News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Tuesday December 16th 2025
East Phillips Urban Farm & Housing vs City of Minneapolis
By EAST PHILLIPS NEIGHBORHOOD INSTITUTE
Neighbors Made a Plan:
Neighbors of East Phillips made a plan to buy and use 7.5 acres of land with a building between Longfellow Ave. and the Midtown Greenway and 27th St. and 28th St. when it became for sale in 2014. Led by Little Earth of United Tribes, Somali Chemical Awareness, the Urban Farm Project, the WomenӪs Environmental Institute, and the East Phillips Improvement Coalition (EPIC), they planned an Indoor Urban Farm for green jobs, second-chance job opportunities and job training, a community commercial kitchen, an all nations World caf̩, Market run by local youth, bike repair facility, and 28 affordable 2 bedroom housing units with start-up funding by DEED grant from the state of Minnesota.
Neighbors Plan Meets City Green Zone Goals & HIA Recommendations :
The Plan”™s goals exemplify the Mpls. City Council”™s Green Zone resolution; “Be it further resolved that Green Zone efforts will include community led planning, prioritization of homegrown development, and community ownership of the Green Zone initiatives that are innovative, creative, courageous, flexible and adaptive.”
City Plan Denies Green Zone Goals, State Laws, and Equity:
The City”™s project will 1. Demolish the 236,000 square foot warehouse, 2. Release dangerous arsenic during demolition,; Bring 400+ commercial vehicles and 400 workers vehicles into this already polluted community, 3.… Read the rest “East Phillips Urban Farm & Housing vs City of Minneapolis”
Transit and the Coronavirus
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON
Last month, I wrote about a restructure of Rochester Public Transit since there was no news about transit in Phillips or the Twin Cities in general. Ironically, The Alley Newspaper submission deadline was just two days before Metro Transit made the first of two major service cutbacks due to the closure of certain businesses and the Stay At Home order.
By now, most people should know Metro Transit closes down from 11 PM to 4:30 AM each night, and that most routes are on a Saturday schedule on weekdays. Presumably, normal service will be restored when this crisis is over.
Even in normal times, I don”™t get out much anymore, and I”™ve only been for one bus ride since this mess began. That was to help a friend who has a bad memory and gets lost easily going shopping at a location he doesn”™t know how to get to by himself. (Caring for others is a legitimate reason to travel under the order.)
One thing I immediately noticed is how empty the buses are. Many have literally no people on board. One or two people seem to be more common. The most I encountered on any bus I rode while helping my friend was about six.… Read the rest “Transit and the Coronavirus”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
