Opinion
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Crie & Safet
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CARAG News
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ECCO News
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Eents Calenar
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November 2011
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Volume 7, Number 11
insie
< Scott Seekins
Familia Skateboard Shop, 2823 Hennepin Ave., hostsa show by local artist Scott Seekins, with an openingon Oct. 29, 7-9pm.
(Self-portrait by Scott Seekins)
Your Community-Supported News Source
•
Cing h UptowN AreA
and the Neighborhoods of CARAG and ECCO
No Pl
grm
Everad it
This
Good.
Enter to win UptownTheatre Movie Ticketsor Dinner for 4 at Chipotle
(see details on page 12)
The Beat’s pastor connects through a music hangout
By Sarah Sponheim
East Calhoun’s new one-sort recycling pilot program shows solid success:30% more households are recycling and the neighborhood is recycling35% more stuff.This one-year pilot program, a collaboration between Minneapolis andHennepin County, allows residents in the East Calhoun and Willard-Hay neighborhoods to commingle their recyclables in a single cart. Inlate August, crews delivered 96-gallon carts with blue lids to every eligi-ble address (single-family to four-plex) in the two neighborhoods. At thesame time, the crews removed the small blue and green bins that usedto hold our pre-sorted recycling. The same materials that have beenaccepted by the City can now be tossed into one cart, greatly simplifying
By Phyllis Stenerson
Nancy Ward just stepped down as Chair of the ECCO Board after twoyears of stellar service in bringing people together to strengthen the EastCalhoun neighborhood and the larger community.“Nancy has been a very effective president,” said Monica Smith, ECCOadministrator. “She is passionate about making East Calhoun a greatplace to live. She encourages neighbors to get involved with the com-munity and invites suggestions and feedback. She has championed ourmonthly socials as a way to meet neighbors, share ideas and build com-munity. She feels strongly that ECCO is not just a 12 member board,
A Strong Counter-current
By Shayna Melgaard
People passing by Joyce United Methodist Church on the evening of Tuesday, October 11 may have caught some live music coming from theportico on West 31st Street. The community event, organized by churchstaff and local musician Barbara Meyer, was a candlelit vigil featuringpeace and protest standards and original music, along with speakers call-ing for nonviolent action.David Booth, a local singer-songwriter-activist, was Barbara’s musicalcounterpart at the vigil. Prior to the event, he had never encountered thebuilding or the people who call Joyce their church home, but that nighthe could tell there was something different about the community there.“It was a place where generations came together,” Booth said. “Peoplewere working to connect the immediate concerns of daily life to a largersense of the meaning of life in general. People focused on, and celebrated,their common humanity and didn’t much sweat their social differences.Joyce seems like a strong counter-current, where trust and companion-ship are the guiding spirits.”
Let’sFace It
Tech savvy contractors still want a market to meet in person
By Bruce Cochran
If the the tech world is over-run with connecting devices andways to form and maintain rela-tionships, why would you needan old fashioned business-to-business fair?Local entrepreneur Blake Bensamsays, “You can start and end rela-tionships on the web, but whenbuilding relationships...when youshake someone’s hand...you reallyget a sense and feel of them.”That’s why instead of selling andbartering goods, Kareem Ahmedand Blake Bensman broughttogether aspiring and establishedentrepreneurs to expose, connect,inspire and showcase the talents,products and services that areinfused throughout the Twin Cit-ies. Their goal was to connect andinspire.The October event at Urban Beancoffee shop at 3255 Bryant Avenuewas organized for a variety of con-tractors: designers, copywriters,programmers, developers, applica-
Joce Church: A HomeFor Utown Misfits
One-Sort RecclinComes To East Calhoun
Local fans enjoy an all-ages show at The Beat Coffeehouse.
(Photo by Bruce Cochran)
Tain CommunitBuildin To A New Level
By Bruce Cochran
It may just be the way music com-municates with our brain that tillsthe soil of our emotions. We can’talways explain why we feel certainways about different music. Butmaybe there is something about itthat communicates directly withour subconscious that spontane-ously generates the emotions wefeel. However it happens, it’s clearthat we listen to a variety of musicto tap into those emotions. It’s nowonder music is so popular withteenagers who are still strugglingto find a way to speak but aresometimes short on words. It givesa dreamlike elocution absent mostadolescent vocabularies.One of those genres, Rock ‘n’ Roll,has been popular in the U.S. sincethe mid-50s and has never stoppedinspiring with lyric and song. Itssocial issues have provided thescore to a variety of cultural issues:civil rights, dissent, drugs, poverty,sex, war, lifestyles, as well as themany hopes and fears of youth.
JOyCE
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FACE
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RECyCLINg
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SpRIIT
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TAkINg
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(Photo by Bruce Cochran)(Photo by Bruce Cochran)(Photo by Bruce Cochran)
Smells Lie Teen Sirit
The Beat’s pastor connects through music venue
2
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Uptown neighborhood news.caa.
NOVEMBER 2011
coentar
2822 Lyndale Ave. S.Minneapolis, MN612.825.3019Lyndaleucc.org
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Media Tools for the New Normal
The Twin Cities Media Alliance’s 7th Annual Fall Media Forumwill be held on Saturday, November 12 from 9 am to 3:30 pm atthe Minneapolis Central Public Library, 300 Nicollet Mall. Thisevent is free and open to the public but advance registration isencouraged. For more information go to twincitiesmediaalliance.wordpress.com To register (and purchase a box lunch if you wish)go to http:bit.ly/TCMAForumWe are living in a media New Normal in which ordinary citizenshave unprecedented access to powerful media tools. This forumfocuses on the media tools and information resources that canhelp citizens, communities and businesses inform themselves,communicate and work together.
Un Nighhd Nsis n n Fack
Friend us so you can send and receive news about happenings in Uptown.
UNN Wants yOU
Reporters, writers and pho-tographers from the com-munity are needed. UptownNeighborhood News willbe represented at the MediaForum and enthusiasticallyencourages others to attend.Sessions to help writers findtheir groove are also beingplanned. Contact PhyllisStenerson, editor, uptown-news@yahoo.com to discusshow you can be part of theNew Normal in Uptown.
Utown Neihborhood News wants to hear from the communit
News tips, story ideas, articles, photos with captions, letters to the editor and commentary are welcomed and encouraged. Send by the 15th of themonth to uptownnews@yahoo.com or UNN, 3612 Bryant Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409.All submissions must be relevant to Uptown. Letters to the Editor are limited to 250 words. High resolution photos are required. We reserve the rightto decide whether or not a piece will be published and to edit for space, clarity, appropriateness or legal concerns. We need to know your name, address,phone number, e-mail and neighborhood.UNN is a monthly publication of Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG) in cooperation with the East Calhoun Community Organization(ECCO). UNN covers the news of Uptown and is delivered free to households within the area bounded by Lyndale Avenue and Lake Calhoun, betweenLake Street and 36th Street. Copies are distributed to businesses in the Uptown area. Circulation is 5,200 with a pass-along readership of 10,000. Publica-tion and distribution is before the first of every month. Contributors are area residents who volunteer their time to bring the news of the area to residents.UNN is managed by a board of local citizens with the ECCO and CARAG Boards each appointing three representatives. Monthly meetings are heldat St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, 3450 Irving Avenue from 7 pm to 9 pm the first Monday of the month, unless otherwise scheduled. Meetings areopen to the public. Contact uptownnews@yahoo.com to confirm and/or request time on the agenda.
Copyright © 2011 Uptown Neighborhood News
Editor
Phyllis Stenerson (CARAG) 612.331.1929
uptownnews@yahoo.com
Art Direction and Production
Bruce Cochran (CARAG)
unn612@gmail.com
Advertising
Susan Hagler (CARAG) 612.825.7780
susanhagler@earthlink.net
Managing Board
Ralph Knox,
President (ECCO)
Elizabeth Walke,
Treasurer (CARAG)
Linda Todd, Secretary
(ECCO)
Ruth Cain
(ECCO)
Samantha Strong
(CARAG)
Contributing Photographers
Bruce Cochran, Anja Curiskis,Kay Nygaard-Graham, Phyllis Stenerson
Contributing Writers
Carol Bouska, Bruce Cochran,Scott Dibble, Marion Greene,Frank Hornstein, Shayna Melgaard,Judy Shields, Monica Smith,Sarah Sponheim, Phyllis Stenerson,Meg Tuthill, Nicole Valentine
Newspaper Circulation
CARAG/ECCO/Uptown Circulation:Bill Boudreau, Justin Jagoe
What a difference one month canmake! Toward the end of Sep-tember a crowd started to gatheron Wall Street in New York Cityto protest the significant role thefinancial industry played in caus-ing our international economiccrisis. People were expressinganger that major banking andinvestment institutions madehuge profits from risky decisionsbut, when the bubble burst, werebailed out with taxpayer moneyinstead of penalized. Meanwhile,millions of regular Americans losttheir jobs, savings and homes andgot no help.Occupy Wall Street sprouted upfrom the grassroots and grew rap-idly into a worldwide movementwithin a few weeks. There arenow protests in hundreds of citiesincluding OccupyMN in down-town Minneapolis where about1,000 people showed up on the firstday, some stayed and many returnfrequently.
“First they ignore you, then theylaugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mohandas Gandhi
While it’s true that some of themost devoted occupiers might bedescribed as “looking a bit differ-ent” many are the people that yousee each day in your neighbor-hood. It’s a lot easier to march fora few miles in balmy fall weatherthan sleep overnight on cold, hardconcrete so we fair-weather friendsappreciate those who are toughingit out.
“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about reform.”Susan B. Anthony
The Occupy movement is mostcertainly a phenomenon! It’sincredible in its size, scope, volume,velocity and unity. Individuals maybe promoting a dizzyingly diversearray of causes but its animatingmessage is abundantly clear: “Thebanks got bailed out, the peoplegot sold out” to quote a frequentlyrepeated slogan.Deregulation of the financialindustry over the past decades,along with an escalating amountof money being poured into Con-gressional campaigns and lobby-ing, have had a profound effecton the power balance in America.The top one percent of the popu-lation has amassed an obscenelylarge proportion of the nationalwealth while the middle class isshrinking and poverty is surging.“We are the 99%” is another mes-sage.
“We learned long ago that power and privilege never give up anything without a struggle. Money fights hard, and it fights dirty.” Bill Moyers
There’s no doubt there are strongfeelings for shifting power fromthe financial elite to the rest of us. A recent Time Magazine pollreported the OccupyUSA Move-ment has the support of 54% of theAmerican public, surpassing 27%support for the Tea Party Move-ment.
peole power Or Mone power?
Editorial by Phyllis Stenerson
Liz Mattingly and Brita Melom brightened the first day of OccupyMN at the Hen-nepin County Government Center on October 7.
They gave away roses complimentsof Amelia’s flower shop in Uptown. Don Portwood, minister of Lyndale United Church of Christ, was one of the surprised participants who received a flower. Lyndale UCC is hold-ing services at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Avenue South , until renovation on theirbuilding at 26th Street and Lyndale Avenue is complete soon. Amelia Flower and GardenShoppe is at 36th Street and Bryant Avenue , 612.825.3019.
(Photo by Phyllis Stenerson)
Since the September 2011issue I’ve been writing about politics and government for the purpose of contributing to civic education and promoting dialogue. Therewas a time when subjects thatwere not considered polite conversation included politics, money, race, power, sex and religion. That’s what needs to be discussed plus much more. Previous editorials and context can be found at www. ProgressiveValues.org.
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NOVEMBER 2011
.caa.
Uptown neighborhood news
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3
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Citizen ACtion
CARAG Neighborhood
612.823.2520 carag@carag.org
East Isles Neighborhood
612.821.0131nrp@eastisles.org
ECCO Neighborhood
612.821.0131nrp@eastcalhoun.org
Lowry Hill E. Neighborhood
612.377.5023 lhena@thewedge.org
Minneapolis Information
311
Mpls. Park & Rec. Board
Brad Bourn
612.230.6443 ext. 4 bbourn@minneapolisparks.org
Bob Fine
612.230.6443 ext. 6 bfine@minneapolisparks.org
Mpls. Public Schools
612.668.0000 answers@mpls.k12.mn.us
City Councilperson (10)Meg Tuthill
612.673.2210 meg.tuthill@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.
Mayor R.T. Rybak
612.673.2100 rt@minneapolis.org
State Representative (60A)Marion Greene
651.296.0171rep.marion.greene@house.mn.
State Representative (60B)Frank Hornstein
651.296.9281rep.frank.hornstein@house.mn
State Senator (60)D. Scott Dibble
651.296.4191sen.scott.dibble@senate.mn
Governor Mark Dayton
651.201.3400 mark.dayton@state.mn.us
U.S. Congressman (5th)Keith Ellison
612.522.1212 www.ellison.house.gov
U.S. SenatorAl Franken
202.224.5641info@franken.senate.gov
U.S. SenatorAmy Klobuchar
202.224.3244 www.klobuchar.senate.gov
PresidentBarack Obama
202.456.1111comments@whitehouse.gov
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State Budet Means Hiher proert Taxes
By Minnesota State Legislators, District 60 - Representative Frank Hornstein, Representative Marion Greene and Senator Scott Dibble
If you’re a homeowner paying thesecond half of your property taxbill this month, pay special atten-tion to your statement. Many of you should notice a line called theHomestead Credit, a direct prop-erty tax relief program that lowershomeowner property taxes. Anyhome valued under about $414,000automatically receives the credit.The maximum credit is $304 andthe average credit is $202. Ninety-five percent of all homeownersreceive this benefit.We’d like all residents to takenotice of this special property taxrelief now because next year, theHomestead Credit no longer willexist. The state budget “fix” thatRepublicans insisted on and votedfor during the July special session– and which the three of us votedagainst – included an irresponsibledecision to eliminate the Home-stead Credit, meaning the propertytax reduction you see on this year’sstatements disappear next year.The Republicans replaced theHomestead Credit with a newscheme that will require cities andcounties to factor a lower percent-age of homeowners’ total marketvalue when applying levies. This“new” program provides $0 inproperty tax relief, eliminating aprogram that provided $538 mil-lion in relief; it only shifts whichproperty tax payers bear the bur-den – expected to be homes thathave increased or maintained theirvalues, residential rental proper-ties and commercial spaces that areincreasing in value.Probably most upsetting is thatunlike the old system, there is noguarantee that this new so-calledHomestead Market Value Exclu-sion will result in lower propertytaxes for even one homeownerbecause the deduction no longer isapplied directly to individual taxbills. Instead, many homeowners –and business owners, commercialproperty owners, renters and own-ers of highly valued homes – willsee an increase in their tax billsnext year as cities and counties areforced to spread their levies acrossmore properties to make up for theartificially lowered tax base.This is nothing but a bait andswitch by Republicans – tryingto appear as though they’re keep-ing property taxes flat, but actu-ally forcing them up by theirvery action. It’s a sneaky way toonce again push the state’s budgettroubles onto property taxpayers.Minneapolis is just one of manycities proposing a zero percentlevy increase for 2012, but thecity’s hard work at maintainingcosts is for naught because of theRepublican legislature’s changes.Minneapolis is predicting at least35 percent of residential homesin the city will see a city propertytax increase of up to five percentin 2012, even though those homeshave not changed homestead sta-tus, have not had any improve-ments, and fall under the city’s 0percent levy increase.We are especially dismayed thatthe tremendous property tax relief delivered from the hard wonreforms on the City’s Police andFire pension obligations will beeroded by this action.Property taxes in cities and coun-ties across the state will be increas-ing in the same manner even if local governments don’t spendone additional dime next year,but simply maintain the currentlevel of basic services. It’s a simplearithmetic fact: raising the exactsame amount from an artificiallyreduced base, absent the offset-ting reimbursement from thestate, means property taxes have toincrease. And. as is always the casewhen property taxes go up, someproperties have to carry more of the freight if they have maintainedtheir value better than others inthe same jurisdiction. With a cutto the renters’ property tax creditof 13%, renters are hit twice.The three of us stood with our DFLcolleagues to oppose this change inthe first place. We fought for long-term solutions that wouldn’t shovethe state’s problems onto propertytax payers once again, and we’reprepared to launch a similar fightin 2012. Democrats have proposedlegislation for 2012 that wouldreverse this year’s decision andrestore the Homestead Credit.Minnesota property taxpayersalready are on the hook for morethan $3 billion of former Gover-nor Pawlenty’s budget problemsover the past decade. There’s abso-lutely no excuse for them to payeven more.
State Senator D. Scott Dibble, Dis- trict 60 – 651.296.4191, sen.scott. dibble@senate.mnState Representative Frank Horn- stein, District 60A – 651.296.9281, rep.frank.hornstein@house.mnState Representative Marion Greene, District 60B – 651.296.0171, rep. marion.greene@house.mn
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Only time will tell if and how thisspontaneous, egalitarian move-ment will evolve into a force thatwill influence elections and publicpolicy. Participants and observ-ers are increasingly realizing thatpassions go much deeper than justeconomic justice and encompassthe very moral values on whichAmerican democracy is based.Signs have emerged recently thatsay “Pardon the inconvenience.We are changing the world.”
“Time doesn’t change things. People change things.” Andy WarholComments from readers are wel- come. Send letters to the Editor atUptownNews@yahoo.com or UNN, 3612 Bryant Avenue South, Minne- apolis 55409.
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