The Wedge Times-Picayune

June 13, 2019June 13, 2019

3 apartment buildings planned for Girard Ave in Uptown

At a Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association meeting last night, residents learned about plans for a pair of apartment buildings on a two-block stretch of Girard Avenue in the Wedge, just north of the Uptown Transit Center. Developers Yellow Tree and Perkins Levin have partnered on proposals for a 76-unit, six-story building at 2824-2832 Girard; and a 119-unit, 6-story building at 2701-2715 Girard. They hope to receive approval from the city this year and begin construction next year.

The same developers have plans for a third building — four stories and 76 units — on the 3200 block of Girard. That proposal will be presented to the South Uptown neighborhood organization later this month.

June 12, 2019June 12, 2019

3rd Annual Wedge Cat Tour, June 27

The 3rd annual Cats of the Wedge cat tour is happening on June 27 at 6:30 PM. The tour meets at Mueller Park in Minneapolis. If you’re not familiar with this strange event, every year we put up a date and time on Facebook and people really show up to be led through the neighborhood for the purpose of viewing window cats.

June 6, 2019June 6, 2019

A Fair Housing Proposal in Minneapolis

Nationally 30% of adults have an arrest or criminal record. That can make it much harder to find housing. And to the degree there are racial disparities in our criminal justice system (as of 2012, black people were arrested by Minneapolis police at 6.5 times the rate of the non-black population), this results in disparities in who is eligible for housing.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued legal guidance that “where a policy or practice that restricts access to housing on the basis of criminal history has a disparate impact on individuals of a particular race, national origin, or other protected class” could violate the Fair Housing Act.

June 4, 2019June 4, 2019

Met Council: We Still Need More Housing

Researchers at the Metropolitan Council have produced a slide show titled “We still need more housing.” The numbers come from permit data collected across the 7-county Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Below are some of the slides, capturing the scale of our regional housing shortage. View the whole thing here.

June 4, 2019July 30, 2019

“White Pastoralism” and the Fake Outrage That Never Ends

On July 11, 2018, a local man with a passion for pigeons would cross paths with a Minneapolis planning official at a Wedge neighborhood VFW hall. It was a packed and raucous public meeting hosted by City Council President Lisa Bender. The purpose: to gather feedback from her constituents on the city’s 2040 long range plan.

During a question and answer session about an hour into the meeting, one of Bender’s constituents named Zack Mohlis used a phrase that would live in infamy: “white pastoralism.” Those two words would forever and inexplicably link him with Minneapolis director of Long Range Planning, Heather Worthington.

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019

Steve Fletcher is as confused as I am about Neighborhoods 2020

Here’s how the debate about neighborhood association reform and funding in Minneapolis has unfolded so far:

City’s NCR department recommends some good ideas
Engagement is done almost exclusively to neighborhood association board members/staff
Neighborhood associations hate it with a passion
In response, the framework was watered down to eliminate good ideas
Council passes framework on a split vote

And it’s left me confused trying to figure out what the debate is even about anymore. Neighborhood associations still hate it, even though it’s so tepid I can’t imagine what it is they don’t like about it. In watching the council conversations, I have a hard time figuring out what we’re trying to achieve.

I do want to give thanks to Ward 3 Council Member Steve Fletcher for being as confused as I am. I found this three minute video very reassuring:

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019

More urgency needed on oversight of neighborhood orgs

The City Council’s PECE Committee held a public hearing last week to debate neighborhood organization oversight and funding.

About a week before the meeting, the Neighborhood and Community Relations Department revised their “Neighborhoods 2020” recommendations to remove all the the parts of the diversity action plan proposal that would actually require accountability from city-funded neighborhood organizations.

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019

Edina debates a comprehensive plan

[*Special Edina Coverage* made possible by readers like you.]

Edina’s City Council approved a draft comprehensive plan last Tuesday. While it’s not nearly as ambitious as the 2040 plan approved last year in Minneapolis, the Edina plan has still attracted some organized opposition.

May 11, 2019May 12, 2019

Minneapolis considers ban on new drive-throughs

[This local news coverage made possible by readers like you.]

Next Thursday, the Minneapolis Planning Commission will discuss a proposed ordinance from Council President Lisa Bender that would prohibit new drive-through facilities throughout the city.

If adopted by the City Council, it would prevent the construction of new drive-throughs for banks, drugstores, and fast food restaurants (or any other “facility which accommodates automobiles and from which the occupants of the automobiles may make purchases or transact business”).

May 11, 2019May 11, 2019

“Save Lake Calhoun” petition shows lakeside homeowners united against Bde Maka Ska

map of calhoun supprting lakeside homeowners

In an effort to stop a process to change the name of Calhoun Parkway, Tom Austin of “Save Lake Calhoun” has submitted a petition signed by over 300 lakeside homeowners to the Minneapolis Park Board. You’ll remember Tom Austin from his recent Star Tribune opinion piece in which he railed against the “elites” forcing a lake name change on “everyday Minnesotans.”