Finding a Green Way to Govern

The City’s Business Information Services department is recommending a renegotiation of the City’s contract for information/technology services with Unisys Corporation. The contract is set to expire in January 2013 and costs roughly $11 million a year. Under the proposed terms it would be extended for four years (through 2016) in exchange for some changes in service and a $280,000 savings in 2010 (and additional savings in future years) for total cost to the City of over $45 million. I have had concerns about this contract for some time and do not think we should move forward with this extension without conducting an analysis of alternatives, including potentially going out for open bids on this contract, exploring moving some or all of this work back in-house, and investigating whether open-source software can better meet the City’s needs. I was able to get my colleagues to agree to a two-week delay on this action, and I hope this will lead us to do more due diligence work before ext...

In light of persistent gun violence in the City I am taking a serious look at improving the laws/regulations that ban or regulate ammunition and firearms in Minneapolis. Twenty two people have been killed with a hand gun so far this year. This fact, together with a recent article in the Star Tribune, “7 Shootings in 7 Hours”, that came just after the Supreme Court decision ruling the Chicago handgun ban unconstitutional, offers a chance to raise this issue again. We call this out in the Youth Violence Prevention Plan that I have been working so hard on since 2006, “Support sensible illegal gun laws and work to change community values around the acceptance of guns. This includes seeking stronger penalties for people who sell and distribute illegal guns, and profit from the sale and distribution of illegal guns to young people.” Chicago has already responded to the court decision with its own new ordinance. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38061266/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?gt1=43001 Among...

Public Works staff made an exciting presentation to the Transportation and Public Works committee this morning about the Hennepin and First two-way conversions and bike facilities. They've got a tremendous amount of data on the successes of the conversion. Traffic volumes are up. Bicycle volumes on Hennepin, First and the Nicollet Mall are up. Crashes are down. Crashes involving bicycles are down to literally zero . The facilities are working. But staff have heard complaints from various stakeholders since the change. Cyclists have complained that the shared bike/bus/right turn lanes on Hennepin are badly marked, and that the cycle track-style facility on First is too narrow, without enough of a buffer from parked cars. Area businesses have complained about the ban on parking during the 4-6pm peak and the difficulty that their customers have had understanding the new parking rules (cars can only park to the left of the bike lane, which is unusual). Public Works staff took these co...

There is a great article on Minnesota Public Radio today talking about the success and proliferation of mini farmers markets in Minneapolis. It talks at great length about the change in the licensing process that I helped enact back in 2007. It's great to see a small change that my office helped make possible, working with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Department of Health and Family Support, paying these real dividends in the lives of Minneapolis residents.

The City's Director of Economic Development, Cathy Polasky, has shared some interesting information with Council Members. "The City of Minneapolis has fared better than most areas of the country during the recession. We’ve been cited by Forbes and others as being in a good position to emerge from the recession. In May, 500 more people were employed in Minneapolis than in April, and 3,700 more were employed than a year prior. This compares to a one-year loss of 866,000 jobs nationally. The Minneapolis unemployment number for May was 6.0%, down from 7.6% a year prior. "We think that the City, through its policies and programs, played an important role in helping residents obtain jobs and in attracting and retaining jobs through our business support tool box." This is good news, and shows that our economic development and job training strategies are paying off. The one caution I want to raise is that while these numbers look great, there are continuing disparities bet...