Finding a Green Way to Govern

Representative Davnie has responded to my initial blog post on the Transit bill, and has made clear why he doesn't support increasing the sales tax to fund much-needed transit improvements.  While the changes between the initial legislation and what has passed are complex, there is a simple way to understand the problems with the House bill that Rep. Davnie supports. Here are the transit improvements proposed by the Governor that are funded by the Senate bill, but   not   funded by the House bill: Operation of the planned Southwest LRT Line The Bottineau LRT Line, which will extend the Hiawatha line north into Brooklyn Park Arterial Bus Rapid Transit on Chicago Ave, Lake Street, and 10 other high-transit-use corridors Bus Rapid Transit on I-35W  and up to 5 other highway BRT lines Annual improvements to standard bus service, meaning more routes , longer hours , and more frequent service And in addition to all of this, the Senate bill would create th...

Elyse Stern, a 28-year-old woman with strong ties to Second Ward businesses the Seward Cafe and Bedlam Theater, was struck and killed by a drunk driver on her bicycle at Cedar Ave S and Lake Street on March 30th. The driver, Juan Ricardo Hernandez-Campoceco, has been charged with felony hit-and-run and driving while intoxicated.  He has not been charged with criminal vehicular homicide. I know that Elyse's friends and communities are collecting donations to create an education and outreach campaign to help bicyclists get access to lights and helmets.  On Wednesday, the Bicycle Advisory Committee passed a resolution calling on the Minneapolis Police Department to participate in this campaign. The idea is that Elyse's memorial fund will purchase lights and/or helmets for MPD officers to hand out to bicyclists riding without lights and/or helmets. The BAC also asked that MPD officers get training on the rules of the road, and that MPD spokespeople be careful in the afterma...

A very important transit bill is in jeopardy at the Legislature, and I’m hoping that you will take action to convince your State Representative to support it.   If it passes, this bill will make it possible for our metropolitan region to make long-term investments in transit, including: Increasing bus service by 4%  Ensuring that we can build 3 new Light Rail lines Putting Bus Rapid Transit on 4 highway corridors Creating 12 higher-amenity “Enhanced Bus” routes, likely including Route 21 Providing $50 million per year for metro-area cities and counties to address local needs, including accessibility enhancements, safer sidewalks, and bicycle routes. This bill is supported by over 50 organizations, including Transit for Livable Communities  and the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee.   Quite simply, the Twin Cities metro region is falling behind on transit. A metro-wide sales tax is the way that nearly all US regions fund transit – and it’s one of ...

I strongly support the “Transit for a Stronger Economy” bill, and I'm disappointed to see that it seems to be in trouble at the legislature. Still, there is hope that a bill with funding to increase bus service, support new Light Rail lines, Bus Rapid Transit and help create higher-amenity “Enhanced Bus” routes is possible.  The bill is supported by over 50 organizations, including Transit for Livable Communities and the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee.  It would use a small sales tax increase, like nearly all US regions, to fund transit.  I urge you to contact your State Legislators and encourage them to support this incredible opportunity to provide stable, adequate funding for transit in Minneapolis.  You can take action here .

It looks like a proposal  that I stronlgy support to establish and implement early voting are anticipated to be heard on the House floor in the coming weeks. The bills in both the House and Senate define early voting as “voting in person before Election Day at the office of the county auditor or designated municipal clerk.”  Early voting is something already legal and being done in many states throughout the country (including all our neighborhing states) and helps improve voter turn out and also take some of the pressure of polling places on election day. It also eliminates many of the administrative burdens and costs of the current absentee ballot procedures. Unlike the absentee voting process, early voting allows the in-person voter to correct errors made marking the ballot and discovered by the ballot tabulator, the same as a voter on Election Day. According to the proposal, early voting would begin 15 days before the election through 5 p.m. on the thi...

This morning, the Council voted to approve a significant positive change to the way the City regulates honeybees. The core of the change, which was authored by Council Member Lisa Goodman with the support of Sustainability Director Gayle Prest, makes it much easier to install a beehive on a rooftop. In downtown and other densely-developed parts of the city, the old ordinance - which requires prospective beekeepers to get signatures of support from 80% of property owners within 100 feet - was simply unworkable.  When CM Goodman and others became interested in placing a beehive on the roof of City Hall, it became clear what an insurmountable obstacle the old ordinance was. So under the new ordinance, beehives on the second story or above do not require signatures from neighbors, and do not require fences.  This is based on an understanding of the way bees actually behave; when they leave the hive, they tend to first fly upwards.  The impact of a rooftop hive on its n...