 38th Street Thrive! Land Use, Equitable Engagement and Development
Join us for the first of a four-part series of meetings focused on the vitality and growth of East 38th Street. This meeting will take place on Thur, February 21st, 6-8pm, at Sabathani Community Center (in the 2nd floor Community Room).
In 2015 members of the East 38th Street community engaged in a series of meetings titled “The Future of East 38th Street,” hosted by then Ward 8 Council Member Elizabeth Glidden. Those meetings led to the generation of several ideas, priorities and recommendations for our communities, including the preservation of African American history, public space improvements, community ownership and wealth building, to name a few. That work carried forward through additional community engagement meetings, and community-driven projects and project developments.
We are continuing the work with community to preserve and enhance the vitality of East 38th Street. For this first meeting of the 38th Street Thrive! series, we will review what has been done, hear from City of Minneapolis long range planning staff about land use and discuss equitable engagement and development.
We hope you will join us on February 21st! View our Facebook event page here.
 When: Friday, February 22nd, 12-1:30pm
Where: Funky Grits Restaurant, 805 E 38th St
In celebration of Black History Month, we are excited to highlight projects and contributions from our local African-American community leaders and learn more about the all-too-often ignored influence of African-Americans on our shared history.
This month we welcome four amazing speakers: Attorney, local historian and Co-founder of the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery Tina Burnside; Leading Professor of the Department of African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota Dr. Keith Mayes; Twin Cities Public Television PBS Senior Producer and local historian Daniel Bergin; and City of Minneapolis’ Resilience in Communities After Stress & Trauma (ReCAST) Program Manager Ebony Adedayo.
Join us on Friday, Feb. 22nd, at Funky Grits. All are welcome!! View the Facebook event here.
 I am happy to announce that, today, the City Council has adopted eight policy goals as part of its Strategic and Race Equity Action Plan. This is the first time the City has merged the City’s Strategic Plan with the Race Equity Action Plan in order to better align policy goals with department operational plans and strategies.
The strategic and racial equity action plan identifies a set of priorities which the City will address in the next four years. The plan aligns the work from City leadership to departments and defines goals at all planning levels which can be objectively measured and help inform resource decisions. The plan sets a direction for the future of the City. It provides a common focus and gives direction to City leaders in the development of operational plans and activities.
Adoption of these goals, developed by the Mayor and Council, builds on previous work adopting operational goals, and will be supported by the City's Vision and Values. Community input has come in many forms, including Council meetings, budget hearings and other public hearings, Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan engagement sessions, a full day session this past August with community stakeholders, and more recently the annual Community Connections Conference earlier this month. Additionally, the City’s Racial Equity Community Advisory Committee and internal Racial Equity steering committee remain deeply engaged with this work. Learn more about the eight goals, plan components, background, community engagement and next steps here and here.
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Starting over the next few years, homebuyers and renters will be able to learn energy information about a Minneapolis home or apartment before they sign on the dotted line. The Minneapolis City Council approved three policies that combined touch all housing types in the city:
- Residential Energy Benchmarking: A requirement that extends the existing commercial benchmarking ordinance to cover residential buildings 50,000 square feet and larger and requires an energy evaluation of properties with high savings potential. This policy will be phased in based on building size, with the first compliance date being June 1, 2019 for buildings 100,000 square feet and larger.
- Time of Rent Energy Disclosure: A requirement at the time of rent for residential building owners to disclose average energy cost per square foot. This policy will go into effect in 2021.
- Time of Sale Energy Disclosure: a requirement to include energy efficiency characteristics as part of the already-required Truth in Sale of Housing (TISH) report when selling a home. This covers information on the home’s insulation, heating system and windows. This policy will go into effect in 2020.
The goals of these policies are to reduce overall housing costs, ensure homeowners and renters have reliable information about their energy costs when deciding where to live, and reduce carbon emissions. These policies are recommended in Minneapolis’ Climate Action Plan and will help the City make progress toward its community-wide greenhouse gas reduction goals. Minneapolis joins nearly 20 other cities in adopting residential energy benchmarking for large buildings.
- Learn more about the requirements and rules for benchmarking and time of rent energy disclosure.
- Learn more about the requirements for time of sale energy disclosure.
Plug in to savings
Several programs are available to help property owners reduce energy use including:
- Homeowners:
- Can get a visit from the Home Energy Squad. The program is available at a low cost for all homes, and the City offers residents in Green Zones no-cost visits to improve energy efficiency for single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. At the visit, energy experts identify opportunities to save energy and make some energy-efficient improvements on the spot.
- Can access zero-interest financing made available from the City for eligible energy efficiency improvements.
- Rental property owners:
- Can participate in the Multifamily Building Efficiency Program. This free, utility-funded program provides multifamily buildings (five or more units) with an assessment to identify energy-saving opportunities, directly install several energy-saving measures for immediate savings, and offer financial incentives for buildings that meet energy saving targets including covering up to 80 percent of the costs for energy upgrades in qualifying low-income housing.
- Can participate in the 4d Affordable Housing Incentive Program, which helps apartment building owners obtain property tax reductions if they agree to keep 20 percent or more of their rental units affordable. The program also helps owners make existing buildings greener through cost sharing for energy efficiency improvements and solar installations.
- Large multifamily and commercial properties can participate in the Green Cost Share energy efficiency program. The City offers a funding match of 20-30 percent up to $50,000 (not to be repaid) for residential buildings with four units or more and commercial buildings that increase energy efficiency.
Find the complete list of programs here.
 The public comment period is open for the Neighborhoods 2020 framework recommendations on neighborhood programming, funding and governance structure to support the City’s 70 neighborhood organizations in 2020 and beyond. The public comment period runs through March 31.
The Neighborhoods 2020 framework recommendations are online in English, Spanish, Somali and Hmong. The recommendations align with the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which states “Minneapolis will have an equitable civic participation system that enfranchises everyone, recognizes the core and vital service neighborhood organizations provide to the City of Minneapolis, and builds people’s long-term capacity to organize and improve their lives and neighborhoods.”
Goals include:
- Organizations reflecting the communities they serve.
- Simplifying participation for all.
- Saving money and staff time for participating organizations.
The public can comment in person at community information meetings or in writing. All meetings will have interpreters available and will take public comments. Meeting dates include:
- 6-8 p.m. Feb. 27: Eastside Services, 1700 Second St. NE (held in English).
- 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. March 8: Harrison Community Center, 503 Irving Ave. N. (held in Lao and Hmong).
- 6-8 p.m. March 13: Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center, 505 15th Ave. S. (held in Somali).
- 6-8 p.m. March 15: Waite House, 2323 11th Ave. S. (held in Spanish).
Additional meetings will be scheduled in multiple languages. See the most up-to-date list at Minneapolismn.gov/ncr/2020.
Since 2016, the City of Minneapolis Neighborhood and Community Relations Department has been holding conversations with community and neighborhood leaders and elected officials about the needs and goals of this growing and vibrant city, and identifying the role that neighborhoods should play in meeting them. This initiative, called Neighborhoods 2020, culminated in three work groups being established by City Council in the spring of 2018. These work groups consisted of representatives from neighborhood organizations, cultural groups, those with equity/undoing racism experience and representatives appointed by City Council and the mayor. They provided recommendations on three major elements of this work: programming and funding, governance, and a citywide community engagement policy.
Plans call for the final policy recommendations to go before the City Council in April.
More information is available at minneapolismn.gov/ncr/2020.
 City staff presented a vision to the City Council’s Transportation and Public Works Committee for developing the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan. It will identify specific strategies and actions the City and its partners need to take within the next decade to implement the transportation policies of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which has been sent to the Metropolitan Council for review.
The Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan will guide transportation decisions to ensure alignment with the plan goals: safety, equity, prosperity, climate, mobility and active partnerships. It’s focused on the following topics: advanced mobility, pedestrian, bicycle, transit, freight, street operations and street design.
Public Works will conduct community engagement to gather input and feedback on the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan throughout the year. A draft plan will be released later in 2019, and staff will seek public comment on it. Staff is expected to submit the plan to the City Council for approval in 2020.
Visit go.minneapolismn.gov to learn more about the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan and upcoming engagement opportunities.
 City staff recently presented findings from the Vision Zero Crash Study to the City Council’s Transportation and Public Works Committee. The data will help guide infrastructure investments and inform the City’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which is under development to advance the City’s goal of eliminating traffic deaths and severe injuries on City streets by 2027.
Key findings from the Vision Zero Crash Study include:
- An average of 11 people were killed and 84 more suffered a life-altering injury on Minneapolis streets each year from 2007 to 2015.
- Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users followed by bicyclists. Eleven percent of reported pedestrian crashes resulted in a severe injury or death compared to 5 percent for bicycle crashes and 1 percent for vehicle crashes.
- Crashes and injuries in Minneapolis are concentrated on a small percentage of streets. Seventy-five percent of severe and fatal pedestrian crashes happened on 5 percent of streets, 81 percent of severe and fatal bicycle crashes happened on 3 percent of streets, and 63 percent of severe and fatal vehicle crashes happened on 4 percent of streets.
- Crashes are disproportionately concentrated in low-income neighborhoods with a majority of people of color. Native Americans are most disproportionately impacted by traffic deaths.
The City’s Vision Zero Action Plan will put equity at its forefront and provide extra focus on protecting the most vulnerable users of the roadways: pedestrians and bicyclists. A Vision Zero Task Force made up of City leaders from several departments is guiding work on the plan and engaging local and regional stakeholders to consider the best approaches in street design, education, encouraging behavior changes, enforcement and legislative solutions to make the transportation network safer for everyone.
Learn about ways to get involved: visionzerompls.com.
 The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Labor signed an agreement formalizing their commitment to collaborate on investigations and public awareness of labor standards, including the City’s minimum wage ordinance.
The agreement will increase the capacity of both City and federal officials to enforce labor standards in Minneapolis to protect all workers and ensure that abusive employers seeking unfair competitive advantages are held accountable.
The collaboration comes as the City recognizes the one-year anniversary of the minimum wage ordinance.
More than 4,000 workers received back wages or new benefits because of investigations by the City’s Labor Standards Enforcement Division in 2018.
The City’s minimum wage ordinance has a phase-in schedule requiring large businesses to pay $15 an hour by 2022 and small businesses by 2024. Currently, the minimum wage is $10.25 for businesses with 100 or fewer employees and $11.25 for employers with more than 100 workers. The next minimum wage increase takes effect July 1, 2019.
Violations of the minimum wage ordinance can be reported by calling 311 or filling out an online form, or in person at City Hall, Room 239.
The ordinance supports the City’s goals of promoting inclusive economic growth by reducing economic and racial disparities. For more information about the ordinance, visit minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov, call 311 or email minwage@minneapolismn.gov.
 Many of us are interested in improving our environment and one way to accomplish that is through planting trees. Due to overwhelming popularity, the City’s low-cost tree program operates by lottery. Any Minneapolis property owner can enter the lottery now through March 13. Large species shade trees are $30 each. Fruit trees and smaller species are $40 each.
- Limit one tree per address.
- Trees must be picked up May 18-20 at the Minneapolis Impound Lot.* Volunteers will be on hand to help load each new tree and a complimentary bag of mulch.
Enter the lottery: www.treetrust.org/get-a-tree/mpls-tree-distribution-copy
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