Should 46th Street Get Bike Lanes? Some Say No

Information and comment meeting to be held Wednesday night.

You wouldn't think repairing four blocks of potholes and cracked asphalt could be contentious.  However, a proposal to repave the four blocks of West 46th Street between King's Highway and Lyndale Avenue has drawn fire for a proposal to put bike lanes on the soon-to-be-rebuilt road. After an informational meeting last fall, businesses and some residents raised concerns about everything from lost street parking to cyclist safety. The intersection of 46th Street and Bryant Avenue South registered three accidents in the city's most recent tally of bicycle-car crashes from 2000 to 2010. "During rush hour, all the parking spots in front here are filled," said Guse Green Grocer owner Terry Thompson told Patch back in October. "If they take away …

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Local Architects Create Plan for New Downtown Park

Locus Architects are competing to liven up an under-used public space.

Local Architects Competing To Temporarily Revamp Downtown Park.

16 proposals under consideration for Convention Center plaza.

In front of the Minneapolis Convention Center sits a medium-sized expanse of grass and brick. Ringed by trees, it offers out-of-town visitors and downtown workers a little bit of the bucolic during lunch breaks. But, at some level, it's also pretty boring, a photogenic shortcut from the Convention Center to Marquette Avenue and points north and west. Next summer, the city's Convention and Visitor's Bureau wants to spice things up—they've invited local architects and artists to create and install a temporary, interactive, site-specific, eco-focused “portal” to the City of Minneapolis on the Plaza of the Minneapolis Convention Center. This challenge is intended to encourage exciting proposals and thoughtful discussion about how to make our …

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SW Minneapolis' City Council Rep Files For Mayor

Betsy Hodges represents all or part of seven Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods.

According to the Star-Tribune and the Southwest Journal, Ward 13 City Councilmember Betsy Hodges has filed papers to run for Mayor of Minneapolis in 2013. In recent months, speculation has been rife about Mayor RT Rybak's political future. Rybak, who also co-chairs the Democratic National Committee, is rumored to be in the running for a prominent position in the Obama administration. He has not yet said whether he will run for mayor in next year's citywide elections. Hodges portrayed her filings as a legal technicality, pointing out that state law required a candidate file election papers after spending or raising $100. “R.T. is a good mayor," Hodges told the Star-Tribune. "If he chose to serve again I would respect that." In an interview …

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Will Bildsten

2:34 pm on Saturday, December 1, 2012

Well, I think RT has been an excellent mayor, and I think if he chooses to run again, the city should back him for his excellent management of the budget and crucial investments in infrastructure. Good luck Mayor Rybak with your potential gig at the Obama Administration, and good luck to all potential candidates for mayor if he doesn't run again.   more ›

Recycle Old Christmas Lights At Local Parks, Shops

Electrical cords are also accepted.

Were you in the middle of decorating your house for Patch's annual Deck the House contest, when you realized one of your sets of old Christmas lights had so many blown out bulbs that you need to get rid of it? Replacing your old incandescent lights with LEDs in pursuit of the contest's $100,000 prize? Don't throw your old lights out—recycle them at one of many local locations, instead! According to the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, Lyndale Farmstead Park is participating in the Recycling Association of Minnesota's "Recycle Your Holidays" program this year. The program offers 450 locations statewide to drop off broken Christmas lights, extension cords, and appliance cords. Several local businesses and organizations are also …

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Police Nab Burglars After Kingfield-East Harriet Foot Chase

Several streets were blocked off as police searched for suspects.

Shortly after noon on Monday, officers with the Minneapolis Police Department were dispatched to the 3800 block of Aldrich Avenue South on a report of a burglary in progress. According to a report filed by officers with the Minneapolis Police Department, three men forced their way into a home on that block via a rear door. Several neighbors witnessed the event and contacted police. The trio fled with an iPod from the empty house, and officers called in reinforcements. At one point, nine squad cars were involved in cordoning off the 3900 blocks of Aldrich, Lyndale, Garfield, and Harriet Avenues South, according to an email one local block captain sent to Patch. The police report notes that two of the three suspects, both 16 years old, were …

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East Harriet Residents Launch 'Spark', a Really Bright Idea

The new device isn't just cool, it's representative of a revolution in American manufacturing.

The week before Thanksgiving, East Harriet resident Zach Supalla and a team of local entrepreneurs unveiled a very cool new project. Essentially, Supalla has come up with a very intelligent light socket that you can control from your smartphone or computer. Called a Spark, the small, barrel-shaped device screws in between your regular light sockets and your dimmable light bulbs. It connects to the Internet via your home wifi router, letting a user do everything from setting timers on their lights before vacation, to remotely turning them on and off using a special chip called an Arduino. That may sound pretty simple, until you consider that these basic functions are just the beginning. The real genius of Spark, according to Supalla, is its…

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Kingfield Plans Community Festival for Saturday

Expect mosaic-building, music, fun, and food.

Looking for something to do in the neighborhood on Saturday? Head down to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park for Kingfield's Cultural Community Celebration! From the Kingfield neighborhood website: Can't make it on Saturday? Several other workshops are planned for this month and next month. A joint effort of the Kingfield Neighborhood Association and the Southwest Senior Center, the work of art takes inspiration from the quilting cultures of Kingfield's many ethnicities. It will hang on the south face of the community center.  So what is a senior center doing getting involved in graffiti prevention and public art? The answer is pretty simple, said Southwest Senior Center's director, Mary Ann Schoenberger. "Not many younger folks know any of our …

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UPDATED: Find Holiday Deals in Southwest Minneapolis

Local businesses are getting a jump on the holiday shopping season this week.

Updated 10:59 a.m. 11/15/12: This story has been corrected from its original version to not that there is not a candlelight holiday event at 50th and Bryant the evening of Nov. 15. We apologize for the confusion. Looking to shop local and still snag some holiday deals? It turns out, you won't even have to wait for Black Friday or Small Business Saturday. This weekend, scores of Southwest Minneapolis stores are holding holiday shopping events. If you have everything you need, take a look around for something to contribute to Walker Methodist Health Center's "Give a Little Gift" program. The program works to ensure that each resident of the center gets a personalized gift during December.   Larue's Open House 48th and Grand Sip and Shop …

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East Harriet, Linden Hills Restaurants Clinch Local Awards

The Charlie Awards recognize excellence in the Twin Cities restaurant scene.

As anyone who's managed to get a table at either Linden Hills' Tilia or East Harriet's Piccolo will tell you, both restaurants are fantastic. It just so happens, though, that local foodie judges at the Charlie Awards have finally realized this. According to the Star-Tribune, Tilia was just awarded the 2012 Charlie for "Outstanding Restaurant," while Piccolo's chef Doug Flicker walked home with "Best Chef." Both Piccolo's and Tilia's official Twitter accounts posted messages last night expressing how "humbled" they were at recieving the awards. Piccolo was the 2011 winner for "Outstanding Restaurant." The Charlies were launched last year by local food writer Sue Zelickson, as she sought a home-grown way to celebrate the restaurants and …

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