Government Transparency in our City

In an ongoing work to increase transparency in government, the City of Minneapolis Clerk's office hosted a session yesterday to show how to request public data from the City. The session was intentionally held on National Freedom of Information Day, March 16, and during Sunshine Week, the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. The Star Tribune recently dedicated a number of articles to Sunshine Week, including this one, which includes tips on how to request information from the government. I am personally committed to bringing more transparency to City governance in my role. In pursuit of this goal, I authored a new ordinance on informational governance, which was approved by the City Council at our meeting last Friday, March 10. This new ordinance will mean a more intentional and deliberate process of keeping the records used in doing the City's work. You can read more about the new ordinance here.

Shape the Future of Minneapolis

When: Saturday, April 1, 8 am - 3 pm
Where: Minneapolis Convention Center

The 2017 Community Connections Conference will feature an opportunity to participate in the next phase of Minneapolis 2040, the City's Comprehensive Plan update that shapes the future development of Minneapolis. City staff will be reporting back on progress to date and participants can discuss with staff and their neighbors how to grow the city in health, equity, and opportunity. Learn about the City’s history from artist-designed paper movies called crankies and then work with artists to design your own for the future, use constraints and trade-offs to create more housing choices on a game board, and join a conversation about what role the City can play in making Minneapolis more equitable.  Provide your input through interactive activities designed in collaboration with artists. 

Minneapolis 2040 is also hosting two related Learning Labs at the conference that will provide additional context and discussion opportunities beyond the interactive activities that will be going on all day.  

• 10:30 am - learn about a University of Minnesota project researching gentrification in Minneapolis and St. Paul and engage on what it means for planning the future of the City. 
• 1:15 pm - learn about Mapping Prejudice, an effort underway to map historic racially-restrictive covenants in Minneapolis. Participate in a discussion about how these covenants and other practices led to segregated housing and demographic patterns that remain today.

If you’re interested in Minneapolis 2040 but can’t attend on April 1st, you can participate on the Minneapolis 2040 website. Sign up for project updates, use interactive maps, review past engagement activities, and engage with the same content you’ll find at the conference beginning on April 3rd.  You can also hold your own discussion by downloading the updated Meeting-in-a-Box, again beginning on April 3rd.

To register for the conference: 

Section 8 Ordinance Public Hearing on March 22

The City has worked over the past year on an ordinance to prohibit discrimination against Section 8 housing choice voucher holders. There will be a public hearing on the proposed ordinance at the March 22 Special Joint Meeting of the Community Development & Regulatory Services and Public Safety, Civil Rights & Emergency Management Committees. When: Wednesday, March 22, 10:15 am Where: City Hall, Room 317, 350 South 5th Street, Minneapolis For the purpose of considering: 1) inspections and best practices recommendations on the Section 8 program; 2) an incentive fund for landlords participating in the section 8 program; 3) conducting a public hearing on the amendment to the civil rights ordinance to include Section 8 as a form of public assistance discrimination. Your participation and testimony at the public hearing is very much welcome. Written comments can be submitted to: councilcomment@minneapolismn.gov, or Council Committee Coordinators, 350 South 5th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415. To read the proposed ordinance:

Southwest High School's Japanese Exchange Students at City Hall

Minneapolis Parks Smoking Ban Goes into Effect 5/8

Last week, our Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approved a new tobacco policy which will prohibit the use of all tobacco products on Minneapolis Park Board lands and in their owned and/or operated facilities. Last November, I met with Park Board Commissioners Brad Bourn and John Erwin to discuss moving forward with a park's smoking policy and I (on behalf of 13th Ward constituents), along with Council Member Cam Gordon, have continued to support the efforts made on this initiative by the Park Board to make our parks more enjoyable for everyone who uses them. The new policy will go into effect on May 8, 2017.

Become a Block Club Leader

We've recently been notified about several break-ins in the Armatage neighborhood. While the overall trend of crime in our neighborhoods is down, we need your help to keep our blocks safe.

Neighborhoods and block clubs work with our Crime Prevention Specialists (CPS) to prevent and reduce crime. The Minneapolis Police Department's is working to increase the number of organized blocks, reach out to non-resident property owners, and increase neighborhood crime watch groups. Your Crime Prevention Specialist can help you organize your block and neighborhood crime prevention strategies. 

There are many advantages to organizing your block: 
-Leaders who get trained by their CPS's receive Action Alerts which release substantially more crime information for reports in the area around their block. 
-Active block clubs registered with their CPS's get prioritized visits by patrol officers on National Night Out. 
-Block leaders join a partnership of thousands committed volunteers who have seen decline on their blocks and when crime patterns erupt, they are quickly addressed. 

Contact your CPS today to: 
-Find out if your block is organized and if not, to step up and be a block leader. 
-Sign up for one of your neighborhood's crime prevention activities. 
-Help us reach out to your "neighbor who just happens to live somewhere else" -- non-resident resident and business owners. 

Interested? It’s easy to sign up! Contact your Crime Prevention Specialist. For contact info: