[Mpls] This Week in The Minneapolis Observer

[Craig Cox]

T H E M I N N E A P O L I S O B S E R V E R
A Weekly Digest of All Things Minneapolitan
Vol. 1, No. 33
April 1, 2002

**********************************************************

THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* Sayles Belton Won't Rule Out Another Run for Office
* Activists Call for FBI to Investigate Jeilani Slaying
* Met Council Forces MAC's Hand on Noise Abatement
* The Malling of Hennepin Avenue
* Naked Ambition at the U
* When We Were Swedes
Plus: Car-sharing in Seward, remembering Syl Davis, bashing the suburbs, lamenting dead catalogs, and how the Metrodome saved the Twins.

**********************************************************

SAYLES BELTON WON'T RULE OUT ANOTHER RUN FOR OFFICE
Former Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton has been recuperating from 18 years in City Hall in the months since she lost her bid for a third term to political neophyte R.T. Rybak, but she's not ruling out another run for office.
"At this point, I am leaving all my options open," Sayles Belton told Iric Nathanson in the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger. "I have always been involved in community-building activities, and I will continue to be involved. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about that."
Sayles Belton said she'd recently returned from a trip to Cuba and is planning to attend a conference on sustainable development in South Africa. But closer to home, the former mayor has been enjoying the opportunity to spend more time with her family. "I have been able to see my son play basketball at South High, and I have been able to go to concerts and be there for the whole program," she said. "I have been able to indulge my culinary interests and cook more complicated foods, not just quick macaroni and cheese."
The election remains a disappointing chapter in her political life, Sayles Belton explained, but she doesn't feel any bitterness about the outcome. "I feel great," she said. "People expect me to be angry and upset. That is not the case. Obviously, I would've liked to have won my last election, but that was yesterday. Now it is time to move on."

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR FBI INVESTIGATION OF JEILANI SLAYING
A delegation of community activists have called for an FBI investigation of the police slaying of Abu Jeilani.

MET COUNCIL PUSHES MAC TO EXPAND NOISE EFFORTS
The Metropolitan Council last month used a little behind-the-scenes arm-twisting to further airport noise mitigation efforts.

THE MALLING OF HENNEPIN AVENUE
Downtown's ongoing suburbanization will get another boost with last week's announcement that an Olive Garden restaurant will open at Fifth and Hennepin.

STUDENTS EXHIBIT NAKED AMBITION
Six University of Minnesota students streaked naked across Northrop Mall last Monday in what has become a springtime campus ritual.

*********************************************************
AND NOW WE'RE ON TELEVISION, TOO!!!
See firsthand why none of us ever went into TV as a career. Tune in to The Minneapolis Observer on MTN cable channel 17 Sunday nights at 8:30 for TV news, weather, and sports with a Minneapolis perspective.

**********************************************************
The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2002 Independent Media, 4152 Snelling Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55406; www.mplsobserver.com. No part of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Independent Media. Subscriptions: $12/yr. To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and we'll get you off the list and refund the unused portion of your subscription.

Editor: Craig Cox
Associate Editor: Sharon Parker
Contributing writers: Nora Cox, Mark Engebretson, Tim Herwig, Leo Mezzrow, Sarah Wash
Occasional research assistance: Martin and Nora Cox
Online technical assistance: Christopher Pollard
Thanks to: Michael Atherton and Jonathan Palmer

*******************************************************
Fight media consolidation! Support the independent press! Pick up your neighborhood newspaper!
*******************************************************