[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
www.mplsobserver.com
Vol. 2, No. 42
June 9, 2003

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THIS WEEK IN THE OBSERVER:
* City Vying with St. Paul for New Allina Headquarters
* Local Coalition to Join New 'Freedom Rides'
* City Studying 'Nuisance Night Court'
* Volleyball Popularity Sparks Neighborhood Crisis
* New Cop-Community Mediation Team Selected
Plus: Pogroms in Whittier, Playboy fans on campus, the first freeway noise barrier, a Prospect Park history, gardening in the mud, and the beauty of disorderly conduct.

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CITY VYING WITH ST. PAUL FOR NEW ALLINA HEADQUARTERS
Allina Hospitals & Clinics is scouting locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul for a new corporate headquarters, a move likely to spark a bidding war between the two cities for the company's 900 jobs.

The Phillips Neighborhood-based health care provider, the state's second largest, hopes to consolidate its headquarters employees in a single 235,000-square-foot campus, reports Scott Smith and Sam Black in The Business Journal (http://twincities.bizjournal.com), but has ruled out building a new headquarters campus.

Allina management has already held talks with St. Paul city officials, who are keen to bring the company to its revitalized downtown. "We have made it eminently clear to them that we very much want them in St. Paul and are willing to work aggressively with them to make that happen," said Martha Fuller, director of St. Paul's Department of Planning and Economic Development.

And while the St. Paul approach is likely to include some financial incentives for the company, Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak said there will be no significant financial help from Allina's home city to convince it to stay. The city will help the company locate a new site and provide some assistance, but will not provide major funding. As much as he wants Allina to stay in town, Rybak said, "We will not give a direct public subsidy to them."

Rybak has been a staunch of opponent of public funding for private enterprise, basing much of his 2001 mayoral campaign on the city's many corporate giveaways, including the controversial Target subsidy.

Allina reportedly is considering several sites in the two cities, the most promising of which are the Rivertown Trading building in the St. Paul Midway area and the Stinson Technology Center in Northeast Minneapolis. The company hopes to move in 2005.

LOCAL COALITION TO JOIN NEW 'FREEDOM RIDES'
A coalition of labor unions, religious groups, and other advocacy organizations are recruiting members from the local immigrant communities to participate in a national campaign for immigration reform modeled on the 1960s-era "freedom rides."


CITY STUDYING 'NUISANCE' NIGHT COURT
A proposed "Nuisance Night Court" would force graffiti artists, prostitutes, drunks, and other blemishes on our otherwise orderly society to pay the price of their misbehavior.
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VOLLEYBALL POPULARITY LEADS TO NEIGHBORHOOD CRISIS
A group of Ecuadoran volleyball players is sparring with the Park Board and Powderhorn Park residents over a neighborhood recreation program that has become way too popular.


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The Minneapolis Observer is published 48 times/year by Independent Media, L.L.C. �2003 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
Deputy Assistant Senior Executive Editor: Sharon Parker
Contributing writers: Chris Dodge, Leo Mezzrow
Equine consultant and coffee shop correspondent: Nora Cox
Perspective: Martin Cox
Thanks to: Ken Avidor

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