News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 29th 2025
A Bridge over Hiawatha Ave?
BY HARVEY WINJE
Build a bridge over Hiawatha Avenue for Greenway traffic? Impossible!
Challenges: the space between the LRT wires and power lines are too short for bridge beams and there is no space beneath for bridge columns between highway lanes. The passageway is too high for an accessible ramp.
Mission accomplished! Elongated ramps were designed within the land limits and the roadbed was supported by cables instead of typical hefty columns.
Appropriateness of this bridge being named after Martin Olav Sabo:
Sabo”'s astuteness knowing when and how to “pull strings”
Sabo”'s ability to appreciate the importance of compromise.
Sabo”'s civility that embellished negotiating.
Sabo”'s savvy to seek expert advice on details.
Sabo”'s compassion for the people he represented and their causes.
Sabo”'s patience, diligence, and ingenuity that enhanced the stature of social justice causes and the reputations of his constituents.
Ironically, Sabo Bridge critics call it an expensive, excessively extravagant design favoring aesthetics for an icon on the road from the airport to downtown.
In actuality, it has become an icon of design stemming from practical solutions to inherent problems with the location. The bridge is now identified by the name of a man who sought practical solutions to basic problems and issues of his constituents with the expertise to coalesce support and funding.… Read the rest “A Bridge over Hiawatha Ave?”
POWDERHORN365 2015 PHOTO BOOK NOW AVAILABLE
Every day last year, a special photo was taken to capture the life, character, activities, and scenes of the Powderhorn Park neighborhood. The seven weekly volunteer photographers, plus a few guests, snapped these 365 interesting and artful photos, and all are now preserved in a photo book published by the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association. You can order the book by visiting the project”'s website, wwwpowderhorn365.com, and clicking on the link near the top: Powderhorn365, The Books.
“We hope the photos on these pages will open our eyes to the wonder of other people and break down the barriers that foster fear and injustice. Information is powerful. Alternative media(Like Southside Pride and The Alley) and social media (including the Powderhorn e-democracy forum) can bridge the gaps in understanding and acceptance of differences.””¦Gayla Ellis from the Introduction.
This is the seventh year that PPNA has produced an annual photo book preserving the diligent work of observant neighborhood photographers. The photos can also be viewed online wwwpowderhorn365.com. (Choose 2015). The project continues daily in 2016, and those new photos can be appreciated on the same website. 2015”'s participant shutterbugs include J. Arthur Anderson, Jason Brown, Elana Dahlberg, Jillian Helleloid, Kristina Kvarnlov-Leverty, Warren Park, and Nickey Robare.… Read the rest “POWDERHORN365 2015 PHOTO BOOK NOW AVAILABLE”
The SABO Center for Democracy and Citizenship: Bridging the Citizen-Government
By Harry C Boyte
Martin Olav Sabo, who served as a Democratic Congressman from Minneapolis for 28 years and became chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee and died on March 16 from respiratory ailments, is well known as a masterful legislative leader and craftsman. But it was his wider vision, as bridging the gap between government and citizens, which led to the merger of his center at Augsburg with our Center for Democracy and Citizenship, for many years at the University of Minnesota.Â
I first met Martin Sabo when I was beginning the Reinventing Citizenship initiative in 1993 with the White House Domestic Policy Council, just after Bill Clinton had become president. Barb Rohde, Washington liaison from the University of Minnesota”'s Humphrey Institute where I directed civic engagement efforts, took me around to meet the Minnesota Congressional delegation. I was excited about the meeting.
The Reinventing Citizenship effort built on Bill Clinton”'s campaign speech to the National Bar Association in July 1992, arguing that “America needs to restore the old spirit of partnership.” Clinton had called for “visionary leaders throughout this nation, willing to work in their communities to end the long years of denial and neglect and divisiveness and blame.”… Read the rest “The SABO Center for Democracy and Citizenship: Bridging the Citizen-Government”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
