Hanging-Out in downtown while the Twins played and later clinched the 2006-Central Division Championship
My friends (Sean, Ric, Rianna, Gina, and sister-Thelma) and I chilled in downtown on Saturday, September 31st of 2006. We rather do this instead of going back home to St. Paul after not getting into the Metrodome (last Twins baseball game of the season sold out!). We were very dissapointed! We ended up going to the Warehouse District, which we took the Light Right (first for most of us)...
We ended up eating at Applebees at Block E (citysearch)and watching part of the Twins game and Vikings too..
Then we went to Gameworks to watch the rest of it, but they wouldn't allow us too (only NFL games on NFL Sunday).
Bulgarian Couple Tours Downtown
I've been to Minneapolis many times, but haven't really had the chance to take pictures until this past weekend. I took a Bulgarian couple around Minneapolis and decided to take some pictures with my camera phone.
Related Sites:
Holidazzle Parade
Related Sites:
U.S. Bank Building
Related Sites:
Walk on the Stone Arch Bridge
On Saturday, August 25th of 2007-I wanted to see what was left of the recent (earlier this month) bridge tragedy. Here are some beautiful panoramic views from part of this long stone arch bridge...
Showing my friend from Pakistan around Dowtown during the Holiday Season (Christmas 2011)
Related Sites:
Good News Stories from Minneapolis
Living in Minnesota and watching the local news, we hear more "negative" than good about the inner-city of Minneapolis. Well, I'm here to share the "positive" of what God has and is doing here.
I decided to write about an outreach I was a part of back in 1999. I volunteered with other UMM colleagues/peers in a outreach headed by my friend's (Dan S.) church in Burnsville-Apple Valley area. They invited Convoy of Hope to set their "food give-away" (physical and spiritual) in the "heart" of South Minneapolis (Cedar and Lake St.). This past month (January 2007), I was driving around this neighborhood and God reminded me of this event. I decided to write about it to help me not forget God's goodness in Minneapolis. Other cool stories I remember as I write this is...
-Heart of the City worship services (many of them)
Keep praying for this city, especially when you watch or hear "bad news" through the media. It's the least thing we can do and then pray to ask God how you can be used to help in this situation/circumstance-instead of complaining about what's going on in Minneapolis. Just do it!
Architecture
Downtown Minneapolis from Mississippi Riverfront
Sculpture garden to Loring Park
Below are more pictures from my visit with my Uncle Ely and Aunt Helen...
Articles
Current News
Downtown
Mpls. schools host enrollment open house
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
-Sports
Events
-Thanksgiving to Christmas
{2011}
Target Holidazzle 2011.wmv
{2011}
Macy's 2011 A Day in the Life of an Elf.wmv
Target Corp Holiday Snow Lights 2011.wmv
Finances
-Deals
Foods
-Restaurants
AFRICAN
-American
Popeyes Chicken
ASIAN
-Indian-Mexican
EUROPEAN
-ITALIAN
Housing
-Apartments
Law Enforcement
Animation of the shooting of Duy Ngo
Life
Ministries
Oasis of Love, Inc
Museums
-Food
View coming from the parking lot on 7th St. going towards the IDS Center
Outside View at night!
Inside the Shopping Plaza
Minneapolis Marquette Hotel
Wikipedia
Cities Architecture
Wikipedia
Judy's Book
Mary Poppins' magical secret: See Macy's display on a weekday, from Twin Cities-Pioneer Press (Nov 18th 06')
"The annual holiday display began in 1963 with Santa's Enchanted Forest as the theme. Since then, millions of people have made it a part of their holiday season. We caught up with the MacGregor family from St. Paul near the exit, where a dangling Mary Poppins floats away on her open umbrella. The MacGregors come every year after Paul's birthday Nov. 11. This year, he turned 8 and collected hats and mittens, which he and his 12-year-old brother, Brian, and his mother, Cynthia, had just delivered to a charity in downtown Minneapolis. The boys said they liked the floating table"
Up, Up, and Away, The Magic of Mary Poppins, from Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine
*awesome picture to picture of the displays
*went here with a friend (Gina N.) of mine back in 2005
"The Stone Arch Bridge is a former railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Positioned between the 3rd Avenue Bridge and what was the I-35W Bridge,[1] the Stone Arch Bridge was built in 1883 by railroad tycoon James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway, and accessed the former passenger station located about a mile to the west, on the west bank of the river. The structure is now used as a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. It is an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 as a part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District, (District #71000438).
"
-Jesus March during one summer in North Minneapolis
Recommended Sites
"In this time-lapse recording of sunrise over downtown Minneapolis on a pleasant September morning, one second of video represents 24 seconds of reality. The video starts 30 minutes before sunrise with the Hennepin Avenue bridge still lit. A partly cloudy sky turns red at sunrise, and the video ends an hour later.
"
Walker Art Center: Introduce yourself.
"A PSA created by WCCO TV for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis."
Sculpture Garden
Sculpture Gardens 4: "Supersize It"
"This is 4th in a series of 9 featurettes I made when I lived in Minneapolis. Some friends came to visit and we went to see the Sculpture Gardens in Minneapolis. I took my video camera and had some fun. Everything was impromtu nothing was scripted. "
-Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge
"..by the renowned local architect and sculptor Siah Armajani, allows you safely to cross the merged lanes of Hennepin and Lyndale traffic, and with its long ramps is great for bicycles and wheelchairs, but for pedestrians trying to get somewhere? It's not a complete waste of time for walkers, but its top uses may not be what Armajani had in mind..."
Bottom Picture: Brett refuses to do any jumping jacks on a "dare" in front of cars by passing underneath the Walker Art Bridge on I-94 (Saturday, March 15th of 2008)
"OK it's a pedestrian overpass. It is very artsy and crosses Hennepin and Lyndale Avenues and I94"
Bike ride on Walker Art Bridge,from youtube.com
"Riding bike clip over Walker Art Bridge in Minneapolis sculpture garden."
"As a pastor in North Minneapolis, I�m very grieved by recent events that show us that we still have a long way to go towards the �Beloved Community� becoming a reality in the city.
A woman has her own children hold down a 4-year-old boy while she beats him to death for soiling his pants. An elderly woman is found dead in her home and a father turns his son in to the authorities, saying that his son didn�t commit the murder but is somehow connected. And these are just the major stories that have made the headlines recently.
I could also talk about school closings, declining enrollments at schools currently open, housing foreclosures, and boarded up buildings on Broadway Ave. These challenges point to why there is such a need for healing and transformation in North Minneapolis.
Before there can be healing and transformation, confession and repentance must take place. Now, there might just be way too much ego and pride (the enemies to confession and repentance) for this to take place, but there can be no healing and transformation without confession and repentance.
You may believe that confession and repentance are the same thing, but there is a subtle difference between the two. Within the area of confession we need to be willing to tell the truth. Sometimes truth telling will lead to the one confessing having to take responsibility for what they�ve confessed�which would lead to repentance.
We need to confess that millions of dollars have been poured into North Minneapolis with very little result. Foundations and corporations have given money to individuals and organizations that haven't been held accountable for the resources they received. In some cases those giving the resources didn�t hold those receiving the money accountable because they didn�t want to be accused of racism. In some cases there was no accountability because the one giving the resources was too busy to do the hard work of demanding and monitoring results. Who will take responsibility for this and repent?
We need to confess that in North Minneapolis there is a church on just about every corner, and yet the spiritual force of evil is not easily defeated, but rather it has influence in the Church. The Church being divided by denomination, race and class cannot be biblically justified. Only a reconciling Church can truly take on the demons of division and destruction in North Minneapolis and beyond. Who will take responsibility for this and repent?
We need to confess that there are leaders in North Minneapolis, who I have high respect for, but who are unfortunately using Civil Rights and Black Nationalist methods to solve a Post-Civil Rights and Post-Black problem. North Minneapolis is multi-ethnic. North Minneapolis has a growing number of first generation immigrant African and Asian populations.
This is not to take away from the fact that there are pressing issues facing the African-Americans in North Minneapolis, but to raise the issue that some of our methods are outdated and our pride has kept us from empowering the next generation to join older leaders in developing a new movement with new solutions. Who will take responsibility for this and repent?
We need to confess that the government�at the city and state level�has failed North Minneapolis in two ways. At the state level, the government has failed because the governor of this great state has not made North Minneapolis a priority of his administration. He is a professed evangelical Christian. The evangelical community is not lovingly holding him accountable because in Minnesota you only need to be pro-life and pro-marriage to receive the love of evangelicals.
I�m evangelical, pro-life and pro-marriage in terms of that institution being between a man and a woman. But I�m also pro-community development and pro-kingdom advancement in the city.
When it comes to North Minneapolis, too many evangelicals are simply pro-charity and pro-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps.
The city government has failed North Minneapolis by not being able to admit they�ve run out of creative solutions and therefore only keep recycling old ones. There have been too many political meetings filled with nice sounding rhetoric lacking real solutions that bear fruit to transform North Minneapolis.
We need to confess that parents are not taking full responsibility for what it takes to raise children. Too many young people are committing violent crimes because they learned the characteristics of a gangster lifestyle from their own family members. Who will take responsibility and repent?
This may be a painful process, but there must be confession and repentance first in order for there to be major healing and transformation in North Minneapolis.
I, for one, am willing to repent for any role I�ve played in these confessions. I repent for any territorialism and competition that has found its way into my soul and impacted my decision-making process.
I repent for not being a loving prophet to government officials and elder leaders in North Minneapolis.
I desire to go deep with others into confession and repentance, that there may be healing and transformation in North Minneapolis and beyond.
Efrem Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minn., and an itinerant speaker with Kingdom Building Ministries. He is also the author of �Raising Up Young Heroes� and �The Hip-Hop Church.""
"
Racial Reconciliation · The Sanctuary CDC · Love Minneapolis · Project 6:8 · Global Partners · Connection and Care · Prayer · Family Life Services ...
"It's that time of year to begin thinking about heading back to school. Minneapolis Public Schools are launching a new campaign to attract students"
"MINNEAPOLIS -- The school year may only be halfway through, but it is never too early to think about school enrollment. With so many factors to consider, parents have a hard time deciding which school their child should attend.
Minneapolis Public Schools Enrollment Director, Ryan Fair, joined KARE Saturday to discuss back to school enrollment and inform parents on what options they have when it comes to choosing a school.
Minneapolis Public Schools will hold an enrollment fair on Saturday from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
"
=stores:
Holidazzle Parade, from youtube.com
"This is just a slideshow of the 12/16/06 Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis. We happened to be visiting the area and thought the parade would be entertaining, and it definitely was"
Macy's Minneapolis Annual Santaland and Puppet Theater, .macys.com
"..
The 49th annual holiday show will delight guests of all ages. Join Macy's for the animated tale of "A Day in the Life of an Elf", a story depicting young elves as they prepare for Christmas at the North Pole.
Afterwards, have your photo taken with Santa himself and be sure to tell him what you're wishing for. Ask his elves about the photo packages.
And, be sure to visit Mrs. Claus' Bakery, which includes fresh gingerbread cookies and many other holiday treats; Santa's Toy Shop, filled with family friendly gifts; and Macy's Puppet Theater....
2011 Santaland Hours are:....
Macy's 8th Floor Holiday Display: Enchanting Families for Decades, uniquelyminnesota.com
"Twin City residents were salty, after traveling near and far to Popeyes Chicken on Lake Street, to find out that the franchise was not honoring the nationally advertised eight pieces of chicken for $4.99 on Earth Day. The local Fox 9 News thought this story was so mind-blowing, that they sent a field reporter to cover the shotty business practices and to get reactions from the irate costumers. While some may appreciate Fox for pulling the covers off the only Popeyes in the state of Minnesota – a franchise notorious for not honoring national deals – I feel there are bigger ramifications to this news stations’ coverage...."
"What a great find! Super buffet with an array of great food and tons of variety. Staff, cooks and wait persons ultra friendly and super accommodating. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and very clean. The buffet has something for everyone...even those picky eaters! Forget about Old Country Buffet and Old World Buffet or any other Buffet in theTC - this is the place to go.
It also beats out other buffets by big bucks! The Lunch buffet is only $6.99 and the dinner buffet is $8.99. Atmosphere is very relaxed, there is no need to rush to make sure you get any food - because the servers are constantly monitoring the supplies of food and adding or replacing. "
2216 E Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Phone » 612-728-3838
*went with my family last weekend (April 24th 2011) and thought the open grill was great, but that's about it! Reasonable for this price!
Old Spaghetti Factory
233 Park Avenue # 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 341-0949
Tram: Metrodome Station & Platform
Get directions - Is this accurate?
Open Mon-Thu 11:30am-2pm, 5pm-10pm; Fri 11:30am-2pm, 5pm-11pm; Sat 12pm-11pm; Sun 12pm-10:30pm
"Riverside Plaza is a modernist and brutalist apartment complex designed by Ralph Rapson that opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1973. On the edge of downtown Minneapolis in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, and next to the University of Minnesota's West Bank, the site contains the 39-story McKnight Building, the tallest structure outside of the city's central business district. Initially known as Cedar Square West, the complex was featured on television as the residence of Mary Richards in later seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Today, the imposing concrete structures are usually considered to be visually unappealing[attribution needed], particularly with their multi-colored panels (attempting to emulate Le Corbusier's Unit� d'Habitation design) which strongly date the period of construction. Interstate 94 and I-35W both pass nearby, giving good highway transportation options for occupants, but the corridors also act as barriers to pedestrians. Despite these drawbacks, the complex has been successful in maintaining a high occupancy rate, rarely dipping below 90% in three decades.
It is composed of six buildings and has 1,303 residential units, making it the main feature of the city's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Each building has a different height, intended to reflect the diversity of its population. Rapson was inspired by the time he spent in European cities where people of different ages and levels of wealth coexisted in close quarters. The area was developed with support from the U.S. federal government's "New Town-In Town" program, and was originally planned to be part of a utopian design that would have seen 12,500 units spread across four "neighborhoods" housing a total of 30,000 people.
About half of the complex is reserved for subsidized housing, much more than the 20% Rapson had originally planned. The low-income nature of the site has led to derisive nicknames such as the "slum in the sky," "ghetto in the sky," and the "crack stacks." A string of homicides in the early 1990s also contributed to a negative image. University student residents have been a declining portion of the population, while East African immigrants have dominated in recent years. More recent nicknames include "Little Somalia" and "Vertical Africa," reflecting the modern makeup.
A major complaint by residents of Riverside Plaza is the shortage of elevators: The 408-unit McKnight Building currently has five (it was built with three), and other structures are also "under-elevated." Ground transportation has improved since the 2004 addition of the Cedar-Riverside light rail station on the Hiawatha Line."
*referred by my bro (July 8th 2010)
"Christmas Eve is here. Many of us will likely gather tonight and break bread with family and friends in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I trust quite a few among us will hold hands around the table.
We will bow our heads in prayer, and someone will utter invocations about peace, forgiveness and loving your neighbor as well as your enemy.
Which brings me to one such gathering that will put to the test those stated intentions for some and affirm them for others. Let me explain.
In 1993, Mary Johnson's only child, Laramuin Byrd, was shot to death during a dispute at a house party in Minneapolis. His daughter, Rosalynda, now 17, was born five months later.
Byrd's killer was Marlon Green, then a 16-year-old kid juggling a chaotic life as a reputed street gang member as well as a respected conflict-resolution peer at his high school. Green, who had no previous criminal record, was convicted as an adult of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Though a woman of deep faith, Johnson long thought of her 20-year-old son's killer as a cold-blooded animal. She exchanged harsh words with his mother, Carole Green, during the trial.
But tonight, Johnson will spend Christmas Eve and share a meal with the man who killed her son — a 34-year-old man now known as Oshea Israel and whom she regards as her "spiritual son."
Johnson also befriended Carole Green, 54, who came by bus this week from her home in a Chicago suburb.
This will be the first time this woman will spend the holidays with her only child, released from prison this summer. Johnson and Green now regard each other as sisters forever bonded by this tragedy.
"The first time I heard Mary's story, I was moved to tears," said Brian Mogren, director of St. Jane House in North Minneapolis, a place that in recent years has seen far more than its share of violence and loss of too many troubled souls.
The urban community retreat center is operated by the Visitation Sisters of Minneapolis. It's also home to From Death to Life, a 5-year-old restorative-justice and support group founded by Johnson that attempts to bring together parents of victims and perpetrators. Johnson, 58, also works as a parent liaison at a Plymouth-area high school.
"If there is one key message here, among others, to this inspirational story, it is that ... mothers and fathers on both sides of these tragedies aren't alone," said Mogren, who also serves on the board of Johnson's nonprofit outreach group. "There is a place they both can come to and share their stories."
TEARFUL EMBRACE
But make no mistake. It's Johnson and her willingness to forgive that make this one heck of a Christmas tale.
"I commend
her, and I think she's an extraordinary person," Carole Green said this week. "She's genuine, and her strength and ability to forgive no doubt comes from the tower of the Lord."
I first met Johnson four years ago. A few months earlier, she had tapped into the deeper roots of her religious convictions and met with Marlon Green, then serving his sentence in Stillwater prison.
Something miraculous happened that day. The two — convicted killer and murder victim's mother —wrapped up their meeting with a tearful embrace.
"I never want to hurt you again," Green told Johnson then. "If I just communicated with (Byrd), if I just talked to him that night, this never would have happened."
The two kept in touch. Green spent his years in prison earning his GED and numerous certificates in various vocational disciplines, including baking.
His "life-changing" encount-er with Johnson made him far more religious and Bible-learned.
He decided to change his name to Oshea Israel before his release last summer. Oshea is another name for Jacob, who in the Old Testament underwent a transformation after an epic wrestling match with an angel.
"Oshea means deliverance," he told me this week. "It means deliverance from the past, a new beginning, moving on."
Oshea and Johnson banded together after his release, speaking to schools, community organizations, prison inmates and others about their experience.
It's a dynamite message. One speaks about the journey from hate to love and the cleansing power of fathomless forgiveness. The other touches on remorse, atonement and redemption.
And they lived ... happily ever after? Get real. Israel, despite numerous applications and job interviews, has yet to land a job.
"It's a combination of things — the economy, my felony conviction," he told me. His mother is grappling with serious health problems.
Meanwhile, Johnson's group labors to unite folks on both sides of such tragedies.
Now, if your son or daughter were murdered, would you want to sit down with the killer or his parents?
Most folks I know — including me — would say no. But then there's Johnson, Israel and Green to challenge those easy-to-say words with concepts that are extremely hard to put into practice when such incidents hit close to home.
Lasagna will be the main dinner course tonight. Carole Green in turn plans to cook up greens, turkey, sweet-potato pie and other goodies on Christmas Day to thank Johnson, Mogren, the religious order and others who are trying to help her son after his release.
"I have Mary to thank for this," she said. She did not specify which Mary: the mother of Jesus, or Johnson.
"No question that it takes time for a hurting parent to get to that place (forgiveness)," Johnson told me this week. "But I truly forgive Oshea. By that forgiveness, I have been set free from anger and bitterness. I consider him my son. He has two mothers now. I'm so grateful for God for what he has done."
Rubén Rosario can be reached at rrosario@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5454.
For more information about the From Death to Life group or St. Jane House, go to www.bewhoyouare.info/fromdeathtolife/enter.html. To read Rubén Rosario's April 24, 2006, column on Mary Johnson, go to TwinCities.com."
*Urban Spotlight at Heart of the City worship gathering in 2000
" a dynamic ministry
with urban roots, but with a global outreach. Our
emphasis is to bring about the restoration of the
family unit according to God's Word, to teach
believers their redemptive rights and privileges in
Christ, and to reveal the character of God as it
functions in the believer's life."
Heart of the City Urban Spotlight: Holding Forth Ministries
"Sharing the restoration of the family unit in North Minneapolis and surrounding area. Their ministry is the Urban Spotlight during this regular worship gathering in the Twin Cities"
*see Multicultural:Worship-Ministries
821 1/2 Broadway
Minneapolis, MN 55411
612-522-3015
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com: Prayer-needs, reports, requests, testimonies, etc..
Mpls Prayer Center in Need of Help
Updated: Sunday, 18 Jul 2010, 10:20 PM CDT Tom Lyden / FOX 9 News myfoxtwincities.com
"MINNEAPOLIS - A woman who is trying to change a tough block in North Minneapolis, on life at a time, needs help.
For too long, it's been a boulevard of broken dreams. Drive down West Broadway and it's easy to see the empty store fronts.
Jariland Spence believes it's harder to see the empty hearts. There is a simple sign that says prayer center. Sister Spence delivers a simple message: ministering to a lost generation.
Walk-ins are always welcome. They come in alone, sometimes in groups of every faith to simply pray.
Men like Willis Lowe, who met sister Spence during one of her Sunday morning visits to the Hennepin County Jail; where she prays with inmates, go to the prayer center.
“She came and she moved me,” said Lowe. “She moved a lot of people and she helped us get our faith back."
But Spence says her greatest success so far is Arthur Fields. Fields has a rap sheet going back 24 years. He did hard time when he got caught with a kilo of cocaine. But even a vice-lord has a bottom.
"In March, he walked in here on his way to get beer and crack and it was our regular prayer day," said Spence.
Fields got baptized that night.
A couple years ago, Spence turned her sewing shop into the prayer center, and then opened a thrift store next door. She calls the block, “kingdom square.”
But Spence also has a problem. Because she doesn't own this building, doesn't have a long term lease, several of her donors have stopped giving. She admits, straight up, she is three months behind on her rent and expects to get evicted any day now.
There've been offers of financial support from government leaders but always with the catch, of separating church and state.
For now, she relies on small donations and the generosity of strangers.
Fields is now working in the thrift shop, trying to get others to leave the street life, including his own son.
Spence understands the skeptics, because there's really no name for what she does. She's neither a church, nor a social service agency. She is just a woman who has expectations, for people who no longer have any for themselves."
"
Oasis operates a thriving faith-based outreach based in North Minneapolis with services to families throughout seven Metro Area counties. In its second decade, Oasis served more than 13,000 families and individuals with their holistic approach to"
Mill City Museum- The Most Explosive, Best Smelling Museum
"Visit Mill City Museum, www.millcitymuseum.org, and discover firsthand why it is the "Most Explosive Museum in the World," "The Best-Smelling Museum in the World," and what makes exhibits like the Flour Tower so amazing "You Won't Believe Your Eyes!""
Mill City Museum Scenic Riverview (Photo-Video Collage) on Dec 26th 2010
*see Salphoto.biz
Music
-Concerts
KTIS Jason Gray at GMA 2007
We're Coming to Minneapolis Sept. 29
Posted by Brian Cole on 9/4/09
"
ReignDown USA is coming to Minneapolis, MN on Sept. 29 for an evening of worship, prayer, repentance, and seeking God. Join the ReignDown team beginning at 6:00 PM at Elliot Park, which is located between Hennepin County Medical Center and North Central University. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket.
Elliot Park: 1000 14th St. E, Minneapolis, MN 55404. Phone: 612 370-4772
Together let's cry out to God as we put Christ back in the center of our lives!
Seasons
{2010-2011)
Testimonies
Transportation
-Auto
-Aviation
-Mass Transit: Light Rail Train
Hiawatha Train into Downtown Minneapolis
"An over-the-driver's shoulder view from just north of Lake Street to the Hennepin Avenue Warehouse District station."
Travel
-Summer
=>Rainstorm
=Friday, July 6th 2012
Youth
