Landscape arboretum director steps down after 25 years

Peter Olin learned to love nature in the fields and farms of Connecticut where he played as a child, a love he turned into a career.

But Tuesday, Olin ended part of that career, as he stepped down as director of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum after 25 years of service . University horticulture professor Mary Meyer will serve as interim director until a replacement is found. Olin will remain a University professor this upcoming year.

Under Olin's directorship, the Arboretum has doubled in size and quadrupled its staff, now employing 200 people during the peak summer months, Olin said.

The Arboretum, best known for its research and production of the Honeycrisp apple, has produced several plant varieties, including cherries, blueberries and grapes used in Minnesota wines. The Arboretum is also celebrating its 50-year anniversary as a public garden.

Meyer is taking over the directorship on the 100-year anniversary of the center.

In 1983, when Olin left the forests of Vermont, where he worked at the time, and came on board as the director, the Arboretum had a children's program in which students came to the park to learn basics about plant life.

Since then, the program has transitioned into several other forms of community outreach. The Plant Mobile , an Arboretum van, takes plants and materials to different local schools that can't afford to take a bus to visit the Arboretum.

The Urban Gardens program teaches children in St. Paul and north Minneapolis about gardening and the environment.

"[Students] grow vegetables and have to eat them," Olin said. "Well, they don't have to, but after spending so much time growing them they usually want to," he said jokingly about the Urban Gardens program.

The Arboretum's programs are beneficial to everyone involved, from adults in cooking classes, visitors in the park and developmentally disabled people in the Arboretum's therapeutic programs, Olin said.

"It's therapy because there's physical activity, there's mental activity, there's social activity, and there's spiritual, emotional activity," he said.

Meyer's goal as interim director is to take these benefits and give them a greener spin. She said cutting down on pesticide use, using water more effectively and emphasizing sustainability in general are her main concerns.

Because of her new role, the research and teaching she does will have to take a back seat, Meyer said. The time she'll have to spend on her main research on the hardiness of ornamental grasses will be limited, she said.

New development planned for Stadium Village

A new multi-purpose, high-density project has been announced for the blocks between Oak and Ontario streets on Washington Avenue.

The project, called Campus Crossroads, will be built by Opus Corporation, pending city approval.

If the project is approved by the Minneapolis City Council, the Oak Street Cinema, Campus Pizza, and other Stadium Village businesses will be displaced to make way for a new housing development.

The development will be as tall as the Oak Street parking ramp and will serve housing and retail building, Cam Gordon, Ward 2 City Councilman, said.

Gordon said that larger, denser development makes sense because the location is near to the University, the hospital, and will be near the new light rail line.

Store owners on the current property now are looking for other locations to set up shop. Jim Rosvold, owner of Campus Pizza, one business that will be displaced by the Crossroads project, said since he has been in Stadium Village he watched the area change from an independent business hotbed to an area populated by franchises and chains.

"I think (the Campus Crossroads development) will be good for the Village because it builds density," Rosvold said. "It's sad to see the nostalgia go, but I think in the long run it will be good for Stadium Village."

Opus also built 22 of the 24 buildings on the University of St. Thomas campus.

Construction will begin - if the city approves - spring 2009 and will be complete by fall 2010, according to the Star Tribune.

Bruininks suffers pulmonary embolism

Bruininks suffers pulmonary embolism

University President Bob Bruininks, 66, is recovering from a blood clot in his leg and a pulmonary embolism he endured while hiking in Washington state, according to a University news release.

"A pulmonary embolism is a sudden blockage in a lung artery," Dr. David Ingbar, director of the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care and Sleep division of the University said in a statement. "This uncommon complication can be caused by a long plane flight."

Bruininks will stay in Washington for treatment, according to the release, where a full recovery is expected.

He plans to return to the University in the next seven to 10 days.

Local eatery Mesa Pizza to expand after closing of Dinkytown Barbers

Local eatery Mesa Pizza to expand after closing of Dinkytown Barbers

After 87 years of snipping, buzzing and shaving, Dinkytown Barbers is finished with the hair business.

On May 1, the keys to the front door changed hands from Terrie Mau, the shop's owner of 10 years, to Dave Powers, the owner of next-door business Mesa Pizza.

Powers said that renovations should be complete by the start of fall semester. The abandoned barber chairs will be swapped for customer seating.

Dinkytown Barbers, originally the International Barbershop, opened its doors in 1921 where Mesa stands today, but moved next door into its current location in September 2001.

Mau said the barbershop paid for itself and had a loyal customer base, but that she was "wearing thin" managing both Dinkytown Barbers and her Moler Barber School of Hair Styling.

Photo courtesy Ed Nelson

Barbers pose for a picture at Dinkytown Barbershop in 1921.

"I can be as sentimental about it as I want to," Mau said. "But the bottom line is that business is business."

Dennis Anderson, a barber at Dinkytown Barbers for the past 36 years, said none of the employees could afford to buy the shop.

Mau, however, said that no one was prepared to purchase it, though some workers might have been able to. She did receive several outside offers, she said.

Most of the offers were from individual barbers looking to set up shop among the other five barbershops in Dinkytown. But the highest offer was from Mesa's Powers, who said he looks to expand his "really, really cramped" pizza parlor.

"Because of the lack of space, we have to take the tables and chairs out at night to deal with the massive crowd that comes," Powers said. "We should have 1,000 square feet, but we have 500 square feet, so we do the best we can."

Clayton Harrison, an economics senior and frequent Mesa customer, said the extra seating will help Mesa's business.

"(Mesa is) not a place where you go in to get pizza and eat it there," Harrison said. "If I'm getting Mesa I'm going to walk wherever I'm going and eat it (on the way)."

Besides the extra dining space, Powers plans to expand the kitchen and cooler, get two additional ovens and extend Mesa's delivery service, which is currently run out of the store's basement.

Dinkytown burglar caught on local apartment roof

Dinkytown burglar caught on local apartment roof

Police arrested a 39-year-old man Monday in Dinkytown after he stole money from a pub and climbed onto a local apartment rooftop, according to the police report.

Adam Lanoue, a University student and manager of Blarney Pub and Grill, chased the suspect, according to the police report, after he stole money from the restaurant in broad daylight.

The chase ended nine minutes later on the roof of 1415 Fifth Street S.E., where police apprehended the suspect.

The suspect gained access to the roof of the Cardinal Properties apartment complex and was still holding the money and burglary tools when the police arrested him and took him to Hennepin County Jail, according to the police report.

Both Blarney and Cardinal apartments denied comment.

Campus-area business: some say 'different,' others say 'dying'

Campus-area business: some say 'different,' others say 'dying'

Edwin Nelson remembers when a small barbershop took its place among the ice cream parlors and flower shops of Dinkytown in 1964 .

Now Dinkytown Barbers is closed, waiting to take its place in University lore, as the space becomes part of an expanding Mesa Pizza .

Dinkytown, where Nelson first started cutting hair, may be different, but he said it's far from dying.

But others believe that businesses around campus are changing, noting four older establishments on campus that closed within the last year.

One camp believes that the closing of Dinkytown Barbers , Grandma's Saloon and Grill , North Country Co-op and the Oak Street Cinema signal a decay of small business and an increase of corporatization, while others see the closings as natural casualties of business.

Michelle Smolik , owner of the Stadium Village Bruegger's Bagels , said the University is a more challenging environment for small business than it is for corporate business.

"It's hard to be an independent business person on campus because you really have to make as much money as you can during those peak periods to sustain yourself during Christmas break," Smolik said.

"There is definitely an advantage to being a large corporate chain when you have those variations in business," she said. "I have a whole bunch of Brueggers backing me up."

This environment is leading to more corporatization, a gradual and imminent change on campus, said Melvin Aanerud , representative of the U.S. Small Business Administration . The four businesses in question don't have common reasons for closing.

Aanerud said the closings were natural: Co-ops take a hit when customers choose cheap prices over "social conscience," one-screen cinemas are dropping along with drive-ins, barbershops are being pushed out by hair salon chains, and the bridge collapse and weak economy reduced the customer base of restaurants on the West Bank.

"It's not just something special for Dinkytown or the West Bank," Aanerud said. "In all of those cases, it's just the market changing.

"Now, we'd all like to think that Dinkytown or the West Bank are somehow different than the rest of the market, and, in fact they are," Aanerud said. "I know it's unique, but it is becoming less unique all of the time."

The Twin Cities are the birthplace of several industry giants. Best Buy started in St. Paul as Sound of Music , a single record shop that turned into an empire. Medtronic , now a world leader of medical equipment, started in a 600 square-foot garage in Minneapolis.

Skott Johnson , president of the Dinkytown Business Association, said the University is one of the last small business areas in the Twin Cities where people can come and start a business, build and maybe move elsewhere.

After a CVS pharmacy moved into a downtown development in St. Paul, the city created development regulations on Grand Avenue aimed at keeping chains out by limiting shop size.

Minneapolis does not have a comparable program, but Bob Lind , manager of small business financing from the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development department , said the city offers cut-rate loans and a working capital program for all businesses.

Businesses on the West Bank and in Dinkytown are offered loans nearly twice as large as the rest of the city because they fall under the "commercial nodes" that the city of Minneapolis gives priority funding to, Lind said.

Besides the "commercial node" status, Dinkytown falls under the Marcy Holmes Neighborhood Association master plan. Johnson said the plan - filed with the city of Minneapolis - can stop developers from erecting a "24-story tower" in Dinkytown.

Under the guidelines of the master plan, Johnson said developers of the 1301 University apartments reduced the number of floors and agreed to change from a prefabricated building design to the brick structure it is today.

Master plan or not, some businesses feel that the University area is still a viable market, even with construction projects on the horizon.

"We had our streets and ditches torn up in 1995, you couldn't drive into Dinkytown, you had to airlift in," Johnson said. "Luckily, nothing stops students."

Doug Grina , owner of Al's Breakfast , said his business isn't affected by seasonality, and the new construction on campus won't change Dinkytown much.

"We're just a little bit further from the Metrodome than we will be from the new stadium," Grina said, also noting that game day always brings in more customers.

After all of the changes he has seen, Nelson believes nothing is wrong with the University business community today.

"I really think that as long as the college students keep going (to Dinkytown, West Bank and Stadium Village shops) everything will be fine," said Nelson. "If the people are friendly it won't matter what's there."

Community Businesses Battle Theft

Community Business Battles Theft

June 9 was a normal work day at Dinkytown Optical . Larry Zidel watched as a familiar customer walked across the shop floor and gazed at the dozens of glasses frames gleaming on the racks.

Then, the customer slipped several frames down his sleeves and ran out of the shop.

Shoplifting and robbery are two things every business must defend itself from, and the businesses in Dinkytown use the community to their advantage.

Zidel, an employee and former owner of Dinkytown Opitical, said the same shoplifter has visited the store about twice a year for the last six years. The only difference was that, this time, a painter chased after the thief and helped University police catch him, according to a police report.

Without the presence of a beat police officer assigned specifically to Dinkytown, business owners have taken on the role of policing the area.

When a thief prowls through Dinkytown, some of the storeowners notify each other.

Greg Pillsbury, owner of Burrito Loco , said Dinkytown needs more of this kind of immediate information.

"What I hate is to be talking to a friend and find out that so-and- so got robbed three weeks ago," he said. Pillsbury said he calls everyone he knows when he sees a shoplifter in Dinkytown.

Aside from a surveillance system and parking lot monitors, Laurel Bauer, owner of the House of Hanson grocery store, has her own strategy.

Bauer said that when she sees someone with the "shady posturing" of a shoplifter, she will tell her employees something out of character. The question "How's the beer cooler?" really means "Watch the person by the beer cooler."

Bauer said she also alerts area businesses when she catches a shoplifter.

Dinkytown thieves are in a disadvantageous position, operating under both the University and Minneapolis police department jurisdictions.

University Police Lt. Chuck Miner said that 911 calls from Dinkytown are routed simultaneously to both the University and Minneapolis Police, and whoever has the closest officer will respond.

That Monday morning, the thief ran out of Dinkytown Optical and right into the arms of two University bike patrol officers.

Though the University bike patrol doesn't monitor Dinkytown, they do cover Sanford Hall and Bierman athletic complex - two areas on Dinkytown's perimeter.

A trespass warrant is another way that business owners can defend themselves against repeat offenders, Miner said. The warrant permits owners to deny entrance to their shops.

However, business owners might "run into a lawsuit" if they were to pick on a certain class or race, "but nobody has a constitutional right to go into a particular business," Miner added.

Sample group in U Internet study skewed

Sample group in U Internet study skewed

The results of a University study released last week show that more low-income high school students are using the Internet, but those surveyed were part of a program that already used the Internet in its curriculum.

The survey's main finding was that social networking Web sites like Facebook and Myspace enhance students' technological skills.

According to the study, 94 percent of low-income high school students are using the Internet, but an April 2008 Pew Research Center report puts that number at 86 percent.

The discrepancy may exist in how the surveys were conducted.

The students in the University survey were part of Admission Possible , an after-school college-preparatory program for 1,200 low-income students in 15 Twin Cities metro-area high schools.

The program regularly uses the Internet to research colleges and search for scholarships, according to a University news release.

High school juniors in Admission Possible use the Internet about once per week and high school seniors in the program use it "almost every session," said Taylor Swartz , a senior coach for Admission Possible.

"We use (the Internet) a lot for college and scholarship searches," Swartz said. "My after-school sessions were actually in the computer lab."

But the study's lead University researcher, Christine Greenhow , said she didn't know that the students surveyed were using the Internet as part of the Admission Possible program.

She said that after looking at the program's curriculum, she thought that the students were only using the Internet to fill out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Regardless of the sample, Admission Possible students are still using social networking to their academic advantage, Greenhow said. The study's main focus was to research the beneficial use of social networking sites, which she said she accomplished.

"There is a lot more work that needs to be done," she said. "This is the tip of the iceberg."

In contrast to the University's study, the Pew study was conducted using "random digit dialing" that polled teenagers ages 12 through 17 across the country, Pew Center spokesman Aaron Smith said.

Pew identifies households with annual incomes of $30,000 or less as low income. The average for households of students in Admission Possible is $25,000.

Pew research from 2005 found that only 44 percent of low-income households had access to the Internet. In households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more, the percentage of teenagers who used the Internet reached 97 percent.