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Cheers to Bill McGuire
The Minnesota United soccer club owner plans to turn the blighted, vacant buildings and lot around Allianz Field in St. Paul into a “slice of Paris.” If you’ve been to Paris, you know the exhaust fumes at the corner of Snelling and University avenues will definitely take you back to that stroll along the Boulevard Saint-Germain. But it must be asked: Which corner of Paris would McGuire seek to emulate in St. Paul? Paris is a gem, but, in my experience, it’s also an aged, stinky city teeming with maddeningly persistent street grifters and pickpockets. McGuire said he wants to bring a high-end pizzeria, French bakery and a diner to Allianz plaza, as well as a hotel and an office building, a garden and an ice rink. Those would help, but if we want to go all-in on francophilia, how about a world-class crêperie? Not to mention adoption of that nation’s nuanced and lifesaving approach to firearms regulation.
Jeers to the dangers of trick-or-treating
No, not the urban legends of yore involving razor blades hidden in apples and candy bars. The clear and present danger comes from little kids out in the dark and not easily seen by motorists. Children ages 4-8 are 10 times more likely to be hit by a car on Halloween than on any other night of the year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the diminishing daylight, October is already a perilous month for pedestrians dodging cars. If ever there was a time for drivers to avoid distractions, put down the cellphones and pay attention to the roadways, it’s Friday when the little goblins are out and about. Just do it.
Cheers to Lena Smith Boulevard
That’s the new name of Edmund Boulevard, the stately tree-lined roadway that runs parallel to the West River Parkway in Minneapolis. The boulevard’s former namesake, Edmund Walton, was a land developer who ushered in the first racially restricted covenants in Minneapolis in the early 20th century. A grassroots group, Reclaiming Edmund Boulevard, pushed for the name change that was approved by the City Council last month. Smith, a native of Lawrence, Kansas, moved to Minneapolis as a child. She worked as a hair stylist and sold real estate before becoming the first Black woman to practice law in Minnesota. The unveiling of the new signs is set for Saturday.
Jeers to two state Republicans
Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove and Rep. Jim Nash of Waconia are definitely uninterested in a needed conversation about adding restrictions on the carrying of guns at the Capitol complex. At a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security on Monday, the two repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of consequences for activists who disrupted a GOP Public Safety Committee meeting last January. Nash wanted to know when there would be a decision on whether to charge anyone in the incident that involved a verbal disturbance that Republicans say came too close for comfort. (Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said a decision is expected by Dec. 1.) The Capitol Security Committee has been looking into whether new safety measures are needed given the politically motivated shootings and assassinations Minnesota experienced on June 14. But it seems as though the Republicans would rather muddle the discussion by revisiting an older, far less violent incident than talk about installing metal detectors and limiting who can bring guns into the complex.
Cheers to Adam Mortensen
The Grand Marais-based wildlife biologist will be prowling the frozen terrain of northeastern Minnesota this winter gathering evidence in a moose mystery. It’s all moose, all the time for Mortensen, a Wisconsin native who will attempt to figure out why the state’s moose population is half of what it was two decades ago. It’s a cool, $65,000-a-year job that will have Mortensen spontaneously taking off on ice-covered roads to perform bush necropsies on freshly fallen moose. Mortensen is part of a larger $2 million project funded by state lottery proceeds. Carry on, young man. We hope you have warm boots, well-insulated thermos, quality gloves and piles of base layers at your disposal.
Jeers to the University of Minnesota
The U has decided to stop playing host to some two dozen high school graduation ceremonies each year. The U’s statement said the events strain resources and are “no longer sustainable.” For 15 years, high school commencement ceremonies have been held at various venues from Northrop Memorial Auditorium to 3M Arena at Mariucci. Former DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler called on the Board of Regents to reverse the decision, saying it was one of many reasons the U is losing support throughout the state and at the Capitol. “The U serves the public, not the other way around,” Winkler wrote. To which former Republican state Rep. Pat Garofalo of Farmington responded, “Ryan is right.” Garofalo and Winkler are correct, of course.
