I want to keep you updated on the Hennepin Avenue S Reconstruction Project. To learn more about my decision-making process, please read my initial statement on this project. While this project made it through committee to the full Council, many of us were left with questions on council authority. The City’s attorneys worked to get us clarity though Councilmembers didn’t receive that communication until the morning of our Council meeting. Due to parental leave, the chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure (PWI) Committee, Councilmember Johnson, was also absent. Therefore, the project was sent back to committee for further review.  

At today’s PWI Committee, I brought forward 

• an amendment to the layout that designates transit lanes as no-parking zones and, 
• a resolution that establishes parking restrictions while maintaining the appropriate loading zones that are necessary for small businesses.  

These actions passed. Next, they’ll be brought to Committee of the Whole (COW) on Tuesday, June 14th. The City Council will then take final action on Thursday, June 16th, after which the Mayor will review.  

Hennepin Avenue is a unique corridor in our ward, one that has seen ebbs and flows of activity throughout its history. I want more people to come to Hennepin Avenue and experience all that it has to offer now and in the future. More people on Hennepin Avenue is a safer Hennepin Avenue, and a safer Hennepin Avenue is a thriving Uptown. More people will come to Hennepin Avenue if we make it safer for them to drive, walk, and bike on it at all times of the day, for whatever activity brings them to this corridor.  

For our City to achieve equitable outcomes and improve the lives of working-class Black and brown people, equity must be at the center of everything we do. The Hennepin Ave S Reconstruction Project is an opportunity for us to practice this work. We must be building for the future we want to live in, a future where people confidently choose to use their cars less and other transportation modes, like buses and bikes, more because those options are reliable, safe, accessible, and convenient. We’re also building for our current reality, a reality where in 1 in 3 Black households in Minneapolis don’t have the choice to use a car, and need accessible walkways, rapid bus lanes, and safer bike paths. I look forward to continuing to be in conversation with many of you, my Council colleagues, Mayor Frey, city staff, community groups and advocates, and small businesses and residents along the corridor about the future of Hennepin Avenue.