 Photos provided by Minnehaha Mile Shops
Located between 32nd and 41st streets
in the Longfellow neighborhood, the Minnehaha Mile is a shopping district
consisting of eight stores all with a vintage, re-use, and upcycle theme. The
stores are: Junket Tossed & Found, The Natural Built Home Store, Time Bomb Vintage, Family Estate
Sales, Turquoise Vintage,
E’s Emporium, and Plum
Crabby.
The mile wasn’t always lined with unique and creative
businesses selling items ranging from vintage clothing to antique furniture, to
collectables, to hand made gifts designed using locally sourced items. Prior to
2012, a zoning ordinance prohibited secondhand goods stores from being within 1000
feet of each other. City staff worked with Council Member Glidden’s office to
lift the restrictions and make it easier for secondhand stores to operate. Once
the ordinance was amended, new life was brought to once vacant storefronts.
Now that the shops could co-locate, it was time to work on a
unifying branding strategy. With the
help of Seward Redesign and the Longfellow Business
Association, the shops were awarded a City of Minneapolis Great streets grant in 2014 to launch their official identity and the campaign
“Shop the Minnehaha Mile” was launched including a printed guide map and Facebook Page.
This year, faced with construction along Minnehaha Avenue
from Minnehaha Parkway to 38th Street, the Milers sought a second
Great Streets grant to further raise the visibility of the emerging vintage
district and to remind customers that businesses are open during the
construction.
They also worked with City staff to draft code amendments
that dramatically reduced the regulations and fees for these types of businesses. Ultimately, Milers say that their goal is to help
customers find what they are looking for and have a great experience while
doing it and, together, they can accomplish this much better than on their own.
 Photos provided by Peppers and Fries
This month The American
Institute of Architects – Minneapolis Chapter gave CityDeskStudio a Merit Award for their
renovations on the Longfellow restaurant, Peppers & Fries Burger & Burrito
Grill. The Merit Award honors projects that tell a compelling story and
benefit its users’ lives. Once an abandoned Super America gas station overrun
by graffiti, squatters, overgrown vegetation, and trash, Peppers & Fries
has now become a family friendly neighborhood hot-spot.
The restaurant received funding from the City of
Minneapolis’ Great Streets program, which helped turn the vacant lot into
an award-winning architectural project and vibrant space. It also supports the
commercial revitalization of the east end of Lake Street, satisfying the need
for a new neighborhood restaurant.
Architect Ben Awes stated that CityDeskStudio’s approach to
creating the new Peppers and Fries was to “fit in and stand out,” using
existing materials such as reclaimed wood for the tables and bar tops and
finishing the concrete floors. By staying true to the building’s original
structures, Peppers & Fries is now a unique and positive addition to the
Longfellow neighborhood.
 Photos provided by Woodchuck USA
Woodchuck
USA is a USA-made
brand that manufactures real-wood products with a mission to “bring nature back
to people” and jobs to the United States. Founded by Benjamin VandenWymelenberg
as an architecture student at the University of Minnesota (and originally only
making iPhone cases), Woodchuck has grown tremendously. The company now offers
a diverse range of products, from laptop cases to journals to flasks, and
services such as corporate gifting to clientele both nationally and
internationally. This spring, Woodchuck was awarded the Breakout Business of the Year by the Minneapolis Regional
Chamber of Commerce.
A small, young company of 17 full-time
employees, the Woodchuck team relies on its ability to push boundaries in order
to complete any task handed to them regardless of the scale or time-frame.
After receiving support from the City’s Two Percent Loan Program, the company was able to
purchase a large, high-powered laser cutter, allowing them to explore new
markets (such as commercial interiors and large wooden art) and triple its
capacity to keep up with rising demand for Woodchuck products.
Woodchuck’s immense growth since
its start is reflected by their developments in products and clients. A company
that once sold iPhone cases in Saran-wrapped packaging now distributes a
variety of high-end wooden products to clients including Fulton Brewery,
Cambria, Sun Country Airlines, and the Minnesota Vikings.
July 19th
marks the beginning of the Made
Here Market, a series of pop-up markets (taking
place as part of the Loring Alley Rally) featuring locally made fine art and goods.
The market, hosted in collaboration with the Third
Bird Restaurant, runs
each Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until August 30th and is located
in the Loring Corners alley. Funded in part by the City of Minneapolis Great Streets program as a way to generate activity
to the alley, the Made Here Market is
expected to bring thousands of visitors to the market in addition to live
music, food and drinks.
At the
market, visitors can find artists working in all mediums, vintage sellers, and
textile and craft supplies vendors. Made
Here Market vendors can exhibit their work for up to three weeks, making
each Sunday unique with new artists, food and music.
Launched in
2013, Made Here is a Hennepin Theatre
Trust initiative to bring more people to the downtown Minneapolis Cultural
District. It brings art to public spaces in ways like pop-up parks, live
performances and rotating exhibitions.
Made Here Website
 Photos provided by UTKU Productions
Thank you to everyone who attended the 2nd Annual Lake Street Taco Tour!
More than 2,000 attended the tour on Saturday, July 27th. The tour was produced by the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) and supported by the City of Minneapolis
Great Streets program to raise awareness and promote the diverse business community
located within the East Lake Street Corridor. The event featured nine
authentic Mexican restaurants that offered their versions of delicious tacos.
The
City of Minneapolis announced in June that it will be partnering with Nextdoor,
a private social network for neighborhoods, to improve citywide and
neighbor-to-neighbor communications.
The integration with Nextdoor will enable the City of Minneapolis, including the
Minneapolis Police Department, the Minneapolis Fire Department, and other City
departments to use Nextdoor to build stronger, safer communities with the help
of Minneapolis residents. Specifically, the Minneapolis Police Department and
Nextdoor neighborhoods will be able to work together to increase safety and
strengthen virtual neighborhood watch.
Nextdoor
has proven to be an essential and well-adopted tool for Minneapolis residents.
Most Minneapolis neighborhoods already use Nextdoor, representing 95 percent of
the City.
With
Nextdoor, Minneapolis residents can create private neighborhood websites to
share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, community
events and activities, local services, and even lost pets. The City will be
able to post information, such as important news, services, programs, free
events, and safety notifications to Nextdoor websites within the city.
Nextdoor
is a free tool for residents and the City. Each Minneapolis neighborhood has
its own private Nextdoor neighborhood website, accessible only to residents of
that neighborhood. Neighborhoods establish and self-manage their own Nextdoor
website and the City will not be able to access residents’ websites, contact
information, or content. All members must verify that they live within the
neighborhood before joining Nextdoor. Information shared on Nextdoor is
password protected and cannot be accessed by Google or other search engines.
Those
interested in joining their neighborhood’s Nextdoor website can visit www.nextdoor.com/minneapolis and enter their address. If residents have questions
about their Nextdoor website, please visit help.nextdoor.com.
 Photos by City of Minneapolis
On Saturday June 13th, the Minneapolis community
celebrated the 55th Somali Independence Day with a festival on West
Lake Street organized by Ka Joog,
a Somali nonprofit. In addition to observing Somali Independence Day, the event
promoted diversity in Minneapolis.
With a theme of Education Building and Community Ties, the festival featured a range of activities, from live music and dancing
to East African cuisine to art and poetry. The City of Minneapolis supported
the event as an event sponsor as well as by distributing information about City
programs and services to event attendees. City of Minneapolis departments, including Human Resources,
Community Planning and Economic Development, Civil Rights, Minneapolis
Department of Health, Neighborhood and Community Relations, and the Minneapolis
Police Department were in attendance.
 Photos by City of Minneapolis and AchieveMpls
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
– Office of Youth Development has selected STEP-UP for funding under the Minnesota
Youth at Work Competitive Grant. The STEP-UP summer youth employment program
will receive $750,000 for July 1, 2015 - July 1, 2016 and $750,000 for July 1,
2016 - July 1, 2017. This will enable STEP-UP to place 150 more young people
into summer jobs.
DEED’s priorities, impact areas and goals for all proposals included:
- Summer and/or year-round work experience and introduction to career
pathways for economically disadvantaged or at-risk youth, ages 14 through 24
- Increased exposure to in-demand jobs important to regional economies
- Introduction and promotion of career pathways and skill acquisition
- Promotion of mastery of work readiness competencies and 21st Century
skills
- Provision of high-quality worksites and overall participant and
employer satisfaction
Through the STEP-UP program, Minneapolis youth work in a wide range of
jobs at Twin Cities employers. The program is designed to engage young people
in internships that explore their career interests, gain skills, make
professional connections, and prepare them for meaningful work.
 Parklet at 2422 Central Avenue NE outside Sen Yai Sen Lek (Photo by City of Minneapolis)
To
make it easier for people to stop, relax and enjoy Minneapolis, the City has
expanded its parklet program this summer, installing five parklets in different
parts of the city.
The
parklets are built in the street right next to the curb. In an area of about
two parking spaces, the parklets have a deck, planters, chairs and tables for
anyone to use. All of the parklets in the program are located in commercial corridors, and
each one has a host business nearby to maintain it on a day-to-day
basis.
The
locations of the five parklets are:
Parklets
enhance neighborhoods and make them better places for residents and visitors to
spend time. They also encourage walking and biking, and help draw people to
shops and restaurants in our communities. The five parklets in the program will
be removed from the streets at the end of October.
The
goal of the parklet program is to make the City more livable, walkable, and
beautiful through public and private partnerships. Three parklets in the
program are City-owned and two more parklets have been purchased, funded and
will be maintained by local businesses and community organizations. The City
will begin accepting 2016 parklet season applications this fall.
More
information on parklets
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