Finding a Green Way to Govern

This afternoon, the Public Safety & Regulatory Services committee held a public hearing on the proposed Condo Conversion ordinance I've been working on for months. Many social service providers, tenants whose housing is threatened by condo conversions and others came to testify for the proposed ordinance. Those who spoke against it were, to a person, realtors or property owners. What most surprised me was the debate among the Council Members. Opponents of the ordinance made an argument that I have trouble comprehending: that there is no affordable housing shortage in Minneapolis. They did not argue that any of the facts we had arrayed were inaccurate. Here's a short list of those facts: - According to the Minneapolis Consolidated Plan, which City staff prepared and the Council passed unanimously , there is a shortage of 13,499 dwelling units affordable to people who earn less than 30% of Metro Median Income. - According to the 2000 Census, there are 27,992 renter households...

The City/County Lead Task Force (on which I serve, with CM Glidden and County Commissioner Dorfman) has been working on a novel approach to the difficult problem of lead poisoning. It is now well-accepted that there is no safe blood lead level - any amount of lead in the blood can cause health problems such as learning disabilities, especially for children. Studies have clearly indicated that the main lead poisoning vector is no longer chipping and peeling paint (thanks in large part to the good work of City inspections departments, the County, and nonprofits active on this issue) but lead dust near windows. The only truly effective way to solve this problem is to replace the windows. The group has proposed a revolving window-replacement loan program, funded by the state. All owners of 1-4 unit residential buildings built prior to 1950 will be eligible, which will cover all of the highest-risk buildings. The program, as we have conceived it, will not be means-tested, as all of the mone...

Last Friday, the Council voted to create a Youth Violence Prevention Steering Committee . The vote was unanimous, save for Council Member Don Samuels, who appropriately abstained due to the fact that his wife will be serving on the committee. I will serve on the committee, as will the Mayor, Police Chief Dolan and Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant. I am very excited about this opportunity to craft a constructive, preventative approach for addressing one of the largest problems our city faces. I'm thrilled that the Mayor has decided to actively engage in this process, and I'm looking forward to working with the amazing people we've been able to recruit for this group. I expect great things.

Last cycle, the Health Energy & Environment committee (HEE) heard a presentation of a report on Somali Youth Issues, prepared by the Civil Rights Department. I recommend you read it here . The report was well-received, and I hope it will help make the case in the future that we should be devoting more resources to Somali youth programs, especially in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. The report has gone on to the Youth Coordinating Board to inform their work, and I plan to use its findings in the work of the Youth Violence Steering Committee.

The Condominium Conversion ordinance amendments I am sponsoring will be coming for a public hearing on this Wednesday, January 31, at 1 pm at the Public Safety & Regulatory Services committee. This meeting will take place in the Council Chambers, room 317 of City Hall, 350 S 5th St in downtown Minneapolis. I have been working closely with the Minneapolis Affordable Housing Coalition* on these amendments intended to better protect tenants, prevent the loss of affordable rental housing due to condominium conversions and to protect condominium buyers. The ordinance requires city approval of conversions and a reserve fund study to protect buyers. It strengthens notice requirements that owners must provide to tenants. It also puts in place affordable housing protection, and provides relocation benefits for tenants if the units to be converted are affordable. If you would like more information about the specific provisions or the full language of the ordinance amendments, please let me k...

The City, the University of Minnesota and the neighborhoods surrounding the Minneapolis U campus (Marcy Holmes, Como, Prospect Park and Cedar Riverside) have been collaborating on a “University Impact Report,” which is to be returned to the Legislature in February. You can find the report here: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/2007-meetings/20070112/docs/UofM_RptPart%202.pdf . I was delighted that the Council unanimously approved today. I wholeheartedly support this report and its recommendations, have followed it closely, and have been pushing for this well before it was passed by the state legislature. I will continue to do what I can to take advantage of this unique opportunity to build a better partnership between the City, the University and the surrounding neighborhoods. It offers a clear path for addressing some of the most pressing concerns the neighborhood is facing. Among those concerns is the issue of owner occupied housing being converted to rental property. As a res...

The Council has approved the contract to bring the Republican convention (RNC) to Minneapolis in 2008, and the Mayor has signed it. Last Wednesday, I went forward with the two ideas mentioned in the last RNC post. I'm pleased to say that the work group passed unanimously. I have heard from my colleague Lisa Goodman (who represents downtown) that she is interested in serving on it. I am hopeful that this group will lay out some good strategies for protecting free speech, while also providing adequate security and minimizing disruption. The other idea - moving to amend the agreement to give the Chief of Police equal authority to approve the security plan - sparked an interesting turn that I haven't seen before in my time on the Council so far. I made the motion to direct our staff to stipulate that the Minneapolis Police Depatment and it was discussed at some length. It then passed 7-5, with one abstention. After the vote had been taken, City Attorney Jay Heffern raised concerns ...

On Monday, I attended a meeting of a sub-group of the Longfellow Community Council's (LCC) Environment and Transportation committee ( E&T ) to discuss a traffic calming event now tentatively set for April 20th. The event's purpose is to highlight some concerns that our office has heard about the behavior of commuters on West River Parkway , as well as on other neighborhood streets. The majority of drivers are violating the 25 MPH speed limit. Few drivers are stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks, which is required by law. West Rivers Parkway is fairly narrow, leading to some conflicts between bicyclists (who have the legal right to be on the road) and drivers. Some bicycle commuters are disregarding stop signs and other traffic control devices. Making matters worse, the bike path is fairly degraded, pushing even some recreational bicyclists (who tend to move somewhat more slowly) onto the street. The neighborhood came together for a similar event back in 2000 - kids waved ...

On Monday, my office received a memo from the City Coordinator's office on the Republican National Committee (RNC), asking that the Council approve the agreement with the "Host Committee" at this Friday's Council meeting. I have been concerned about this convention since Minneapolis/St. Paul were chosen as host cities. I have heard from similarly concerned Second Ward residents, one of whom came into the office to share his very helpful thoughts about forming a work group of some kind to come up with our plan for maintaining civil liberties while still providing adequate security. One line in the memo sparked my concerns further: "The Secret Service and Homeland Security will have the final decision making authority on protestors." To me, that sounds a bit like giving the fox the keys to the henhouse. The current practice for both major parties has been to corral protestors in a "free speech zone," out of sight and earshot of dignitaries. There hav...