‘Miscellany’ Archives
Banyan Community Celebrates 25 Years
By KRISITI JOHNSON, Banyan Community Courtesy Banyan Community. This year, Banyan Community celebrates its 25th year in the Phillips neighborhood. Many things have changed in two and a half decades, but the key things have remained the same. Banyan Community recognizes that in order for children to thrive and ultimately graduate, go to post-secondary education and succeed as adults, whole families and the larger community MUST be connected and engaged.Originally founded in 1998 by Tim and Joani Essenburg to provide safety for youth through a neighborhood block club, programming focused on conflict resolution and community building. In 2003 a formal afterschool program to support education was launched, serving 40 youth on one block. 2006 marked the first high school graduate! Expanding its reach, in 2009 the Lighthouse Network block club was founded, growing the service area to five blocks. As Banyan grew, three different addresses served as gathering places until finally, in [...]
Who’s REALLY the Boss at Minneapolis City Hall?
By THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS MINNEAPOLIS This is the third in a series of six articles about the 2023 Minneapolis City Election, brought to you by the League of Women Voters Minneapolis. All articles available at lwvmpls.org/for-voters If you’re willing to take on the job, you can claim your rightful power in the running of our city by voting in local elections. And there’s a significant one coming up this November 7th. Due to redistricting, all thirteen Minneapolis Wards will be choosing council members, the people who will speak for you and your neighborhood at City Hall, and advocate for the issues you deem critical to the quality of life in the City of Lakes.With the recent voter-approved change in the city charter redistributing duties between the mayor and the council, the newly elected city council will focus on creating ordinances and using the power of the purse. In other words, making the rules we all live by and approving which programs and services get money and [...]
From the Desk of State Representative Hodan Hassan
By REP. HODAN HASSAN, District 62B Hodan Hassan Friends and neighbors, The historic 2023 legislative session has officially ended. For the first time in a decade, we were able to move past gridlock and work together under DFL leadership to make some of the most robust investments in Minnesota’s families we’ve ever seen. We also successfully protected reproductive freedom, made major moves towards clean energy, cut taxes by $100 million, cracked down on catalytic converter thefts, expanded voting rights, strengthened gun violence prevention measures, made investments to address the housing crisis, legalized adult-use cannabis, and made major investments for infrastructure improvements across the state – and that just begins to scratch the surface.One thing I want you to know about me is I put my constituents in South Minneapolis first. That’s why I fought for robust investments for our community and delivered over $78 million for Minneapolis Public schools, $27 million [...]
