Star Tribune
Minneapolis businesses, residents at 42nd and Cedar want their on-street parking back
The newly reconstructed intersection of 42nd Street and Cedar Avenue S. is getting a big thumbs-down from nearby business owners and residents.
Hennepin County closed the south Minneapolis intersection in May to install new pavement, left-turn lanes, sidewalks and traffic signals with audio cues. When the intersection reopened in early June, about 60 on-street parking spaces in the vicinity had disappeared.
“They took it all,” said Jim Landvick, who runs the Cedar Inn Bar & Grill. “My customers are complaining. It’s going to destroy my business.”
Before the redo, both streets had one travel lane in each direction with curbside parking up to the corner. The tight intersection made it challenging for drivers making left turns and was crash-prone, with 88 mishaps between 2006 and 2015, said Tom Musick, coordinator of the county’s Transportation Safety Program.
The county secured a federal grant in 2018 to address safety issues, and since 2020 conducted public engagement sessions, a virtual open house and a community survey to get the word out, Musick said.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, the message apparently didn’t get to everybody.
“We may not have connected with everyone. We need to improve on that,” Musick said.
Julia Hatlestad, who runs a furniture store called Groovy’s, said she only learned of the project this spring when she got a letter.
“We were blindsided,” she said. “Nowhere did they say parking would be affected.”
Hatlestad said about 70% of her customers park on the street. Now, with no place to park or stop to load furniture, she fears customers will take their business elsewhere. Foot traffic is already down, she said.
“They never took that into account,” she said. “We won’t make it without parking.”
Residents have not been thrilled, either.
“I want to shop there. I want to give the small businesses my money,” resident Beverly Gores said. “Instead, I had to drive home and eat carrots that were in my refrigerator for lunch. I’m not walking, at 66 years old, three blocks for a taco.”
The new left-turn lanes extend about halfway down the block and seem longer than they need to be, Hatlestad said. Shortening them could bring back some of the lost parking, she said.
Musick said the county has gotten feedback since the intersection reopened and is working in concert with Minneapolis Public Works to evaluate potential adjustments to the lane configurations.
“We have to balance a number of factors, and at the end of the day the safety of all road users will take priority,” he said.
Landvick said he hopes something is done fast. The situation is so desperate that he joked he may have to use a golf cart to provide a shuttle “because nobody is going to walk three-fourths of a block to get a beer.”
“In here, it can be a very dark and lonely place, and it can be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Benson said. “Events like this just help keep that hope alive.”
While the incarcerated people listened, they were joined at tables by prison staff, guards, the warden, and others, including Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, who stood against a brick wall. A couple of inmates, who work as photographers for the prison’s newspaper, strolled the cafeteria taking pictures.
When the performance went longer than expected, the warden smiled and gave the performers a thumbs up. He was fine with letting it continue. When it was done, the musicians took a handful of questions and signed flyers. Then inmates were guided back to their cells.
Hennepin County Board candidate Marisa Simonetti was arraigned in District Court on Thursday morning on a misdemeanor charge of 5th-degree assault after a dispute with a tenant of her Edina home.
Simonetti, who was arrested and jailed in June on allegations that she assaulted the tenant by throwing a live tarantula and other objects at the woman, stayed in the court hallway Thursday while her attorney John Daly handled the routine appearance. Simonetti was given a Jan. 9 pre-trial date and plans to plead not guilty.
Wearing a campaign T-shirt, Simonetti said after the court proceeding that she’s done nothing wrong and plans to fight the charge “to the death.”
Simonetti said her campaign for the District 6 seat is going well and that she sent out “a ton of texts” last week. “We’re getting feedback, positive feedback. It’s going to be very exciting to see what happens on Nov. 5,” she said.
An email to Simonetti’s opponent, Commissioner Heather Edelson, was not immediately returned Thursday.
In April, Simonetti came in second in a six-candidate special primary for an open seat on the board and then lost the special election Edelson, a DFLer and former state representative. Simonetti has campaigned as a Republican, although some local Republicans have since pulled their support for her.
The board oversees the county’s $2.7 billion budget and 10,000 employees. Commissioners earn $122,225 annually.
District 6, which covers cities including Edina, Hopkins, Mound, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Long Lake, Shorewood and the northern portion of Eden Prairie.
“I wanted to be just like him, to love every part of the competition, to be the first to show up and the last to leave, to love the grind, to be your best when you don’t feel your best and make other people around you the best version of themselves,” Ionescu said. “And to wake up and do it again the next day.”
In her final season with the Ducks, Ionescu became the first NCAA Division I basketball player to record more then 2,000 career points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds. She dedicated the performance that put her over the edge to Bryant. “That was for him,” she told ESPN.
“I can’t really put it into words,” Ionescu said. “He’s looking down and really proud of me and just really happy for this moment with my team.”
Ionescu is a menace from behind the 3-point line like Steph Curry, Luka Doncic and Caitlin Clark
Ionescu has made more three-pointers during the regular season than any other WNBA player in history.
Ionescu’s clutch three might give Minnesota basketball fans deja vu. It was reminiscent of the three-pointer Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks sank in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals to win that game 109-108 and put the Timberwolves on their heels. The Mavs ended up winning the series 4-1.
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