Finding a Green Way to Govern

Yesterday afternoon, the City came one step closer to allowing and supporting urban agriculture.  On a unanimous vote, the City Planning Commission voted to approve Planning staff's excellent recommended Zoning Code amendments , which I authored, and which do a great job of putting the Urban Agriculture Policy Plan adopted in spring of last year into effect. The community support was staggering, and almost as important as the outcome.  Staff received seventy comments in writing, all of them basically supportive of the staff recommendations - and most of them strongly so.  It's clear that there is deep and broad support in the community for allowing market gardens (commercial growing operations that basically look and act like community gardens) in low-density residential districts. Thirteen community members got up and spoke in favor of the plan.  They represented urban farmers, community gardeners, farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture, p...

The City's sustainability staff, Gayle Prest and Brendon Slotterback, are launching an update of our  Climate Action Plan , a roadmap to help the City reduce greenhouse gas pollution in the city.  This plan will help us translate our aggressive climate change goals ("reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by 2015, and 30 percent by 2025 using 2006 as a baseline") into tangible policies and actions. The kickoff has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st at 5:30pm, at the Mpls Central Library.  Attendance is free, but space is limited. Please RSVP here .  The meeting will explain climate science, the climate history of Minnesota, the health impacts of climate change and the process Minneapolis will conduct to update the plan. More from the press release: Given current trends, the Midwest is likely to face increased heat waves, reduced air quality and more periods of both floods and drought. To respond to the challenge...

I join my colleague Lisa Goodman in opposing the Linden Avenue site for the proposed Vikings stadium , though I am heartened that the farmers market site seems to be off the table.  If a new stadium is to be built, it would make most sense to reuse the Metrodome site, which has already been assembled at great cost in Downtown East.  It is also currently served by a light rail station that will soon grant access to two light rail corridors. Other problems with the Linden site were not mentioned in the Star Tribune article.  It is the current home of the Currie Maintenance Facility, an important service center for the City's Public Works department. Much of the land in question is owned by the city and, according to our charter, any sale of public land requires 9 votes.  It's also likely that a stadium would impact the Cedar Lake Trail, a vital nonmotorized connection between southwest Minneapolis and downtown.  The CLT already operates as a sor...

The City's Public Works department has put together a 2011 Bicycling Account , an in-depth report on our bicycling activities and accomplishments in 2011.  It's exciting to read such a clear and compelling account of the progress we made over the last year.  Kudos to Public Works for putting this together - I hope that they will continue to report out this effectively every year. It is also interesting for me to note how many of the City's 2011 achievements my office was directly involved in: the green bike lanes on 15th Ave SE, the safety median on 28th St E, downtown bike lanes, the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant, the bike map, the bike plan and implementation plan, the pedicab ordinance, the bike parking and access guidelines for City buildings, the reorganization of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, and safeguarding the new bicycle and pedestrian coordinator position. Another important note: this year also saw the creation of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coal...

As you can read in today's Star Tribune , there's more pain being imposed on cab drivers.  Most of the article concentrates on disputes between drivers and a particular company, but buried in the tenth paragraph is a telling statement: "A recent move by the city of Minneapolis to require taxis to accept credit cards was another blow, they said, as drivers will have to absorb service fees of 5 to 7 percent on full-fare rides." Another blow indeed.  That's why I voted no .

This morning, the Council's Committee of the Whole unanimously supported a resolution  urging "all concerned parties to find an amicable solution that facilitates the normal flow of remittances without compromising the safety and security of the United States."  I urge you to read it in full. As you can read in the Request for Council Action , "u ntil recently, only one bank in Minnesota offered remittance services allowing the Somali-American community in Minnesota to send money to family and friends in Somalia. Based on concerns that this service could in the future be considered in violation of federal counter terrorism regulations, the bank stopped providing the service on December 30, 2011."  This decision has had a major impact on the lives of Somali residents of Minneapolis, and the relatives in the horn of Africa who depend on the small amounts of money they send in remittances.  The horn of Africa is currently suffering the worst famine on earth since...

As you can read here and here , the City of Minneapolis and the Midtown Greenway Coalition have been handed a tremendous win. The Public Utilities Commission has ruled that, in keeping with our strong, formally adopted position, Xcel's new Hiawatha transmission line should be buried under 28th Street East, rather than installed over the Greenway. This is good for the Greenway, and also the economic development potential of the Greenway corridor. The PUC did not yet vote on how the costs for the line should be borne, but both Xcel and the City agree that they should be spread out to the entire Xcel rate base in Minnesota. However, I continue to question the need for this transmission facility. Xcel has not demonstrated that a similar dollar investment put towards conservation and peak shaving could not meet the same need as this new transmission capacity. For instance, what if Xcel spent even a portion of this money to help large power users "store" cold by making ice...

As you can read here , there are folks in Prospect Park who are unhappy about the new sound wall along the west side of I-94. I have heard these concerns as well, and shared them with MnDOT. It's important to know some of the context as well.  The residents on the east side of I-94 have been protected by a sound wall for decades, but until now those along East River Terrace and East River Parkway have not.  I have heard concerns about freeway noise from those folks for years, as early as 2001.  I have also heard that they're happy a sound wall has finally been installed. I have asked MnDOT whether there are ways to break up the sonic reflection coming off of the wall.  One interesting idea: what if we encouraged vines to grow on the side of it?  Such a "green wall" would deter graffiti as well as damping some of the sound.

Score one for Wall Street. This morning, the Council adopted a new regulation on taxicabs.  This appears to be a win for Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of American Corp, and various other financial institutions and individuals that make up the owners and shareholders of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. But it's a loss for Minneapolis taxi drivers. This regulation, proposed by Council Member Schiff, will force all taxis in Minneapolis to accept credit cards.  While there are some good reasons to do this - CM Goodman mentioned encouraging drunk folks who may have spent all of their cash on alcohol to take a cab - on balance it's a bad idea. I believe this because I take very seriously the concerns I heard from taxi drivers during the public hearing.  Many of these folks are recent immigrants (and many live in Ward 2), and they are just scraping by.  Driving a cab is not a lucrative line of...

I was very sorry to learn that our Fire Cheif, Alex Jackson, will be retiring.  I was looking forward to supporting his renomination and voting to approve his appointment again this year. Chief Jackson has served as Minneapolis Fire Chief since 2008 and has been working for the City and as part of the Fire Department for 27 years. His last day as chief will be February 29. In the press release he said, “After 30 years of service to the citizens of Minneapolis, including three as fire chief, I have made the decision to retire. Serving as chief of the MFD, as well as being the first African American fire chief in the history of the department, has been one of my greatest achievements and honors.” Not only am I disapponted because I think he was an effective leader of the department, but also because he is one of our few nonwhite department heads.  After recovering from the disappointment of losing him, and learning that the Mayor will be nominating John Fruete...

As you can read here , the unemployment rate in the Twin Cities is the third-lowest in the US.  Our rate is 5.4% , behind only Omaha and Madison.  This is only 1.9% worse than our best rate for the last decade, 3.5%.  Our unemployment rate is a full percentage point better than the state of Minnesota's as a whole, 6.4%. This is good news, but unfortunately employment is not equitable across racial and ethnic lines in Minneapolis.  Unemployment for whites is very low, for African Americans and other minority communities, it is in the double digits.  We can and must do better.

There's a compelling editorial in the New York Times about a trend that everyone in Ward 2, especially students, should care about.  Republicans in state legislatures are attempting to pass new requirements for state-issued identification in order to vote, and doing away with same-day registration.  Such a scheme was recently defeated at the polls in Maine, but this movement had successes in Kansas and Wisconsin.  A voter ID law in South Carolina has recently been blocked by the Justice Department. It's clear that the stated goal of these bills - protecting against voter fraud - are not the real story.  Voter fraud is simply not a significant problem.  There are precious few real-life examples, and two high-profile (and strenuously litigated) statewide recounts have failed to turn up any major irregularities. No, the real aim of these bills is, clearly, to suppress the sort of voters who tend to vote for Democrats and Greens, especially college student...

On December 14, the City Council unanimously passed the 2012 budget. This was an especially difficult budget for me to support because it included many layoffs and significant cuts to some very valuable programs and services. The Mayor and Council were forced to make a number of difficult choices because of cuts at the state and federal levels, as well as the decision not increase the property tax levy. Positive highlights of the budget include:   - The property tax levy was not increased. - The capital budget includes $150 million for street repairs over the next five years, 60% more than expected. - The Mayor’s proposed cut of $240,000 to the Minneapolis Telecommunication Network was trimmed back to a $90,000 cut. - The budget invests in the coordinated One Minneapolis initiative to reduce racial inequity in unemployment and a proposed position cut to Civil Rights, that could be central to this effort, was recovered. - Although proposed, there will be no layoffs of Com...