Como press from 2008- 2009 |
2008- 2009
2009 - Sporty’s liquor license request met with opposition
Como residents convene to argue for and against the restaurant’s license. By Tara Bannow, Minnesota Daily November 9, 2009 excerpt - "After getting the green light from the state to bypass a zoning hurdle that made Sporty’s Pub & Grill in Como ineligible for a liquor license, owner Joe Radaich is now working with the city of Minneapolis to complete the process. “I’ve been telling people, like a football analogy, this is the fourth quarter in terms of the process,” he said. “We’re in the home stretch.” But some are concerned about how the new liquor license could affect the community. About 30 Como residents attended a Thursday Van Cleve Park meeting that quickly turned into a heated discussion over Radaich’s potential new license. . ." link to full article |
2008 - Passport to flavor: Three southeast Minneapolis restaurants open windows to a wide variety of Asian tastes
By Rick Nelson, Star Tribune January 23, 2008 excerpts - Obento-Ya Japanese BistroAfter running a wholesale sushi operation for a few years, Kjersten and Mie Winters decided to try their hand at the restaurant business. They have succeeded with their charming Obento-Ya Japanese Bistro. Kjersten is a former Marine who fell for the food -- and Mie -- when
he was stationed in Japan. The two of them turn out a menu that's
roughly divided into three parts: bento boxes, sushi and robata. The
bentos, a refined version of a school lunch tray, feature some kind of
simply prepared protein (ginger-marinated pork, grilled salmon,
sake-glazed cod), steamed rice, a tossed field-greens salad, a small
bowl of piping hot miso soup and a scoop of mashed potato salad. It's
big eating on a small budget; most full-meal combos fall in the $7 to $8
range. . . ChinDian CafeNina Wong knows the restaurant business. She worked at her family's hugely popular Rainbow Chinese Restaurant and Bar for nearly two decades before striking out on her own a few years ago with East River Market, a small grocery and deli. Since then, her personal and professional lives have evolved; she married customer Thomas Gnanapragasam, they have a 10-month-old daughter, Tia, and together the couple has converted the largely stop-and-shop enterprise into ChinDian Cafe. The new name on the door reflects the couple's collective heritages: Wong was born in Vietnam to Chinese parents, and Gnanapragasam is third-generation Malaysian with Indian roots. . .link to full article ** Both Obento-Ya and Chindian Cafe are located in the Como neighborhood. |
2008 - Obento-Ya: Everyday chic in Japanese dining
By Rachel Hutton, City Pages June 11, 2008 excerpt - ". . .Obento-Ya sits on a quaint Como Avenue block near the University of Minnesota, a mixed neighborhood of college kids and old-timers, with just a whiff of Berkeley-like laid-back diversity. The adjacent barber shop looks ancient enough to have been around when a shave and a haircut actually cost two bits, as does the hardware store, the corner market, and Kind Hearts nursing services across the street. The newer businesses cater to a youthful crowd; they include a tanning salon and a head shop whose windows display ads for a smoking contest and a sale on salvia, along with photos of shoplifters captioned "Have you seen these bitches?" The neighborhood has a mellower, more mature vibe than the Dinkytown detritus—overstuffed apartment buildings with beer-bottle lawn ornaments and urine-soaked bushes—just a few blocks away. It's a hotbed of professors and graduate students with worldly tastes and small budgets—just the right clientele for a bento shop." link to full article |
2008 - Crowd favorite repeats as double-winner at Taste of Chocolate in Bloomington
By Harvey T. Rockwood,Sun Newspaper March 12, 2008 excerpt - ". . . Brian McElrath of B.T. McElrath Chocolotier was named "honorary chocolatier" for 2008, a title something akin to "chocolatier emeritus, Pratt explained. He is a three-time winner of the Taste of Chocolate Best Chocolate Confection award. Television chef Rachel Ray named B.T. McElrath Chocolatier one of her top six choices for Valentines' Day chocolate gifts. McElrath agreed to step back from the competition and advise some of the other entrants with his expertise and experience, Pratt said. . . " link to full article |
2009 - Clunkers still being born again at Newgate
Federal program didn't put a dent in donations to Minnesota car repair-training operation. By Neil St. Anthony, Star Tribune September 3, 2009 excerpt - "Newgate Education Center, Minnesota's original car-donation operation, gave the federal "cash for clunkers" program a run for its money this summer. A number of charities told the Star Tribune last week that car donations were down, thanks to the popular federal incentive that provided tax credits of as much as $4,500 to thousands of new-car buyers in return for their old beaters. Meanwhile, 32-year-old nonprofit Newgate accepted two dozen more
vehicles in July and August than it did last year. Newgate is 54
vehicles ahead of last year, with 1,194 cars to refurbish for sale
through the first eight months of this year. . . " link to full article ** Newgate is located in the Como neighborhood at 2900 E. Hennepin Ave. |
2009 - U of M removing toxic waste from family student housing site
"U of M removing toxic waste from family student housing site," by Chris Steller, Minnesota Independent, November 17, 2009 excerpt - The University of Minnesota has quickly, if quietly, begun to address threats posed by a toxic waste dump it discovered under student family housing in Southeast Minneapolis. The university found the toxins under three buildings on a four-city-block residential complex last year. On Sept. 18, 2008, workers digging a trench at the Como Student Community Cooperative found ash and debris in the ground at its complex. Samples tested that day showed high levels of several toxins, including arsenic and lead. More tests revealed more hazards, so within days, on an emergency basis, the university hauled away 558 tons of contaminated dirt to a landfill in Rosemount. The university last week finished the first phase of cleanup work, bringing the total amount of soil removed so far to 10,000 tons. For generations, children have lived and played on the land along East Hennepin Avenue between 27th and 29th avenues SE. And for generations, it seems, the soil around the houses has held rich deposits of lead and arsenic - so much so that a handful of dirt ingested by a child, "if it was from a hot spot, could potentially cause brain damage," according to Lynne Grigor, project coordinator at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. . . |
2009 - Southeast Como plans for grow box pilot project: The portable grow box would let undergraduate student renters grow small gardens in their house
"Southeast Como plans for grow box pilot project: The portable grow box would let undergraduate student renters grow small gardens in their house." By Lolla Mohammed Nur, Minnesota Daily, October 29, 2009 excerpt - The Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA) is a finalist for a grant that could fund a new pilot project that would allow residents to have a portable, reusable garden in the form of a grow box in their houses and apartments. The grow box is planned to be a cylinder-shaped, two-foot-tall container with soil and plant material, instructions and a self-watering mechanism. The project, scheduled to launch next spring, is designed primarily for undergraduate student residents who don’t know how to grow plants or don’t have space outside their rented houses to grow organic produce. However, the program is open to any Southeast Como resident. . . |
2009 - Minneapolis City Council to declare Joe Baker's auto repair business a 'municipal problem'; Problem property no longer has 20 tons of rubbish
"Whistleblower: Improved, not solved - Problem property no longer has 20 tons of rubbish, but it's not back on the Minneapolis tax rolls, either. In January, neighborhood frustration over junked cars and other eyesores prompted the Minneapolis City Council to declare Joe Baker's auto repair business a 'municipal problem.' " By James Eli Shiffer, Star Tribune, October 18, 2009 excerpt - In January, neighborhood frustration over junked cars and other eyesores prompted the Minneapolis City Council to declare Joe Baker's auto repair business a "municipal problem." Since Whistleblower first reported on this unusual situation in January, pressure from the city and Hennepin County succeeded in prodding Baker to remove more than 20 tons of rubbish from the property on Como Avenue SE. But the former Joe Baker Auto Service -- owned by the state since May 2008 because Baker failed to pay his taxes -- has become a different kind of municipal problem. Hennepin County paid $13,950 to a consultant to investigate whether there was a dangerous toxic mess left over from the property's 70 years as a service station and vehicle-repair lot. The study found some contamination underneath the site, but no health hazards. The consultant recommended no more studies. . . |
2009 - Hookah coal ignites Como house: A fire started at a house rented by University students early Monday morning
"Hookah coal ignites Como house: A fire started at a house rented by University students early Monday morning."By Thomas Q. Johnson, Minnesota Daily, October 12, 2009excerpt - Fire engulfed the rear of a house rented by University of Minnesota students in the Como neighborhood early Monday morning. Residents of 14th Avenue SE between East Hennepin and Talmage Avenues awoke to sirens around 12:50 a.m. when a fire that began in the kitchen spread to the rest of their house. Architecture junior Stefanie Perez , who lives a few houses down, said she heard a person run out the house screaming “fire!” just before the fire department arrived. Multiple emergency vehicles quickly battled the blaze for half an hour before bringing it under control. Four of the five residents of the house, all University students, were home at the time of the fire and all made it out safely. . . . |
2009 - Buying home for relative? You'll need license to 'rent'
"Buying home for relative? You'll need license to 'rent'," by Nicole Tommerdahl, Star Tribune, September 22, 2009excerpt - . . . The interest in inspections stems from a surge of relative homestead properties near the university. Students were "driving the neighbors nuts," Tran said. About 140 properties in three of the neighborhoods surrounding campus, are registered that way. Many were purchased by the parents of university students. Relative homesteading is being used at the university in a way it was never intended, said State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis. A son or daughter living in a home owned -- but not occupied -- by their parents fits the definition of a relative homestead. But when friends or other students are paying rent to live there, it's more like a rental property -- without the rental license and inspections. Unlike most rental properties, a relative homestead property also gets a break on property taxes. A $100,000 single-family home with a homestead exemption would owe about $1,200 in property taxes, but a duplex or apartment building of the same value would pay roughly $1,800 per year. "We wanted to make sure they were regulated so we had the ability to check and see if they were being used inappropriately," Kahn said. . . |
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