Ways to Serve on Election Day

Election Day is fast approaching (although it can’t be here soon enough for many of us!). The 13th Ward consistently ranks among the highest voter turnout in the city and the state, and I expect this year to be no different. There are many ways to help out this election season, and I encourage your participation!

Be an Election Judge

Election judges are needed to work at local polling places. Serving as an election judge provides an opportunity to learn about the election process and is an important service to our city. Judges who are fluent in a second language are especially needed to provide support in the polling place, including Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Oromo, Lao, Vietnamese, Russian and American Sign Language.

Election judges are paid $13.30 per hour for their service, which includes training. Selection and placement of judges is based on qualifications of applicants and party balance within the precinct. Preference will be given to those willing to serve a full day in a precinct with a vacancy.

Kids Voting

Making our kids part of the voting process is a great way to ensure that they become adults who are educated, informed voters. Kids Voting Minneapolis is a community-based nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to prepare Minneapolis' 50,000 K-12 students to be future voters. The organization relies on volunteers to offer students an authentic polling place voting experience by volunteering at polling places to hand out ballots, explain the voting process, and distribute I VOTED stickers. 

Mayor Hodges’ 2017 Budget Proposal

On August 10, Mayor Hodges presented her proposed budget for 2017 to the City Council. She is proposing a 5.5% increase to the overall amount collected by the City of Minneapolis’ portion of the property tax levy. Simply to fund the City’s current services and level of employment would have required a nearly 4% increase in the levy. The addition of the City’s landmark agreement with the Park & Recreation Board to implement a 20-year plan to repair our parks and our roads accounts for some of the additional increase, as does the State’s smaller contribution to Local Government Aid (LGA) for 2017. While the Mayor has made some cuts in the budget to offset these increases, she has also proposed some new spending.

You will know more details about how this proposal affects you when you receive your "Truth in Taxation" notice in the mail; Hennepin County usually mails these in early to mid November. This will outline how the proposed 2017 budgets for the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Metropolitan Council will affect your property tax levy.

Over the next couple months, the Budget Subcommittee (comprised of all 13 Council Members) will hear presentations from each City department on their proposed budget. I am still digging into the details of the budget, but as always, I want to hear your feedback about the City's budget priorities. (In fact, many residents have already contacted me to share their concern about the proposed additional spending.) Contact my office here.

To see details of the proposed budget, read or watch the Mayor’s presentation, and see dates and times for the budget presentations (all of which are open to the public):

Out & About in the 13th Ward

I had a great time attending all seven of the neighborhood festivals in the 13th Ward this summer, including Armatage Neighborhood's Summer Festival where I caught up on all the latest neighborhood news with Armatage's "Mayor" Steve Johnson.

I was honored to speak at the Hiroshima Commemoration Event on August 6th, the anniversary of the day the bomb was dropped. The Spirit of Peace sculpture in the Lyndale Peace Park Garden was the perfect place to remember this historic event and to join with others in the community to plant two Japanese lilac trees in remembrance of the victims and to inspire local and international peace.

54th St. Reconstruction

Residents and visitors of the Lynnhurst, Kenny and Armatage neighborhoods are well aware that the 54th St. reconstruction project is in full swing. As a reminder, the project encompasses a full reconstruction of the street from Penn to Lyndale and will take two construction seasons to complete (meaning the project will end in summer/fall 2017).

Whenever possible, please use the marked detour on 50th St. If you’re using other streets due to 54th St.’s closure, remember to drive cautiously and within the speed limit. Pedestrians, bicyclists and other drivers may not be used to heavy traffic using these streets, so extra caution is appreciated!

You can get updates on Facebook to find out the latest project news. For more details about the project, to subscribe to e-updates or get contact info for the engineers working on the project:

Thanks for Coming to Palmisano Presents Forums!

Thank you to all of the neighbors attending the August 1st community forum at Pershing Park on how the City serves our youth and the August 16th community forum at St Thomas Church on how the City and the County work together on pedestrian and bicycling issues. Both forums featured City staff and thoughtful conversation. I appreciated hearing your experiences and ideas on these issues and look forward to our next Palmisano Presents forum this fall, introducing new MPD 5th Precinct Inspector Kathy Waite.

The City of Minneapolis Is Hiring

The City of Minneapolis is always looking for talented and driven folks to join our team, and we are always hiring!

Volunteer to Help the City Collect Bicyle & Pedestrian Data

Minneapolis Public Works is gearing up to conduct its 10th annual bicyclist and pedestrian count, and you can help! Volunteers are needed to count the number of bicyclists and pedestrians at several locations around the city. The main days for counting will be September 13-15. All count shifts are from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Public Works conducts bicyclist and pedestrian counts in order to understand the impact of non-motorized traffic on streets, sidewalks, and trails. Accurate counts enable the City to plan and build for bicyclists and pedestrians, while tracking what’s successful and what should be done differently. For more information and to sign up to volunteer:

Fun Fact: Our City's Trees

Did you know that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is  responsible for all City-owned trees including boulevard trees, the public trees located between the curb and sidewalk in front of your home? The Park's Forestry Department currently cares for approximately 200,000 boulevard trees in Minneapolis.

For more information about boulevard trees, including how to request a tree, replace a tree, or care for a tree:

For reasonable accommodations or alternative formats please contact the 13th Ward office at 612-673-2213, or Ken Dahler via ken.dahler@minneapolismn.gov . People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 agents at 612-673-3000. TTY users can call 612-673-2157 or 612-673-2626.

Para asistencia 612-673-2700 •  Rau kev pab 612-673-2800 • Hadii aad Caawimaad u baahantahay 612-673-3500.