“I’m not superstitious,” said Barry Tedlund as he described how he started Fitness Crossroad on April Fools’ Day, 2001. “We opened on July 13. It was a Friday. We were open two months, then 9/11 hit. We weathered it.”

Not only “weathered,” but survived and thrived, until 2021. After 21 years in business at 2912 Pentagon Drive, St. Anthony, COVID-19 forced Tedlund out of business. With members in lockdown during 2020 and remaining cautious in 2021, “This one took us down,” he said at a farewell party Jan. 2. “Our landlord helped us through it for a year, but he has to make money, too. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Effects of the COVID pandemic and the sharp rise in several types of crimes have shattered any presumption of return to normalcy. A recent report from Inspector Todd Loining on the “State of the 2nd Precinct” illuminated some of the trends in criminal activity in Northeast Minneapolis this last year.

On Jan. 4, the 2nd Precinct Advisory Council (2PAC) published a summary of the December report by board member Emilie Quast, highlighting the past years’ successes and challenges; the Northeaster followed up with some questions of Loining. Quast also reported on the activities of the city attorney, the public defenders office, and probation office staff.

The reconstruction of the 1.7-mile stretch of Lowry will be divided into two phases and will last until well into 2026. The first phase, from Johnson to Washington, will start next year. Reconstruction from Washington to Marshall (Phase II) will follow when Phase I is complete. Although it might make more sense to start at the river and work east from the Lowry Bridge, Kelly Agosta, Hennepin County project manager, said during a Dec. 9 online workshop that funding for the Johnson-Washington portion was received first and that dictated the schedule.

Whether it’s daffodils in his front yard or a Nativity scene, when Warren Kapsner starts a project, it has a tendency to grow. And grow. And grow.

Twenty years ago, Kapsner built a large, sprawling Nativity scene. He talked to several shopping malls about displaying it, but found little interest in it. “It’s just the way we are today,” he said with a shrug.

On New Year’s Day 2021, with the world in lockdown because of COVID-19, he decided to work on the scene again, with the idea of displaying it in the windows of his shop in Columbia Heights, Rapid Graphics and Mailing, 4016 Central Avenue. He worked on it daily until June, adding another ten feet to the diorama.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has completed its first two rounds of involving the public in the planning of Graco Park and has scheduled one more virtual open house to gather opinions before putting the project out for bids later this month or in early February. Construction would begin in the fall.

Neighborhood residents see JROW from 22nd Avenue as a sidewalk at the base of the railroad tracks west of Madison St. NE or as an angled pedestrian continuation of Jefferson Street approached from 23rd Avenue NE.As one of his last events in office, First Ward Council Member Kevin Reich gathered quietly with the two apartment developers and Miller December 14 to celebrate the new concrete walkway and the lone permanent sculpture XOXO by Karl Unnasch, recently installed. Representing the popular symbol of hugs and kisses, it’s made of Coreten steel in flowing forms with a heart for one of the O’s and the other hanging from the last X, both filled with gem forms lit from within at night by LEDs. It’s placed near the embankment such that selfies are possible with or without trains in the background.

The Northeast branch of the Minnesota Tool Library lies deep inside Central Avenue’s Thorpe Building, 1620 Central Avenue NE, jammed with tools of all sorts, from wrenches to drill presses, hammers to table saws. It and the St. Paul branch are a membership-based non-profit whose motto is “Access over Ownership,” and it’s literally spelled out with tools on a plaque above the front counter. While the day-to-day is the supply of tools to borrow and space for neighborhood do-it-yourself projects, the NE Tool Library also hosts classes, such as the pair of kids’ woodworking workshops that took place Dec. 22.

These classes, for children 8 to 12 years, offered students the chance to create 12–inch-tall robots from dimensional lumber, fasteners, and other add-on materials. The syllabus noted, “Kids will gain basic experience with tool safety concepts, measuring, tool use and project assembly. With guidance, students will use a hand saw, a drill press, a pad sander and hand wrenches. Parents/guardians are not required to attend, but are welcome. Students will leave with a robot to keep!” Prices for the workshops are $25 to $30.

Minneapolis city government set transparency and one-stop-shop goals for its new Public Service Center. Several Northeast Minneapolis-based artists helped create the environment in which 1,100 city employees will work and interact with the public toward those goals.

The building, kitty-corner from City Hall at 505 South 4th Avenue, consolidates departments that were scattered in several different service counters downtown and leased locations further away. The city hopes to recover some of the $195 million cost by selling some of its holdings such as the City of Lakes building and the former Public Service Center building.