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Hundreds of University of Minnesota workers represented by Teamsters 320 are on strike across multiple campuses. Sanitation, maintenance, custodial, and food service workers are on strike at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus demanding 3.5% cost-of-living raises and a three-year contract.
I stand in solidarity with striking Teamsters workers. Since workers began picketing this week, UMPD has responded by harassing and arresting striking workers and community supporters. One person on the picket line was hospitalized after an interaction with UMPD. This is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. Unfortunately, there is a long history of police being used to break strikes including here in Minneapolis.
I have joined workers on the picket lines along with Council Members Chavez and Chowdhury, and other community leaders and elected officials. It’s been incredibly heartening to see the community stand strong together demanding a fair contract for workers and urging the University to come back to the negotiating table. I am also glad to see that the Farm Aid 40 concert planned at Huntington Bank Stadium next week has confirmed they will not be crossing the picket lines and will reschedule or cancel the event unless negotiations resume. This is a strong act of solidarity that I applaud.
I urge the University to negotiate a fair contract with Teamsters 320.
Council Member Wonsley on the picket line with Teamsters 320.
My office met with residents in Seward who are working to slow traffic and improve safety at 26th Ave South and 24th Street E. This intersection connects many families with Seward Montessori and Matthews Park, but has been a site of many collisions and endangers pedestrians, bikers, and drivers. Neighbors are organizing around creative short-term solutions such as public art and signage, while also working with the City and County on longer-term solutions. The Ward 2 and Ward 6 offices are working in partnership with residents to improve this intersection for the safety of all.
Join the East Bank Neighborhood Partnership for a guided ride through the East Bank neighborhoods and discover some of the best spots off campus! Whether you’re a student, staff, or community member, this bike tour is a great way to explore, connect, and learn.
Our seasonal bike tours bring together neighbors, students, and local friends for leisurely yet informative rides through our vibrant East Bank neighborhoods. Get guided by local cyclists through the best East Bank Bike thoroughfares while learning about new projects, future plans/advocacy work, and more!
What’s going on?
- Learn about local bike projects
- Support the renaming of Marcy Park
- Free bike lights + chance to meet other cyclists
Saturday, September 13
11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
PLEASE NOTE VENUE CHANGE: VAN CLEVE PARK, 901 15th AVENUE SE
East Bank Bike Tour Fall 2025 flyer.
Join the East Bank Neighborhoods Partnership for a Renters Rights Forum then stay for a pizza and social hour and Quarterly Meeting of the East Bank Neighborhoods! Quarterly meetings are a vibrant, inclusive gathering designed to inform, engage, and connect neighbors from the Nicollet Island–East Bank, University, Mid-City Industrial, Marcy-Holmes, and Southeast Como neighborhoods. Whether you're new to the area or a long-term resident, everyone is welcome.
September 16th
University Lutheran Church of Hope (601 13th Ave SE)
5:30pm- Renters Rights Forum
6:30- Free food and social hour
7-8- Quarterly Meeting of the East Bank Neighborhoods
Flyer for Renters Rights Forum and Quarterly Meeting of the East Bank Neighborhood Partnership.
The Como Cookout is back for 2025! Celebrate community with an afternoon of food, fun, and connection at Van Cleve Park in Southeast Como. The Como Cookout brings together neighbors, University of Minnesota students and staff, and local partners for a free, family-friendly event. Enjoy yard games, bounce houses, and a resource fair for students and neighbors alike while grabbing a bite from the Qdoba food truck + cotton candy & ice cream. Whether you’re new to the neighborhood or a longtime resident, this is the perfect chance to meet others and enjoy a fall day in the park!
Como Cookout
September 20th 11-2
Van Cleve Park (901 15th Ave SE)
Flyer for the Como Cookout 2025.
Welcoming Week is an annual opportunity for communities across the country to celebrate community diversity through events that foster mutual understanding and a sense of belonging for all, including for residents born outside of the United States. This year, Welcoming Week runs from Friday September 12 through Sunday September 21 and this year’s national theme is “Stories We Share.”
Welcoming Week always coincides with Citizenship Day and Constitution Day on September 17, and also offers the opportunity to host events focused on the importance, benefits and process of becoming a United States citizen through naturalization.
Many city staff and additional government and community partners have dedicated time and resources to planning Welcoming Week activities this year. A calendar of city-led and partner events recognizing Welcoming Week 2025 can be found below and can also be found here: minneapolismn.gov/welcoming-week.
City Council kicked off Welcoming Week with a resolution, sponsored by Councilmember Wonsley, affirming our city’s commitment to inclusivity and belonging for all.
Council Member Wonsley with Council Member Chowdhury, Chavez, Osman, and community members honoring Welcome Week 2025.
Please join us for the rest of Welcome Week at the following community activities!
Monday September 15: Welcoming Week Job Fair at Careerforce South
Connect with local employers and learn about job opportunities and workforce resources. Hmong, Dari, Pashto, Somali and Spanish language interpreters available.
- Point of contact: sonji.davis@state.mn.us
- Location: CareerForce South, Minneapolis, 777 E. Lake St
This event is hosted by Office of New Americans in collaboration with The City of Minneapolis and City of Saint Paul
Thursday September 18, 4:30 PM: Special Edition of Virtual Twin Cities Immigration Forum
A special Welcoming Week edition of the ongoing Twin Cities Immigration Forum, bringing together community members to learn, share, and discuss immigrant and refugee experiences in the Twin Cities.
For the teams link please email: oira@minneapolismn.gov
Thursday September 18, 5-8 PM: Becoming Neighbors Event at American Swedish Institute
An interactive, community-building event featuring Story Stich, a conversational storytelling game. Attendees will share stories, build empathy, and lift immigrant and refugee voices to foster inclusive, connected communities.
For more information: https://www.greencardvoices.org/becoming-neighbors/
Tickets available through Monday, September 15, 2025. See link for information on limited number of free tickets to this event.
This event is hosted by Green Card Voices
Saturday September 20: 11AM-3PM Welcoming Week Citizenship Workshop: Obtaining Citizenship in the United States.
This free workshop will guide participants through the naturalization process from start to finish. Attendees can join a citizenship readiness presentation, meet with legal service providers for a naturalization screening, and get connected to free legal services that assist with applications. The goal is to help community members identify a clear pathway to citizenship and access trusted resources along the way.
This event is made possible through partnership between International Institute of Minnesota, Volunteer Lawyers Network, Mid Minnesota Legal Aid, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, Advocates for Human Rights, American Immigration Lawyers Association Minnesota Dakotas Chapter, the City of Minneapolis and the City of St. Paul.
For event registration and location please email: oira@minneapolismn.gov
Summary: I led Council to unanimously approve implementing fees on MPD off-duty work. This fee will recoup over a million dollars annually that taxpayers are currently subsidizing for MPD officers’ personal gain. It is the most significant regulation to the problematic MPD off-duty system in decades.
Background: Off-duty work is when police officers work private security jobs using city-owned equipment, and are paid directly by the contractor or business outside of their shift with the city.
The problems with off-duty have been well-documented for years, by everyone from the Department of Justice to our local small business owners. Despite being a known problem, several Mayoral administrations and many Council Members have come and gone without taking action to regulate off-duty.
I am proud to share that yesterday, this City Council showed the political will to finally rein in this out-of-control practice and pass the first significant regulation over off-duty MPD work. We unanimously approved fees on off-duty work starting on January 1, 2026.
Council took this step because we hear from constituents who do not want their taxpayer dollars subsidizing officers' private side gigs. MPD’s own calculations show that taxpayers currently subsidize about $1.4 million in costs associated with off-duty. These are public dollars being spent for private gain, which is completely unacceptable. Additionally, passing these fees will require MPD to improve their time management systems, which continue to lack sufficient oversight by MPD leadership. Recent media coverage related to overtime reinforces that MPD’s current time management system is not effective, leading to fiscal abuse of taxpayer money.
We also hear from residents who hear in the media that MPD are extremely understaffed. Residents want to see city staff hours prioritized on city business, not working side hustles.
Lastly, we also know that off-duty creates dangerous situations for officers and residents. Many residents first became aware of off-duty after MPD officer Mohamed Noor shot and killed Justine Damond, a woman in Ward 13 who had called 911. Officer Noor was exhausted after working off-duty overnight before clocking in for his on-duty shift. This tragedy highlighted that unregulated off-duty creates serious risks for residents and officers.
It’s been widely known for years that off-duty is dangerous, inequitable, and problematic. The Mayor is the sole authority over MPD and has had the authority to implement regulation for the last seven years, but has not taken the opportunity to do so. My office worked with MPD leadership and city staff for three years to calculate a fair and accurate fee. Even though these numbers were calculated by MPD themselves, Mayor Frey still failed to take initiative to propose them as part of the 2026 Fee Schedule. Instead, Council unanimously showed the political will to amend the Fee Schedule to include off-duty fees of $6.99/hour for an officer without a squad car, and $27.58/hour for an officer with a squad car.
The Mayor has publicly commented in the media that MPD will not begin collecting these fees in 2026. There is no reason to further delay the implementation of off-duty fees. MPD leadership has been aware that Council was working towards a 2026 fee for over a year and passed legislation indicating our intention to set a fee in January. MPD’s rate calculations were based on a 2026 implementation date. The Mayor has been talking about the broken off-duty system for years. The city is facing significant challenges in the 2026 budget, it’s unconscionable to ask residents to continue subsidizing over a million dollars towards MPD officer’s private side gigs. It would be an utter failure of the administration to fail to implement off-duty fees in 2026. Since Council has added off-duty fees to the 2026 Fee Schedule, if the Mayor fails to implement the fees then businesses who contract with off-duty officers would be out of compliance with city policy. This raises several logistical and legal questions. While City Council cannot direct MPD operations, I plan to work closely with my colleagues and community members into 2026 to hold the Mayoral administration accountable for implementing off-duty fees.
I want to thank my colleagues, particularly my co-author Council President Payne, for unanimously approving the fees, and the residents who have tirelessly advocated for more regulation over MPD.
Key votes: Council votes unanimously in support of setting fees on MPD off-duty work starting January 1, 2026.
Summary: Council unanimously approved my ordinance increasing transparency and oversight of MPD’s use of surveillance technology.
Background: I have been working with advocacy groups including the ACLU on an ordinance to improve regulation and oversight of the city’s use of surveillance technology. The ordinance aligns with the policies and guardrails that the ACLU recommends at the local, state and federal level to protect civil liberties. In the context of the Trump administration, these guardrails are more important than ever.
The ordinance requires a public hearing any time that MPD purchases surveillance equipment, pursues contracts regarding surveillance, or contracts or utilizes data collection in circumstances where there is no financial cost. This includes surveillance data that MPD may use by “borrowing” or receiving surveillance data that is from another agency’s own equipment.
The Mayor is the sole authority over MPD operations, and is responsible for ensuring that any surveillance technology is used safely and responsibly. The Mayor does not have a good track record of exercising this authority, as the Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigation found that MPD “used covert social media to target Black leaders, Black organizations, and elected officials without a public safety objective.” This lack of leadership by the executive branch makes it even more important that the City Council and community have transparency about what tools are in use, even if we don’t have the authority to ensure they are used appropriately.
While this ordinance is a great step in the right direction for more transparency and accountability around how our police department utilizes surveillance technology, I know more work can be done. I am looking forward to continuing that work with community partners.
Key votes: Council votes unanimously to approve the surveillance ordinance.
Summary: Council Members Osman, Chowdhury, Cashman and I are authoring a new policy that will hold landlords accountable for maintaining their rental units in good condition.
Background: All rental units are required to have a license from the City of Minneapolis. The license ensures the property meets basic health, safety, and livability standards. The city classifies rental licenses based on how well they meet city standards. There are currently about 24,000 rental licenses in Minneapolis. About 1,000 are far below the city standard for health, safety, and livability. These licenses cover over 8,000 rental units. Some of these licenses have been renewed year after year without improvement. They are disproportionately located in North Minneapolis, around the University of Minnesota, near Downtown, and in Phillips/Midtown. This map shows the distribution of rental licenses across the city.
In light of this, Council Members Osman, Chowdhury, Cashman and I are authoring a new policy called Slumlord Tier Oversight and Protection, or STOP Slumlords.
STOP Slumlords sets a new standard for licenses to be renewed if the property is below city standards. Currently, all rental licenses are renewed by the city administration without a Council vote. STOP Slumlords requires that properties that are below city standards have a more rigorous process to renew their license, including a public vote by the City Council. STOP Slumlords creates a new level of transparency that will motivate property owners to bring their rental property up to standards. The policy will also help the city administration be more successful in enforcing city standards on property owners.
You can read more about STOP Slumlords here.
STOP Slumlords Public testimony
Testify in person
- STOP Slumlords Public Hearing
- Business Housing and Zoning Committee
- September 30th at 1:30pm
- Minneapolis City Council Temporary Chambers
- 250 South 4th Street– Room 350
- 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
- For “Subject or File Number,” write STOP Slumlords
Key votes: On September 16th the Business Housing and Zoning Committee will vote to set a public hearing for STOP Slumlords on September 30th.
Summary: Council requested a two-week delay in a contract for over $100 million with a private company that runs the municipal parking ramps after identifying multiple questions about cost-effectiveness.
Background: The City Council was asked to approve a contract for over $100 million with ABM, a private company that currently runs the city’s municipal parking ramps. Council Member Cashman reached out to staff for more information around the full costs related to this contract.
The memo that staff provided the day before the council meeting raised a couple of questions amongst council members. The contract includes over $1 million for off-duty MPD work. I had a lot of questions on whether contracting a third-party private company to contract police officers was inefficient. If there are public safety needs that require a police presence in these city owned lots, they should be addressed centrally through MPD and the Office of Community Safety.
Additionally, the city has a program called Buyback that allows external private and public entities to directly contract with the city via a transparent and regulated process for the use of on-duty MPD officers. During discussion on this item, I asked city staff if they had considered using Buyback instead of off-duty and they surprisingly shared that they hadn’t known the program existed. If businesses that have customers using city ramps would like police officers providing security, they should be utilizing the city’s Buyback program. This would be a more fiscally responsible use of taxpayer dollars and support more citywide coordination of public safety resources. I made a motion to return the contract back to the Administration and Enterprise Committee, where we will continue to discuss the item and see what staff can do to improve the current contract. This motion was successful.
The discussion also sparked a conversation about potential benefits of eliminating the private contract with ABM and instead having the city directly manage municipal ramps. Council Members Cashman and Palmisano authored a research directive related to municipal management over municipal parking ramps that they will be bringing forward for consideration to the September 15th Administration, Enterprise & Oversight Committee.
Key votes: Council voted 7-5 to delay the ABM Contract and asked staff to evaluate ways to improve the contract to be more fiscally responsible with taxpayer resources for public safety. Council Members Rainville, Vetaw, Jenkins, Koski and Palmisano voted against it. The contract will come back to the Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee on Monday September 15th.
Summary: Council approved the purchase of an alternative site for the city’s water maintenance facility. Despite the city having no planned use for the Roof Depot site, Mayor Frey turned down the community’s offer to purchase the land for the East Phillips Urban Farm.
Background: This week, the city’s Property Services Department brought forward a proposal to purchase a site for the Water Maintenance Facility. For several years, the Frey administration insisted that the only viable location for this facility was the Roof Depot in East Phillips. The City purchased the Roof Depot site in 2016 knowing full well they did not have neighborhood or community support to put the water facility there. Despite the clear resistance, staff pushed forward anyways. For nearly ten years, community members put forward a hopeful and generative vision for the Roof Depot site, but Mayor Frey refused to work with the community and continuously tried to force the community to accept something they made it clear they would not accept. This led to years of wasted time, wasted taxpayer dollars, and huge reputational damage to the city.
The Mayor’s administration claimed that there was simply no other option, and they had to override the needs of Black, brown and indigenous residents in order to have a functioning water facility. Residents and some Council Members did not accept the Frey administration’s assertion that the only way to have a functioning water system was to violate the will of the community and commit a major act of environmental racism.
Thankfully, strong organizing by residents with the partnership of Council Member Chavez and several other Council Members was ultimately successful in rejecting the water facility at Roof Depot. Council and residents also worked together to bring forward a deal for the community to purchase the Roof Depot to convert it into the East Phillips Urban Farm, a generative and sustainable community-led enterprise.
The proposal for a different facility location that staff brought forward this week affirmed that Roof Depot was never the only option for the water maintenance facility.
The City has a skilled team of property services professionals who are able to be creative, and use the resources and relationships at their disposal to solve problems in alignment with public will. Council voted unanimously to approve the new location that Property Services proposed this week. The City now has a clear pathway forward for a water facility that does not violate community trust or harm vulnerable residents. That said, the City could have saved a lot of money and time if the Mayor’s administration had read the writing on the wall and decided to work with the community instead of against the community. Besides harming the relationship to an already marginalized community, there are significant financial costs the city has and continues to incur because of the poor planning and choice to purchase the property back in 2016 without community support.
Despite the fact that the City now has no plans for the Roof Depot, this week Mayor Frey doubled down on his refusal to support the community vision for the East Phillips Urban Farm on the site.
The original deal for the community to purchase the site included an allocation by the state legislature, which unfortunately they failed to complete. But residents have raised over $10 million to back their plan. With the purchase of the new water facility site, there is absolutely no need for the city to hold on to the Roof Depot property. Residents have made good on their end of the deal, regardless of the state legislature’s failure to do the same. This is an opportunity for the city to show good faith and perhaps repair some of the credibility and relationships that were damaged by the Frey administration’s actions in opposition to the community vision for several years.
Continuing to deny the community continues to waste taxpayer dollars and continue to damage the city’s credibility. I urge Mayor Frey to work with residents to close the chapter at the Roof Depot by selling the land to residents at a fair market price. Insisting that EPNI pay for staff time and resources on what was clearly poor planning from the city feels unfair. Let’s not continue to spend taxpayer money to maintain a site for no reason when the community is ready with millions of dollars in hand.
Key votes: Council voted unanimously to purchase a different site for the water maintenance facility in an industrial area of Northeast Minneapolis.
Summary: Council voted on new committee assignments for the remainder of the year.
Background: Several council members brought forth proposals for new committee structures in response to Council Member Ellison’s limited ability to be physically present outside of full council meetings that take place biweekly.
Council Member Ellison is an active city council member, but to ensure council committees do not face quorum issues, Council President Payne brought forward a resolution to remove him from his current committee assignments.
I would like to give context based on my experience as a council member who currently holds leadership positions on two committees. Committee is a time for council members to dig in deeper on items before us, which looks like in-depth presentations related to issues that committees had identified as priorities earlier this term in each committee's workplan. At the start of the term, all thirteen council members had the opportunity to identify topics and policy issues they would like to see all standing committees address and were encouraged to advance their own issues regardless if they were on the committee or not.
For example, I do not sit on the Climate and Infrastructure Committee, but I have, without challenge, continued to work on my priorities in the Climate and Infrastructure Committee through the legislative process. I led the council to increase funding for the neighborhood traffic calming program with an increase of $1 million dollars because it continues to be an issue that Ward 2 residents have identified as a gap in service from the city. I was also able to address the lack of street lighting in Dinkytown through the Climate and Infrastructure Committee, where council approved amending the Street Lighting Plan. Lights in the Dinkytown neighborhood went live a few weeks ago as a result of my ability to be effective in the Climate and Infrastructure Committee despite not being a member of it.
These are just a couple of examples of issues I have worked on outside of my committee assignments. I have also been very pleased to see council members who do not sit on the committees I lead engage with the subjects through legislative directives, resolutions, and ordinances. It is with those experiences that I approached the conversation about potential committee restructure and was incredibly puzzled on the discussion that took place.
Council members made comments that implied that committee structures limit a council member’s ability to engage or fully represent their constituents interests, which is completely false. All council members can attend presentations in committee and all agenda items that are voted on in committee are required to come to council for a vote by the full body. Claims of lack of representation on issues or implications that committee assignments have any influence on the outcomes of actions were made without any evidence or examples to demonstrate alleged disenfranchisement. I am incredibly disappointed that some council members politicized this conversation and misrepresented the reality of how the work of council moves through our legislative body. Any council member who is displeased with lack of action on issues they care about should reflect on their own lack of actions in moving that work forward.
I was pleased to support a new set of committee assignments that minimizes calendar changes during the handful of council cycles left and look forward to continuing to work on Ward 2 priorities that span across a variety of committees.
Key votes: Council voted 7-5 in support of the new committee assignments. Council Members Rainville, Vetaw, Cashman, Koski and Palmisano voted in opposition.
For decades, students and University community members have asked for more lighting on sidewalks in Dinkytown and Marcy Holmes. Last year, I led the City Council to allocate $500,000 to meet this need. We call this project Dinky After Dark.
Dinky After Dark Phase 1 installation was completed before the start of the semester. Students walking and biking near campus will see improved pedestrian-level lighting to commute more safely. Thank you to students for your persistent advocacy to make Dinky After Dark a reality!
Dinky After Dark Phase 1 lights installed before the start of the semester.
The pilot program, launched in late May, is already seeing promising results. Ambassadors had more than 2,000 interactions with community members in just the first month of the program. These included:
- Referrals to shelters
- Neighborhood support through business check-ins and resource referrals
- Community safety escorts
- Facilitation of 311 and 911 calls
During a recent walk with our ambassadors, we spoke with a resident who said, “They're such a great asset to the community. The kids are able to play safely, we see less drugs, and more togetherness.” You can read more about what we learned on the OCS Stories Page.
Updated Coverage Area
As with any pilot program, we continually evaluate staffing capacity and community needs for our coverage area. The goal in the East Lake Street Cultural District is to provide six ambassadors for every shift, with teams walking in pairs. We are adjusting the coverage area to include:
- Lake Street from 35W to Hiawatha Avenue
- A block near South High School
Find the latest violence prevention safety teams’ coverage on our dashboard. It currently includes violence interrupters and community safety ambassadors. If you click on a zone, you can look at the organization working in that zone as well as contact information.
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. |
