The City Council's development committee attracted a spirited audience Tuesday, as it pronounced judgment on two red-hot land use issues. The county's plan to move social services closer to the people ran into a wall of resistance from the people, at least North Side resident groups, so the committee voted 5-0 against the social services hub, Randy Furst reports. Objections from neighbors of the proposed Izzy's Ice Cream plant downtown didn't have the same persuasive power, and the committee approved selling a parcel to the creamery, Eric Roper reports.
A Nicollet Mall renovation and a proposed light rail line from Eden Prairie to downtown would get $25 million each and the worn Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (home of the peeling cherry) would get $8.5 million under DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's $775 million bonding plan, Jennifer Brooks and Rachel Stassen-Berger report. Turning Nicollet into a walkable destination is a centerpiece of the Downtown 2025 plan released with much fanfare last month. The Republican-controlled legislature, however, isn't looking too favorably on those Minneapolis-focused projects.
Columnist Jon Tevlin followed a troupe of homeless and formerly homeless people turned thespians. Through a theater program run through St. Stephen's Human Services, the zAmya Theater Project keeps it real for audiences throughout the metro..
In a vote of confidence for the state's tech sector, Code 42, a Minneapolis software company that provides backup software and data storage, landed a hefty $52.5 million in venture capital, Wendy Lee reports.
