Featured Stories

A Line or Two: A Weeklong Placemaking Confab with Katherine Loflin

Jon Spayde Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Monday, May 6, The Line and its civic partners kick off a weeklong Placemaking Residency with urbanist and placemaker Katherine Loflin, who knows why we love (or don't love) our cities.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, Reuse / Rebuild, Strong Local Economy

The Challenges of Building "The Essential House"

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Architect Daniel Yudchitz decided to design and build a small, sustainable, low-cost, energy-efficient house for himself in Saint Paul's challenged Rondo neighborhood, to demonstrate how architecture could promote urban reinvestment. And then the banks weighed in.

Affordable Housing, Design, Energy, Sustainability

Summit - University

Nirmala Rajasekar, David Jordan Harris, and Maryam Yusefzadeh

Embracing the Beloved at Our Hindu Temple: A Slide Show

Bill Kelley Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Images from a concert of ecstatic music in three traditions: Hindu Indian, Islamic and Christian Persian, and Sephardic Jewish, played and sung by some of our most accomplished local world musicians. The setting? Minnesota's Hindu temple. The purpose? To bring hearts and minds together. The result? Joyful catharsis after a terrible week.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, diversity

A Line or Two: Urbanist Katherine Loflin Coming to town to talk placemaking and "talent magnetism"

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 24, 2013

She was the key consultant on the Knight Foundation/Gallup Soul of the Community project, which looked at why people love where they live and how that attachment can drive economic development. The in-demand placemaker is the star attraction at a weeklong series of discussions next week, cosponsored by The Line.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Regionalism, Strong Local Economy

Meet the new face of STEM: Shefali Mehta

Julie Kendrick Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A proud "geek girl" from childhood, this globe-trotting scientist-businesswoman founded a local STEM-education program for elementary-school kids, moved away, then returned to find it still going strong. Now she's more committed than ever to strengthening science-and-technology training in our towns.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, High Technology, Higher Education, Talent Dividend

The Rise of the Rest: Tech Hubs Bloom Far from Silicon Valley

Eric Peterson Wednesday, April 17, 2013

From Greenville, North Carolina to Baltimore, from Tampa to Denver to Cleveland to the Twin Cities, tech savvy, entrepreneurship, and investment are coming together to create bright clusters of digital innovation.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Entrepreneurship, High Technology, Strong Local Economy

A Line or Two: Jambo Africa!

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 17, 2013

This week: A new incarnation for what may be the only pan-African restaurant in the Twin Cities--and a fan of West African cuisine has a delicious lunch of Jolof rice and chicken.

diversity, Entrepreneurship

Nick Rosener and Jackie Menne cowork in Joule's Atrium conference room

Joule: The Little Coworking Space that Could

Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, April 10, 2013

While the dynamic CoCo garners the headlines, a quiet coworking space at the edge of downtown Minneapolis welcomes solo entrepreneurs in search of a more serene scene. Owner Jackie Menne understands the needs of one-person, payroll-less microbusinesses--after all, Joule is a microbusiness itself.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Emerging Technology, Entrepreneurship

Downtown

Honeybee Mobile Market: A Farmers Market on Wheels

Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, April 10, 2013

What if, instead of you going to a farmers market, the market came to you? That's the vision of an entrepreneurial couple who want to create a fleet of truck-drawn trailers full of food from local farms. They're calling on Kickstarter for help and betting that the market for fresh, local food can only, well, grow.

Creative Economy, Entrepreneurship, Strong Local Economy, Sustainability

Maryam Yusufzadeh, David Harris, Nirmala Rajasekar

A Line or Two: Embracing the Beloved

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 10, 2013

This week: Three of the Twin Cities most accomplished master-musicians represent three great cultural and spiritual traditions in a concert that spans centuries and civilizations.

Arts and Culture, Creative Economy, Higher Education

At the U of M, a confab for designers who want to change the world

Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Consolidating its position as a laboratory for cutting-edge design thinking, the University of Minnesota's College of Design hosted the first Public Interest Design Week. Its climax was an awards show that displayed ingenious design-driven solutions to the dilemmas of poverty and ill health in America and around the world.

Arts and Culture, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Emerging Technology, Higher Education, Philanthropy, Sustainability

University

The Building Sustainable Communities Program: Art for Everybody's Neighborhood

Jay Walljasper Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Art lives in the Twin Cities--and not just in the tonier parts of town. Thanks to initiatives like Twin Cities LISC's Building Sustainable Communities program, art and artists are taking major roles in helping some of our most challenged inner-city communities thrive.

Arts and Culture, Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Economy, Creative Leadership, Design, diversity, Philanthropy, Reuse / Rebuild, Talent Dividend, Transit Oriented Development

Phillips, North Side, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown, Powderhorn, Summit - University

A Line or Two: ARTCRANK Cranks Up Its Bike-Themed Art Power

Jon Spayde Wednesday, April 03, 2013

This week: Get in gear (or jump on your fixie) for what ARTCRANK, our high-powered local (and national and international) poster collective, touts as "the biggest bike-art shindig ever thrown," this Saturday.

Arts and Culture, Design, Transportation

Northeast

Mike Hatzis, owner of the Best Steak House on University Avenue

Relief--and optimism--as light rail construction winds down

Dan Heilman Wednesday, March 27, 2013

As the building phase of the Central Corridor line finishes up, it's becoming clear that--thankfully--the direst predictions of business disruption didn't materialize. Now enterprises up and down the corridor are getting used to the new normal.

Central Corridor, Coordination/Collaboration, Entrepreneurship, Strong Local Economy, Transit Oriented Development

Midway, Thomas - Dale/Frogtown, Summit - University

Videoline: Muslim Day at the Capitol

Tom Niemisto Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Last Wednesday, some 150 Minnesota Muslims got together to share concerns and hopes with their legislators at the ninth Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol, organized by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Here's a video look at the event, from our friends at Minnesota 2020.

Coordination/Collaboration, Creative Leadership, diversity, Strong Local Economy

Downtown/Lowertown