February 6–19, 2020 Vol. 31, No. 3 southwestjournal.com
INSIDE CALHOUN SQUARE
New owner may cut the mall in half A2
D E T I M I L L A N I U OTENT P
Plan would change high school paths By Nate Gotlieb
A plan to remake Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) could reshuffle high school attendance zones, changing where students from Uptown, Whittier and the neighborhoods around Lake of the Isles attend for grades 9-12. Four models presented to the School Board on Jan. 28 call for students from Uptown and Lake of the Isles to attend North High School instead of Southwest High School and students from Whittier to attend South instead of Southwest. A fifth model would leave the overall structure of the district largely unchanged, but district leaders have said it would force them to make “drastic changes,” including potentially closing schools, to maintain a balanced budget. Under all five models, students would still be able to enroll at schools around the city, according to a district spokeswoman, but their enrollment would be dependent on space being available in those buildings.
GOOD TIMES COMING
Whittier nonprofit has employed and housed mentally ill for 50 years Beleaguered Kingfield pizza joint to finally open A4
GRAND AVENUE
SEE SCHOOLS / PAGE A14
New design calls for traffic-calming measures A7
PESTICIDE SKIRMISH
“Someone with a broken life is OK. It’s fodder for working out something new,” said Bruce Ario, a Loring Park author employed with Whittier-based Tasks Unlimited. Photo by Michelle Bruch
By Michelle Bruch
Every night in Loring Park, Bruce Ario writes one page of his next book, capping a day supervising mailrooms at the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Living with schizoaffective disorder, he’s worked for more than 30 years through Tasks Unlimited, a Whittier nonprofit that employs and houses people with mental illness. But there was a time he couldn’t hold a job. “To me, the angel was my boss,” he said. “I think bosses thought I was insubordinate to them.” “Many of our folks don’t have problems getting jobs; it’s keeping them — and that’s where we come in,” said Ashley Trepp, director of mental health services at the nonprofit. SEE TASKS UNLIMITED / PAGE A15
Committee split on synthetic pesticide use A13
KID CURATOR
Superintendent Ed Graff speaks at a community forum at Justice Page Middle School. Photo by Nate Gotlieb
A space to belong Unused church basement being converted to a community services hub
By Andrew Hazzard
Local teen helps curate Mia exhibition B1
A PLAN FOR LYNDALE
Steve Brandt’s proposal for the dangerous street B6
A South Uptown church is being renovated to accommodate a new hub for social services and programming. The Aldrich Presbyterian Church will host the Center for Belonging, a new partnership of groups providing youth programming, job training, counseling, addiction treatment and food shelf services. Scheduled to open this spring, the project is being led by South Minneapolis nonprofit Ace in the City, which has worked on community-building projects in the city’s Powderhorn neighborhood and in Juarez, Mexico. “We are hoping that what’s better for our neighbors is partnering,” said Tim Anderson, executive director of Ace in the City. SEE ACE IN THE CITY / PAGE A11
Students at Risen Christ Catholic School participate in a before-school paper airplane throwing contest with Ace in the City, a nonprofit forming a new social services hub slated to open in South Uptown this spring. Photo by Andrew Hazzard