‘Commentary’ Archives
One Day”¦
By Peter Molenaar March17, about 3:10 p.m”¦. Picked up Camila for a 3:30 rendevous with CTUL. Camila is a “red-diaper baby” of Chilean descent, recently returned from a tour of Cuba. Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) is a worker”'s center which rallies the community in support of vulnerable low-wage workers.  We drove down Lake Street to the Uptown McDonald”'s. It was protest, not burgers which moved us to follow our bold leaders. At long last the chanting brought forth a manager. We then politely requested decent wages and respect for all workers”¦ Hey”¦ There are some 13,000 McDonald”'s in the U.S. There is “a family of 2,400 owner/operators.”  To join the “family,” a minimum of $300,000.00 of non-borrowed personal resources is required, with a minimum 25% down. So, with 36,000 McDonald”'s on the planet (enough already!), I suggest we place our [...]
Hiawatha/Hi-#55 Stoplight opinions wanted
Andrew Johnson BY ANDREW JOHNSON, 12TH WARD CITY OF MPLS. COUNCIL MEMBER Over the past few years, the City of Minneapolis and its partners made major investments in a new traffic signal management system and other equipment to slash wait times for vehicles along and crossing Hiawatha Avenue. Drivers who use Hiawatha know firsthand how traffic flow can be disrupted by the Metro Transit”'s Blue Line. Nowhere else in the country can you find a fast (45 mph or faster) commuter train running parallel to a highway, forcing frequent stops to side street traffic along the way. Now, the City is reexamining traffic in light of those investments and changes to see if any additional improvements can be made. Traffic signal operation improvements along Hiawatha in 2013 included the addition of 160 in-pavement traffic detectors, the activation of a traffic signal control system that wasn”'t available when the light-rail line started service in 2004 and a revision of traffic signal [...]
Frank Reflections-March 2015
By Frank Erickson “Prove to me that sarcasm and ridicule are unjustifiable if they break the crust of prejudice, roused a conscience or shammed a sinner! Our aim is to alter public opinion.” ...Wendell Phillips I wonder how often Wendell Phillips used sarcasm and ridicule to change the behaviors of loved ones or co-workers, and if he did use it, how well it worked. They have a “fighting season” in Afganistan that goes from spring to fall. Every year for the past fifteen years both “sides” have taken a break from the fighting for five months during the harsh winter months. For as long as the “war” has been going on, that”'s a total of 75 months, just over six years. If a 15 year “war” can have six years of no “warring”””is that not evidence that they can stop fighting? I”'m not quite sure what is more disturbing, a man being burned alive in a cage, or millions of people flocking to theaters to [...]
