News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Friday December 26th 2025
Franklin Av”'s Open Street 2017
Courtesy of Residents, Businesses, Institutions, Franklin Avenue Business Association, & OpenStreetsMpls.
Franklin Av & 14th, looking east, Av near Pow-Wow Grounds Coffee Shop, All My Relations Gallery, Many Rivers Apts. East, and Ancient Trader”'s Market, et al; portion of Native American Cultural Corridor during Open Streets Mpls 2017. Erik Renk-Grant
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- Ventura Village Neighborhood of Phillips Community during Open Streets Mpls. 2017 display on Franklin Av and 12th Av. Erik Renk-Grant
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- Franklin Av & 14th, looking west, Av near Pow-Wow Grounds Coffee Shop, All My Relations Gallery, Many Rivers Apts. West, and Ancient Trader”'s Market, Ali”'s, Franklin Community Library, et al; portion of Native American Cultural Corridor during Open Streets Mpls 2017. Erik Renk-Grant
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- At Franklin Av OPEN STREET 2017 games to play, books for sale, stories told from Hennepin County Franklin Community Branch in the 103 year old building and 123 year old Franklin Library on Franklin Av that is one of the most active libraries in the metro area every day with computer, language, and culture literacy classes.
What”'s going on in there? Phillips Aquatic Center Update
A new south addition to the original 1972 Phillips Pool and Gym building has taken shape and construction is over the halfway point. Throughout the building, the mechanicals, electric and plumbing have all been roughed in so that the walls, floors and ceiling can progress. The new structure will house the new zero-entry, 25-yard, shallow, warm-water teaching pool. The new pool concrete is being poured into the forms in this photo.
BY DENNY BENNETT
You know something is happening, you see the mounds of dirt, the heavy equipment, and the hard hats, but how is it coming along? Is it really going to be a new Aquatics Center?
I”'m happy to report, that not only is construction progressing, but it is right on schedule! You can count on being in the water with your Valentine this next winter.
If you drive by the site, you can see that the structure holding the new teaching pool is up and work has begun on the parking lot.… Read the rest “What”'s going on in there? Phillips Aquatic Center Update”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
The Aerobics Beyond the “Y”
By Peter Molenaar
Visits to the Lake Street YWCA have become familiar to me, in the aftermath of thirty-five years hard labor at Smith Foundry. However, when worn ankles dictate, treadmills and elipticals won”'t do. It is from the vantage of a stationary bike that I am allowed to discreetly observe.
As for aerobics, evidently there are many women who have surpassed what I once was. One wonders why a world-wide movement of women has not been mobilized to fight ISIS. Sending our young men to war tends to make matters worse.
Recently, en route to burning 100 calories at 95rpm, the caption line on the big screen flashed BREAKING NEWS:Â NORTH KOREA THREATENS GUAM WITH MISSILE ATTACK. Amazingly, the elipticals and treadmills kept churning.
I happen to garden with the Koreans who founded the Community Peace Garden, at the junction of Highway 94 and Cedar Avenue. From them I received a copy of the spring issue of the Korean Quarterly with the front page caption: WAR PROVOCATION. The sum of Christine Hong”'s “The Long, Dirty History” was most impressive.
“”¦Unsurprisingly, few media outlets have reported on North Korea”'s overtures to the U.S., even as these, if pursued, might result in meaningful de-escalation on both sides. … Read the rest “The Aerobics Beyond the “Y””