| TRANSITIONS NOTED This is where we note the comings and goings of the people and openings and closings of the things which make life in the Capitol City what it is. Feel free to note transitions to us at cccacophony@prodigy.net |
| DESTROYED: A whole lot of fireworks, on Harriet Island, May 27. MOVING: Roy's Barber Shop, from Payne and Case [next to Schwietz's Saloon] to Arcade and Sims [next to Arcade Bar], effective June 1. Apparently Payne Avenue is to be home to a new coffee house and Arcade Street gains a new businessperson.. DEPARTED: Jene Sigvertsen, retired property manager for Saint Paul Schools. DEPARTED: Ed Hirte, long-time Dayton's Bluff resident for whom the city gave a day last year and in whose honor a tree stands in Mounds Park. DESTROYED: The old Rice Street Library. OPENED: The new Rice Street Library. DEPARTED: Frank Staffenson, retired City environmental health director and City Council Santa Claus. RETIRED: Don Boxmeyer, Pioneer Press columnist who chronicled many of the fabulous characters who have made our city such an interesting place in which to live. His last column ran on February 3. DEPARTED: Doris Quinn, retired Complaint analyst for Citizen Services Office and aide to Commissioner Janice Rettman, after a long bout with cancer. People like her are always missed. DEPARTED: Diane Ahrens, Ramsey County Commissioner, 1975-1995, December 12. DEPARTED: Gerald Isaacs, real estate developer and former city purchasing agent, chairperson of the Metro Council and mayoral candidate, November 29. ELECTED: Sen. Randy Kelly as Mayor of Saint Paul. He will become the city's first East Side mayor on January 2. CLOSED: Jubilee store at 121 West Maryland Avenue, the only large supermarket in Saint Paul's North End. The store which has also been known as Steiner's, Schiller's and Hauser's will be missed by its neighbors. DEPARTED: Ann Copeland, retired PED employee, former Citizen Participation Coordinator, former Community Organizer for St. Anthony Park, and candidate for City Council [1985], October 7. DEPARTED: Joseph Koenig, retired public works engineer and [briefly] candidate for mayor in 1972, October 4 MOVED: The Metro Transit garage serving the Saint Paul area, from its historic site at 400 North Snelling Avenue to its new building at 800 Mississippi Street. To play on words a bit, this is a transit transition. While many people on the East Side seem to think of this as a victory, it should be remembered that locating the new bus barn on Mississippi Street is a victory only in comparison to Transit's first choice which was between Grove Street and University Avenue. DEPARTED: Catherine Piccolo, long-time Dayton's Bluff figure and former Saint Paul School Board member, September 27 OPEN: The new pedestrian gateway at Harriet Island Park. The prevailing mindset is to wonder how the people in the dark old days of the 19th and 20th centuries managed to forget the river while developing the city, since after all the river is what got the city established in the first place. While we have applauded much of what has been done in recent years to remind us of the presence of the river in our city and make it possible for the citizens of the Capitol City to see it, we do wonder if people in the later parts of this century will wonder how we managed to maintain a city while taking what could be such a wonderfully working, major part of the city out of productive use. DEPARTED: Tiger Jack Rosenbloom, former boxer, legendary small business owner, and Rondo Street survivor, one of the people for whom the City Council named "Mr. and Mrs. Tiger Jack Street" on April 3 of this year. MOVING: Model Cities Health Center to 409 N. Dunlap, the former site of the Saint Paul Surgical Center. Those who do not recognize the address should look for the little building immediately north of the Central Medical Building. CLOSED: Machovec's store at 999 West Seventh Street. This store served its neighborhood well for a long time, as well as servicing the river traffic which reminds us that the Capitol City is also the River City. It also was the last place we were aware of in the metropolitan area where one could find jaternice. If anybody can tell us of another place to get good [or even not so good] jaternice, please let us know. RETIRED: Ann Hunt as Executive Director of the Neighborhood Energy Consortium. During her 11-year tenure, the organization expanded greatly from recycling to bicycling and more. RETIRED: Cheryl Dickson as Executive Director of the Minnesota Council for the Humanities. During her tenure the Council undertook the ambitious job of renovating the Dowling Hall [West Wing] building of the former Gillette State Hospital for Crippled Children [we are not making that name up] and making it into their headquarters and retreat center. |
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