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This newsletter provides updates on the City's response to COVID-19, an overview of recovery efforts underway, efforts to transform public safety and other important news and information from the City of Minneapolis.
On July 1, 2020, the minimum wage in Minneapolis is going up to $11.75 at small businesses and $13.25 at large businesses. The City is committed to supporting an economy that includes everyone.
The new economic reality as a result of the pandemic is especially challenging for the lowest paid workers in our city who are often employed in essential or public-facing jobs. The City’s Department of Civil Rights oversees enforcement of the municipal minimum wage, and workers are encouraged to report violations online.
The Minneapolis minimum wage ordinance defines small businesses as 100 or fewer employees and large businesses as more than 100 employees. Tips and gratuities do not count toward payment of a minimum wage.
Increases in Minneapolis’ minimum wage directly benefit tens of thousands of families. The ordinance supports the City’s goals of promoting economic inclusion and reducing economic and racial disparities. For more information about the ordinance, visit minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov. For additional questions call 311 or email minwage@minneapolismn.gov.
Read more.
The City of Minneapolis, in partnership with Hennepin County and the State of Minnesota, is seeking a disaster declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for the areas impacted by the recent civil unrest in Minneapolis. A disaster declaration would make low-interest property damage and economic injury loans available through the SBA.
The City needs your help to receive this declaration. We are seeking additional information from businesses owners and property owners who sustained building damage, e.g. fire damage, or business loss, e.g. damaged inventory, and do not expect losses to be fully covered by insurance (40% or more uninsured loss).
If this describes your situation, please complete this survey no later than Thursday, July 2 to provide data on your losses. Your response is optional and will not impact in any way your eligibility for relief funds should they become available. You will not be more likely or less likely to receive relief funds. Instead you are providing information that will help our community apply for a disaster declaration and if declared, provide access to these loans to all eligible business and property owners in our community.
For questions or assistance completing the survey, contact the Small Business Team at 612-673-2499 or SmallBusiness@minneapolismn.gov. Assistance in Spanish, Somali and Hmong is available.
For additional information about the City of Minneapolis response to the recent civil unrest, including resources for businesses, visit Minneapolis Forward.
Fourth of July fireworks are part of Independence Day celebrations, and the noise complaints and safety issues they can generate lead to high call volumes at 911 call centers across the country. That’s why the City wants to make sure folks stay safe during fireworks season and know what to do if they have fireworks-related complaints.
Instead of calling 911 for Fourth of July noise reports, people are asked to make noise reports online; the reports will be reviewed during normal business hours. Noise reports can also be made through the 311 mobile app, minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov or by calling 311. You can also text “fireworks” to 311898 to enter a fireworks complaint on the City’s website.
Reducing the number of noise complaints to 911 will allow emergency calls to be answered as quickly as possible. On a typical Fourth of July evening, Minneapolis 911 receives hundreds of calls per hour, most of which are related to fireworks noise complaints. On an average day, Minneapolis 911 receives 80-100 calls per hour. Because of the volume, police officers cannot be dispatched to each fireworks noise incident around the Fourth of July but calls will be prioritized to ensure public safety.
Read more.
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Today the Minneapolis Park and Recreation (MPRB) announced it will begin to reopen some sections of parkways that have been closed to allow more space for trail users to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The openings begin 10 a.m. Friday, June 26 with the west side of Main Street Southeast from Hennepin Avenue to Third Ave Southeast. This opening is due to the reopening of businesses along Main Street. On Friday, June 19, Main Street between 3rd and 6th, owned by the City of Minneapolis, was transitioned from an exclusive pedestrian and bike facility to a shared slow street prioritizing people walking, biking and rolling, while also open to slow moving vehicles.
Additional openings will take place by 10 a.m. on Monday, June 29 and include East River Road, Lake of the Isles Parkway and Nokomis Parkway. These parkways had low pedestrian usage during their closures or will be impacted by upcoming vehicle detours related to construction projects. Bde Maka Ska Parkway, Cedar Lake Parkway, Lake Harriet Parkway and West River Parkway will remain closed to traffic and open for pedestrian use.
Read more.
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For the upcoming 2020 elections, the CDC recommends voting by mail if possible. As always, all Minnesotans are eligible to vote early by mail. Voting by mail may mean you need to plan and prepare a bit more than you might if you were going to vote at your polling place, but it doesn’t mean your vote (and voice!) is counted any differently.
Myth: “My mail ballot will only be counted if the race is close.”
Fact: All votes are counted, no matter if cast in-person or by mail.
By law, we count every properly returned ballot we receive by Election Day, period. It is a common misconception that mail (absentee) ballots are only counted during very tight races.
Want to vote by mail this year? Apply online today for your State Primary and/or General Election ballot.
The City Council’s Budget Committee will hold two public hearings in July on proposed revisions to the City’s 2020 budget.
The City faces a significant revenue shortfall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and needs to make cuts to the City’s roughly $1.5 billion budget. Mayor Jacob Frey will brief the City Council’s Policy & Government Oversight (POGO) Committee on a revised 2020 budget July 9 and staff will present the revised budget to City Council July 10.
The public can then engage and share their voices in this process during two online public hearings:
- 6:05 p.m. Tuesday, July 14
- 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 22
You can watch or participate in the online meetings.
The City Council is scheduled to vote July 24 on a revised 2020 budget. For more information about the City’s budget, visit minneapolismn.gov/budget.
Over the last several months, our Minneapolis community has faced extraordinarily painful challenges. The City of Minneapolis is working hard to help the people of our city heal and recover, to emerge stronger and more equitable than before.
To find information about legal actions related to George Floyd's death, plans to transform public safety and resources for residents and businesses impacted by recent violence, civic unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic, visit minneapolismn.gov/minneapolisforward.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has announced that the Minnesota Small Business Relief Grants Program has started accepting applications.
This program will provide $10,000 grants to small businesses that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees are eligible. Half of the funding will go to businesses in Greater Minnesota and half to businesses in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area, as required by law.
The application period will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 2 to fulfill the 10-day period required by the law. A randomized, computer-generated lottery process will be used to select eligible businesses that will receive awards. All awards will be administered by qualified local and regionally based nonprofit agencies, and the grant funds can be used for working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility bills, and other similar business expenses.
To be eligible, businesses must have a permanent physical location in Minnesota and be majority owned by a permanent resident of Minnesota. Businesses must be able to demonstrate hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Additional eligibility requirements and application information can be found online at DEED’s Small Business Relief Grants page.
Mayor Jacob Frey’s emergency regulation requiring people in Minneapolis to wear cloth face masks or coverings when they are in an indoor place of public accommodation is in effect.
Businesses will not be required to provide masks to customers or employees themselves, though employers shall be required to mandate the use of masks by their staff. Non-compliance should be reported through 311. Find more information here.
Donate homemade face masks at Minneapolis fire stations for Mask Drive Mondays
Minneapolis residents can deliver homemade masks to their local fire station from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday for Mask Drive Mondays.
Tune into the City's cultural radio programs for COVID-19 updates. The City has programs on KMOJ 89.9 FM (English); La Raza 95.7 FM (Spanish); KALY 101.7 FM (Somali); and WIXK AM 1590 (Hmong.) Radio shows schedule
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