What is city pride worth?
from streets.mn by Alex Schieferdecker
This past week, the National Football League approved the request of the St. Louis Rams to relocate to Los Angeles. This, despite an aggressive push by St. Louis and Missouri political and business leaders to keep the team through the partial public financing of a brand new stadium along the Mississippi riverfront. This news story has a lot of angles, from the bonkers $2.6 billion stadium/NFL Disneyland proposed on the LA suburb of Inglewood, to the callous greed of modern sports. No doubt readers of this blog felt some envy for St. Louis, which despite attempts to the contrary, did not throw away half a billion dollars of desperately needed public money. As a state recently extorted by the NFL, Minnesotans can relate.
Unfairness Trumps in TV
So it goes in the life of Donald Trump and the interpretative media that follows him. I am largely referring to the non-news-news cable TV stations such as Fox on the right and MSNBC on the left. Their obsession with Trump and his meandering mind has less to do with politics and political bias and everything to do with ratings and money. They gain market share thereby creating more profit and the commentators and analysts not only achieve financial success via exposure but it also sells books and drives speaking fees. In brief, it is a pathway to wealth and they do not disclose a thing.
Growing lettuce at ten below zero
from News Day by Mary Turck
Local lettuce all winter? At St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, passive solar greenhouses grow lettuce for college food service, with farming and management by enthusiastic student volunteers. With a few dozen other folks, I visited both greenhouses on a subzero January Saturday, on the first of the Deep Winter Greenhouse Tours sponsored by the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota.
The part of farming I hate
from Minnesota Farm Living by Wanda Patsche
I am feeling really bummed today. With the “siberian-like” temperatures we have this weekend in Minnesota, I thought I would spend some time in my office and work on our year-end farm analysis.
I wish I had done something else.
In case you are not aware, prices for everything we raise (pigs, corn and soybeans) are very low. We just sold a group of hogs and I can honestly say it has been a very long time since we sold pigs for such a low price. And it stinks.
Coffee genesis
from Kinda Different by Keith Dawson
It occurred to me that I have been in most of the places where specialty coffee, as we know it in the US today, was introduced and took root.
I have been a coffee afficianado (“snob” might be too strong a term) since the early 1970s when I was introduced to amazing coffee in Berkekey CA.
There’s a Caribou not too far from here, and while sipping a café au lait there (or ole, as the natives might say) I got to wondering when and where that chain had begun its ascent. The answer is 1992, at 44th and France in Edina MN. I’ve been in that Caribou too.
Purposeful unity engages the mind and heart
from #unitecloud by Ahmed Ali Said
What do you know about your immigrant and refugee neighbors? Do you judge them by what you hear others say? Do you choose to believe whatever the media throws at you, no matter the accuracy or inaccuracy of the contents? Do you find yourself overgeneralizing the whole population of your Somali American neighbors?
It is human nature to take the easiest path to judge others based on mere assumptions or biased sources without taking the time to go the extra mile to gather the hard facts about the situation. We tend to believe whatever supports our snap judgement of others.
Photo essay: The vacant storefronts of Lyn-Lake
from streets.mn by Nick Magrino
The so-called “Lyn-Lake” business district centered on the intersection of Lyndale Avenue and Lake Street should, in theory, be one of the city’s most desirable and busy commercial nodes. There’s a ton of new residential that’s been built within walking distance, filling in some gaps in what were already and still are stable, prosperous, and densely-populated neighborhoods. For all that new density (thousands of units!) not much new retail space was added. There are a couple spots in Lime along Lyndale Avenue. There was a decent amount over in The Walkway (i.e. the hot tub building) but that’s over closer to Hennepin Avenue.
There’s something weird going on over at Lyn-Lake, though. It’s full of vacant commercial space! Two corners, previously home to Falafel King and Milio’s, are empty. Caffrey’s closed after much speculation. Country Bar closed, Tatters closed, Serendipity Road closed, and so on. There’s a natural churn to business of course, that’ll happen, but the issue here is that the spots are still vacant.
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