Wednesday, February 6, 2013
U.S. Forest Service funds study of nation's urban forests.
The next time you find yourself staring up at the leafy green canopy over your Southwest Minneapolis street with satisfaction, rest assured your pride is well-founded. Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Forests foundation announced the results of a study of the nation's urban forests that placed Minneapolis in the top 10. The blue-ribbon panel who ran the study praised the extensiveness of the city's canopy—it covers 31 percent of the city—and valued the trees at $756 million. The forest also reduces energy use by $216,000 per year, the study said, estimating that the reduction in energy usage reduces carbon emissions at an estimated value of $16,000. Part of the job for maintaining those trees falls to the …
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Couple forgoes headstone in favor of sidewalk legacy.
Dean and Arlene Knutson are planning on a slightly unconventional funeral. Next time you're sitting on a bench in the front row at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, though, look for a trio of pavers set into the ground underneath your feet that look like the ones posted at right, with the Knutson's names and one saying apiece. No, the Knutson's aren't underfoot. They are alive and well, and might even be walking by you as you stare between your shoes. But when the Golden Valley couple do pass on, those three will be the only lasting public memorial There will be no headstone, no burial plot. Just the Knutsons' cremated ashes, scattered in the wind at Lakewood Cemetery. But, they have decided they can't entirely let tradition slip away. "We …
Monday, August 6, 2012
Local nonprofit giving money for universal-access play structure.
With the approval of a $25,000 grant on Friday, Linden Hills nonprofit People for Parks joined a group of donors trying to raise money for a playground at Minnehaha Falls that will be accessible to all children, regardless of ability or disability. Only one thing now stands in the coalition's way: $275,000. The playground, according to a statement released by People for Parks, is expected to cost $1 million. The playground is being spearheaded by a local group called Falls 4 All. The high cost factors in a number of modifications needed to give disabled children as free a reign as possible. According to the People for Parks statement, the playground's design is aiming for "a space in which children or parents with physical, sensory, or …
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Young Blaine man uses sidewalk to win bride.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Sunday, August 5, 2012
Next time you're sitting in front the Lake Harriet Bandshell, towards the middle of the first row of benches, take a look at the pavers near your feet, and try to find a small, square one that says: "Kelly A., will you marry me?" Last May, Riley Doering paced—or rather, rolled—back and forth in front of that spot on a pair of roller blades. He knew that he had two surprises nearby that would hopefully change his life forever, one in his pocket and the other embedded in the sidewalk a few feet away. A few minutes prior, he'd told his girlfriend Kelly Atherton that he would be right back, that just had to go to the bathrooms at The Bread and Pickle. Waiting in the Bandshell parking lot a few hundred feet away, Atherton could see Doering …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The grassroots foundation supporting the city's parks has its roots in Southwest Minneapolis.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- James Sanna
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Ever wonder how the buildings around Lake Harriet Bandshell stay looking so nice? Or how Theo Wirth Park’s trails got their lighting? Or how the Minneapolis Park Board came by a portable stage, even when they—like all local government agencies, it seems—are perennially scrimping and saving to keep tax rates down? As it turns out, they doesn’t have much to do with the Park Board at all—they’re all projects of the nonprofit People for Parks, and they’re turning 35 this year. Back in 1978, said PFP board president Jeff Winter, the city’s urban forest was reeling from Dutch Elm Disease, and the Park Board was facing a staggering bill to replace all the dying trees that lined most of the city’s sidewalks. “This was the end of the world for …
Jesse Lykken
12:36 am on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
That is so cool. What wonderful people the Knutsons must be. I think the concept of 'visiting the stones" is spiritually fulfilling, somehow. What a nice neighborhood we all live in! more ›