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Early voting is now underway for the Nov. 4 municipal election. Ballots may be cast early by mail or in person at the Early Vote Center, 980 E. Hennepin Ave.
Early voting began Friday with the City mailing out 12,640 requested mail-in ballots to Minneapolis voters – a record for a municipal election. Another 351 people voted at the Early Vote Center on the first day.
Voters who applied for mail-in ballots should allow up to seven days for their ballot to arrive and plan an equal number of days for returning the completed ballot. All mail ballots need to be received by Election Day, Nov. 4, to count. Important change: Mail ballots that are dropped off in person must be returned to the Elections & Voter Services office, not polling places, by 5 p.m. Nov. 4.
The Early Vote Center is open for early voting in person 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Voters can also cast their ballot by mail or by dropping off a ballot. More locations and hours will open up over the election season.
Find more details about voting on the City website.
I sent in a letter of support of the resident-led initiative to rename Marcy Park to Dinky Park. Here is what I emailed the board:
The park is currently named for someone who was a major advocate for preserving and expanding slavery in the United States.
Children should have to play on a playground named for someone who believed they should be enslaved.
Families should not have to gather for barbecues at a park named for someone who wanted to see them in chains.
Students should not have to take study breaks at a park named for someone who believed that they were less than human.
The Trump administration is attacking Black, brown and immigrant communities. Part of this assault is the whitewashing of American history to downplay the realities of violence and systemic racism that are foundational to the United States economy and to capitalism.
We have the opportunity to resist that whitewashing today by refusing to continue to honor the name of a politician who championed slavery, colonialism, and war. Instead, we can rename this park with a name chosen by the people who live here now and who enjoy it every single day.
I want to thank and acknowledge the neighbors who organized to bring this renaming forward. They have taken the initiative to make sure the landmarks in our communities reflect our values. I urge the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board to proceed with renaming the park.
The Longfellow Business Association (LBA) and Seward Civic and Commerce Association (SCCA) hosted a meeting for small business owners to come together to discuss public safety challenges and the impacts of encampments. My office spoke alongside Council Member Chowdhury, 3rd Precinct Inspector Gomez, and 3rd Precinct Crime Prevention Specialist Shun Tillman.
It was a productive dialogue. Small business owners shared the extreme challenges they face as a result of the city’s failure to effectively address unsheltered homelessness. The Southside has been disproportionately impacted by encampments and I remain committed to working closely with small business owners, residents, and my colleagues on the Council on this issue. In the immediate, I will be working with my colleagues to restore the Emergency Housing Vouchers that Mayor Frey has proposed cutting for the 2026 budget. I share more details on that later in this newsletter.
I met with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s Highrise Resident Council, an advisory body of MPHA highrise residents. We shared a productive conversation about a variety of issues including Emergency Housing Vouchers and historic designation at Glendale. Thank you to the Highrise Resident Council for your leadership!
The University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Minnesota Pharmacy Student Alliance, and Kappa Epsilon- Alpha Pharmaceutical Fraternity are hosting a drug takeback event in partnership with University of Minnesota police. The event gives community members the opportunity to properly dispose of unused, expired, and unwanted prescription medication. The event is open to all.
University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy Drug Takeback
Saturday, September 27
8am-11am
Gopher Garden (Oak Street)
Drug takeback event flyer
The Towerside Community Pulse Survey is live!
If you spend time in Stadium Village, Prospect Park, or Westgate, you’re part of Towerside! Share your ideas for this area’s parks, housing transportation, public spaces, and community life!
👉 Take the survey (link in bio)
🕒 15–20 minutes
🎉 Complete the survey and get a chance to win gift cards to local favorites like Surly Brewing, Malcolm Yards, and Fresh Thyme Market.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞?
Towerside is a nonprofit working to create an equitable, vibrant, and sustainable neighborhood within the Twin Cities’ first innovation district, located around Stadium Village, Prospect Park, and the Westgate areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
Your voice will help guide future projects in housing, parks, small businesses, and community spaces. A great neighborhood is built together and your voice matters!
📋 This survey is available in English / Daim ntawv tshawb fawb no muaj rau lus Hmoob / Encuesta disponible en español / Sahanka waxa lagu heli karaa Af-Soomaali
Towerside Community Pulse Survey
Summary: The City Council approved the ordinance authored by Council Member Chavez, Council Vice President Chughtai and I that improves equity and transparency in commercial property sales in vulnerable areas.
Background: Commercial real estate markets often operate through relationships and without substantial transparency. The lack of transparency makes it difficult, often impossible, for neighborhood groups, nonprofits, and community partners to participate in the process. Without transparency and community participation, these transactions can further destabilize small business and increase wealth gaps, leading to displacement and economic disruption in the city.
In response to community concerns around displacement of businesses and potential gentrification of areas that were impacted by the civil unrest after the murder of George Floyd, former Council Members Gordon and Cano led a city-wide Commercial Advance Notice of Sale ordinance. This ordinance was still in the legislative process when the new term began in 2022. Conversations related to concerns of displacement of small businesses persisted which led
Council Member Chavez, Council Vice President Chughtai and I to advance this work, with a focus on communities who have been historically marginalized. In response to concerns about prolonged vacant storefronts around the University of Minnesota, and interests from small business owners to utilize such spaces, I worked with the authors to add the university area to the area covered by the ordinance.
The Commercial Advance Notice of Sale ordinance would require advance notice to the City of a proposed sale of commercial property within an established Cultural District, the University area, or a section of Washington Ave. N near the Mississippi River. Commercial property owners will be required to give notice to the City 60 days prior to the commercial property being made available for sale. The City will be able to publicly share information about buildings that have been noticed for sale.
Public advance notice creates more transparency, which could open doors for those historically left out of the commercial property sale process. It will increase local awareness, the crucial first step to potential local ownership. The power of this ordinance is transparency and that the property owner can choose to complete the sale to any buyer on any timeline they choose after the required days of notice.
After an unnecessary procedural delay earlier this month, the ordinance came before the Council for approval. Council voted 7-6 to approve the ordinance. I am excited about the impact that this ordinance will have on increasing local awareness and potentially local ownership of the commercial properties around the University, as well as in Cultural Corridors and on Washington Ave N.
Key votes: Council voted 7-6 to approve the Commercial Advance Notice of Sale ordinance. Council Members Vetaw, Ellison, Chavez, Chowdhury, Vice President Chughtai, President Payne, and I voted in support. Council Members Rainville, Osman, Cashman, Jenkins, Koski, and Palmisano vote in opposition.
Last week, Council Members, renters, and community advocates rallied to kick off the Slumlord Tier Oversight and Protection ordinance, also called STOP Slumlords. The ordinance requires a City Council vote on rental licenses for rental units that are below the City’s standards of health, safety, and livability. You can read more about the ordinance here.
STOP Slumlords Kickoff
Now, we need community supporters to share public testimony in support of the ordinance!
STOP Slumlords Public Testimony – September 30th at 1:30pm
Testify in person:
- STOP Slumlords Public Hearing at the Business Housing and Zoning Committee
- September 30th at 1:30pm
- Minneapolis Public Service Center: 250 South 4th Street– Room 350
- The location is also on the Blue and Green line and multiple bus lines. Parking is available at the Haaf Ramp-- 424 South 4th Street.
- Read more about rules for meetings and tips to participate
Testify in writing:
- Testimony can be submitted in writing at any time using this form.
- Submissions can include personal/individual comments, or official organizational statements.
- For “Subject or File Number,” write STOP Slumlords
In the last few days, my office has learned that the Regulatory Services Department has allowed Hub Apartments in Ward 2 to operate without a valid rental license for approximately 5 years. The apartment building has over 400 units, meaning thousands of Ward 2 renters have lived in an unlicensed property. Many of these renters are students or first time renters. This is extremely concerning for a number of reasons, and over the coming weeks I will be working with Regulatory Services, the City Auditor, and community partners to investigate how this occurred, the impacts and potential implications for past and current renters, and if any other buildings have also been operating without valid rental licenses from the City.
Last year, after over a year of collaboration and planning with our government partners at Hennepin County and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, I led the council to fund the Emergency Housing Vouchers initiative (EHV). EHV would have provided permanent housing and wraparound social services to 50 families and 50 individuals starting this year, but in August, Mayor Frey proposed defunding the program as well as pulling the funding MPHA was planning to receive for 2025. Emergency Housing Vouchers are one powerful tool that I believe we should be using to address the ongoing challenges facing both unsheltered residents and the neighboring businesses and communities.
While the Frey administration originally did not provide reasoning for the proposed elimination of EHV, my office has met with city staff to dig in further behind their decision. In meeting with Mayor Frey’s administrative staff, my office learned that they proposed cutting EHV to preserve a different program, Stables Homes Stable School initiative (SHSS). SHSS serves Minneapolis public schools families, and is facing a pending funding cliff. SHSS is a collaborative effort with several partners to prevent homelessness for families with kids in Minneapolis Public Schools. I am a huge advocate for SHSS and supporting Minneapolis Public School families. I have significant questions on why and how SHSS became unsustainable and why the Frey administration’s solution was rooted in pitting two distinctly different homelessness prevention and response initiatives against one another. I have planned conversations with staff and other government partners in the upcoming weeks to learn more about the situation and identify solutions. As federal and state funding cuts continue, it is more critical than ever that the Council funds data-driven and evidence backed programs that produce results. Both SHSS and EHV fit that criteria, and can help the city drastically reduce homelessness by keeping housing insecure individuals and families housed. Again, I am disappointed they are being pitted against each other.
I believe that the city has the ability to fund both of these critical programsI will continue to provide updates on this issue as we continue to progress actions through the Council.
The Witch’s Hat Water Tower is a treasured landmark in Minneapolis. Prior to the covid pandemic, it was opened a few times per year, with thousands of residents flocking for the opportunity to see the unique view from the top. The Tower has been closed since 2020. My office has been working to reopen the tower since 2022. In 2023 I led Council to allocate $350,000 to rehabilitate the inside of the Tower so it could be safely reopened for residents and visitors to enjoy.
Since January of 2024, the Mayor’s Finance and Property Services Department has been responsible for using this funding to repair the Tower. The construction project has taken longer than anticipated, but the work is still moving forward.
This week, my office received an update that Property Services made a second attempt at soliciting bids for contractors and did not receive any bidders. Next, they plan to do a formal bid later in the winter for work to begin in the spring of 2026. They apologized to our office and residents for this delay, stating “unfortunately we are at the whims of the marketplace.”
I will continue to share updates on the status of Witch’s Hat repairs and look forward to the eventual opening- hopefully in 2026!
Below is the streetlight repair update from Public Works from September 17-21.
- New Theft: Como theft again (new system)
- Over the past couple weeks, continued theft on the new Como system. Cabinet broken into and about 800’ of wire stolen.
- City-wide, high-level guess/estimate is about 25% as much wire theft in 2025 compared to 2024.
- Completed
- In Progress
- Next Steps
- Greenway and Hiawatha trails
- Continued coordination with Xcel for Bde Maka Ska
The City is now accepting applications for boards and commissions — this is your chance to make a real difference in your community.
From housing and public safety to civil rights and transit, these groups help guide the policies that impact our everyday lives. Your lived experience, voice, and perspective matter — and we need them at the table.
Joining a board or commission means:
✅ Working alongside neighbors and City leaders
✅ Uplifting community voices in City decisions
✅ Building a more inclusive, connected Minneapolis
Openings include:
🔹 Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights
🔹 Heritage Preservation Commission
🔹 Workplace Advisory Committee
…and more!
View openings and apply to serve here.
Contact Ward 2
Visit: minneapolismn.gov/ward2
Email: ward2@minneapolismn.gov
Phone: 612-673-2202
City Hall
350 S. Fifth St., Room 370
Minneapolis, MN 55415
For reasonable accommodations or alternative format please contact 311. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. TTY users call 612-263-6850. Para ayuda, llame al 311. Rau kev pab, hu 311. Hadii aad caawimaad u baahantahay, wac 311. |
