A small group gathered at the Mill City Museum, 704 S. 2nd Street, where we were met by our guide, Fred. Fred hadn’t given a tour in 14 months and was very excited to lead a group again. His enthusiasm was contagious.

He began by reminding us that the riverfront we looked out on was once the gathering place for many Native American tribes including the Dakota, the Winnebago and the Iowa. “The first Europeans didn’t get here until 1680,” he said, when Father Louis Hennepin arrived. Hennepin was sent by French explorer Robert de La Salle, who was searching for a trade route to China and hoped the Mississippi River would provide the connection.

Fred pointed out that St. Anthony Falls, named by Hennepin for the patron saint of travelers, was farther downstream in Hennepin’s time than it is today. If not for the concrete apron placed over the falls by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1876, the only natural waterfall on the entire river would be nothing but rapids today, washed away at the rate of 3 feet per year.

Gayle Bonneville has spent much of her life advocating for Northeast neighborhoods, the last 21 years as part-time coordinator for both the St. Anthony West Neighborhood Organization (STAWNO) and Windom Park Citizens in Action (WPCiA). She recently decided to step away from these positions to slow down and pursue other interests.

As the drought deepens, the City of Minneapolis has asked citizens to conserve water. Sprinkling restrictions start today. The restrictions are in place until further notice. These restrictions also apply to Columbia Heights, which buys its water from Minneapolis. Sprinkling restrictions Sprinkling lawns is NOT allowed from noon to 6 […]

Although it can be disconcerting to have a wild animal coming toward you, what might seem like “charging” might be simply “escorting” intruders from the den. Nick McCann, a postdoctoral associate who manages the Twin Cities Coyote and Fox Project at the University of Minnesota, said coyotes are more territorial when they’re protecting a den and kits, usually between May and July. They also might actually be focused on hunting or another need, pointed out Noland, citing a photographer’s experience with a fox that seemed to be coming right at her, but it was simply seeking, on a hot morning, to lie down in the only nearby shade a few feet away from her.

The tension was palpable as the little parlor at Fletcher’s Ice Cream, 1509 Marshall Street NE, filled up with members of the Sheridan business community and people from a homeless encampment on 13th Street NE. They were all there to talk with Third Ward Council Member Steve Fletcher (“No relation to the business,” he quipped) about the encampment and public safety.

For home gardeners trying to use organic methods to growing veggies, controlling pests without using pesticide sprays can be a daily struggle, especially with record-breaking 90+ temperatures.

In late July, the Minneapolis City Council will vote on an ordinance establishing a Department of Art and Cultural Affairs. Ninth Ward Council Member Alondra Cano, who spearheaded the effort to create the office, said that the arts are a five billion-dollar industry in the city, and the new department “would acknowledge how much we receive from it.” She added current arts support is diffused, the city needs a “dedicated, centralized, and reliable funding source” (the general fund) for arts projects and support, while still pursuing grants from programs such as the Jerome Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Cano noted that there is $52 million in funding through the NEA through the American Rescue Plan Act that the city could apply for.

On June 14, the Heights City Council gave the preliminary go-ahead to two proposed apartment projects.

The first, at 825 41st Avenue NE, would allow the construction of a 62-unit apartment building just north of the Public Safety building. The area is already zoned R-4, high-density residential. Developer Reuter-Walton says the units will be affordable. They applied for a preliminary plat, which put the Public Safety Building on its own parcel and provided a separate parcel for the apartment building.