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The city is moving forward with creating a comprehensive Community Safety Center at 2633 Minnehaha. It is supposed to be the city’s first Community Safety Center and lay the groundwork for all precincts to be replaced with Community Safety Centers. The city has stated the intention to purchase the building in June, just a month and a half away.
Currently, the Mayor’s administration has offered no clarity or specifics about how this will differ from a traditional police precinct. Residents have made it very clear that they do not want to return to the status quo of policing, but move to a new model where police are only one small part of a comprehensive system. This is outlined in the city’s Safe and Thriving Communities Report.
This week, I and the other Council Members who represent the Third Precinct met with Mayor Frey to discuss our concerns about the lack of clarity and specifics that his administration has offered so far, especially given that he will be asking Council to approve a multimillion dollar purchase of the building within the next few months. It was a productive conversation with the Mayor’s office making commitments to have a presentation to the Public Health and Safety Committee in May about the proposal for the Community Safety Center.
The city is now conducting public outreach to hear what residents want in the Community Safety Center. I encourage all residents to attend one of these events to express your perspectives on what you want to see in a building that houses public safety services beyond policing.
Key votes: No votes taken.
Since the summer of 2020, a number of community organizations and members have organized to craft alternative redevelopment plans for the former 3rd Precinct building that was burned down in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by MPD officers. From this community-led engagement, various redevelopment proposals have come to surface such as a Black Cultural Art Center. Although the Council allocated $100,000 for community engagement on the future of 3000 Minnehaha in 2022, the Frey administration never actually carried out this engagement. In the absence of city-led community engagement for the last four years, community members have developed a variety of interesting proposals.
In fact, last week, Council Members were able to receive a presentation by the Longfellow Community Council, one of the organizations leading community engagement work in the absence of a formal city process. After conducting extensive engagement, the LCC produced a report and summary of key themes that emerged and residents’ top priorities. The top four proposed uses for the site were social services, a Black Cultural Center, a green space, or a memorial. 6% of residents wanted the building turned into a police station or voter center.
Instead of conducting city-led outreach or responding to these community proposals, Mayor Frey has proposed converting the building into an Election and Voter Services building, with a small proportion of the building reserved for unspecified community use. Council is being asked to approve this plan at the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, April 23. I will be voting no on this proposal on the grounds that there has never been a community request for Election and Voter Services, that the proposal completely disregards the community proposals that are on the table, and that it is disrespectful to the history of the building.
Instead, Council Member Chavez and I have authored a legislative directive asking the administration to provide a summary of Truth and Reconciliation work conducted and how it relates to the former Third Precinct, options for full community ownership of the building, the future of pop-up voting locations, and how and Election and Voter Services facility could be integrated into other city buildings.
Key votes: Council will be voting on converting 3000 Minnehaha into an Election and Voter Services Center at the Committee of the Whole meeting on April 23rd at 1:30pm.
The Administration and Enterprise Oversight (AEO) Committee was asked to approve contracts for the 2024 Open Streets season. Only three of the five events received any applications due to the extremely low compensation offered in the contracts.
One of the vendors receiving a contract, the West Broadway Business Area Coalition, publicly shared that they will be independently trying to fundraise $100,000 in addition to the $50k they will receive from the city. While I am confident that West Broadway will be successful in their fundraising, it is deeply inequitable and problematic to expect contractors to independently fundraise six figures in a small window if they want this event in their community.
Open Streets is a priority in the city’s Transportation Action Plan. It is something we as a city have said we value because our residents have told us how much it means to them. My office read the proposals that the former contractor shared with city staff to understand the true costs of executing these events and tried to bring an amendment to the 2024 Budget that would cover the bulk of that. City staff countered the original amendment, stating that they would not use any funds beyond $50,000 each for the five events they had preselected. Despite our misgivings about what appeared to be underfunding, my co-author, Council Member Ellison, and I reduced our budget amendment amount to what staff recommended. In retrospect, I wish city staff had taken the feedback offered from the previous vendor (Our Street Mpls) seriously. Because of their unwillingness to listen, we may have a summer where only three corridors have a Open Streets event, which is deeply concerning since this event is widely loved and valued across the city.
The lack of full funding for this program has created a situation that those who have access to private funds will be the only ones confident to apply for the RFP, leaving some routes abandoned. It is unclear if the Open Streets Franklin event will take place this year. While I know neighbors in Ward 2 are very eager for an Open Streets event in their community, I don’t know if it's feasible, or fair for them or really anyone, to try to fundraise several thousands of dollars in a few months. I am frustrated that this summer may not provide the same experience that our residents are used to when attending these events, and I hope this will be something staff and Council consider as we enter budget conversations for 2025.
Key votes: AEO Committee approves contracts for Open Streets Lyndale, West Broadway, and Nicollet. Council will vote on the contracts on April 25th.
The Administration and Enterprise Oversight (AEO) Committee heard a presentation on the Civil Rights Director’s Charge about the 2020 furloughs.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd, the City needed to make adjustments to the 2020 budget to address revenue shortfalls in the City’s budget. The direction from policy makers was to minimize layoffs to the extent possible, as layoffs would disproportionately impact women and BIPOC employees. However, there was inconsistent implementation of furloughs among bargaining units and confusion among employees as to the process.
Following the implementation of furloughs, City staff completed an After Action Review and presented that to City Council on June 16, 2021. That review included allegations that the furloughs disproportionately impacted BIPOC and women employees. In response to the Furlough After Action Review, the Civil Rights Department elected to file a Director's Charge against the City of Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance allows for such a charge when “the director has reasonable cause to believe or receives information that a person is engaging in an unlawful discriminatory act or practice.” This charge alleged that the City of Minneapolis discriminated against BIPOC and female employees in its plan and implementation of furloughs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that these employees were disparately impacted, causing loss of pay and benefits at a higher rate than their White and/or male counterparts. The city negotiated a settlement with the Civil Rights Department in order to resolve the allegations.
During the presentation, I asked numerous questions about what discrimination was confirmed to have happened, why this settlement was reached, why the terms include and exclude certain actions to repair and prevent future discrimination, and why city employees and the public should feel confident that the settlement agreement will prevent future discriminatory practices. The current staff was unable to answer many of these questions since there has been so much staff turnover since the charge. While the city has met all the requirements outlined in the settlement and the case is now “closed,” I am concerned that little action was taken to ensure the city does not repeat discriminatory actions in the future. There was a lack of clarity on how any of the settlement agreements would prevent future discrimination.
I was grateful to learn the city’s process related to furloughs and I will continue to work with my colleagues and city staff to ensure we are building stronger guard rails to ensure these types of systemic harms are not repeated. As we saw in 2020, economic changes that have significant financial impact can happen quickly. I want to make sure as a council we are fully equipped with the right tools to ensure decisions we make do not create more hardship for both our residents and our city workers.
Key votes: No votes taken.
The Public Health and Safety (PHS) Committee received a presentation on the city’s Healthy Living Initiative on Commercial tobacco prevention. The initiative has already had significant accomplishments on reducing tobacco use and are now advancing a new regulation to end price discounts and coupons for commercial tobacco products, increasing the presumptive penalty for licensee’s that violate city policy, end of the sampling “loophole” for commercial tobacco products, and increasing the minimum price of cigarettes, cigars, snuff and snuss.
Key votes: New Regulations will be voted on by Council at next week’s Full Council meeting on April 25th.
This week, the African American Leadership Forum (AALF) pulled together Black community leaders at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church to discuss ways in which we can better leverage the strength of faith-based communities and organizations to advance racial justice. I had the opportunity to attend and learn from amazing leaders such as Center for Economic Inclusion President, Tawana Black, Billboard ranking Gospel Singer Javonta Patton, and so many other inspiring community leaders.
This week, the City of Minneapolis honored several incredible community leaders who have done phenomenal work in the field of public health.
Earth Day Community Clean-up and Resource Fair
Join the Camp Katharine Parsons crew, Urban Strategies & Heritage Park Neighborhood Association along with many other partner nonprofits for an Earth Day Community Cleanup at Bethune Park, followed by a resource fair at our facility where you can learn from local agencies about the resources available to you and your family!
Where: Bethune Park and Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, 1301 10th Ave. N
When: April 20, clean-up begins at 9:30 a.m. and the resource fair at 1 p.m.
For more information email aaronrl@phylliswheatley.org or phone 612-400-1454
Family fundays: Earth Day Celebration
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is hosting a family funday on April 20.
Go on a naturalist hike and clean up trash by the river. Make artwork out of recycled materials and plant a seed to bring home.
Where: North Mississippi Regional Park, Carl W. Kroening Nature Center, 4900 Mississippi Ct.
When: April 20 at 10:30 a.m.
For more information and to enroll
30th Annual Minneapolis Earth Day Clean-up
The City of Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling is teaming up with Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for their 30th annual earth day clean-up. This is the largest community service project in Minneapolis with over 40 clean-up sites to volunteer at. Since 2008, over 23,000 community members have helped collect over 165,000 pounds of garbage.
When: April 20, 9:30 a.m. to noon
Where: multiple parks across Minneapolis
More information is on the MPRB website.
 Earth Day slow roll
Slow Roll is a slow bike ride for the whole family. It will be an easy route that starts at Green Central Elementary and includes stops at Emerson Dual Language School. There will be a free bike repair workshop before the Slow Roll begins and lunch provided afterwards.
If you need a bike, you can request to borrow one on the sign up form.
When: April 27, bike repair at 9:30 a.m. and the Slow Roll begins at 10 a.m.
Where: Green Central Elementary 3416 4th Ave S.
Sign up here
North Loop Earth Day Clean-up
Join the North Loop Neighborhood Association for an Earth Day clean-up on April 20. Bags and gloves are provided and available for pickup the week before at Corner Coffee North Loop. There will be two planned cleaning parties:
- 9:30 a.m. beginning at Corner Coffee North Loop 514 N 3rd St.
- 10 a.m. beginning at the North Loop Playground 402 W River Pkwy
Earth Day Clothing Swap
Celebrate Earth Day by fighting fast fashion and exchanging your gently used clothing with community members.
When: April 20, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: The Fifth Element 2409 Hennepin Ave.
Visit the Eventbrite page for more information.
With the weather warming, consider taking a scooter or bike to get to your destination. Minneapolis has shared scooters and bikes from Lime and VEO, across the city available for community members to use.
This program allows you to enjoy the spring weather while also lowering your carbon footprint!
Visit the City's website for more information on:
Street sweeping continues this week. Watch out for pink “No Parking” signs and find your street on the street sweeping map to avoid getting ticketed and towed.
Contact Ward 2
Visit: minneapolismn.gov/ward2
Email: ward2@minneapolismn.gov
Phone: 612-673-2202
We've moved while work is being done in City Hall. Our office is in:
Room 100, Public Service Center
250 South 4th St.
Get directions
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 asistencia, llame al 311. Rau kev pab 311. Hadii aad Caawimaad u baahantahay 311. |
