Featured Stories
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Jon Spayde Wednesday, July 10, 2013
We're putting the finishing touches on our new home page, which is livelier and brighter. The Line will be back with new features and news on July 17. Watch for urban bees, local theater booster Scott Mayer, and more.
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, July 10, 2013
The rooftops of some prestigious locations are buzzing as local institutions hop aboard the global urban beekeeping bandwagon. The idea is to play a role in restoring declining bee populations, with the help of the U of M and some intrepid honey-oriented entrepreneurs.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, June 26, 2013
On Saturday night, lensman Bill Kelley braved the threat of another downpour to take some lively shots of Secret City, Minneapolis' answer to the Northern Spark alfresco arts festival, which was based solely in St Paul this year. Check out his images of Aztec dance, djs, fire performance, sound art, and a huge inflatable civic mood ring called MIMMI.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 26, 2013
With Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) a possible future option for areas of Minneapolis and Saint Paul where light rail isn't feasible, I decided to take ride on Apple Valley's newly opened BRT route (the Red Line) to check it out. And why not? I'd already checked into a suburban hotel after the power went out at home.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, June 19, 2013
It's been an article of faith since Central Corridor light rail (Green Line) construction began that, despite all the disruption and traffic chaos of the building stage, the line would eventually become a magnet for local entrepreneurs. That scenario appears to be playing out; here are three entrepreneurial ventures that were lured to the line by light rail's promise.
Project for Public Spaces Wednesday, June 19, 2013
"If urban planning is musical composition, then placemaking is improvisational street performance." Five tested tips for doing the much-talked-about, rarely defined, improvisational, street-level, people-oriented form of urban design that's rapidly replacing the old top-down paradigm in the Twin Cities and across the country.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 19, 2013
This week: a heads-up about a July class in the University of Minnesota's extension division that will fill you in on the local craft beer revolution--it's origins, its economics, its varied business models, and more. Requirements include the actual consumption of product.
Dan Heilman Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The young entrepreneur's Royal Bangkok Restaurant is just one of the Vong family businesses at 315 University Avenue--a building that enshrines the enterprise and hope of a clan whose patriarch fled Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge.
Julie Kendrick Wednesday, June 12, 2013
If you're on the board of directors of HUGE Theater in Minneapolis, you have to improvise. That is, you have to actually go onstage and do improv in a three-evening run that is also an official series of board meetings.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Your editor helps run a meditative labyrinth-walking project amid the cheerful madness of the Northern Spark one-night, all-night arts festival--and points out another cool artfest that's ongoing.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, June 05, 2013
For artist/gallerist Pete Driessen and the theater artists of Off-Leash Area, turning their garages into art spaces provided opportunities for innovation, experimentation, and freedom, very close to home. And the neighbors don't mind a bit.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, June 05, 2013
This week: Mayor Coleman's office launches a blog for the City of Saint Paul that's more about the city as a scene than as a simple civic entity.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Charging stations for electric cars are popping up here and there in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In fact, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is working to install up to 76 electric car-charging stations throughout the metro area, adding to an already expanding network. Here's our guide (a work in progress) to our towns' car-charging infrastructure.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The onetime marketing professional made a career u-turn when he discovered how gardening--and cooking and eating healthy produce right from the soil--could change lives. Now his nonprofit startup helps inner-city newcomers to gardening make healthy foods part of their lives.