Star Tribune
Repairing and reopening Minneapolis’ Witch’s Hat Tower could cost at least $350,000
Reopening Minneapolis’ Witch’s Hat Tower to the public — and potentially making it available for large events like weddings — will likely cost the city at least $350,000, according to a new assessment of the long-closed landmark.
The 110-year-old Witch’s Hat Tower, officially the Prospect Park Water Tower, was last open to the public for a “Doors Open” event in 2019. That’s when a step in the narrow steel staircase coiling up to the observation deck broke beneath visitors’ feet, forcing organizers to evacuate the building, said Hennepin History Museum archivist Susan Larson-Fleming. No one was allowed inside for four years while graffiti accrued around the tower’s base and a heavily reinforced iron door kept would-be urban explorers at bay.
Now, neighborhood organizations say it’s time to get the historic water tower the repairs it needs to reopen, and the city has a clearer picture of how much that could cost.
In May, Minneapolis sent a structural engineer from KLJ Engineering up into the tower to conduct a basic structural assessment. KLJ delivered its initial findings last month, which included estimated costs for a slate of options and the recommendation that the city employ a building science and forensics firm for deeper investigation.
KLJ’s Drew Andersen found the tower in fair condition considering it was built in 1913. But there were a few visible problems including concrete deterioration, rebar corrosion and staircase connections that had rotated out of alignment and were no longer providing support.
“We’re not surprised we’re hearing that there are serious deficiencies,” said Joe Ring, president of the Friends of Tower Hill Park, who is anxious to know when repairs will be ordered. “We’re kind of dumbfounded because it doesn’t seem to be moving forward.”
The Friends and the Prospect Park neighborhood association volunteered to staff the tower on the occasions it was open in the past. Now, Ring says the neighborhood groups want the city — which owns the tower — and the Park Board — which owns the surrounding parkland — to work together to restore and maintain the site, which has a National Register of Historic Places designation.
The city asked KLJ to estimate costs for three paths forward: keeping the tower closed, retrofitting it for limited access to the historical tower observation deck or opening it to larger public events like weddings. The options range from $50,000 for localized repairs to $350,000 for limited scope renovation to $1.3 million for complex rehab.
The most expensive option would make the Witch’s Tower far more accessible than in years past. Typically, the tower was open just a few hours of the year during the Pratt Community School’s ice cream social attracted significant crowds hoping to glimpse its sweeping view of the city.
“If people wanted to get up to the tower, you had to wait in a line that kind of wrapped around the park and then down the street to University Avenue, it was so long,” said Larson-Fleming.
That was the case when the tower was last accessible, for Doors Open 2019. While only 80 people could be inside the tower at any time, nearly 5,000 people climbed it over the two-day event, said Lynn Von Korff of the Prospect Park Association.
Council Member Robin Wonsley, whose ward includes Prospect Park, said the city is working to propose to the Park Board an agreement around shared maintenance responsibilities. Ideally, the tower would be restored to the point that it could be open to the public for more days of the year than it was before, she said.
“We want to make this a very special gathering space that can be part of a more regular experience in the lives of our residents who value this park and value the structure so deeply,” she said. “It doesn’t have to just be a one-time thing. Let’s figure out how to make that happen.”
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
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