BY ALLISON KRONBERGakronberg@mndaily.com

Officials have abandoned a proposal to move the K-8, 715-student Marcy Open School to another building after a heated and emotional emergency meeting last Tuesday.

Now, staff and parents are considering alternative solutions to the school’s over-crowding problem.

“We have great staf f, we have great teachers, we have a great principal and we have a great building, and I want to be here until eighth grade,” said Marcy Open fifth grader Beatrice Kennedy-Logan, ad-dressing the crowd last week. Her state-ment ended the meeting with passionate applause.

Minneapolis schools Associate Super-intendent Michael Thomas said a grow-ing student body is a challenge for the school.

“We’re at about 70 students over capac-ity right now, which could be two more classrooms,” said Marcy Open School Prin-

cipal Donna Andrews, “but our building is not very big, so there are no classrooms left.”

The building, located at 415 Fifth Ave. SE, also lacks staff parking and its design isn’t up to current district standards, An-

drews said.Parents were first notified of the meeting

BY MARION RENAULT AND NICOLAS HALLETTmrenault@mndaily.comnhallett@mndaily.com

When Univer -sity of Minne-sota students r e tur ned to campus this

fall, half a block of Dinky-town was gone.

That site will house a six-stor y apar tment com-plex next year. Across the street, another student housing project is already under construction. Doran Companies has proposed yet another development in the heart of Dinkytown.

As the neighborhood faces some of the most drastic changes in its his-tor y, the community is divided over preser ving character or restoring

vitality.But heated discussions

have often left out those with the most tangible power — the people who actually own the land.

O f t e n f a c e l e s s a n d sometimes entire states away, these property own-ers u l t imate ly dec ide which tenants fill the ar-ea’s storefronts and who can buy Dinkytown real estate.

More than half of Din-kytown proper ty owners surveyed by the Minneso-ta Daily said they’ve been approached by a developer interested in their land. Of Dinkytown’s 25 proper ty owners, eight declined to participate in this story or didn’t respond to repeated interview requests.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COMU OF M MINNEAPOLIS ST PAUL WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2013SUNNY/WIND HIGH 44° LOW 31°

Parents fight K-8 school relocation

Students could be left out of toxin tests

Last employees switch to Gmail

Brenny suit comes to trial

PUBLIC SAFETY

NEIGHBORHOODS

TECHNOLOGY

COURTS

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILYAlix Herzing reads a letter to the Minneapolis Public School Board during a board meeting at the John %��'DYLV�(GXFDWLRQ�DQG�6HUYLFH�&HQWHU��+HU]LQJ��WKH�PRWKHU�RI�D�ÀUVW�JUDGHU�DW�WKH�VFKRRO��WKDQNHG�$V-sociate Superintendent Michael Thomas for canceling his proposal to move Marcy Open School.

AMANDA SNYDER, DAILY7KH�'LQN\WRZQ�DUHD�LV�H[SHULHQFLQJ�GUDVWLF�FKDQJHV��LQFOXGLQJ�WKH�FRQVWUXFWLRQ�RI�WZR�QHZ�DSDUWPHQW�FRPSOH[HV��7KH�SURS-HUW\�RZQHUV��WKRXJK�RIWHQ�EHKLQG�WKH�VFHQHV��DUH�VRPH�RI�WKH�PRVW�SRZHUIXO�SOD\HUV�LQ�VKDSLQJ�WKH�FKDQJH�

CAMPUS & METRO

U Bookstores employee catches shoplifterThe employee made a citizen’s arrest and issued a warning.X See PAGE 3

CAMPUS & METRO

U group pushes for new buying policySTAND wants the U to avoid miner-als used in certain tech products.X See PAGE 12

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Gophers cruise to 84-58 win over MontanaAndre Hollins had 24 points to lead the Gophers in the rout.X See PAGE 7

FOOTBALL

Gophers legend helped change footballFormer defensive player Bobby Bell was recently honored in N.C.X See PAGE 7

VOLUME 115 ISSUE 42

BY KIA FARHANGmfarhang@mndaily.com

Some of ficials are con-cerned University of Minne-sota students in the South-east Como neighborhood may not know their homes could contain dangerous levels of a chemical solvent linked to birth defects and certain cancers.

After soil vapors in the neighborhood tested high-er than normal for trichloro-ethylene, or TCE, officials are asking property owners for permission to test their homes — a process that may require help from ten-ants.

But despite the neigh-borhood’s proximity to the University and its abun-dance of rental housing,

only a few of about 80 resi-dents at a public meeting Tuesday were students. Another meeting was held in the evening.

“We would want stu-dents to know, because we’re going to need their cooperation, too,” said Tom Forsythe, vice president for global communications at General Mills. The com-pany disposed of TCE on its former site in the neighbor-hood for 15 years as part of its chemical research ef-forts.

Proper ty owners, not renters, must agree to let General Mills’ contractors into their homes to test for the chemical, but renters may be one of the best re-sources available to officials because they know how to reach their landlords.

Property owners signed approximately 30 access

BY KATELYN FAULKSkfaulks@mndaily.com

The University of Min-nesota is a lmost done transferring its last em-ployees from Gophermail to Gmail, a relief for many staff members.

In 2011, the Univer-sity adopted Gmail for employee and student use, but patient privacy con-cerns forced thousands of Academic Health Center employees to forgo the switch.

Before, Google wouldn’t sign the contract requiring them to comply with the

Health Insurance Portabil-ity and Accountability Act, which sets security stan-dards to protect patient data.

Last September, Google of fered to sign a Busi-ness Associate Agreement showing its compliance with HIPAA regulations. University Vice President and Chief Information Of-ficer Scott Studham said transferring the accounts from the University’s con-trol to Google’s outside servers won’t pose privacy problems.

“The BAA was the only roadblock for us moving the health care component … to Google,” he said. “[It was] just a legal matter —

X See COMO Page 3It may be possible for the city to

require owners to allow tests.

X See GMAIL Page 3The initial switch to Gmail saved

the University $3 million.

Como property owners must agree to have their buildings tested.

About 18,000 AHC employees had to wait due to patient privacy concerns.

BY NATE GOTLIEB ngotlieb@mndaily.com,

Former University of Minnesota wom-en’s golf coach Katie Brenny’s lawsuit against the University of Minnesota Board of Regents came to trial last week, nearly three years after she filed the suit.

Brenny sued the regents and former Di-rector of Golf John Harris in January 2011, alleging that Harris kept her from coaching after discovering she was a lesbian.

Former University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg disputed the claims after the suit was filed. Rotenberg told the Daily in December 2010 he hoped to settle the case without litigation.

The trial started last Monday. Harris offered Brenny the job of associ-

ate head coach in August 2010, according

X See BRENNY Page 7The complaint said Harris took away coaching

duties after discovering Brenny is a lesbian.

X See MARCY OPEN Page 12University of Minnesota educationstudents volunteer at the school.

The former women’s golf coach alleges she was discriminated against.

Marcy Open School was slated to move because of student overcrowding.

Property Page 4

4 Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Developers have been nosing around for de-cades, said Gary Eidson, co-owner of three Din-kytown properties since 1990, but he’s noticed keener interest in the last five years.

That’s mainly because developers have dis-covered a lucrative and seemingly bottomless student housing market.

Steps from the University and bursting with businesses, Dinkytown is an ideal backdrop for complexes that address a pent-up demand for housing close to campus.

Minneapolis principal planner Haila Maze said the City Council is eager to see those kinds of projects built. Its approval of two Dinkytown projects and denial of a proposed freeze on de-velopment speaks to that, she said.

City-hired consultant Paul Bilotta said de-velopers are targeting Dinkytown because they’ve already exhausted other areas like Stadium Village.

“The cannons have come around to your side,” Bilotta said at a meeting of Dinkytown business owners last month.

THE OLD BLOODAbout half of the buildings in Dinkytown

were built before 1930.Frank Vescio’s roots date back to 1956,

when his father first opened the family’s Ital-ian restaurant.

Today, Vescio is one of Dinkytown’s last “lifers.” He’s watched the area change from a mom-and-pop shop hub to the bustling enter-tainment district it is today.

Vescio, a University alumnus and perennial men’s hockey season-ticket holder, said count-less sports figures have come through his res-taurant over the years.

In the ’80s, former Minnesota Twin and World Series MVP Frank Viola ate at Vescio’s the day before each game of a record-breaking winning streak, earning the restaurant a shout-out in Sports Illustrated.

“It’s been fun,” Vescio said. “We’ve gotten to know a lot of great people.”

While he’s collected 57 years worth of warm memories, Vescio said the future of his family’s long-standing eatery will fall to his children.

Just down the block, Roland “Rolly” Re-idhead is debating the fate of his own 108-year-old building. He’s not actively looking to sell, but he said the offers that come in every couple of months are getting harder to refuse.

Reidhead said the building housing Gold Country Apparel has been in his family for five generations. During his time at the University, he lived in the building’s second-floor apartments.

But the building has worn down over time, he said, and could benefit from reinvestment.

“The developers have that ability,” Reidhead said. “They can invest long term and show the returns. My belief is that they are not going to hurt the area, but help the area.”

Reidhead said he understands the contro-versy over the apartment buildings under con-struction nearby.

“That’s like saying that new cars are better than old cars,” he said. “To some people they are, and to some people they aren’t.”

THE LAST GENERATIONLaurel Bauer ended her family’s 80-year

Dinkytown history when she sold the House of Hanson grocery store and other properties for $4.27 million.

Last summer, Richard Schaak, whose father started Schaak Electronics in 1957, sold the building housing Espresso Royale to the presi-dent of Green Mill Restaurants for $1.65 million.

And Jef frey Meyers signed an agreement with Doran Companies to sell the build-ing housing Mesa Pizza, Dinkytown Tattoo and C a m d i R e s t a u r a n t . When he was 12, Mey-ers began working in the building at his fa-ther’s barbershop.

B a u e r, S c h a a k and Meyers are a few who have ended t h e i r D i n k y t o w n lineage.

Meyers said his family’s history didn’t factor into the deci-sion to sell.

“It’s business,” he said. “[My parents] defi-nitely thought I should sell, also.”

Over his 25 years in Din-kytown, Meyers said the area has lost its character. Interest from developers is a chance for the area to get a facelift, he said.

“A lot of [family businesses] have been gone for a long time — including my fa-ther’s,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any charm. … Dinkytown needs a shot of adrenaline.”

Bauer said she struck a deal with developer Opus Group after turning down countless other offers during her 17 years as a property owner.

Three years ago, Bauer said she “abso-lutely” wouldn’t consider leaving Dinkytown. But when a new CVS Pharmacy opened and a nearby building was razed, House of Hanson lost customers.

“It was just getting more and more difficult to keep my doors open,” Bauer said.

Bauer got her first job behind those doors 44 years ago, opening pop bottles and put-ting out candy under her grandmother’s watchful eye.

She only recently stopped crying when she passes the site where House of Hanson used to be, she said.

Bauer said she knew she’d be the last in her family to run the grocery store.

“It would have been a much more difficult decision to sell if my children were interested in running [it],” she said.

In the past, Dinkytown property was passed down through generations, said longtime prop-erty owner Irv Hershkovitz, who owns Dinky-town Wine and Spirits.

“I think some of the generations now would rather take the money and do something else with it,” he said.

THE INVESTORSThe race for Dinkytown proper ty isn’t

limited to developers — a handful of existing

property owners are always looking to invest more in the area.

Wally Sakallah, owner of Wally’s Falafel and Hummus, is well established in Dinkytown. Last week, he signed a purchase agreement to buy the building that houses his Hideaway head shop.

“I’m not going to be bought out,” he said. “It’s not going to happen — over my dead body.”

It wasn’t the first time he’s bought the build-ing leased by one of his businesses. He pur-chased his own restaurant’s building to halt de-velopment last year.

“It’s not about money for me,” he said. “I love Dinkytown as is.”

But Sakallah said he doesn’t blame other property owners for selling their land to devel-opers. He said he knew one Dinkytown proper-ty owner who was offered $2.2 million for land he bought for $600,000.

“He would be stupid if he said no,” Sakallah said.

Hershkovitz said that sort of buying power makes it hard for locals like him and Sakallah to compete.

“It’s almost impossible to buy property in Dinkytown anymore because of all the develop-ers,” he said. “We can’t cash flow it.”

While Sakallah and Hershkovitz are actively seeking new property, Jason McClean said he’s more interested in investing in Dinkytown’s community.

The owner of Loring Pasta Bar and Varsity Theater, McClean spent grade school sum-mers on campus and attended University High School in Dinkytown.

For McLean, improving an area he loved didn’t mean razing a century-old building.

The words “Gray’s Drugs” still wrap around the exterior of the restaurant, a remnant of the pharmacy that operated there for 50 years. “Grodnik” — the name of the building’s origi-nal owners in 1902 — is still etched above the doorway.

“My approach is to appreciate what’s there and work with it and highlight its assets,” McLean said.

He’s skeptical of new projects that ignore the area’s culture and rich histor y and said

Who ownsDinkytown?

Half of Dinkytown buildings were built before 1930

51%BEFORE 1930

8%1931–50

11%1951–80

8%1981–2000

19%under development3%

af

ter

2000

The majority of property owners surveyed would consider selling

41%

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BY D

EVELOPERS 59% WERE APPROACHED

BY DEVELO

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57% W

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NSIDER SELLING 40% WOULD NOT CONSIDER SELLING

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILYVescio’s owner Frank Vescio in Dinkytown.

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILYWally’s owner Wally Sakallah in Dinkytown.

ICHIGO TAKIKAWA, DAILYDinkytown Wine and Spirits owner Irv Hershkovitz in Dinkytown.

DAILY FILE PHOTO, JAAK JENSENFormer House of Hanson owner Laurel Bauer.

Property FROM PAGE 1

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 5

Dinkytown properties by market value per square foot

UNIVERSITY AVENUE SOUTHEAST

FOURTH STREET SOUTHEAST

13TH

AVE

NUE

SOUT

HEAS

T

14TH

AVE

NUE

SOUT

HEAS

T

15TH

AVE

NUE

SOUT

HEAS

T

FIFTH STREET SOUTHEAST

$50–100$100–150$150-200$200–250more than $250

DINKYTOWN WINE AND SPIRITS

GOLD COUNTRY APPAREL

LORING PASTA BAR

VARSITY BIKE AND TRANSIT

FAST EDDIE’S SHOE

REPAIR

HIDEAWAY HEAD SHOP

WALLY’S FALAFEL AND HUMMUS

ESPRESSO ROYALE

FORMER HOUSE OF HANSON SITE

THE VENUE AT DINKYTOWN

MESA PIZZA

CAMDI

DINKYTOWN

TATTOO

ANNIE’S PARLOUR

PURPLE ONION

VARSITY THEATER

BRUEGGER’S BAGELS

VESCIO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT

more conscientious redevelopments like his can strengthen Dinkytown.

“That, I believe, is a big contributor of the construction of a meaningful community,” he said, “places where people know that other lives have come and gone and passed through.”

THE FACELIFTERSOne of Dinkytown’s oldest buildings is an oft-

overlooked 113-year-old duplex tucked between Varsity Theater and the Purple Onion Café.

Tim Harmsen, who owns Dinkytown Rent-als and its 700 campus-area dwellings including the duplex, is one of numerous property own-ers calling for the area to be redeveloped and modernized. Harmsen and others say redevel-opment will knock a second wind into an area that’s been wheezing for some time.

“If something doesn’t change, it’s not going to survive,” he said. “What’s the point of hav-ing Dinkytown with the old buildings if they’re all vacant?”

Steve Young, owner of the building housing Bruegger’s Bagels, said it’s well known that Din-kytown has been “run-down” for many years.

“Stadium Village has attracted the bulk of ac-tivity and life,” he said, “so I’m encouraged that there is new investment [in Dinkytown].”

Young has been a real estate investor in Min-neapolis since the late 1990s. He said change, while hard to swallow, is a necessary remedy.

“No one wants a building falling down. No one wants things to look unkempt or old,” said Greg Pillsbury, owner of Burrito Loco and its property since 2002. “But at the same time, we don’t want to be a four-block area full of high-rise apartment buildings.”

He said the area must strike a delicate bal-

ance between profiting from hundreds of new residents and preserving the mix of businesses in Dinkytown.

If national chains drive up rent, Pillsbury said, young entrepreneurs won’t be able to open up local shops like Fast Eddie’s Place shoe repair, Annie’s Parlour or Varsity Bike and Transit.

“This is an area where two guys can open a burrito shop who don’t have a million dollars,” he said. “This is a place where some girl can open a cupcake store by taking out a small loan.”

THE NEW COALITIONSweeping changes to the area have left

some property owners feeling unrepresented and uninformed.

In the past, the people behind Dinkytown had little visibility in the area, said Meyers, owner of the property housing Mesa Pizza.

“We haven’t really had much of a voice at all,” he said.

Doran Companies CEO Kelly Doran, who owns Sydney Hall and Dinkydome, has spear-headed a new coalition of Dinkytown property owners tr ying to close gaps in communica-tion and representation. They hope to give the property owners a united voice in how Dinky-town should change.

A majority of the Dinkytown Business Asso-ciation’s 69 members are retail tenants, DBA President Skott Johnson said. Only six or sev-en are property owners.

“It became abundantly clear to me that a lot of the property owners were not in the loop,” Doran said. “There was an assumption that the DBA was the voice for all the business people in the area, including property owners, and we discovered that’s not necessarily true.”

Principal city planner Maze said sometimes the city struggles to keep property owners in-formed.

It’s dif ficult and costly for city of ficials to reach out to every property owner, she said, especially those who are out of state or rarely in Dinkytown.

“We really do depend on the various community networks to get the word out,” she said.

The property owner group has met a hand-ful of times with city and neighborhood of fi-cials to discuss the small-area plan, historical preservation and future development.

The group hasn’t decided whether it will form an of ficial coalition, but a five-member committee has begun work on pinpointing common concerns of property owners.

Johnson said he thinks both groups share similar concerns. He said in the past, he has welcomed property owners who reached out to him to the group and its email list.

“I really don’t hear, up until now, that they don’t feel represented,” he said.

Eidson, who owns multiple Dinkytown proper ties, said the collective voice of the property owners should carry the most weight in discussions of Dinkytown’s future.

“Cer tainly, tenants should weigh in,” he said, “but we’ll be in the neighborhood before those tenants and after those tenants.

“We want to make sure that the opportunity to continue responsible development in the neighborhood can occur.”

Doran said he thinks the climate needs to better reflect just how impor tant proper ty owners are to the area.

“I think the proper ty owners have a lon-ger-term perspective in mind than some of the business owners who are there on short-term leases,” he said. “The value of the real estate far outweighs the values of the businesses.”

GRAPHICS SOURCES: HENNEPIN COUNTY GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMLAYOUT BY AMBER BILLINGS

BRIDGET BENNETT, DAILYCo-owners Karen and Tim Harmsen of Dinkytown Rentals.

AMANDA SNYDER, DAILYDoran Companies CEO Kelly Doran.

“If something doesn’t change,

it’s not going to survive. What’s

the point of having Dinkytown

with the old buildings if

they’re all vacant?”

Tim Harmsen, co-owner of Dinkytown Rentals