Finding a Green Way to Govern

The American Civil Liberties Union has written a lengthy opinion on the constitutionality of the proposed Remington/Ostrow Aggressive Solicitation ordinance that passed today. Their basic interpretation echoes my own: the constitutionality of this amendment is highly questionable. They conclude, and I agree, that Remington and Ostrow, along with the Council majority, have now passed an ordinance that will unfortunately be challenged in court, and there is a good chance that we will lose. This has been reaffirmed by some of our City Attorney's own opinion that certain provisions of the Remington/Ostrow amendment is a "roll of the dice." Here's the whole opinion: I. INTRODUCTION All individuals in the City of Minneapolis, including people who are homeless or appear to be homeless, have a Constitutional right to be in public places for an unlimited amount of time, so long as they are not obstructing pedestrian or vehicular traffic, breaching the peace, or otherwise viola...

Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman has also now weighed in on the Remington/Ostrow Aggressive Solicitation amendment.

From the notice for an upcoming National Night Out event: Get ready and get inspired!! Longfellow and Seward National Night Out Information and ideas Neighborhood BBQ and Potluck Monday, June 18, 6:00 - 8:00 pm at Brackett Park, 2728 39th Ave S Have you wanted to have a National Night Out block party but didn't know where to start? Have you had one but need some new ideas for activities? Are you a successful block club that wants to share your experiences with other residents and block clubs? Come join your neighbors to learn more about National Night Out and get ideas for your party! Come eat and visit with your neighbors. We will be grilling outside at Brackett Park. Bring lawn chairs. Meat and refreshments will be provided. Bring your favorite dish to share! In case of rain, we will gather in the large room at the Brackett Park building. Everyone is welcome! For more information, contact: Crime Prevention Specialist Shun Tillman, MPD 3rd Precinct, 612-673-2846, shun.tillman@ci...

Conservative Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten agrees with Council Members Remington and Ostrow that "[t]he future of downtown is threatened by beggars." She quotes Sam Grabarski, president of the Downtown Council, describing an incident where a panhandler grabbed him. Like almost every incident that has been described by supporters of the Remington/Ostrow amendment, this is already against the law . He goes on to describe panhandlers trying to "extort money from waitresses at outdoor cafes by threatening to harass customers if they aren't paid off" and following "families down the street and curse them unless they give." Again, these behaviors are already against the law . True to form, Kersten's article confuses the issue rather than helping educate readers. Unfortunately, so does the proposed ordinance that she is supporting.

The City Pages blotter has an interesting article today on the public hearing on Aggressive Solicitation last week. I hope we'll see a longer print article on this topic in an upcoming issue, a good follow-up to their recent cover story on " The Neighbors You Don't Know ."

The "Free Speech Work Group" formed to help preserve civil rights and community life during the 2008 Republican convention has drafted a set of Operating Principles. Residents of Minneapolis and the surrounding area are being invited to provide feedback and make recommendations on the principles. A public meeting will be held on June 26 from 4:30–6:30 PM in the Council Chambers at Minneapolis City Hall. Written comments should be sent to the Office of the City Clerk at: Cityclerk@ci.minneapoolis.mn.us or to: City Clerk 350 S. 5th Street, Room 304, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415 Here are the Free Speech Work Group Draft Operating Principles : "The City of Minneapolis Free Speech Work Group is committed to insuring that all parties-delegates, party officials, visitors, demonstrators, the media and residents who wish to express their first amendment rights through free speech, association and petition during the conduct of the 2008 Republican National Convention - will be...

Transit for Livable Communities (TLC) has approved several bicycle infrastructure projects in the Second Ward as part of the Bike/Walk Twin Cities grants program - part of the larger Bike/Walk effort nationwide, funded by Congressman Jim Oberstar . For more information on the larger program, please go here . Here is the list of exciting projects in Ward 2: - Riverside Avenue will be striped for bike lanes between Franklin Ave E and Cedar. Riverside will be converted from four lanes to three, with the center lane being a "turning" lane. Bike lanes will continue down 4th St S and 15th Ave S to the Cedar Riverside LRT station. - Bike lanes will go in on Franklin Ave E, over the Franklin Ave bridge and west to the intersection with Riverside. Franklin will be converted from four lanes to three. - Bike lanes will be added to 19th Ave S, all the way from Riverside across the 10th/19th bridge into Marcy Holmes. - The University of Minnesota Trail will be built in the rail corridor ...

At the next Council meeting on June 15, I will be introducing an ordinance making it possible for the City to revoke or not renew a rental license for any landlord who has unpaid legal judgments against him/her. This came up after an article published by the Minnesota Daily discussing tenants issues with a local landlord who has come up with a novel way of dealing with judgments against him: just not paying them. I asked City staff to look into whether there is something the City can do about this. Interestingly, the City has the authority with all of the other licenses we give (restaurants, etc) to revoke or not renew a license if the owner has an unpaid judgment against him/her. This ordinance will therefore bring our regulation of landlords up to par with our regulation of other sorts of businesses. Once this is passed, a landlord will have two choices if they want to continue to do business in Minneapolis: pay a legal judgment or appeal it.

On June 15, I will be introducing an new ordinance that if passed, will require that anyone repairing interior chipped or peeling paint on a pre-1978 housing unit, as required by a City violation order, must have attended a Lead Safe Work Practices training. I don't anticipate any trouble getting the seven votes need for what we call "subject introduction." It already has the cupport of the City/County Lead Task Force, which I co-chair with commissioner Gail Dorfman. When it is introduced it will be referred to committee for review and a public hearing. This particular ordinance will likley go to both the Health Energy, Environment Committee as well as the Public Safety and Regulatory Services Committee for review, but only one will hold the hearing. This is a small, but positive, step towards reducing and, in time, eliminating lead poisoning among children. If this is successful in terms of passage and then implementation I would also like to see it expanded in the futur...

This post will deal with the second main reason I will find it difficult to support Council Member Ostrow's and Council Member Remington's proposed Aggressive Solicitation amendments: my belief that criminalizing homelessness and poverty does not work. For more on my first reason, that the existing Aggressive Solicitation ordinance is more than sufficient to deal with people who are behaving badly, please see Part 1, below. I agree wholeheartedly with the comments of Cathy ten Broeke, the Homelessness Coordinator for Minneapolis and Hennepin County, in the recent article in the Star Tribune: "I think we're all on the same page that we want to see panhandling end. We have to figure out what's the best way to get there by doing a lot of things and being absolutely sure we're not penalizing people for being homeless." I also agree with Mayor Rybak that giving to panhandlers is a band-aid solution that will not help to really solve the problems of homelessn...

My colleagues Ralph Remington and Paul Ostrow have introduced subject matter of an ordinance to further criminalize panhandling in the City of Minneapolis. They are seeking to put "reasonable time, place and manner restrictions" on verbal solicitations for money. More specifically, the ordinance would criminalize asking someone for money within 10 feet of crosswalks, convenience and liquor stores or within 50 feet of entrances and exits to a park or sporting arena. It would be illegal to panhandle in groups of two or more, and at night. See the recent story in the Star Tribune here , and the text of the ordinance amendments here . I will find it extremely difficult to support such a measure, for the following reasons: 1) the disruptive behaviors that folks are using as reasons for this new ordinance are already against the law, by the current aggressive solicitation ordinance; 2) this is not an effective use of our resources, we need to target our criminal justice resourc...

Please join me for another of my ongoing series of Roundtable Discussions: Increasing Safety by Building Community . What are we doing to build community and increase public safety? Meet the Second Ward’s new community outreach interns, who will be helping to organize block clubs and walking groups this summer. Compare and discuss our neighborhoods’ new policing plans, and find out what we can do together to make our communities safer for everyone. Luxton Park, 112 Williams Ave SE Tuesday, June 19th, 6-8pm