News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Saturday December 27th 2025
COMMENTARY: The City Says “NO” to our Efforts to Clean Up Air Pollution and to Seek a Better Future for East Phillips
By Carol Pass, Chair, East Phillips Improvement Coalition, EPIC.
In spite of their continuing rhetoric about ”˜equity”', the City of Minneapolis is rapidly moving forward with their long-hidden plans to intensify the air pollution and traffic congestion problems of what has become known by area residents as the “Intersection of Death”, 28th St. and Cedar Avenue South, with its dangerous, toxic and foul-smelling air, its numerous massive and unsightly trucks, its impossible traffic congestion and its many nearby families with children and several ethnic daycare centers. The Ways and Means Committee of the City Council voted Monday, June 15th, 4 to 1 with one abstention to approve the intensification of these problems and on Friday, June 19th, in a 10 to 3 decision the City Council followed suit, in spite of the many letters, petitions and loud protests of your neighbors and many area organizations.
The Back Story:
Last November the East Phillips Improvement Coalition, EPIC, voted to begin a final campaign after all our others to remove the existing major polluting industries from East Phillips, i.e. Smith Foundry and the hot asphalt plant, Bituminous Roadways, and replace them with light industry and residential housing along the Greenway, changing this area to a place worthy of Highway 55 as the City”'s International Gateway from the airport.… Read the rest “COMMENTARY: The City Says “NO” to our Efforts to Clean Up Air Pollution and to Seek a Better Future for East Phillips”
Albert Emmanuel Nelson: Quarter Century Steward of the Sacred-Grounds, Stones, and Stories
Albert E. Nelson, caretaker of Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, from 1928 until 1953, standing at the graves of Philander and Mary Prescott. Members of the Hennepin History Society had the Prescotts”' marker enclosed in stones from the first Central High School in 1926. Hennepin County History Museum Special Collections
By Sue Hunter Weir
It”'s a safe bet that Albert Emanuel Nelson loved Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery more than anyone else ever has. From 1928 until 1953 he was responsible for overseeing the care and maintenance of the cemetery grounds, for conserving and protecting the cemetery”'s records, and for serving as the cemetery”'s one-man public relations firm.
That”'s what he was paid to do, but it does not begin to capture the reverence with which he approached his work. His interest in the cemetery and the lives of the people buried there””“the builders of Minneapolis,” as he called them– was his passion as well as his day job. He spent his free time assembling a library of more than 100 volumes of local history and gathering information for the book that he intended to write. There was a lot of information and gathering it was a time consuming task in those pre-internet days.… Read the rest “Albert Emmanuel Nelson: Quarter Century Steward of the Sacred-Grounds, Stones, and Stories”
Keep citizen journalism alive!
A Historic Decision! COMMENTARY: Mpls. School Board made a magnanimous commitment of money and intent to youth and the Phillips Aquatic Center partnering with the Mpls. Park Board
Tonight was historic. The in a most selfless and noble act, the resolution below was passed by the Minneapolis School Board. Historic, selfless, noble? Really? Yes, really!
First, let me begin by saying tonight caps years of efforts by Minneapolis Swims to convince MPS of the virtues of swimming, and why Phillips, of all places, was the one neighborhood that most deserved a gift from the coffers of the MPS treasury. With MPS firmly entrenched in the philosophy of not investing capital in properties they do not own, and many budget fires of their own to put out, we resigned ourselves to not ever receiving capital dollars from MPS toward this project.
Of course, once it is built, we need to make sure it is sustainable, so we were quite pleased to get MPS to agree to a five-year commitment to contribute $150,000 toward operating costs.
Over the past year, our fundraising efforts gained momentum and neighborhoods stepped up with significant money, and the real possibility of a Phillips Aquatics Center emerged. The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB) took notice, other donors took notice, and a swimming task force at MPS was set up, and they took notice.… Read the rest “A Historic Decision! COMMENTARY: Mpls. School Board made a magnanimous commitment of money and intent to youth and the Phillips Aquatic Center partnering with the Mpls. Park Board”