Star Tribune
St. Paul mayor and city council meeting to reach budget compromise
The middle ground: a 7.2% increase.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Deputy Mayor Jamie Tincher said Carter, too, would like the levy to be lower. But proposing a 5% increase would mean an additional cut of $6 million from 2025 city services — a reduction that could increase fire response times, slow the processing of license applications and reduce parks and rec and library services.
“He doesn’t have a path to do that without reducing services that will be felt by the people who are currently getting them,” Tincher said.
If the two sides cannot agree on a tax levy for 2025, state law would require the city to institute this year’s levy. That, Tincher said, would lead to drastic cuts in city personnel and services, as costs go up every year because of things like health care, insurance and previously negotiated salary increases.
The gap between revenue and costs then, she said, would be $16 million.
Tincher was asked if this year’s negotiations felt “different.”
Star Tribune
Twin Cities suburbs adopt odor rules before cannabis sales start
The odor ordinances could be put to the test when cannabis retail shops open, as soon as next year. Land, the city attorney, said several businesses, including two tobacco stores, have already applied for conditional use permits to sell certain cannabis products in Hastings.
And she added that as the process unfolds, city officials could always opt to modify the rules.
“That’s the nice thing about ordinances,” she said. “It is the law until they decide to change their mind.”
Star Tribune
Virginia adds floating bridge to Silver Lake, also known for largest floating loon
Virginia has cut the ribbon on a 1,800-foot floating bridge that crosses Silver Lake and connects to a walking path, making it more accessible, according to the city.
It’s part of a project around one of the two lakes at the center of the city. Work began in 2023, clearing out old pavement and debris and widening Silver Lake Trail. Work on the dock started last summer.
The Silver Lake project was funded in part by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation provided more than $440,000 in regional trail grants. Silver Lake is both a fishing spot and the site of the world’s largest floating loon, a decades-old fiberglass waterfowl sculpture anchored in the water during the summer months. It has also been spotted at the Minnesota State Fair.
The city plans to add final flourishes to the pier. The ribbon-cutting took place in late November.
Star Tribune
Why Otter’s Saloon in Minneapolis is struggling
Different owners, different names, but always a dive bar at this tiny wedge of an intersection, welcoming thirsty travelers inside its angled walls. Even during Prohibition. Especially during Prohibition.
This year came the Hennepin and First roadway improvement project. The saloon draped a banner over the door, reassuring visitors that, yes, behind the closed streets, ripped-out sidewalks and clouds of construction dust, Otter’s was still open for business.
The orange cones are gone now; the streets are open, and the new bike lanes beckon. But it’s hard for Vashro not to look around and see what she’s lost. Little bits of Otter’s Saloon, carved away for the greater good.
Patrons play in a cribbage tournament at Otter’s Saloon in Minneapolis on Nov. 30. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
When officials asked her for an easement for the new bike path, “I said yes, of course, people are welcome to come and bike. I gave them part of my sidewalk,” Vashro said. When they announced plans for a new bus line, she attended the meetings and found out those plans called for plopping the new F Line bus shelter directly in front of her door. All as she watched the saloon lose money, month after month. Revenue was down almost $5,000 in July, compared with the year before. Down another $5,400 in August. Down $7,800 by September.
“It felt like they just kept hitting me,” Vashro said. And then they put in parking meters in places that had never been metered — even in front of her dumpsters, so some weeks the garbage trucks can’t get in and the trash piles up.
Parking meters and parking spaces sound like small things. But these are small businesses. Vashro has been looking at those $3 drink prices and wondering how long she can hold out against an increase. There’s a jar behind the bar to cover the cost of the new meters for her bartenders and regulars, but she worries about how far her staff might sometimes have to walk to their cars at 2 a.m.