Author Archive
Artists Invited to Submit Design Ideas for Light-Emitting Sculpture
By TIM SPRINGER The Midtown Greenway Coalition is issuing a call for artists to submit their ideas for a beautiful and stunning light-emitting sculpture. As mentioned in a previous Alley article, the purposes of the sculpture are to create exciting art that brings joy and makes you say “WOW!”, light up a dark area, and serve as a wayfinding beacon to help people find their way onto and off of the Greenway. This is a project of the Midtown Greenway Coalition with an Advisory Team composed of seven residents from the 2800 and 2900 blocks of 18th Avenue South, adjacent to the proposed sculpture location. I am honored to serve as Project Manager (a volunteer position) and work with the Advisory Team on this exciting project. The sculpture will be located at the top of the entrance ramp to the Midtown Greenway at 18th Avenue. It will be about 12 feet wide and will be suspended up in the air about 12 feet above the trail surface. The body of the sculpture will emit light; [...]
Metro Transit: Lake Street and I-35W Station Opens
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON It’s finally happening! The new bus station in the middle of I-35W at Lake Street is opening Monday, 18 October 2021. (This means it’s already open by the time this issue is published. Such is the lag time inherent in a monthly newspaper.) As I’m sure everyone who’s read my column knows, it’s for the new Orange Line to Burnsville, which begins 4 December. In the meantime, Metro Transit Routes 535, 553, 578, 597, and Southwest Transit Routes 600 and 695 will be using it, joined by various MVTA express routes as of 20 November. Local Metro Transit Routes 21 and 27 will provide connections on Lake Street, just below the station. Speaking of Lake Street, planning for the B Line, a Bus Rapid Transit line to open on Lake Street in 2024, is chugging right along. Presently, Route 21 is the slowest and second busiest route in the whole Metro Transit bus system. Anyone who’s had to ride a 21 during a rush-hour traffic jam knows it’s not a good [...]
Human Toll: A Public History of 35W Opens at the Hennepin History Museum
Provided by Hennepin History Museum A new exhibit at Hennepin History Museum (HHM) explores community resistance and resilience, and illustrates how freeway construction destroyed and divided Black communities across the United States, amplifying the effects of systemic racism still felt today. With photographs, maps, oral histories, and archival documents, HUMAN TOLL: A Public History of 35W foregrounds the experiences of Black residents of South Minneapolis by exploring stories about displacement, housing discrimination, neighborhood division and environmental justice. Hennepin History Museum HUMAN TOLL was researched and developed over a period of two years by a diverse team of South Minneapolis community members and advisers, working in collaboration with students and faculty of the University of Minnesota Heritage Studies and Public History program. The exhibit runs through October 1, 2022. Located at 2303 Third Ave South, Minneapolis, Hennepin History Museum is [...]
