COVID-19 vaccinations have made their way to Eden Prairie, even as issues related to the roll-out and supplies persist. Residents and employees of long-term care centers have been getting the shots, including last week at Elim Shores, where 104 residents, staff and essential family members were vaccinated, and a few days earlier at Prairie Bluffs Senior Living, where 110 people were vaccinated. Also receiving shots were police officers, firefighters and paramedics in Eden Prairie through a special vaccination event held the first two weeks of January at Eden Prairie High School. All of these first-dose vaccinations were Phase 1A of…
Author: Mark Weber
Mark Weber
Mark joined the Eden Prairie News as a reporter in 1979, just five years after its start, and spent the next 34 years in various roles including editor and publisher, as well as general manager of the parent company, Southwest Newspapers. He also published Edible Twin Cities magazine. His encore career was serving the nonprofit Eden Prairie Community Foundation as executive director. Mark is now retired. He and his wife, Roma, have two grown sons and a daughter-in-law, as well as a grandson. They have lived in Eden Prairie since 1984. "I hope the many words I have typed over the years have helped people understand the world around them."
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Coffee-to-go fans may soon have another option near the intersection of Hwy. 5 and County Rd. 4 in Eden Prairie. Starbucks Coffee Company has proposed to replace an existing office building along Hwy. 5 with a prototype coffee shop that has no indoor seating. The redevelopment plan for 16315 Terry Pine Dr. – a small lot east of the closed Burger King restaurant at the Hwy. 5-County Rd. 4 intersection – was given preliminary approval Jan. 5 by the Eden Prairie City Council. The existing building houses State Farm Insurance, but Starbucks would demolish it and build a new, 950-square-foot,…
Eden Prairie city officials are throwing their weight behind efforts to get local retailers and especially restaurants back to normal, now that restrictions on indoor dining are loosening. Spurred on by the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce, the city has proclaimed Jan. 12-18 as “Support Eden Prairie Businesses Week” as a way to encourage residents to patronize restaurants in particular. The proclamation lists more than 90 Eden Prairie bars and eating establishments, from Applebee’s to Wildfire, some of which will be reopening for indoor dining with the new guidelines in effect Jan. 11. City of Eden Prairie Proclamation (PDF) The…
The city portion of property taxes on a median-value Eden Prairie home is expected to drop slightly with the 2021 budget approved last month by the city council. It’s another sign that city operations are gradually getting back to normal after a tumultuous year of COVID-19 and its effect on revenue generators like the Eden Prairie Community Center. The city budget approved Dec. 1 is a little more than $53 million, or about 2.8 percent higher than last year. That requires a tax levy of $38.7 million. Because property values are generally increasing, the owners of a median-value Eden Prairie…
Ancient Chinese philosophy calls it yin and yang – the concept of dualism, or how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary. Yin and yang were everywhere in the very difficult year of 2020. Here are two examples: As the leader of a nonprofit, the Eden Prairie Community Foundation, I saw extremely generous support in 2020 from people who had never previously given to the Foundation. They were moved by the difficult circumstances that COVID-19 imposed on their Eden Prairie neighbors and on the nonprofits that work hard to provide food, clothing, rental assistance, counseling, and more. Our…
An initiative to address issues of race and equity in Eden Prairie is back on track after momentary objections from two city council members. The objections focused on the cost and purpose of a consultant that the city’s Human Rights and Diversity Commission had sought to hire to help with the initiative, launched following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 and subsequent protests and unrest. The $50,000 contract with DeYoung Consulting Services, of Minneapolis, was delayed by the Eden Prairie City Council on Nov. 17 after council members Brad Aho and Mark Freiberg raised objections during…
Older residents whose feelings of isolation due to COVID-19 are worsened by the holiday season are hearing from not-so-secret Santas like Ken Berg and Sue Bohnsack. These two and others like them are reaching out to hundreds of folks age 55 and older who, in a normal year, would gather for Eden Prairie Senior Center programs like the annual holiday lunch, a catered affair with lots of socializing and performances by high school choir students. The face-to-face conversations have been replaced with Zoom meetings, e-mails, phone calls, videos, and more as Berg, Bohnsack, and others get to the heart of…
The Edina Realty Foundation, the Eden Prairie Community Foundation, and Onward Eden Prairie are collaborating to provide $9,000 to help precariously housed young adults in 2021. The funds will pay for stable housing and support services for young-adult residents of the Onward House, which is run by the nonprofit Onward Eden Prairie. Edina Realty Foundation and the Eden Prairie Community Foundation are each granting $3,000 and Onward Eden Prairie is using support from individual and family donors to create their own $3,000 share. Both foundations have identified stable housing as one of the community’s biggest needs. The Edina Realty Foundation…
Eden Prairie residents will soon be able to order beer, wine, and spirits from the city’s liquor stores without leaving home. Jan. 3 is the launch date of www.shopepliquor.com, an e-commerce operation the City of Eden Prairie has been working on for almost two years, according to Jaime Urbina, the operations manager for Eden Prairie Liquor. In the first few months, residents ordering online from a limited inventory will need to pick up their liquor order inside or at the curb of one of the three municipal liquor stores. By late winter or early spring, the city hopes to have…
The Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club and Sisters of Swing are presenting the music of The Andrews Sisters and the swing era in a high-energy livestreamed concert on Jan. 28. A bit like today, the 1930s and ’40s were hard times for many folks. The Andrews Sisters, with their upbeat and airtight harmonies, brought joy and inspiration to an entire generation of Americans. Today, Lisa Richter, Aimee Lee, and Kathy Mueller bring that music back to life with all of the same energy. This 6:30 p.m. show will be live-streamed from the Performing Arts Center at Eden Prairie High School.…