| Council Members standing in front of the dais alongside City Public Works staff and a green organics recycling cart - Ward 7 Event Permits: Council approved two event-related permits for upcoming happenings in Ward 7, including a large block event permit for Red Bull Showrun on September 14th in Downtown Minneapolis and an extended amplified sound permit for the Walker Art Center’s Avant Garden Gala on September 21st in Lowry Hill.
- Notice of Ordinance Introductions: Council Members provided the notice of intent to introduce four new amendments to existing ordinances relating to service animal cleanup, fence height regulations, public swimming pool health code, and designation of landmarks and historic districts. The introduction notice is the first step in the legislative process, so be sure to bookmark the links for policy work that is of interest to you and check back to view new content and opportunities to engage.
- Ordinance Introductions & Referrals: Council Members introduced and referred to the appropriate committees five new ordinances and/or ordinance amendments with regard to cannabis business regulations, cannabis business registrations, zoning code administration, food lockers, and an extension of the electric franchise fee.
- Honorary Resolutions: 5 honorary resolutions were brought forth celebrating the service of City employees, El Salvador’s Independence, 2024 Welcome Week, and contributions of service animals.
Community Commission on Police Oversight (CCPO) Nomination: Council approved my appointment of Carolyn Bastick for Seat 7, Ward 7, of the CCPO for a 3 year term, beginning Jun 1, 2024, and ending May 31, 2027. I want to take an opportunity to thank Carolyn for seeking the nomination. In Ward 7 we were fortunate to have several applicants for this open position, and she stood out as someone who will work hard to make this body an effective tool for advancing police oversight, strengthening the City’s complaint process, and improving communication with the public about the work of this body. She is detail-oriented and brings extensive experience with process improvement, writing, and editing manuals. Carolyn is a Bryn Mawr resident and previously lived in the Folwell neighborhood, both in the 4th Police Precinct. Since her nomination, Carolyn has been incredibly communicative, and I know she will take her appointment very seriously and do great work for our City. There are currently openings on 24 of the City’s appointed boards and commissions, ranging from the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Aging to the Minneapolis Arts Commission. City boards and commissions offer a direct way for residents to advise City leadership about topics important to them. Applications will be accepted Sept. 1 through Sept. 30. Translation and interpretation are available so all residents can participate. View current openings and consider applying here. Upcoming Public Hearings: Here are a few anticipated public hearings on items that may be of interest to Ward 7 stakeholders in the weeks ahead. Public hearings are officially confirmed when agendas are published roughly 48 business hours prior to a scheduled meeting, so I recommend checking back on each link to verify the timeline. Find out more about participating in scheduled hearings and submitting a public comment or watch meetings on the City’s YouTube channel. Business, Housing, & Zoning Committee: September 10, 2024 at 1:30 pm - Rental pre-eviction notification ordinance
- Interim use permit: Lakeshore Care Inc, 918 W Lake St
Public Health & Safety Committee: September 11, 2024 at 1:30 pm - Appointment of Rachel Sayre as Emergency Management Director
- Encampment removal reporting ordinance
Climate & Infrastructure Committee: September 12, 2024 at 1:30 pm - Blue Line Light Rail Extension municipal consent
Ward 7 Community Survey Series In each Ward 7 Newsletter, we include a question for constituents to weigh in on. Questions may be related to upcoming policy decisions, future planning, issue prioritization, community project ideas, and more. Today's question: The City is partnering with Tree Trust to offer tree purchases for residential and commercial properties in Minneapolis for just $30 each. Trees are an important part of our City's overall climate resiliency, with the tree canopy helping to cool our urban heat island. Which areas in your neighborhood would you like to see some additional tree cover? Please include as much location identifying information as possible in your response. Citywide Street Light Outages I understand how frustrated many of you are at the state of street light outages in Minneapolis. I am too. In Loring Heights, where I live, my entire block is currently out, and it certainly feels less safe. Right now, the streetlight repair backlog in Minneapolis is enormous. There are 370 open cases related to street light outage or damage, and 68 of them are in Ward 7. In Ward 7, Lowry Hill residents have reported the most outages. Copper (and now aluminum) wire theft has affected the lighting team’s ability to keep up with the entire 311 case list, and in some cases, thieves are stealing wire from lights right after they’ve been repaired. Public Works staff have reinstalled about 10 miles of replacement underground wire since December. In general, the estimated wait time for repairing a streetlight is 3-4 months, which is why it’s so important to log 311 cases as soon as possible. The lighting team prioritizes hazardous outages or other outages requiring immediate action like wrecks, exposed wires, or large groupings like entire intersections, circuits or blocks. I can understand that the repair timeline this feels completely unacceptable to you, and I completely agree. In our recently revised government structure, the levers I hold for addressing this problem include advocacy to the appropriate City departments (managed by the mayor) on your behalf, as well as putting policy and budget amendments up for a vote by the full Council. Therefore, in collaboration with other Council Members on the Climate and Infrastructure Committee, we will be bringing forward a Legislative Directive this month to have Public Works present to Council on the full scope of the problem and policy solutions we can employ to create more resilient lighting systems. Streetlights are a basic City service necessary for maintaining safe environments in our neighborhoods. I will also be using the information we receive from staff to assess our 2025 draft budget and ensure we are prioritizing this neighborhood necessity. This spring, the state legislature narrowly passed a new law that will require individuals selling copper to possess a state-issued license, which will regulate and lock out the thieves and opportunists from the market. This law will go into effect in January 2025. You can read more about that here. In the meantime, I will continue to stay on Public Works for the fastest possible repair and will share an update in my newsletter on what staff presents us with as policy options to address the backlog later this month. Please do continue to report street light outages to 311 by including as much information as possible in the submission to help expedite their work. Thank you for staying engaged on this.  |
A navy blue and beige graphic with event details and photos of Council Members Cashman, Chughtai, and Koski Join us for our Budget Workshop on 9/26 Join me and other City leaders for a workshop I am hosting on Thursday, September 26th at the Woman’s Club (410 Oak Grove St) in Loring Park! With participation by the City’s Budget Director and the Chairs of our City Council’s Budget Committee, Council Vice President Chughtai and Council Member Koski, we’ll learn more about how the City’s budget works and work in teams to identify Ward priorities and trade-offs. This will be a great opportunity to actively participate in the City’s 2025 budgeting process. Register here. Event graphic with blue background and white text and photos of Lesley Kandaras and Brian Funk of Metro Transit Upcoming Application Deadlines for Key Resources - Vibrant Storefronts deadline extended to 9/13 - Do you focus on visual, performing, literary, media, traditional, digital and public arts? Apply for a rent subsidy award from our Vibrant Storefronts program! The Arts & Cultural Affairs (ACA) Department is looking for artists, creatives and arts organization to re-imagine vacant storefronts in Downtown Minneapolis. Apply by Friday, Sept. 13, to be eligible for initial round of funding. Visit the website to learn more & apply.
- Traffic calming application deadline extended to 9/15 - You can request a traffic calming treatment for streets in your neighborhood for 2025 by submitting a traffic calming application. Some examples of those treatments are speed humps, curb extensions, traffic circles and median islands. Request traffic calming in your area by filling out the online, or if you need help, you can call Minneapolis311. If you can’t use the online application, you can print it and email it, or mail it to: Traffic Calming, 300 Border Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55405. Find more information including current and past projects on the City website.
- Repair + Grow proposals due by 9/26: The City of Minneapolis encourages eligible housing projects to apply to Hennepin County’s Repair + Grow request for proposals (RFP), which would provide one-time funding to local non-profit affordable housing owner-developers to help mitigate industry-wide challenges with rental revenue decreases and operating cost increases. Proposals are due by 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26 and must be submitted via the Hennepin County Supplier Portal.
- Purchase Trees by 9/30: The City of Minneapolis Health Department is partnering with Tree Trust to offer 2,200 low-cost shade, fruit, flowering, and evergreen trees for $30 a tree through Sept. 30th. Minneapolis residents and property owners can purchase up to three trees per address. Visit here for residential trees and here for business and organizations.
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People walking and sitting along the sidewalk on Nicollet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis Nicollet Mall transit changes survey and engagement The City and and Metro Transit are considering some changes to the public uses of Nicollet Mall in Downtown. The goal of this work is to make transit as good or better than transit on Nicollet Mall today. The Nicollet Mall and Downtown Transit Changes project webpage is live and includes a new survey opportunity. Staff have been doing some pop-up engagement opportunities, talking with community members downtown and more will be scheduled in September including an Open House on 9/24 from 4-6pm at the Minneapolis Central Library (Doty Board Room. 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55401). Side by side images with a yard sale adjacent to a neighborhood map with sale markers Neighborhood Super Sale Find new treasures at the Neighborhood Super Sale! A wave of 112 yard sales will sweep East Isles and many nearby neighborhoods. Both an interactive sales map and a sales info list are now live on the East Isles Neighborhood Association's website—plan your route ahead of time! - When: Saturday, Sept. 7th from 9 AM – 3 PM
- Where: East Isles, Lowry Hill, East Bde Maka Ska, Kenwood, Cedar-Isles-Dean
Council Member Cashman and City staff with bikes at a SWLRT stop under construction SWLRT Bike Tour Our team was fortunate to do a bike tour (complete with some off-roading!) of the Southwest Light Rail stops in Minneapolis with Public Works leadership and Met Council staff. This decades-long multi-jurisdictional project is 80% complete. The trains will be operational in 2027. The project team wanted me to express their deep appreciation for the community, their support, and patience for this immensely difficult and complicated infrastructure project.
I'm really looking forward to this addition of passenger rail capacity to our city, St. Louis Park, Hopkins, and Eden Prairie. Green Line Extension work at Cedar Lake Pkwy: Around-the clock work will start on September 10th and continuing throughout the night and into September 11th to reposition the freight track. Preparatory work for the track shift will begin one day prior when the roadway closes on September 9th. This work is being coordinated as part of a larger freight rail track outage window. More details – including traffic plans and durations – area available on the construction updates page as well as through neighborhood communication channels. To find out about what’s going on in your part of town, check out the nine neighborhood organizations working to keep folks connected and engaged in Ward 7: |
