Second Ward October-November 2016 E-newsletter
News from Cam Gordon
Council Member, Second Ward
Vote. Please vote on Election Day, Tuesday
November 8th, if you haven’t already used the early voting,
no-excuse absentee voting opportunities provided this year. On Election Day, polling places will be open on
the 8th from 7:00 am until 8:00 pm. You can find your
polling place at http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/. This year
the City is working to send each
household a voter’s guide that includes a sample ballot. You can use this to preview
all the races, candidates and questions on the ballot, mark your choices on and
bring to use when casting your ballot at the polls. Early voting is still
underway until Monday afternoon. For more information about early voting, registering
and voting visit vote.minneapolismn.gov or call 311 or 612-673-3000.
2017 Budget. The budget process for this year is well
underway and now for the first time, the proposed budget is available online in
an interactive format at https://minneapolismn.opengov.com/transparency. Some of the most significant changes to this
year’s proposed budget include $1.3 million for 15 new police officers, including
three for a new mental health co-responder program; nearly $1 million for
community-based strategies to improve public safety, including $500,000 for
community-driven strategies in two locations with high levels of youth
violence; $400,000 for five additional firefighters, and $14.5 million to
support affordable housing development. There will be two public comment hearings
on the budget: at 6:05 pm November 30th and
6:05 pm December 7th both in Room 317, City Hall. Visit www.minneapolismn.gov/budget for more information on the budget proposal
and process.
New Police Offices. I thank, welcome and congratulate the
latest 25 new Minneapolis police officers who have graduated in early November from
the police academy and have since started working in our neighborhoods. Of the
25 officers who successfully completed the 32-week long training program, 7 are
women, 7 are people of color, 7 are fluent in languages other than English, one
holds a Ph.D., and 4 have master's degrees. We are very fortunate to have these
diverse, well-qualified, well-trained, new officers committed to serving the
people of Minneapolis and joining the police department. I wish them all long,
safe and fulfilling careers working for the people Minneapolis. This brings the
total size of the police force to 845.
Youth Outreach Workers. I was happy to see coverage of the Youth
Coordinating Board’s Youth Outreach Worker program featured in a local
newspaper this month (http://www.citypages.com/news/straight-talking-youth-workers-save-lives-keep-peace-in-streets-and-classrooms/399543511). This is a program that I have followed,
supported, admired and helped guide since it emerged from the Youth Are Here
busses during my first term in office. Now, as chair of the Youth Coordinating
Board, it has been gratifying to see it expand from street outreach in
downtown, into some of our schools and neighborhoods. In October the Youth
Coordinating Board reviewed the results of an evaluation of the School Outreach
program done by an outside agency, Rainbow Research. While we still don’t have
clear data about changes in school metrics like truancy and suspensions, it generally
received very positive reviews from students, teachers and administrators alike.
We will be working with the schools to collect more data from the three schools
that are using youth workers this year: Edison, Henry and Northeast Middle
School. You can find the recent evaluation report and more information here http://www.ycb.org/schooloutreachteam
Group Violence Intervention Grant. The City has been awarded a two year grant of
$325,000 to help us develop and begin implementation of a Minneapolis version
of the National Network for Safe Communities’ Group Violence Intervention (GVI)
program to reduce group involved homicide and gun violence. This program has
been widely implemented across the county and is recognized as a best practice
by both public safety and public health professionals. This funding will help
jump start the City’s effort that is also funded in the Mayor’s proposed
budget. It is a promising, proven,
holistic public health approach to addressing violence that the Youth Violence
Prevention committee has been working on for years. It relies on a partnership
between the Health Department, the Police Department, community members and
social service providers and includes bringing social support, case management
and other resources to help youth who may be at a higher than normal risk for
violence. You can learn more about the model here https://nnscommunities.org/our-work/strategy/group-violence-intervention.
Gun Violence.
On November 2, the tragic, fatal
shooting of Paul Knobbe, near Lake Street and Cedar Avenue, pushed the number
of people shot so far this year to over 300. This is compared to 222 victims of
gunshot wounds recorded by this time last year or a 35% increase over last
year. It also brings the total number of homicides this year to 35, compared to
the 39 we had recorded by the end of October in 2015. The vast majority of
those homicide victims were killed with handguns.
Jamar Clark Killing Internal Investigation. On October 21st, the police department
announced that they had completed their internal investigation into the police
officer killing on November 15th, 2015 of Jamar Clark and that the chief has
determined that there were no violations of City policy and that the officers
will not receive any discipline. Although this is not surprising, given the
long history of not disciplining officers involved in police killings and the
County Attorney’s similar determination, the result was a shock and disappointment
to many, including me. While I have confidence in the Chief and have not been
given the same access as others to the evidence, I remain deeply concerned by a
number of things about this case. These concerns include: 1) the failure of the
officers to record anything despite squad cameras and audio being available; 2)
the very, very short time that passed between the officers arriving at the
scene and when they choose to escalate to physical violence against Mr. Clark;
3) the failure on the officers’ part to employ de-escalation techniques despite
the fact that Mr. Clark was not threatening to harm anyone and was not armed;
4) the specific way that Mr. Clark was “taken down” and the fact that the
technique that was used and the way it was apparently used provided Mr. Clark
easy access to an officer’s firearm, dramatically increasing the risk inherent
in the situation; and, 5)the fact that he was shot in the head and that other
less lethal use-of-force techniques were not used. As an elected official and not
a trained police officer, I do not possess the same degree of training in law
enforcement that the our professional police staff do, and perhaps the officers
in this case acted according to national best practices, best training and in
compliance with all city and police department policies. I am not necessarily
disputing that. But after days of reflection on this, I have concluded this: if
the officers followed our policies in this incident, then something is deeply
wrong with those polices. If their actions represented the best training we
have available, then that training is (or was) grossly inadequate. If this
exemplifies national best practices, then those best practices are
fundamentally flawed. Mr. Clark did not need to be killed and should not have
been killed. The officers’ actions in this case resulted in a preventable,
avoidable, and tragic death. We need to learn from this incident, and other
similar instances, to ensure that this never happens again. When Chief Harteau
was sworn in, she laid out an inspiring guiding principle by which she wanted
every police officer to judge "every encounter" with the public:
"Did my actions reflect how I would want a member of my family to be
treated?" I don't think that anyone - certainly not me - can say that they
would want a member of our family treated the way Jamar Clark was treated. I
will also note the omission of any formal community or civilian review of this
internal affairs investigation. I am convinced that there is a serious and wide
divide between community expectations and professional policing standards when
it comes to police conduct. Until we can close that divide, community
confidence and trust in the police will be hard to build. You can read the Chief’s statement about the
Jamar Clark investigation and the Police’s Internal Affairs report here http://www.insidempd.com/iainvestigation/. To read the Chief’s full speech where she
articulates the principle by which she wanted every police officer to judge
every encounter see http://secondward.blogspot.com/2013/01/chief-harteaus-speech.html
Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings. In 2013 the City passed a Commercial
Building Benchmarking and Transparency ordinance that requires large buildings
to track and disclose their energy consumption. It is intended to promote
reductions greenhouse gas emissions and is being phased in over several years
with larger public buildings reporting the first year and larger commercial
building reporting the second. By now, the majority of commercial buildings
larger than 50,000 square feet have submitted their energy use to the City. The
commercial-industrial sector contributed almost half of the total citywide
greenhouse gas emissions in 2014. An analysis released earlier this year of the
energy use of 429 public and commercial buildings in Minneapolis revealed that
those buildings have the combined potential to save $24 million in energy costs
per year and avoid more than 120,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by
increasing their energy efficiency to reduce consumption by 15 percent. On
November 2 the city held a Building Energy Challenge Awards ceremony to
celebrate the efforts of building owners and managers who have made noteworthy progress
reducing in greenhouse gas emissions. This kind of recognition is called out in
the City’s Clean Energy Partnership’s 2015-2016 work plan and supports the city
goals of a 30% greenhouse gas reduction in the city by 2025 and 80 percent or
more by 2050. Learn more at http://www.minneapolisenergybenchmarking.org/
Second Ward Energy Reduction Award Winners. I was
delighted to see that 2 of the 3 award winners for high-performing large
commercial buildings at the Building Energy Challenge Awards ceremony went to
Second Ward properties. Congratulations
both to Shriners Hospital on East River Parkway, for being the business
category winner, and to Days Hotel on University Avenue for winning in the
hospitality category. Shriners achieved energy reductions, in part, through improvements
in lighting technology after replacing their parking ramp lights with LEDs
controlled by motion sensors. LED projects in the lobby and elevator allowed
them to remove an expensive and hot transformer and run cooling fans less
often. I was also delighted to see that the Days Hotel on University Avenue was
given an award for significantly high performance in energy reductions. It
sounds like many, if not most, of their reductions came from proactive staff
willing and able to implement small but meaningful strategies to conserve energy
and water use. For instance, it is common practice in the winter for heat to be
turned down soon after checkouts to conserve energy.
Advancing Health Equity. Since last summer, I have served on a Minnesota
Department of Health’s Advancing Health Equity Work Group. Our charge was to
provide local elected officials and public health leaders with resources and
practical information to help them advance health equity and integrate it into
public health policies and practice. In September the work group’s Report and
Recommendations were approved and forwarded to the state Commissioner of
Health. Our work has been shared through a “Resource Library for Advancing
Health Equity in Public Health” that can be found at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/opi/pm/schsac/wkgp/2015/equity/
Recycling Chute Resolution The resolution I authored with Council
Member Palmisano that establishes a recycling chute requirement for new
apartment and condominium buildings was approved by the City Council in October.
It supports mandating that, when a garbage chute is installed in new
construction or major renovations, a recycling chute will also be installed in
such a way as to provide equivalent access at all floors served by the garbage
chute, as required by the State Building Code. In the process of working on
this we learned that there also may be opportunities in the future to get more
apartment buildings to provide organics recycling service and we encouraged
them to do so in the resolution. Any building that wants organics service now
can choose between several different haulers (around 10) in Minneapolis who
already take organics as part of their service. Additionally, there are
multiple larger and midsized apartment buildings that currently offer organics
service to their residents. Some of these buildings (including 7 West
Apartments, Solhavn Apartments, and Soltva Apartments) were built with three
chutes to accommodate organics as well recycling and trash.
Transit Assistance Program. On October 10th, Metro Transit launched the
Transit Assistance Program (TAP). This promising pilot program allows qualified
low income residents of the Twin Cities to ride at a reduced rate using a new
TAP transit card. It offers participants $1 rides on all buses and light rail,
including transfers. All participants who sign up will receive $5 for rides on
their new card. Those who already have a registered Go-To Card can transfer
their balance to the TAP card to take advantage of the discount. To enroll you
must be a low-income Twin Cities resident between the ages of 13 and 64 and
have a photo ID and income verified through a non-profit or another government
agency including an EBT Card. You can learn more and find a list of sign-up
sites at http://www.metrotransit.org/TAP. I commend Metro Transit for taking this
step and hope that this pilot program will become a permanent and popular part
of their services.
Intentional Communities. The first public hearing for the Intentional
Community ordinance I'm authoring with my colleague Council Member Goodman was held
on November 1, where it was unanimously recommended for approval by the
planning commission. The ordinance would allow people who register as an
intentional community to have the number of people who can safely share a home,
regardless of their relatedness. You can read a draft of the amendments and
find more information under "Current Projects" at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ward2/index.htm. Because we are also changing the housing
maintenance code (in addition to the zoning code), there will be another public
hearing at the Council's Community Development and Regulatory Services
committee on November 29th at
1:30 pm.
Neighborhoods 2020 Engagement Plan. The current funding source used to support
community engagement and neighborhood organizations is scheduled to end in
2020. To help us better prepare for the changes ahead and develop future
funding options, the Council approved an engagement plan to help identify and
develop recommendations by March 30, 2018. The purpose of the plan is to: 1)
ensure participation of neighborhood organization leaders, cultural community leaders,
City leadership and other stakeholders in the process; 2) provide clear and ongoing communication
with neighborhood organizations, residents, and City leadership on the
development of Neighborhoods 2020 recommendations and how these tie into the
Blueprint for Equitable Engagement and Neighborhood and Community Relations
department plans; 3) develop consensus around recommendations for roles and
responsibilities of funded neighborhood organizations, and the roles and
responsibilities of the City in responding to and working with neighborhood
organizations; and, 4) ensure a smooth transition of Community Participation
Program funding after 2020. To read about the plan and learn more see http://www.minneapolismn.gov/meetings/legislation/WCMSP-188366
Neighborhood Community Engagement Commission Report. On November 7 the Health Environment and Community
Engagement Committee will receive the 2015-16 annual report of the Neighborhood and Community Engagement
Commission. To learn more about the
accomplishment of this hard working group over the past year see the report at http://www.minneapolismn.gov/meetings/legislation/WCMSP-189204
Energy Vision Advisory Committee. The Clean Energy Partnership has approved the
members of its highly respected and influential Energy Vision Advisory
Committee for next year. I am grateful to everyone who applied and look forward
to working with the new and continuing members: Louis Alemayehu, Cameran
Bailey, Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, Trevor Drake, John Farrell, Abby Finis,
Timothy Gaetz, Matt Kazinka, Kevin Lewis, Patty O'Keefe, Rebecca Olson, Julie
Silvis, Jamez Staples, Shane Stennes, and William Weber.
Senior Skyway Center. After a year of uncertainty about the future
of the downtown Senior Skyway Center, a possible path towards a stable future
emerged in October. A senior serving organization, Ecumen, has sent in a Letter
of Intent expressing their interest in assuming the role (currently played by
the City) as the operator of the Center. Ecumen agrees that the Center plays an
important role in the community and that its purpose is consistent with their
mission. They envision retaining the current operations, staff and volunteers, stabilizing
the Center and increasing its reach into the community. As a result of this, on
November 4th, the City Council authorized city staff to enter into formal
discussions about transferring operations and oversight from the City to Ecumen
and gave Ecumen a 120 day exclusive dealing period. I am hopeful that this will
result in Ecumen’s becoming the Center’s operator and that early next year the
Council will be approving formal agreements to effectuate the transition and
that the center will have many more years ahead of successfully serving seniors
in Minneapolis.
Diversity Survey Results. On November 28th the Health,
Environment and Community Engagement
Committee will get reports related to the two diversity audits that were
conducted this year of members of both city council appointed advisory bodies
and neighborhood association board members. Since 2009, at my urging, the City
has been collecting basic demographic information on volunteers serving on the
City’s boards and commissions. We started this in response to repeated concerns
we heard about some sectors of our city population not being well represented
on our boards and commissions. In 2015 we also surveyed our neighborhood
association board members. I am hoping that the information gathered this year
will help us better understand the make-up of our boards and commissions and
help us set goals and develop better recruiting strategies to increase the
diversity of viewpoints and people engaged in guiding neighborhood and City
decision-making.
American with Disabilities Act Implementation
Plan. The City Council is poised to
approve a revamped ADA implementation plan by the end of the year. The draft plan (you can find here http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ncr/services/WCMSP-183897) is currently being reviewed by our advisory
committees and community members. I expect it to come forward to a council
committee at the end of November with some modifications based on this
input.
Greens Zones Update. The Green Zones workgroup, established by
resolution passed last spring, will be providing an update to the Health Environment
and Community Engagement Committee on November 28th. To support
their work, a Green Zones mapping tool has been created. The tool shows data by
census tract for each of the eight priority issues selected by the Green Zones
Workgroup: 1) equity, 2) displacement, 3) air quality, 4) brownfields and soil
contamination, 5) housing, 6) green jobs, 7) food access, and 8) greening. The
mapping tool offers a variety of ways to look at and consider cumulative
burden. You find more about the Green Zones, the work group and the mapping tool
at http://www.minneapolismn.gov/sustainability/policies/green-zones
Partners In Peace. Everyone is invited to join Brit's Pub,
Alliance Française, Veterans for Peace, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin
County and local & international representatives for the 9th annual Partners
in Peace Armistice Day commemoration on November 11. The event will include
singing, bag pipes, bell ringing, a color guard presentation and personal
accounts & readings. It will be held Friday, November 11, 6:00pm at Brit’s
Pub 1110 Nicollet Mall in their clubhouse room. The program begins at 7 pm and
is free to all.
Community Action Partnership of Suburban
Hennepin. In November the
City Council approved me and Council Member Warsame to be the City Council
representatives on the Community
Action Partnership of Suburban Hennepin (CAPSH) board. The agency is in the process of forming a
reformed board and considering a name change, now that it is the federally designated
Community Action Program agency for Minneapolis. They are also seeking 4
additional new members from Minneapolis. Two of these board seats are specifically
reserved for people who are eligible for energy assistance; subsidized housing;
WIC, food stamps or other supplemental assistance; or meet income
qualifications (up to 125 percent of the federal poverty level). The board of
directors provides strategic direction, fiscal oversight and general policy
guidance to the organization. Applications must be in by November 27. For more
information or to apply, visit www.capsh.org
Creative City Challenge. The fifth annual Creative City Challenge
based on the theme of Climate Chaos | Climate Rising seeks proposals from
Minnesota artists, architects and designers. The challenge is a competition for
Minnesota-resident architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners,
engineers, scientists, artists, students and individuals of all backgrounds to
create and install a temporary, destination artwork, which acts as a platform
for two months of onsite programming. Entries are due by 4:30 pm November 28. The
winning Creative City Challenge proposal will receive $50,000 to execute the
project. An optional informational session will be conducted 6-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 15 at the Soap Factory, 514 Second St. SE. For more info visit
http://2017.northernspark.org/creative-city-challenge-call/.
Updated Investment Policy. On November 4th, the Council
approved revisions to our investment policy to better support the preservation
of affordable housing in Minneapolis. The revision allows the City to invest in
mortgage backed securities where the underlying mortgages are for unsubsidized
multifamily rental housing affordable to households with incomes at or below 60
percent of the area median income ($51,480 for a family of four.) This kind of
housing is also known as are “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH). Rents
in NOAH units average between $500 and $1,200 per month. Sadly, the real estate
market has been driving up the rents at many of these properties and tenants
have been displaced because they can no longer afford the increased rents. The purpose
of this revision to make funds available to NOAH property owners so they can
keep rents affordable for tenants while
investing in improvements in their buildings.
Check Your Smoke Detector. Daylight saving time ended Sunday, November
6. This is a good time to put fresh batteries in your home smoke alarms and
carbon monoxide detectors. According to
the National Fire Protection Association, more than half of all home fire
deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke
alarms.
2016 Homegrown Minneapolis Open House. Please join
the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council in celebrating another year of
promoting healthy, sustainable, locally grown foods on Thursday, December
1st from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, at Seward Montessori, 2309 28th Ave South. The event
will feature a brief program including remarks from local notables, the 2016
Homegrown Heroes awards and a "State of the Plate" and
2016 Homegrown Highlights presentations from the Food Council. It
will begin with an information fair and reception, including opportunities to
provide feedback to the Food Council on local food policy priorities. You can
also register to be part of the information fair component of our
annual open house. For more information visit http://www.minneapolismn.gov/sustainability/homegrown/WCMSP-187360?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term.
Coldwater Springs Resolution. I was proud to support and co-author Council
Member Andrew Johnson’s resolution that recognizes Coldwater as a sacred site,
reminds all government agencies to respect the 1805 treaty and honor both the
spirit and the letter of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and
the 2001 state law relating to protection and preservation of Coldwater Springs
and declared October 10, 2016 to be “Coldwater Springs Protection and
Preservation Day” in the City of Minneapolis.
Affordable Housing. This Month the City Council approved more
than $9 million in affordable housing investments throughout Minneapolis. We approved $7.9 million in direct investment
and $1.2 million in 10-year federal tax credits to create or preserve 686 units
of affordable multifamily rental housing in 10 projects located throughout the
city. These investments are the result of awards from the City’s Affordable
Housing Trust Fund and Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs for 2016.
Together, these investments will leverage more than $150 million in additional
private and public resources. Funded projects outside ward 2 include, among
other projects) the YouthLink Supportive Housing project with 46 units of
supportive housing for homeless youth ages 18-23, the Great River Landing
project with 72 units of supportive housing for men who were formerly
incarcerated or at risk of long term homelessness, and the Minnehaha Townhomes
project with 16 units of large (3BR or more) family housing for extremely low
income families in shelters. More about the 3 projects funded in Ward 2 follows.
The Aeon Prospect Park project at 3001 4th St SE has been awarded
$450,772 for construction of a mixed income apartment building for families. Aeon
will use the funds to help build a five story 70 unit apartment complex one
block from the Green Line’s Prospect Park Station. This will provide permanent
supportive housing to 7 households with dependent children who have been
homeless or are at risk of homelessness. The elevator, building design, and
unit layout will implement Universal Design strategies throughout and the first
floor will include community rooms for general resident use; a fitness room and
bike storage. The exterior design with be reviewed with the neighborhood design
committee. New, wider sidewalks, improved lighting, tot lot, pedestrian
benches, and bike racks will be included and the project will comply with Green
Communities Criteria.
Minnehaha
Commons. The Council has approved using $925,000 in
Affordable Housing Trust Fund money to help fund a new 41 unit senior housing
project at 3001 East Lake Street. Alliance Housing, Inc. has partnered with
the Touchstone Mental Health to create Minnehaha Commons, a supportive service
project for extremely low income seniors who have experienced homelessness. The
project will consist of a 31,500 sq. ft. three-story building with 41 studio
apartments. The property will have a community room, service provider
space/office, property management office, laundry room and front desk on the
first floor. There will be a tenant lounge area on the second and third floors
and an outdoor patio for informal gatherings.
A front desk will be staffed throughout the evenings and weekends to
provide support to tenants and ensure safety.
Namaste Apartments.
On Friday November 4, the city council, with my enthusiastic
support, approved using $1.2 million in
Affordable Housing Trust Fund Money to support the final phase of a
redevelopment project at the old abandoned and dangerous Bunge Grain Elevator
site near Van Cleve Park. This has been the site of two fatal accidents in
recent years. Two young women, Germaine Vincent in 2006 and Emily Roland in
2015, died there after falling inside the structures. The new project will
consist of 150 apartment units, with 42 being considered affordable for
families making at or below 50% of the Annual Metropolitan Income with 8 being
set aside for people experiencing long term homelessness. Project for Pride in
Living (PPL) owns the site and will be developing the property. In 2007 they demolished several of the grain elevators
and, with various partners including Habitat for Humanity and Cabrini House,
constructed two apartment buildings and a row of townhomes. They are now
preparing to develop the last part of the site where the head house and remaining
elevators are located to provide rental housing, called the Namaste Apartments,
that will consists of 150 units of new affordable workforce housing. I am
especially glad to see that the development plan includes reuse of the Bunge
Tower or head house. This is a major landmark and both the neighborhood
association and the Historic Preservation Commission have supported preserving
it. The project will not only eliminate
a dangerous situation and blighted buildings but will provide quality housing
with a focus on wellness, knowledge, art and peace.
The Opportunity Center. Construction of the new West Bank
Opportunity Center that the City County and all the partners of the Cedar
Riverside Partnership have been working on for the past several months is
expected to begin this fall and is scheduled to open spring 2017. I congratulate Council Member Warsame and
County Commissioner McLaughlin and the partnership in reaching our fundraising
goal of $950,000 that allowed Hennepin County to sign a ten-year lease for the
center, that will be located in the first floor of the new Five15 on the Park
building, 515 15th Ave. S. It will serve as a job opportunities hub for nearby
residents. Anchor partners include EMERGE
Community Development, Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC),
Hennepin County Workforce Development, the Hennepin County Library and the City
of Minneapolis. Library programming in
the center will include a Teen Tech Squad, which will lead technology-based
workshops designed to develop creative problem solving skills; an overview of
library resources that can assist with building job skills; and
employment-focused learning circles with tips on preparing for job
interviews. Employers with a robust
recruiting presence at the center will include Hennepin County, Fairview Health
Services, Hennepin County Medical Center, the City of Minneapolis, the
University of Minnesota, Augsburg College and St. Catherine University. Key
goals of the center include tackling the neighborhood’s high unemployment rate,
which is around 17 percent, and increasing access to educational programs. Hennepin County has contributed $250,000 for
the center and the City of Minneapolis has pledged $100,000. The Cedar
Riverside Partnership raised additional funding from local charitable
foundations.
Franklin Bridge Bike/Ped counter. As
part of the Franklin Avenue Bridge reconstruction, the Minnesota Department of
Transportation (MDOT) has supplied a bicycle counter pole device that will
track the number of cyclists who use the bridge. The device displays both daily
and annual trips and can be viewed from the sidewalk on the north east end of
the bridge.
1501 Como
Ave. The developer of this property has
applied for a demolition permit to demolish the auto repair building at this
address in order to construct a new three-story, 30 unit apartment building.
Approvals for the new building were appealed by an area property owner, but the
Council has denied the appeal. You can find out more at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/meetings/legislation/WCMSP-187740
1202 Como Ave SE. A demolition permit has also been applied
for to demolish the one (older) unit of the triplex located at 12th
and Como Ave SE to allow the for the construction of two new townhomes as approved
in September and further explained in this staff report http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-186284.pdf
The Bessemer
at Seward. The Council
has approved moving forward with two grant requests to support the Seward
Redesign project at 2200/2206/2210/2214/2218 Snelling Avenue. One is from the
Department of Employment and Economic Development for $501,500 and one is from Hennepin
County for $110,000. Seward Redesign
intends to demolish four vacant buildings and construct 121 units of market
rate rental housing as part of the continuing redevelopment of the former
Bystrom Brothers site, located near the Franklin Avenue Blue Line Station. The
site plan includes green space and a new public bicycle/pedestrian access to
the LRT trail. The total projected development cost is $23,800,000. Grant
funds, if awarded, will be used primarily for demolition and soil remediation,
along with the abatement of asbestos and/or lead based paint in the existing
building prior to demolition.
Harris Building. The
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has
awarded Minneapolis $175,000 for limited demolition and stormwater costs on the
4.34-acre Harris Building site located in the Prospect North/Towerside area at
501 30th Ave. SE. The funding will
support new office and commercial uses at this location. For more information
see https://mn.gov/deed/newscenter/press-releases/?id=260904
Open Office Hours in the Ward. I usually hold open “Office Hours” in the
ward every Thursday morning from 9:30 to 11:00 am. Please feel free to call the office at
673-2202 to reserve some time when I will be there or just stop by.
First Thursdays at the Oren
Gateway Center, Nabo Café, 2211 Riverside Avenue;
Second Thursdays at Black: Coffee
and Waffles, 1500 Como Ave SE;
Third Thursdays at T Rex Cookie Café,
3338 University Ave SE;
Fourth Thursdays at Blue Moon
Coffee Café, 3822 E Lake St.
posted by Cam Gordon @ 1:53 PM
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