Second Ward, Minneapolis

Urban Ag Text Amendments Pass Planning Commission

2012-01-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

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, processors and more. The Minneapolis Food Council (to which I'm the Council's representative) passed a strong statement in support, and was joined by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Some folks noted that they would go further on a few fronts, which shows me that the staff recommendations are reasonable, cautious, even a little conservative. A few of those points:

Hoop houses. Staff have recommended that hoop houses (structures meant to extend the growing season) not be counted in the total square footage that each lot can have in "accessory structures," because they are seen as temporary. The building code's definition of temporary structures is that they should be up less than six months, so staff adopted the same standard for this exemption. Some urban farmers rightly point out that the period during which Minneapolis is at risk for frost is more like eight months, and have asked for this time to be lengthened.
Selling from home. Until now, people haven't been able to farm in their own backyards and sell the produce. The staff recommendation changes that, but keeps the prohibition that exists for all home occupations on selling goods directly from the site. Some urban farm advocates would like to see that prohibition lifted.
Chickens in Urban Farms and Market Gardens. The staff recommendation does not allow chickens at commercial uses. There was actually substantial agreement at the public hearing between urban farmers and those who are concerned for animal welfare: the City needs to improve the welfare standards in our Animal code before we can consider allowing chickens in commercial uses as well as backyards. I look forward to working on that.
Compost. There are recommendations in the Urban Ag Policy Plan that aren't included in these text amendments, mostly because the City must wait until the Pollution Control Agency revises its rules - a process that is currently underway.
The 75-day limit for Farmers Markets. One organization, that is not currently licensed as any type of public market, has asked that the number of days a farmers market can be open for business be raised from 75 to 180. That limit has been on the books for years, and staff do not support raising it. Other farmers markets - including representatives of the Mill City, Kingfield and Fulton markets - argued that the 75-day limit should be left in place. They make a strong case that the essential relationship between the producer and consumer could be threatened by lifting the limit. They also pointed out that no farmers market advocates have asked, in the Urban Ag Policy Plan process or the recent farmers market code update, for this limitation to be lifted.

All in all, I see these as relatively minor disagreements with the staff recommendation, and the first four are things that we can come back and fix after we've had a growing season or two to prove that urban agriculture uses fit well into the urban fabric and complement existing uses.

I want to commend Aly Pennucci, the lead staff on this from the Planning Division, for her fantastic work on these changes. She did an incredible amount of work in less time than we often give for major Zoning Code revisions like this, and the strong community support and unanimous approval of the Planning Commission shows that she did it well. These amendments are a win for everyone, but especially Aly. Well done!

One last note. Council Member Gary Schiff noted, in abstaining from the unanimous vote in favor of the staff recommendation, that I have pushed this back a cycle. That is accurate; rather than bringing it forward at the February 16th Zoning and Planning committee meeting, I have asked to bring it to committee on March 1st. However, he added that the reason for this delay is to give time for "more consideration for amendments." That's not accurate, and perhaps even misleading. It sounds like it caused considerable confusion to the urban agriculture supporters who were present.

I asked for this delay as a courtesy to my colleague Meg Tuthill, who won't be able to be there on the 16th and wants to be present for the discussion. I am not working on any amendments. I am thrilled at how well Planning staff have translated the Urban Ag Policy Plan into Zoning Code text amendments, and I will happily and strongly support those recommendations as put forward and as passed unanimously by the Planning Commission. I am also unaware that any of my colleagues are working on amendments; if they are, I hope that they will be shared with the community soon, so that the many people who care deeply about this issue can review them and respond, if necessary.

Climate Change Action Plan

2012-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

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 challenges of climate change and energy security and as part of its commitment to being an eco-focused city, the City of Minneapolis has adopted targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The updated Climate Action Plan will measure the impact of current City efforts and develop new initiatives that focus on transportation, buildings and waste.

Vikings Stadium - Linden Site

2012-01-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

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 sort of tunnel under the Twins stadium, and extending that enclosed experience is likely to pose problems.

I find striking that the Governor uses as one of his arguments against the Metrodome site that it has not spurred economic development in the surrounding area in the last 30 years. I agree. But might this not be a problem with the Metrodome site specifically, but with the whole idea of using stadiums to generate economic development more generally?

And just to underscore, so I'm not misunderstood: no local taxpayer dollars should be put into any of these proposals without a referendum, in keeping with the City's Charter. Whatever the legislators approve should be required to comply with and follow the City’s Charter. I do not think that it is appropriate for the state legislature to pass laws that undermine the City government’s (and the people of Minneapolis') most fundamental legal compact.

One part of that compact states:

"The City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Community Development Agency, or any city department, agency, commission, or board, shall use no city resources over $10 million dollars for the financing of professional sports facilities without the approval of a simple majority of the votes cast on the question, in a ballot question put to the public at the next regularly scheduled election. City resources are defined for these purposes as: Tax increment financing, bonds, loans, land purchase or procurement, land or site preparation, including necessary infrastructure such as roads, parking development, sewer and water, or other infrastructure development, general fund expenditures, sales tax or other taxes, deferred payments, interest free or below market interest rate loans, the donation or below market value sale of any city resources or holdings or any other free or below cost city services. The ballot question shall not be put before the public in a special election, in order to prevent the costs associated with special elections. "

2011 Bicycle Account

2012-01-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

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 Coalition, a necessary and immensely helpful advocacy organization that, among other things, ran the first Minneapolis Open Streets event.

It's been a big year for bicycling in Minneapolis.

More Pain for Cab Drivers

2012-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Remittances Resolution

2012-01-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

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, "until 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 1984, so this is an incredibly important issue - the halting of funds from hawalas may be costing people their lives.

I strongly supported this resolution and thank Ahmed Muhumud in Neighborhood and Community Relations for working to draft it and continuing to push for a solution.

Hiawatha Transmission Line to be Buried

2012-01-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

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 at night, when there's less stress on the grid (and the wind is blowing), and use that ice to offset their air conditioning during the day?

Those questions aside, this is an important win for the community. If the line is to be built, under 28th Street is the appropriate place for it.

Sound Wall in Prospect Park

2012-01-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

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.

Taxis Forced to Take Credit Cards

2012-01-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

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 work.

They made very clear how this regulation will impact their lives. Credit card companies, and the banks that are the end of either end of every transaction charge fees for each transaction. The City cannot require the cab companies to eat these costs, and we cannot require that these costs be passed along to customers. We have capped the fees that can be charged by cabs, so the total cost of a cab ride cannot rise.

What this almost certainly means is that the credit card transaction (or interchange) fees will come out of cab drivers' income. But that's not all. Many drivers are "independent contractors" who lease their cabs from the companies for a daily fee. The fee is due on the day they work. But credit card income does not make its way to drivers for several days or even weeks. This puts drivers in a terrible spot, in which they will have to pay more to the company for a day's lease than they have actually made that day. Imagine working all day, only to owe more at the end of the day than you have on hand!

There are other arguments against this regulation. While some cities have gone in the direction of requiring credit cards, it's clear that most have not. Council Member Schiff noted that the taxi industry is heavily regulated, as are bars and restaurants. But we do not require bars and restaurants to accept credit cards, and we shouldn't! I can't imagine trying to tell the Hard Times Cafe, Seward Cafe, or other Second Ward businesses who do not accept plastic that the City will now force them to. Council Member Goodman noted that we want more people taking taxis and pedicabs - but we don't force pedicabs to take credit cards either. Yet.

I want to put this regulation in a broader context. Who is going to benefit from this new regulation?

Taxi customers that have and want to use credit cards, clearly. This regulation increases their convenience.
Taxi companies, arguably - more rides mean more business, but those who choose to share some or all of the added cost may also suffer.
The big banks that operate credit cards definitely benefit. More transactions using credit cards, each subject to a steep fee, will substantially swell their already high profits.

Now, who suffers? Taxi drivers.

Note that the group being forced to take the financial hit is the least wealthy, more likely to be recent immigrants, and the most likely to be young and people of color. Taxi customers have to be somewhat well-off enough to take one of the most expensive modes of transportation available (much more than walking, biking, or using mass transit, and usually more expensive than driving). Taxi companies aren't the most profitable businesses in the world, but their owners are nowhere near as poor as their drivers. And the big banks are making record profits.

Is this surprising? Unfortunately, no. This is a clear pattern of government action at all levels: the transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top. And I regret that our City government is complicit in this as well.

One last thing. I find fascinating that this Council passed a feel-good resolution late last year, by a substantial majority, in favor of the principles of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement. Now, a couple of months later, we pass a law that is a windfall for Wall Street, coming out of the pockets of some of the poorest residents of Minneapolis.

I was one of only two votes against this ordinance, joined by Council Member Tuthill, who knows from owning a small business just how onerous the credit card companies' practices can be.

Fire Cheif Jackson to Retire

2012-01-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

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 Fruetel to be the next Minneapolis Fire Chief, I thought it might be interesting to do a more careful look at the diversity of our top City employees, the department heads. Assuming that John Fruetel's appointment is approved (which I suspect it will be) here is my best snapshot assessment of the gender and racial mix of our department heads:

Charter Department Heads (Appointment approved by the Council)

1. Chief of Fire Department - (will likely be) white male

2. Chief of Police - white male

3. City Assessor - white male

4. City Attorney - white female

5. City Clerk - white male

6. City Coordinator - white male

7. Commissioner of Health - white female

8. Director of Public Works - white male

9. Director of Regulatory Services - white male

10. Director of Civil Rights - black female

11. Director of Community Planning and Economic Development - unknown

Other Department Heads

Besides Charter Department Heads, these positions within the City of Minneapolis are considered Department Heads, although they are apponted by the City Coordinator.

1. Assistant City Coordinator Communications Director - white female

2. Assistant City Coordinator Finance Director - white male

3. Assistant City Coordinator Director of Human Resources (HR) - white female

4. Assistant City Coordinator Chief Information Officer (BIS) - white male

5. Assistant City Coordinator Director of Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) -white male

6. Assistant City Coordinator Convention Center - white male

Out of 17 positions only 5 are women (29.4% female and 70.6% male), and out of 17 on 1 is nonwhite (5.9% nonwhite and 94.1% white).

This does not reflect the makeup of our city, which is approximately 50% female and, according to 2010 census data, roughly 60% white and 40% nonwhite.

Worse, even recently in terms of recruituing and hiring diversity at the department head level we have stuck out. The last three hires, for example, a new Chief Information Officer (BIS), new head of Regulatory Services, and new Finance director all were white males.

We can and should do better.

Twin Cities Have Nation's 3rd-Lowest Unemployment Rate

2012-01-02T12:34:00.001-08:00

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.

Suppressing College Student Votes

2012-01-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

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 students.

In Minnesota, all that stood between thousands of Ward 2 residents and disenfranchisement was Governor Dayton's veto. If you're a student, or care about students being able to vote, please follow this issue and make sure your legislators know where you stand.

2012 Budget Recap

2012-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

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 Community Crime Prevention Specialists.

- There are also no layoffs to firefighters or police officers.

- The City will continue to support Restorative Justice, like the Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Programs, to the tune of $20,000.

- The Council approved $50,000 (from the $125,000 cut in the Mayor’s proposed budget) to support the It's All About the Kids Collaborative (Kids Collaborative) that helps provide stable housing for families identified as homeless who have children that attend a participating Minneapolis Public School.

The lowlights included:

- Layoffs of roughly 25 city employees with another 50 (or more) from the Convention Center being changed from permanent, full time staff to temporary/as needed employees.

- A last minute amendment that narrowly passed despite my strong opposition that transferred $125,000 from 311 to the City Council. This will likely mean the loss of two 311 operators.

- The closing of our Housing Services office and departure of Housing Services staff, Diana Buckanaga and Tanya Cruz who have provided valuable services to thousands of Minneapolis residents for many years. In 2010, the two staff served 12,548 callers; including over 10,000 tenants and nearly 1,000 landlords.

- A cut, after 15 years of stable support, of $200,000 to the Neighborhood Health Care Network that helps community clinics, like the People’s Center, the Community University Health Center, Neighborhood Health Source, Indian Health Board and Southside Community Services provide affordable health care services to uninsured Minneapolis residents.

- For the first time in at least 6 years there will be no federal community block grant funds for Senior programs like South East Seniors and the Seward/Longfellow Healthy Seniors.

- A cut of $68,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars from community organizing in public housing.

- Differences of opinion about the final arrangements for the transfer of remaining Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) administrative funds were not fully resolved and a smooth and complete consolidation of the NRP program into the new Neighborhood Relations Department was not fully accomplished as part of the budget approval.

- The Homegrown Minneapolis coordinator position was not funded and current funding will run out in March.

Additionally this year there will be a new utility bill charge. In previous years the City Council has increased rates charged for sewer and water services based on the amount, or volume, of water used during a month. This year the Council added a new fixed fee or rate and did not increase the rate based on volume. Most homes will see a change that adds about $5 in fixed rates per month starting in January. This new fee will help cover the costs of maintaining the water distribution system and sewer lines that service all homes and businesses at all times. Recently during times when citywide water use is low, there has been less money available to maintain and operate these critical systems. These services require fixed maintenance, and adding fixed rate fees will allow the City to manage them more effectively.

New Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator: Shaun Murphy

2011-12-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

Public Works Director Steve Kotke has appointed Shaun Murphy as the City’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. You may be familiar with that name, as Shaun has coordinated the incredibly successful Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot since 2007, and has been one of the public faces of the City’s bicycle program.

I think very highly of Shaun, having worked with him on several projects in the ward, including Riverside, 27^th Ave SE, 26^th Ave S, 15^th Ave SE and Como Ave SE. His work in all parts of Minneapolis over the past few years has given him a wealth of knowledge about bicycling in this city, about the City’s bureaucracy, and about our neighborhoods. He is quite adept at working with community members, and is focused on the right goal: making Minneapolis a place where everyone, no matter their level of comfort riding with traffic, can use a bicycle to get around.

I’m excited to welcome Shaun into this new role, in which he will have substantially increased clout and capacity to make positive change. It is vitally important, especially as our resources don’t keep pace with our needs, to coordinate the work of the various transportation departments in Public Works (Traffic, Transportation Planning and Engineering, and Maintenance and Repair) and across both City departments and outside agencies (the County, MnDOT, etc).

As you may recall, there was some controversy when this position was created earlier this year (partly generated and fueled by the Star Tribune), but it was supported by eleven of thirteen Council Members earlier this fall. I think Shaun is the right person for this important job, and I’m thrilled that he’s moving to this new role.

New Solid Waste and Recycling Director

2011-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

The Public Works Director has appointed David Herberholz as the City’s new Director of Solid Waste and Recycling. He is currently employed by the city of Tampa, Florida, as the Residential Services Manager for their solid waste department. He has also had fifteen years of experience in solid waste in the private sector. He is originally from Michigan, so he is familiar with Midwestern winters. I want to thank Interim Director Jeff Jenks for his great work over the last few months.

I look forward to meeting David and working him in the months head to improve both our recycling and our organics/composting efforts in Minneapolis.

Bike Plan - Implementation Plan Passes

2011-12-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

This morning, the Council unanimously passed the Implementation Plan for the Minneapolis Bicycle Master Plan. This document was developed by the Bicycle Advisory Committee (or BAC), in conjunction with Public Works staff, and represents a major step forward for bicycle policy in Minneapolis. The Plan includes aggressive recommendations for City actions such as:

Pass a Complete Streets Policy
Advocate for Municipal State Aid (MSA) standards that allow Minneapolis to design streets that safely meet Minneapolis needs
Support a study on the economic impact of bicycling
Minimize both travel lane widths and number of travel lanes where possible and desirable
Develop a process by which the City shall consider the conversion of low-volume roadways to “greenway”-style bicycle and pedestrian facilities
Create a specific permitting process for closing streets to motorized vehicles for “Open Streets” events

This is a momentous occasion, and a few people deserve special thanks and recognition. The BAC has been extremely effective in putting these recommendations forward. All of its members deserve thanks, but I'd like to call a few people out in particular: Nick Mason, the chair, who did a great job moving this through the BAC's process and presenting to the Council; Matthew Hendricks, who chairs the Engineering subcommittee of the BAC and wrote much of the final text of the recommendations; advocates Ethan Fawley, Lisa Peterson Bender and Hokan, who helped push for the strongest possible Plan; and my staff Robin Garwood, who was involved in drafting the recommendations as the Council's appointee to the BAC. Public Works staff Heidi Hamilton and Don Pflaum were instrumental in getting this passed.

I look forward to acting on some of these policy recommendations in the next year, and will look to the BAC for guidance on which we should start on first.

Minneapolis Food Council

2011-12-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

Recently, the City Council voted to create the first-ever Minneapolis Food Council, an advisory group to the City on issues regarding food and food policy, especially regarding local food. This group will continue to oversee and drive the work of the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative.

There is real excitement in the community for this work – ninety-eight people applied for fifteen seats! Four Second Ward residents have been chosen to be on the Food Council: Tracy Singleton, owner of the Birchwood Café; Kurt Schreck, Chief Operating Officer of At Last! Gourmet Foods; Rhys Williams, Buyer for Coop Partners Warehouse, a fruit and vegetable distributor; and Sarah Nelson-Pallmeyer, Director of FoodShare for the Greater Metropolitan Council of Churches. I thank these folks for their willingness to serve, and thank all of the many other Second Ward residents who applied for seats on this commission.

Other appointees to the Council: small grocery store owner Neil Oxendale, Alison Rotel from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Giving Tree Gardens owner (and master composter) Russ Henry, Kristine Igo with the U of M's Healthy Food Healthy Lives initiative, Mill City Farmers Market manager Aaron Reser, urban farmer Eric Larsen, Phase I Homegrown Co-Chair Julie Ristau, Author Beth Dooley, Northside Fresh Coordinator Mustafa Sundiata, Zenteotl Project Director Deborah Ramos, and Rebecca Reed with Sustology.

These folks represent a well-balanced diversity of voices. As a group, they include diversity of food system expertise, with commercial growers, community gardens, processors, restaurateurs, grocery store owners, distributors, farmers markets, food shelves, and composters represented. They include strong links to the Latino, African American and American Indian Communities. The slate builds relationships with the philanthropic and academic communities, and include diversity of experience with the Homegrown initiative (people who have been involved to date and people who have not). And all sectors of Minneapolis are represented: folks on the Food Council live or work in North, Northeast, South, Southwest and Downtown.

The Food Council slate was developed by a nominating committee that included the following people: Grover Jones from the Northside Economic Opportunity Network (or NEON); John Brosnan from Gardening Matters; JoAnne Berkenkamp from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Neisha Reynolds from Hennepin County; Migdalia Loyola, Blue Cross Blue Shield Center for Prevention; Susen Fragrelius from World Tree, consultant for Little Earth; Ross Abbey, chair of CEAC; Collie Graddick, consultant with the MN Department of Agriculture, the Coop Project; Taya Kaufenberg; Megan O’Hara, co-chair of the first phase of Homegrown; June Mathiowetz, Homegrown Coordinator; Erica Prosser from the Mayor’s Office; Robin Garwood from my office. I want to thank them for their great work - I know it wasn't easy to winnow such a large number of very qualified applicants to the final list, but they were successful.

I am confident that this new Food Council will carry forward Homegrown's work, and continue to make Minneapolis a leader on local food policy.

Ahmed Shire Ali

2011-12-16T11:16:00.001-08:00

Ahmed Shire Ali, the accomplice in the Seward Market triple homicide, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison. Along with the conviction of the murderer, I hope that this gives the families of the victims and the neighborhood some closure and peace.

This young man made a terrible decision that helped bring about the deaths of three innocent people. Robbery backed by the threat of violence is never conscionable, precisely because in these sorts of fast-moving, chaotic events, sometimes those threats escalate to acts. Ahmed Shire Ali's decision to put himself in the Seward Market for that purpose that night can't be condoned.

But, from the details I've read, this young man is to be praised for most of the decisions he made after that. He did not kill anyone. He urged his accomplice to stop. According to victim Jamiila Ahmed, he may have saved additional people from being killed that night. He gave himself up to the police. He testified against his one-time friend. He apologized to those whose lives he helped turn upside down. And he has accepted the consequences of his actions and his sentence.

I hope that he follows through with his intention to "do something productive" with his life, and that he can leave prison better able to do so. I thank him for his words and deeds in the aftermath of his crime.

Alcohol Spacing Requirements

2011-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

This morning, the Council voted on two changes to the alcohol spacing requirement ordinances. Both passed, one with my support and one without.

The amendment I supported removed the restriction on microbreweries being within three hundred feet of churches, mosques, and other religious places of assembly. This change is fairly contained, because there are a number of other regulations on microbreweries. It also opens up new opportunities for local food-related businesses, in keeping with the overarching goals of Homegrown Minneapolis. I am not concerned about spillover effects from these establishments.

The amendment I opposed removed the restrictions placed on restaurants that serve alcohol within three hundred feet of churches and religious places of assembly. Currently, restaurants that close to churches can make no more than 30% of their revenue from alcohol sales, may not have a bar area, and may not advertise alcohol on the outside of their building. (These same restrictions remain in place for restaurants near schools.)

I heard from several neighborhood residents, including activists involved in the West Bank and Prospect Park neighborhood groups. There are unique concerns about alcohol on the West Bank, where there are many mosques and ongoing tensions between alcohol-serving establishments and the predominantly muslim population, and near the University campus, where underage drinking is a continuing concern. I've also heard positive comments, mostly from Seward and Longfellow residents, but the majority of constituents who have contacted me about this have been opposed to it.

I must also note that the map of current places of religious assembly provided by staff in advance of this vote was incomplete at best. Among the religious places of assembly that were not listed on the map: Prospect Park United Methodist Church, Dar Al'Hijrah Mosque and Darul Quba Mosque. At least two of the churches on the map were shown in the wrong location - across the street in one case, a block away in another. The assurance I received from Council Member Schiff's office that there are no current alcohol-serving establishments operating under the 70/30 because of their proximity to a church is therefore somewhat suspect - how do we know if this is really the case if we don't have a reliable handle on where the churches actually are?

Single and Dual Stream Recycling

2011-11-30T15:27:00.000-08:00

The Council's Transportation and Public Works committee has received a very interesting report on single-stream and dual-stream recycling systems. In a single-stream system, residents place all recyclables in the same container. In a dual-stream system, residents place all containers (glass, aluminum and plastic) in one container, and all fibers (paper, newspaper, cardboard) in another. Some key takeaways:

If we transition to single or dual sort, we are not likely to see any significant decrease in the revenue we make from recycled material, but are likely to see an increase in the recycling rate and the efficiency of our recycling service.
Many, if not most, other major cities in the US have switched from the multi-sort systems that most cities adopted in the 1980s to single- or dual-stream collection.
Customers of single and dual stream systems like them.
It is possible to switch to a dual or single stream system without increasing costs.

The committee directed Public Works staff to return with a recommendation on a new recycling program that best balances the values of cost effectiveness, convenience for customers, and reducing total environmental impact. I look forward to this important discussion, which I hope will lead to an increase in the diversion of recyclable materials from the waste stream.

This is important, because our recycling rate is actually trending down, and has reached an embarrassingly low 17%. Many other cities, including Saint Paul, are up in the 20s and 30s. Hennepin County's goal for Minneapolis is for us to reach a 35% recycling rate. In January, the Council will be considering a new solid waste and recycling Sustainability Indicator target to recover 67% of all recyclable materials from the residential waste stream by 2014 (this includes not only standard recyclables but organic waste and construction waste recovery as well). We clearly have a lot of progress to make, and changing to a single or dual stream system could be part of the solution.

Cyclist Killed on West River Parkway

2011-11-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

There's been another tragic crash that has resulted in the death of a bicyclist in Ward 2. Last Saturday, 61-year old Thomas Malloy was biking to worship in Saint Paul. He was attempting to cross West River Parkway from the bike trail to the ramp up to the East Franklin bridge when he was hit by a truck driven by Wesley Gubbin.

According to what I've read in the media and heard from staff, Mr. Gubbin was driving north in the southbound lane, in order to pass vehicles that stopped - presumably conscientious folks taking the time to let Mr. Malloy cross the street. Mr. Gubbin then drove away.

I am pleased to hear that Mr. Gubbin - likely spurred on by the fact that the police had a good description of his truck - has turned himself in. It makes sense that he's been charged with criminal vehicular homicide, and he faces serious consequences for his reckless behavior.

In my opinion, this is not an infrastructure problem, but a problem of driver behavior. When we choose to drive, we need to recognize that we have the power to end someone's life, and act with care.

It's especially disturbing to me that this accident occurred on West River Parkway, because it links to complaints I've heard for years about driver behavior on the parkways. The parkways are not speedways - they have a 25 mph speed limit for a reason. They are facilities with parallel car, bicycle and pedestrian routes, and drivers need to be prepared to stop to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to cross. When traffic stops in front of you on a parkway, please try to keep in mind that this is normal, not some sort of obstruction to veer around. If you're in such a hurry that you can't comply with the 25 mph limit or wait for other road users to cross the road, please choose a different route.

Lastly, I want to thank the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition for working with Mr. Malloy's family on a memorial ride, tentatively planned for Sunday, November 29th, at 3pm.

More Socially Responsible Spending

2011-11-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

This morning the council took a step towards spending tax payer dollars in a more socially reponsible and just manner.

Following up on recommendations from the Disparity Study conducted last year, the Council has agreed to put in place our first-ever goal for the percentage of minority- and woman–owned businesses city government will purchase products and services from. The goal is 25%. This means that each department will review, track and report on its purchasing practices and that Civil Rights staff will assist them in finding certified minority or woman owned companies available to provide the products and services they need. There are a wide variety of private businesses we use for goods and services including food and beverages, legal services, equipment repair, printing services and more. Also, for the first time, goals will be placed on grant recipients who may be nonprofit service providers to also purchase goods and services from minority and woman owned businesses.

According to the staff report, in 2010 some $95 million was spend to purchase such goods and services and could have been opened up to all small businesses. At a 25% inclusion goal, almost $24 million could have gone to woman- and minority owned businesses. Unfortunately, in 2010 we weren't even keeping track of this. In 2012 we will be.

I am a longtime supporter of this initiative and see it as an important step towards spending our public dollars in a more socially responsible way and being a leader in addressing the racial and gender inequities that we know exist in our city and region.

Farmers Market Ordinance - the Good Parts

2011-11-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Despite the unfortunate destruction of one of the critical pieces of the farmers market community's recommended ordinance changes by the Council this morning, there's a lot of other good stuff in this ordinance.

Most importantly, our ordinances will no longer be neutral on whether or not the food at farmers markets is local. During the growing season, 60% of vendors at farmers markets will have to be agricultural producers, bringing foods like tomatoes and green peppers, or meat, eggs, and cheese to market. Distributors will still be allowed, but they have to be part of the other 40%, and will not be allowed to sell foods that are available locally and in season. (It's important to note that these changes don't apply to the Municipal market, which is governed by a different ordinance than the other farmers markets in town.)

The Mini Markets that were created in 2007 have been given legal standing (they weren't part of our ordinances before). They've also been given more flexibility in choosing vendors; up until now, they've only been allowed to have agricultural producers, and those people have only been allowed to sell plant-based foods (like tomatoes and peppers). Now they'll be able to have up to one distributor of foods like bananas, and one home processor, selling foods like jams, jellies, pickles or bread.

The ordinance creates a new license type called a "Produce and Craft Market." These are allowed to be indoors or outdoors, and have much more flexibility in selecting their vendors. Up to 70% of these markets can be crafters, artists, and others bringing products they've made to market. Only 10% of these markets can be food distributors, though, to preserve the local connection, and no vendors may resell non-food items (sunglasses, knick knacks).

Farmers Markets will be allowed to have up to 6 indoor markets per year as part of their normal license, even if those markets occur on another site. So, for instance, a market that takes place in the summer on a church parking lot will be able - for free - to have one winter market for every month of the off-season in a park building five blocks away. All they need to do is write the location as part of their license application.

There are also a number of important clarifications in the ordinance, including a much cleaner list of definitions.

My thank sincere goes to all the staff and market managers who helped work on ths project and especially to my Aide, Robin Garwood for all his skill and energy helping to put this package together.

Managers or representatives of these markets were consulted, and supportive:

Uptown
Mill City
Municipal
Midtown
West Broadway
Kingfield
Fulton
Nicollet Mall
Northeast
Midtown Global Market
The Farmers Market Annex

These folks also deserve special thanks

Stakeholders

David Nicholson, Madeline Kastler, Aaron Reser

Staff:
Tim Jenkins, Curt Fernandez, Katie Lampi, Steve Poor, Dan Huff, Linda Roberts, Joel Fussy and Jackie Hanson

·

Farmers Market Ordinance

2011-11-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

The farmers market ordinance that my office has been working on for a year passed the Council this morning. I will be writing another post about all of the good that I believe it will do, and thanking those involved in drafting it.

However, one major provision that the farmers market community asked for was deleted by the Council. This was a requirement that Farmers Markets and Produce and Craft Markets be nonprofits, or the projects of nonprofits. This was not an idea generated by City staff, but by the farmers market community itself. They were looking to make clear to everyone that farmers markets are organizations established for the common good, and that this is an essential part of the identity of farmers markets. I beleive that this is summer we all know and appreicate about farmers markets today and that it is something most Minneapolitans value and would like to see continued.

The fact is that all large-scale farmers markets in Minneapolis, but one, are nonprofits (the one for-profit would have been grandfathered in as an adjunct to the Municipal market, which only exisits because it is across the street from it). All markets were engaged in the process of drafting this ordinance. All supported it. Unfortunately, none of that mattered to the majority of my colleagues.

The motion to kill the nonprofit requirement was brought forward by Council Member Gary Schiff. Those who voted in favor of striking the nonprofit requirement, against the expressed wishes of the farmers market community: Schiff, Colvin Roy, Goodman, Hofstede, Johnson, Quincy, Reich, Samuels, and Tuthill.

Those who voted to keep the requirement, in keeping with the community’s wishes: Gordon, Glidden, Hodges, Lilligren.

I’d like to share a little of the dismal process that brought us to this unfortunate outcome:

Despite the fact that our office shared the farmers market ordinance with Council Member Schiff’s office in early September, we were not informed that he planned to bring this amendment forward before this morning. A request by City staff and our office to brief CM Schiff was declined – he was the only CM to decline such an invitation.
In direct contravention of the adopted rules of the Council, Council Member Schiff's motion was presented verbally, not in writing.
Council Member Schiff's understanding of the ordinance was so limited that his motion to delete the nonprofit requirement included only the Farmers Market license type, leaving the requirement in place for the Produce and Craft Market license type. This error had to be caught and corrected by others.
As of yesterday, Council Member Schiff and his office had not been in contact on this issue with the Midtown Farmers Market, the largest and oldest market in his ward.
Council Members Tuthill and Goodman expressed their support for the ordinance, including the nonprofit requirement, between the date of the industry meeting and the public hearing. They then voted against this key provision.
Council Members Samuels, Goodman and Hofstede voted in favor of the ordinance with the nonprofit requirement included in committee last week, then voted against the provision this morning.

We narrowly dodged having another motion from CM Schiff take another integral piece out of the ordinance as drafted by the farmers market community. He moved to delete the entire section that requires farmers markets to be outdoors. This would also have deleted the 6 indoor days per year – and, with them, the capacity to have those events on a different site, for free, as part of the standard farmers market license. This change would have undone one of the requests my office heard most clearly from farmers market folks over the last year: the desire to have your indoor, winter markets at a different site from outdoor. Again, because CM Schiff did not talk to me, my office, or members of the farmers market community before making this motion, we were unable to make this clear to him.

Fortunately, we won this vote, on a narrower-than-preferable 8-5 vote. Those who voted with the farmers market community: Gordon, Glidden, Hodges, Hofstede, Lilligren, Reich, Quincy, Samuels. Those who voted against the farmers market community: Schiff, Colvin Roy, Goodman, Johnson.

I fully expect that Council Member Schiff will use the events of this morning to attempt to paint himself as the best ally of the farmers market community. I hope that this post helps set the record straight.

Bicycles as Traffic

2011-11-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

This morning, the Council voted to include bicycles in the definition of traffic.

In itself, this change is neither positive nor negative. Bicycles were already defined in both State statute and City ordinance as vehicles, and vehicles are part of the definition of traffic.

From the state law (which Minneapolis adopts by reference):

169.222 OPERATION OF BICYCLE.

Subdivision 1.Traffic laws apply.Every person operating a bicycle shall have all of the rights and duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle by this chapter, except in respect to those provisions in this chapter relating expressly to bicycles and in respect to those provisions of this chapter which by their nature cannot reasonably be applied to bicycles. [emphasis added]

And from the City ordinance before this change was made:

Traffic: Pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles and other conveyances either singly or together, while using any street or highway for purposes of travel. [emphasis added]

I voted for this change, because it's clear that the process of adopting it has achieved some good results. Here's the history. Shaun Murphy, who coordinates the City's Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot program, worked with our Traffic Control department to address ongoing concerns about taxi drivers and others stopping and standing in bike lanes. The initial reaction from the Traffic Control was that a bike lane isn't necessarily a traffic lane, because bicyclists aren't explicitly defined as traffic.

As the existing text of the relevant laws proves, this was essentially nonsense. Bicycles are defined as vehicles. Vehicles are part of the definition of traffic. Bicycles are traffic, and have been for decades.

When this was presented to the Bicycle Advisory Committee (after the public hearing, interestingly), it was clear that Traffic Control had moved off of their original position before the ordinance was changed. Basically, the ordinance change served as a catalyst, not a cause.

One other interesting note: the fee for private construction closing bike lanes has been, for reasons I can't fathom, been lower than the fee for standard traffic lanes. It seems that might change now - again, not as a direct result of this change, because bicycles have always been traffic, but because of the conversations it's started.

My office has gotten a number of contacts from the bicycling community about this change, but folks mostly seem confused. We've gotten questions like: is this a good thing or a bad thing? Two members of the BAC, including my appointee Bob Hain, attended the public hearing not to speak on the issue but learn whether this change will have any impact. Neither of the local organizations whose take on bicycling issues I trust - the BAC and the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition - took any position on this.

So, on balance: this change doesn't create any problems, and the process to approve it has helped solve some. But, in itself, it's almost a non-change and falls short of being a major step forward for bicyclists in Minneapolis.

Vikings Stadium

2011-10-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

I want to make abundantly clear that I do not support any of the current public funding schemes for a Vikings stadium. As you may recall, I did not support publicly funding the new Twins stadium either, and was the only Council Member to call on the County to let Minneapolis residents vote on the new taxes that paid for it. I do not, in general, support devoting public funds to private stadiums.

Stadiums are not effective ways to create jobs or economic development. They are not good long term investments - just look at the continuing drag the Target Center places on the City. They are not good ways to improve underdeveloped parts of our city - just look at the sea of surface parking lots surrounding the Metrodome.

In addition, there are a lot of specifics to dislike in the most recent proposal from the Mayor and Council President, now being branded as the "People's Stadium."

Sales taxes are regressive, arguably as regressive as property taxes. The proposed citywide sales tax presents another problem, because many small businesses - including many in the Second Ward - will have to bear the costs and competitive disadvantage, while gaining no conceivable benefit. Will a stadium downtown help El Norteno restaurant on Lake Street, the Birchwood Cafe in Seward, the Cupcake Cafe in Prospect Park or Muddsuckers in Southeast Como? No, I don't believe so. So why should we make them pay for it?

If the stadium is to be considered an asset - which is a stretch, from my perspective - it is a statewide asset, and the costs should be borne by the state. If it is to be considered a driver of local business development - an even more questionable assertion - then the costs should be borne by those who might conceivably benefit, like the downtown zone. Either way, a citywide tax makes no sense. To echo my colleague Betsy Hodges, the City is already contributing more than our fair share to the state's budget, through the broken Local Government Aid program. Why would we voluntarily worsen this already-bad situation?

I am also concerned about the casino proposal that has been tied to the stadium deal. It's part of Block E, a massively taxpayer-subsidized development that has never lived up to the expectations and promises of its backers. Why should we assume that it will magically start over performing? What happens if the Block E part of this deal does not end up paying in as much as expected?

I want to reiterate the sentiments that I shared with the Star Tribune: if there's an openness to new revenues, there are 50 things I'd rather fund than a new football stadium. We are laying off essential City staff. A significant number of the staff who have done the real work to move forward the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative - one of the Mayor's top public policy priorities - face layoffs, potentially limiting the amount of progress we can make in the next few years. We're laying off firefighters. We might be pulling back from support for necessary and valuable programs like Restorative Justice and the Domestic Abuse Project (the Mayor's proposed budget zeroes out both programs). The Police Department's Crime Prevention Specialists - a real commitment the City currently has to community policing - are at risk. Our efforts to fight homelessness are being completely swamped by the need generated by the Great Recession.

This is the true "People's" work - the essential services being provided by the City every day. A stadium for a privately-owned football team is not, no matter how loudly its advocates proclaim it to be. At a time like this, if there's an appetite for taxing our residents more, isn't it painfully obvious that there are higher priorities for our tax dollars?

Then there's the anti-democratic process that seems to be underway. There's language in our City's charter that prohibits public subsidy of this magnitude without an affirmative vote by residents of Minneapolis. Stadium supporters justifiably worry that they wouldn't win that vote, because it seems likely that the people of Minneapolis won't support giving public dollars to private stadiums even if we did have an open and healthy campaign debate about it. It is both unwise and unfair to try to get around this legal mandate for a vote. And, worse, prominent stadium supporters at the State level are calling the referendum process a "game."

Lastly, I am very disturbed by the indication from the Governor that he is open to using any portion of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy funds for this stadium. That is not what Minnesota voters supported. The Legacy amendment is for investments in the environment, arts and history. It's not for sports teams and stadiums. An attempt to cynically rebrand the Vikings as a "cultural" asset, rather than an entertainment provider, can only harm the Legacy fund in the long run - in addition to misusing yet more funds that could be better spent on other, higher purposes (as the voters intended).

I hope that no one is counting on my vote for any component of this plan, whether the sales tax or the casino.

Occupy MN Resolution

2011-10-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

I strongly supported a resolution authored by Council Member Betsy Hodges this morning, supporting "Peaceable Calls for Reforms to the Income Tax, Financial, and Electoral Systems." This puts the Council on record standing with the Occupy MN protests, the local outgrowth of the Occupy Wall Street protest.

This was not adopted without some controversy. Council Member Colvin Roy attempted to delete the "whereas" clause calling out the negative impacts of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and her motion failed on an extremely narrow 6-5 vote. Joining me in voting against CM Colvin Roy's amendment: CMs Hodges, Glidden, Lilligren, Schiff and Quincy. Voting to strip the Citizen's United clause: CMs Colvin Roy, Goodman, Hofstede, Reich and Tuthill.

The arguments against this clause, and against the resolution as a whole, were completely uncompelling. The Council shouldn't weigh in on Supreme Court cases? Why on earth not, if they are objectionable and have negative impacts on Minneapolis residents? Citizen's United doesn't have an impact on local elections? Of course it does - outside groups are now able to spend an unlimited amount of money to influence Mayor and Council races. The Council shouldn't weigh in on federal issues? But we do that all the time: we have a federal legislative agenda. And there is clearly a local-specific issue at hand: the ongoing protest right outside City Hall.

As importantly, this helps push back against attempts to criticize the Occupy protests, including the recent questionable decision by the MPD to issue a press release stating the "costs" of the protests. The MPD response so far has been far better than, for example, our handling of protests connected to the Republican National Convention, but it's not clear to me that we need as many officers tasked to the protest as I see in Government Plaza on a regular basis. And rather than providing this information to the Council through the regular budget process, MPD issued a general press release while the protests are still underway. It's hard to see this as anything but a backhanded attempt to disparage the Occupy protestors.

There may be a similar attempt brewing at the County level, so it's important that the Council come down firmly on the side of the protestors.

I want to thank Council Member Hodges for putting this resolution together, and for speaking so compellingly for it this morning.

Here's the full text:

Whereas, Minneapolis citizens and the City of Minneapolis are suffering from the effects of an ongoing economic and political crisis that threatens our individual and collective fiscal stability and quality of life; and

Whereas, the causes and consequences of the economic crisis are eroding the fundamental social contract upon which the Constitution of the United States was founded; namely, the ability of Americans to come together and form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense of, promote the general welfare of, and secure the blessings of liberty for all, allowing every American to strive for and share in the prosperity of our nation through cooperation and hard work; and

Whereas, far from suffering the effects of the economic crisis Wall Street profits increased 720% between 2007 and 2009 (New York State Comptroller, 2011); and

Whereas, today corporations exert undue influence and power in our country, and the key to this power is the concept of corporate personhood; and

Whereas, the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission rolled back legal restrictions on corporate campaign spending, thus undermining the voices of individual Americans; and

Whereas, income inequality in America is greater than at any time since the Great Depression, with top 1% income bracket controlling 42% of all wealth (Levy Institute, 2010); and

Whereas, the International Monetary Fund found that greater income inequality suppresses economic growth (IMF, 2011); and

Whereas, an October 5th ABC/Washington Post poll showed 75% of Americans support raising taxes on millionaires to reduce the federal deficit; and

Whereas, the lower- and middle-class workers have sacrificed their present and future security in response to the economic collapse while those responsible for it are offered record profits and tax breaks; and

Whereas, over 14 million Americans are unemployed including nearly 16,000 in Minneapolis alone (Bureau of Labor Statistics and MNDEED, 2011), over 50 million are forced to live without health insurance including an estimated 460,000 Minnesotans (U.S. Census, 2007), and 1 out of every 3 children in Minneapolis lives in poverty (Minneapolis Foundation, 2011); and

Whereas, the racial disparity in unemployment rates is higher in Minneapolis than in any other of the 50 largest metropolitan areas (Minnesota Public Radio, 2011); and

Whereas, in addition to lost property value and regulatory expenditures, the City of Minneapolis has spent in excess of $20 million dollars through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to address the impacts of the foreclosure crisis caused in large part by the financial industry’s overleveraging of high-risk mortgage-backed securities;

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by the City of Minneapolis in order to create a shared dialogue through which to address the problems and generate solutions for 99% of Americans the City stands in support of peaceful calls for serious reforms to the income tax, financial, and electoral systems, and of education efforts in furtherance of those goals.

Healthy Food Policy

2011-10-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

This morning, the Council passed a Healthy Food Policy. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it passed on a razor-thin 6-5 vote. Those who joined me in voting yes: CMs Hodges, Glidden, Hofstede, Lilligren, and Quincy. Those who voted against it (in favor of unhealthy food?): CMs Reich, Goodman, Schiff, Tuthill, and Colvin Roy. CMs Johnson and Samuels were absent this morning.

There was no discussion at this morning's meeting to explain the motivations of those who voted "no," but the positions of those who voted against it were made clear at yesterday's Committee of the Whole meeting. However, many of the concerns were based on misreadings or distortions of the policy. Here's an attempt to set the record straight:

1) There’s a problem. According to a recent employee health assessment, 65% of City employees are overweight or obese and 60% aren’t getting enough fruits and vegetables. This has an impact on costs to the City in health claims, and costs to City employees through health insurance premiums. In 2009, approximately $110 million was spent on claims related to chronic conditions – the amount spent on claims dictates premium costs. These costs can directly be reduced through healthy lifestyle choices.

2) City employees asked us to solve it. Over 70% of City employees indicated in the employee survey that they want more healthy options. Would it be responsible for the City's leaders to ignore this request from our employees?

3) Staff worked on this because the Council told them to. At least one Council Member questioned why we have staff working on this issue. The answer is simple: they were directed to do so by the Council itself. The City Wellness Committee was established by a Council action in 2007, and directed to do exactly this sort of work by the following Council resolution:

Whereas, research shows that comprehensive health and wellness programs increase employees’ overall health and productivity and reduce health care costs, absenteeism and workers’ compensation costs; and

Whereas, the City will continue to partner with union representatives, benefit plan vendors, city council departments, independent boards and agencies and employees to identify and implement strategies and programs to assist employees lead healthier lifestyles and decrease rising health care costs.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by the City Council of the City of Minneapolis: That the City Council does hereby declare that it will assist employees in leading healthier lives by supporting activities associated with a comprehensive Health and Wellness Program to be extended to employees and retirees of the City and its independent boards and agencies with the goal of reduced health care costs and an improved quality of life at work and at home.

Be It Further Resolved that the City Council will support the formation of a Wellness Committee that will develop and promote a comprehensive Health and Wellness Program to address our most costly and prevalent areas of risk. Such committee will be composed of all levels of employees, both represented and non represented, from various departments across the City. The departments of Human Resources and Health and Family Support will establish and co-chair the committee.

Be It Further Resolved that all departments will allow and encourage employees to participate in health and wellness activities.

Be It Further Resolved that the Wellness Committee will report annually on the program participation and other findings to the Executive Sponsor, to include one Council Member, one union representative, the Director of Human Resources and the Commissioner of Health.

Adopted 8/3/2007.

4) Our vendors are already serving healthy food. One Council Member attempted to make the new vendor in the City Hall cafe space an issue, as in: should we really be telling them what they can serve? But she didn't bother to learn that this has already happened to a substantial degree. The City Hall food vendor responded to a Request for Proposals issued by the Metropolitan Building Commission, the entity that controls City Hall. Before that RFP was released, the Wellness Committee worked with the MBC to ensure that it included language incentivizing healthy food. And lo and behold, the vendor offers numerous healthy options, including half-portions, whole grains and legumes, fresh fruit and more. Additionally, the intent of this policy is to highlight their healthy food options, not dictate them.

5) The policy doesn’t apply to ‘treats’ brought in by individual employees. Multiple Council Members either insinuated or openly claimed that this policy would prohibit employees from bringing in treats like birthday cakes, purchased with their own funds. Either they didn't read the policy before objecting to it, or they were deliberately trying to mislead. The policy applies only to food purchased with City funds and people contracting to be food vendors in City facilities (including vending machines). Individuals bringing treats to share with their coworkers - including Council Members bringing baked goods in before Council meetings - are simply not covered by the policy.

This debate has been amplified - but unfortunately not clarified - by the Star Tribune. The post quotes certain Council Members doling out some of the above-referenced misinformation, for instance implying that birthday cakes will be prohibited by the policy. A glance at the policy makes clear that this is not true.

I'm disappointed that this good idea - which is responsible given the impacts of rising health costs on the City's budget, responsive to the requests of our employees, and completely in line with wellness policies being adopted by large institutions around the country - became so controversial. I'm even more disappointed that so many of the arguments against it were so uninformed or misleading.

Pedicabs - Outcome

2011-10-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

This morning, the Council voted on a comprehensive change to the licensing requirements for pedicabs. I support many of these changes, especially the lifting of the rush hour ban in downtown.

But in the end I could not vote for it. I was joined in voting "no" by Council Member Lilligren. I was able to make several important changes that will decrease the ordinance's negative impacts - allowing cabs up to 66 inches in width (up from the original proposal of 55 inches), allowing people to give free rides as long as they don't take tips or display advertising, and referring to state law to determine which past felonies should disqualify folks from operating pedicabs (rather than including all felonies).

My chief objection to the ordinance is that, at the urging of our staff, it includes a requirement for a specific set of braking systems for pedicabs. I continue to believe that this is a completely unnecessary, unwarranted interference in the decisions of small pedicab businesses in Minneapolis. My approach was to adopt a stringent stopping standard for all pedicabs, no matter their braking system: prove the vehicle can come to a stop within 15 feet from a speed of 10 miles per hour. If an operator can meet this standard and prove that their vehicle can come to a stop, why should the City care what braking system they use?

I was joined in taking this position by the Bicycle Advisory Committee's Enforcement, Encouragement and Education subcommittee. They took the time to meet with pedicab operators and City staff to discuss the proposed ordinance, and came to an unambiguous position against adopting a requirement for certain braking systems. These are the folks the City has asked to be our subject-matter experts on issues relating to bicycling - and are some of the only folks we've talked to with personal experience in different bicycle braking systems - and the Council ignored them.

In committee, when questioned on this, staff asserted that most cities have adopted specific braking system requirements. But when staff conducted an in-depth review of the pedicab ordinances in the 50 largest US cities, he found three times as many cities do not have this requirement (23) than do (7). Examples of cities that don’t: Portland, Milwaukee, Denver, San Diego, Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.

In my view, the City - both staff and Council - has basically singled out one individual business with this change. This was made abundantly clear by the Council's decision to allow staff to share images of that business' vehicles. I find this troubling. It's not the City's appropriate role to choose winners and losers in an industry. It's even worse to make decisions, as we seem to have done, on the basis of aesthetics or animus against a certain business.

Our actions also conflict directly with some of the rhetoric used to support this ordinance. At committee, much was made of the fact that this ordinance will help "create jobs." I find that extraordinarily difficult to square with the decision to include an unnecessary requirement that will, at best, impose significant costs on at least one operator and, at worst, put that operator out of business - and all for no tangible safety benefit. That doesn't sound like "creating jobs" to me.

Senser Charged in Hit-and-Run

2011-09-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Amy Senser has been charged with a felony in the hit-and-run that left True Thai chef "Ped" Phanthavong dead. I am glad to see charges brought. It is absolutely unacceptable to leave the scene of an accident, any accident, much less one involving a pedestrian. It is entirely possible, given the close proximity of Fairview Hospital, that Ms. Senser’s decision to flee contributed to Mr. Phanthavong’s death. My heart goes out to Ped’s family and friends at True Thai.

Anousone "Ped" Phanthavong

2011-09-28T11:52:00.001-07:00

There is a heartfelt editorial in the Star Tribune about the recent hit-and-run on the off-ramp from I-94 to Riverside, written by one of the co-owners of True Thai restaurant. She praises and shares some of her eulogy for the victim, "Ped" Phanthavong.

I realize that this must be a difficult time for the Senser family. But the Ped and his family have suffered even more. It is simply unconscionable to flee the scene of an accident, especially one in which someone may have been seriously hurt or killed. I hope that the Sensers will attempt, in some way, to make amends.

Mahdi Hassan Ali Found Guilty

2011-09-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

Mahdi Hassan Ali, the person most responsible for the triple slaying in Seward in January of last year, has been found guilty. I hope that this gives the families of the victims some peace. I will continue to work on youth violence prevention policies and programs, to try to keep tragedies like this from occurring in the future.

Apparently, this young man wanted to get his car out of the impound lot, and his terrible decisions have ensured that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, in addition to ending three innocent lives. We must find a way, as a society, to intervene in the lives of young people before they come to believe that violence is a legitimate way to solve their problems.

Improvements to 15th Ave SE Bike Lanes

2011-09-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the City unveiled major improvements to the bike lanes on 15th Avenue Southeast. The "conflict zones," where cars and trucks making turns cross the path of bicyclists going straight, are now colored green approaching the intersections with University Ave, 4th St, and 5th St. At University and at 4th, the green coloration goes all the way through the intersection. Most of the twin cities media covered the event: Fox 9, KARE 11, KSTP, WCCO (twice), the Daily, and the Star Tribune.

This installation merited a public event for two main reasons. The first is that the intersection of 15th and 4th is where University student Audrey Hull was hit and killed by a truck earlier this year. The additional attention to these intersections is in part a response to that tragedy.

Second, this installation is innovative in a number of ways. While Minneapolis has experimented with green bike lanes in a few locations, this treatment is still rather uncommon. This is also the first time we've used colored thermoplastic rather than latex paint. That's important because the thermoplastic is supposed to last quite a lot longer than paint, reducing maintenance costs. If the material works as intended in this location, I predict we'll be able to colorize more of these conflict zones around the city. Lastly, but most importantly, this is the first time we've continued a colorized bike lane all the way through an intersection. That is done in a few other bike-friendly US cities, and is quite common in European cities with high bike mode shares, like Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

Even without the tragedy earlier this year, 15th would be the ideal place to try out these improvements. According to the City's bike counts, 15th carries more than 3,500 bicyclists on an average day. That equates to a greater than 12% mode share, meaning that one in every eight vehicles on 15th is a bicycle. That's the largest number of people on any street in Minneapolis, and rivals many of our off-street trails. We don't have data on facilities outside the city, but I believe it's a safe assertion that 15th serves more bicyclists than any other street in Minnesota.

I want to specifically thank the person who did the most to make this happen: Steve Mosing, with the City of Minneapolis Public Works department. Steve made contact with the manufacturers of the thermoplastic material and received a very good price for this installation - they gave the City a break on the cost so that we can try the material out, in hopes that we will purchase more in the future. He worked to identify funding within the Traffic and Parking Services department's budget. Steve saw a problem that he could do something about, and worked to resolve it. On behalf of the people of Ward 2 and the bicyclists in Minneapolis: thank you, Steve.

Life Time Fitness to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Partners

2011-09-16T09:33:00.001-07:00

Today, I received an email from Fire Department staff indicating that Life Time Fitness, the company that holds a City contract for health club memberships for Police and Fire staff, has reversed itself and will now cover domestic partners, both same-sex and opposite-sex, in their benefits program.

I can't help but think this is, at least in part, a reaction to the difficulty that the Council had back in April in waiving our Domestic Partnership ordinance to continue to do business with Life Time. Here's what I wrote back then:

Waiver of Domestic Partnership Ordinance. I voted against granting a waiver of the City’s domestic partner ordinance to Life Time Fitness. This ordinance requires City contractors to provide the same benefits to same-sex domestic partners that they provide to married employees. Life Time Fitness does not provide these benefits. The City’s current contract with our Police and Fire unions obligates the City to provide health club memberships to these employees, and Life Time is the clear favorite of many. However, I believe that in order for our ordinances offering equal rights to all to have any meaning, we must actually use them. I fear that the Council’s decision to grant this waiver will set a precedent that no contractor should worry about losing the City’s business for not providing the domestic partnership benefits we’ve mandated by ordinance. This situation was especially problematic, because it became clear that one of Life Time’s competitors – the YMCA – does provide domestic partnership benefits. Joining me in voting to uphold our domestic partner ordinance were Council Members Schiff, Lilligren and Tuthill.

This goes to show that sometimes even losing votes can make significant, positive changes. Congratulations to the GLBT Life Time Fitness employees who now share in the standard benefits provided to everyone else.

Commercial Recycling Ordinance Goes into Effect

2011-09-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

The commercial recycling ordinance I authored that passed the Council unanimously back in June is going into effect. Read more here.

My office has been working with staff in several City departments - Regulatory Services, which oversees the commercial building inspection program, Communications, Sustainability and others - to make the ordinance's roll-out as smooth as possible. There is a page for the City website under construction, and resources for both our inspectors and the affected property owners.

Here's the City's news release on the ordinance going into effect.

Managed Natural Landscape Ordinance Passes

2011-09-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

The Managed Natural Landscape or "tall grass" ordinance I authored passed the Council unanimously this morning.

This action represents the City's formal rules catching up with both the current best practices of our staff and the evolving aesthetics around yards in Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Prairie plantings, whether native or not, have a number of real advantages over standard turf grass lawns. They have deeper roots, which means they more effectively wick storm water into the ground, helping the City's goal of decreasing storm water quantity and improving storm water quality. They typically require fewer artificial inputs, such as pesticide, fertilizer, and the energy required to mow. They sequester more atmospheric carbon, and create more biodiversity and habitat for beneficial species like monarch butterflies.

Many purposeful prairie plantings already exist in Minneapolis. As of today, they have legal standing. Our inspections staff have been very responsive to natural landscapes, allowing residents to cultivate them even without the official imprimatur of our ordinances. I believe that today's action will help them communicate with people who have prairie plantings and people who complain about them. It makes clear to staff that the Council strongly supports allowing residents to cultivate well-managed prairie plantings. I expect this to drive some process improvements within housing inspections, including additional training for all inspectors on the differences between managed natural landscapes and turf grass lawns that are not being maintained.

I have two main hopes for the impact that this ordinance will have. The first is that there will be fewer of the incidents that have unfortunately happened about once per year since I took office in 2006, in which the City has mowed the purposeful planting of a Second Ward resident.

The second hope is that more Minneapolis residents will change part or all of their yards to managed natural landscapes, for all of the environmental benefits above - and the additional aesthetic benefit that beautiful prairie grasses, flowers and other plants bring.

Pedicabs

2011-09-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

As you can read here, there is a move afoot to improve the Pedicab ordinance in Minneapolis. A public hearing on this proposed ordinance will be held on September 12th, at the Regulatory Energy and Environment committee.

The last such tweak was just a few years ago. It's a great example of how a change in the rules can make it possible for a new type of business to flourish - that last ordinance revision sparked an explosion of pedicabs in Minneapolis, especially in downtown.

There are a few changes being requested both by City regulatory staff and by pedicab owners and operators, including making operators (rather than owners) responsible for traffic code violations, improving the safety requirements for the pedicabs themselves, and more.

To my mind, however, the most important ask from the pedicab owners and operators is for the City to lift the prohibition on pedicabs in downtown during rush hour. The Minnneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee has formally supported this idea, for a number of reasons. Some quotes from their letter to Council Members:

"The BAC’s position is that pedicabs should be subject to the same basic rules of the road as ordinary bicycles. The City is currently in the extraordinary position of holding pedicabs to a different and more stringent standard than both bicycles and taxicabs. All of the concerns we heard expressed by Licensing staff – the impact of slow-moving pedicabs on congestion during peak periods and concerns about the safety of pedicab operators and customers – can equally apply to standard bicyclists.

While both of these concerns are legitimate, on reflection neither is particularly compelling. In terms of congestion, we would note that tricycles, bike trailers, and other human-powered vehicles larger than the standard bicycle are allowed in downtown at any time, as are the City-sponsored Nice Ride bicycles that tend to be ridden more slowly than a standard bicycle. The safety concern is similarly unpersuasive, as bicyclists are and should be allowed on even the busiest of downtown streets during rush hour. We would argue that, because the speed differential between pedicabs and other traffic is lower during peak periods, both concerns are if anything less striking during rush hour than during the rest of the day, and much less than during some periods, like bar close, when we currently allow pedicabs.

Our position is not just based on doubts about the above concerns, but the many benefits we believe that allowing pedicabs in downtown during peak hours could bring. Downtown is a tourist destination, and the peak hours (also often known as “happy hours”) are not exempt. We view pedicabs as a tourism amenity, benefitting from and building Minneapolis’ reputation as the premier bicycle city in the US. The number of riders available during peak hours could allow pedicab operators to be more successful, expanding and professionalizing their services. And the data show that the more bicycles on the street for whatever reason – commuters, recreational riders, pedicabs, and others – the more drivers are aware of our presence and the safer each individual rider tends to be."

Minneapolis Food Policy Council

2011-09-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

This morning, the Council unanimously voted to create Minneapolis's first Food Policy Council.

This was one of the key recommendations from the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative, all the way back to the first phase, in which we went out and heard from the community about their ideas for how the City could help the local food movement.

This Food Policy Council will carry on the City's work on those of the other recommendations from Homegrown Minneapolis that have not been completed as part of Phase II. In addition, it will be in place to advise the Council and Mayor on other food-related issues - trans fats, calorie labeling, etc.

I am very pleased that the Council has taken this action, especially with such a strong show of support. I look forward to working with the Mayor and others on finding the right people to serve on the first 'class' of this group.

I want to thank the fantastic staff for the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative, June Mathiowetz, for all of her work on this. I also want to thank Julie Ristau, one of the original inspirations for the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative, for her hours and hours of work on this, including research into best practices from other cities' food policy councils and community conversations about how a food policy council should be structured.

This is a great step forward for local food in Minneapolis.

2011 Budget, Firefighters, and the Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator

2011-09-02T09:39:00.001-07:00

This was an exciting, difficult morning and early afternoon in Council chambers.

The top-line actions:

The Council failed to override the Mayor's veto, on the same 8-5 vote as the original motion.
We voted for a compromise motion put together by the Mayor and Council Members Hodges, Samuels, and Goodman, that saved four firefighters through 2012.
We voted not to take away the funding for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. I strongly opposed the attempt to take this funding, for the reasons you can read here. I should note that I also heard loud and clear from the bicycle community that there is strong support for this position. Within less than twenty-four hours, my office heard from over two dozen bicyclists and pedestrians in support of this position. This is a testament to the good organizing of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, The final vote was extremely lopsided: all of my colleagues ended up joining me in supporting the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator but Council Members Barb Johnson and Sandy Colvin Roy. This
The Council voted to transfer funds from unfilled positions in both Communications and Health and Family Support. I voted against both of these motions, which passed on very close 7-6 margins. A third motion to take funding from the Assessor's office for an unfilled position failed 8-5. These votes ensured that 6 of the 10 laid off firefighters will be hired back.
The Council voted not to dip further into our contingency fund to keep the rest of the positions.

There is reason to be optimistic that many of the laid off firefighters will be rehired, due to changes in the pension program that will incentivize several firefighters (some sources have pegged the number at around 7) to retire.

Even if these laid-off firefighters are able to get back on the job, there will still be questions about the standard of coverage. I look forward to the results from the consultant's work on how we can best manage the Fire Department's resources to maximize the level of coverage, during this time of fiscal duress. In my opinion, our discussions about fire staffing have been placed in artificial constraints. I take the firefighters union at their word that their primary interest is public safety, and hope that they are willing to entertain new ideas about work schedules and more.

The most important thing to keep in mind throughout this discussion, however, is that the Local Government Aid system at the state level is completely broken. If the State cannot be trusted to return the property taxes that they take from us according to their own established formula, they should stop taking our property taxes at all.

Star Tribune Continues the Attack on Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator

2011-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Star Tribune is out with an editorial calling the hiring of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator "tone deaf." I find it incredible how tone-deaf the Star Tribune can be. Scant days after a heart-rending letter to the editor on their own editorial page from the father of a bicyclist killed on Minneapolis streets, this once-reputable paper runs an editorial indicating that, though a bicycle-safety related position is not "fluff," (or that calling it that is "too harsh," anyway) it should have been delayed indefinitely because... wait for it... the optics are wrong. Some Tea Partier may be offended and use this position, which exists in many other comparable cities, created with no new dollars, in the same timeframe as potential layoffs in another department as fodder for a substanceless attack on Minneapolis.

But wait, the Star Tribune has already done just that! Has the Minneapolis Star Tribune become a mouthpiece of the Tea Party? Is our city well-served by such a media outlet?

One must ask oneself: when would the timing be right, in the view of the Star Tribune, to hire a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator? When another bicyclist is killed on the streets of Minneapolis, one can't help but assume. Such a hiring - though too late by at least one tragedy - would certainly look responsive and resolute in light of an event within the most recent news cycle, just as a responsible hire, in the works for months, looks "tone deaf" when juxtaposed with unrelated potential layoffs. If that sounds cynical to you, then you must be tone deaf too.

However, the most unfortunate revelation of the last few days is that, like disreputable faux-journalism outfits like Fox News (the national cable channel, not the local affiliate, which is currently performing better than the Strib), the Star Tribune editorial operation now appears to be writing news stories. Consider: this lazy, sensationalistic editorial sounds the same themes as a lazy, sensationalistic bit of "news" run earlier in the week. Said "news" article cherry-picks deliciously inflammatory quotes from Fire union officials while conveniently "running out of space" for any outside advocate for the coordinator, despite the fact that the reporter interviewed at least one. I guess pro-bicyclist sources just don't have set the right "tone" for either the news or editorial side of the operation - assuming there is still a separation.

Because we now know how critically important the appropriate tone is to the Star Tribune.

Letters on Bicycle Coordinator

2011-08-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

This morning, the Star Tribune ran three letters on the bicycle coordinator kerfuffle they created yesterday. The most striking was from Harry Hull, Audrey Hull's father. It's heartbreaking:

My daughter, Audrey Hull, was recently killed by a truck while riding her bicycle at the corner of 15th Av. and 4th St. in Minneapolis.

If the city had hired a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator years ago -- a position that exists in many comparable cities -- the changes now proposed for that demonstrably dangerous corner might have been in place on April 21, 2011, and Audrey might still be alive.

I urge Minneapolis to proceed with its plans to hire the bicyclist and pedestrian coordinator so that fewer families will have to bear the emptiness that I now carry in my heart.

Jim Skoog, the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee member representing Ward Four, called the Strib on its shoddy, sensationalistic coverage:

The article misleads readers into thinking that the firefighters are being fired so that a bicycle/pedestrian coordinator can be hired. This type of journalistic laziness is expected from basement bloggers and not from a reputable publication.

The timing of the firefighter layoffs and of the coordinator job announcement is purely coincidental. There are two separate stories here:

• Why is the city laying off firefighters?

• Why is the city hiring a bicycle/pedestrian coordinator?

Now, try again, reporting on them separately.

And there was a letter from a Minneapolis resident who is appalled that the Council and Mayor are laying off firefighters and... teachers?

That the mayor and City Council in Minneapolis can lay off firefighters and teachers and still have the gall to hire a "bicycle coordinator" is an appalling example of the disconnect between the current leadership and the needs of the community ("Despite fiscal woes, city aims to hire bike coordinator," Aug. 25). The taxpaying community, that is. [Emphasis added.]

That's quite a feat, seeing as how the Council and Mayor don't control the schools or make decisions about whether or not to lay off teachers. That's the School Board's responsibility. I guess it just goes to show that when a major media outlet sows confusion, its readership ends up confused.

Deadly Hit and Run in Seward

2011-08-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, August 23^rd, at 11pm, 39-year-old True Thai employee Anousone Phanthavong was hit and killed by what State Patrol officers believe was a Mercedes SUV on the Riverside ramp up from I-94. The driver fled the scned. If you know anything about this incident, please call the Minneapolis Police Department at (612) 692-TIPS.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator

2011-08-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Star Tribune has run an article regarding an apparent conflict between funding for firefighters and for a new Bicycle and Pedestrian coordinator in Public Works. I don't see it. I support having both an adequately staffed fire department and an adequately staffed Public Works department that includes a new bicycle and pedestrian coordinator within our transportation team. I believe that transportation services, including maintaining streets, traffic signals, parking services and related infrastructure in a core essential service the City provides.

I am concerned that the article presents a false choice between this coordinator position and public safety. In fact, the bike/walk coordinator position is a public safety position. According to the records from our Public Works department, there were 46 bike/ped fatalities in Minneapolis between 2000 and 2009, and 5,509 bicyclists and pedestrians (that we know of) have been hit in that same timeframe.

These are big numbers, and it's easy to lose sight of the human suffering behind each one. So I ask you to remember Audrey Hull, the young woman who was hit and killed in Ward 2 earlier this year, and the pain that unnecessary tragedy caused to her family and friends.

Safer, better designed infrastructure can save lives. That's not an assertion, it's a fact, borne out by the studies that have looked into road treatments like bike lanes. By helping us build more and better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, this coordinator will help prevent deaths like Audrey's.

There are other, less important arguments against the clear implication of this story - that the City is wasting money on "fluff" as we consider cutting core services. The problem with this line of reasoning is that this position is not being created with new dollars, and it will save the City money.

The Public Works administration has reallocated resources in its department in a more efficient way to create this position. Currently, there are at least three City employees who do some bicycle and/or pedestrian coordination, in addition to other duties.

Better coordination will ensure that we spend our scarce resources more effectively. The cheapest, easiest way to install an on-street bike facility is to do it as part of another planned project. That's how we got bike lanes on Franklin in the Seward neighborhood this summer, and how we're getting lanes added to Riverside. But we're also at risk of missing opportunities - the portion of Franklin west of Minnehaha and the portion of 26th Ave S from Franklin to the Greenway are good examples. A coordinator will help the City identify and seize opportunities to build bike facilities in the most efficient way, getting more for our constrained funding.

And a large part of this person's job will be to find additional resources from outside the City. Much of the progress we've made over the past few years has been due to federal and state funding programs - the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot program, the State Health Improvement Program, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, SAFETEA-LU, etc. If we are to continue to improve safety for bicyclists in Minneapolis, these outside sources of funding are essential.

Other communities that have had success in making bicycling and walking safe and convenient choices have full-time bicycle or bicycle and pedestrian coordinators. It's not a new idea, where Minneapolis is out on a limb; Portland, OR, Chicago, IL, New York, NY, Boulder, CO, Davis, CA, San Francisco, CA, Miami, FL, Washington, DC, and Boston, MA, all already have bicycle coordinators.

The decision to create this position a very deliberate and thoughtful one, arrived at because it is a good idea. It was a good idea when it was put forth as a unanimous recommendation from our Bicycle Advisory Committee, it was a good idea when it was embraced by our Public Works administration, and it's a good idea today. In fact, I believe that it's taken us too long to hire a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. It will improve public safety, prevent unnecessary death and injury, and ensure that Minneapolis is making the most effective use of our limited resources. It is irresponsible to suggest that this is "fluff," or in any way less worthy than any other City funding for public safety, and I will strongly oppose any attempt to redirect funds from this position to other uses.

2011 Budget and Firefighters

2011-08-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, at one of the most contentious Council meetings I've experienced in some time, I joined seven of my colleagues in voting for a plan to save 10 Minneapolis firefighters from being laid off.

How did we get here?

The dilemma we faced Friday was a direct result of the State Legislature's decision not to provide the City its allotted $87.5 million for 2011, as part of the State reallocation of the local property and sales taxes it collects from Minneapolis and other cities throughout the state. Instead, for no defensible reason other than an incapacity to balance its own budget, the State allocated only $64 million.

That's a cut of $23.5 million, to a general fund of $392 million, 46% of which is dedicated to Police and Fire. There's no way around it - the Legislature assured that we'd be making painful cuts to balance this year's budget.

Because we knew this was a possibility earlier this year, the Council passed a supplemental "plan B" budget. (You can see how this impacts departments across the city enterprise here.) Under that plan, the Fire Department faced a $1.45 million cut. If we'd made that cut at the start of the year, it would've meant 17 firefighter layoffs. In August, with about two thirds of the year already over, it would've been a much more staggering cut - 44 firefighters.

Instead, the Mayor and the Council President brought forth a proposal to use the City's contingency fund (think of it as the "snowy day" fund) to of set the cuts to police and fire, with $1.1 million going to the Fire Department. That proposal would have resulted in laying off 10 firefighters. An additional 3 positions would be left vacant after mandatory retirements.

Last Friday, however, an alternative proposal was brought forward by Council members Schiff and Colvin Roy. I voted for the alternate proposal. It also uses contingency fund dollars, but in addition it takes funding from vacant positions in several other City departments to cover the Fire budget, preventing firefighter layoffs at this time. This in turn prevents the Fire Department from having to lay off any firefighters, close rigs, and rotate that closure throughout the city, resulting in potentially life-threatening delays in fire response in various neighborhoods - including some in the Second Ward.
The Mayor promised before the vote to veto this action. He did so on Friday afternoon. His reasons include not wanting to balance the Fire Department budget with one-time fixes.

I understand that rationale. I don't want a structurally imbalanced budget either. However, by using contingency funds to reduce the layoffs from 44 to 10, we're already using a one-time fix. One-time fixes aren't the problem on their own - it's relying on them in budget after budget, as the State does, that is irresponsible. Taking the action that the Council majority did preserves our options for the 2012 budget. We may well have to lay off firefighters in order to make the 2012 budget balance, in addition to making many other painful cuts.

There are other issues that we must take up in the next several months. Chief Jackson must get the Fire Department's overtime and sick leave spending under control. This has been a challenge because the labor agreement allows up to 6 days of a year off without explanation for each firefighter and there is also a need to maintain a safe level of service each day. The Council needs to review the vacant building inspections program, which two years ago was we assigned to the Fire Department to be a revenue generator for the Department but appears to actually be costing them money and staff. We also need the time to engage the larger community in a serious discussion about what the basic "standard of coverage" should be. What should be the minimum number of on-duty firefighters for every shift be? Is it worth raising property taxes to maintain this? Another action we took that I supported related to this includes directing the Chief to apply for a federal SAFER grant that could help fund staff positions and to suspend the standard of coverage requirement and leave that up to the discretion of the Fire Chief, as we do with other departments in including the police.

If you are interested there is some useful data online that will help inform the conversation, although there are still many questions to be answered.

To give us time to have these conversations without resulting in diminished public safety service to residents for the latter part of this year, I plan to vote to override the Mayor's veto. If an alternative proposal comes forward for more stable funding that the Mayor indicates he will sign, I may reconsider this position. But so far, no such alternative solution has been found.

This is a challenging issue and in times made more challenging because of the approach taken at the state legislature. Because of the limited number of ways to raise revenue available to us, we are forced to decide between cutting core services or raising property taxes on the middle class. The state, on the to her hand, could use a progressive income tax system to raise the income tax on the wealthiest Minnesotans to better fund its obligations to cities and counties through the state.

Though I disagree with the Mayor and some of my colleagues on this issue, I know that everyone is trying to do the right thing, in a very difficult situation not of our own making.

Bicycle Master Plan

2011-07-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's a momentous day for bicycling in Minneapolis: our first-ever comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan passed the Council this morning. It's a visionary, detailed document that identifies key corridors for the City to upgrade for bikes, lays out aggressive goals and the tasks to carry them out, and much more.

I'd like to add my thanks to those of my colleagues this morning to a few of the people and organizations who made this happen. One City Public Works staff member did more than anyone else to bring this plan forward: Don Pflaum. His hard work and perseverance has paid off, and his accomplishment will help us improve cycling in Minneapolis for decades. The newly reorganized Bicycle Advisory Committee (or BAC) was also instrumental in shaping this plan, making it better right through the Council process. And the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition provided great external advocacy as the plan came forward.

In passing the plan, the Council also took two additional actions. We directed staff to work with the BAC on an Implementation Plan document and return to us by November with either consensus or well-understood points of disagreement. That document includes some detailed and exciting recommendations for policy changes, legislative agenda items, funding strategies and more. We also finalized some work that was done earlier this week by the Transportation and Public Works committee, by adding four corridors to the bicycle map: Lyndale Ave N, Johnson St NE, 38th St, and Washington Ave S in downtown (the solid lines in the link).

Here's some background on this action. Earlier this year, the BAC invited its members to suggest changes to the draft bicycle plan map. More than 60 comments came in. After discussion with Public Works staff, the vast majority of requested changes and additions were made. Only 12 projects requested to be placed on the map were left off due to staff concerns. The BAC decided that the above 5 corridors deserved more conversation, and came to the Transportation Public Works committee to advocate for their inclusion, staff's concerns notwithstanding. The committee agreed with the BAC on four of the five, and they've been added to the map. (With a minor caveat: it's unclear what type of facility Washington Avenue in downtown will be.)

I think this is a wonderful outcome. The new BAC has been considerably strengthened by its handling of the Bike Plan, getting kudos from many Council Members for its cogent, logical, and compelling arguments for its positions. For one example, the Transportation Public Works committee's chair, Sandy Colvin Roy, not only thanked and honored the BAC's great work in her remarks on the plan this morning, she gave an eloquent and passionate speech about the benefits of bicycling, which was based in part on facts that her BAC representative Nick Mason (who chairs the BAC) had shared at Tuesday's committee meeting. The strengthening of the BAC, more than any of the particular corridors that were considered, seems to me to be the real benefit of the way that the plan passed. I think that this will have a tremendously positive impact on the discussions around the recommendations in the Implementation Plan, and the Council's consideration of them later this year.

Lastly, I'm proud to say that my Policy Aide and year-round biker, Robin Garwood, has been deeply involved in making all of this happen. He not only helped drive the reorganization of the BAC last year, but as the Council's representative on the group has helped bring about the positive outcome we're celebrating today. His involvement and leadership in this over several years has been critical. I'm happy he has been able to dedicate some of his time, knowledge and talents to improving the bicycle environment not just for the Second Ward, but for the whole city.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event

2011-07-22T14:06:00.001-07:00

Hennepin County has scheduled a short-term event to collect household hazardous waste from July 21-23, 9am to 4pm, at Dunwoody College of Technology,

For more information, including a complete list of acceptable and non-acceptable items and directions to the temporary drop-off site, call Hennepin County Environmental Services at (612) 348-3777 or go to here.

These events highlight the need for year-round availability of household hazardous waste drop-off services.

818 Dunwoody Blvd.

Arrests in Murder of Shea Stremcha

2011-07-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Arrests have been made in the murder of Shea Stremcha. From the Minneapolis Police Department's communication on this incident:

July 21, 2011 (MINNEAPOLIS) On July 20, Third Precinct officers were dispatched to 2944 45th Avenue South on a shooting. When they arrived they found an adult male inside the residence. The male had an apparent gun shot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Shea Jeffrey William Stremcha, 25 years of age. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.

Minneapolis Police Department homicide investigators Sergeant John Holthusen and Sergeant Christopher Gaiters were assigned the case and began pursuing leads immediately.

Officers assigned to the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) arrested Robert Shelby (date of birth 2-26-1984) in the 1700 block of 3rd Street Northeast (case number 11-212263). VCAT also arrested Semaj Williams (date of birth 12-6-1989) in the 600 block of West Broadway Avenue. Both parties were booked into the Hennepin County Jail and are being held for Probable Cause Murder.

Homicide investigators will present the case to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges. The case control number for the homicide is 11-211549.

Anyone with additional information regarding this case is asked to call the Minneapolis Police Department Homicide Unit at 612-673-2941.

Backyard Composting Workshop

2011-07-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Composting is not just a sustainable way of handling biodegradable waste. It’s also a great way to put nutrients back into the soil of your garden. Learn the basics of composting at an upcoming backyard composting basics workshop on Saturday, July 16, at 1pm at the Midtown Global Market,

920 E Lake St, Minneapolis

. The cost is $10 for the public and $8 for Do it Green! members.

Farewell to the Cake Eater Bakery

2011-07-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

There's disappointing news from the Seward neighborhood today: the Cake Eater bakery is closing.

State Government Shutdown

2011-07-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

The shutdown of state government will have significant impacts on the City of Minneapolis.

Before the shutdown, Public Works crews had to scramble to finish projects that are funded by the state, or by federal funds that have passed through the state, before the first, to avoid disruptions. The Council has authorized legal action to require the State of Minnesota to make Local Government Aid (LGA) payments during the shutdown. The City has taken on some functions normally provided by the state, including electrical inspections. Some City departments are more impacted than others: for instance, 60% of the Department of Health and Family Support face layoffs in a prolonged shutdown. The longer the shutdown continues, the greater the possibility for impact on the City of Minneapolis.

However, it's important to note that, if the Republicans in the legislature get their way, the short-term impacts of the government shutdown on Minneapolis will be dwarfed by the long-term impact of the withdrawal of Local Government Aid.

Commercial Recycling Ordinance Passes

2011-06-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

The commercial recycling ordinance that passed committee last week passed the full Council unanimously this morning.

I view this as a significant victory, and a step toward a greener, less wasteful city. For the first time, all buildings in Minneapolis - every residence, and every business - will be required by law to have recycling service. This sends the message to all Minneapolis communities that recycling is simply the way that we deal with waste.

It also makes clear to me that there is broad consensus around greening our homes and businesses. It's not often that groups as diverse as the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce on the one hand and the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group and Sierra Club on the other agree on a policy change, but they agreed that it's time for all businesses in Minneapolis to have recycling service. This gives me great hope and energy for moving forward other sustainability initiatives.

Specifically, I am interested in continuing to explore ways that we can more sustainably handle solid waste. I will be excited to see the results of the dual-stream recycling pilot in the Seward neighborhood. The theory is that making it easier for residents to recycle will increase the diversion rate. If the results bear that out, I think we should seriously consider changing our citywide recycling regime. I'm also very interested in continuing to expand curbside organics collection, and finding ways to increase the composting capacity of the region so that we can offer that service citywide.

Over the coming months, I will be working with City and County staff to build a robust technical assistance program that we can offer to the few businesses who do not currently recycle, along with educational materials for tenants and employees. This has to be in place before we can begin enforcing the new mandate.

Thanks to all those who made this possible: Director of Solid Waste and Recycling Susan Young, Sustainability Director Gayle Prest, Travis Bunch from the Minneapolis Chamber, Adam Leusse, Josh Winters, Dakotah Johnson and all the others at MPIRG.

Elections Department

2011-06-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today, the Council voted not to explore contracting with Hennepin County for elections services. The vote followed a report provided by a consultant, hired in May to study consolidation of all or a part of the City’s elections responsibilities with Hennepin County. The consultant, Connie Schmidt, was also asked to look at process improvements, potential cost savings, and other operational enhancements. Ms. Schmidt identified little to no cost savings with consolidation and did not recommend a merger.

In her report, she carefully outlined the different election functions the City and County do and suggested several ways for the city to save costs including eliminating 12 to 14 precincts. Schmidt commended the election division for its work on the Senate recount of 2008, the implementation of Rank Choice Voting in 2009; and the gubernatorial recount of 2010.

The report identifies an immediate need to purchase RCV-capable voting equipment and states that, “The City election staff, in partnership with the Secretary of State, Hennepin County and other counties in the State of Minnesota, should join arms to work cooperatively to develop required RFP specifications. There can be significant cost savings to all jurisdictions (cities and counties) through a joint effort to purchase new equipment.” In my role as Elections Committee Chair, I am working to convene a discussion between City and County Elections staff, appropriate elected officials, and Ranked Choice Voting experts on this voting equipment issue.

The report also recommends that the City election office continue to build on their renewed partnership with the County election office, conduct a Business Process Analysis to determine whether the division is operating efficiently and identify ways in which operations could be improved; consider relocating offices to share space with the clerks office and develop a strategic plan for the next 3 to 5 years. The vote by the Council will allow us to move ahead filling the position of Election Director that (although filled by two different interim directors) has remained vacant since mid-2009.

Commercial Recycling ordinance passes committee

2011-06-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

The commercial recycling ordinance I have been working on for over a year has passed the Regulatory, Energy and Environment committee unanimously. A number of folks - Ross Abbey, chair of the Citizen's Environmental Advisory Committee, Adam Leusse, the constituent who first brought this issue to my attention, Magda from the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group and Leo Sanders, the operations manager for the Seward Co-op - came to testify in favor of it. No one spoke against it.

I think this sets the ordinance up well for the full Council meeting on June 17th. Once it becomes law, I will work with our Solid Waste and Recycling, Sustainability, and Regulatory Services staff to put together an implementation plan. Before we start enforcing this ordinance, I want the City to do some good outreach to businesses and offer technical assistance to the small number who are not currently recycling.

In some ways, this is a pretty small step towards making this a greener city; according to the surveys done by the Chamber of Commerce and Building Owners and Managers Association, the vast majority of businesses are already recycling. But I believe it's important that we change our mindset about solid waste, and I hope that this ordinance is helping to do that. Recycling isn't a new thing. It's not difficult. It's the baseline expectation for how we manage waste in Minneapolis.

More on the Viking Stadium Deal

2011-05-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've had a chance to see the specifics of the Mayor and Council President's proposed stadium deal. There are some aspects designed to make the bitter pill easier to swallow, but there are also details to dislike, and some of the ways that the plans supporters are touting it strike me as more than a little dubious.

On the plus side:

The City of Minneapolis would no longer own the Target Center and we will no longer need to use property taxes to pay for it. We never should have owned this facility in the first place, and it would be good to be done with it.
The Metrodome would not become a vacant problem property to manage. It will be expensive, difficult, and likely take quite some time to realign the street grid and make east downtown - which the Metrodome itself has helped to turn into a wasteland of surface parking lots - a livable space.

On the minus side:

The team would pay less than half of the costs of the stadium, with taxpayers picking up the majority.
The existing downtown restaurant and liquor tax would potentially be extended to all bars and restaurants in Minneapolis. I have a real problem with this. Do small restaurants in Seward, Prospect Park, Southeast Como, or even the West Bank benefit from the Vikings' presence in downtown? I don't think so. This is a clear case of taking money from people who can't afford to pay - struggling small businesses on razor-thin margins - and giving it to some of the wealthiest people in our state.
The citywide sales tax imposed (in an undemocratic way, with little to no community engagement) for the Twins stadium would be doubled. As bad as property taxes are, sales taxes are worse. They are the most regressive form of taxation available to us, because poorer folks by necessity spend a greater percentage of their income on sales-taxable goods and services than wealthier folks. Again, this is a way to take money from those who are struggling and give it to those who are doing extremely well.
A parking surcharge would be placed on downtown parking spaces on game days. I actually support a parking surcharge, but not for this. If we are going to fight for the ability to impose a parking surcharge, let's use it for the common good, for something with real public benefits for all, and something transportation-related. Streetcars are a good example, or Bus Rapid Transit. Not a stadium.
The Target Center, while no longer owned by the City of Minneapolis, would still benefit from almost $100 million in public subsidy (through the above taxes).

Now, on some of those dubious claims.

Proponents argue that this deal "lowers property-tax burden on Minneapolis businesses and homeowners." While that's technically true, it's extremely misleading, because it raises the total tax burden on Minneapolis businesses and homeowners. So while your property taxes might not go up as much, because we won't have to continue throwing money at the Target Center, you will pay additional sales taxes. And if you go to a restaurant anywhere in Minneapolis, you'll have to pay the restaurant and liquor tax. This isn't a tax-reduction proposal. It's a tax-increase proposal with a shift of some liabilities from one kind of regressive tax to a worse kind of regressive tax. And it's all for two sports facilities that should stand on their own.
Proponents note that "significant site improvements enhance fan experience, spur development and tax-base growth." Some of that might be true, but I have my doubts that a refurbished Metrodome (40% of the existing building will remain in place) will spur much development, especially given the experience we've had with the actual, existing Metrodome. It also promised to spur development. What it spurred was closer to blight.
Lastly, they promise that the deal will "end stadium debates." I am not so sure. The hockey arena and baseball stadiums are noticeably absent from what could have been a real "global" solution. Worse, this solution ends debate by again setting the precedent that the public will be forced - whether they like it or not - to prop up privately owned, profit driven, professional sports teams. All this does is set up the next round of stadium debates with that same presumption.

On balance, it's not a good deal for the people of the Second Ward, or of Minneapolis generally. The people of Minneapolis will be forced to carry the costs and burden of regional amenities. So far, as it stands, one thing is clear This is a proposal I cannot support.

No Public Financing for Stadiums

2011-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've been getting calls and emails opposing the most recent proposal, supported by the Mayor and Council President Johnson, to have Minneapolis fund 20 - 25% of the cost of a new Vikings stadium.

In general I am opposed to public funding for sports stadiums, especially those build and maintained for privately owned professional sports teams.

I can think of very few situations in which I might find it appropriate for the public to foot any portion of the bill for a stadium. I would consider it if it was a publicly-owned facility for a publicly-owned team, for example, or if those who were bearing the costs voted affirmatively in a referendum on the new taxation, as I said in this post.

This position is informed by two of the key philosophical values that shape my thinking: social and economic justice, and grassroots democracy. Too often, government sides with the wealthy against the rest of us, redirecting public funds to those who need it least. Billionaire sports franchise owners simply don't need the City's help as much as less-well-off Minneapolitans do. And too often, when we make decisions in favor of things like public financing for stadiums, we do so over the express opposition of residents and taxpayers. If we put it to a vote, I'm confident that the people of Minneapolis would reject the idea that we should fund a new Vikings stadium. Ignoring that reality doesn't make us serious, it makes us antidemocratic.

So in almost all cases, I oppose public funding for stadiums. But it's almost unbelievable that we would even suggest committing the City to financially support a stadium at this point in our history. In the last budget, we rescinded a promise we had made to neighborhood groups - who perform crucially necessary work in our communities. This ignited an ugly, unnecessary fight over neighborhood funding at the Legislature, in which the Mayor is lambasting supporters of neighborhoods for somehow "causing" a property tax increase by trying to undo the City's bad decision from last December.

And remember what was held completely harmless even as we were gutting funding to neighborhoods: the ongoing debt fiasco that is the Target Center. I'm sure that public support for that facility seemed like a good idea to someone at some point in the past, but for my entire tenure on the Council it has been an albatross, sucking tens of millions of public dollars away from other public needs. And time and again I have heard that those dollars are "off the table" when it comes to cuts, winning out over cops, firefighters, neighborhood groups, etc.

The cold reality is that we are planning for a grim few years, especially if Republicans in the Legislature succeed in cutting off all Local Government Aid. Vital City staff will likely be laid off. I worry that some of my colleagues will try again to completely destroy smaller City departments like Civil Rights. And even with these painful cuts, property taxes will very likely still have to rise.

So if there's any capacity for Minneapolis to generate more tax revenue in a creative way, there are higher and better purposes for which it could be used. Keeping our promises to neighborhoods. Keeping cops and firefighters on the streets. Maintaining our crumbling infrastructure. Sustaining our smaller but vitally important departments like Health and Family Support and Civil Rights. I would appreciate seeing the creativity and willingness to come up with bold ideas about these pressing needs that bring direct benefit to to Minneapolis residents, rather than what I see as unnecessary, unjust corporate welfare achieved through undemocratic means.

Please Drive Carefully

2011-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

The name of the bicyclist killed last week has been released: Audrey Hull, a 25-year-old University of Minnesota student.

In related news, the hit-and-run driver who killed pedestrian Ben Van Handel has been arrested, and another pedestrian has been hit, this time on the West Bank.

Since these disturbing and tragic incidents, the City and various news outlets have asked all road users to be more cautious and better share the road. While I echo those sentiments, I believe that we shouldn't shy away from more directly addressing drivers. If you drive on Minneapolis streets, please be aware of bicyclists and pedestrians. When turning, look for bicyclists and pedestrians in crosswalks. When turning in locations where there is a bike lane, do not simply turn across the bike lane. Merge into it just before the intersection, and turn from there - that is the safe and legal way to turn where a bike lane is present.

Those of us who choose to drive have the responsibility to ensure that we don't hurt or kill other road users. We're the ones using large, powerful machines that can end or significantly change someone's life, and we simply must be more careful. Out of respect for the memory of Audrey, Ben, and the others who have died on Minneapolis roadways in recent weeks, please join me in driving with more care.

Dining Out for Life

2011-04-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

Please join me at Campus Pizza this Thursday, April 28^th at noon, for Dining Out for Life, an annual fundraiser for the Aliveness Project, a local nonprofit organization that provides on-site meals, food shelf & other supportive services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

Thanks to other participating Second Ward restaurants: the Birchwood Café, ChinDian Café, the Cupcake, Himalayan Restaurant, Pizza Luce in Seward, the Craftsman Restaurant, and the Weinery.

Bicyclist Killed in Dinkytown

2011-04-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

A bicyclist was hit and killed in Dinkytown at the intersection of 15th Ave SE and 4th St SE this morning. It appears that a semi truck was involved. I have asked the Police Department for more information.

It's clear that there is an emerging pattern of fatalities involving bicyclists and large trucks. Of the last six bicyclist fatalities in Minneapolis, four involved commercial trucks: at the intersections of 5th St S and Nicollet, 1st AveN and 5th St S, Park Ave S near 14th St S, and now this.

Second Ward to Shrink

2011-04-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

As I predicted, demographic shifts over the last decade have left the Second Ward much more populous than the average ward. According to the 2010 Census, 33,457 call Ward Two home, more than 4,000 more than the average ward. The only ward with more people in it is Seven. As you can see here (on page 18), every single Second Ward neighborhood added people over the past 10 years.

This is due to two main factors. The first is the increase in housing units in the Second Ward over the last ten years. More than 800 new dwelling units were built in the '00s, mostly in the areas around the U of M's east bank campus. A short, non-comprehensive list includes Yudof Hall, what was Melrose and is now the District, Jefferson Commons, U Flats, M Flats, Sydney Hall (the Dinkydome redevelopment), Van Cleve Commons, the redevelopment of former warehouses on 8th St SE into housing units and more. Some of these buildings (the District is a good example of this trend) include many units with five bedrooms, built specifically for students.

The second factor is the Second Ward's very low housing vacancy rate of 4.7%. Of the more than 12,000 housing units in the ward, only five hundred some are vacant. Again, the Second Ward comes in second - only Ward Eleven has fewer vacant dwelling units. (Ward Eleven is fascinatingly stable: in the past ten years, its population declined by... three people.) There are many reasons for this. One is demographic: many of the people who live in the Second Ward are renters, and many of those renters are either students at the U, who strongly favor being close to campus, or new American and other residents of large affordable housing buildings such as Riverside Plaza, the Cedars, Glendale, the Seward Towers, etc. Student and affordable housing is clearly quite stable, even in this economic environment.

Another driver of this low vacancy rate is the resiliency of Second Ward neighborhoods in the foreclosure crisis. Put simply, there are many more vacant, foreclosed homes in other parts of the city.

One last fact bears noting: thanks in part to the good efforts of the City and community leaders, a much greater percentage of Second Ward residents filled out the Census in 2010 than in 2000.

So what happens to a ward that has 4,000 more people in it than the average? It gets geographically smaller. Like it or not, the Second Ward we've come to know and love is going to shrink. To put the difference in perspective, Southeast Como has 6,288 people in it, the West Bank has 8,094, and Seward has 7,308. We're talking about Ward Two losing something between a third and half of a neighborhood.

Racial Disparities in Employment

2011-04-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

It has been good to see the recent attention paid to the racial disparities in employment that continue to plague the Twin Cities.

The problem is real, especially in Minneapolis. In 2009, according data from the U.S. census bureau, 8.2% percent of white Minnesotans lived in poverty. For nonwhites, the percentage was 26.2%. In the 7-county metro area, these rates were 5.6% vs. 23.1%. But in Minneapolis, 12.4 % of whites lived in poverty compared to a staggering 37.5% of nonwhites. In that same year the unemployment rate was about 7% for whites and over 16% for nonwhites in Minneapolis. These disparities are probably worse now.

There are racial disparities in most measurable outcomes of success, including education, health, and wealth. But disparities in employment must be a key focus, and the City of Minneapolis is already trying to do something about it.

In 2008, we established an Equity in Employment Task Force of government officials, social service providers and community stakeholders, to examine ways to reduce the economic disparities between minority and majority communities. In 2009, the Council set a goal that will help us measure or efforts: to reduce the percentage of Minneapolis minority residents living in poverty from the 2008 Census Bureau reported average of 36% to that of the 2008 metropolitan minority overage of 21% by 2014.

In 2010, the City continued to make progress:

We helped provide jobs for roughly 3000 people of color, through workforce goals set with developers, as well as job training and placement programs.

Of the 2,300 youth put to work through our STEP UP summer jobs program, 87% were youth of color.

Of the 190 participants enrolled in training programs funded through our federal Recovery Act program for low income adults, 60% were African American.

But the problem persists. In November 2010, a Disparity Study that examined the City’s contracting and procurement confirmed that we continue to have a significant problem with racial and gender discrimination on all levels of the hiring, contracting and procurement ladder in the region. While minority- and woman-owned businesses represented 20% of the companies we could potentially contract with or buy from, for example, they were utilized less than 6% of the time.

The City’s own workforce has a way to go as well if we want it to reflect the diversity of the city. Currently, Minneapolis’s racial makeup is roughly 61% white and 39% nonwhite. As of 2007, the City’s workforce was roughly 77% white, 23% nonwhite, and only 32% female.

Clearly our City government needs to do more, but government cannot solve this problem alone. To make progress, we will need a focused effort that includes consumers, businesses, government officials, educators, activists, job seekers, and concerned people from all walks of life.

We should all start now by asking what part we play in perpetuating racial and ethnic disparities and what we can do to end them.

As consumers and employers, we can look at how we make our spending decisions, where our resources go and who we choose to hire, buy from and contract with.

As community members and educators, we must ask what we are doing to help our young, our unemployed and the job seekers we know to get the education, training and support they need to find work and build successful careers.

As job seekers, we can ask what we can do to be better prepared for meaningful work and to break through the barriers of hopelessness and discrimination.

This spring and summer, a unique partnership between the City’s Equity in Employment Task Force and the Metro Talking Circle will begin drafting a 10 Point Plan to reduce racial disparities in employment and poverty in Minneapolis. We are already meeting with stakeholders to gather input in hopes that the plan will be ready to share this fall. When completed, it will lay out next steps we can to take as a City and as a community to solve the problem of racial economic disparities in Minneapolis.

MPR Coverage of Urban Ag Plan

2011-04-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Public Radio has a write-up on the Urban Agriculture Policy Plan passing the Zoning and Planning committee yesterday.

Urban Agriculture Policy Plan

2011-04-07T09:32:00.001-07:00

The Urban Ag plan passed the Zoning and Planning committee unanimously this morning. There were several amendments, but I believe that the plan has made it through this step of the process in great shape, with the core and most essential recommendations intact. If you’d like to watch this morning’s Zoning and Planning meeting, a recording of it will be posted here. A revised plan, reflecting the edits made, will be posted soon on the project website .

The most important piece we talked about this morning had to do with market gardens. These are small-scale, low-intensity commercial gardens that will be very similar to the community gardens we already allow. I was concerned that my colleagues might try to change the plan to prohibit these in certain zoning districts, or require that market gardeners get Conditional Use Permits (a process that costs at least $550 to even begin, erecting a formidable barrier to new market gardens).

So I worked with my colleagues to come up with an amendment that allows us to have this discussion as part of the process to amend the zoning code. It leaves our options open to allow market gardens in low-density residential districts (where the land is), but clarifies some of the restrictions I always expected we would include: no retail sales on-site, no overhead lighting, no parking of more than two vehicles, and only a small, non-illuminated sign of four square feet or less. These are the restrictions that currently exist for community gardens. In addition, several of my colleagues confirmed that our goal is to find a way for market gardens to work in low-density residential areas.

A few other relatively minor changes were made, two of which I disagreed with. The first I disagreed with was to strip the recommendation about conservation easements - which make a piece of land unbuildable - from the plan. I continue to believe that it's reasonable for us to base the price of land on its value with these easements, if we choose to place them on a property. The second deleted the recommendation about studying hooved animals. I don't think it's unreasonable for us to commit to studying that issue at some point in the future. If the mood on the Council changes, we can certainly take this up again, even if this plan doesn't mention it.

Even with these changes, I consider today a major, exciting win for the local food movement. The most important aspects of the plan came through today's committee meeting fundamentally strong. I see this as a giant step forward for building a vibrant local food economy, with all of the attendant benefits to health, the environment, and green jobs.

I don't think we could have done this without the tremendous outpouring of public support that this plan has received. My office has received tens of calls and emails in support of the plan, and I don't think I'm the only one. A group of local food activists collected over 200 petition signatures in support of the plan in just three days, including over 20 Second Ward residents. An online petition has garnered over 180 signatures in just a few days. All Council Members were sent a thoughtful and well-reasoned appeal for market gardens by the President of the Planning Commission, David Motzenbecker.

In addition to this outpouring of public support, we received a substantial amount of support from organizations that pay attention to food policy: our own Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee, the Land Stewardship Project, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Powderhorn Youth Garden, Uptown Farmers, Corcoran GROWS, Project Sweetie Pie, the Health and Wellness Manager at the Sabathani Community Center and others. It's thanks to the organizing of these individuals and groups that the plan is moving forward in such a strong form, and I thank you all for helping make it happen.

Still, we have long way to go before we realize the vision in the plan for more local urban commercial food growing, processing and comsuming. A week from Friday (on the 15th) the Policy Plan will need to be approved by the full Council and signed by the Mayor. Following that the work of implementing the recommendations with begin. Some, the creation of a Homegrown Minneapolis Businesses Center, has already begun. Others, however, will take longer and involve more complex ordinance amendments dealing with land use and zoning. Assuming the Policy Plan is passed on the 15th, I will working most intensely in the months ahead on these "zoning code text amendments" that will be needed to implement the policies outlined in the Plan. I hope to introduce these at the end of April, or in early May. Here is a rough time line of what to expect:

Zoning code text amendment "subject matter" is introduced by a Council Member at a City Council Meeting. The subject matter will need to be noticed for two weeks and then approved by a majority to be referred to a committee.

Council Committee then will likley refer the proposed amendment to staff for further research, work with technical experts and community outreach.

Council Member "author(s)" work with staff and staff brings specific proposed ordinance changes to the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission holds a public hearing, possibly amends and recommends action to the Zoning and Planning Committee.

Zoning and Planning Committee reviews the proposed changes, possibly amends them and recommend action by the full Council.

The Council considers the amendments at its next meeting.

So, in the months ahead, I will be working hard to make sure this is a high priority for the Council and would expect that the urban agriculture zoning code text changes could potentially be in place before the beginning of 2012 growing season. As this work continues I encourage everyone who is interested to stay involved, help inform others, and never hesitiate to share your concerns, questions or ideas with me and others in our city government.

Urban Agriculture Policy Needs Support

2011-03-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Urban Agriculture Topical Plan that community advocates and I have been working on for months may be in trouble.

This plan is a key recommendation of the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative and an important step towards creating a more sustainable, healthy, and community-based economy in Minneapolis for the future.

Last week, the Zoning and Planning (or Z&P) committee postponed the Plan for two weeks, to give committee members time to craft amendments that threaten to weaken it. The Plan will come back before Z&P on April 7th, at 9:30am.

Judging from the questions and comments from committee members, it appears that some Council Members might be aiming to undermine the Plan, and erect unnecessary barriers to the growing more food in Minneapolis.

Continuing to prohibit Market Gardening on residential parcels. One of the key recommendations of the Plan is to allow commercial, or market, gardens of the same small size and low intensity as community gardens to be put on residential parcels. Some Council Members appear to be interested in deleting this recommendation, which would mean that small-scale commercial food growing would be next to impossible in Minneapolis.

Keeping the price of land sold by the City to community gardeners higher than its actual value. When the City sells land for green space, we often put a “conservation easement” on the property, which means that it can’t have a building built on it. This reduces the value of the land. But the City still charges a buyer the price without the conservation easement. The Plan recommends using the fair market value for the land with the easement. Some Council Members questioned this.

Continuing to prevent City staff from even considering farmers markets or community gardens when selling City land. The Plan contains a recommendation to give City staff the option to do requests for proposals on City-owned land for urban agriculture uses like farmers markets and community gardens. Some Council Members questioned this.

Anyone who cares about creating a vibrant local-food economy in our city should call or email Council Members before April 7th and urge them to pass the Urban Agriculture Topical Plan in its current form, without amendments that will hurt the local food movement. You should also plan to attend the April 7th Zoning and Planning committee meeting, at 9:30am in room 317 of City Hall, 350 S 5th St.

To find your Ward and City Council Member go here.

Potential Flooding

2011-03-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

The City is preparing for potential flooding this spring:

This has been one of the snowiest winters for Minneapolis on record. As that snow accumulation melts, some properties will be at an increased risk of flooding. City of Minneapolis Emergency Management and Public Works staff have been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as local watershed management organizations to prepare for the situation.

Residential & Business Properties
Many factors influence flooding, including the rate of snow melt and precipitation received as the weather warms. All property owners near the creeks or other water bodies should assess the risk to their land and buildings.

Increased risk properties. Based on the best information available from FEMA and the local watershed districts, the City has identified roughly 30 homes and businesses at an increased risk for flooding. The City is contacting those property owners directly.
Properties located in the "100‐Year Flood Plain." Roughly 490 addresses are located in FEMA’s 100‐Year Flood Plain. In the first week of March, Minneapolis notified these property owners that if they do not currently have flood insurance, most insurance companies will not provide coverage until 30 days after flood coverage is added to a policy.
Every property in Minneapolis. All property owners near the creeks or other water bodies should assess the risk to their land and buildings. Go here to see if your property resides in an area at risk of flooding. Contact your insurance company to see what coverage you have and whether flood protection insurance would benefit you.

City of Minneapolis Facilities
City officials have been evaluating the flooding risk to its own properties, and making necessary preparations accordingly. Minneapolis’ Fridley Water Treatment facility is at the most significant risk of flooding. Officials there have been putting in place a number of flood mitigation tools to ensure that the facility is protected from possible flooding on the Mississippi River and will be able to maintain its ability to produce clean, safe drinking water to all customers.

For More information
Visit the City’s flood information website for more information on the situation. You can also find additional information here:

End of Winter Parking Restrictions

2011-03-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Whew! Winter parking restrictions are officially over, at least for this snow season:

Effective immediately, Minneapolis has lifted the Winter Parking Restrictions. The restrictions went into effect on Dec. 17, 2010 after snow accumulations narrowed many streets, making it difficult for fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles to navigate in some neighborhoods. Limiting parking to one side of most neighborhood streets created more reliable access for emergency responses.

Our recent mild temperatures and sunnier days have melted snow along city streets, widening them far enough that the Fire Chief, Public Works officials, and other public safety officials have determined the restrictions can be lifted. With this melting, we are now seeing better conditions on most city streets. Beginning March 21, normal parking rules again apply on city streets. Signs added to some narrower Snow Emergency routes that limited parking to one side of the streets will soon be removed, however drivers should continue to follow those posted signs as long as they are in place.

It was the seventh snowiest winter in Minneapolis with the city receiving more than 80 inches of snow from Nov. 2010 to March 2011, and the City declared eight Snow Emergencies – a record. The public’s cooperation in following the restrictions greatly aided emergency responders in their work to serve folks in Minneapolis.

Although the Winter Parking Restrictions have been lifted, it is still possible to have additional Snow Emergencies until April 1 (by ordinance the City can’t declare Snow Emergencies after April 1). Drivers should be mindful of the normal Snow Emergency rules and procedures and check the City’s 348-SNOW hotline, the Web, or the many other Snow Emergency notification tools if we receive more snowfall.

Forty People

2011-03-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

According to the just-released preliminary results of the 2010 Census, between the year 2000 and the year 2010, the population of Minneapolis went from 382,618 to 382,578, a decline of just forty people.

This stability in our population is extremely interesting, given the number of new housing units that have been built over the past ten years. We now have 178,287 housing units, up more than 9,000 from the 168,606 we had in 2000. So why not more people?

The answer becomes apparent when you look at the change in the housing vacancy rate. In the booming economy of 2000, only 3.7% of housing units were vacant. In 2010, during the Great Recession that was caused in large part by the collapse of the housing and financial systems and the ensuing foreclosure crisis, the vacancy rate had more than doubled, to 8.7%. The raw numbers are just as striking: in 2000, only 6,254 housing units were vacant, and in 2010 that number had jumped to 14,747.

One thing that can be ruled out relatively safely is a change in household size. On average, there were 2.35 people per occupied housing unit in 2000, and that number has barely budged - there were 2.34 people/unit in 2010.

The numbers' story is pretty clear: we had a lot of growth in housing stock throughout the last decade, but then we were swamped by a terrible recession, one of whose main impacts was to push low-income homeowners out of their homes.

This has some implications for the next redistricting process. Because Ward 2 (thankfully!) had fewer forclosures than most other wards, and many fewer foreclosures than certain wards, it likely now has more than its share of the City's population, and is likely to shrink relative to other wards. The wards that were hardest-hit by foreclosures (1, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9) are likely to get geographically larger.

Mayors Against Ilegal Guns

2011-03-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today I attended a Mayors Against Illegal Guns press conference where the Fix Gun Checks truck was visiting Minneapolis. Omar Samaha, whose sister died at Virgina Tech, spoke at the along with other victims of gun violence. Samaha is traveling the country advocating better background checks before gun purchases. This morning he let us know that he went undercover recently with a television crew and was able to buy over 20 handguns as easily as he would normally buy "a bag of chips or a candy bar" at a gun show.

For more information, visit http://www.fixgunchecks.org/

You can also click http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5610/c/237/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5564 to urge your legislator and Governor Dayton to keep our state background check system for gun purchases. A bill that would eliminate Minnesota's state system, HF 161, has passed the House Public Safety Committee.

An average of 34 Americans are murdered everyday with guns.

Central Corridor Betterments

2011-03-10T09:34:00.001-08:00

The Council has voted on a list of requested "betterments" for the Central Corridor project. These are improvements to physical infrastructure that may be funded by the project if the contingency funds not all be needed for construction overruns.

Some of the most exciting asks:

Squaring off the intersection of Bedford and University

Undergrounding Xcel power lines in Southeast

Upgrading the fencing on the Cedar and 19th Ave S bridges and the Cedar Ave streetscape

In addition, my office worked with the Mayor's office, Council Member Colvin Roy and Public Works staff to draft a resolution requesting a seat on the project’s “Change Control Board,” the body that will make decisions on which betterments to fund.

This discussion does not include large-scale, standalone projects such as the work that has taken place at Franklin, East River Pkwy and 27th Ave SE, or Granary Road. It is important to note that Public Works and CPED staff have already been very successful in convincing the project office that many improvements to the streetscape should be included in the base budget. For instance, improvements to the lighting at the West Bank station and upgraded retaining walls. A number of betterments have also been agreed to by project partners: the U of M will pay for an inter-track fencing upgrade, Hennepin County will upgrade the Cedar bridge, etc.

Watered-Down Green and Healthy Housing Ordinance Passes

2011-03-10T08:29:00.001-08:00

This morning, the Council passed an watered-down version of the Green and Healthy Housing ordinance. I voted for it, because it's a step in the right direction, but I'm disappointed in the final ordinance. When compared to the original proposal by staff, it's clear that it's been significantly scaled back.

The initial proposal included the following requirements:

energy audits for every single family home and duplex rental, with a requirement to reach a certain level of air sealing

a furnace or boiler check every two years

radon testing

lead clearance testing for all rental units

Receiving pushback from both policymakers and rental property owners, this was scaled back even before the ordinance language was drafted. It required only the following when first brought to the Regulatory Energy and Environment (REE) committee:

energy audits only for single family homes, with a requirement to reach a certain level of air sealing

a furnace or boiler test every two years

lead clearance testing only for rental units that receive violations for chipping and peeling paint

The Minnesota Multi-Housing Association remained neutral, probably in part, due to these giveaways, but several rental property owners came to testify against the ordinance because of potential costs it could place on people, especially those interested in converting owner occupied homes to rental. Despite the compromises already made, the majority of Council Members moved to postpone it and asked that it limited further, to require:

energy audits only for single family homes that have received one of four narrowly-defined violations (lack of weather stripping, loose-fitting windows, water damage that appears to be caused by loose-fitting windows or doors or holes in the foundation or roof, or inadequate storm windows or doors), with a requirement to reach a certain level of air sealing

a furnace test every two years for some rental housing, every four for others, and every eight for others

lead clearance testing only for rental units that receive violations for chipping and peeling paint

I attempted, unsuccessfully, to improve this slightly at the Council meeting by moving an amendmend that would have expanding the violations that would have triggered the need for an energy audit.

This gutting of the ordinance has real world impacts. We've gone from a proposal to require energy audits in the majority of the rental housing in Minneapolis to an ordinance that will, on average, require about 900 single family homes per year to be audited (there are approximately 10,000 single family home rentals in the city). We've gone from a proposal to require lead clearance testing for all pre-1978 housing to just the small subset that have chipping and peeling paint (and that get caught for having chipping and peeling paint), despite the fact that we know that most childhood lead poisoning comes from dust from lead-painted windows, not from paint chips. And we've gone from a proposal to test most rentals for radon - the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US - to testing none.

As originally conceived, and even as originally presented to committee, this ordinance could have made a real difference. It would have reduced utility bills for tenants (remember, most landlords lack the direct economic incentive to improve the energy efficiency of their housing, because utility bills are usually paid by tenants), increased the health and safety of rental housing, and been a pretty substantial step towards addressing climate change.

As it is, this ordinance may make some positive difference. It's better than doing nothing. I'll be interested to see what results it is able to produce in its weakened form.

But we can't pretend that the Council took leadership on this issue. Instead, the Council's role was o constrain and water down the original proposal. Rather than policymakers leading the way on fighting climate change and protecting the health and safety of renters, we actively prevented our staff from effectively doing so.

In behaving this way we are not following many of our own adopted policies and aspirational goals. For instance, we adopted (with much fanfare and self-congratulation) a host of Sustainability Indicators and targets. They include a goal to "reduce citywide carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2020 using 2006 as a baseline." Our adopted Minneapolis 2020 Goals include the strategies "healthy homes, welcoming neighborhoods" and "use less energy, produce less waste." Indeed, that document indicates that we strive to be "Eco-Focused" and "an internationally recognized leader for a healthy environment and sustainable future."

Liquor Store Spacing - More Accurate Data

2011-03-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

There's an interesting side-note to the Council's conversation about liquor store spacing rules this morning. I share it because it confirms my broader point that the Council made a decision this morning without even an adequate understanding of the facts.

This morning, one of the Council Members reported confidently, on at least two separate occasions, that there were no more than three sites in the whole city of Minneapolis that were eligible for new liquor stores, due to the requirement that new liquor stores be at least 2,000 away from each other. This point was raised to say that this this issue was "much ado about nothing," because the number of potential sites for liquor stores is so extremely low even absent this change.

Well, it turns out this information wasn't correct. According to a document that Regulatory Services staff sent this afternoon, there are currently sixteen sites that could accommodate new liquor stores per the 2,000 foot spacing requirement. Before this morning, seven of them were within 300 feet of a school or a church. After this morning, at least one more site - the one proposed near Jefferson school that apparently inspired the ordinance amendment- is within 300 feet of a school.

No one knows the impact of this morning's action on the remaining eight sites. It could be that none are impacted. Or it could be that all eight are now off the table for new liquor stores, and new businesses of this type will be completely prohibited from the City. We simply don't know. Staff have not had time to prepare a map that would answer this question.

I point this out not to specifically criticize anyone. In fact I am sure that I've also said things in Council arguments that turned out not to be completely accurate. Rather, I point this out for two reasons. First, we should all strive to have more accurate information when entering into public policy debates; we can have our own opinions, but we can't have our own facts.

Second, and more importantly, this discrepancy between what was stated in Council chambers and what turns out to be true highlights the need for good process. It's entirely possible, on a vote as close as this morning's 7-6, that misinformation impacted the result of the vote, determining citywide policy. If we had taken the time to get an adequate, accurate understanding of the impact of this ordinance from staff, this misinformation could have been corrected. Instead, the Council made new policy - and I don't feel I had enough information to even say whether I believe it's good policy or bad policy - based on at least one proven falsehood. This is what happens when we do not take the time we need to get the best information we can to help make our decisions.

Liquor Store Spacing

2011-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

I thank everyone who shared their thoughts and views about the liquor store spacing decision I faced late last week. It was very helpful to hear from so many of you. The responses were quite mixed, with some strongly opposed, some strongly in favor and several leaning one way or the other.

I ended up voting against the ordinance amendment at the Council meeting, but it passed by 7-6 margin. Unless there is a mayoral veto, Council Member Tuthill's proposed ordinance changing the spacing requirements for liquor stores from schools and religious places of assembly will soon become law. The old rule was that new liquor stores couldn't go in within 300 feet of a school or church, as measured from the front door of the liquor store to the front door of the school or church. What passed last week changes the way that the 300 feet is measured to be lot-line to lot-line.

I want to be clear that there were several things about the proposal I found attractive.

I basically support changing the measuring point away from the door. I believe measuring from front door to front door is problematic, because property owners can move doors to allow, or in the case of school or church potentially not allow, a liquor store to go in. As a measure, it lacks the clarity that would allow residents and business owners to know what to expect. If the proximity of a store to another type of use is a problem, moving the door 5 or 10 feet will not change that. I think property line to property line is a cleaner and more stable way to measure.

I was glad to see the word “church” changed to include any place of religious assembly. Increasingly, Minneapolis is home to people of diverse faiths, and any legal protection to one faith’s gathering place should be extended to all.

The Council did receive a supportive letter from the Minneapolis Public Schools district administration. I heard from one school board director that she supported the change. I was especially sympathetic to concerns I have heard related to schools.
Still, despite these attractive features of the proposal, I had enough concerns that I was unable to support this amendment at the time and in the way it came to the Council. I found it problematic for two main reasons.

First, the proposal we saw was not what was presented at the Regulatory Energy and Environment (REE) meeting. The original Tuthill amendment would have changed the measurement from the front door of the liquor store to the lot line of the school or church. It was this idea that had some supporting materials providing, including a map that showed the real effect of this change.

This was not the case with the new proposal. It was (and still is) virtually impossible to know what this amendment will do to the limited number of potential locations for liquor stores now (estimated to be about 8 citywide due to zoning requirements and the other spacing requirement: that liquors stores be 2000 feet away from each other as measured from front door to front door).
What was especially problematic for me was that we received no information about the amendment's impact on new liquor stores. At the very least, we should have seen a map that would indicate which sites will become ineligible for new liquor stores due to this change. We did not see such a map. The Council could very well have voted last week to allow no new liquor stores in Minneapolis because of the few appropriately zoned area and the large number and lot sizes, of schools, mosques, temples, churches and synagogues in the City. We simply don't know. If that is the impact of the ordinance, I needed to know that before voting for it.

The chair of the REE committee, CM Glidden, rightly moved to send this issue back to committee so we could get answers to these important unanswered questions. The Council voted instead to buy a pig in a poke, voting in favor of new restrictions without having the chance to fully understand their impact. CM Glidden’s motion failed on a 7-6 vote.

Second, I was also concerned that ordinance was aimed at one particular proposed liquor store. I prefer to make decisions in a deliberative manner, when we can get the most complete and accurate information possible to craft ordinances that will be fair and in the best interests of the entire city, rather than quickly in order to respond to one, possibly isolated and unique, problem or concern. If one potential liquor store too close to one particular school was the real concern, a narrower solution might have been more appropriate.

Lastly, I also wanted to get a better understanding of the actual public threat or concern that we were attempting to address with this amendment. The Council was given no objective data about crimes, complaints, police calls or other issues related to the proximity of liquor stores and schools or places of religious assembly. Such data would have helped us understand if our current ordinance was even close to addressing a real public health, safety or livability issue, or if it needed further work.

For these reasons I voted to send the proposal back to committee for more work and, when that failed, had no choice but to vote against it. Both votes were on a 7-6 margin.

Here were the votes. For the Tuthill proposal (and against sending it back to committee so we could know what impact it would actually have): Hofstede, Johnson, Samuels, Goodman, Tuthill, Quincy, Colvin Roy. Against the Tuthill proposal (and, more importantly, for having more information before we adopt such a change): Reich, Lilligren, Glidden, Schiff, Hodges and me.
I should note that even before this amendment, there were few if any available locations for liquors in the Second Ward due to commercial zoning requirements (and none at all in Southeast Como). Current liquor stores will not be affected; and as long as they remain liquor stores, they will keep their rights to operate.

Dynamic Signs

2011-02-25T10:01:00.001-08:00

This morning, the Council adopted new regulations regarding "dynamic signs," signage that incorporates large LCD TV-style screens. For the most part, I support these new standards.

However, the Council also undid some good work from the Zoning and Planning committee. The committee, acting on a motion I made, voted to restrict these new signs from Pedestrian Oriented (or PO) Overlay Districts. This morning, the Council majority voted to strip out those protections on an 8-5 vote.

I believe that these dynamic signs are not in keeping with the intent of PO districts. They are clearly aimed at drivers. Tellingly, the only types of businesses that have approached the City looking to install these signs so far are gas stations.

This restriction was also in keeping with the existing signage regulations in PO districts. We already prohibit "pole signs, backlit awning and canopy signs and backlit insertable panel projecting signs" in PO districts, because these signs are aimed primarily at drivers, just like dynamic signs.

Ignoring all of this, the Council majority voted to eliminate these protections for PO districts. They even rejected a compromise that would have allowed new dynamic signs in PO districts at sites that currently have manually changeable electronic signs.

Here are the votes. In favor of restricting dynamic signs in PO districts: Reich, Hofstede, Schiff, Tuthill and me. Opposed: Johnson, Samuels, Lilligren, Goodman, Glidden, Quincy, Colvin Roy, Hodges.

Spacing Restriction on Liquor Stores

2011-02-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

This Friday the city council will vote on changing a spacing restriction on liquor stores.

Currently, city ordinance requires any new liquor store to be 2,000 feet away from any other liquor store and 300 feet away from a school or place of religious assembly (synagogue, church, mosque, temple etc.).

The Minneapolis Code of Ordinances restricts other activities in close proximity to places of religious assembly and schools such as adult entertainment businesses and pawn shops.

Liquor stores are currently restricted from locating within 300 feet as
measured from the front door to the front door. Council Member Tuthill
is proposing to change this measurement to be from property line to property line rather than door to door.

For more information there has been some coverage of this in the press:
The staff report and first proposed amendment can be found in agenda item 7. here:

Before I vote on Friday I would like to hear your opinion.

Let me know if you have any questions or need additional information.

Thanks

Urban Ag Plan Passes Planning Commission

2011-02-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

Last night, the City Planning Commission unanimously sent the Urban Agriculture Topical Plan forward. I look forward to strongly supporting it when it comes before both the Zoning and Planning committee and the full Council.

I see this plan as one of the most important steps the City can take in implementing the Homegrown Minneapolis recommendations. The plan recommends, for the first time in any policy document, that the City allow commercial food growing in Minneapolis, along with a great many other important recommendations. Altogether, the plan's recommendations will help make Minneapolis a leader in the local food movement, improving the health, sustainability and economy of our city.

Green and Healthy Housing

2011-02-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today, the Council’s Regulatory, Energy and Environment committee received a report from staff on an ordinance change that would dramatically improve our ordinances in terms of making rental property safer, healthier, more economical and more environmentally sustainable.

If adopted, these changes would require that landlords protect their tenants in the following ways:

All landlords would be required to do a furnace/boiler safety test by a licensed mechanical or gas contractor every two years, unless the furnace or boiler is under 10 years old.

All owners of single family rentals would be required to get an energy audit with a blower test and thermal scan by a certified auditor. If property fails the initial blower door standard, air sealing must occur resulting in at least a 20% improvement on the initial blower door test or attic bypasses and major air leaks discovered by the thermal scan must be sealed. It should be noted that energy audits are heavily subsidized by Centerpoint and Xcel.

All owners of 1-3 unit rental properties built before 1978 where the City has found chipping or peeling paint would be required to get a lead safe clearance test by a third party lead certified technician. All of these changes are within the City’s appropriate role of protecting tenants, and all will increase the livability, safety and health of our housing stock. As an added benefit, they will also reduce utility costs for renters – which renters often pay but can seldom control – and represent one of the City’s only ways to get serious about the problem of climate change.

I strongly support these amendments. In fact, I think they should have gone significantly further: staff made multiple changes to appease rental property owners, including dropping a proposed radon test, scaling back the lead testing and limiting the energy audits to single family homes only. By making these changes, they successfully kept the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association neutral, rather than having its members oppose the amendments.

Unfortunately, some of my colleagues have signaled that they will not support even these weakened amendments. I look forward to trying to change their minds. After all, we talk a lot about climate change, and making Minneapolis a leader on sustainability. It's time to translate all of that talk into action.

One last thing: these amendments represent a somewhat rare opportunity to support Council President Johnson on a controversial issue. I thank her for her leadership in bringing this issue forward.

The committee will hear this item again on February 28th, and I look forward to supporting it in the strongest form possible.

Honoring Ginny Gelms

2011-02-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

I was proud to present a resolution honoring Interim Elections Director Ginny Gelms at the last Council meeting. The text is below. I want to just add that it has been a pleasure working with Ginny, and I wish her all the best.

Resolution of the City of Minneapolis

By Gordon, Reich, Hofstede, Johnson, Samuels, Lilligren, Goodman, Glidden, Schiff, Tuthill, Quincy, Colvin Roy and Hodges

Honoring Ginny Gelms, Interim Assistant Clerk and Director of Elections, for her service to the people of Minneapolis

Whereas, Ginny Gelms started with the City of Minneapolis in March of 2008 as an Elections Technician and became Interim Elections Director in March of 2010; and,

Whereas, as Interim Elections Director, Ginny managed a 1.2 million dollar budget, the City Hall Elections Office and the elections warehouse and training facility, a permanent staff of four, a seasonal administrative staff of twenty, and over two thousand election judges serving 233,079 Minneapolis registered voters; and,

Whereas, Ginny has embraced ever expanding responsibilities, moving from a position as Elections Technician serving 92,000 registered voters with 56 precincts in Johnson County, Iowa, to serving more than twice as many registered voters with 131 precincts in Minneapolis, to serving more than 700,000 in Hennepin County in the space of three years; and,

Whereas, Ginny helped the Elections Department respond to many challenges foreseen and unforeseen, including implementation of Ranked Choice Voting, recounts for the 2008 Appellate Court primary, 2008 United States Senate, and 2010 Minnesota Governors races, and the Great Elections Warehouse Flood of August 10, 2010; and,

Whereas, Ginny Gelms made Ranked Choice Voting implementation successful by engineering the processes used in the 2009 election, including writing algorithms, technical design, running the test election, writing the Ranked Choice ordinance and fine tuning the hand count procedures; and,

Whereas, during Ginny’s tenure the Minneapolis Elections Department received the 2010 Guardian Award, a national award from the Election Center, for its highly successful implementation of Ranked Choice Voting; and,

Whereas, due to her extensive experience with Ranked Choice Voting, Ginny is now considered a national expert on Ranked Choice elections; and,

Whereas, Ginny is a proud resident of South Minneapolis with her husband Chris and cat Quist, where she volunteers for the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization as a board member and the editor of the Corcoran News; and,

Whereas, Ginny is an active reader who is seldom without her Nook e-reader, and volunteers for the Hennepin County library system; and,

Whereas, Ginny is leaving the City of Minneapolis to serve as Deputy Elections Manager at Hennepin County, where the City of Minneapolis is confident that she will continue to lead the effort to find Ranked Choice-capable voting machines; and,

Whereas, Ginny served the Elections Department and people of Minneapolis during an intensely demanding period, with professionalism, grace, and a lot of heart;

Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved by the City Council of the City of Minneapolis:

That the City of Minneapolis thanks and honors Ginny for her many contributions to the people of Minneapolis, and wishes her well in her new job as Deputy Elections Manager for Hennepin County.

Solar Energy Systems

2011-02-11T10:18:00.001-08:00

This morning, the Council adopted new definitions and protections for solar energy systems. The new ordinance provides much greater clarity for dealing with solar energy systems. It defines and sets standards for building mounted and freestanding solar systems and makes clear that solar access easements may be purchased by property owners. For the first time, it provides specific guidance to the Planning Commission that existing solar energy systems should be given special consideration if and when a proposed development would shadow them.

When this proposal came before committee, I moved to postpone it for two weeks so that we could get more input on the specifics and potentially make some tweaks to make it better. And sure enough, I believe we did. At committee this cycle, Council Member Lisa Goodman moved to raise the percentage of a residential lot that could be covered by a freestanding system from 3% to 5%. This means that for a standard 5,000 square foot city lot, the maximum allowable freestanding system went from 150 s.f. to 250 s.f. The committee also chose to completely do away with lot coverage maximums for commercial and industrial parcels. I believe that both of these amendments were major steps in the right direction.

Between committee and the full Council, my staff worked with solar advocates and City staff on an amendment that would clarify that "passive" solar systems would be included in the protections we're giving to other types of solar systems. These include systems that are specifically intended to capture and store direct solar heat, but are not broad enough to allow any window to be considered a "passive solar" system.

I think this ordinance marks significant progress towards a greener, more sustainable city. I want to thank those who worked on it: Jason Wittenberg in Planning, Gayle Prest in Sustainability, and Brian Ross, a member of the Environmental Advisory Committee and expert on solar energy policy. I also should note that this step forward was funded in part by a grant from the US Department of Energy's Solar America Cities.

Bicycle Advisory Committee

2011-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

For the first time ever this morning, the Council has directly appointed a group of residents to the Bicycle Advisory Committee (or BAC). They also appointed me to be the Council staff member of the group. I appreciate this opportunity; I've been a regular participant on the BAC since 2006, and look forward to being part of its work as a formal member. The City's work on bicycling has long been an interest and focus of mine, and I take this new responsibility very seriously.

The new BAC met in early February as an informal body, and I'm excited about the incredible people who make up the new committee. We've got much better age, race, gender, geographical, and rider-type diversity than the old group had. The group includes folks who ride in all weather and folks who just ride when it's warm, a bike-related business, long-term BAC participants and new perspectives. I'm impressed with how well-balanced the new group is, and by the caliber of all of the folks around the table.

I think everyone was surprised by the outpouring of interest in this committee. More than 90 people applied for the 16 resident seats on the committee, a larger number of applications than any we've seen recently, if not ever. It's clear that people are excited about biking, and about the City's work to make Minneapolis as bike-friendly as it can be. Council Members and the Park Board deserve a lot of credit for considering all of these applicants - each of whom would have been great additions to the BAC - and picking such a good group:

Ward 1: Hope Johnson
Ward 2: Bob Hain
Ward 3: Georgianna Yantos
Ward 4: Jim Skoog
Ward 5: Billy Binder
Ward 6: Ethan Fawley
Ward 7: Richard Anderson
Ward 8: Timothy Larson
Ward 9: Hokan
Ward 10: Lisa Peterson Bender
Ward 11: Paul Frenz
Ward 12: Nick Mason
Ward 13: Bill Dooley
At Large: Janice Gepner, Matthew Hendricks and Joshua Houdek

The new BAC has decided that we'll meet as a formal committee for the first time on the last Wednesday of this month, when we'll adopt our first bylaws, choose a chair, vice chair and secretary, and likely adopt a work plan for 2011. I look forward to getting started.

St. Paul and Ranked Choice Voting

2011-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

St. Paul has joined Minneapolis in adopting a Ranked Choice Voting ordinance. I've had the chance to check it out, and it looks good; similar to the Minneapolis ordinance, though not exactly the same. I want to specifically congratulate St. Paul Council Member Russ Stark for the culmination of his great work on this issue.

Guns on the Legislative Agenda

2011-02-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

At my urging, the Council's Intergovernmental Relations committee has unanimously approved an amendment to our state legislative agenda opposing the pro-gun, pro-violence agenda of the Republicans in the state legislature. Here's the language:

"Minneapolis opposes efforts to weaken Minnesota's gun laws and regulations such as legislation undermining local background checks, shoot-first legislation, legislation prohibiting State Colleges and Universities from banning guns on campus, and a constitutional amendment on the right to keep, bear and use arms."

I thank my colleagues for joining me in getting the City on record formally opposing these terrible ideas.

Chief Dolan on Guns

2011-02-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

I applaud Police Chief Tim Dolan for today's op-ed in the Star Tribune entitled "More Guns? That's preposterous." It's great to see him taking a principled, passionate stand for the safety of Minneapolis communities and common-sense limitations on guns. He backs up his arguments with an impressive array of facts that prove that people with guns are less safe, and that societies with fewer guns are significantly safer.

Thank you, Chief.

Economic Development in Ward 2

2011-02-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

I've received some very interesting information detailing the great work that the Community Planning and Economic Development department is doing to strengthen the economy in Minneapolis, and more specifically in the Second Ward.

The Great Streets program has led to significant investments in Second Ward small businesses. Since 2007, Great Streets funding of business district support all over the Ward (Seward, the West Bank, Southeast and Stadium Village), façade improvement grants and real estate development loans totaling $1.4 million has leveraged more than $11.7 million in private investment. That's a leverage rate of more than 8 to 1. And those investments mean jobs: an estimated 79 jobs were created and 92 were retained due to this program, the large majority of them at the highly successful Seward Coop expansion.

Since 2006, CPED has made 60 small business finance loans available to Second Ward businesses, totaling over $3 million. But partly due to that City financing, businesses have invested over $1 billion over the same peiod. That's a staggering leverage rate of over 300 to 1. And again, these investments mean jobs: an estimated 271 new and 333 retained.

The City also works to develop polluted brownfields into usable space, both housing and business. Since 2009, 13 brownfield projects have received over $100 million in City financing, leveraging almost $350 million in private funds, a leverage rate of over 3 to 1. These investments have created or will create 740 new housing units and will create or retain over 1,600 jobs.

And the City has created jobs more directly, through the Minneapolis Employment and Training Program's summer youth employment programs. The number of kids served continues to grow: 114 youth got jobs in 2008, 129 in 2009, and 131 in 2010.

All of this work has real-world consequences. New businesses are moving into the Second Ward: 125 in 2009 and 128 in 2010. The unemployment rate in Minneapolis is 6.1%, a third lower than the US rate (9.1%), lower than it was a year ago (6.6%), lower then both the Twin Cities metro region and the state (6.3% and 6.8%, respectively).

But the difference between the unemployment rate in Minneapolis and the metro region and state is actually even greater than it appears, because the labor force in Minneapolis has held steady over the past year, while the labor force in the metro region and state has declined.

I want to specifically call out Cathy Polasky and her staff for their great work in growing the Minneapolis economy, even during this difficult economic period, and for the jobs and investment they've helped bring to the Second Ward. Keep it up!

2012 Convention

2011-02-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

The City received what I consider to be very good news today: Democratic officials have decided to hold the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, rather than Minneapolis.

In a time when we are cutting vital services like neighborhood organizations, I'm glad to see that we won't be on the hook for the sorts of costs and risks that come with a major party convention in 2012. I'm also relieved that we won't be the epicenter for the sort of police-state actions that seem to occur at every convention for both major parties, with little or no local control over those actions.

I consider this "loss" a great win for Minneapolis.

FBI's Infiltration Revealed

2011-01-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

I'm deeply disturbed by the revelations about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's infiltration of local peace and justice organizations, through an undercover agent who went as "Karen Sullivan." It is inappropriate, unnecessary, and simply wrong for the FBI to target nonviolent peace and justice organizations for this level of harassment and intimidation. Worse, it chills Constitutionally-protected rights to free speech and association. I call on US Attorney Fitzgerald to leave these folks - who are simply working for a fairer and less violent world - alone.

We're Number One!

2011-01-13T09:31:00.001-08:00

Minneapolis has won another "best-of" to add to our list of plaudits: we've been named "Gayest City in America."

Here's their rationale:

"Over the past decade, Minneapolis has become the gay magnet city of the Midwest. It makes sense: People here are no-nonsense, practical, and don’t deal well with hypocrites. This is where the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America took a historic leap forward and voted to accept gay and lesbian pastors, including the Reverend Mary Albing, the denomination’s first openly lesbian pastor. And Minnesota senator Al Franken introduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act to protect LGBT youth from school bullies. But that’s not all. Minneapolis also has the very hot Mayhem rugby team (MayhemRFC.com) and a thriving bear community with events like Bob’s Bear Bash, every Wednesday night at the Saloon (SaloonMN.com)."

They didn't even mention some of our GLBT-supportive policies, such as the City-staffed domestic partner registration system, or the fact that two of my colleagues on the Council are gay. It's great to see this recognition for Minneapolis.

Transgender Woman Murdered - Media Response Varies

2011-01-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

Tragically, Minneapolis has our first homicide of the year: Chrissie Bates, a 45-year-old transgender woman.

I don't usually write about homicides that occur outside the Second Ward, but I thought it was worth pointing out that some of the local news media did a stellar job reporting on this event with clarity and sensitivity, while others did not.

The good and the pretty good: City Pages and the Star Tribune. Both outlets used the personal pronoun "her" when describing the victim, as in the phrase "in her apartment" from the Star Tribune article. But the City Pages, and particularly reporter Erin Carlyle, did far and away the best job. They have, at the time of this writing, posted not one but two informative articles, quoting extensively from neighbors and public employees.

As importantly, Erin and the City Pages embraced who Chrissie was, unapologetically, clearly, and as if her identity was not a question or assertion. For example, where the Star Tribune used the phrase "transgender person," the City Pages used the phrase "transgender woman." Where the Star Tribune explained the victim's transgender status by stating that "[a]lthough police said the victim was a man, neighbors say she lived as a woman," the City Pages simply noted that she was "[f]ormerly known as Christopher Bates." And where the Star Tribune put quotation marks around the victim's name of choice, "Chrissy," the City Pages openly used her name, sans quotes, in the headline. City Pages even went a step further, reaching out to the GLBT community and finding out about the vigil planned for January 21, from 6-7:30pm.

But at least the Star Tribune tried. All other major media sources referred to the victim as a man, used her former name, and used male personal pronouns. The bad: Fox 29, KARE 11, MPR, KSTP, WCCO, and the Pioneer Press.

Kudos and thanks to the Star Tribune and especially to the City Pages and Erin Carlyle for reporting on this tragic event in a way that respected the victim enough to describe her as she described herself.

Making Minnesota Arizona

2011-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Some legislators in the Minnesota Legislature have put forward a list of pro-gun, pro-violence bills designed to make Minnesota like Arizona - if not worse. That's right, some of our state law makers apparently want Minnesota to emulate the state that is rated second-worst in the nation by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the state called "the Tombstone of the United States of America" by Pima County, AZ Sherrif Clarence Dupnik.

1) Shoot First. This bill would allow people to shoot anyone you don't know if they set foot on your property - including a fenced yard. This appears to mean that any political candidate, volunteer, canvasser, delivery person, or mailman who happens to walk onto the wrong property at the wrong time could be legally shot and killed. It will also eliminate the "rule of retreat" that means if a person can safely walk away from a situation, they are not entitled to kill someone just because they seem threatening. It would also allow the killing of anyone in a public place who seems "threatening." Arizona has a version of this law on the books.

2) Guns on campus: This bill would prohibit state colleges and universities - including the University of Minnesota, located in the Second Ward - to ban concealed guns on campus. Yes, you read that right: the state legislature, rather than school administrators, would make the decision for every school in the state. A gun in every classroom. (This is even worse than the current state of law in Arizona, which does not yet have this law in place. But just like in Minnesota, elected officials in the Arizona legislature have introduced a mandatory guns-on-campus bill.)

3) Proliferation of Assault Weapons. Minnesota is home to at least one assault weapon manufacturer. This bill would exempt any assault weapon manufactured in Minnesota and sold in Minnesota from Federal background checks. (It also relies on the extremely dubious "tenther" belief that the Federal government has overstepped the authority granted by the Interstate Commerce clause of the Constitution.) Though we should give credit where due: the Republicans have found some limits on weapons that they can live with. The bill wouldn't apply to cannons, bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades, or any weapon "that cannot be carried and used by one person."

4) These aren't the only bad ideas being cooked up by law makes on guns. They're also trying - because the Second Amendment isn't enough? - to push through a Minnesota Constitutional amendment to "keep, bear and use arms." This would open the door to lawsuits attempting to undermine what few laws we have on the books seeking to protect the population from guns. The laws that differentiate Minnesota from Arizona - an age limit of sixteen to buy guns, gun permit processes involving law enforcement, background checks longer than 3 days, police inspection of gun dealers and requirements that gun dealers put security in place to prevent guns from being stolen - would be threatened.

It seems to me that these ideas are moving us in the wrong direction. In Minneapolis, I think we should be doing more to control and regulate guns, not less. Unfortunately, (as I have said before) even if the entire City Council supported enacting legislation regulating guns in Minneapolis, we would be unable to do so because in 1985 the state legislature took away Minneapolis’ authority to do so.

Before it does anything to protect people's ability to buy, own and use guns, I'd prefer if the legislature would restore the cities' and counties' authority to regulate guns so that we would once again have the ability to at least register guns and restrict their use in some areas, as long as it is consistent with federal law, as Chicago and many cities in other states have done.

In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Gifford and the murders of six innocent bystanders, an event that is drawing national attention to the weak gun laws in Arizona that made such a tragedy possible, I hope these legislative efforts will quickly fall by the wayside and into the paper shredders and recycling bins at the Capitol. There may be some things about Arizona we want to emulate, but this is NOT one of them.

Commercial Recycling

2011-01-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

One of my goals on the Minneapolis City Council is to help reduce solid waste and manage it more effectively. I am very concerned about the amount of our waste going to landfills and to the downtown garbage burner.

To help address this, several months ago I authored an ordinance amendment that strengthened our recycling ordinances related to multifamily residential properties. This passed the City Council unanimously. I have also supported and helped develop pilot programs to explore organic waste curbside pick up programs and a more simplified recycling sorting system.

Last year I began work on an ordinance that would require recycling at commercial properties. As part of this work I researched what other cities do, and met with business owners, city staff and county officials. The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce recently conducted a survey of businesses on recycling. The results indicated that over 90% of businesses currently recycle, with the supermajority recycling paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic; that over 90% of businesses have had no issues with their recycling service; and that 65% of businesses either supported or were neutral towards a commercial recycling mandate, the plurality of businesses, 48%, were supportive, and only 35% opposed a mandate.

The City has the capacity to enforce this new requirement. The Fire Department (MFD) has been charged with inspecting all commercial buildings in Minneapolis. MFD staff has assured me that it would be practical to include compliance with the recycling requirement as one of the things they look for.

Last fall I formally introduced "the subject matter" of a new ordinance in Minneapolis that would require commercial entities to recycle. Now the language has been drafted based on the following components and I am continuing to reach out to community and business organizations and individuals to get feedback.

Minimum Requirements

All commercial establishments that provide on-site garbage collection service shall also provide on-site recycling service that includes collection of materials for recycling at least equal to the level of service provided to the residents of Minneapolis.

An owner or other person required to provide recycling services will provide:
· regular collection service (at least two times each month);
· recycling receptacles and
· adequate recycling collection and storage areas.
Education
An owner or other person required to provide recycling service to a business must provide recycling information and instructions to:
· its employees annually;
· a new employee no later than the seventh day after the employee begins work; and
· all employees not later than the 30th day after a change in the service offered.

Reporting Requirements

The building or business owner responsible for providing recycling services shall create a recycling plan within 14-30 days of beginning operations.
The recycling service provider/hauler shall file a semiannual volume report that includes the volume and type of recyclable materials collected in the preceding period. A person required to provide recycling service shall notify the department in writing if the person changes service providers.

Enforcement

Enforcement will be part of the regular commercial inspections program. In addition, tenants, employees, haulers or others can report out-of-compliance properties or businesses.

The penalty for noncompliance will include a written warning and a fine (likely starting at $200)that increases in amount with each consecutive violation. In extreme cases it could include the revocation of a license.

Technical Assistance

The City will develop a technical assistance program to help commercial business meet the minimum requirements of the ordinance. This will include providing lists of licensed haulers as well as help with development of collection infrastructure (areas and containers) as well as educational materials.

Timeline

This ordinance amendment has been referred to staff by the City Council and the final language is being drafted. I am currently gathering input from the community on the proposal, clarifying details and drafting language. I suspect that it will be scheduled for a public hearing before the Regulatory, Energy and Environment Committee early in 2011 and presented for approval to the full Council before April. If approved I will be advocating for an extensive outreach and education program prior to any enforcement.

Urban Agriculture Policy Plan

2011-01-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

A draft of the new Urban Agriculture Policy Plan is now available for Public Review and comments until January 31.

This plan represents a significant part of the work of the Homegrown Minneapolis effort I have been helping lead for many months as co-chair of the Homegrown Minneapolis Implementation Task Force. If you are interest in more opportunities for growing, or processing or eating, more food produces in the City please take some time to read the draft plan.

The plan is a land use policy guide for urban agriculture in Minneapolis and and contains recommendations related to land use, zoning, access to land, design options and allowing farming in the city.

The development of the Urban Agriculture Policy Plan was a directive from the City Council when the Homegrown Minneapolis Report was adopted in June of 2009.

Two community meetings will be held to discuss the content of the plan:

Tuesday, January 11, from 6:30PM to 8:00PM at the Sabathani Community Center (3rd Floor) 310 E. 38th Street
Thursday, January 20, from 2:00 to 3:30 at North Central Library, 1315 Lowry Ave. N.Background

Comments and concerns about the plan should be directed to me or to: Amanda Arnold, Principal Planner, Minneapolis Department of Community Planning & Economic Development Planning Division, 250 South 4th St., Rm 110, Minneapolis MN 55415.

You can also submit feedback by responding to a short survey about the plan here.

All comments will become part of the public record and be included in a report that will be forwarded to the City Planning Commission when they consider the adoption of the plan. A public hearing is tentatively set for February 22, 2011 in City Hall, Room 317, during the City Planning Commission meeting.

After adoption by the City Planning Commission, the plan will be forwarded to the City Council for adoption and will be amended to the Comprehensive Plan.

My Policy Aide, and sometimes blogger here , Robin Garwood, has been chairing the Urban Agriculture Policy Plan Steering Committee and this has been a major priority of his, and mine, throughout 2009.

It is very exciting to see it reach this level and it is very important that people with interest and expertise in local foods take the time to review the plan now before the final draft is written and before it is approved by the Council later and incorporated into the City's comprehensive plan, the Minneapolis Plan for Sustainable Growth.

Winter Parking Restrictions

2010-12-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

Due to the historic snow storm last weekend - the fifth largest in Minneapolis history - the City has put winter parking restrictions into effect. The restrictions, also known as the "one side ban," went into effect this morning at 8am.

The reason for these restrictions is that streets narrowed by snow and with parking on both sides can become difficult or even impassable for emergency vehicles. That's why Police Chief Tim Dolan and Public Works Director Steve Kotke – in consultation with Fire Chief Alex Jackson - made the decision to put the restrictions into effect.

To avoid being ticketed and towed, do not park on the even side of non-Snow Emergency routes, except where specifically instructed by signage. Parking is allowed on both sides of Snow Emergency routes and parkways, and the odd side of non-Snow Emergency-routes, unless otherwise posted.

Please also keep in mind that it is possible that Snow Emergencies can be declared while Winter Parking Restrictions are in place. When a Snow Emergency is declared, follow the standard Snow Emergency rules.

Please help the City spread the word, and prevent your neighbors from getting unnecessary tickets or tows. You can follow "Help your neighbors avoid a snow tow" on Facebook to help remind you.

For more information on where to park during Winter Parking Restrictions, and for a list of ways to keep on top of all changes to winter parking, go here or follow “Minneapolis Snow Emergency” on Facebook or Twitter. Also, call (612) 348-SNOW at any time to find out if Winter Parking Restrictions or a Snow Emergency is in effect.

2011 Budget - Why I Voted No

2010-12-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

For the first time as Council Member, I voted against a budget. I do not take this vote lightly. In all past budgets, there have been things I would have liked to change and fights that I have lost. These issues have not been important enough for me to vote against the final budget.

This year’s assault by the Mayor and Council majority on the already-allocated Neighborhood Revitalization Program Phase II funding is fundamentally different. I could not in good conscience vote for a budget that reneges on the commitments the Council has made over the years to neighborhoods. One we unanimously reaffirmed this June when we voted to allocate the full NRP Pahse II funding to our partners in neighborhoods.

I am saddened that neighborhood organizations will no longer be able to rely on the commitments – or even the formal actions – of the Council majority. I am disappointed in my colleagues’ decision that will, in my strongly-held opinion, fundamentally damage both the capacity of neighborhoods to serve Minneapolis residents and their capacity to collaborate with the City.

And this is doubly important, given one of the subtler implications of the Council majority's action. Due to this action, neighborhood groups no longer have a dedicated funding stream tied to the Tax Increment Financing districts. All of the commitments the City made to neighborhoods up until today included a dedicated funding stream for "Phase 3." This was important because it made it more difficult for the City to raid neighborhood funding to pay for other things. If the Council majority continues to move down this path, NRP Phase II dollars will pay for the first few years of "Phase 3"... and then what? It's fairly clear that the next step, unless neighborhoods organize an effective opposition, will be to continue to cut City funding to neighborhoods until it is entirely gone. No commitments or promises made to the contrary by the Council majority are to be believed at this point.

And we should be clear about one important fact: the action to freeze Phase II dollars has no impact whatsoever on the 2011 budget, the only action the Council was required to make this December. Rather, this decision improperly presupposes that the cuts in the 2012 budget will come from neighborhoods. Rather than taking the time to explore all options and work with our neighborhood partners, the Council decided on these cuts to neighborhoods this December.

City of Minneapolis leaders decry the decisions at the State level to renege on commitments made to local governments through Local Government Aid. Yet, when budget times get difficult, the Council majority makes clear that it will break its word just as readily as Republican governors.

I would note that this is a tragic example of the success of conservative Republican government in the State of MN. Speaker after speaker at the public hearing on the budget railed against City spending - despite the fact that City spending, when adjusted for inflation, will be lower next year than it was ten years ago. Speaker after speaker said that there is no revenue problem - despite the draconian Local Government Aid cuts to Minneapolis since 2002. The creation of the decentralized and empowering neighborhood revitalization program, and the building of neighborhood capacity that resulted, is one of the most important and striking accomplishments in Minneapolis in the past three decades. Now, by starving Minneapolis of LGA, forcing increasing reliance on regressive property taxes, and shifting the tax burden from wealthy commercial property to struggling homeowners, Republicans have enlisted the support of the DFL Mayor and Council majority in destroying that capacity and undoing that progressive accomplishment.

It is very important to note that the neighborhoods most impacted by the freeze in Phase II dollars are among the poorest in Minneapolis. They include Central, Hawthorne, Near North, Whittier and Cedar Riverside, which are each poised to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the Council majority’s decision. As such, this decision is inherently and unavoidably unjust.

I want to be clear that I am strongly in favor of cutting property taxes. But I believe that there are deeply unpopular and unsustainable decisions that the City has made in the past that must be reviewed and reconsidered. It is time that we do a complete and thoughtful study to identify budget cuts that can be made to major expenses that offer little or no direct n=beneift to the residents of Minneapolis.

It was especially disheartening that the Council majority was unwilling to approve a motion made by Council Member Lilligren that I helped draft that would have directed our Finance department to identify options for property tax relief for the years 2012 and 2013 and report to back with a plan for providing at least $5.5 million dollars in tax relief each year. The motion called for a plan that would consider all sources of potential property tax relief. It also, wisely called on our Neighborhood and Community Relations department to work with the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission and develop and implement a process to engage residents, neighborhoods and neighborhood organizations in the discussions.

I believe that such a study needs to be done if we are to have a chance of developing a good budget with community involvement that can both hold down property tax increase and avoid unwise cuts with dire consequences in the future. Such a study should take a careful look at all sources of potential property tax relief including, but not limited to:
1) The new consolidated TIF district,
2) All other TIF districts,
3) The Arena/Target Center ownership funding,
4) Entertainment Tax revenue
5) Convention Center Fund
6) The Municipal Parking Fund
7) The Self Insurance Fund
8) The new Neighborhood Community Relations Department
9) The Affordable Housing Trust Fund
10) Community Development Block Grant resources
11) All major contracts with outside firms, for possible renegotiations, including those with:
Unisys for technology services, Meet Minneapolis and USI Wireless

I think perhaps the best example is the Target Center. It is critical for every resident to understand that while the Council majority was voting to damage neighborhood organizations by freezing their funds, Target Center debt was held completely harmless.

I will note that the Council majority and Mayor also held ourselves harmless, even as we were forcing cuts to neighborhood organizations, to Public Housing and to many of our departments. Neither the Council nor Mayor took a dollar in cuts. In fact, the Council amended the Mayor’s proposed budget to shift a proposed one-time cut to the Clerk’s Office. I find this highly objectionable.

I would like to specifically call out the few Council Members who partnered with me in this effort and voted with me to reduce the harm to neighborhoods. Robert Lilligren, who worked with me instensely in search of solution the last few days, Kevin Reich, and Diane Hofstede.

Still, I am deeply disappointed to have to disagree with so many of my colleagues and the Mayor on this fundamental decision. But I am more saddened by the prospect of the very real damage that this budget will have on neighborhood organizations.

More Shelter Beds Needed to Serve Homeless

2010-12-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

This week the Zoning and Planning Committee unanimously approved the application for an interim use permit for an overnight shelter located at 810 7th St. S. The shelter will be operated by First Covenant Church in cooperation with the Salvation Army and will provide 50 addition mats for single adults each night until April of 2011.

While I wholeheartedly supported this action, I did so with regret. Clearly this is a situation we wanted to avoid.

At the committee we learned that on a recent Monday night, the 364 sleeping spaces at one of our largest facilities were all full, but an additional 103 adults showed up looking for a place to spend the night. Even though there were no mats avaiable on the floor, they were not turned away, but had to squeeze into hallways, corners and corridors.

If the full Council approves this next Firday, it will be the first new overnight shelter the Council has approved since the late 1990s and shows the serious level of economic suffering that the poor state of the economy has brought to Minneapolis.

Despite the creation of an Office to End Homelessness, our comprehensive plan to end homelessness and our best efforts over the years to address the problem of homelessness by focusing on helping people find permanent housing, there is a crisis this winter.

Despite the fact that we have doubled our prevention efforts and are also partnering with the county to administer $6.5 million in federal stimulus dollars we received for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, our shelters are overflowing.

According to the numbers we are seeing now this shelter will not be enough and the need is especially critical for the growing number of youth who are homeless.

Another application will likely (and hopefully) be submitted in the next few weeks.

Three New Second Ward Commissioners

2010-12-02T10:05:00.001-08:00

Three Second Ward residents are joining Minneapolis advisory commissions this month: Bill O'Connor and Jonna Kosalko are joining the Minneapolis Arts Commission and Ginny Lackovic is joining the Heritage Preservation Commission. Thanks to you all for your willingness to volunteer your time to make Minneapolis a better place, and welcome!

Riverside Reconstruction

2010-11-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

This morning, the Transportation and Public Works (TPW) committee approved a layout for the Riverside Avenue reconstruction project. This layout has changed significantly for the better in the month or so since it last came before the committee (compare the old version to the new version). Among the positive changes:

- The bicycle lane going towards downtown now extends all the way to Cedar Avenue, rather than dropping a half-block early. This is possible because the through lane (which goes onto 4th St and has very low volumes) has been combined with the left turn lane onto southbound Cedar. I am confident that this change will work fine for automobiles, as the layout keeps a dedicated right-turn lane onto Cedar northbound - the heaviest movement in this intersection. It will work much better for bicyclists, giving them a safe, dedicated lane all the way through Cedar, connecting to 4th St (and, from there, to the Hiawatha LRT trail). And, as a side benefit, it will work better for pedestrians. The old through lane was eleven feet wide. The bike lane is only 5 feet wide. The remaining space has been dedicated to the sidewalk on the north side (near the Acadia cafe), which has grown from a proposed 13 feet to 20 feet. As this is one of the highest pedestrian traffic intersections in town, I think that this is a great side effect.

- The section of the road between 22nd and 25th Avenues has been improved. There will be parking on the south side of the street, with green boulevards and wider sidewalks possible on both sides. Fairview Hospital and Augsburg College pushed hard for this, and I'm glad they did.

In addition to these improvements, I worked with members of TPW to get two staff directions passed. The first makes clear that the bike lane going towards Seward will not simply end in the block between South 9th Street and Franklin Avenue. Instead, bicyclists and drivers will both be informed that the right lane is to be shared by both users, with appropriate striping and signage. This is necessary due to the complexity of the Riverside/Franklin/29th intersection. A bike lane to the right of travel lanes, where most people would expect it, could easily lead to conflicts between bicyclists taking a left from Riverside onto Franklin and cars going "straight" (actually an obtuse right) onto 29th.

The second staff direction is for staff to work with community stakeholders - most likely Fairview, Augsburg, and the Cedar Riverside Partnership - to identify appropriate locations for planted medians. It also makes absolutely clear that the City will not maintain planted medians; if the institutions and others want these, they have to find a way to take care of them. Still, I'm optimistic that we'll find three or four good locations along Riverside to get some greenery in the middle of the road, as a gateway onto the West Bank.

I will be hosting a meeting with the residents of 5th Street to discuss the corner of 5th, 20th Avenue, and Riverside. Staff moved away from their preferred alternative for that intersection - a cul-de-sac - based on the negative reaction from residents. Instead, they are proposing an out-only lane that would allow cars to exit 5th onto Riverside, but not allow cars to turn onto 5th at that location. Unfortunately, the meeting that staff hosted to discuss this proposal was held at a time and location that made it impossible for residents to attend, so I will be presenting the proposal to residents sometime later this month.

All in all, this is a great project. It's a once in a generation opportunity to improve one of the two main streets on the West Bank, and from the beginning it was clear that it will dramatically improve the pedestrian experience through curb extensions and more. The improvements we've been able to make in response to the engagement of the community over the last month have made it even better, and I'm excited to see the project get underway.

33rd and Minneapolis

2010-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

The intersection of Minneapolis Avenue S and 33rd Ave S is the only uncontrolled intersection in Seward, the only one in Ward 2, and one of the last 10 or so uncontrolled intersections in the whole city. It's a skewed four-way (because Minneapolis is at an angle to the grid) with one one-way leg.

We've heard from at least one resident about this intersection over the years. It's confusing, and that confusion could contribute to accidents.

Public Works has been putting stop signs up at uncontrolled intersections in Minneapolis since 2004. 33rd and Minneapolis is one of the last. They will be making a recommendation to me about how to signalize this intersection within the next two months. I look forward to working with Seward to come up with a solution that works for everyone.

Cara Moves On

2010-11-29T13:44:00.001-08:00

This week, the Mayor's Office and City Hall is bidding farewell to a Second Ward resident: Cara Letofsky. Cara has been highly valued by me and my colleagues and she, and her good work here, will be greatly missed.

Cara has worked in the Mayor's Office as a Policy Aide whose portfolio included, according to the Mayor's website: "Sustainability and environment, planning and urban design, housing and homelessness, neighborhood community development and relations, jobs and workforce development, financial literacy, 2010 census."

I have to admit that it was a little bit strange when Cara and I both started our new jobs in January of 2006. We'd just come off of a close-fought campaign against each other for the Second Ward Council seat, a race I won by only a hundred and fifty-one votes. Mayor Rybak had noticed Cara's organizing skill, and he offered her a position in his second administration.

In those first few months, it was sometimes difficult to make the transition from campaign rivals to coworkers. But over the course of the last few years, I've found that my working relationship with Cara has been my closest with anyone in the Mayor's Office. We've worked together on a number of initiatives that have been major priorities for me: Homegrown Minneapolis, the creation of the new Neighborhood and Community Relations Commission and Department and the new generation of NRP, and a host of sustainability and green jobs issues. I've gotten to know that Cara is a hard worker who looks for pragmatic, concrete ways to make meaningful and beneficial change in an organization that can be all too hard to turn in a better direction.

I can't imagine where the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative would be without her work, or what would have become of NRP if she hadn't been at the table. I'm not sure what we're going to do without her.

What I do have confidence in is that Cara will find a place to continue her work to make the world a better place. Good luck, Cara, and thanks for all you've done for our city.

The 2011 Budget and Tax Levy

2010-11-24T15:01:00.000-08:00

The 2011 budget and financial challenges facing our City are the most difficult I have experienced since taking office. By now, all property owners in Minneapolis should have received their notice for proposed property taxes for 2011. Many, if not all, have seen increases over 2010. These property taxes include taxes levied by Hennepin County, Minneapolis Public Schools, the City of Minneapolis and special taxing districts, such as Metro Transit and watershed districts. Understandably, I am most concerned with the City of Minneapolis’ portion.

The second of three public hearings on the tax levy and budget was held in November and we heard many concerns about the proposed levy and budget. The biggest concerns related to a cut in funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (from $10 million to 8) and the dramatic increase in property taxes. The typical increase, based on the comments, calls and emails I have received, is between 15 – 18%. Several factors play roles in this, including:
1. The poor economy and the decline in the overall tax base
2. A shift in the burden of property taxes from commercial and industrial properties onto residential properties
3. Increased obligations to closed pension funds,
4. Decreases in Local Government Aid, and
5. The recertification of Tax Increment Financing Districts.

Please allow me to share more thoughts on each.

1. The poor economy accounts for a major portion of many homeowners’ property tax increases. The drop in value of both commercial and industrial property and the decline in residential property values due to foreclosure, short sales and the economic recession, have significantly reduced the property tax base. With a smaller tax base, even if the cumulative amount of the taxes being collected (the tax levy) remained constant, taxes per individual property would rise. Unfortunately, the poor economy does not reduce costs to the City – if anything, it increases them. More vacant homes and businesses mean a greater risk of fire, and more work for our inspectors and regulatory staff. Recessions tend to see increased crime rates, putting more pressure on police resources. Homelessness and unemployment make our employment, housing and economic development efforts more critical. More information on the connection between the economy and your property taxes is available here.

2. State law changes over the last decade have shifted the burden of property taxes from commercial, apartment building and industrial properties onto smaller residential properties. In 1997, residential property owners covered 33% percent of the total Minneapolis property taxes. Today they pay a 56%. This shift has caused residential property taxes to climb at a greater rate than taxes for other property types in the City.

3. The entire amount of money raised by the 6.5% proposed increase in the tax levy is proposed to go to meet our legal obligations to three closed pension funds. These contributions were “locked in” in the 1980s, when the City government agreed to pay pension amounts event when the investments of those pension funds could not. These programs are now closed, since they stopped accepting new members in 1978. The City has challenged overcharges in court and when the judge sided with the City we were able to decrease taxes by $10 million last year. Still, costs of covering the agreed to benefits to retirees and their survivors have grown dramatically in the last few years, and are projected to continue to grow in the years to come. Beginning in 2010 and for the next five years alone, market downturns have increased our responsibility to the funds by an estimated $38 million. For more look here .

4. Minneapolis’ Local Government Aid (LGA) has been cut by $54 million over the last three years. LGA was established by the State in the 1970s as a revenue sharing program to ensure that all communities in Minnesota have quality basic services within a taxing system which allows the state government to impose income and sales taxes and limits local governments to collecting property taxes and only limited state-approved sales taxes. Under this scheme, local governments agreed to send the income- and sales-tax revenues generated within their boundaries to the state with the understanding that some of this revenue would be redistributed to local governments through a need-based formula. Many cities in states that have had no such agreement (such as Colorado, New York, Oregon, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania) have instituted city income taxes. Minneapolis does not currently have this option. Instead, we have worked to keep City spending at pace with inflation and essentially flat since the cuts began and had to raise the property tax levy to make up the difference. In 2003 State Aid accounted for 40 percent of General Fund revenue, while property taxes accounted for only 29 percent. In 2011, if recent projections prove accurate, State Aid will account for only 22 percent while property taxes will make up 44 percent of General Fund revenue.

5. Part of the pressure the budget this year is due to the recertification of about ½ of the old “NRP” Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts that for the 20 years from 1989 – 2009 were used to pay for the Neighborhood Revitalization Program. Starting in 2011 these funds will be used to: a) make payments to Hennepin County for their share of the property taxes lost to the TIF; b) pay for the City and County costs of administering the district. The remaining funds (or the “Net Tax Increment” of about $10 million a year) will be divided evenly to pay debt service on the Target Center and the new neighborhood and community relations programs. This has taken roughly 15 million dollars out of total tax levy that was available for other purposes in 2010. Originally the Council approved twice as much funding for neighborhoods and Target Center debt but after the economic downturn and loss of LGA in 2008, this was cut in half. Unfortunately, selling Target Center is not a realistic option without a buyer, and while I would consider not paying down the debt as quickly as we could, this was a hard-fought Council decision, and paying down the debt quickly reduces the long-term burden on taxpayers and brings more money into the general fund sooner. In light of the ending of the 20 year long Neighborhood Revitalization Program and the end of the County’s financial contribution to it, City funding for neighborhood organizations is absolutely critical.

It is important to note that we are cutting the City budget even as property taxes are increasing. Adjusting for inflation, the City’s proposed budget for 2011 is 7% smaller than the City’s budget in 2001. The City will have close to 80 fewer full time employees in 2011 than 2010 and 400 fewer than it did in 2001. As we expect other departments in the City to reduce costs, one thing that is important to me is that the City Council Ward budgets themselves must share in those reductions. There is currently a proposal that would require the Council offices to do that by cutting each office budget by $5,400, through a combination of cuts to spending on things like office supplies, interns, mailings and travel as well as instituting a voluntary unpaid time off program. That proposal should be adopted.

There are other ongoing efforts to look at additional budget cuts in hopes that the levy and property taxes could be lowered. Each percentage point that we reduce the levy means a $2.2 million dollar loss of revenue. With a general fund budget of $390 million there may yet be places worth cutting, but more layoffs and lost services often have undesirable consequences. However, each percentage point that we reduce the levy will only yield a $16 annual reduction in property taxes for the “typical” Minneapolis homeowner. Yes, that’s only $16 for the whole year for a home valued at about $195,000. If the tax rate is 7.5% the total overall property tax on that home is about $3,159 and at 6.5% the total overall property tax would be is $3,143.

One option I would be willing to reluctantly consider would be to borrow to cover some or all of our pension obligations. Borrowing, however, also adds costs over the long term and the less money we have to spend on interest, the more we have to cover ongoing operating costs or real improvements to our infrastructure in the future. Also, as pension obligations are set to increase in the next three years, this option may be better reserved for future years, if at all.

I am hopeful that the actual impact on taxpayers may be slightly smaller than stated in the notices we received by mail this month. The notices were based on a maximum 7.5 % levy increase passed by the Board of Estimate and taxation. The budget proposed by the mayor and what each departments have planned for, is based on a 6.5% increase. The Board set a higher maximum to avoid greater cuts if the State’s economic forecast departs from previous estimates of what Minneapolis can expect from Local Government Aid.

This site answers many questions about the process and explains the City’s different funding sources. To view the complete proposed 2011 budget, go here

One more public hearing on the City’s proposed 2011 budget to give the public a chance to share their thoughts on the proposed budget and tax levy will be held on Monday, Dec. 13, 6:05 p.m. in City Hall, 350 South 5th Street, room 317. Written commends are also welcomed.

Whatever we do this year, I am convinced that the annual tax increases levied in the last few years are not sustainable. I will continue to work to make sure we are managing this difficult financial situation in a way that balances the need to keep taxes down with the need to avoid drastic cuts in critical services that would lead to more expensive long term consequences. There is a dire need for state tax and pension reform, which I will continue to push for while keeping my primary focus on making sure that City departments are investing our money wisely for the short and long term benefit of all our residents.

MPCA ‘s Metro Solid Waste Plan.

2010-11-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

I submitted the following comments on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Metro area Solid Waste Plan.

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I commend the Pollution Control Agency for undertaking the Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Policy Plan, and thank you for the opportunity to comment. There are many portions of the plan that will be significant steps in the right direction. However, there are also some ways in which the plan’s goals are not aggressive enough, and could lead to some unfortunate missed opportunities.

The positive aspects of the plan are almost too numerous to mention. The dual focus on reducing, recycling, and composting and limiting the total waste going to landfills is the right fundamental approach. I commend the MPCA for instituting a ‘floor’ for recycling, composting, and reduction.

Many of the strategies laid out in the plan are tremendous ideas. Worth special mention are Extended Producer Responsibility/Product Stewardship; Improving Volume-based Pricing; Mandatory Opportunity to Recycle for Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional (CII) Sectors; Increasing Landfill Disposal Fees; and Targeting Commercial Organics. I strongly believe that each of these strategies will meet the long term goals of improving the environment, public health, and regional economy, and I urge the MPCA to implement them.

However, the plan has room for improvement in several important ways.

To begin with, the Vision laid out in the plan is not sufficient. It is time for all stakeholders in the MSW realm to embrace the long-term goal of a zero-waste society. The MPCA’s leadership in engaging the state in a serious conversation about how and when to accomplish this in relation the different potions of our waste stream would be enormously helpful. This plan provides an opportunity to begin that discussion with clear goals and a clear timeline.

Second, it is important to draw a distinction between the top tier of the solid waste management hierarchy – waste reduction, recycling, and organics recovery – and Waste to Energy. While it is true that WTE is an effective method for capturing the embedded energy from MSW, it will never be a clean source of energy. WTE facilities simply decrease air quality and generate risks to public health. Too often, the plan includes WTE in the top tier, or makes unclear that it is not included. The plan should be amended to make two things very clear. First, that WTE is absolutely preferable to landfill. Second, that reduction, recycling and organics recovery are absolutely preferable to WTE. Put another way, WTE is not among the best solutions for waste; it is the best of the worst solutions.

Third, while the plan includes many positive statements about organics recovery, the details of the plan do not support the plan’s stated goals. As table A-1 makes clear, organics comprise 22% of MSW. But the MSW Management System Objectives aim for a long-term (2030) goal of only 7-9% organics recovery. This is simply unacceptable, and calls into question the MPCA’s actual commitment to the solid waste management hierarchy; it is apparent that the MPCA has placed greater emphasis on WTE than organics recovery.

The lack of prioritization on organics recovery shows through in other aspects of the plan as well. The implementation strategy regarding commercial organics is positive; however, the plan misses the opportunity to address residential organics programs. Municipalities in the metro area can and should start to offer curbside source separated organic materials (SSO) pickup. The MPCA should play a leadership and facilitating role in making this happen, by establishing a clear goal – for instance, a goal of SSO collection service for all residences in the metro area – providing technical assistance, and helping to ensure that there is adequate SSO processing capacity.

The Potential Additional Materials Recycling and Organics Processing Capacity goals are not sufficient to meet the needs of a comprehensive organics recovery system. City of Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling staff has made clear that the single greatest obstacle to citywide curbside SSO collection is the dearth of facilities that can process the waste. It is my understanding that there are currently no facilities that accept commingled yard and food waste, which would be the most cost effective collection method for the City of Minneapolis. The MPCA has a critical role to play in a) streamlining the process for permitting new composting and anaerobic digestion facilities to the extent possible, b) creating new rules and procedures as necessary to allow the permitting of composting facilities that can accept commingled food and yard waste, and c) clearly stating composting and digesting targets for the Metro area, and holding stakeholders accountable for meeting these targets, thereby making clear to potential new facilities that their service will be utilized.

In summary, the plan to a great extent misses the opportunity presented by organics recovery. I consider this oversight important enough that it calls into question many of the stated goals of the plan. It is also clear that the plan does not, in regards to organics recovery, come anywhere near meeting the 2008 Legislature’s request for options to achieve 15% diversion of source-separated compostable materials by 2020. Organics recovery could and should be, along with overall reductions and increased recycling, one of the major solutions for reducing the MSW going to both landfills and WTE.

Please consider adopting stronger and clearer organics recovery goals, clarifying that WTE is a second-tier solution, and adopting a bold long-term vision for a Metro area in which all waste is treated as a resource. If the MPCA does so, the plan will be much more likely to help create a sustainable community in which, in the words of the first goal of the plan, we “manage waste in a manner that will protect the environment and public health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy and natural resources.”

Thank you again for the opportunity to comment,

Cam Gordon
Council Member, Minneapolis Ward 2

Dero Bike Racks

2010-11-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

Second Ward business Dero Bike Racks is having a big month.

In early November, they won a 2010 Commuter Choice Award. They received this honor for developing Dero ZAP, a solar powered, wireless, web-based application that allows organizations to reward employees who commute by bicycle. The program was launched within Dero itself, and they now provide a cash incentive of $3 per day to each employee who uses alternative commuting options.

Then they moved from their longtime home in the Seward neighborhood to the Southeast Minneapolis Industrial area. One of the reasons they cite for the move is the intercampus transitway trail, which will serve their many employees who bike to work.

Congratulations, Dero, and welcome to southeast!

Disparities Study

2010-11-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

The long awaited “disparities” study to help us understand how women-owned and minority-owned businesses compete for contracts offered by the City and in the private sector is now complete. The Disparity Study looked at the City’s procurement process, the locations and ownership of companies that do business with the city and at the overall marketplace and experiences of women-owned and minority-owned businesses that seek contracts in both the public and private sector. It has confirmed that we continue to have a significant problem with racial and gender discrimination on all levels of the hiring contracting and procurement ladder in the region. Institutional racism and sexism appear to continue to pose serious obstacles in access to contracts in our marketplace. The study also made a number of recommendations to remedy the situation, including the enhancement of current City efforts to fight discrimination and the addition of new initiatives. These initiatives involve both race- and gender-conscious remedies as well as some race- and gender-neutral initiatives. You can view the study here: and the recommendations here.

The City Council is now seeking public comments on the Disparity Study. All comments must be made in writing to the Civil Rights Department in one of two ways: E-mail comments to cynthia.govan@ci.minneapolis.mn.us no later than 4:30 p.m. (CST) on Friday, December 3. Mail to: Minneapolis Civil Rights Department, Attn: Cynthia Govan, 250 S. 4th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. The Council act on any recommendations based on the report following the comment period. This is the second Disparity Study completed by the City.

The original study was completed in 1995 and the new study is required if we are to operate a Small and Underutilized Business Program to address the effects of past discrimination in contracting and to promote equal opportunities for all to participate in contracts generated by the City.