Finding a Green Way to Govern

I thank everyone who attended the hearing before the City Council Intergovernmental Relations Committee yesterday, including several people from the Second Ward. I think the results were predictable, but still, for me, disappointing. The fact that those at the hearing were so divided and the fact that support for this passed the Council by the slimmest possible majority demonstrates how weak and flawed the plan is in my opinion. Our best hope now is that the legislature will stop it and take some time to develop a plan that will work better for more stakeholders especially the people of Minneapolis. Short of that, there may be some amendments that would be helpful, including leaving off the section about our Charter limitations not applying. I would also like to see the unusual sunset provision taken out. For those interested in learning more details from last night I wanted share the written information I presented at the hearing. Here is a spreadsheet showing the properties t...

The issue of the Viking Stadium will come before the City Council for a Public Hearing on April 24th from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. in room 317 of City Hall, 350 South 5th Street. Please consider attending if this is an issue you care about.  You can also send in your comments in writing.  You are welcome to send them to me, but the best place to send them to insure that teh Council sees them and that they are netered into the public record is here cityclerk@minneapolismn.gov In preparation for that hearing and having to vote on this matter, I attended both of the Mayor's community meetings on the stadium proposal held earlier this month. While there I chose to listen rather than participate. It was very interesting and helpful to hear from a variety of Minneapolis residents (and others) who had questions and comments. I believe that some inaccuracies may have been shared at those meetings. Just in case some people got the wrong impressions from some of the comments made...

Council President Johnson's resolution to make it harder for protestors to exercise their free-speech rights on City-owned plazas did not pass last Friday's Council meeting.  Instead, the Council referred it back to committee, where an action that substantive should really start. The resolution comes before the Council's Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health committee on Wednesday.  Interestingly, as Vice Chair of the committee, I will be chairing in Council Member Don Samuels' absence, and there will be an opportunity for members of the public to comment provided. I will vote against this resolution at committee.  However, I fear that there are the votes on the committee to send this forward to the full Council.

This morning, the Council voted to send Council President Johnson's resolution restricting the Occupy movement's use of City-owned plazas to the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health committee. It was good to a Council Chambers full of so many concerned people and I want to thank so many members of the Occupy movement for attending this morning's Council meeting, and being such a positive force for social change. I supported the action to refer it back to committee with some reluctance; I would have preferred to simply vote the resolution down this morning. A resolution this substantive should not be sprung on the Council - and, more importantly, the broader community - 24 hours before it is voted on.  That practice is fine for honorary resolutions such as those celebrating a longtime employee's years of service, but a resolution creating a new set of rules, backed up by police use of force, in public spaces requires more vetting. This resolution also looked like an...

Council President Barb Johnson has shared a resolution that she will be moving at tomorrow's Council meeting.  The intent of this action appears to be to prohibit Occupy MN protesters from using City-controlled public plazas.  The full text is below the fold. I will vote against this resolution.  It clearly goes against another resolution that the Council adopted last October, " Supporting Peaceable Calls for Reforms to the Income Tax, Financial, and Electoral Systems ."  It puts the City on the wrong side of civil liberties, including freedom of expression.  Because any such move by the City will be viewed - rightly - by the Occupy movement as a direct attack on them, it positions the City on the side of the 1% against the 99%.  It is clearly designed to send a message that Occupiers will be arrested, giving the MPD a green light (and proactive political cover) for more of the mass arrest events like we saw last Saturday. This isn't...

Recently, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board took a major step towards protecting the upper Mississippi from the invasive asian carp.  They signed a new contract with Paradise Cruises that does not allow the leisure boat to go through the Upper Saint Anthony Lock. This action came in the wake of Mayor Rybak's veto of a previous action that would have continued to allow Paradise Cruises to use the lock.  That action on the Mayor's part was in response to a request by three Park Commissioners who deserve special credit for their part in this action: Annie Young, Liz Wielinski and Anita Tabb.  The Paradise boat accounted for a significant percentage of the trips through the upper lock, over 800 per year. A few things are clear.  The carp are devestating to the ecology and economy of the affected areas.  River and lake ecosystems become much less diverse as the carp crowd out other species, and are no longer safe and enjoyable places for recr...

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Program and Communications Department have worked together on two great online videos about bicycle facilities in Minneapolis. One is on bike lanes , and helps both bicyclists and drivers understand how standard, advisory, buffered and cycle-track style bike lanes work.  They stress how to turn across a bike lane safely, which is extremely important because turning vehicles tend to cause the most car/bike accidents. The other is on shared lanes , and describes both the "sharrow" markings and bicycle boulevard treatments we've started using in Minneapolis. These videos are fantastic, and demonstrate the value of the Bike and Pedestrian Program in Public Works.

It's great to see the gardening hubs get some good press .   The hubs are a key activity of the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative, funded by the Minneapolis Health Department through the State Health Improvement Program (SHIP). The idea was that there are many people in Minneapolis who want to grow their own food, but don't necessarily have the skills, experience and resources to start.  The hubs get novice growers connected with those resources - including seedlings - and people who have done more gardening and can answer their questions. If you're interested in getting involved in the hubs, go here  as soon as possible.  Membership is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Seeds and plants will be distributed April 14 and May 19, but the membership slots may fill up before then.

As you can read in multiple news media outlets - City Pages , the Pioneer Press , WCCO  and more - a Minneapolis police officer significantly damaged a KSTP television camera at Saturday's mass arrests of Occupy movement participants.  There's video of this incident.  According to the cameraman, he received no verbal warning from the officer before being shoved backward and having his camera thrown to the ground. Police Chief Dolan has released a statement: "The Minneapolis Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit is in the process of reviewing the incident involving a KSTP cameraman Chad Nelson last Saturday evening. We instructed all of our officers before this, and any demonstration, to not take individual actions unless they are warranted for personal safety. From my preliminary review of the video regarding Mr. Nelson, the officer's interference does not appear to be necessary. If that is the case, I am very disappointed." This sounds good.  Unfor...

Police accountability in Minneapolis has taken a major hit. Governor Dayton has signed a bill that will dramatically weaken the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority by removing its power to make findings of fact.  More press coverage is available here .  The bill was pushed by the conservative Minneapolis Police Federation, which clearly opposes any meaningful police accountability, and strongly opposed by the City of Minneapolis.  It unfortunate that the legislature and governor were unwilling to heed the requests and reationales offered by those of us elected to represent the people of Minneapolis and our staff who worked hard on this.  This may well end up destroying the CRA, which is undoubtedly the Federation's end goal. I am extremely disappointed in both the Governor and those in the legislature who voted for this bill.  This action is a real blow to the Governor's record on civil rights and basic fairness, especially in the context of his...

This is fun: a video taken by Mayor Rybak's staff at yesterday's signing ceremony for the Urban Agriculture Text Amendments.  My remarks are at the 1:55 mark. Let it grow!

We did it! This morning, the Urban Agriculture Text Amendments passed the Council unanimously . The issues that we’ve been working through in the last few weeks all went well: hoop houses at urban farms, market gardens, community gardens, schools and large apartment buildings will be able to be 12’ tall. Market gardeners will be able to sell directly to customers from their sites for 15 days per year. Market gardeners and urban farmers will not be required to get soil tests and post signs indicating whatever soil contamination they find. But we need to take a step back from these smaller victories, as important as they are, and note the major victory we won today: for the first time since 1963, people will be allowed to grow food commercially in the City of Minneapolis . Commercial growing will be allowed on a large scale at urban farms in industrial districts, and on a smaller scale at market gardens in low-density residential areas. People will even be allowed to grow food comm...