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In this Issue
At the end of July, we said goodbye to Adam
Duininck as the Council’s Chair and welcomed Alene Tchourumoff as his
successor. One month into the job, Alene has made building relationships one of
her biggest priorities. In addition to getting up to speed on every aspect of
the Council, she set out on an ambitious 90-day plan to visit with communities
in our region. She is more than halfway through her seven-county tour, having
visited Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott and Washington counties.
In
August, she visited Dakota County and toured the City of Rosemount with Mayor
Bill Droste and City Administrator Logan Martin, and she joined Commissioner
Joe Atkins for lunch. She also attended a planning workshop with the Dakota
County Board, where they discussed the future of transit funding for Dakota
County projects like METRO Orange Line BRT.
Alene took a break from the seven-county tour around Labor Day
to attend the Minnesota State Fair on behalf of Metro Transit and was able to
attend the annual Rail~Volution Conference in Denver last week. She will finish
out her 90-days by visiting Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
Moving forward, I look forward to working with Alene on important
issues in District 15 and the region as a whole.
Council Member
Steven Chávez, District 15
People from a wide variety of communities, and many ages and abilities, will see themselves reflected in the Council’s newly updated Regional Parks Map.
With more than two dozen photos, the colorful publication celebrates the diversity of people who visit the parks and trails, and the four seasons of park activities. Woven into the patchwork of photos are short phrases in a variety of languages that welcome visitors from around the world. Words and phrases for “family,” “connection,” celebrate,” “relax” and more are printed in Arabic, Hmong, Somali, Spanish, and English.
“We wanted residents see themselves in the parks—whether alone, in small groups or large groups—and show park amenities as open, fun, inviting and compelling places to visit, right here in our own communities,” said Emmett Mullin, manager of the Council’s Regional Parks & Natural Resources unit.
The folding map and guide helps people locate regional parks and shows what activities are available in each one, using icons that are understood in any language.
The updated map is an outgrowth of the Council’s research that showed some communities of color and immigrants do not use the parks in proportion to their share of the region’s overall population. The Council embarked on an extensive community engagement effort to identify barriers to participation and is working with communities and park agencies to overcome these.
See an online version of the map.
A record number of
rides were provided to and from the Minnesota State Fair, and the METRO Green
Line had its busiest day ever last month.
Just over 654,000 express and regular
route bus rides were provided to the State Fair, topping last year’s record
fair ridership by more than 21,500 rides. The ridership total represents 16% of
State Fair attendance, which also reached an all-time high this year. This was
the 25th year Metro Transit provided express bus service to the State Fair.
Fairgoers and fans also helped set a
single-day ridership record for the Green Line on Thursday, Aug. 31. There were
68,071 Green Line rides taken that day, surpassing a previous-high of 66,018 rides,
set on Oct. 3, 2016.
There were 358,617 rides systemwide on
Aug. 31, when weekday customers were joined by fairgoers and fans traveling to
Twins, Vikings, Gophers and Saints home games. The total is 37% higher than the
year-to-date average weekday ridership. The total fell just below the
single-day record of 369,626 rides set on Sept. 1, 2016.
Nearly 54.6 million rides have been
provided through the end of August, up slightly compared to last year.
Every e-newsletter, I
will ask a Council trivia question and the first two people who email the
correct answer, I'll treat them to coffee at their time
and place of choice in the district.
Trivia question: How many regional parks and park reserves make up the Regional Parks System?
Email answers to steven.chávez@metc.state.mn.us.
Eagan
City Planning Commission - On Sept. 26, I made my annual presentation to the
Eagan City Planning Commission about the Metropolitan Council. Since joining
the Council in 2011, I have returned to Eagan to update the planning commission
on projects, programs and services of the Council and how we can better partner
with the City of Eagan to accomplish our communal goals. This year, the discussion focused on the Oct. 1 regional fare increase, Council investments and partnerships in Eagan and the METRO Red Line.
Eagan Rotary Club meeting - On Sept. 7, I attended the Eagan Rotary Club monthly meeting. The speaker and discussion focused on roads and the various ways the Twin Cities region is responding to congestion. Attendees included members, public officials and representatives from MnDOT. |
