From Concrete Void to Living Corridor
There is some welcome good news from the Hennepin and Lyndale crossroads. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is stepping up with long-overdue planting upgrades along this critical corridor, more than a decade after a major public investment transformed what was once a confusing, multi-jurisdictional expanse of concrete into a far more navigable and attractive space.
That transformation made a difference. Strategic plantings helped soften the edges of a once-hostile environment, with the Douglas median at Hennepin Avenue and Douglas Avenue in Lowry Hill standing out as a particularly successful and beautiful feature. It showed what is possible when infrastructure is paired with thoughtful design.
Now there is an opportunity to build on that progress. Seasonal plantings can bring color, life and a stronger sense of place to the corridor, but they require community support to become a reality.
Donations are being accepted through the Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association. Contributions can be mailed to Lowry Hill Neighborhood Association, P.O. Box 3978, Minneapolis, MN 55403. Please include “Douglas Median” in the memo line.
This is a chance for neighbors, businesses and supporters of our community to invest directly in a corridor that serves as a gateway to the neighborhood. With a little collective effort, we can continue turning yesterday’s concrete into something that feels alive.
John Van Heel
Loring Park
A Chief Who Showed Up
As we approach the second anniversary of the ambush killing of Officer Jamal Mitchell on May 30 and the City Council contemplates the reappointment of Chief Brian O’Hara, I cannot help but think about the extraordinary support Chief O’Hara provided his officers, the community and — most importantly — Jamal’s family during that terrible time.
Chief O’Hara spent the evenings from May 31 through June 12, 2024, at the squad car memorial in front of the Fifth Precinct. He comforted officers, spoke with community members and prayed the Mexican rosary with parishioners who arrived each evening from Incarnation Church to keep company.
Chief O’Hara came to the Minneapolis Police Department as a change agent to lead the department through and out of extremely challenging times. At that time, the department’s reputation was in tatters, community trust was eroded and officer morale was poor.
Since his first appointment in 2022, the chief has led MPD reform, built trusted relationships with the community and driven down crime.
Can you imagine enduring Operation Metro Surge had we been operating under 2022 conditions? With the chief’s front-and-center leadership and the excellent work of our MPD officers, our city did not burn. A terrible situation was not made worse. Today, recruitment is up, officer diversity is up and the uniform is worn with pride.
Chief O’Hara feels called to do this work in this city at this time. He approaches his responsibilities with a sense of strength and purpose. His family supports him in his work. I ask you to support him also. Your voice will make a difference. Please take a moment to let all 13 City Council members know of your support for Chief O’Hara and ask them to support him. Their contact information can be found at minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/members.
Aileen Johnson
North Loop
1,200 Acres in Decline
Watching another Park Board meeting, I saw a clear process for moving neighborhood parks through stages of improvement, with budgets, timelines and funding projections. It raises a question: Why aren’t the Park Board’s natural areas treated as a real asset?
Roughly 1,200 acres of natural areas represent about $240 million in public assets. By the Park Board’s own assessment, more than three-quarters are in poor or very poor ecological condition, with hundreds of acres — especially woodlands — already at the lowest rating.
Some are slipping toward a point where recovery becomes uncertain.
A reasonable maintenance standard is 1% to 2% of value annually — roughly $2.4 million to $4.8 million here — just to hold the line. Yet natural areas management is funded at a fraction of that. With about $700,000 a year, only around 400 acres are classified as “managed.” Combined with volunteer park stewards, total investment reaches roughly $1.4 million, or just over $1,000 an acre.
This isn’t a maintenance issue. It’s a repair issue. Restoring degraded systems takes closer to 5% — roughly $10,000 an acre annually for a period of recovery.
What would that fund? People, first: ecological staff, field crew leaders and seasonal crews to plan invasive removal, prescribed burns and replanting. It funds sustained, multi-year restoration — buckthorn doesn’t stay cleared after one pass. It supports rebuilding native trees, shrubs and hydrology. And it strengthens park stewards, who already give thousands of hours.
When healthy, these lands filter water, moderate heat, support vanishing biodiversity and offer children something increasingly rare: unstructured space to explore.
Time is not neutral. Delay makes recovery harder, costlier and sometimes impossible. These lands fall squarely under the Park Board’s responsibility. What will commissioners do?
Steve Kotvis
Bryn Mawr
Grateful to Our Police
The start of a woman’s worst fear while home alone began as a man recently attempted a home invasion at my Cedar-Isles-Dean home at 11 p.m.
I scared him off, then went to my second floor to look out the back window as he moved to an apartment building nearby. I called the police and watched him ring various apartment doorbells.
He didn’t get into the building and headed around the block. I felt safe in my car, so I drove to look for him, in case the police were busy. I didn’t want another neighbor to experience what I had. I couldn’t find him.
I was grateful that two Minneapolis Police Department patrol officers were able to arrive quickly. After seeing that the police were driving the neighborhood, I went home.
At 12:45 a.m., a neighbor saw the man being led in handcuffs to a police vehicle from her second-floor bedroom window, taken from inside a different nearby apartment building.
This conclusion allowed me to sleep. What I realized is that perhaps most often victims, or potential victims, don’t learn the outcome of a 911 call. And police officers don’t know that sometimes we’re watching out our windows and very appreciative of their actions.
I also realized that this is the work that I rely on from police officers. It doesn’t make the news but outcomes like this are what make people able to sleep, to function.
I’m grateful to Chief Brian O’Hara, the Fifth Precinct and each Minneapolis police officer who strives to do the right thing each shift, providing safety and peace.
Monica Nilsson
Cedar-Isles-Dean
Minnesotans Sure Know How to Get Rid of ICE
Kudos to the editor Craig Wilson and the team at the Hill & Lake Press for the expansive coverage of abusive and aggressive federal action carried out by ICE agents in Minneapolis. (Full disclosure: the editor and I are related through marriage on the Kanaka Maoli, or Native Hawaiian, side of our family.)
Through photos, interviews and firsthand accounts, the paper has been doing a yeoman’s job of “bearing witness” and putting a face to the impact of this threat to our community and our democracy as a whole.
Peaceful demonstrations carried out in sub-freezing temperatures fill me with awe and admiration, even as we monitor events from our “chilly” 72-degree island home. Beyond giving a voice to the outrage over injustice, the paper serves as a beacon of hope, providing a list of resources for help and support to those struggling.
Recalling the courage of our beloved Queen Lili’uokalani, who was illegally overthrown by U.S. interests, I was compelled to speak out and express our solidarity in this struggle. As the sign in one of your published photos notes, “Minnesotans Know How to Get Rid of ICE.” Bravo!
Diane Peters-Nguyen
Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii
Heart, Soul and Talent
Congratulations to the entire staff of the Hill & Lake Press. Excellence has been your standard, but with the critical issues facing our neighborhood I’m sure it presented a special challenge in January issue.
You met the challenge in both quality and coverage.
My deepest gratitude to all of you who clearly put your heart, soul and talent into this extraordinary product.
Bill Mease
Bryn Mawr
Leaf Blowers Be Damned
For the second time this month I was woken up in the middle of the night by the 40-minute performance of dueling leaf blowers attempting to clear the snow off the sidewalk across the street.
The Minneapolis ordinance states: “Individuals are not required to welcome unwanted noise into their own homes and there simply is no right to force unwanted noise into the home of an unwilling listener and there is a compelling interest in prohibiting such noise on a content neutral basis.”
Of all the unwanted noises forced into our home, gas-powered leaf blowers are the loudest. Louder than construction work next door, a snowblower on our sidewalk, or even the monthly tornado siren.
While city ordinances allow for snowblowers outside of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during snow emergencies, there is no such allowance for leaf blowers.
These are likely not permitted for the same reason air horns or fireworks are not — they are much louder, and much less effective, than a snowblower.
Legality aside, I’m not sure what drives someone to take their leaf blowers out at 4 a.m. Snow blowers do twice the work at half the volume. Many of us also do fine with the classic shovel.
While we wait for someone to take up Susan Lenfestey’s mantle in the campaign for a more livable city without gas-powered equipment, perhaps we can at least be considerate of our neighbors who never agreed to open their home to the aural assault of leaf blowers at any hour of the day.
Sean Prichard
East Isles
Lake Country Plant Sale
I’d like to let you know about our school’s plant sale happening on May 7 and 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the parking lot at 3755 Pleasant Ave.
We are currently accepting pre-orders until the week of the sale, and walk-up shopping is available on both days while supplies last.
We offer hundreds of options, including herbs, vegetables and flowers grown from seed to harvest by LCS students and staff at our Land School, as well as native perennials, annuals, greenery and hanging baskets grown locally and organically by Glacial Ridge.
Preorders:
https://lake-country-school.square.site/
More information:
https://www.lakecountryschool.org/giving/giving-events/plant-sale
Harrison McLean
Lake Country School
Correction:
In April’s “Support Rent Relief” letter, we omitted an important option for readers. Another option is to give a tax deductible contribution to the YESOD fund (yesodfund.org) that provides direct support to those navigating instability and harm particularly those most impacted by ICE.
(Above) Neighbors, business owners and city officials gathered at Urban Eats Halal on April 23 following a fatal March 14 shooting in a nearby parking lot, where 19-year-old Maslah Aden Khalif was killed after gunfire erupted from outside a group. The incident heightened concern after a stray bullet entered a nearby home, underscoring the impact on surrounding residents. Speakers included MPD Officer Davids, Julianne Lynum of the city’s economic policy team and owners Ali and Bisharo Abdi, two young entrepreneurs working to ensure nothing like this happens again. The meeting focused on safety, accountability and supporting both Uptown businesses and the broader community. (Image: Elizabeth Shaffer)
(Above) Cardamom, the restaurant at the Walker Art Center, is set to close following the museum’s decision to end its relationship with the operator after a shift to a QR code ordering system that eliminated server roles. The change sparked protests by workers and supporters, who raised concerns about job losses and working conditions in mid-April. The Walker said the reduced-service model did not align with its vision for a full-service dining experience. Cardamom employees were offered positions within the restaurant group or severance as part of the transition. (Image: Craig Wilson)
