[Music] welcome to agenda Edina a program summarizing the actions taken at City Hall that affect you most I'm your host dorothia Marty big changes are coming to wannab din's oldest hotels the Marriott Residence Inn located at Edinburgh way and 78th Street will soon be converted into affordable apartments Alpha Investment Group plans to transform the 133 unit Hotel into a 136 unit apartment building the conversion will focus on maximizing what's already there with no major expansions to the building the only site changes will be adding Landscaping along Edinburgh way and 78th Street to improve screening for the parking lot originally built as part of the mixed use Edinburgh development it opened as a corporate-owned Hawthorne suit with 142 guest units today the hotel has 133 guest units seven Studios 119 one bedroom and 7 two-bedroom units the plans to create three additional Apartments includes repurposing a storage unit and separating spaces previously combined during an earlier remodeling project Alpha plans for the new apartments to be what's known as naturally occurring affordable housing monthly rents are projected to be 1,1 00 for studios and 1,250 for one-bedroom units we're excited from the standpoint that we can deliver rentable units in a very quick way where we're not waiting years and we don't got funding delays and all the stuff you would associate with a project that's going to be affordable to a lot of people right in the immediate Southdale area that come in here for employment work on the project is scheduled to begin soon Alpha hopes to make the units available for rent and move in by mid2 25 the human rights and relations commission recently honored a group of dedicated Educators at South View Middle School the commission presented the 2024 Tom oi award to Edina unified and Educators Jenny schaer Rachel Cana and Whitney brocka Edina unified is a program that brings neurotypical students into special education classrooms to build meaningful authentic relationships between students the youth work shoulder-to-shoulder with their peers who have varying needs fostering understanding and inclusion the Educators grew the offerings from classes like physical education to special events like a dance for both special education students and their unified friends and other activities you know people have different struggles and it might be special education struggles mental health struggles like anything and it's made my my child and I think others who participated in the program more intuitive about how they regard their fellow humans so they might be a little more understanding of someone who has different social skills or different physical abilities um I also think that by being part of this program and having these real true friendships these kids are going to go forth in life and this is all because of what these leaders have really encouraged Ed in them and look at where can they make space in their communities in their workplaces in their in everything they do for people of all abilities Commissioners presented the award at a city council meeting last month we can't think of a better organization that is impacting human rights and fostering a spirit of belonging and inclusivity in our city and touching hearts and Minds alike than in Edina unified the award was established in 2006 in recognition of the late Tom oi who was an early member of the hrrc and served on it for more than 30 years oi was also a n soldier in World War II a second generation Japanese American who served in the 100th infantry battalion of the 442 regimental combat team in 2003 oi received the prize for Humanity by The Immortal chaplain Foundation to allow members more flexibility and increase engagement with the community the city's human rights and relations commission will operate as an ad hoc task force beginning next month the city council recently approved this change at the group's request removing the commission from the city code this means it can now work as a task force allowing members to dive deeper into projects and respond more quickly to Community needs as a task force the group has three big priorities supporting City staff as they develop an equity strategic action plan advising on any significant human rights or inclusion issues in the community in 2025 and creating more opportunities to connect and engage with the community diversity equity and inclusion manager Thomas Brooks will continue to serve as staff leison to the group this task force shift uh with the commission members leading the way is a very exciting move because it's allowing us to be as needed hand very Hands-On and supporting the development of the esap and we do need to see that work get done in the first half of 2025 as a task force it would have been um we were quite capable we are quite capable as a commission to do that but in this case we will be meeting more frequently we we'll be engaging in surveys we'll be supporting a lot of Staff efforts toward developing the esap and it's kind of exciting this change goes into effect January 1st a local business that's been brewing positive Community impacts and Goodwill over the past six years recently received special recognition the din Chamber of Commerce chose wooden Hill Brewing as the 2024 business of the year he DED TV shows us how the brewery tapped this achievement the name wooden Hill came from saying our grandfather had which was up the stairs to you know up the stairs to bed right up the wooden Hill it would take more than a few steps for two brothers to scale up a passion discovered later in life my dad and my brother got me a home brewing kit at the same time I was going to school for nanoscience and technology so I really Dove deep into the science behind things sharing the beer with people and that was the really exciting thing was being able to share the beer and see uh that excitement so we thought how can we do that at a bigger scale in 2017 they sold their first pint in the kill District off of Bush Lake Road but success wasn't as simple as filling glasses we've been able to thrive because of our community and really since the beginning we we had a commitment to giving back support for local charities through donations and events every month we do a give back event where we'll take you know a chunk of a a busy Tuesday night or whatever it is is and give a portion back to a certain cause the Edina Chamber of Commerce and its members took notice wooden Hill was our business of the year in 2024 and I'm really proud to have them in our community because not only are they just a business that represents the spirit of Entrepreneurship it helps make ad a destination a destination that has expanded over the years including a kitchen six times its original size and more event space we had to turn down some events that we just couldn't do uh nowadays uh we could do just about anything that's one of the reasons why I believe they were nominated for this special award is just the fact that not only have they persevered but they've expanded wooden Hill Brewing climbing to success with no plans to slow down it was an amazing honor to be named a business of the Year by the Adina chamber it really makes you reflect on oh wow like these things that we were doing cuz we felt like we should do them actually do make a difference to people and it does add up to something and it's even more fuel to keep going I'm Dan Carpenter for ad TV the ad chamber of commerce's mission is to help local businesses survive and thrive the annual business of the Year award is just one example of how it works to shine a spotlight on businesses from sole Proprietors to large corporations City Hall and most city offices will be closed December 23rd through 25th for Christmas and January 1st for New Year's on behalf of the entire Edina TV crew happy holidays thank you for watching this episode of agenda Edina I'm your host dorothia Marty [Music]