Last year about this time, Aldo Moroni sat in the California Building lobby in pith helmet and other explorer gear, laptop cord strung to an awkward outlet, animatedly holding court on the Mesoamerican experience – hundreds of years of Mexican history to present day.
Like Gloria Civita, his clay project of the late 1980s, or Babylon of 2003-2009, or Trumptopia from 2017, some of Moroni’s complex small cities take years to build. They involve everyday folks in the building, and folks who watch as he, with twinkle in eye, assumes the position of emperor – in full regalia – and destroys all or part of his civilizations real or imagined. He’s well-grounded in architecture and history, voraciously researching as he did in this past year.

Why do we live in Northeast? The area is pretty, we have a lot of neat parks, and the homes are nice; however, not everyone who lives in Northeast has a home here. Some people live under the bridges or on the park benches, and it’s getting to be a cold time of year to have nowhere to go.

There are homeless shelters throughout Minneapolis, especially downtown, but many of the people Pastor Becky Hanson of Elim Church has talked to say they stay away from downtown (and Northside) for their own safety. In the basement of Elim, there’s a safe street where they can get away from the cold: Hope Avenue.

It was a busy day at the polls in St. Anthony November 5. Election judges at City Hall said they had seen a steady stream of voters until the final hour, when the last few people trickled in to cast their ballots. They estimated a turnout of 40 percent, a good number in a non-presidential election year.

A husband and wife team, Eric and Kari Johnson, operating under the name of 521 Main LLC, has proposed building a 29-unit apartment building on the corner where a 120-year-old duplex currently stands. The Johnsons, who live in Prospect Park, purchased the property in February of this year.

Home Line’s hotline offers legal advice and education so renters can solve their own housing problems quickly; they also help renters organize to solve common issues on properties where they live together. Currently, Dahl said Home Line and Senator
Dziedzic are working together on drafting a bill that would require property owners to provide their tenants with a 14-day notice of a breach of contract on their lease before legal action is taken. This two-week window is meant to provide tenants with the opportunity to seek a solution, or assistance, for their problem before finding themselves homeless with a black mark on their rental history. Currently, no such notice is required by law in Minnesota, though Dahl said that 38 other states have such laws.

The parking lot at Masjid Al Huda – the Islamic Cultural Community Center (ICCC) at 2534 Central Avenue NE – has a new look and an additional function. Not only does it provide a place for members of the religious community to park their cars, it protects the environment as well.