All posts in the topic Minneapolis Annexation history (Short link)
Summary
- There are 6 posts — by 6 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by John Wilson at Jul 19 15:33 UTC
It was described in the Strib as Imperialist history--Minneapolis annexing land as it grew. But the reality is cities in the US grew and grow by annexation. In fact, Minneapolis and St. Paul (either individually or combined) are very small center cities for the size of our metropolitan area. In the SW, cities like Phoenix are continuing to annex suburban areas. This means that only a small portion of the population of the metropolitan area actually pays for the costs of being a center city (added traffic, increased daytime population, increased crime, central services like the Mpls Park system or the (former) Minneapolis Central library. The reason Minneapolis and St. Paul are smaller than typical is a 1912 state law passed by a Republican (then called "Conservative") legislature that was designed to stop the growth of Mpls and St. Paul by putting limits on annexation (e.g. I think this included requiring voter approval by the annexed area). Annexation history map at http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/history/cg1.asp Sheldon ................................. Sheldon Mains Seward Neighborhood, Minneapolis, Minnesota http://www.SheldonMains.com/ Blog: http://RandomStuffFromSheldon.blogspot.com/ Twitter.com: sheldonM <email obscured>
On Jul 17, 2008, at 9:45 AM, Sheldon Mains wrote:
>
> The reason Minneapolis and St. Paul are smaller than typical is a
> 1912 state
> law passed by a Republican (then called "Conservative") legislature
> that was
> designed to stop the growth of Mpls and St. Paul by putting limits on
> annexation (e.g. I think this included requiring voter approval by the
> annexed area).
>
And - Minneapolis was not founded on vacant ground. To commemorate
the prior Dakota population, a sunrise ceremony will be held
tomorrow. The public is invited. See below:
Cloud Man Village Sunrise Ceremony
Cloud Man Village Site at Lake Calhoun at Richfield Rd & 36th St.
parking lot on southeast end of lake.
Sunrise (5:45 AM) Friday July 18th
Components:
1. Recognize the history and culture of Mdewakanton Dakota people
in the Minneapolis area
2. Recognize Cloud Mans Village as a symbolic experiment of peace
and reconciliation within City of Minneapolis
3. Began a process of designating the location of Cloud Mans
Village near Lake Calhoun as an historic site within the City of
Minneapolis
Activities:
A. Descendant of Cloud Man welcomes people to the site and provides a
brief overview of Cloud Mans Village
B. Dakota pipe ceremony
C. Mayor Rybak response and announcement of establishment of a
committee to further research the site for future more proper
designation as historic site. Syd Beane, Mdewakanton Dakota
descendant of Cloud Man, will serve as Organizing Chair of the
committee.
D. Other comments from those in attendance
Laura Waterman Wittstock
President and CEO
Wittstock & Associates
913 19th Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-387-4915
www.laurawatermanwittstock.com
Sheldon Mains: "The reason Minneapolis and St. Paul are smaller than typical is
a 1912 state law passed by a Republican (then called "Conservative")
legislature that was designed to stop the growth of Mpls and St. Paul by
putting limits on annexation (e.g. I think this included requiring voter
approval by the annexed area)."
The pertinent part of this law is 'voter approval by the annexed area.' Once
the suburbs got populated, they could refuse annexation. The outcome is kinda
stupid when looking at the cost of maintaining all the separate systems to do
the same work on smaller populations with greater land mass.
Greetings:
While Minneapolis and St. Paul may only be able to annex new territory
with the affirmative vote of the "annexees," I know from personal
experience that is Not the case with most other cities.
I was a "victim" of a hostile annexation, in which the Township that I
lived in was annexed by a City. Forest Lake attempted to annex Columbus
Township, and a vote of the residents was not how the case was resolved.
Folks in Wyoming Township, likewise, are now being annexed by three
cities (depending where in the Township they live) with no ability to
vote on the annexation.
Susan Young
Minneapolis Trash lady, exurban resident
That's a fundamental difference between a "city" and
"township" though. There are many townships that took the
next step of incorporating as cities, with all the
reponsiblilty that entails, to avoid being annexed.
Two questions re: annexation history:
1) What was the motive behind the 1985 annexation of that tiny piece in the
northwest corner? Wasn't it part of Brooklyn Center or Robbinsdale? Didn't they
object?
2) Some modern-day maps show the part of the 1922 annexed area that is Airport
property as being outside the city limits. Was it ever actually "de-annexed" or
is it just shown that way because as a practical matter the Airport is a
seperate entity?