Dear neighbors,
Thank you for attending the Ward 8 Traffic Safety Community Meeting on June 27th and sharing important feedback regarding the impacts to neighborhood safety incurred from detours and closures related to the 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown project.
Public Works staff is working diligently to implement key changes to improve livability and traffic flow across neighborhoods. I want to provide you with an update on what has been completed so far:
- 42nd and Nicollet - signal timing was adjusted to provide more green time for Nicollet. The City removed three parking spaces leading up to the intersection in order to increase visibility and give cars a chance to bypass left turning vehicles.
- The Traffic Department is evaluating potential placement of temporary speed bumps on 5th Ave and on Wentworth.
- Barrels and additional signage were placed at E 40th St. and Blaisdell to prevent wrong way traffic movements.
- A double yellow line was added on Stevens Ave. between E 42nd and E 45th.
- Traffic Control is monitoring calls received through 311 from areas affected by 35W construction.
- Three portable speed wagons have been made available for streets affected by the project; Traffic Control is establishing a calendar to rotate wagons around various corridors. The City will rotate the speed wagons about once a week; the City will be adding more locations as staff receives feedback from the public.
Note: the wagons used do not record speed records. They instantaneously show the speed, but do not log it.
- Traffic control is evaluating the timing of key traffic signals on Nicollet Ave.
I recognize the challenges presented around such a major construction project that will, ultimately, be a great benefit to the Ward and the City. I will continue to advocate on behalf of Ward 8 residents by coordinating with Public Works around traffic mitigation solutions that work better for our neighborhoods.
Shunu
Shrestha, the City’s senior advisor for human trafficking prevention, has joined
the City Coordinator’s Office. She will assist the City of Minneapolis in
efforts to prevent labor and sex trafficking and address unmet needs of
survivors.
Shrestha
comes to the City after working for the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual
Assault where she oversaw the Duluth-based program’s trafficking program and
led the City’s Trafficking Task Force. Before coming to the United States in
2003, she did extensive work in her native Nepal promoting human rights and
fighting trafficking of women and girls.
The position
is funded for two years through the Pathways
to Freedom city challenge led by Humanity United and the NoVo Foundation. Pathways
to Freedom is the third
challenge of Partnership for Freedom, a public-private partnership created by Humanity
United and dedicated to
spurring innovation in the fight to end human trafficking.
Minneapolis
was one of three cities in the country selected to receive funding to develop
coordinated, citywide solutions to trafficking. The competition was open to
U.S. cities participating in 100
Resilient Cities, a network
created by the Rockefeller Foundation to help cities become more resilient to
physical, social and economic challenges.
The City of
Minneapolis has been a leader in addressing juvenile sex trafficking and
recently collaborated with more than 100 community partners to highlight and
fight the problem during Super Bowl LII. Shrestha will help the City build on
these efforts and develop a plan focused on labor trafficking-related issues,
such as wage theft and exploitive employment practices, as well as ensuring all survivors’ needs are met.
The City of Minneapolis welcomes new transportation options, such as motorized foot scooters, but requires
networks to operate in an organized manner consistent with City rules. State law already regulates how low-power vehicles, such
as foot scooters, operate in the street.
In response to the rapid growth of shared motorized foot
scooter networks, on July 20, the City Council passed an ordinance
amendment requiring the sharing networks to obtain a license agreement with the
City and follow rules for parking in the right of way.
Currently, the City has authority to remove scooters
found unattended and blocking traffic or public infrastructure, or otherwise
compromising public safety. The new ordinance framework will provide more
specific guidance to operators and the public about local rules for scooter
sharing in the public right of way, including on City sidewalks. View the ordinance amendment here.
This year, National
Night Out is Tuesday, Aug. 7. For people planning a neighborhood gathering,
there are important deadlines for registering their events with the City and
for blocking off their streets or alleys. Last year more 1,500 events were
registered with the City. It is free to participate in National Night Out.
Apply here by tomorrow, July 24, to
close a street or alley for FREE. Apply for $100 from July 25-July 30. Monday,
July 30, is the last day to apply for a street closure.
Registering a
National Night Out event and applying to close a street or alley is a single online process. You can also register your event and apply for street closure by
calling 311. Organizers who register their events will get free Mystery Point
Passes for Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America. Registration also
places events on the official list of National Night Out events that gets
distributed to police and other departments. (There’s no guarantee police will
be able to visit each event.)
Note: Not every
street can be blocked off. Generally, bus routes and high traffic streets
cannot be used for block events. Street closure requires the permission of 75 percent
of neighbors; applicants should keep their names and addresses handy in case
the permit application needs to be reviewed. Signatures are not required.
Rain plans are
encouraged; organizers should decide if their event will go forward if it rains
or be rescheduled. Anyone applying to close the street will have a rain date of
Wednesday, Aug. 8, unless they decline it during the application. If they
aren’t closing the street, they can choose any rain date that works for their
group.
National Night Out
is an annual nationwide event that encourages residents to get out in the
community, hold block parties and get to know their neighbors as a way to
prevent crime. It's a great way to promote community-police partnerships and
enjoy a Minnesota summer evening surrounded by friends and family.
As with many past
National Night Outs, Minneapolis was ranked No. 1 among all U.S. cities larger
than 300,000 people in 2017.
Doing business with the City of Minneapolis Thursday, July 26, 4-6:30 p.m. Gandhi Mahal, 3009 27th Ave. S.
This event will address ways small businesses,
minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses can do work with the City
of Minneapolis.
The City buys a wide range of goods and services and has
policies to ensure that its purchases of construction and development services,
commodities and supplies, and professional and technical services include
women, minorities, and low-income workers and businesses.
Find more information by checking out the Facebook event or contacting Shanae.Phillips@minneapolismn.gov.
A community meeting will be held July 31 on public art planned for the City's new Public Service Building, which will be built
near City Hall. The new building will allow the City to strategically collocate
City employees now working in several different sites downtown and provide
better service for residents and businesses. It will include a customer-centric
public service area and is scheduled to open the fall of 2020. Once completed, the
City’s new office building will feature prominent public art pieces.
Learn more
about public art planned for the new building, review feedback from previous
public meetings and get a project update:
Community Meeting on Public Art for Public Service Building Tuesday, July 31 5:30 p.m. doors open; 6 p.m. meeting starts
Mill City Museum, 704 S. Second St.
Artist Tristan
Al-Haddad of Atlanta-based Formations Studio has been selected to work with the
design team of MSR Design and Henning Larsen to identify public art
opportunities for the building. The City will be issuing multiple calls for
artists for the project via a range of media.
For more information about the Public Service Building project and to
sign up for email updates, visit the project website.
Our
communities celebrate the reopening of the 38th Street Bridge with the Minnesota
Department of Transportation (MnDOT) on Thur, August 16, from
4-8pm. Join us for a sit-down dinner on the bridge, kid friendly
activities, live music and more! This is an opportunity for
neighbors to meet and have intentional conversation around our unique stories
and shared future - where all members of the community are empowered!
What: A community meal and celebration of the
re-opening of the E. 38th Street Bridge When: Thursday, August 16, 4 - 8pm, with dinner at
6pm Where: On the E. 38th Street Bridge,
between 1st Ave S and 3rd Ave S
The conversation, facilitated by Marnita’s
Table, will furnish space for open dialogue and healing. A collective dinner will be catered by Eat for
Equity and will include halal, vegan and gluten free options.
Gather with family, friends and neighbors and help us celebrate the
reopening of this cornerstone bridge that connects our vibrant cultures, neighborhoods
and community.
Thank you to our co-hosts:
Bryant Neighborhood Organization (BNO) Central Area Neighborhood
Development Organization (CANDO) Council Member Andrea Jenkins
– Eighth Ward Council Office Eat for Equity Lyndale Neighborhood
Association (LNA) Kente Circle Kingfield Neighborhood
Association (KFNA) Marnita’s Table Minnesota Department of
Transportation (MnDOT) Sabathani Community Center
The City has joined several
community partners in sponsoring “Racism, Rent and Real Estate: Fair Housing
Reframed,” a series of events exploring the largely
unrecognized history of housing discrimination in the city.
The series comes as the country
marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act. The act
protects people from discrimination when they are renting, buying or securing
financing for any housing. The City Council recently passed a resolution recognizing the anniversary and declaring June 21, 2018, “Housing
Equity Day in Minneapolis.”
Convened by the Mapping Prejudice Project, Minnesota Housing
Partnership and Mill City Consulting, the series will feature events through
October. For more information, visit the event series’ webpage or Facebook page.
According to organizers, the series “will grapple with our dark history of
covenants, redlining and structural racism; and convene cross-sector,
community-centered conversations to chart a course for housing equity moving
forward.”
The
City of Minneapolis is collaborating with Our Streets
Minneapolis on a new social
media campaign — #WeWalkMpls — to highlight the stories of Minneapolis
residents of all ages and backgrounds who choose to walk as a primary way to
get around the city. Share
your stories on social media and use the hashtag #WeWalkMpls.
Our Streets
Minneapolis will also be collecting stories at upcoming Open Streets
Minneapolis events: Lake/Minnehaha (Sunday, July 22),
Northeast (Sunday, Aug. 5), Franklin (Sunday, Aug. 26), West Broadway
(Saturday, Sept. 15), Nicollet (Sunday, Sept. 23) and University of Minnesota
(Sunday, Sept. 30). The events run 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Remember to plan ahead and consider alternative ways
to get downtown as work ramps up on MnDOT’s 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown
project.
Here are the latest updates from MnDOT:
The next full closure for I-35W@94 is planned for July 27-30 and Aug.
3-6. These closures south of downtown will be combined with work going on north
of downtown from Fourth Street to Ramsey County Road C. That means I-35W will
be closed from Highway 62 to I-694 next weekend and the following weekend. MnDOT will have detour maps available on the web
page.
About the 35W@94 project
- MnDOT, Metro Transit, the City of Minneapolis and
Hennepin County are partners in the four-year reconstruction of I-35W
between 43rd Street and downtown Minneapolis that will improve
accessibility, safety and mobility in the corridor. The work started in
September 2017 and is scheduled to be complete in fall 2021.
-
The work includes reconstructing 2.5 miles of
freeway, reconstructing 11 bridges and repairing four bridges, adding new
access ramps from I-35W north to 28th Street and from I-35W south to Lake
Street, and replacing ramps from I-35W north to I-94 west and I-94 east to
I-35W south. Bus riders will experience a new two-story transit station at
Lake Street and walkers and bicyclists will have new pedestrian bridges at
24th and 40th streets and improvements near the Midtown
Greenway. To learn more about this project, visit: www.mndot.gov/35w94.
For more information, questions or concerns:
- To learn more about this project, including all current traffic impacts and detour routes, click here to visit the MNDOT website.
- Metro Transit bus routes will be impacted as a result of construction. For updated route information, and to sign up for Rider Alerts, click here.
- Follow MNDOT on Facebook at facebook.com/mndot and Twitter: @mndotnews
- Email the MNDOT project team at: info@35w94.com
- Call the project MNDOT hotline at: 612-284-6125
-
For real-time travel information anywhere in Minnesota visit http://www.511mn.org/or dial 5-1-1.
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