Finding a Green Way to Govern

Normally we don't put "constituent service" issues on this blog. It's tended to be more for policy-level ideas and events. But what I'm finding is that the majority of my day-to-day work (and a large chunk of Cam's work as well) is on these "little" issues that don't feel so little if they're on your block. In the spirit of showing more of this in-the-trenches side of the office, therefore, here's the story of the streetlights on 17th Ave SE. Back in early 2006, a house was moved into a lot on 17th Ave SE (it was constructed elsewhere, I've heard). This necessitated that the overhead line connecting the streetlight directly in front of that lot to its power service in the alley be cut. Unfortunately, the new house interfered with that line, making a simple replacement impossible. The streetlight - one of just two on that block - went dark. An active and concerned neighbor brought this to our office's attention. I contacted C...

Today, the Intergovernmental Relations committee took up the issue of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which is working its way through Congress right now. A simple summary of this complicated issue is that certain forces within the national Democratic Party have moved to substitute the original ENDA bill (H.R. 2015) with another version (H.R. 3685) that is stripped of any protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity . A coalition of GLBT organizations has come together to demand that protections for transgender people be put back in the bill, either by going back to H.R. 2015 or by an amendment to H.R. 3685 put forward by Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin . One of the arguments used by the opponents of extending employment discrimination protections to transgender people is that this is somehow a new issue. However, the City of Minneapolis disproves this notion: we've had protections against discrimination based on gender identity in our Civil ...

At least partly in response to the City Pages article on staffing in the Sex Crimes Unit, the Minneapolis Police Department today gave a presentation to the Public Safety & Regulatory Services committee on their staffing and case clearance rates. This article and conversation have strengthened my resolve to resist the pressure to commit a larger and larger portion of our police resources to patrol. Officers on the street are extremely important, but investigations are no less important. Right now, 75% of our officers are assigned to patrol. I am interested in having an open, public discussion about whether that's the right balance. Chief Dolan is fond of saying that "a crime prevented is worth 10 times as much as a crime solved," (and he's quoted to this effect in the City Pages article). I agree with him wholeheartedly, but where I start to disagree with both the Chief and some of my colleagues is when we try to put this idea into practice. I'm not convinced...

The Public Safety & Regulatory Services committee has signed on to a pledge to reduce domestic violence in Minneapolis. I was fully supportive of this action. Domestic violence is a huge issue and is inseparable from the work currently underway to prevent youth violence. In the committee discussion today, I asked for more clarity on our goals. What do we mean, when we call for a reduction in domestic violence? How will we measure our success, or lack thereof? I will continue to push for concrete goals, as well as the resources to meet them, on this absolutely critical issue.

Yesterday the City Council, in our Committee of the Whole, took two small but significant steps forward in our effort to make decisions about the present and future of the Neighborhood Revitalization Program and public support for neighborhood organizations. Thanks primarily to the excellent report on the history and present condition of NRP that came back as a result of the staff direction we passed in May, we took the next step towards discussing and defining our City Government's position on NRP. The first step we took was to help assure a level of funding for the remainder of Phase II. I would have liked us to at least explore funding at 100% of the projections we had in 2004, but was happy to second and support Council Member Ostrow's motion to direct staff to develop options for assuring funding at the 70% level. Here is the staff direction we passed on that matter: "Development Finance Staff is directed to work with CPED and other appropriate City staff to review ...

The City's Street Maintenance Division is about to start fall street sweeping. Posting of streets will begin on Monday, October 22, with sweeping beginning on Tuesday, October 23. The City's website will feature the “ Street Lookup ,” where you can see the sweeping schedule online to learn exactly when your street is scheduled for cleaning. It will be available by Monday, October 22 at the latest. The schedule dates shown on the web based mapping application can sometimes change due to weather or other unforeseen factors. Public Works does its best to keep these schedule changes to an absolute minimum. Residents are always responsible to be aware of any parking restrictions, and move their vehicles when needed. Vehicles parked on city streets in violation of temporary no parking signs will be towed to the Minneapolis Municipal Impound Lot. Call 311 to find out whether or not a vehicle has been towed. The Impound Lot is located at 51 Colfax Avenue North; this is west of Lyndale ...

The powers that be have decided to imrpvoe the situation on the 10th Avenue bridge. Thanks to folks who contacted me about this. I supported these changes in discussions with staff and also would have accepted getting it all back to how it was before before the bridge collapse (with the added fence remaining). Here are the specifics: " A second northbound lane is now carrying traffic on the 10th Avenue Bridge, helping ease traffic congestion. The bridge, which was closed right after the I-35W Bridge collapse, reopened on Aug. 31 with one northbound lane, one southbound lane and a pedestrian viewing area added to the upstream side of the bridge. Since there are now fewer people wanting to see the I-35W site, the pedestrian area was narrowed to allow the southbound bicycle lane to be moved to that side of the bridge. This created room to reopen the second northbound lane, which will significantly ease the traffic backups that have been occurring headed northbound. Southbound traffi...

As you may have heard (here, for instance), the September 28th Critical Mass was peaceful and almost completely without confrontations between riders and police. I consider this a significant accomplishment of the meeting Robert Lilligren and I organized on September 19. But most of the credit is due to the MPD, who handled last Friday's Mass with great constructiveness and professionalism, and individual Critical Mass riders, who helped 'self-police' their own behavior. I have heard quite a few great stories from last Friday's ride. On Hennepin, the group went out of its way to let a northbound bus proceed, amid cries of "let the bus through!" and "busses are great!" On East Franklin, a just-married couple had the fantastic idea of making their way into the middle of the Mass to have pictures taken - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I've heard multiple stories about MPD officers helping defuse situations with frustrated drivers, and of at least...

I was surprised to read in today's Katherine Kersten article that I was one of the 19 people arrested in the August 31 Critical Mass ride. To quote the Strib's conservative, fact-challenged columnist: "In August, after some of the ride's rougher elements provoked a confrontation with police, and 19 people were arrested, Gordon, whose aide was one of those arrested , called foul." [Emphasis mine.] Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. I don't remember being arrested on August 31 - heck, I wasn't even on the ride that day. Maybe Kersten meant that Cam's intern was arrested August 31, as you can read here or here . It's just not that hard to get these little details right. All Kersten had to do was contact one of her fellow Strib employees, Randy Furst, who managed to get his facts straight by the time-honored process of talking to those he was talking about. But one of the more amusing aspects of Kersten's laughable sloppiness was that, hours...

This summer, my office put together a Welcome Packet for new student renters in Southeast Como. See a copy here . These were distributed door to door by the Second Ward Interns. I've heard since, at the Como Cookout, that some renter households awarded the Packet that most coveted of indoor real estate: the refrigerator door. It was such a resounding success that my office has since prepared a version for the "Motley" section of Prospect Park, which will be distributed soon. We got a great deal of help putting these together from our 4 summer interns (3 of whom are U of M student renters themselves), University of Minnesota neighborhood outreach staff Kendre Turonie, 2nd Precinct Crime Prevention Specialist Carol Oosterhuis and Student Legal Services attorney and Southeast Como resident Bill Dane. It's my hope that the packet will help student renters feel welcome and be able to fit safely and harmoniously into the wonderful neighborhoods they're joining.