Covering life, work, and play in the Historic Mill District and Downtown Minneapolis Riverfront neighborhoods. Have an opinion, local news or events to share? Contact us.
The hole continues to grow:
We're attempting to publish a photo with this same view each week from the start of construction through the first game played at the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium in Downtown Minneapolis.
Historic signs have been a hot topic at City Hall recently. Valspar won a zoning variance to allow for preservation of 'ghost signs" uncovered during exterior renovation of their old headquarters building in the Mill District. The restoration and re-lighting of the Pillsbury Best Flour sign on the Minneapolis Riverfront goes before the Heritage Preservation Commission tomorrow. Staff reports and pictures below:
Valspar staff report:
https://app.box.com/shared/static/jh60nx0reqoi56jo5m0a.pdf
Valspar plan, with illustrations (large download):
https://app.box.com/shared/static/gfnavw4fkvu0q8wdylnc.pdf
Pillsbury staff report:
https://app.box.com/shared/static/m8odys92o9wcjqdvocaz.pdf
Pillsbury plan, with illustrations (large download):
OMG - Did you see the weather report for Sunday ? ! ?
Looks like a perfect day for the 11:00am kick off of 30 Days of Biking’s fifth year.
Details:
We’ll gather at Gold Medal Park at 11 a.m., kick off around noon, and end at Red Stag Supperclub. We'll have spoke cards for you, too! First-come, first-served.
Our ride leader and MC is Mario Macaruso; 2F4L (a.k.a., Eric Shoultz) will snap the group photo; and Recovery Bike Shop will provide mechanical superheroism. Let's ride.
Pledge to bike every day in April at http://30daysofbiking.com/pledge.
Via a March 26, 2014, e-newsletter from Mayor Betsy Hodges:
Dear Friend,
Last month, I sent you a message saying that while warm weather was good news, potholes are not. Today, I would say the same thing. The flux in temperatures has continued to create potholes all across the area, as water gets into small cracks, freezes again, and then expands to create bigger cracks. When that happens over and over, the potholes get bigger and more numerous.
To meet this year's worse-than-usual conditions, we are doing more than usual to overcome them. Working with my colleagues on the City Council, I will be moving forward a request to add an extra $1 million for pothole repair this year.
What we’ve been doing
Right now, city crews are focused on temporary repairs for potholes. The ambient and pavement temperatures are still too cold to allow the materials needed for permanent repairs to adhere to the pavement. This means crews are only able to “fill” potholes and not yet “repair” them.
While filling potholes are only temporary fixes, crews are able to do them rather quickly. Right now the City is running at least two to three crews dedicated to pothole filling, covering as much ground as possible, taking care of the worst areas right off the bat.
What we’ll be doing next
Permanent repairs typically start with the beginning of the summer construction/maintenance season, which starts next week for 2014. City crews will begin to transition to permanent repairs next week. We are hopeful the warm temperatures this weekend will finally warm things up enough to allow for permanent repairs. We already have access to hot mix asphalt from the St. Paul Public Works municipal asphalt plant, which we will use as soon as it can adhere to the pavement. If the temperatures are still too cold, crews will continue in “fill mode” and then return to permanent repairs as conditions allow.
Permanent repairs require additional work, so they do take longer to do. While that will slow down the process, we have a plan in place to make sure we continue covering as much ground as possible.
Accelerating pothole repair work
The additional $1 million in funding will allow the city to bring on additional, temporary labor to create up to two additional crews for two months. We will also contract with a pothole patching service provider for two spray patching units for about two months, or as needed. Each of these units is essentially like having an additional crew, which means we will be doubling and in some cases tripling our efforts.
The late departure of winter has also slightly delayed some of our street construction – these crews will focus on potholes for a short period until they can start up.
I’m staying focused on the good news, which is that spring is increasingly upon us and our crews are working hard to keep Minneapolis pothole-free. I’m happy to see that many potholes have been filled… but I know others are popping up. I appreciate your helping reporting these and hope to continue to see improvements.
Thanks,
Mayor Betsy Hodges
City of Minneapolis
Many of us missed having the Northern Spark event in our Mill District and surrounding neighborhoods last year. We were excited to learn they're returning to Minneapolis for 2014. To whet your appetite, below are the first of many ongoing updates we'll post between now and June 14.
Luke Savisky to Animate Gold Medal Silos with You
Northern Lights.mn is excited to bring a monumental work by Austin, TX-based artist, projectionist and performer Luke Savisky to Northern Spark 2014.
Working with multiple video projections layered and montaged over the Gold Medal silos in Minneapolis, Savisky will animate the structure with the help of Northern Spark participants in a project titled E/x MN. Participants will enter Savisky's dreamscape by reclining on specially-made filming platforms and performing for the camera. Live video feed of participants will be projected onto the massive silos; their images will appear to move through the structures and interact with each other, unfolding a broken and spontaneous narrative. Enduring and changing through the night, the video projections will create a beautiful and immersive transformation of both the iconic silos and the people who experience Northern Spark.
Ghostly Streetcar Will Project the Past into the Present
The Shiny Naughty Collective (Marieka Heinlen, Sarah Honeywell, and Angela Maki Jones) have teamed up with The Flightless Bird Brothers (Jeremy Clark and John Murphy) to create an installation titled Razing Minneapolis—or—The Ghostly Streetcar History Tour. This apparition will project historic architectural silhouettes on modern buildings, telling stories of our lost Twin Cities, in the West River Parkway zone during Northern Spark 2014.
You may remember the Shiny Naughty Collective for their past appearances at Northern Spark with the Naughty Shanty (2012) and Kaleidoscope Shanty (2013) as part of Art Shanty Projects. The Ghostly Streetcar History Tour is their first independently presented Northern Spark project.
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Luke Savisky Happy Hour • March 27 @ 6pm-7:30pm Northrop Grand Re-Opening begins • April 4, 2014 Art(ists) on the Verge 5 artist talks • April 12 @ 2pm + April 19 @ noon
Northern Spark 2014 • June 14 @ 9:01pm - 5:26am |
;)
Via a March 24 e-newsletter from the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board:
Looking for some fun-filled activities for you and your family this spring and summer? Spend the season with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB)!
The newest edition of our park highlights brochure was mailed to all Minneapolis households inside the Minneapolis Public Schools Community Education catalog in early March.
Hold onto your park highlights guide all season long – it features more than 40 popular events for friends and family throughout the summer and opportunities to stay active and save up to $30 by using the discount codes when you register for the Gridiron Gallop, Hot Dam 5K Run and Walk and the Minneapolis Bike Tour
For those residing outside of Minneapolis – and for anyone looking for a sneak peak – be sure to check out the electronic version of the park highlights brochure.
We've got some great things lined up in the parks during the months to come – so mark your calendars now!
The hole is getting bigger:
We're attempting to publish a photo with this same view each week from the start of construction through the first game played at the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium in Downtown Minneapolis.
Watershed Event: Exploring a New Water Ethic for Minnesota
Fee: FREE
Join Mill City Museum, 704 South Second Street, on Friday, April 11, from 3 to 9:30 p.m. for "Watershed Event: Exploring a New Water Ethic for Minnesota," a public symposium on future scenarios and imagined solutions to clean, abundant water in Minnesota.
The free symposium is hosted by the University of Minnesota Students for Design Activism and includes a panel discussion and the premier screening of "Watershed: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the New West."
The schedule of events includes:
3:00 to 5:30pm: Building a Future for Water: Transforming Practice, Policy and Implementation.
In this panel session, keynote speaker Bill Wenk, landscape architect of the St. Paul Great River Passage, will speak about the past and future realities of living and working in an arid climate and open the conversation to panelists and the audience for envisioning the bridge between the small-scale strategies and the large-scale problems facing the future of Minnesota’s waters.
Panelists include: Brian Hicks, Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition; John Linc Stine, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner; and moderator: Dave Peters, journalist for Minnesota Public Radio’s "Ground Level".
5:30 to 7:00pm: Food, drink and informal conversation.
7:00 to 8:00pm: "Watershed: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the New West."
"Watershed" examines the questions raised by the personal, economic and environmental use and value of water that is used and transported from the headwaters of the Colorado River to its outlets in the Southwest. The challenges faced by those in the West are similar to those faced here in Minnesota.
8:00 to 9:30pm: Steps Towards Change: Resources for a New Water Ethic in Minnesota.
Using the movie "Watershed" as a launching point, this panel session will address current changes in the landscape and the visible decline of quantity and quality of Minnesota's water.
Panelists include: Sharon Day, Executive Director of the Indigenous Peoples’ Task Force; Deborah Swackhamer, Co-Director of the U of M's Water Resources Center; and Matt Tucker, University of Minnesota Professor of Landscape Architecture.
For more information visit the Watershed Event website.
Watershed Event is co-curated by Floodplain Collective, University of Minnesota Department of Landscape Architecture, and Mill City Museum. It is hosted by the University of Minnesota Students for Design Activism. All programs are free and open to the public.
Applications are now being accepted for open board positions on the Minneapolis Pedestrian Advisory Committee and Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee. The positions are appointed by the City Council and Mayor. Applications will be reviewed beginning April 25, 2013, but the positions are open until filled.
Pedestrian Advisory Committee
The Minneapolis Pedestrian Advisory Committee was created to advise the Mayor and City Council on policies, programs, and actions for improving pedestrian safety, mobility, accessibility, and comfort; for promoting walking for transportation, recreation, and health purposes; and for strengthening the linkage between the pedestrian environment and public transportation. The board is composed of members of the public and city and partner agency staff.
Pedestrian Advisory Committee application information
Bicycle Advisory Committee
The role of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee is to promote both commuter and recreational bicycling, to advocate for bicycling infrastructure improvements, to encourage safe riding, and to involve people interested in bicycling issues throughout the city. The committee functions as an advisory committee to the Mayor and City Council as well as the Minneapolis Park Board and serves as a liaison to bicyclists, businesses, neighborhoods, and other communities and agencies. The board is composed of members of the public and city and partner agency staff.
The Metrodome is no more:
We're attempting to publish a photo with this same view each week from the start of construction through the first game played at the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium in Downtown Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Parks and Rec Board reminds you that the following parkways will be closed 8:00am – Noon tomorrow, March 15, for the Get Lucky! 7K:
West River Road Parkway – 11th Avenue South to Plymouth Avenue. Main Street – 6th Avenue SE to 5th Avenue NE. (The race starts on 2nd Street South near Portland Avenue. More Info.)
Please note that the duration of the closures is subject to change based on the event's start and finish times. A complete list of current and upcoming parkway closures is available online.
Minneapolis' newest opera company, the Mill City Summer Opera, has announced it will produce Tosca by Giacomo Puccini for its third season. Tosca will be presented at 7:30 p.m. opening night July 12, and July 13, 16, 18, 20 and 22. Mill City Museum’s dramatic Ruin Courtyard will again be the venue for all performances.
Mill City Summer Opera was founded in 2011 to bring the Twin Cities exceptional opera performances set in a nontraditional venue. Artistic Director David Lefkowich and Music Director Brian DeMaris have assembled a first-rate design team and cast, featuring acclaimed American soprano Jill Gardner and exciting tenor Dinya Vania as Cavaradossi. Gardner and Vania sang these roles together at the Lyric Opera Baltimore in 2011 to great acclaim.
From the PBS series, this clips features the Minneapolis Riverfront.
Not much change this week, spent the week hauling away debris:
We're attempting to publish a photo with this same view each week from the start of construction through the first game played at the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium in Downtown Minneapolis.
A big "Thank You!" to Goldfinch Flowers for bringing some Spring to the March 8 Market. :)
Below, staff from The Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul were at the March 8 MCFM with infomation on their organization, as well as the Italian Film Festival, Cuban Film Festival and Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival. Whether you're an avid film lover, or just in search of something out of the ordinary, be sure to check them out!
Reminders - The Mill City Farmers Market vendors will be at the Arboretum in Chanhassen next Saturday, March 15; and the final indoors Market at the Mill City Museum will be April 12. :)
The SE Main Street parkway between East Hennepin Avenue and SE 6th Avenue will be closed on Monday, March 10, 2014 from 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
If you have any questions, please contact Jim Holtzlider at 612-230-6462 or jholtzlider@minneapolisparks.org.
Join us Saturday, March 8th, from 10am to 1pm at the Mill City Farmers Market indoor winter market inside the beautiful Mill City Museum.
Enjoy a dynamic marketplace of over 40 local vendors. You can expect to find everything from beets and cabbage to artisan chocolates, local honey, maple syrup, hand-milled flour, locally harvested wild rice, specialty cheeses, meat, eggs, baked goods, kimchi, preserves, and a variety of local ceramics, wood products, kitchen utensils, clothing, art and jewelry.
Produce Planner: Arugula/mizuna mix, spinach, chickweed, beets, potatoes, kale, salad turnips, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, dried mushrooms, and more!
Live Music, 11am – 1pm: MCFM welcomes local sensation The Cactus Blossoms to the Market!
Featured Local Artists: Crookedwood, The Ink Orchard, The Abbey, Matthew Krousey Ceramics, Heinz Brummel, Old World Cabinet, Aprilierre, and Larissa Loden.
Via a March 5 e-newsletter from the Hennepin County Library:
"Viva City,” a juried art show featuring exceptional work by Minneapolis Public Schools high school students, is open now through April 11 in Cargill Hall Gallery at Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis.
Art by Minneapolis Public Schools middle school students is similarly displayed through April 24 in John B. Davis Gallery at the Minneapolis Public Schools Davis Center, 1250 W. Broadway Ave., Minneapolis.
Now in its 20th year, “Viva City” celebrates student achievement in visual and performing arts by selecting two-and three-dimensional works by students in participating schools, for professional display and community viewing.
Student artists also participate in “Session Days,” working with established artist mentors to learn about the professional practices of their chosen art form and more
“[It’s] the premier arts event showcasing masterpieces created by young artists with a passion for drawing, ceramics, painting, graphic design and fiber arts — who happen to be MPS students!” stated Minneapolis Public Schools in a release.
Middle school and high school students involved in Viva City are eligible for awards from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Utrecht, University of Minnesota, Minnesota College of Art and Design, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Viva City is coordinated by MPS Arts, which ensures equity of access to quality arts education for every MPS student, every day. For more information about MPS Arts and “Viva City,” visit mpsarts.org.
Exhibits are free. Cargill Hall Gallery hours are the same as the library’s: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
The film festival will be held Thursday, March 6 - Sunday, March 9.
The annual Italian Film Festival returns, premiering award-winning, contemporary Italian films and documentaries. Join us for four days of Italian films that will take you on a spectacular journey through the landscapes and stories of Italy and its people.
The Italian Cultural Center is pleased to extend an invitation to attend its 6th annual Italian Film Festival. In collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Chicago, the ICC will bring prominent contemporary Italian feature films to the Twin Cities.
A variety of recently released Italian films will take moviegoers on a spectacular journey through the landscapes and stories of Italy and its people.
• Thursday, March 6th – Cuore Sacro (Sacred Heart) at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
• Friday–Sunday, March 7th– 9th – All films are hosted by the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul
• Friday, March 7th – Opening Night Party that includes delicious appetizers, Italian wines (one glass included), live music and a live auction conducted by our guest, WCCO TV co-anchor Frank Vascellaro. The party begins at 6:30 PM at the Aster Café's beautiful River Room, right next door to the St. Anthony Main Theatre where the film Viva la libertà will screen at 8:45 PM.
• Saturday, March 8th – Verdi short documentary, The Venice Syndrome documentary (limited private screening), The Red and the Blue, Cosimo and Nicole
• Sunday, March 9th – Verdi short documentary, Every Blessed Day, Balancing Act, Scola’s Fellini
Mill City Times | 35W Bridge Memorial | Mill District Block Party | Mill City Media
Monday, March 31, 2014 at 9:58AM
