DODGE CENTER, Minn. — A 63-year-old employee of a southeastern Minnesota manufacturer was fatally crushed by a 5,000-pound cement mixer drum on Monday morning, according to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department.

Dodge Center first responders and coworkers at Con-Tech tried to save the life of Teofilo Gonzalez, of Brownsdale, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Coworkers at Con-Tech, which manufactures concrete mixers, told the sheriff’s department that Gonzalez was cutting a crossbeam support on a dolly that was supporting a mixer drum. When the dolly collapsed, the 5,000-pound drum fell on Gonzalez.

Coworkers used two forklifts to remove the drum.

The Minnesota Office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into Gonzalez’s death.

“We will inspect work areas for safety or health hazards, try to determine what caused or contributed to the accidents and review whether existing OSHA standards were violated. The goal is to help avoid a recurrence of similar accidents,” said OSHA spokesman James Honerman.

OSHA records show that the last safety complaint report filed about Con-Tech was in August 2020. The initial penalty for that incident was $7,000.

The Olmsted County Medical Examiner’s Office is assisting with the investigation.

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Looking for a bike? If so, you’re in luck as what is likely the area’s largest single-day bike sale is coming to Apple Valley for its 16th year.

Cycling and recycling enthusiast Rick Anderson will have over 400 bikes for sale on Saturday, May 11, with proceeds going to two Dakota County nonprofits.

For the past 15 years, Anderson and his team have fixed up thousands of donated bikes and turned over roughly $500,000 in profits to DARTS, a West St. Paul organization that helps seniors live more independent lives, and Kids ‘n Kinship, a program that matches youth with adult volunteers.

Still in Apple Valley, Rick’s Bike Sale has a new location this year at Dick’s Valley Service facility, located at 5905 Upper 147th St.

The new location allows for volunteers to work on and store the donated bikes as opposed to previous years where Anderson and his crew worked on the bikes in his 4 ½-stall garage.

Anderson, who spent most of his career working as an independent insurance agent, learned how to fix bikes while working at a Schwinn shop in his hometown of Austin, Minn. “It’s a labor of love,” he told the Pioneer Press last year.

This year, shoppers will find bicycles available for all ages and skill levels including models from Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Schwinn, Raleigh, Giant and Fuji, according to a news release. Road bikes, mountain bikes, cross bikes, city bikes, cruisers, BMX, hybrids and vintage classics will be available as well.

“My favorite part is seeing someone who really needs a bike find one,” Anderson said in the release. “Not everyone can afford a quality bike, so making that happen, that’s a really good feeling.”

Rick’s Bike Sale

What: Over 400 bikes for sale, $20 to $500
Where: 5905 Upper 147th St., Apple Valley
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., May 11

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The class action lawsuit, filed Tuesday on behalf of New York City public housing tenants left out of the state’s rental assistance program during the height of the pandemic, alleges the state’s distribution of the funds—for which these tenants received low priority—amounts to discrimination.

Attorneys at Fordham Law School filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of New York City public housing tenants left out of the state’s rental assistance program during the height of the pandemic, alleging New York’s distribution of the funds—for which these tenants received low priority—amounted to discrimination.

The federal suit, brought by students at Fordham’s Housing and Urban Law Clinic, takes aim at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and New York State’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), the latter of which administered the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).

Launched at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown to aid tenants who fell behind on rent, ERAP initially prioritized its limited funds for landlords of market-rate apartments, effectively excluding public housing tenants. While the state provided $95 million in rent relief for NYCHA in last year’s budget, it was only enough to reach 15,000 of the roughly 70,000 public housing households that accumulated rent debt since the pandemic, the lawsuit states.

“We lobbied for this money because we were discriminated against even though we are taxpayers and we pay rent,” said Aixa Torres, the tenant association president at NYCHA’s Alfred E. Smith Houses and a member of Residents to Preserve Public Housing (RPPH). “Yes, we got some money, but did we really get our fair share?”

Torres’ group is among the plaintiffs named in the case, alongside three NYCHA tenants who’ve amassed rent arrears since 2020 but were “unable to benefit from ERAP during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” either because they didn’t know they were eligible and didn’t apply, or because their applications were left pending for years.

The suit also accuses NYCHA of failing to timely recertify tenants’ incomes—used to determine their monthly rent payments—to reflect the economic hardships they faced due to COVID-19, meaning they were paying more than they should have. Many residents who owe back rent now “live in fear of having eviction or consumer debt proceedings brought against them and their families,” the complaint states.

“We have a client who is seeking to file bankruptcy, we have a client who was diagnosed with cancer during this time. We have a client who lost her sister,” Professor Norrinda Brown, director of Fordham’s Housing and Urban Law Clinic, told City Limits Tuesday. “You’re going through all of the other stress and drama we were all experiencing during the pandemic and you think this program will help, but you’re just left pending for years.”

The complaint alleges discrimination based on race and national origin, since the vast majority of NYCHA tenants are Black and Hispanic or Latino, and accuses the defendants of violating the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and New York’s Human Rights Law, which prohibits source of income discrimination.

According to the complaint, the defendants’ “explicit deprioritization of public and subsidized housing tenants disproportionately prevented Black and Hispanic or Latino applicants from receiving… critical assistance due to their housing status and source of income, as compared to white applicants.” 

“When we understand the demographics of subsidized people in New York City—which is well known public information and certainly understood—‘subsidized’ in the city is a proxy for deeply poor Black and Hispanic tenants. That’s who we’re talking about,” Brown told City Limits. 

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to pause NYCHA from evicting and suing tenants over arrears whose ERAP applications were denied, left pending, or who didn’t know they could apply. 

It comes as the Housing Authority struggles with declining rent revenue. At a City Council hearing in March, NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt said about 70,000 households owed back rent, amounting to $482 million as of Feb. 29. NYCHA carried out 58 evictions in 2023 and 50 so far this year as of March 7, she said.

Both NYCHA and OTDA told City Limits they do not comment on pending litigation. 

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Tatyana@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

Actor Jay Goede originated the role of Frog in the musical “A Year with Frog and Toad” at Children’s Theatre Company in 2002 and then on Broadway, and was set to reprise the role this spring at CTC.

So why did he quit the production two days before opening night?

From day one of rehearsal, he wrote in a Facebook post, “this was a nightmare of an experience.” He praised his castmates and the crew, but suggested the show’s director — outgoing CTC artistic director Peter Brosius — made the behind-the-scenes environment “a literal disaster.”

Goede did not share more specifics in the post and did not return an interview request Tuesday or Wednesday. CTC declined to comment; a spokesperson said the theater “cannot and does not comment on confidential personnel matters.”

“Don’t try to revisit things you did in the past that you’re really proud of and that were magical, let them remain cherished memories,” Goede wrote in the Facebook post.

John-Michael Zuerlein, understudy for the role of Frog, will play the part for the duration of the production, which opened at the end of April and runs through June 16.

Children’s Theatre Company artistic director Peter Brosius has announced he will leave the theater at the end of its 2023-24 season. (Dan Norman / Children’s Theatre Company)

Brosius, who took on the top creative post at CTC in 1997, helped the theater land the production rights to “A Year with Frog and Toad” for the 2002 show, but did not direct it. The current production is Brosius’ first time directing “Frog and Toad.”

After the musical premiered at CTC, it moved to Broadway in 2003, becoming the first show originally produced by a Twin Cities theater to advance to a full New York City production. Most of the original CTC cast, including Goede as Frog, continued their roles on Broadway, and the show was nominated for several Tony awards.

Another interesting tidbit: For that 2002 CTC show, Goede himself landed the role of Frog in a surprise replacement. The original actor left the cast before rehearsals began to care for an ill family member, the Pioneer Press noted at the time.

As for the 2024 production, “the show goes on” — and remains quite successful — in Goede’s absence, our reviewer Rob Hubbard wrote.

This summer was already poised to be a season of change for Children’s Theatre Company: Brosius’s successor as artistic director, Rick Dildine, takes over on July 1, and incoming managing director Jill A. Anderson starts three weeks later.

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