Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page B1

(SW) ON YOUR SIDE, B3 YOUR FAMILY, B5 A positive after-school place for urban kids 8 tips to help seniors handle the holidays FIXIT, B3 twin cities SECTION SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009 Meals help shrink the miles For military families in Minnesota and their loved ones overseas, a steak dinner and warm conversations via video link make them feel a little less far away. when we got this chance, a big chunk of the family got down here." "This chance" was a massive collective steak dinner staged at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium and at military bases in Basra and Kuwait, the seventh such meal held in the past five years. "It's really something for the families," Mark Garcia said. "Mike's on his first deployment, so it's good to be able to see he's in such high spirits." As the video session ended, Garcia's family members waved furiously and called out, Troops continues on B6 By BOB VON STERNBERG vonstestartribune.com ore than a dozen members of Michael Garcia's extended family huddled around a laptop computer in downtown St. Paul on Saturday afternoon and held Hailey, his 6-week-old daughter, in front of a video camera.

Staring at a laptop 6,600 miles away in Iraq, the Minnesota National Guard specialist got his first glimpse of his little girl. "This is really cool," said Garcia's brother, Mark. "We usually have to rely on e-mail, but Addison Scheurer, IX, and members of her family from Madison Lake, attended the "Serving Our Troops" program. Starting Monday, commuters to downtown Minneapolis will get more 'express' in express buses, thanks to new lanes. The homeless may die alone, but each year brings a salute For the past five years, John Petroskas has been keeper of the list.

The list of the dead. Some have been murdered in drug deals, others have jumped from bridges. Some were found frozen in alleys. One was run over by a snowplow as he tried to cross the street with his walker. Some of the men and women just disappear, and Petroskas only finds out where they went at the end of the year, like now, when he calls the medical examiners as he tries to complete his list.

By next week, Petroskas, an outreach worker for Catholic Charities, will have his list of homeless and former homeless people who died this year. Almost all of them will be under 60 years old. Bruce "Little John" Down choked on his food and died while in Detox. Jeffrey Scott O'Donnell was found in a frozen pond at Majestic Oaks Golf Course. Robert "Topper" Johnson died during a party at Redeemers Arms.

He was 55. For the 25th year, local homeless advocates will finish their list, then hold a march, memorial service and meal on Thursday. One last display of dignity for people who often struggled for it. Last year's service honored a record 131 homeless and formerly homeless people, as well as homeless advocates, who had died in Tevlin continues on B2 Churches experiencing cash-flow problems Is the offering plate half-full or half-empty? As the recession cuts donations, churches are feeling their congregations' financial pain. By JEFF STRICKLER stricklerstartribune.com Across the Twin Cities, cash-strapped churches are freezing ministers' pay or cutting back on their benefits.

In Indianapolis, taking a cue from a major automaker, a church has promised to refund the donations of members who lose their jobs. In Seattle, a pastor resigned after tapping a church disaster-relief fund to pay staff salaries. As churches around the country wrap up their annual pledge drives and set their budgets for next year, they're responding to the economic crisis in unprecedented ways. Final figures for pledge drives aren't in yet, but the Independent Sector, a group that tracks charitable and philanthropic causes, recommends that churches draw up two prospective budgets: one flat and one based on a 5 percent drop in revenue. Even for churches that have not had money problems, it says, 'At best, do not plan for an increase in giving andor pledging beyond 2 percent." Churches continues on B7 Buses were lined up along 2nd Av.

S. in Minneapolis Friday in order to do test runs of routes that will cut transit travel time through downtown by up to 10 minutes. open downtown as the latest element of a $183 million effort to cut Twin Cities congestion. "Of all the big transit improvements we've had, this will have the most impact on people's daily lives," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, alluding to the recent startup of the Northstar commuter-rail line and the new Mn-Pass carpooltollbus lanes on Interstate 35W.

The addition of a second transit lane on both Marquette and 2nd Avenues means express buses now have room to pass each other swiftly and safely, and passengers could see up to 10 minutes drop off their daily commutes. About 1,400 bus trips that had been scattered on various streets will get permanent homes on Marquette and 2nd. As many drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists are painfully aware, the two streets each received a 12-block-long, down-to-the-dirt rebuilding over the past year and a half. The result includes a system for labeling each bus stop with a letter, sort of like a gate Diagram explains where buses will stop on 2nd, Marquette B7 Anew way to get on the bus By JIM FOTI jfotistartribune.com Ever been stuck in a single lane behind a barely-moving vehicle, with a double yellow line wedging you in place? Starting Monday, 26,000 commuters who take express buses to work in downtown Minneapolis will no longer be consigned to such a fate, thanks to a major reorganization of bus traffic one aimed at giving metro areas around the country something to emulate. Nearly 2 miles of bus-only passing lanes will ut0 pass earn asecondlanefoita fXf trips across downtown.

Washin Av. TO 3 1 fSdAv. wl i I common itrt ,0 Assigned Oneway fjv vehicle 1 ttamc Buses SKoS BtlocatioBS designated sidewalks include tiees andpubHc aii. Oneway traffic Commute continues on B7 Skyway laneanui-u. ethst 1 8thst.

BEGINNING MONDAY, DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS WILL HAVE A BALLET OF BUSES. Arlene McCarthy, the Metropolitan Council's director of transportation services NexTrip sign 3t 3 with real-time hi I 1 LI 1 Lis Minnetonka limits request for more parking at high school The school says a shortage of spaces prompts students to park off campus, which may not be safe. City Council wants a reasonable plan. and last week agreed to allow the school to add 27 spaces on its east side where no trees would have to be removed. But the city said no to the school's original request for 102 more spaces as well as its revised request for 60 spaces because they would have required cutting as many as 110 trees, as well as some fill work and retaining walls.

After past expansion of the high school "in a very sensitive way" on its site overlooking Hwy. 7, "now they are in the edges and going further into the woods and down the slope and needing more fill," said Minnetonka Mayor Terry Schneider. The city has begun to ask how much expansion is reasonable, and it wants school officials to take a hard look at the question, he said. "I don't think they have really thought through all the options." Parking continues on B6 for parking. School officials say that the lack of parking spaces prompts students to park off campus, and that that creates safety concerns because they are walking along busy roads, often in bad weather.

City Council members acknowledged there's a parking shortage By LAURIE BLAKE lblakestartribune.com In an unusual imposition of discipline, the city of Minnetonka has put a lid on parking lot expansion at Minnetonka High School until school officials come up with a strategy for managing growing student demand.