creative leadership : Buzz

The National Association of Town Watch ranked Minneapolis in first place for its National Night Out activities in 2011, according to city information.

National Night Out is a community-building celebration that encourages neighbors to get to know each other through block parties and other get-togethers. It’s been a tradition in Minneapolis for 28 years.  

This past summer, nearly 60,500 people showed up for 1,173 events.

“The impact of NNO lasts throughout the year. Neighbors who know and care about each other, do a better job of watching out for one another and reporting crime and suspicious behavior to police,” a prepared statement from the city reads.  

The web-based Education News, which covers various national and international education topics, recently highlighted the comic degree that’s available through the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.  

It’s one of only three such programs around the country, the story states, citing information from MPR and the Star Tribune.

Local author Britt Aamodt, who profiled over 20 area artists in a book called, “Superheroes, Strip Artists & Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists,” is quoted saying that a “recent crop of artists is taking Minnesota’s scene to new heights.”

Aamodt goes on to say that the local comic artists have "really spread their wings,” and, “They can tell any kind of story. And they just don’t have to be about men in tights.”

 

A photo from Jen Ritt, who is a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, is featured in a gallery of fireworks images from the BBC.

Ritt’s dramatic picture shows a figure poised with a sparkler atop a boat. The sparkler illuminates the otherwise dimly-lit lake.

The BBC photo gallery, which exhibits photos weekly according to a theme, presents images from England, Scotland, France, Spain, and other places around the world.

A recent article in the national magazine GOOD  features Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

The story by local writer Jeff Severns Guntzel, is titled, “The Partisans Will Never Find Us Here: Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Art of Getting Shit Done.”

It talks about the city’s recent accolades for everything from biking to literacy.

“For a city that lives in the imaginations of Americans as a culturally isolated outpost of extreme and permanent cold, they are small but significant triumphs—and evidence that something is going right in Minneapolis,” Guntzel writes.

Civic achievements are reflected in “a buzzing park, a painter turning a street corner utility box into art, block after block of thriving independent businesses, a festival for every obsession and persuasion, [and] its growing, engaged immigrant communities. Minneapolis is all of these things. It is not a utopia, not by any stretch. It’s just a city that works,” he says.  

In many ways, the success can be credited to the efforts of the Mayor, who’s been in office for a decade, Guntzel says.

Technology site Lead411 has released its annual survey of the top 200 tech companies in the nation, and five Minnesota companies made the list.
 
Ranked sixth on the list is Minneapolis-based Code 42 Software, a development company that produces onsite, offsite, and cloud backup applications for consumers and enterprises.
 
The other four companies are iBuyOfficeSupply.com, MSpace, The Nerdery, and CaringBridge.
 
The Tech 200 is based on revenue percentage growth from 2008 to 2010, and companies had to be privately-held U.S. businesses that earned more than $1 million in the past year.

The trade journal Editor & Publisher recently named Star Tribune publisher Michael Klingensmith publisher of the year.

Under his leadership, the newspaper’s circulation has increased and it has experimented with digital products, according to a Star Tribune story.

The article cites the following statement from the magazine: "The Star Tribune is standing tall as one of the elite U.S. newspapers," and it calls Klingensmith is a "hometown hero."

Klingensmith, who grew up in the Twin Cities, has led the newspaper out of bankruptcy and back into  profitability, according to the story.

Auditions for a Hollywood movie with Tom Hanks as its star will be held in Minneapolis on Nov. 5, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Hanks will portray Capt. Richard Phillips, “who was taken hostage by Somali pirates who hijacked his ship in 2009,” the MPR story states.

Sony Pictures, which is doing the casting, is looking for black actors, "preferably born in Africa ... Especially seeking SOMALIS," the story reads.

It’s what brings the company to the diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, which has the highest population of Somali-Americans in the country, according to the story.

The auditions will happen at the Brian Coyle Center, a community gathering place.

The story quotes casting consultant Debbie DeLisi: “We just looked at where there's huge Somali populations," who adds, "It may be our only stop, depending on the turnout."

U.S. Representative Keith Ellison was recently named by the Utne Reader as one of 25 visionaries from around the world who "don't just concoct great ideas but also act on them."

"These people also have delivered hope and renewed faith and tangible improvements to the lives of millions, the Utne reads.

The magazine describes Ellison as someone who is "A make-no-apologies progressive surrounded by a party of 'moderates.'" and adds that "the nation's first Muslim congressman believes true justice begins with tolerance--cultural, racial, and religious."  

The Miami Herald recently published a piece by local writer Jay Walljasper, titled, "The surprising rise of Minneapolis as a top bike town." (The article was excerpted in last week's The Line.)

When the city was named by Bicycle magazine as the best place for biking nationwide, "Shock that a place in the heartland could outperform cities on the coasts was matched by widespread disbelief that biking was even possible in a state famous for its ferocious winters."

Wallsjasper provides plenty of reasons why Minneapolis has earned this distinction, including the sheer number of bicyclists, many whom brave the winter temperatures.

Walljasper writes: "'Places famous for biking like Copenhagen and even Portland feel very far away,' remarked Jeff Stephens, Executive Director of the Columbus advocacy organization Consider Biking, who came to Minneapolis looking for ideas he could apply back home. 'It was exciting to see what they've accomplished in Minneapolis, which is a city that seems a lot like Columbus.'"

In its annual roundup of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal named Crave Restaurants the zippiest private company.
 
Reporting growth of 437 percent over the past three years, Crave has found success in an otherwise challenging economic environment for restaurateurs. The company has six restaurants, including sites in Omaha and Orlando, and employs 600 people.
 
Crave CEO Kam Talebi told the Business Journal that a seventh location is already under construction in Coral Gables, Fla. He added that Crave's success comes from the strength of its concept, and the ability to anticipate the needs of its diners. 

Recently, the Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis received several awards at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., which is “the biggest event of its kind in the world,” according to City Pages.

The festival included 466 brewers with 2,375 varieties of beer, it reports.

Beers from all over are judged according to 83 style categories, the story explains, adding that “The judging is rigorous, the competition is stiff, and the prestige bestowed upon the winners is great,”

Town Hall Brewery’s Hope and King Scotch Ale picked up a gold medal in the Scottish-Style Ale category, while a couple of specialty beers, Eye of the Storm and LSD, got silver medals in the Specialty Honey Beer and Herb and Spice Beer categories, according to City Pages.

Fortune magazine has named its annual "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" and two Minnesota executives made the ranking.
 
Gail Boudreaux of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group came in at number 30 on the list. She's appeared in the feature several times in the past, and this year, moves up four notches on the list from last year.
 
At number 46 on the current Fortune ranking, Shari Ballard of Richfield-based Best Buy has also appeared on the list before, and came in at number 48 in 2010.
 
Topping the list overall was Irene Rosenfeld, the CEO of Kraft Foods, followed by Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo. and Patricia Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland.
 

The American Planning Association (APA) put St. Paul's Rice Park in downtown St. Paul on its 2011 list of 10 Great Public Spaces across the country. 

Through the APA’s Great Places in America program, sites such as the historic park are recognized for “exceptional character and highlight the role planners play in creating communities of lasting value,” according to a press release about the award.   

The park, which is characterized by decorative lamps, statuary, benches, and a central fountain, “serves as much as a pathway and shortcut as it does a lunch stop, festival grounds, and outdoor sanctuary,” the release says.
 
The 1849-vintage park is also surrounded by a number of historic buildings, museums, and music halls that developed over the course of more than a century.  

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Minnesota and North Dakota has announced this year's finalists for the BBB Integrity awards, which will be presented on Oct. 24th at the Guthrie Theater.
 
The BBB presents the award every year to companies that "exemplify ethical behavior and display integrity in all aspects for their operations; toward their employees, vendors, customers, and within their community," according to the organization's recent press release.
 
Companies compete in different categories based on number of employees. In Category One, with one to 10 employees, finalists are Kamarron Design in Minneapolis, Boy's Electric in Eden Prairie, dentist Mark Finney in New Brighton, and Seraphim Communications in St. Paul.
 
In the other two categories, finalists include North Star Resource Group in Minneapolis and Latuff Brothers Auto Body in St. Paul.