Chief Lenny Austin has decided to call it quits after 35 years in police work, the last 29 with the Columbia Heights Police Department.
Deconstruction in the Heights, Better Futures helps prepare for a better commercial corner
On the southeast corner of 39th and Central avenues NE, workers in neon yellow vests and hard hats carried armloads of wood paneling and flooring to a staging area of sawhorses. A compressor hummed, punctuated by air bursts like one would hear when reroofing a house. But this handheld instrument […]
Camp Bovey: Giving kids a chance to grow for 75 years
Generations of Northeast kids have sung that song over the past 75 years. If you attended Camp Bovey, you know it well. The camp, situated in northwestern Wisconsin, has been owned and operated by East Side Neighborhood Services since 1949, but its history goes back just a little bit further.
Fighting opioids, Concern for others leads to creating Save a Life Stations
As you look around the main concourse at East Side Neighborhood Services, you’ll see the usual array of lifesaving equipment: a fire extinguisher, a defibrillator for heart attacks, a blood pressure cuff. Now, near the front door, there’s a new addition, and it looks like a newspaper vending box, but it isn’t.
“Lizard Lounge” severely damaged in hit-and-run
About 2 a.m. Saturday, March 30, a car streaked down 17th Avenue NE, jumped the curb, took out a small tree, dragged it through a parking lot, plowed through the East Side Neighborhood Services’ raised gardens and drove into ESNS’ lizard sculpture. The lizard was detached from its shed, which moved approximately two feet off its base. Police were called and a tow truck hauled away the wrecked car. No injuries were reported.
It’s April: Volunteering will do you good, Ways to give back to the community
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Volunteering reduces stress and increases positive, relaxed feelings by releasing dopamine. By spending time in service to others, volunteers report feeling a sense of meaning and appreciation, both given and received, which can have a stress-reducing effect.”
New law will put more drivers behind the wheel
A new law called “Driver’s Licenses for All” will allow many more Minnesota residents to get drivers’ licenses. COPAL-MN (Communidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina) Lead Organizer Eduardo Peñasco and Driver & Vehicle Services (DVS) Program Manager Jacquelyn Eiffler took a dozen attendees at a March 14 meeting at the Columbia Heights Public Library through the steps to get licenses under the provisions of the new law.
Central Ave. labeled as cultural district amidst concerns of franchise takeover
First Ward City Council Member Elliot Payne spoke to Windom Park Citizens in Action on Tuesday, March 19, giving a brief “state of the ward” talk and answering questions from the community. He and neighbors in attendance discussed topics ranging from new homeless camps popping up in Northeast, to various grant programs available through the neighborhood association. However, the topic on most people’s minds that night was the fate of the vacant space formerly occupied by the restaurant Half Fancy.
Three Rivers Park District: Silverwood Park programming will not be touched
Not all stories have a happy ending, but the future of Silverwood Park in St. Anthony Village appears to be a lot brighter following a Three Rivers Park District board meeting on March 21. Over a hundred people turned out at the meeting and more than 30 people testified, some of them tearfully, about the park’s deep impact on their lives.
Deadly killer in a pill, Ostrow campaigns against fentanyl
Paul Ostrow has campaigned for several things — stints as a Minneapolis City Council Member representing Ward 1, and as assistant Anoka County attorney. Now, in retirement, he’s campaigning against something — the rising use and subsequent deaths caused by the synthetic drug fentanyl. The Windom Park resident and treasurer […]