph speed limit (which, like other city streets, is being lowered to 20 mph). Speeding is particularly problematic between 44th and 47th streets, where the study found about 40% of vehicles were speeding.

One to-be-determined element is how much of its right-of-way the city will use.

Bryant’s right-of-way is officially 60 feet wide but is effectively 55 feet in much of the corridor due to private property encroachments like retaining walls. Public works usually tries to avoid retaking those encroachments, but planners said “everything is on the table” during reconstruction.

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A8 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

PUBLISHER Janis Hall jhall@swjournal.com CO-PUBLISHER & SALES MANAGER Terry Gahan tgahan@swjournal.com GENERAL MANAGER Zoe Gahan zgahan@swjournal.com EDITOR Zac Farber 612-436-4391 zfarber@swjournal.com STAFF WRITERS Nate Gotlieb ngotlieb@swjournal.com Andrew Hazzard ahazzard@swjournal.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michelle Bruch Karen E. Cooper Sheila Regan Carla Waldemar EDITORIAL INTERN

Two big LynLake apartments approved A disagreement over retail requirements could lead to further changes

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

The second and third buildings in the threebuilding Lake Street Dwelling apartment project east of Lake & Lyndale have been approved, but a disagreement over retail requirements means more changes could be on the way.

On May 11, the Planning Commission approved Lupe Development Partners’ proposals for two seven-story apartment buildings on Lake Street between Garfield and Harriet avenues. (The third building in the project will have 111 units and open in November.)

As approved, one of the two buildings would have 132 market-rate units, while the other 95-unit building would be reserved for people making below 80% of the area median income (AMI) — now about $75,000 for a family of four. Eight of those units would be for people experiencing homelessness and 30 more would be for people making below 50% AMI. The two buildings would share an 89-spot underground parking garage.

In approving the project, the Planning Commission approved a floor-to-area ratio variance allowing the buildings to be larger than permitted by zoning code, on the condition that half of the ground-floor space in each building be devoted to retail.

“I think that having retail is important for the overall value and overall livability of a community,” said Sam Rockwell, who heads the commission.

Lupe vice president and chief financial manager Steve Minn said he’s appealed the requirement to the City Council, noting that

Two new proposed apartments would add 227 units to LynLake. The developer is unhappy with a city condition that half of the ground-floor space in each building be devoted to retail. Submitted rendering

retail spaces in his other buildings and in Uptown haven’t been leasing.

He said the requirement renders the project economically unworkable because Lupe won’t be able to build as many apartment units, and he vowed to construct six-story buildings with significantly fewer affordable units if the appeals are unsuccessful.

“These are the guardrails under which I’ll develop,” he said.

Rockwell said the project will benefit from nearby retail on Lake Street and Lyndale and Nicollet avenues and that Lupe should contribute retail space to the area. He said

developers who aren’t able to lease retail space at market rates could consider leasing at lower prices to entrepreneurs or community groups.

The three Lake Street Dwelling buildings will have mostly studio, one- and two-bedroom units and amenities such as fitness and business centers, community rooms and bike storage.

There will also be sustainability features that Rockwell praised, such as construction methods that will reduce waste.

Construction of the market-rate building could start this summer, and construction of the second affordable building is expected to start in spring 2021.

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Tangletown apartment reapproved after adding parking

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Plans for a four-story apartment in Tangletown are back on track after the developer removed five units from the building and added eight new parking spaces on the second floor.

The Fullertown Flats project, at 4736–4740 Grand Ave., will now have 18 units and 18 indoor parking spots, bringing it in line with a rule in the city’s zoning code requiring at least one parking space per unit in areas without access to high-frequency transit.

Developer Joshua Segal’s initial plan for the site, located a half block north of the 48th & Grand commercial intersection near Fuller Park, called for 23 units and 10 parking spaces. The Planning Commission signed off on a parking variance for the project in October, but a month later a group of more than 30 neighborhood residents successfully appealed the variance.

Segal, the co-founder of the fitness studio Urban Cycle and a first-time developer, told the Southwest Journal that he felt like “we got bullied,” but he and his team went back to the drawing board and brought their building in line with the city’s zoning code.

Segal’s revised designs call for a mix of five studios, 10 one-bedrooms and three two-

The interior of this proposed four-story apartment near Fuller Park in Tangletown has been redesigned to take out five dwelling units and add eight parking spaces. Submitted rendering

bedrooms. The lobby has been shrunk and a fourth-floor community room/coworking space has been scrapped.

Since the Planning Commission had already approved the project’s site plan and the revised plans complied with the parking minimum, city

staff were able to approve Segal’s new proposal directly in early April.

The group of neighborhood residents appealed the staff decision, saying that the addition of a new vehicle entrance to the building through the rear alley and other site changes meant the project should return to the Planning Commission. Car lights would now shine into a neighbor’s bedroom because a garage door was moved, said Erik Takeshita, the lead appellant.

Staff responded that the changes to the building’s site plan were minor since they did not alter the building’s height, bulk, setback, footprint or, for the most part, its facade.

A city zoning board rejected the appeal in a 5-2 vote on May 21. The neighborhood residents are discussing whether to appeal the zoning board’s decision to the City Council.

“I think the changes proposed actually make the building a lower density than what was approved,” Zoning Board of Adjustment member Richard Sandberg said. “I have no reason to believe the Planning Commission would not continue to approve it.”

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southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A9

There’s been an uptick in trespassing this spring at the Fruel Mill in Bryn Mawr, police say. They are working with the property owner on safety improvements and say people who are caught trespassing will be arrested.

Photo by Nate Gotlieb

Security upgrades considered for abandoned Bryn Mawr mill

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

A rash of trespassing calls at an abandoned 19th-century mill near Utepils Brewing has Minneapolis police working with the property owner on security improvements. The Bryn Mawr mill been the site of serious injuries and at least one death.

Police have asked the owners of the Fruen Mill, Haig Newton and Chris Jahnke, to look into purchasing security cameras, Fourth Precinct crime prevention specialist Torie Stone said.

Police have also been in contact with the city’s fire inspection services department, which oversees abandoned properties, about requiring safety improvements such as fencing.

Stone said police don’t have power to enforce those recommendations.

Fruen Mill, located next to Bassett Creek, has been abandoned for decades. Its windows are cracked and shattered, its graffiti-lined walls are crumbling, its basement is filled with water and there are holes in the floor.

Four people fell at the mill between 2005 and 2015, according to the Star Tribune. That included a 32-year-old man who died after falling through a hole in the floor and an 18-year-old who survived a 70-foot fall.

“There’s nothing safe about this building,” officer Mike Nimlos said.

Nimlos said trespassing on the site has been “out of control” this year. Kids cut through the fencing and break boarded windows to get into the mill, he said, and they have damaged a security camera on the site.

He said officers wouldn’t be able to immediately rescue a person who fell inside the building because it is dangerous.

Past plans to convert the mill into condos never materialized. Newton and Jahnke, who also own the adjacent Glenwood Inglewood office campus that’s home to Utepils Brewing, bought the mill

for $700,000 in 2016 with plans to build housing there. They didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Police spokesman John Elder said people should not enter abandoned buildings.

The Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association encourages people to call 911 if they see trespassers.

about extending public transportation such as light-rail and rapid-transit buses to more suburban neighborhoods.

I disagree with decisions made in the past and worry that the Transportation Action Plan (TAP) will disappoint me and my communities once again. The Met Council finished constructing the light-rail Green Line in 2014, and it cost nearly $1 billion for a line benefitting public transit commuters coming to the city over many of the people who live in the city. The Blue Line starts at Mall of America and ends at the Twins stadium in Downtown Minneapolis.

Minneapolis’ Transportation Action Plan talks about increasing the amount of people using public transportation to 60% but fails to talk about extending the light-rail through the Northside of Minneapolis.

We should be extending transportation networks into North Minneapolis instead of into Southwest neighborhoods and into the suburbs, where people have an average income far higher than that of people in North Minneapolis. The median income for each household in Southwest Minneapolis is around $78,000 and in North

Minneapolis the median household income is about $43,000.

Northsiders need light-rail lines and buses more than Southwest neighborhoods, which are known for being much wealthier and whose residents make up a much smaller percentage of those using public transit to get to work.

I think it would be morally right to offer help to the person who needs it more to survive. Don’t you think?

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A10 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM COVID-19 / PAGE A1

At one point Linton’s fever reached 106.5 — Metzler didn’t realize it was possible to have a fever that high. As a lung disease survivor, Linton had previously spent 12 days on a ventilator in a dreamlike state, and she knew her chances of surviving another vent were not good. She died on April 23, three weeks shy of her birthday.

“From the day that she became symptomatic, to the day she passed away, was nine days,” Metzler said.

As one of 95,000 U.S. families who have lost a loved one, Metzler wishes more people would take the virus seriously. It’s hard to see people refusing to wear masks or follow health guidelines, she said.

“If you were only gambling with your own life, your own wellness, then it would be like, ‘More power to you. Don’t wear a mask, [do] what you want,’” she said. “But that’s not the way that this disease works. … I wish I could drive that point home to people without them having to experience this firsthand.”

Minneapolis death records

Minnesota Department of Health records indicate that among the first 101 Minneapolis residents to die with COVID-19 as the cause of death or a contributing factor, nearly 70% lived in senior high-rises, long-term care facilities and other homes for seniors.

There have been multiple deaths at Catholic Eldercare’s northeast campus, Jones-Harrison Residence in Cedar-Isles-Dean, Minnesota Veterans Home, Mount Olivet Careview in Windom, Bywood East Health Care, Walker Methodist Health Center in East Harriet, Benedictine Health Center, Ebenezer Care Center on Portland, and Victory Health + Rehabilitation Center. At least one person has died while living at the Villa at Bryn Mawr, Providence Place, Augustana Care St. Paul’s Home Apartments, Ebenezer Park Apartments, Hiawatha Suites senior living and The Kenwood Retirement Community.

Others who have died lived at the 3150 West Calhoun Parkway condominiums, Riverside Plaza, Karmel Village and La Rive condominiums.

At least 12 of the deceased lived in Minneapolis Public Housing Authority buildings, including four people from Horn Towers in the Lyndale neighborhood. Others lived at Parker Skyview, Third Avenue Towers, Hamilton Manor, Holland Hi-Rise, Park Center and Cedar High Apartments.

Single-family resident addresses were scattered throughout the city, including the Fulton neighborhood.

One of the deceased lived on a Corcoran neighborhood block where renters have litigated against the landlord for many years and recently celebrated the prospect of a future tenant co-op.

National attention

Minneapolis caught the attention of Dr. Deborah Birx, the U.S. coronavirus response coordinator, who said in a May 22 White House briefing that the metro areas with the highest COVID-19 positivity rates are the District of Columbia, followed by Baltimore, Chicago and Minneapolis. Cases are increasing in Minneapolis, she said. The state reports that ICU beds are getting tight, and only about 5% of beds were available in the metro as of May 22.

That’s a different picture from the rest of the nation, which overall is seeing decreasing amounts of illness, decreasing mortality and a decline in new hospitalizations, according to Birx.

In a recent media briefing, Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said she’s spoken to Birx and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about Minneapolis’ positive cases, and explained that the state is intentionally testing known high-risk areas, such as long-term care and congregate settings. And because of the state’s stay-athome order, the local peak in cases is delayed behind the rest of the country, Musicant said.

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Mobile testing

As testing capacity grows, Minneapolis officials said they are looking at mobile testing sites tied to public housing high-rises and the homeless population. A testing site in the Cedar Riverside area should be up and running by the end of May, staff said.

Birx is encouraging governors to test 100% of nursing home residents and staff, because many of the outbreaks seen over the last two months have started in nursing homes.

Jones-Harrison Residence is testing all residents and staff the week of May 25.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority says its highest current priority is advocating for mobile testing, as they’re seeing larger clusters in larger properties.

“We are of course concerned about the fact that we serve many seniors and people with underlying health conditions in our high-rises.

Those people live in close quarters,” said Jeff Horwich, director of MPHA policy and external affairs. “We would like to make testing available to everybody in the high-rises who wants it.”

Horwich said MPHA is tracking about 100 suspected cases in public housing properties.

MPHA posts notification if they are aware of COVID-19 in a building, but as a landlord, he said, their information comes from residents voluntarily reporting a case, and the state’s health information is still protected and private.

Community cases

City officials have documented at least 97 positive cases in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. In an East African community briefing last week, participants on the call said they’ve heard the local malls are packed. City staff said the malls should be operating under 50% capacity, and the Health Department is reaching out to operators.

Another area of focus is convenience stores and corner stores throughout the city, where people congregate to shop and may have difficulty staying 6 feet apart in the tight space. Business owners can feel pressure from

customers and find it hard to enforce social distancing, Musicant said, and some have expressed gratitude for the mayor’s order to wear masks in public indoor spaces.

Some outbreaks are linked to workplaces, according to Musicant, although she did not have details to share about those locations.

And some cases arise in households with large numbers of people.

The City Council expects to publicly discuss on June 4 more detailed information about the populations most affected by COVID-19 and the status of testing, contact tracing and quarantine housing.

State data indicate that 81% of Minnapolitans who have died have been white, 8% African American, 5% Somali, 4% Hispanic, 3% Asian American and 2% American Indian.

In terms of total positive cases, Minneapolis data show 35% are black, 25% Hispanic and 23% white, though the city considers Hispanic to be an ethnicity, not a race, counting those cases separately. A significant percentage of the demographic data is not yet fully known.

The city is about 64% white, 19% black and 10% Hispanic, according to census data.

Contact tracing

At a recent City Council meeting, Musicant said city and state contact tracers reach out when a person is found positive. They explore who the person might have infected up to two days before the onset of symptoms, because those people should also isolate themselves. Contact tracers also help them receive essential services and think about how to isolate where they live, if possible using separate bathroom and living spaces. The county can provide alternate housing at a hotel room if needed.

The goal of proactive testing is to find asymptomatic cases, Birx said. The CDC now believes that 35% of infections, perhaps more, are asymptomatic people who have the virus and spread it unknowingly.

Asymptomatic testing is critical, she said, SEE COVID-19 / PAGE A15

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A11

DEMANDING WHAT’S OWED Bartmann employees say they need better conditions

tions and benefits when they can come back.

“What we are focusing on is ensuring that we have a voice in what it looks like to return to work,” said Naomi Hornstein, who works at Pat’s Tap. Bartmann has built up a large restaurant business in Minneapolis, mainly concentrated in Southwest, including Barbette and connected bar Trapeze in East Isles, Book Club in Armatage, Bread & Pickle at the Lake Harriet Pavilion, Gigi’s Cafe in South Uptown and Pat’s Tap in Lyndale. She also is the proprietor of Red Stag Supper Club in Northeast and Tiny Diner in South Minneapolis.

Bartmann has not responded to messages seeking comment on this story. Employees said she has not responded to their demands directly. She told the Star Tribune she couldn’t respond to worker’s demands because they hadn’t been brought to her directly.

Workers, organizing under the name One House United, detailed those demands in a letter to Bartmann. The employees want all earned wages, tips accrued, paidtime-off and sick and safe time benefits paid out immediately; a month’s worth of severance pay for any employees who leave the company; and a new structure to the workplace for employees who do return, including power in decision making and profit sharing. Workers are also entitled to damages under Minnesota law, the group says, citing a statute that imposes a penalty equal to average daily earnings for up to 15 days if an employer does not properly pay employees within 24 hours of receiving a served notice of unpaid wages.

“We’re giving Kim the opportunity to make right by that and give us a more empowering workplace,” Hornstein said.

Remmel and Hornstein joined several colleagues and members of advocacy group

Restaurant Opportunities Center for Minnesota (ROC) in a socially distanced protest outside of Barbette in Uptown, where Bartmann keeps her offices, on May 20 to directly deliver their demands. Donning masks and holding signs with slogans like “Local Organic Wage Theft,” the workers spread out to tell their stories over a megaphone as passing cars gave periodic honks of support. The group posted their letter of demands on the Barbette doors with a ROC petition that garnered more than 3,000 signatures demanding the company pay its employees.

Other issues had persisted at Bartmann restaurants before the crisis, workers said, including management vacancies causing others to have to complete extra tasks. Some employees, including Remmel, said they

had not received proper overtime payments that had been earned by working more than 40 hours a week at multiple Bartmann Group establishments. Remmel got his start working at Bread & Pickle about six years ago and would occasionally cover shifts there last summer, in addition to work at Gigi’s Cafe, but hadn’t received required overtime payments because the restaurants operate under separate LLCs, a common form of wage theft the state and city are trying to eliminate. Bartmann acknowledged owing some overtime pay to the Star Tribune.

Bartmann group workers say they hope others in the industry will also try to make their voices heard.

On March 25, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office sent a letter to Bartmann requesting copies of financial records related to withheld wages and gratuities.

“Minnesota workers and small-business owners are both having a tough time affording their lives right now, especially in the hospitality industry that is such an important part of Minnesota’s economy and culture. But even in this tough time, it’s still not legal to withhold wages that employees have earned,” Ellison said in a statement.

The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment further on the matter, citing an ongoing investigation.

Expanded unemployment benefits through the CARES Act have helped workers like Hornstein and Remmel stay stable during the crisis, but they know that some colleagues and others in the industry may not be eligible for those benefits due to immigration status or that payments may not be sufficient to cover expenses for those providing for larger families.

Of Bartmann’s restaurants, only Barbette has been open for takeout during the pandemic shutdown, and Bread & Pickle just opened for the season, so most of her employees have not been working during the closures. Whether her workers want to return is another matter.

“It will really depend on how management responds to our demands,” Remmel said.

lunchroom and new science labs and technology space at Andersen school in Phillips, which will become the community middle school for students living in Lowry Hill East and Whittier.

In addition, the district has proposed providing $700,000 for a kitchen and lunchroom project at Kenny Community School

that was put on hold this past winter after bids came in nearly $2 million over budget.

The Finance Committee advanced the capital plan on a 4-1 vote. Bob Walser (Chain of Lakes and Downtown), the lone vote against the plan, said the board should consider multiple options given uncertainties around enrollment and the global

economic picture. Enrollment is a key driver in operating revenue.

Officials said the plan will be reevaluated each year.

The full School Board will vote on the plan and whether to reallocate funding from the Kenwood project in June. Officials plan on issuing $88.7 million in bonds next school year.

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

At about 10 p.m. on March 19, the night before payday, Gigi’s Cafe cook Evan Remmel and his colleagues received an email from restaurant owner Kim Bartmann informing them they would not be receiving their paychecks.

The note came just days after restaurants were ordered to close dine-in service statewide, and Remmel and workers at Bartmann’s several Southwest Minneapolis establishments were counting on their earnings from the March 9 through March 15 pay period as their last definitive source of income heading into a period of great fragility and uncertainty.

“Not getting those hours terrified me,” Remmel said.

It wasn’t until early May that Remmel and his Bartmann Group colleagues received their missing paychecks, he said, and some workers in the group say they are still missing wages or gratuities. Bartmann workers like Remmel are organizing while their restaurants are closed and demanding both damages for the hardship caused by the missed payments and improved labor condi-

Naomi Hornstein, a server at Pat’s Tap, speaks at the Barbette protest.

FROM SCHOOL BOARD / PAGE A3

a gymnasium at Justice Page Middle School in Tangletown and lunchroom improvements, science labs and a performance space at Jefferson Community School in Lowry Hill East.

Also proposed is a new kitchen and

Evan Remmel, a longtime Bartmann Group employee who works at Gigi’s Cafe, shares his experiences at a wage theft protest at Barbette on May 20. Photos by Isaiah Rustad

Nick Nootenboon, who works at Tiny Diner, posted a letter of demands to Kim Bartmann seeking withheld wages and better working conditions.

A12 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

By Nate Gotlieb / ngotlieb@swjournal.com

Nitrogen dioxide levels drop during pandemic A recent study found that global carbon dioxide emissions fell 17% in early April during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily emissions during the period were comparable to 2006 emission levels, the study found.

While it’s unclear to what extent emissions decreased in Southwest Minneapolis and citywide, the Twin Cities metro has seen a slight reduction in emissions from one gas associated with burning fossil fuels.

Nitrogen dioxide levels in the area have dropped an estimated 10% to 20% compared with 2015-19 levels, said Daniel Dix, air quality meteorologist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

That’s based on ground-level nitrogen

dioxide sensors at sites in Blaine, Lakeville and downtown Minneapolis.

Nitrogen dioxide primarily gets in the air from the burning of fuel, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The gas creates particulate matter and ground-level ozone, two pollutants that can trigger and exacerbate health conditions, when it reacts with other chemicals in the air.

The agency monitors it and six other pollutants through sensors placed at 44 sites in neighborhoods around Minneapolis and St. Paul, including in six Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Nitrogen dioxide levels in Southwest Minneapolis during the pandemic have all

been below levels the EPA says could have adverse health effects, according to data from the sensors.

Levels of other air pollutants across the Twin Cities have largely been similar to typical conditions, Dix said.

He said ozone and PM2.5 levels could increase in the next few months, given that their levels in Minnesota are typically highest in the summer.

Dix said he thinks air pollution levels will be back to normal once more people are back to work. He said changes in air quality in the Twin Cities haven’t been as dramatic as in some other places, because the region already has good air quality.

FROM NONPROFITS / PAGE A4

was moved by the level of support the organization has received from members of the community. Donations of medical masks, toiletries and nonperishables have allowed them to give out more meals and supplies than ever before.

“The community is strong and the HIV community has been through a pandemic before,” Boyer said. “They really relied on each other to get through this. And I see that same spirit again.”

Fartun Weli said she also misses the ability to establish in-person connections with those she helps. The founder of Isuroon, a Lyndalebased nonprofit designed to empower women

in the Somali community, Weli said she didn’t realize how much she would miss a gesture as small as sharing a cup of tea with a client.

Although her staff wears masks in the office, they often have to remind each other when greeting clients that they can’t hug just yet.

“We miss the loud voices. Sometimes we all come together and we chime in and it’s so friendly,” she said. “It’s like a family.”

Her organization connects Somali community members to culturally specific health care, leadership training, case management services and legal aid. Some of their main focuses during the pandemic have revolved around

addressing food security, coaching students with distance learning and helping people navigate unemployment and welfare forms.

Weli said the desire for self-sufficiency sometimes prevents people from asking for help.

A lot of the families she sees don’t have the resources they need from the state, so having staff available on-call amid a pandemic establishes a sense of trust.

“COVID-19 really affirmed why we do the work we do,” Weli said. “The sense of urgency is multiplied because you have seen how vulnerable families are. … It’s renewed commitment [for me] and our team.”

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Many of those served by the nonprofit live below the poverty line and grapple with housing insecurity, Boyer said. Case managers have seen an influx of new patients and will often schedule video calls to check in and will drop off supplies to those who are most vulnerable.

“HIV doesn’t stop because COVID started,” Boyer said. “It’s finding these ways to make sure that we’re still putting the fight to end HIV at the forefront of our mind.”

Despite the challenges at hand, Boyer said, he

Nitrogen dioxide levels in Southwest Minneapolis — as measured by MPCA airquality monitors, such as this one at 28th & Xerxes — have remained low during the pandemic. File photo

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southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A13

By Andrew Hazzard / ahazzard@swjournal.com

Minneapolis parks back on top in nationwide report After briefly losing its title, and falling behind neighboring St. Paul, Minneapolis has once again regained the belt as the top urban parks system in the United States.

The Trust for Public Land declared the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board the top park system in the country for 2020, the organization announced May 20.

Minneapolis is no stranger to the top ranking. It was declared the top system in

America for five years in a row from 201318, before dipping behind Washington D.C. and St. Paul for third place in 2019.

The national nonprofit’s annual ranking of the country’s 100 largest cities is based on a park system’s park size, investments, amenities and access.

Minneapolis earned 85.3 “Park Score” points out of 100, edging out Washington D.C. (83.3) and St. Paul (82.5). The city

FROM HARMFUL ALGAE BLOOM / PAGE A1

rences of blue-green algae blooms are on the rise in Minnesota, according to the U of M. The MPRB believes the blue-green blooms in city lakes are related to a rapid ice-out this spring. Plankton samples collected last winter showed the algae blooms at the three lakes started under the ice. When a rapid ice-out was followed by a cooler spring, conditions allowed for algae to persist, the Park Board said. Officials believe the conditions will diminish as temperatures rise.

This is the first blue-green algae bloom to develop to the point of scum-forming on Cedar Lake, Smothers said. Other Minneapolis lakes have experienced such HABs, most recently Powderhorn Lake in 2019.

Water quality personnel in the MPRB are awaiting test results from a lab to officially confirm the blue-green algae bloom at Cedar Lake. The blooms will likely stay in place until conditions change. Officials recommend staying out of the lake until the water clears.

On a cloudy Thursday in May, kayakers and paddleboarders continued to push their way across the murky waters of Cedar Lake. At Hidden Beach, on the lake’s east side, a mother warned her children to stay out of the water.

People hammocked and picnicked near the water while a group of jazz musicians jammed in the woods.

Cedar Lake has a more remote, wilderness feel than the rest of the Chain of Lakes, but that historically hasn’t meant it has higher water quality on average. The northern portion of the Chain of Lakes — Brownie Lake, Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles — consistently score

The dog was a large-breed adult that drank an unknown amount of water from the lake, according to an MDH spokesperson. Each year, the state sees a handful of cases of dogs dying due to harmful algae blooms.

The state has not received any reports on human illness related to the bloom.

On May 22, the MPRB reported a bluegreen algae bloom is also present on Lake of the Isles and Lake Nokomis and similarly advised people to take caution near the lakes.

Blue-green algae are not, in fact, algae but a bacteria known as cyanobacteria that is commonly found in lakes, according to the MDH. Under the right conditions, the bacteria grows fast and forms blooms which can become dense, greenish scums that produce an unpleasant smell. People and animals who come in contact with or swallow impacted water can develop symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, headaches and eye irritation.

The MPRB began warning people of the HAB on May 15 and started installing signage around the lakes the week of May 18.

Blue-green algae blooms occur naturally but typically come later in the summer, according to the MDH. Warm, calm waters are ideal conditions for the algae blooms, but the phenomena can occur at other times of year under the right conditions. The University of Minnesota lists urban and agricultural runoff and climate change as other contributing factors that can lead to such blooms. The blooms can also contribute to fish kills. Occur-

of lakes took the throne again due to new park acquisitions that now make it so 98% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, the Trust for Public Land said.

“We are honored by the top ranking and recognize how important parks are to all Minneapolis residents, particularly during this national health crisis,” MPRB Superintendent Al Bangoura said. “We remain committed to providing critical

The Park Board started installing signage warning people of harmful algae blooms the week of May 18. Photo by Andrew Hazzard

lower than Bde Maka Ska and Lake Harriet on water quality reports. Cedar Lake received a “C” on the most recent Minnehaha Watershed District’s Lake Grades Report in 2017, though it historically has averaged a “B” grade.

Keith Prussing, the longtime president of the Cedar Lake Park Association, said avid lake appreciators could see a difference in water clarity as soon as ice-out began in the early spring, with people first noticing a filmlike substance on the surface near the west side

park improvements and services, with a focus on the most racially diverse and economically challenged areas of the city.

For years we have used equity tools and metrics in establishing our annual budget, capital improvement budget and recreation programming, and we will continue to do so during this pandemic.”

of the lake. The health of the lake peaked in the mid-’90s, Prussing said, but has been declining more rapidly in the past three years. But no past issues have compared with the scale of this year’s blue-green algae bloom.

“There’s never been anything remotely at this scale,” Prussing said.

The Park Board does not believe the Southwest Light Rail Transit project construction is a contributing factor, Smothers said. Leaders of the Cedar-Isles-Dean neighborhood organization had wondered if construction work on the project may have caused the bloom.

Right now, the knowledge of the bloom is too vague to say why Cedar Lake is experiencing the algae bloom, Prussing said. Given the interdependent nature of the ecosystem, he wouldn’t be surprised if the SWLRT project, which has been doing work in the channel between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles, has had an impact.

“Coincidence does not equal causation; that being said, it does give one pause,” Prussing said.

He is hopeful the event will get locals thinking about how to make the lake healthier.

“This event has started a robust conversation about water quality,” Prussing said.

Prussing is also a member of the newly formed Cedar-Isles Master Plan Community Action Committee, a new planning effort by the MPRB that will seek to shape the future of the northern portion of the Chain of Lakes.

How to improve water quality is likely to be a focus point once the CAC starts to meet in earnest this fall.

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southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 A15 FROM FLOYD / PAGE A1

The FBI is now investigating the incident, and the officer has been fired, along with three others who were at the scene. “The technique that was used is not permitted; is not a technique that our officers get trained in on,” Mayor Jacob Frey said.

Don Damond, whose fiancee, Justine, was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer in July 2017, wrote in a statement that “once again, a Minneapolis police officer has failed to demonstrate basic human decency in disregarding the sanctity of life of our citizens.”

“The emblems inscribed on every Minneapolis Police vehicle say, ‘To protect with Courage. To Serve with Compassion,’” he wrote. “This is an egregious failure of those values, and I am deeply saddened by the behavior of those officers, who clearly acted without courage, humanity or compassion.”

Fulton resident Todd Schuman, a member of the Justice for Justine group that has advocated for police reform, said that the “callous disregard for human life that’s on display in

FROM COVID-19 / PAGE A10

because while a person sick with a fever might only spread the virus for two days before they are bedridden, an asymptomatic person might shed the virus for a week.

“You can’t tell who’s infected. And so that’s why you have to continue to social distance — that’s why you need to continue to maintain 6 feet apart. I remember in the early days of HIV, people told me all the time that they knew who was infected. And I would say, ‘You don’t know who’s infected.’ … There’s a lot of healthy people out there with COVID that look healthy.”

‘Just advocate’

“He was healthy until the very end. Faded away, is the way I’d put it,” said Brenda

that video should make every person sick to their stomach.”

On May 26, the morning after Floyd’s death, community members began gathering outside of Cup Foods at 38th & Chicago, some placing flowers at the site where Floyd was choked.

The crowd swelled into the thousands during the afternoon, with volunteers handing out water and masks. Some protesters maintained a 6-foot social distance, though many didn’t.

Kingfield resident Tony Aspholm said he was furious. Salaam Day, an 11th-grader at Washburn High School, said he was biking in the area of the incident and was forced to take a detour. He said he was “shocked” when he heard what happened and wanted to protest.

Many of Southwest Minneapolis’ elected officials expressed outrage on social media.

The District 61 legislative delegation, Frank Hornstein, Jamie Long and Scott Dibble, put out a statement calling the incident “sickening and intolerable” and pledging to stand as allies to people of color by urging “our white friends and neighbors to see this for what it is.”

Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-62B) raised

broader systemic questions about the role of police. “The origins of policing in the U.S. are in slave patrols that hunted liberated enslaved people and quelled uprisings,” she wrote on Facebook, proposing to dismantle the police state “by divesting from police budgets and stripping away functions that we don’t need people with guns to do.”

Ward 13 City Council Member Linea Palmisano said that she is glad that outside investigations have been launched, that the officers need to be held accountable and that “everything that went wrong” in this case needs to be reviewed.

As police clashed with protesters outside the Third Precinct station the evening of May 26, Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins, whose Ward 8 includes the 38th & Chicago area, said she was “mad as hell too” but asked the community to go home and wait for Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge the officers.

“I don’t want to see anyone else hurt,” she wrote on Facebook. “This [is] infuriating, but we must figure out how to do this safely.”

Canedy, a Jones-Harrison resident, describing her husband, Norman, who recently died at age 93. “It was a very interesting life I had with that man.”

Norman was an art historian, and Brenda recalled traveling Europe together, reassembling a 16th century Roman artist’s sketchbook for publication and discovering favorite art dealers while wandering London in the early 1960s. Some of the drawings and paintings they purchased are part of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Weisman Art collections, she said.

Brenda said she’s been healthy nearly all her life, and she is well today.

“I’m having a quiet time right now,” she said, adding that she looks forward to the end of “hibernation.” “There’s a very hand-

some courtyard here at Jones-Harrison, so I’m looking at going down there and just enjoying being outside. When everybody’s got bugs, you can’t be outside.”

For other families grappling with COVID19, Metzler suggests focusing on small goal lines each day: the oxygen level or the blood pressure. The Hennepin County Medical Center staff were some of the best she’s encountered in multiple states.

“My biggest advice is to be your own and your family’s advocate,” Metzler said.

“I understand that this is something that we’re all learning simultaneously. But just advocate. … Just ask for answers. Keep asking questions.”

Zac Farber contributed reporting to this story.

FROM BUSINESSES / PAGE A5

is centered on customers browsing the goods. Haase said people often shop at Patina because they don’t know what they want to buy and end up discovering it while in the store.

Now the company is sitting on a lot of extra inventory, especially trinkets and gifts that would have been popular sellers for Mother’s Day and graduation. After reopening on May 18, he said his shop has taken extra precautions like including more signage to discourage customers from picking up items and giving face shields to employees working at the jewelry counters. As of May 26, customers in retail shops and other public spaces in Minneapolis are also required to wear face coverings or risk a $1,000 fine.

Linda Jindra, an employee of the Patina in the Bryant neighborhood, said she was initially apprehensive to continue working because her parents are older and her sister works in health care. She said the shop’s social distancing precautions have made her feel more comfortable at work, and the frequent communication has helped her feel in the loop as well.

National economists have predicted that over 100,000 small businesses in the U.S. have already closed permanently since the pandemic started. Haase said the fallout has the potential to devastate the entire supply chain backing retailers like Patina. Already he has seen trade shows he normally attends canceled and many wholesalers going out of business.

Although the uncertain future is stressful, Haase said, the only thing businesses like his can do is wait and focus on what tangible things they can control.

“There’s really no crystal ball for this one,” he said. “We just have to wait and see where the good is when this is over.”

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Southwest Journal May 28–June 10, 2020

s e i r e t s y m Ship’s wheel taken from Bde Maka Ska naval memorial in 1975 surfaces at suburban high school along with missing 600-pound bell

By Karen E. Cooper and Zac Farber

Five Navy men pose with the 600-pound bell from USS Minneapolis and the 6-foot auxiliary wheel from USS Minnesota at a naval memorial on the shore of Bde Maka Ska in this photo from 1932. Photo courtesy of Hennepin County Library

The bustling northeastern shore of Bde Maka Ska seems an odd place for a military memorial. Walkers navigate a busy tangle of pathways. Kayaks are rented from a waterfront kiosk. Sailing classes are held. Cyclists circle the lake. Yet, in the midst of this tide of people, you’ll find two rocks, each holding a plaque to commemorate sailors or Marines. They’re easy enough to find — there’s a tall white ship’s mast standing over them.

For most of a century, a 600-pound bronze ship’s bell hung on that mast. Beneath it, for more than three decades, was a 6-foot-high ship’s wheel. The bell came from Minneapolis, a U.S. Navy cruiser so beloved by the citizens of Minneapolis that in 1895 they chipped in to buy the officers a silver service set costing $5,000.

The wheel came from the Navy battleship USS Minnesota, esteemed for carrying home Minnesota’s local heroes from World War I. Police reported the wheel stolen in 1975 and the bell was taken some time around 2014 — the Minneapolis Park Board isn’t sure exactly when. Until a few weeks ago, the Park Board knew who took the bell though not where, and the fate of the wheel remained a total mystery.

In the reporting of this story, both the bell and the wheel have been found.

Six or eight years ago, the bell was liberated from its moorings by an American Legionnaire acting without the permission of the Park Board. Dick Ward, a former commander of Minneapolis Post 1 of the American Legion, hired a contractor who took the bell down and carted it away. He’d first asked the Park Board to take it down, he said, but was refused.

“Our staff apparently thought that he had permission to get it restored and then he refused to return it,” Park Board spokesperson Dawn Sommers said.

When Park Board staff asked Ward for the bell’s location, he replied that it had been moved to “a better place where it is appreciated,” according to MaryLynn Pulscher, the Park Board’s head of environmental education and resident “history geek.”

SEE NAVAL MEMORIAL / PAGE B2

Submitted photo

Photo by Isaiah Rustad

Left: The wheel was presented to Minnetonka High School in 2007 by Dick Ward, an American Legionnaire acting without permission of the Minneapolis Park Board. It is mounted on the wall of the school’s atrium. Right: The memorial as it looks today.

B2 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM NAVAL MEMORIAL / PAGE B1

Ward, 70, is a financial adviser and Vietnamera veteran who has been active in the American Legion for more than 20 years. Reached by phone on May 14, he gave his reasons for taking the bell, which a local Legion post gifted to the city of Minneapolis in 1930.

Ward said he felt “it was an old and gracious monument that was being completely ignored.” He said the bell deserved the highest honor and that it should be appreciated and respected. He said thousands of people walked by the bell, never even thinking about it.

When asked about the bell’s current location, he responded plainly with the answer he wouldn’t give the Park Board: “It’s at Minnetonka High School.”

Once Ward had taken the bell, he said he looked for a home where it would be cherished.

None of the American Legion posts in Minneapolis were interested, he said, and neither was the Navy Reserve out by the airport.

So rather than let it languish in some garage, he gave it to Minnetonka High School’s football team, the Skippers, in August 2014. He presented the bell on behalf of his American Legion post.

While other Legionnaires were involved in moving the bell, the post’s public liaison, Mike Krogan, said Ward is the “only surviving decision maker,” that the meeting minutes may be lost and that memories are hazy.

Krogan said he believes the Park Board asked the Legion to “relocate” the naval memorial in the late 1980s; the Park Board denies this. “We didn’t steal the doggone thing,” Krogan said, noting that those with evidence of the Park Board’s request are now dead. Pulscher said that if the Park Board had decommissioned the memorial, the correspondence with the Legion would be in the board’s archive.

Larry Schoppe, the current commander of Post 1, said that while he wasn’t very active in the Legion around 2014, he has no idea why the bell would have been moved.

The bell from USS Minneapolis was given to Minnetonka High School in 2014 and is rung after touchdowns during Skippers football games. Submitted screenshot

“I just wonder how much sense it made to give it to some high school at random,” he said. “Why were they the chosen ones?

How come some school in South Minneapolis didn’t get it? How come it went to the Minnetonka Skippers?”

The letter Ward wrote to Minnetonka High School when he handed over the bell does not discuss the controversy over its acquisition.

“The time has come for this treasure to be

To our ECCO neighbors:

The ECCO Board is considering ways we can better connect as neighbors in a spirit of mutual support.

Here are our initial suggestions.

We invite you to propose your ideas or enhancements to ours. As neighbors we have much to offer each other.

• Weekly celebration of service providers, 6PM Fridays. Two minutes of noise from porches or patios

• ECCO directory. List of services and requests between neighbors

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held in a place of reverence and respect where people can be reminded of the ones who served with dedication and commitment,” he wrote to Dave Nelson, the school’s football coach. “What better location than Minnetonka High School, where hundreds of students, faculty and friends can come in contact each and every day.”

The high school has mounted the bell on an eight-wheeled, hand-pulled dolly. It’s kept in the school’s weight room, where students ring it when they hit personal fitness goals, and it is taken down to the football field on game days, where it’s rung after touchdowns. “When we score, they ding it,” said Ted Schultz, the school’s activities director. “It’s been a nice little piece of history.”

When informed on May 14 of the bell’s location, Pulscher summed up the excitement of the Park Board’s staff: “Holy cow!”

The Park Board is now discussing whether to request the bell be returned, how it could be moved and where it would be taken. “It’s not like you can walk it into our archive area or something like that,” Sommers said. “It’s a big bugger and it weighs a lot.” Hanging the bell on the mast will be a problem since the original mounting hardware is gone.

Despite the logistical challenges, Pulscher said she hopes the bell will be restored to its namesake city. “It’s from the USS Minneapolis; it should be in Minneapolis,” she said.

As Park Board staff deliberated, another discovery was made.

In spring 2007, about seven years before Ward gave the bell to Minnetonka High School, he had presented the school with the wheel from the battleship Minnesota.

Digging through the school’s archives on May 21, staff surfaced a letter, signed by Ward on behalf of Post 1, offering the wheel as “an historical artifact that may compliment” the Skippers’ new all-turf baseball diamond, Veterans Field.

“It makes for a striking proclamation when properly displayed,” wrote Ward, who was then the post’s vice commander. “It

reminds me of the Skipper ship’s wheel logo I have seen in the past.”

(Ward could not be reached to answer follow-up questions about how the wheel came into his and the Legion’s possession.)

Minnetonka Schools Superintendent Dennis Peterson said the high school has taken good care of both the bell and the wheel. In summer 2008, the wheel was refurbished and refinished and mounted on the south side of the school’s new atrium.

“Both of these items were probably not being honored by the previous keeper, and the Legion decided to place them with keepers who cared enough to maintain and honor them,” Peterson wrote in an email.

On May 25, after an early version of this story was published online, Park Board President Jono Cowgill wrote a public message to the high school’s athletics department on Twitter: “Hey, @TonkaSkippers could you please return our bell and wheel?”

Peterson said the Park Board should send an official request to his office, adding that “a Twitter message is hardly appropriate.” He has said the school will be happy to return the items if they belong to someone else.

In a follow-up interview, Cowgill said that “the onus is on Minnetonka Schools to return them — it’s not on the Park Board to somehow try to get them back.”

Pulscher said the Park Board didn’t pursue recovering the bell sooner because “you’ve got to have the wherewithal to track it on your list of priorities.” Cowgill said that the Park Board should have “ensured all the materials on our memorial were kept there [though] it’s hard to keep up all of our many monuments across the system.”

Asked whether park police will now become involved, Cowgill replied: “I don’t think anyone was doing anything out of ill intent.”

If the artifacts can be retrieved, he said, they will be placed at the naval memorial once again. For Pulscher, that would make for a happy ending.

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 B3

USS Minneapolis was so beloved by the citizens of the city that in 1895 they chipped in to buy the officers a $5,000 silver service set. Photo courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command

“I would love to see the site restored to look like the old photographs,” she said. “It would be great to have the whole collection together as was originally intended when they created the memorial.”

WWI and two respected ships

The bell was dedicated at Bde Maka Ska 90 years ago, but its history goes back even further.

USS Minneapolis was commissioned in the Navy in 1894. She was called the handsomest and fastest warship afloat. Perhaps that was an exaggeration. She looked enough like a passenger liner — quite deliberately — that she might have been mistaken for one.

But she was a lightly gunned cruiser with expensive engines. In the Navy’s continued

quest for speed, Minneapolis was soon considered over-specialized and slow.

However, Minneapolis had a career worth remembering. She brought Rear Adm. Thomas Selfridge to the coronation of Czar Nicholas II. She escorted the body of the Revolutionary War commander John Paul Jones home to Annapolis. And Minneapolis was beloved in her eponymous city. The Minneapolis Tribune noted that the citizens had a “certain sense of parental responsibility,” and they eagerly followed the news when she was at sea.

Minnesota was another locally beloved ship.

Second to bear the name, she was commissioned into the Navy in 1907 and joined the Great White Fleet of 16 U.S. battleships in

1908. The Fleet’s circumnavigation was both a goodwill tour and a show of force.

Nearly sunk by a U-boat-laid mine off the coast of Maryland in 1918, she returned to service with the Cruiser and Transport Force. Minnesota carried home over 3,000 servicemen from World War I. Surely her proudest moment was in May 1919. She brought home Minnesota’s highly decorated 151st Field Artillery Regiment from the battlefields of France.

During the First World War, both ships protected the North American east coast. At home, the city of Minneapolis played its own significant part in winning the war. When the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, trained sailors were in short supply. Those running the Dunwoody Institute offered to teach Navy recruits any skill Dunwoody had on offer. The local naval recruitment officer found barracks and training locations. One important setting was at West Lake Street & East Calhoun Boulevard. The Navy took over the clubhouse of the Athletic and Boat Club, located across the parkway from today’s boat launch site, just south of Lake Street.

Sailors learned boating skills on Bde Maka Ska. They also learned vocations the Navy needed, becoming cooks, bakers, radio operators, electricians and carpenters. Between August 1917 and February 1919, 4,000 men were trained through the Dunwoody program.

Women helped win the war. A wealthy society woman named Elizabeth Backus became the statewide director of the Women’s Naval Service. This group sewed bandages and surgical gowns. They also organized dances for the sailors and ran the canteen at that old boat clubhouse, now called the Dunwoody Naval Training Station.

Creating a naval monument

When the war ended in November 1918, Elizabeth Backus used her position to commemorate the sailors of the U.S. Navy.

On Memorial Day 1922, Backus and the ladies of the Women’s Naval Service dedicated a bronze plaque to “the Boys of Our Navy who fought during the Great War.” It was placed on the northeast edge of Bde Maka Ska, on the lake where thousands had trained to fight and win the war. Five hundred people came out on a cold and rainy day to witness the dedication. The plaque was presented to the city and women strewed flowers on the lake from a Park Board launch.

The plaque is on Navy Rock, a piece of granite brought in from Lake Minnetonka.

It was placed just across the street from the naval training station in the old boat clubhouse. The club had actually gone bankrupt in 1915. Once the war was over, the Naval Reserve just stayed in the building. It became a real armory. The sailors took the artillery pieces with them when they moved downtown to the brand new W.P.A.-built Minneapolis Armory in 1935.

The naval armory was the ideal place to stage Memorial Day events. Veterans’ organizations, active servicemen and women’s committees paraded in formation, usually with color guard and with music playing, as they crossed the street to Navy Rock. The rock became a focus for the women whose sons, husbands and brothers did not come home from their Navy assignments. On Memorial Day, flowers and wreaths spread out in the park near the rock.

The honor of strewing flowers on the water was, however, taken over by navy pilots.

Sometimes they used helicopters.

After Minneapolis was decommissioned and sold for scrap, members of the American Legion’s Navy-Marine Post 472 wrote to the Secretary of the Navy to acquire her ship’s bell. In maritime history, the bell was perhaps the most versatile piece of ship’s equipment. It signaled changes of watch, alerted the sailors to fires and helped avoid collisions in fog. Even today, maritime law requires that ships carry a bell.

SEE NAVAL MEMORIAL / PAGE B4

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B4 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com FROM NAVAL MEMORIAL / PAGE B3

Several years after the post received the bell, it turned to Elizabeth Backus for help.

Her husband was a millionaire lumberman with a paper mill in International Falls.

Edward W. Backus provided an 80-foottall cedar tree trunk to stand in for a ship’s mast. A former sailor working for the Park Board trimmed the mast, and Northern States Power crews stood the mast up.

There’s an 1893 coin under it, from the year Minneapolis was launched. That’s an old sailor’s good luck charm.

On May 30, 1930, the bell was presented to the city. Rear Adm. Theodore R. Wirth was the son of the famed Park Board superintendent.

Ninety years ago, he was a lieutenant in charge of local naval recruiting. On behalf of NavyMarine Post 472, Lt. Wirth formally presented the bell to mayoral representative W. A. Currie, who turned it over to the Park Board.

Navy-Marine Post 472 continued to support the Navy Rock memorial site. They acquired the auxiliary steering wheel from Minnesota. This was placed in front of the mast in 1932 and accepted for the city by Park Board Commissioner John H. Jepson on Memorial Day 1933. The wheel became a symbol of Minneapolis, and was used as the design for the Aquatennial’s Skipper pins beginning in 1948.

In 1936, the Marine Memorial Association unveiled a plaque naming the city’s lost marines of World War I. It was placed next to Navy Rock and presented to the city on Memorial Day. This monument is on the second rock at the site.

Between the world wars, dozens of veterans, military, and civilian organizations participated in the ceremonies at Navy Rock. The Legion played a big part, but so did the auxiliaries, the mothers’ clubs and women-run relief groups, the Boy Scouts, the Pillsbury company band, and even the Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic.

These photos were taken on May 30, 1930, the day the bell from USS Minneapolis was installed on a mast-like monument at Bde Maka Ska. Photos courtesy of Minneapolis Park Board and Hennepin County Library

This was such a consequential site that Theodore Wirth drew up plans for “a permanent, dignified memorial.” A memorial plaza in the shape of a ship would have seated 350 people for Memorial Day exercises. It would have made “a pleasing and interesting entrance” to the park and lake.

The Legion and the many other groups who participated in Memorial Day ceremonies were invited to make this vision into reality by helping the Park Board pay for it. It was 1933 and the middle of the Great Depression. Even though Wirth offered to let these groups take as long as necessary to contribute, there was no enthusiasm for the idea.

Decline and restoration

The years brought changes. In 1947, the former naval armory became Woodrow Wilson Post 1491 of the Veterans of Foreign

Wars. That organization stayed in their building until they sold it in the 1980s. It was torn down in 1986. Today, the site is owned by the Park Board. It’s now the little-used park across the street from where the lakeside refectory burned down a year ago.

Navy-Marine Post 472 continued to hold memorial services at the Navy Rock site for decades. Veterans fondly remember the time when poppies were dropped by helicopter onto the lake.

In 1988, Navy-Marine merged with other American Legion posts to form Minneapolis Post 1. Navy-Marine had been in decline for at least a decade, Dick Ward said.

Ceremonies honoring Navy and Marine veterans are no longer held at Navy Rock.

The wheel from Minnesota was stolen in 1968, somehow recovered, and stolen again in 1975. Its whereabouts between 1975 and

2007, when it was given to Minnetonka High School, are still unknown.

For years, the northeastern part of the Bde Maka Ska lakeshore has become more chaotic and crowded. As Ward observed, the Navy Rock site was too easily ignored and neglected.

And lightning took the top 25 feet off the mast.

The Park Board addressed these issues when they created a master plan for Bde Maka Ska and Lake Harriet in 2017.

Through the public engagement process that led to the master plan, preserving the historical elements in the Chain of Lakes was identified as a high priority.

The process included meetings at Park Board headquarters and in public. Ward helped organize a meeting of South Minneapolis American Legion posts, which included a presentation on the master plan

by Park Board project manager Dan Elias.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 The “M” in STEM, briefly 5 Bistro offerings 10 Darkened for emphasis, as text

Southwest would like to congratulate all of the 2020 graduates.

14 New York canal 15 Quiver projectile 16 “Buy It Now” site 17 *Price a discarded item might fetch 19 Zonk out 20 Snail’s protection 21 Directs 23 “__ on Down the Road”: “The Wiz” song 26 Bus sked info 27 *Preliminary book copy for editing 33 Corp. money exec 35 Medical pros 36 Take great pleasure in 37 Ship frame 39 “__ one is better?”

42 Great Pyramid site 43 Physicist Newton 45 Surrey slammer 47 Butterfly catcher 48 *Salon job often shortened to its first four letters

Stay safe, take care of each other, and we miss you all!

13 Hair salon colors

71 “Family Ties” mother

18 Flannel shirt pattern

72 Asian wheat noodle

22 Knocks loudly

DOWN

24 Winter forecast 25 Mark permanently 27 Kind of ice cap

52 RVer’s stopover

2 Word with enemy or rival

28 Endorse digitally

53 Interstate hauler

3 Grow weary

54 Glam or punk, to rock

4 Shaman, for one

59 Cinderella’s sweepings

6 Important period

63 Horror film assistant

67 Sunscreen additive 68 Stale-smelling 5/21/20 1:25 PM

12 Lounge (around)

70 “Well, I’ll be darned!”

1 Total disorder

64 Earthquake echo, or where the last words of the answers to starred clues might go

Southwest High SWJ 052820 4.indd 1

69 Grape soda brand

5 Dallas NBAer 7 Woody’s singing son 8 Shutter with slanted slats 9 Sugary goodies

29 Cleaner’s cloth 30 Like sheep 31 Move like molasses 32 Greek campus group 33 Short golf shot 34 Firecracker-lighting cord 38 Perp’s escape

10 Places to sleep

40 Webber musical based on Eliot poems

11 Flute’s orchestral neighbor

41 Sewing machine inventor Elias

Crossword Puzzle SWJ 052820 4.indd 1

44 Wedding reception centerpiece 46 Buddhist teachers 49 Generic 50 Probably more than you wanted to hear 51 Hindu deity 54 Thailand, once 55 Like eyesores 56 Explosive sound 57 Western writer Zane __ 58 Crafter’s website 60 Worked the soil 61 Cavern phenomenon 62 Largest human organ 65 Sci-fi series extras 66 Whiskey grain Crossword answers on page B5

5/26/20 3:13 PM

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 B5

Elias said no Legion member contacted him afterwards about the restoration of the Navy Rock site.

Even without active involvement from the Legion, stabilizing and then restoring the mast was a priority. The mast was evaluated for damage and deterioration in 2017 by architect Robert Mack. He found that Edward Backus’ cedar trunk was basically still sound. But some facing wood had delaminated, the lightning strike had cost the mast its protective cap and the entire pole badly needed repainting.

At the cost of over $80,000, the Navy Rock memorial was put back in “fighting trim” with new rigging, fresh paint and repairs and restoration of the mast. Both commemorative rocks were moved to create a better memorial site. Customized pavers are being added through the People for Parks program. The neglect of past years is almost entirely gone.

The rocks and the mast can be found at this memorial site today, but some things are still missing.

The mast had a dedication plaque reading, “To the memory of the sailors and marines who sacrificed their lives in the world war, this memorial mast is dedicated. NavyMarine Post 472 American Legion May 30, 1930.” That plaque has vanished.

The auxiliary wheel from Minnesota and the bronze bell from Minneapolis have now been found and may yet return to the memorial.

But what remains missing is a Memorial Day service at the site. This was always the reason the site was established. And it may be the biggest loss of all.

Karen E. Cooper is waiting for Hennepin History Museum to reopen from social distancing so she can ask to see the officers’ silver service from the 1894 cruiser Minneapolis. The museum owns the bell from the second ship named Minneapolis, one of the most decorated ships of WWII. That bell is currently on display outside the Minneapolis Convention Center.

A rifle squad from American Legion Navy-Marine Post 472 at a 1932 Memorial Day celebration. Photo courtesy of Hennepin County Library

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B6 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

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 this crisis, the Southwest Journal is keeping in touch with a selection of local residents including a critical care physician, a schoolteacher, a retired couple and a pair of small-business owners.

All interviews are edited for length and clarity. Reporting for this project is by Zac Farber, Nate Gotlieb and Andrew Hazzard.

Arminta and Ron Miller, residents, Waters on 50th senior living community

“It was nice to be free.”

Now I call that “slingshotting.”

All of my kids right now have devices and have [internet] access, so that’s huge. All of my kids are present on Google Classroom.

Are they all engaged yet? No. About a week and a half ago, I opened up a modified science class so that my students who are just learning English can have a better chance to engage. Our special education teachers have really large caseloads.

They’re working like crazy, like the rest of us, to continue to support kids, but that’s really hard. For some kids, the support they need is one-on-one.

The [Comprehensive District Design vote] was really hard but was not a surprise. I have huge concerns about equity in this district, and I don’t yet see plans here that are going to significantly change what the reality of school is for kids who we’re not serving well. I know some kids are going to move schools now, but when they move schools, are they going to land in places where they have outstanding, experienced teachers and great teacher-leaders and administrators?

At a personal level, it’s really hard to see such a fundamental change in the program that you’ve been a part of your whole life. That the building will become a K-5 school and no longer a K-8 is sad for me and obviously means a change in position. I certainly didn’t start the school year thinking, “I’m ready to change jobs.” Now that’s the reality.

FRIDAY, MAY 22 Arminta: On Wednesday Ron and I had an appointment with our doctor.

I had not been out of my apartment since this all came down. I hadn’t worn a mask before, and that was scary. I was hyperventilating and my glasses steamed up until I got it right.

My daughter and her boyfriend came and drove us over to the doctor’s. It was good just to see other people — the nurse and the doctor.

We all had masks on and my daughter brought gloves for us. So we were safe, I felt safe.

And it was so beautiful out. All the flowering trees and the yards all looked fresh and nice — I had a really good day. It was nice to be free.

My daughter had a new screened porch, so we went over to her backyard and sat for a while in the sun. She’s got all these beautiful lilacs, and I love those, so she cut me some lilacs. It was just a beautiful day.

My daughter works downtown and she says it’s surprising how many people don’t want to wear masks. I guess they just don’t like to be told what to do because I don’t understand why they make such a big fuss about it.

Ron: They figure if the president won’t wear one, why should they.

Tracey Schultz, science teacher, Clara Barton Open School

“Now we’ve got this kid, so now’s our chance.”

TUESDAY, MAY 19 This hasn’t gotten any easier. I’m more lonesome for the kids than ever. I can’t even begin to tell you how many kids have said to me, “I miss school.” That’s not a common thing for a seventh- or eighth-grader to say.

Sometime in the last week, I was on a Google Meet [video lesson] for my class and my colleague calls me on my cell phone. “I got him,” she says. It was a student who had not been engaging. Now we’ve got this kid, so now’s our chance. You’ve got to let them know you care so much and that they can do this. We had this student on Google Meet for three hours. We ended up just passing the kid from teacher to teacher to teacher.

Matthew Prekker, critical care physician, Hennepin County Medical Center

“We’re not in a crisis quite yet, but we’re teetering right at that brink.”

FRIDAY, MAY 22 My wife, Frances, and I live on Upton Avenue in Linden Hills with our four children. She’s a pediatrician at Hennepin. I work half my time in the emergency department and half in the pulmonary care unit. So I have a background well-suited for the pandemic.

Fortunately, we have a lot of ICU beds here, but we knew it wouldn’t be enough. Over the last two weeks, we’ve been particularly hard hit by critically ill COVID patients. We’ve filled our ICU beds on the seventh floor and expanded down to the burn ICU on the fourth floor and have since expanded into a lightly used sameday surgery center down in the first floor.

The west metro seems to be experiencing a lot higher ICU volumes than the east metro so far. The folks we’re seeing who are critically ill are predominately folks from minority communities. The Latino and Somali communities, from our perspective, have been very heavily affected by this.

My clinical hours have gone up; I’m working more and longer hours. This is a hospital with a wonderful culture, so the camaraderie hasn’t changed. But the work is hard. I don’t think I’ve ever intubated as many people as I did last week. It’s intense seeing the continued surge of patients still coming to our medical center but also dealing with those later critical care issues with patients intubated a month ago.

What’s most different is the personal protective equipment [PPE], the shields and masks we wear. Trying to do a critical procedure — where we sedate and paralyze someone’s muscles and then place a breathing tube into their lungs — it’s hard to communicate when you can’t see other people’s mouths and you can’t hear very well.

At the end of the day, we’re exhausted, just emotionally and physically tired, which doesn’t happen every day in our regular practice.

We’re doing pretty well compared with what

we’ve seen come out of colleagues in New Jersey and New York and Louisiana and other places.

It doesn’t seem to be as doom or gloom as other places have reported. But it’s not all folks who are elderly struggling with this disease. We have a number of 30-, 40- and 50-year-olds in our ICU who are really battling for their lives now.

That adds more than a little extra stress.

We haven’t been overwhelmed [in terms of ventilator supply], but we’re watching very closely to see if all these social distancing and community interventions will flatten our surge. We have a great supply of PPE at the hospital; we have not been short at all.

We haven’t seen a large burden of health care worker infections at our hospital.

Testing is like night and day compared with early April. I don’t feel like we’re totally where we should be as a state yet, but clinically at the hospital, I can test anyone I think needs it at any time. We’re lucky in that regard.

In our electronic health record, we have a way you can look through units of the hospital and see at a glance who’s positive for coronavirus, and it’s just been a sea of red — it’s gone from green to red almost exclusively over the past few weeks.

[The reopening of the state] makes me very nervous, but it’s a hard thing. I feel a bit divided about it in that my work at the hospital is very intense, but when we get home, we feel the same stress as other families, doing distance learning, trying to get our kids what they need. So I’m nervous about it, but I know it’s got to happen. I hope people stick together and we do it intelligently.

In my normal practice, I spend about 20% of my time on research. Now I spend a lot of my nights and weekends getting the research work done, just out of necessity.

The study I’m especially proud of is this health care worker serology study we’re in the middle of now. This was a great morale boost at the hospital when health care workers didn’t initially know if they were making antibodies, if they’d been exposed to this virus.

This study, which started at the end of April, allowed us to recruit 250 of my colleagues — predominantly ICU nurses but also health aides, respiratory therapists and other physicians. There was a lot of enthusiasm. We started these screening blitzes at 6:30 in the morning and we had a line starting at 6 a.m.

They volunteered to fill out a survey, get a nose swab and blood drawn. Those tubes of blood are now at the CDC and they’re testing those folks for antibodies against the coronavirus. Although there’s a caveat: Nobody really knows the meaning of those antibodies quite yet. How protective are they against reinfection? Should they inform what you do in the community or at work?

I’ve also been studying losartan and remdesivir, [but] we don’t really have much that we know is effective besides supportive care. The stuff I’m trained to do — to support people on ventilators and resuscitate and stabilize them in the ED — is what’s paying the biggest dividends. Other therapies are truly experimental. Some treatments [like hydroxychloroquine] have probably been prematurely elevated to standard of care.

The summary data about number of deaths per day or new diagnoses per day — those graphs are downtrending. But the things I see at the hospital and deal with day to day is not a downtrend. That’s back to the question of: Do we open up our communities? Do we try to get our families and kids back to a semblance of a normal life?

If that drives more respiratory critical illness, we’re going to be overwhelmed at the hospital. Things are getting very, very busy. We’re activating our crisis and surge plans. We’re not in a crisis quite yet, but we’re teetering right at that brink. I don’t think that’s gotten as much coverage as, “Hey look, everybody’s saying it’s time to reopen.”

My wife and I haven’t really isolated ourselves at home. We’re both around folks with COVID at the hospital, and that’s just a part of life. We do a lot of handwashing. We make our kids wear masks when they go out in public. We’ve kept them, unfortunately, from their friends and

tried not to do family gatherings.

What’s happening at the hospital is always on my wife’s and my mind. The emails and communications from work are around the clock now. It’s easy to get nihilistic and negative about how many sick patients we have at the hospital now. But we look to each other, to friends in the community, to family, to more experienced colleagues to get through this.

I get together with a small group of other dads from Fulton and Linden Hills and go running on Saturday mornings around the lakes. We run 6 feet apart, separate trails, but it’s still good to see those guys from a distance. That kind of stuff gives me a little shot of energy to get into a new week.

I like to bike to work, so my wife and I both bike along the lakes and then up the trails to Hennepin. That’s a time when I try to reorient myself and say, “I’m going home now. I’m going to put a smile on my face. The workday is done. It’s time to be a dad now.” I’ve had to pay a bit more mindfulness to that lately than I have in the past.

Our kids know something’s going on. The oldest is 12, and then we have a 9-, a 6- and a 3-year-old. They ask all the time, “Hey, what’s going on at the hospital? Was your day OK? What happened today?” And for younger kids, I think that’s pretty perceptive.

Jen and Marcus Wilson, co-owners, True Grit Society gym

“Yes, we grind and problem solve, but that doesn’t mean solve this!”

FRIDAY, MAY 22 Jen: It’s been a rough couple weeks. It’s been crazy. We’ve seen others gearing up and running workouts outside, and we’re confused about what we’re supposed to be doing or what’s allowed. It’s so inconsistent, the information we get. Do you do the right thing you know you are supposed to be doing, or do you do what you think is best for you, your business and your family?

It’s very sobering to have to go through these serious thought scenarios. How do you operate your business at 25%? Someone was saying, “This is what we do as small-business owners,” And I’m like, “Really?” Yes, we grind and problem solve, but that doesn’t mean solve this!

Is it fair to small-business owners to say, “You’re going to have to work really hard for two years or however long it takes to get back, you’re not going to make any money, you’re going to work your asses off — go do it”?

It’s not like we blame anybody. Some people are angry at Gov. Walz and it’s like, he’s just trying to keep people safe. How can you be angry at someone for saying, “I’m putting the safety of people who live in this state first”? It’s just a lot to agree to and you don’t really know what you’re agreeing to in the first place.

I got an alert from Experian saying someone had accessed my credit report. It was the Small Business Administration. So the [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] — they’re checking credit, which should have no bearing on if you were affected economically. That really bothered me.

Luckily my credit score is good. As minority business owners, I worry that’s perpetuating issues already going on in these minority businesses. Are they going to be able to get help?

We did start helping out at the Soo Line Community Garden, which has been awesome. Sachi is studying seeds in school, so we got a seed planter kit. We started sprouting watermelon, cantaloupe, bell pepper, carrots, kale, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs.

The plan is to give the food to the shelf when it grows. Just having Sachi running around the garden and getting her hands dirty is really good. It makes me happy.

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 B7

Cafe Ena: Warm flavors to go

By Carla Waldemar

CAFE ENA 4601 Grand Ave. S. 612-824-4441 cafeenampls.com

I confess: I’ve fallen off the healthy yogurtbreakfast wagon. I’m gobbling sugar-dressed, deep-fried churros, those Spanish doughnut fingers, compounding my guilt by dipping them in a deep, dark chocolate sauce, just as I do in my favorite cafe in Madrid that’s been pandering to this particular addiction since the 1600s. Fortunately, they’re also on the take-out menu of Southwest’s Cafe Ena, which chef Hector Ruiz launched in 2007.

Here’s hoping it — and all of his other charming neighborhood cafes — make it through the pandemic that’s proving as lethal to the restaurant business as it is to their patrons. Fingers crossed.

Anyway: These gently-crisped, meltaway lengths of doughnuts — generously plus-sized (that’s what we do here in Minnesota), originally made a luscious finale to a recent take-away dinner, along with that midnight-dark flow of chocolate, which Hector cleverly abetted with a splash of rum ($6), although the menu’s promised mascarpone cream was a no-show.

From the list of starters ($8-$14), which ranges from guac to ceviche to tostones, I chose a trio of empanadas ($11) that celebrated Hector’s solid Parisian training in French technique. The dough wrapper proved ideally rich and flaky, far lighter than the usual Mexican version. Its seafood filling (or choose meat or veggie) clasped a tender shrimp or two amid diced veggies in a light cream sauce, to be dipped in an accompanying roastedtomato salsa that’s hot, sharp and blessedly far from catsup-sweet. It overpowered the delicate seafood, but I’m guessing would fare well with the meat and veg options. The menu’s stated tomato-red onion relish was AWOL. From the arroz quartet ($14-$18) — pollo, veg or seafood combos — I opted for the mariscos — shrimp, crab and calamari, dotting a bed of rice and bits of veggies in a savory, golden tomato-saffron sauce. The trio of sweet and chubby, nicely timed shrimp proved tasty; the ivory calamari tender and toothsome, too; the crab virtually absent, as far as I could see or taste—substituted, perhaps, by an unannounced addition of three mussels, two of which opened and proved sweet and true.

Bay leaves made their presence known in ungainly, un-chewable chunks — overall, a comforting albeit unmemorable dish.

On to the entrees, $17-$22: beef or pork tenderloin tips in red wine sauce, seafood and chicken. I chose the chicken, Jamaicanstyle, hopping with a spicy curry-habanero sauce and fleshed out with bits of veggies and slippery mushrooms mingling with chicken nuggets and delivered with a side of white rice upon which to ladle the savory soup-stew.

Take-away wine and beer are available, too.

The pressing question is, which bottles go with churros?

B8 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

DANCE AND DRAW

Stay In Guide.

The latest coloring book to be released by the Coloring Books for a Cause, published by Har Mar Superstar (Sean Tillmann) and Laura Hauser, pops with illustrations by local artists Emma Eubanks and Michael Gaughan. For the book’s release, the Walker Art Center is hosting a dance party, which will include an online interactive variety show with opportunities to both draw and dance.

Har Mar Superstar performs along with other guest artists, including puppeteer Liz Howls. Proceeds benefit Violence Free Minnesota.

By Sheila Regan

How is everybody holding up? Yeah, same.

Entertainment is such a weird deal right now, as we try to act like everything is normal while watching plays and live music from our computers. All the rules have changed, artists are trying to figure it out and everybody is just kind of making things up as they go. There have been some flops, some moments of cathartic release, silliness and joy all at once. And yes, we hope that one day things will go back to “normal,” but in the meantime the Southwest Journal has culled the virtual options to offer you an array of artsy things to see and hear from local artists and institutions.

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 28 Where: Zoom Cost: $19.50 for the coloring book at tinyurl.com/dance-coloring Info: tinyurl.com/walker-dance-zoom

PRINCE DIGITAL DRAG BRUNCH One of the hottest trends in this brave new world we are living in is the Zoom brunch, a kind of bringyour-own-mimosa activity in which you engage over your phone or computer. And brunch master Flip Phone has got you covered with a Drag Brunch featuring local performers who are bringing their talents to your personal home screen. “Prince. The Legend” will get you in the mood for Pride, which is taking a little bit of a different form this year.

When: 1-2 p.m. Sunday, June 7 Cost: Donations to @FlipPhone and individual performers via Venmo How to watch: tinyurl.com/prince-drag-brunch, twitch.tv/FlipPhoneEvents

DRAG STORY HOUR Old Man Zimmer, Doña Pepa and DJ Sid Sity, otherwise known as performers Emily Zimmer, Pedro Pablo Lander and Siddeeqah Shabazz, will bring a smile to your face during the next Free First Saturday, which you can find on the Walker Art Center website.

When: Saturday, June 6 Cost: Free Info: walkerart.org

GRETA RUTH

WHEN HOME WON’T LET YOU STAY Experience the traveling exhibition, “When Home Won’t Let You Stay,” from your home via the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ Vimeo page. First premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, the exhibition opened at Mia on Feb. 23, but its run was cut short by the pandemic. The show grapples with questions of forced migration and colonization, finding the links between the two. Now, you can take a look at the works in curated videos about several pieces, including Reena Saini Kallat’s map tapestry, called “Woven Chronicle,” and Do Ho Suh’s translucent architecture installation, “Hub-1, Entrance, 260-7, Sungbook-Dong, Sungboo-Ku, Seoul, Korea,” in addition to works by Ai Weiwei, Postcommodity and the Twin Cities’ own CarryOn Homes. If you weren’t able to make it to the museum before the pandemic, this is a safe and distant way to get a close view of a number of the show’s highlights.

Where: Vimeo

How to watch: tinyurl.com/home-wont-let-you-stay

Experimental folk singer/songwriter Greta Ruth, who lives in the Northrop neighborhood, shares her ethereal voice and finger-style guitar with her recently released single “Night Gets Cold.” The accompanying quarantine-created music video by Zach Waldon, made entirely during the stay-at-home order, is as surreal as you might expect.

Where: YouTube and Bandcamp How to watch: tinyurl.com/greta-youtube, tinyurl.com/greta-bandcamp

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southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 B9

COVID CONFIDENTIAL

By Stewart Huntington

HUGE THEATER LynLake’s HUGE Theater is getting into the virtual comedy scene with a bunch of different comedy and theater options online. Join in as Twin Cities comics find out how to survive through laughter during these strange and difficult times.

Shows to check out include Toaster! An Online Improv Show hosted by Jill Bernard (pictured), as well as other options.

When: Toaster is 6 p.m. Sundays; check Facebook for other show schedules Cost: Free Where: YouTube How to watch: tinyurl.com/huge-improv

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B10 May 28–June 10, 2020 / southwestjournal.com

We know homes!

Bungalows, Colonial, Craftsman, Mid-Century, Ramblers, Modern and more.

612-781-3333 • 2536 Marshall Street NE, Minneapolis Monday–Friday 8am–6pm, Saturday 8am–4pm Siwek Lumber SWJ 110118 6cx2.indd 1

EXTERIORS

10/22/18 12:47 PM

FLOORING

Serving the community for over 30 years Top quality at competitive prices FREE ESTIMATES Committed to customer service

TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205

Southwest Resident for Over 40 Years

• Installation • Restoration • Repairs • Buff & Coat

651-690-3956

Licensed Bonded Insured • Lic. RR 155317

*On Settergren’s Referral List*

FOR 40 YEARS

Pates Roofing SWJ 072717 2cx1.indd 1

Sanding • Refinishing • Repair Install • Recoat • FREE Estimates

“Our quality will floor you.”

MN7/21/17 # 5276 1:11 PM

612.290.1533

www.harlanfloors.com • 612-251-4290

LANDSCAPING

TO2cx2.indd PLACE2 4/23/14 Earls 2:57 Floor PM Sanding SWJ 012518

Harlan Hardwood SWJ NR3 2cx2.indd 1

Minneapolis, MN

FREE ESTIMATES!

Roofing • Siding • Gutters • Insulation

LAWN MOWING all summer long

PREMIER LAWN & SNOW

Minneapolis resident • Owner / operator Certified Arborist with 21 years experience

612-239-2508

A RATING

www.molinarotree.com

Call Dennis today!

MN-4551 A

PG 3 ONLY

IT’S TIME FOR SPRING CLEANING! Premier Lawn ADS 612.825.9205 & Snow SWJ 041620 1cx1.indd 4/14/20 612.220.5128 | CoachRH@aol.com

CONSULTATION • DESIGN • PROJECT MANAGEMENT Your Local Contractor For Over 40 Years!

Molinaro 7/12/18 Richard's 1:35 PM Lawn and Yard Care SWJ 040419 3/27/19 1cx1.5.indd 2:40 PM 1/20/20 10:33 AMTree SWJ 2cx1.5.indd 1

Topside Inc SWJ 012320 2cx3.indd 1

INSULATE AND SAVE!

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL — INSURANCE CLAIMS WELCOME! — SERVING THE TWIN CITIES SINCE 1972

as seen on

HGTV’s Curb Appeal

TM & © 2012 MGM.

Climbing Trio Landscaping SWJ 040220 2cx2.indd 1&

Locally Owned • MN LIC# BC760140 • A+ Rating from BBB

3/25/20 2:07 PM

Place your Ad HERE! Sales@southwestjournal.com | 612-825-9205

MAINTENANCE

Byron Electric

Bucket Pruning /Removals 3/24/20 11:37 Peter Doran AM SWJ 032119 2cx2.indd

Expert High Risk & Crane Removals

26 yrs. Fully Insured 1

Lawn Mowing Fertilizer & Weed Control Gutter Cleaning

peterdoranlawn.com

3

3/8/19 3:40 PM

Pest & Disease Management

ortheast N TREEInc.

Our Readers are YOUR Clients

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612-345-9301

612.562.8746 • triolandscaping.com

612-343-3301 · www.midwestplus.com

Midwest Exteriors SWJ 040220 2cx3.indd 1

Snow Plowing & Shoveling Cleanup / Dethatching Aeration / Seeding

4:36 2 PM

Window Washing

Lifetime Warranty

CALL US TODAY!

952-545-8055

premierlawnandsnow.com

Landscaping, Lawn, and Yard Maintenance

licensed and insured

Phone: 612-869-1177

8:45 AM

Get beautiful

Matthew Molinaro

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD COMPANY Rob.olson@topsideinc.net Topsideinc.net

YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205 1/18/18

Richard’s Lawn and Yard Care

TREE TRIMMING • REMOVAL STUMP GRINDING

Licensed • Bonded • Insured

10-time Angie’s List Super Service Award Winner

www.earlsfloorsanding.com

Trained & Courteous Staff Questions about Emerald Ash Borer?

We can help!

George & Lynn Welles

Certified Arborists (#MN-0354A & #MN-4089A)

612-789-9255 northeasttree.net

TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205 1/7/19 12:08 PM

8/29/16 10:49 Northeast AM Tree SWJ 011019 2x2.indd 1

Residential & Commercial

MISCELLANEOUS

Our Contractors have local references

FREE ESTIMATES

612-750-5724

Byron Electric SWJ 010920 2cx1.indd 1

12/19/19 10:16 AM

• Painting • Plaster repair • Ceramic tile • Light remodeling 8327 Little Circle, Bloomington

612 . 267. 3 2 8 5

Classifieds That Handy Guy Greg SWJ 111419 2cx1.5.indd 1

Local people.

Local references.

Tell them you saw their ad here!

11/6/19 1:46 PM

Hammer Guy SWJ 2013 1cx2 filler.indd1/7/19 Our specialty is your existing home!®1

11:40 AM

Houle Insulation Inc.

CALL TODAY FOR A FREE ESTIMATE ON ATTIC INSULATION • BYPASS SEALING SIDEWALL INSULATION

www.houleinsulation.com

763-767-8412

Serving the Twin Cities since 1977

SWJ 052820 Classifieds.indd 2 contractors SWJ 2016 2cx1.5 filler.indd 1

5/26/20 12:45 AM 7/18/16 Houle 2:56 PM Insulation SWJ 010107 2cx2.indd 1

5/17/16 2:37 PM

southwestjournal.com / May 28–June 10, 2020 B11

PAINTING

PLUMBING, HVAC

TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205

EXTERIOR • INTERIOR

In the lakes area since 1970

Local services.

Local references.

Lic. #61664PM

Local expertise.

Our Contractors have local references

P r o M as t er P lum bing When in Disaster Think Pro Master!

612-804-3078

Licensed Bonded Insured Over 29 Years experience

LINDEN HILLS PAINTING Int./Ext. • Paint • Homes Condos • Enamel • Stain Cabinets • Decks • Fences

612.360.2019

Pro Master 2/28/20 1Hammer 2:21 PMGuy SWJ 2013 1cx1 filler.indd4/9/13 1 10:09 AM 3/29/13 10:35 AM Plumbing SWJ 030520 1cx1.indd

Tool Icons - Spring SWJ 2013 2cx1 filler.indd 1

FIVESTARPAINTING.com

612-227-1844

grecopainting.com BBB A+ rating

• Interior/Exterior Painting Greco Painting SWJ 052820 1cx2.indd 5/26/20 1 12:28 AM

• Wallpaper Stripping/Wall Repair • Wood Stripping, Refinishing & Cabinets • Plaster, Sheetrock, Texture Repair & Skim Coating • Ceiling Texturing & Texture Removal

PAINTINGBYJERRYWIND.COM

FREE SECOND OPINION ESTIMATE MATCH CALL 612.888.8207 TODAY! Insured | References

Local people.

Local references.

Mention this ad to receive

greg@chileen.com

$20 off

MN Builder’s License BC583780

any plumbing or drain cleaning!

www. tjkplumbinginc .com

TO PLACE 5/13/16 11:37 TJK Plumbing AM SWJ 041819 2cx2.indd 1

7/18/16 Chileen 2:58 PMPainting SWJ 051916 2cx4.indd 1

4/21/20 10:36 AM

763-425-9461

612-850-0325

Tell them you saw their ad here!

REMODELING

McQuillan Brothers SWJ 043020 2cx2.indd 1

Family Owned for Over 60 Years

Classifieds 8/8/19 4:29 PM

contractors SWJ 2016 2cx1.5 filler.indd 6

WHOLE HOME CLIMATE CONTROL

Interior & Exterior Painting • Insurance Claims Wood Finishing • Exterior Wood Restoration Water Damage Repair • Patching • Enameling

Experienced craftsmen (no subcontractors) working steady from start to finish. Neat and courteous; references and 2 year warranty. Liability Ins. and Workers Comp. for Your Protection.

Painting by Jerry Wind SWJ 082219 2cx1.5.indd 1

612.888.8207

MCQBROS.COM

Free Estimates

ADS 612.825.9205

FiveStarPainting SWJ 012419 1cx1.5.indd 4/5/19 1 3:43 PM

(612) 827-6140 or (651) 699-6140

Call Jim!

promasterplumbing.com

MN Lic#: PC644042

YOUR AD CALL 612.825.9205 4/16/19 11:18 AM

EPA License #NAT-86951-2

“timeless design, seamless remodeling”

612.332.8000 Kitchen | Bathroom | Interior Remodeling

bruce@knutson-architects.com

ADDITIONS NEW CONSTRUCTION REMODEL

10% off labor on all projects

*

*Must sign in May or June. Some restrictions apply. Call today for your FREE consultation.Bruce Knutson Architects SWJ 090610 2cx1.indd 1

Lic: BC637388 4/29/20 2:50 AM

J3 Renovations and Design SWJ 043020 2cx1.5.indd 1

EK Johnson Construction you dream it

we build it

Living and Working in Southwest Minneapolis

Design/Construction

8/31/10 1:41 PM

Specializing in Reproduction Kitchens & Baths

Create • Collaborate Communicate

No project is too small for good design inspiredspacesmn.com 612.360.4180

612-655-4961 hansonremodeling.com Lic #BC633225

Hanson Building SWJ 061418 2cx2.indd 1

6/1/18 1:05 PM

Call Ethan Johnson, Owner

612-669-3486

ekjohnsonconstruction.comInspired Spaces SWJ 022714 2cx2.indd

EK Johnson Construction SWJ 060216 2cx2.indd 1

Local people.

Local references.

952-512-0110

www.roelofsremodeling.com

e can hat w w ’s e r He

u: for yo

Classifieds 2/17/14 3:02 PM

5/31/16 4:49 PM

Your Sign of Satisfaction

Roelofs Remodeling SWJ 073015 2cx2.indd 2do

1

Tell them you saw their ad here!

7/28/15 Contractors 3:01 PM SWJ 2020 2cx2.5 remodeling filler.indd 1

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612.821.1100 or 651.690.3442 www.houseliftinc.com License #BC378021

5/26/20 12:22 HouseAM Lift SWJ 041612 2cx3.indd 1

4/5/12 3:00 PM

2nd Stories • Additions • Kitchens • Basements Baths • Attic Rooms • Windows

Remodel • Design • Build

612-924-9315

612-861-0188  www.SylvestreMN.com  #BC001428

www.fusionhomeimprovement.com MN License #BC451256

SWJ 052820 Classifieds.indd 3 Sylvestre SWJ 031920 2x3.indd 1

5/26/20 12:47 AM 3/17/20 Fusion 4:45 PM Home Improvement SWJ 021314 2cx3.indd 1

1/31/14 10:44 AM

Quality

CONSTRUCTION, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

& Trust. · CUSTOM CABINETRY · ADDITIONS & DORMERS · KITCHENS & BATHROOMS · WHOLE HOUSE RENOVATION · PORCHES & SUN-ROOMS · FINISHED BASEMENTS ·

612.821.1100 or 651.690.3442 www.houseliftinc.com House Lift Remodeler | 4330 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409 | License # BC 378021 House Lift Remodeler SWJ 040419 FP.indd 1

3/22/19 3:32 PM