Sheriff Stanek protographed arrests in Chicago of Occupy protesters last month

SOURCE: STAR TRIBUNE 

by: Randy Furst

Recent news reports have described collaboration among different cities in dealing with their Occupy Wall Street protests. Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said today that while he was in Chicago and Washington, D.C. on other business last month, he took photographs at the Occupy sites where protesters had been camping out. In Chicago, he said he took photos of law enforcement officers making arrests.

“I took photos at both sites, brought them back and shared them with my command staff,” he said. “We took photos of tents, numbers of people, some of the tactics used,” he said. “In Chicago, I was there when they made arrests.”

The Occupy Chicago protest at Grant Park happened to be across the street from the hotel where he was staying on Oct. 22, he said. “It wasn’t what I had planned on doing,” he said, referring to the photographing of arrests of demonstrators.

Stanek declined to talk about the substance of the conversations he had with officials in the two cities. Asked what impressions he had of the Chicago  and Washington, D.C. occupations, he said, “My impression is that they are just what we have here.” He was in Washington on Oct. 12, he said.

Stanek has deployed deputies to the Government Center plaza, ever since Occupy Minnesota began its protest there on Oct. 7. His supervisory staff have had daily meetings with the protest group's representatives, and although there have been several incidents, there have been no mass arrests, or attempts to force the protesters from the plaza. The county board has passed a resolution saying that starting this past Monday, the protesters could stay on the plaza, including overnight, but could not go to sleep there. The county has not attempted to enforce the sleeping rule although some protesters say they have gone to sleep. If the county did enforce the sleeping rule, according to the sheriff's office, county security staff would hand a protester a notice of trespass, ordering the protester off the property. If the protester refused to go, security staff could ask deputies to arrest the person. 

Asked if he had participated in conference calls with other cities about the occupations, Stanek said he declined to comment, adding, “I am not going to discuss what discussions I have had with other agencies across the country. Of course, law enforcement officials talk with other law enforcement officials.”

A march to the 10th Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis is scheduled for 4 p.m. today. According to news reports, Duluth police have notified Occupy protesters they must stop camping out in front of city hall by this weekend or they will be removed. The police department issued a news release today, saying it will  hold a brief news conference at 4:30 p.m. "regarding the eviction  of Occupy Duluth."

Light-rail upgrades running on time

Longer trains are being added before Target Field's opening, and Bloomington will get a fourth station.

By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune

Last update: August 26, 2009


Construction to equip all of the Hiawatha light-rail stations to handle longer trains -- as well as build another station in Bloomington -- is ahead of schedule and should be finished by the end of the year, Hennepin County Board members learned Tuesday.

That means that trains with three articulated cars, rather than just two, will be on the tracks and pulling into the new ballpark station by the time the Twins inaugurate Target Field in April, Metro Transit engineer MarySue Abel told the board.

Why the need for longer trains? Because the five-year-old light-rail line, which connects downtown Minneapolis with the airport and the Mall of America, has become a hugely popular transit option.

Last year the line topped 10 million rides, 12 percent more than in 2007. An average of 37,000 commuters rode the trains daily during weekday rush hours.

"The success of the line has really proven that we need to accommodate more ridership," Abel said.

So Metro Transit, using funding from federal and local sources, is lengthening the platforms at nine stations, adapting two downtown stations for the longer trains and replacing scores of bumpy yellow warning strips dislodged by the annual freeze-thaw cycle.

Signals at track crossings are being upgraded to permit trains to run more efficiently in reverse when needed.

The agency also is building a new station that had been planned years ago but was dropped because of cost overruns. The new stop, at American Boulevard and 34th Avenue, will be the fourth station on the line in Bloomington.

The total cost of the expansion projects is about $13.5 million. Extending the platforms costs $9.3 million, while the new American Boulevard station is $2.2 million, Abel said.

Most of that money comes from federal coffers, with additional funding from the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and Bloomington.

Questions from board members centered on the artwork for the expanded stations. Abel said that it will mostly extend and duplicate what's already in place, but some commissioners were disappointed to learn that the original artists were from outside the area.

With all the local art communities, Mike Opat said, it seems "ridiculous" to look outside the Twin Cities for people to decorate the stations. Mark Stenglein suggested that the county seek local artists for the proposed southwest light-rail line, and Peter McLaughlin said that most of the artists selected for the Central Corridor line are local.

When the Hiawatha line opened in 2004, seven of the then-17 stations were built long enough to handle three-car trains. With all stations now being readied to accommodate them, new trains will be purchased for use by 2012, Abel said.

Work on the stations began in April. Light-rail service has been interrupted periodically since then because of construction, and there may be one more such shutdown before the job is finished, she said.

The station at Cedar-Riverside will be closed over the weekend for platform work.

Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455