What’s worse, low oil pressure in the central line or a huge dent in the nose that damages the radar? Well, I fly on the ones with oil pressure issues (and no A/C in 90+F weather stuck on the runway for a couple hours).
Mysterious Dent in Nose of NWA Minneapolis-Bound Plane
A stewardess reportedly told a first class passenger she did not notice anything peculiar during the flight from Detroit. However, she did mention that the crew had a problem with the radar in the nose.
Minneapolis, St. Paul parks shine in national report
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land on Tuesday reported the following for the state’s two largest cities:
RECREATION CENTERS per 20,000 residents: St. Paul, first nationally at 3.0; Minneapolis, second, 2.6.
TENNIS COURTS per 10,000 residents: Minneapolis, first, 4.9; St. Paul, tied for third, 3.7.
BALL DIAMONDS per 10,000 residents: St. Paul, first, 5.6; Minneapolis, second, 5.3.
SKATEBOARD PARKS per 100,000 residents: Minneapolis, third, 1.6; St. Paul, 16th, 0.7.
PARK-RELATED SPENDING per resident: St. Paul, third, $224; Minneapolis, eighth, $151.
NON-SEASONAL MUNICIPAL PARK EMPLOYEES per 1,000 residents: Minneapolis, fifth, 1.56; St. Paul, 14th, 1.08.
The Twin Cities also landed one of its park destinations among the most-visited in the nation. The Lake Harriet/Lyndale Park area in Minneapolis receives about 2.25 million visitors a year, placing it 30th.
Unquestionably, one of the most pressing issues facing the city of St. Paul this summer as they plan for the upcoming Republican National Convention is deciding which bars can stay open until 4 AM during the convention. Fortunately, the Minneapolis Star Tribune is on top of the story, keeping its readers informed of every development.
As of June 26th, 32 bars have qualified.
However, many bar owners are not excited about paying the $2500 fee – is anyone surprised?
The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday voted 6 to 1 to approve an ordinance that will allow bars that meet certain conditions and pay $2,500 to stay open late during the four nights of the event, to be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center.
About 32 bars, maybe more if they can find a way to add more seats, are eligible. There are 257 places that sell liquor, wine and beer in the city. About 90 currently have licenses to stay open until 2 a.m.
Bars must already have a 2 a.m. closing license to be eligible, and they must have at least 291 seats or be in downtown or commercial development districts, such as Selby-Dale.
If a bar without a 4 a.m. license is caught serving after 2 a.m., it faces a $2,000 fine per incident.
Don’t forget – that the crowds will not be homogeneous. In addition to the 35,000 RNC attendees, there will also be upwards of 100,000 protesters here during the convention. It sounds like it will be an exciting event! Even Minnetonka is donating a couple police officers to help keep the peace in St. Paul.
The Pioneer Press investigates the otherwise unseen costs of regulations on housing prices. I’m not surprised that they estimate the cost of compliance with housing regulations at 20-30% of the price, are you? That equals $40-60,000 added to the price of a $200,000 home.
The author describes some of the requirements that contribute to the extra costs:
In the past, when buyers wanted a certain type of home, developers built it, said Ed Goetz, professor of Urban and Regional Planning for the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
But now, thanks to regulations, they can’t.
“This is not a free market,” Goetz said.
Watch where you leave your bike in Minneapolis!
I’ll have to go check out one of their auctions and replace my free Target mountain bike with a nice road bike.
Minneapolis police are cracking down on where you park your bike and for how long.
The city’s ‘Bicycle Recovery Unit’ has been cleaning up the sidewalks by impounding bikes that are either suspected of being stolen or abandoned. The city tags bikes that the property owner feels have been unused for too long.
Minneapolis City Ordinance allows bikes to be locked up only to designated racks and certain street signs, but trees, parking meters, street lights, railings, and handicap signs are all off limits for bike parking.
The city takes in about 2,000 to 3,000 bikes a year that were either stolen or abandoned.
You can reclaim your bike if you believe it was seized but you will need proof of ownership, including the bike’s serial number.
The city auctions the seized bikes off every month.
Here’s the auction schedule with more details about the auctions.
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July 31 |
Bicycles |
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September 11 |
Bicycles |
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September 18 |
General |
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October 23 |
Bicycles |
Minnesota Monthly (you can find it at most Minnesota grocery stores and the like) has just produced one of the most useful pieces of literature that a Minnesotan can devour: a list of the best burgers in Minnesota.
The Jucy Lucy at Matt’s Bar in south Minneapolis was declared the “Burger King” of Minnesota. My mouth is watering, I can’t wait to try it. Plus, it’s only $4.50.
Here’s their take on the burger:
1 – Matt’s Bar www.mattsbar.com, their menu,
Location: Matt’s Bar, 3500 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Inherent Awesomeness: 38
If there was one ringer in this bunch, one place I was absolutely certain would make the final cut, it’s Matt’s, the venerable south Minneapolis bar that either invented the Jucy Lucy—or just perfected it. (If you’re an out-of-towner, the Jucy Lucy—purposefully misspelled—is made by crimping two beef patties around a filling of cheese and cooking it all until the cheese becomes like molten lava. This tastes loads better than it sounds.) Sure, the thought did cross my mind: What if Matt’s was off its game? What if they didn’t make the cut? There was no need to worry—it would have been like going to Paris and finding the Eiffel Tower missing. This place is as critical to the heart of south Minneapolis as Lake Nokomis. A recent visit found Matt’s in all its glory: The guys at the bar were a mix of the old and cowboy-hatted, the young and dreadlocked, and the middle-aged and computer-bag toting. They were all eating Jucy Lucys and half-orders of thin, pale fries. There was even a recent Chicago transplant at the bar: “All the burgers downtown are $10,” he said. “I have a problem with that. My employees told me, ‘Go to Matt’s.’ I’ve been here three times in five days. You put crack in these things or what?” Spoken like a true out-of-towner. Crack? Please. Matt’s Jucy Lucys are bigger than crack. It’s all about the grill. For about 15 minutes, Matt’s Jucy Lucy sits up on the hot, ancient, always-in-service grill and sizzles, sizzles, sizzles until it gets crisp and well-charred on the outside. That makes all the difference. Matt’s has been making these well-charred, unspeakably delicious Jucy Lucys, the best in the state—the best, no doubt, in the world—since, legend has it, 1954. Matt’s Bar, 3500 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-722-7072, mattsbar.com
Some pictures of Minnehaha Falls Saturday and a few others from my 21 mile bike ride to the falls. Minnehaha means “curling or falling water” in Dakota.
Minnehaha Creek is a small tributary of the Mississippi River that runs from Lake Minnetonka, about 10 miles west of downtown, through the southwest suburbs of Minneapolis and ends just after the falls at the Mississippi River. Minnehaha Creek is a popular canoe route in the summer months.
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| Minnehaha Falls |
There is also a Minnehaha Falls in Georgia.
Still waiting to make your late, late night plans during the RNC in St. Paul this fall?
If you want to hang out with the Republicans between 2 and 4 AM come the first few days of Sept. you may be allowed to if St. Paul officials agree to a proposal to let bars stay open two hours later during the convention. Regulating bar hours isn’t as easy as you might think.
Apparently, St. Paul officials don’t have much to do so they have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out if they should allow bars in the city to stay open until 4 AM during the Republican National Convention.
City officials compiled a list of qualified applicants but admitted their records may not be current.
“Inspectors are out as we speak, counting (seats),”
We can all be thankful that city inspectors are out counting seats – otherwise they might do something beneficial for the city.
Why do they care how many seats an establishment offers? Their proposal limits applicants to those in the downtown district and commercial development districts. Outside those areas, establishments must be on record with the city as having “at least 291 seats” to qualify.
Why 291 seats? I have no idea.
Fredson [deputy chief of staff to Mayor Chris Coleman], asked how the city came up with the 291-seat figure, said officials had to find a way to limit the number of neighborhood establishments that could be open.
A public hearing on the issue will be held June 18.
Fortunately, the city will be able to collect a $2500 fee from businesses that opt stay open later. That should cover their seat counting costs.
Back in 2006, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington made an unusual bid for both national party conventions.
“They decided as a group that this isn’t about politics, it’s about business,” said Erin Dady, St. Paul’s director of convention planning. “It’s a great chance to showcase our region to the world.”
After months of courting, the Democratic Party finally took a shine to the Twin Cities. They said they liked us but couldn’t commit. That’s when the GOP surprised everyone by racing in and asking us first.
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Thanks to the precedent-shattering race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Denver is winning the buzz contest in a landslide. Just do a Google search.
More than 2 million Web sites mention the words “Democrat 2008 convention Denver.” That’s almost 10 times the mentions for the Republican convention.
“There’s no question Barack Obama is a rock star — he is the single most charismatic figure the Democrats have had since JFK,” said Maccabee, a Democrat. “No matter how much one admires (Sen. John) McCain, the passion, the stardust, is on Obama.
The 35W bridge was brought down by too much weight from construction materials and pavement added to the roadway years before, a structural engineering expert reports in a paper delivered today at a world conference on steel bridges in Portugal.
Hassan Astaneh’s research concludes MnDOT and the consulting firm it hired could have prevented the collapse. Astaneh is a professor in University of California Berkeley’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department whose work includes studies on the collapse of the World Trade Center for the National Science Foundation.
Is the ‘corn boom’ expanding Gulf of Mexico’s ‘dead zone’?
Some fear an ethanol-fueled harvest in the Midwest may be behind the hard times for marine life at the other end of the Mississippi River.
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