2020 VOTER’S GUIDE PAGE A18 Vol. 31, No. 20 October 1–14, 2020 southwestjournal.com
Seeking solutions for homelessness as winter looms
g n i Cotm o the e s n defe at n advoc e k o p s t u dent is o ic defender i s e r e g bl A r m at a ’s top pu y t n u o c as
By Andrew Hazzard
Michelle Smith has created a comfortable community on the shores of Lake Harriet, but she’s ready to leave. When she obtained the Park Board’s first permit for an encampment in late July, she did so with the aim of finding residents a permanent housing solution. Now Smith, who both lives in and coordinates the Lake Harriet encampment, may be close to accomplishing her goal. A local real estate broker reached out to Smith after reading about the Lake Harriet encampment in the news and offered his help locating a site that can be used as permanent supportive housing. Now the group, called Project Back to Home, is fundraising (tinyurl.com/home-lake-harriet) to put a down payment on a property that will house the dozen residents of the encampment and create a cooperative model to help people get out of homelessness. They’ve raised about $5,000 toward a $90,000 goal and are looking at sites across the Twin Cities. Smith said she’s feeling optimistic. “Maybe it was all worth it,” she said.
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SEE HOMELESSNESS / PAGE A12
By Michelle Bruch
As Hennepin County’s chief public defender, Mary Moriarty wishes her neighbors in the Armatage neighborhood could see what she sees. She’s watched her favorite client sentenced to life in prison. She’s watched hours of police bodycam video, calling the prosecutor if she sees something troubling. She’s read about the harm clients experienced as children. “I tend to think of what’s happening here in Minneapolis as a reckoning for all of us about what we’ve neglected all of these decades,” she said. “This is going to define who we are. Are we going to buckle down and figure out how to fix things and make things better, or are we just going to go back to whatever normal is for our lives, because it doesn’t directly impact us?”
The Minnesota Public Defense Board was questioning Mary Moriarty’s position as chief public defender at press time. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
SEE MORIARTY / PAGE A14
Michelle Smith, coordinator and resident of the Lake Harriet encampment. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
Some businesses see pandemic bump Bike shops, garden centers and food sellers doing well By Andrew Hazzard
Greg Neis, co-owner of Farmstead Bike Shop, has been busy fixing old rides and outfitting new ones during the coronavirus pandemic as more people turn to cycling for transportation, recreation and exercise. Photo by Isaiah Rustad
Many of the rides wheeled into Farmstead Bike Shop in East Harriet this year for service have been in dire need of some lube and love. “We’re literally fixing bikes that haven’t been ridden in 15 years,” Farmstead co-owner Greg Neis said with a laugh. The pandemic has been devastating for the economy and placed great hardships on many local shops, but some business types, like bike shops and food vendors, have seen a COVID-related boost. Farmstead has been repairing more bikes.
Tangletown Gardens has sold more houseplants. And Lowry Hill Meats has been selling plenty of premium cuts. “It was crazy early on because our phones would ring nonstop,” Scott Endres, co-owner of Tangletown Gardens and Wise Acre Eatery, said of the start of the pandemic. The callers wanted advice on how to best care for the houseplants they now found themselves staring at all day. Many wanted new plants, too, to brighten up their living space SEE BUSINESSES / PAGE A14
A pizzeria from the chef behind Martina
Health clinic coming to Stevens Square
Voices from the pandemic
What’s next for Bde Maka Ska pavilion?
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