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Dear neighbor,
Over the past months and weeks, my office has been working hard on the City’s budget. The proposals I’m bringing forward are based on communication and feedback my office has received from many of you. I take every correspondence, email, phone call, and communication seriously. It helps me prioritize what's important and what I should be working on for the 9th Ward.
To that end, I wanted to share with you the 10 different budget amendments I am bringing forward which total up to $4,630,000. They have a focus on community safety, housing, job opportunities, arts and culture, economic development, and language accessibility. These are some of the biggest topics I hear from all of you. I will also be supporting some of my colleagues' amendments that improve basic city services, traffic calming, wage theft prevention, open streets, building a strong Legislative Department and more.
George Floyd Square Youth and Adult Employment and Support Programming: This $400,000 budget amendment will support programs for youth and adults living in and around the George Floyd Square area and 38th Street Cultural District. It will be used to support and train BIPOC youth and adults, with high wage jobs focused on various aspects of the Arts, Communications and theater production. This also includes space and resources for independent artists to grow their businesses, support for trained workers, and new investments in community infrastructure that stabilize the neighborhood and build economic wellbeing for residents. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council President Jenkins.
Cultural Ambassador Pilot Program: This proposal will provide $2,100,000 to develop and implement public safety pilot programming in 2024. This work may include violence interruption, de-escalation, connecting residents to services and treatment, and helping with cleaning and wayfinding. This will be deployed along the city’s seven Cultural Districts, located along East Lake Street, Franklin Avenue East, 38th Street, Cedar Avenue South, West Broadway, Central Avenue, and Lowry Avenue North. This may be similar to the “Mpls DID Ambassadors and Clean Ambassadors Programs” who focus on making downtown shine and Safe. This includes coordinating technical assistance and conducting research and evaluation to inform about future investments in crime prevention through environmental design and other data-driven alternatives. We are co-authoring this proposal with Council Member Payne, Council Member Osman, and Council Member Chughtai.
Elliot Park Area Community Health and Housing Services: The $350,000 in funds will be used to work with an external contractor to provide a multitude of services for people experiencing homelessness, unstable housing, food insecurity, and deep poverty. Services provided will help people meet basic needs in a safe and welcoming environment, including healthy hot meals, hygiene supplies and showers, laundry, mail, voicemail, healthcare access, employment services, veterans’ benefits, mental health support, and connections to other benefits. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Osman and Council President Jenkins.
Collaborative Public Safety Strategies: To develop a program to reduce gun violence and youth violence. These funds will be used to invest $600,000 in collaborative, community-driven, public-safety strategies and programs. This innovative initiative will provide technical and financial resources for residents and business owners in East Phillips, Midtown Phillips, Folwell, and Cleveland located in South Minneapolis and North Minneapolis. Community members in these neighborhoods will be able to work together to address community safety with their own proposals. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Ellison.
Interim Community Safety Center: This amendment will allow for the rental, design, buildout, and communication of an interim Community Safety Center while the City of Minneapolis builds a Community Safety Center in the 3rd precinct. This $500,000 budget allocation will provide a place for residents to file police reports, get information, and will also provide residents with the opportunity to connect with Public Safety Professionals in the City of Minneapolis. This space will provide intentional and strategic communication and alignment of services to improve public and livability concerns within the 3rd precinct. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Koski and Council Member Chowdhury.
Lake Street Coordinator: This funding of $150,000 will establish a Lake Street Cultural District Public Safety coordinator. They will help with the implementation of a plan to improve the coordination of all public safety responses along Lake Street and connect residents and businesses to services and activation of the corridor to improve crime and livability concerns. This is a pilot program that may be expanded to other areas of the City in future years.
Hate Crime Prevention Program: Minneapolis has seen an increase in hate crimes in the last few years. This $200,000 budget proposal will provide the Hate Crime Prevention Program funding for an initiative that will include, but not be limited to, technical assistance and site analysis to support Minneapolis in addressing and preventing hate crimes. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Osman, Council Member Chughtai, and Council Member Chowdhury.
Establish Latino Business Week: $30,000 for the development and implementation of Minneapolis Latino Business Week. We can expect to see this planned and implemented in the Fall of 2024 that highlights Minneapolis Latino Businesses and activates multiple cultural corridors with events, business activations/pop-ups, and visitors. This will enhance economic activity and street activation for community safety.
Language Access Resource Pilot for Council Offices: This proposal will create a Language Access program to address a gap in how the City is able to implement the language access plan with $50,000. The Plan is a guide for City staff to ensure City programs, services, and activities are accessible to non-English-speaking residents and people with disabilities. And requiring information to be available in alternative languages and formats. The Pilot Program will be designed to assure that all City Council Offices have resources to adequately meet the requirements and intention of the federal requirements and the City’s adopted Language Access Plan. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Chughtai and Council Member Osman.
Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) Program Funding: This funding of $250,000 will continue the City of Minneapolis’s contract with the Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) to sustain the work of LEAD focused on the East Lake Street corridor. They provide harm reduction-based, intensive case management for individuals who commit law violations due to unmet behavioral health needs, homelessness, and/or extreme poverty. Residents, businesses, and visitors of the East Lake Street Corridor will continue to see the LEAD outreach and case managers working with clients and connecting people to services. This work will reduce arrest, incarceration, and racial disparities by developing a more effective, equitable, and non-punitive system of response to the problems associated with unmanaged behavioral health needs. We are co-authoring this amendment with Council Member Koski and Council Member Chowdhury.
The Mayor called a special City Council meeting this past Friday to vote on a Letter of Agreement (LOA) that his administration negotiated with the police union. This would have spent over $15 million of one time public safety aid allocated by the state legislature on recruitment and retention bonuses for police officers.
This agreement between the Mayor’s Administration and the Police Union was brought to the Budget Committee as a walk-on item. It was at the last minute, outside of our regular process, and no data was brought forward to show that this proposal worked.
The Mayor then called a special meeting after the Council voted against his last minute and out of process walk on item in the Budget Committee. An effort that would have prevented many community safety projects from being proposed and passed in the regular budget process.
This effort failed 5-8 in the special meeting. I did not vote in favor of this for a variety of reasons.
- A variety of council members have been using this funding stream to propose budget amendments for community safety projects in their wards. This agreement would have stripped away funding from these projects. My office is using this fund to build safety programs in Ward 9.
- If we are to give bonuses, they should be tied to even more significant reforms in the department.
- The Mayor brought this proposal forward without data to show that it works. I was not convinced that these bonuses for the Minneapolis Police Department work. Our internal data shows that our officers are still leaving even though we have paid them thousands of dollars in bonuses.
- There was also a lack of collaboration in the process by the Administration. The Council and Mayor should work together on a police union contract that addresses recruitment and retention that is effective. It should NOT leave out strong police accountability and reform.
- A one-off Letter of Agreement to gain reforms to our shift bidding will weaken our leverage in contract negotiations. We need the entire contract.
- This was proposed at the last minute and outside of our regular process.
I would be more than happy to work on a compromise that includes real reforms but not at the expense of one-off negotiations that do not push for accountability. Let’s tackle and reign in on off-duty, negotiate the ending of coaching that prevents discipline and accountability, gain more management control, fire officers with terrible records and find ways to incentivize those who are doing the job well.
Moving forward, the Mayor needs to understand that collaboration with the City Council is necessary, not just an afterthought. I expect him to bring forward the strongest Tentative Agreement possible. And in collaboration with the City Council. Then, we can talk about these bonuses, which should be tied to real accountability and reform.
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I want to send a huge congratulations to Aurin Chowdhury who was recently elected as the new Minneapolis Ward 12 City Council Member. She had her swearing in ceremony today. For nearly two years, Aurin served as a Policy Aide to the 9th Ward Office. She came in contact with many of you, worked on policy and constituent services for my office, and worked hard to ensure our Ward was taken care of. I look forward to working with Aurin on the City Council. |
As a part of the 38th & Chicago Re-Envisioned project that Public Works has been leading, staff have been working with a group of community representatives composed of residents, business owners, and non-profit organizations who are on the project’s Co-Creation Team (CCT).
In an effort to collect more data, the CCT was able to partner with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota and the McKnight Foundation to design and fund a community-led survey. This survey will build upon the City’s work and offer an independent perspective to provide a picture of how people feel about George Floyd Square and how to imagine its future.
This survey will be open through December 31st. Community members can take the survey online (https://bit.ly/cct-gfs-survey) and will have opportunities to participate via neighborhood canvassing efforts. Public Works will be sharing the survey information via Gov Delivery and mailing postcards to all properties in Wards 8 and 9. There are no demographic restrictions on who can complete the survey. It is currently available online in English and is available in paper form in additional languages (Spanish, Somali, & Hmong).
Evie Carshare is the first 100% renewably powered and city-owned carshare in the country!
It’s powered by the EV Spot Network program, which spans across a 35-mile radius in the Twin Cities. Right now, 170 electric vehicles and several curbside charger stations serve throughout the two cities.
Since launching in 2022, the Evie Carshare Program has provided 150,000 trips to people across the Twin Cities. It’s logged 1.5 million zero-emission miles and helped to reduce the region’s carbon footprint.
The program has played a critical role in providing Twin Cities residents with cleaner and more affordable transportation options.
To use these car-share vehicles, apply for an HOURCAR membership to verify that you have a driver's license, you are over 18 years old, and a few other details. You can visit Evie's Join Us page to see how to apply.
Charging the Vehicles: Receive driving credits when you plug in and charge the Evie to an EV Spot Charging hub. Use the Evie/HOURCAR app to find charging hubs near you. Not able to plug in? No problem - park the Evie at any legal street-side parking space within the service area if that's more convenient.
The Service Area: The service area is the region of the Twin Cities in which the cars circulate. All trips must start and end within the service area but you can drive outside of the service area during your trip.
Read more about Evie Carshare.
Winter market season began this month in four locations around the city. Farmers Markets of Minneapolis operate year-round with markets mainly operating outdoors.
Local produce is fresh, nutritious and affordable. Most of the markets accept SNAP-EBT (“electronic benefits transfer”) cards as payment, as well as Market Bucks and Produce Bucks, which combined provide $20 more for healthy food to market shoppers using SNAP-EBT.
In 2022, customers at the Farmers Markets of Minneapolis redeemed more than $350,447 in Market Bucks, Produce Bucks and SNAP/EBT, showing expanded access to fresh, healthy food for Minneapolis residents who experience food insecurity and receive federal food assistance. Sixty-two percent of market vendors donated leftover produce to hunger relief programs in 2022.
Find winter market schedules and locations.
Email: jason.chavez@minneapolismn.gov
Phone: 612-673-2209
Address: City Hall, 350 S. Fifth St., Room 307 Minneapolis, MN 55415
Or fill out our contact form here.
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