Council Member, Second Ward
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/ward2
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Council Sworn In. The newly elected City Council Members and Mayor were sworn
into office for the next term in a small ceremony in the Council Chambers and
January 2nd and again a week later in a large ceremony in the City Hall Rotunda
that included music, poetry, prayers, dancers and the new mayorâs inaugural
address. The new members who took office are Steve Fletcher (Ward 3), Phillipe
Cunningham (Ward 4), Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8) and
Jeremy Schroeder (Ward 11). They will be joining me and the other returning
members: Kevin Reich (Ward 1), Abdi Warsame (Ward 6), Lisa Goodman (Ward 7),
Alondra Cano (Ward 9), Lisa Bender (Ward 10), Andrew Johnson (Ward 12) and
Linea Palmisano (Ward 13). I look forward to working with this group in the
years ahead and am deeply honored to have this opportunity to represent the
people of Ward 2 and serve all the people of Minneapolis for another 4 years.
New Council Organization. As part of our first meeting on January 8th the new
City Council approved a new organizational structure that includes new
leadership, new committee assignments and new appointments of Council Members
to various other boards and commissions. Council Member Lisa Bender was elected
Council President, Council Member Andrea Jenkins Vice President, Council Member
Andrew Johnson Majority Leader and I Minority Leader. I will chair the new
Housing Committee, vice chair the Health, Environment, Civil Rights and
Engagement committee, and serve on the Transportation and Public Works,
Economic Development and Regulatory Services, Zoning and Planning, and
Executive committees. I will also serve as the Council representative to the
Clean Energy Partnership, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Family Housing Finance
Board, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Housing Fund, the St. Anthony Falls Heritage
Board, the Stadium Area Advisory Group, the University District Alliance, the
Youth Coordinating Board, the Youth Violence Prevention Executive Committee and
the Zero Waste Policy Steering Committee. I am excited about this new
leadership and Council structure and believe that it will help broaden power
and decision-making, and help the Council better reflect and represent the will
of the people of Minneapolis. You can find all the approved details about the
new organization at https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/MarkedAgenda/Council/352
Office Hours. Given the changes to the Council meeting cycle, I have changed my
community office hours in the ward to Mondays. I have also changed two
locations that may be more assessable and convenient for many of you. I will
no longer hold regular hours at the Nabo and Blue Moon Cafés but am very
grateful for the kindness of their staff and my time spent there over the last
4 years or more. I am sure that I will still be stopping in and meeting there
from time to time. My community office hours are now Mondays from 9:30-11am
following this pattern: first Mondays at the Birchwood Café, 3311 E 25th St;
Second Mondays at Black: Coffee and Waffles, 1500 Como Ave SE; Third Mondays at
T-Rex Cookie Café, 3338 University Ave SE; and Fourth Mondays at the East Lake
Library, 2727 E Lake St.
New Housing Policy and Development Committee. The new set of Council Committees
includes a new Housing Policy and Development committee which I will chair.
This committee will oversee of all policy related to the health, safety and
affordability of housing and all matters related to homelessness prevention,
fair housing, housing opportunities, housing finance, as well as residential
real estate development, redevelopment and land sales. As homelessness, a lack
affordable housing, displacement due to the rising cost of housing and fears
about the future of public housing continue to be among our most pressing
problems, it is critically important for the City to focus on housing and will
take a concerted effort from the City and community members. I hope that I can
use my positon as chair of this committee to bring new ideas, energy,
creativity and resources together to meet the need and ensure that everyone in
our city has access to the kind of safe, quality and affordable housing they
need.
Community Meetings on Housing. Please join me for two upcoming community
meetings which will be focused on housing in Minneapolis. The first, convened
by the Mayorâs office, will be on February 15, from 5:30 â 7:30pm at the
University Research and Outreach Center at 2001 Plymouth Ave N. The second with
a focus particularly on Wards 2 and 6 and convened by Council Member Warsame
and me, will be held at Matthews Park in the Multipurpose Room on Thursday
March 8th from 7 â 9 pm. There we will discuss housing concerns, goals and
stogies for improvement.
Community Advisory Committee on Housing. I will be proposing the establishment
of a new ongoing Housing Community Advisory Committee to help guide the work of
the Council and City staff working on housing issues. If approved, it would
follow our open appointments process so that any Minneapolis resident can apply
to serve on it. I hope to present a detailed proposal to the Housing Committee
in February, or early March.
Goals and Strategic Directions. The newly elected Council and Mayor are
planning on updating and approving a new set of formal Goals and Strategic
Directions to guide us over the next 4 years. To help us get started you are
invited to join me, the Mayor and other members of the City Council in a
facilitated dialogue about community priorities at the Community Connection
Conference in February. The feedback will help inform me as I participate in
City strategic planning and goal setting meetings later this year. This session
will be held from 2:45 - 3:45pm, Saturday, February 10, at the Minneapolis
Convention Center - 1301 Second Ave S. Minneapolis.
Council and Mayor Salaries. In an unusual and unexpected move, on December 15
at the last meeting of 2017, the City Council voted to increase the salaries of
the Mayor and Council by $10,000 in a one-time adjustment for 2018 and then
based on average annual collective bargaining agreements each year for the rest
of the term. This was one of the more disconcerting votes I took in 2017. While
I ended up voting for it, I was very concerned that it did not follow a
healthy, open or transparent process. As a result, I will be proposing and
pushing for a new ordinance that will require future Council and Mayoral salary
increases to go through a formal and public committee process that may include
the establishment of an appointed commission, similar to that set up for the
state legislature, to make recommendations. I am grateful for the opportunity
to do this work and have always felt that my compensation for working as a
Council Member has been fair and generous. For a longer explanation of this
including the rationale for the raise and my reluctant decision to support it
see
http://secondward.blogspot.com/2018/01/unexpected-mayor-and-council-salary.html
Disparity Study. The Minnesota Department of Administration has released a
draft of the 2017 Joint Disparity Study that the City is participating in in
order to understand the racial and gender disparities in our contracting and
procurement practices. You can find the report at
https://mn.gov/admin/disparity-study/resources/. Two presentations of the study
will be made on February 12, first to the Health, Environment, Civil Rights and
Engagement Committee at 1:30pm and later at a public forum from 5-7pm at the
Minneapolis Urban League, 2100 Plymouth Ave. No. The presentations will be led
by Keen Independent Research with staff support from the Department of Civil
Rights. The study did find racial and gender disparities in both contracting
and purchasing and offer several recommendations to continue some programs and
possible add others. On idea it highlights that I am particularly interested in
would be start a program similar to one offered by the State that would allow,
or require, us to do business with certain populations in order to address the
historic inequities and correct present disparities as long as the cost was
within 6% of the lowest bid.
New Police Department Consultant. With my full support, the Council has
approved a contracting with a new entity, Aspen Psychological Consulting, LLC,
for pre-placement and fitness-for-duty evaluation services for the Minneapolis
Police Department (MPD) for the next 4 years. Doing this in an unbiased,
thoughtful and extremely professional way is critically important to ensuring
that we have a healthy, psychologically stable as well as more diverse police
department. I am hoping that this change will address two recently noted
concerns: that we have not been following nationally accepted best practices
and that too many minority candidates have been improperly screened out of
employment with the City.
Public Health Advisory Committee Appointments. The Council has approved several
re-appointments for two-year terms, to the Public Health Advisory Committee
ending December 31, 2019. KJ Starr will continue as our Ward 2 representative
along with Sarah Jane Keaveny, Ward 9; Margaret (Peggy) Reinhardt, Ward 10;
Cindy Hillyer, representative member for Minneapolis Public Schools; and Craig
Hedberg, representative member for the University of Minnesota-School of Public
Health.
2018 State Legislative Agenda. The Council has amended our State Legislative
Agenda to support ending the practice of suspending or revoking the driver's
licenses of individuals for non-public safety related offenses and nonpayment
of fines and fees. While these may have been put in place with good intentions,
it is clear they do not enhance public safety and too often lead to
unjustifiable cycles of debt, become barriers to employment and education, and
appear to be especially unfair to low income residents and perpetuate
institutionalized racism in our criminal justice system.
https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2017-01467
Emergency Repair Funds. The Council has appropriated $160,000 for emergency
repairs to rental properties related to the Tenant Remedies Act. Our Code of
ordinances requires us to maintain a revolving fund for repairs, including
approved administrative expenses and fees, in the case of a Tenant Remedies
Act. The Family Housing Fund seeded the program with $200,000 in 2006. Since
then, the program has operated as a revolving fund where funding received from
various sources, such as rents, landlord collections and special assessments
can be used to continue to provide services.
Annie Young. On January 22 Annie Young passed away. Annie was a good friend, a
dedicated public servant and well known community activist and organizer. She
served on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for over 28 years and
helped make our city a more sustainable, just and equitable place. In May the
City passed a resolution honoring her service to the City and the Park Board
dedicate some time at its February 7th meeting remembering her. I am hopeful
that a park will be named after her in the near future. She will be missed. You
can read the full resolution honoring her at
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-198832.pdf
No More Perc. In January Minneapolis became the first city in the US to go
completely perc free when Osman Cleaners, the last dry cleaner using
perchloroethylene, transitioned to a safer, greener cleaning technology.
Perchloroethylene (or perc for short) is a toxic chemical and likely carcinogen
that has historically been used in dry cleaning. A 2015 Minneapolis Health
Department study detected 99 occasions of perchloroethylene above levels that
are considered health risks over a long period of time in outdoor, ambient air
in Minneapolis. Workers can be exposed to up to ten thousand times this health
risk limit. To address this problem, the Minneapolis Health Department created
the Green Business Cost Share program. Over the past six years, that program
has helped all nine of the dry cleaners that were still using perc to make the
transition to a cleaner system. The Health Department's Director of
Environmental Programs, Patrick Hanlon, deserves much of the credit for putting
this program in place and ensuring its continuing and dramatic success. I also
want to thank Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant for creating the space
within her department for great, proactive programs like this to thrive.
Today's success highlights just how remarkably effective our Health Department
is. And thanks to the ordinance authored by Council Member Andrew Johnson, this
achievement will be permanent: new dry cleaners are now prohibited from using
perc in the first place. In addition to the City's cost-share program dollars,
the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and two neighborhood associations - the
East Isles Resident Association and Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association -
also gave matching grants to help Osman Cleaners make this transition. I hope
other communities will follow our lead, and that we will have as much success
using the same approach to deal with other public health and environmental
issues.
Bde Maka Ska. On January 29th I was happy to join other elected officials, Syd
Beane, Kate Beane, Carly Bad Heart Bull and other community leaders in the name
change ceremony and celebration of Bde Maka Ska. It was held on the shores of
the lake at the site of what was likely the City's first year round settlement
in what is now known as Minneapolis, Heyate Otunew (the village to the side)
founded by Mahpiya Wicasta (or Cloud Man) and other Dakota in 1829. This is an
important step towards reconciliation and honoring our buried history. For more
see
http://www.citypages.com/news/its-final-lake-calhoun-is-now-bde-maka-ska-named-in-honor-of-original-minnesotans/471685794,
and
http://historyapolis.com/blog/2015/06/27/names-matter-the-story-of-bde-maka-ska/
The Super Bowl. The super bowl will he occurring in Minneapolis this weekend
and the influx of thousands of people into the city will continue to create
major disruptions to normal activities. The list of official events includes
Game Day at the downtown football stadium, and several events on the University
of MN campus including the NFL Honors event at Northrop Auditorium. The Super
Bowl has a Department of Homeland Security Level One Special Event Assessment
Rating as a preplanned special local event. It is below the level of a National
Special Security Event, but still will have significant and involvement of
federal government agencies as well as the state National Guard. Under this
arrangement, security authority purportedly stays with local law enforcement
but Federal resources and assistance are provided at no cost to the local
agencies. To help you plan your activities during this time there is a "KNOW
BEFORE YOU GO" section at
https://www.mnsuperbowl.com/plan-your-visit/transportation
Sex Trafficking. I appreciate that the having the super bowl in town has
reenergized attention on the serious and long standing problem of sex
trafficking in Minneapolis. It is my hope that the efforts to increase public
awareness, add shelter beds to help exploited teens and adults, increase street
outreach and train bus drivers, hotel workers to be able to identify victims
will have an impact both during the super bowl and long afterwards. I thank the
Womenâs Foundation of Minnesota, Men as Peacemakers, as well as our County,
State and other governmental partners for their leadership in this. You can
learn more at https://www.wfmn.org/mn-girls-are-not-for-sale/ and
https://www.dontbuyitproject.org/
Health Grant for School Clinics. At its next meeting the Council will likely
approve accepting a grant from the Minnesota Department of Health, in the
amount of $156,000, to help the School Based Clinics that we operate in the
Minneapolis Public High Schools provide services for pregnant and parenting
women under 21 and other health education for 15-19 year olds.
First Safe and Sick Time Worker Retaliation Case Settled. In January the City
settled its first case of retaliation under the sick and safe time ordinance,
resulting in an $11,000 settlement for the employee. The case was,
unfortunately, against an independently owned and otherwise generally valued
Ward 2 gas station in the Prospect Park area that apparently strongly
discouraged its employees from using sick leave. About 3 months after the
worker filed a complaint the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights reached a
settlement agreement for $11,000 in lost wages for him and will monitor
compliance going forward with the gas station. Civil Rights staff will also
conduct in-person trainings there separately for employees and management. The
supervisor who denied him the sick time is no longer with the company.
Cityâs Minimum Wage Ordinance. On January 1, the Cityâs new municipal minimum
wage ordinance went into effect with the first stage of its tiered rollout. For
this first phase, large businesses with more than 100 employees are required to
pay workers at least $10 an hour. More information about the ordinance is at
minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov<http://minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov/>.
MPHA Annual Plan Comments. In January I submitted written comments to the U. S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development expressing concerns I have
regarding the Minneapolis Public Housing Authorities Moving to Work 2018 Annual
Plan which is now being considered by HUD for approval. While generally a good
plan, I was particularly troubled by the part that requests HUD to waive the
Declaration of Trust requirements from 2 unidentified properties. In my
opinion, replacing any Declaration of Trusts with Land Use Restrictive
Agreements should only be done on a case by case basis with full community
engagement as well as HUD and City Council approval and oversight. You can read
my letter at https://tinyurl.com/CM-Gordon-Ltr-HUD-12-11-17
Minneapolis Garden Lease Program. The City of Minneapolis provides
opportunities for residents to lease vacant City-owned lots for community
gardens and market gardens. Now is a good time to start applying for a garden
in order to complete the process by spring. For more information visit
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sustainability/homegrown/WCMSP-170166
Great Streets Facade Improvement Grants. The Economic Development and
Regulatory Services Committee is recommending spending $340,000 to provide
matching grants to support building improvements in commercial areas of the
City. The Second Ward organizations recommended for funding are the Lake
Street Council, in the amount of $50,000; Seward Redesign, Inc. in the amount
of $50,000; and the West Bank Business Association, in the amount of $50,000.
The Lake Street Council serves the longest commercial corridor in the City with
six miles of nearly continuous commercial properties. Seward Redesign works
with neighborhood groups, the Seward Civic and Commerce Association, the
Longfellow Business Association, the Lake Street Council, and West of the Rail
Business Association (WRBA) to coordinate marketing and business outreach. The
West Bank Business Association has participated in the Great Streets façade
improvement program over the past eight years. They have identified seven
businesses who are interested in applying for the program.
For more details see https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/RCA/1804
Bunge, Riverton & PPL. I am excited to see that Project for Pride in Livingâs
(PPL) plans to partner with the Riverton Community Housing cooperative and
redevelop the site of the old Bunge grain elevators near Van Cleve Park in
Southeast Como is moving forward. The project will include 2 apartment
buildings with a shared and renovated head house tower connecting them. One,
owned by Riverton, will be an 85 unit student housing cooperative and the
other, called Maya Commons and owned my PPL, will provide 50 units of
affordable housing. The head house will be shared between the two new
buildings, with shared bicycle parking in the basement, a common lobby,
community space, fitness rooms and a meeting room. The Planning Commission will
consider approval of the project on February 5, with construction on the first
phase planned to begin in May. In addition to a rezoning of some of the
property, eventually the City Council will need to approve a bond issuance for
Riverton, conditional use permits to allow more than 4 stories on both
apartments, some variances related to parking and a replat to create two
parcels for separate ownership. You can find the staff report with more
details here
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-208184.pdf
4th Street Lofts. Formal land use land use applications for the 4th Street
Lofts project, at 2813 4th Street SE have been submitted by Harlem Irving
Companies. The proposed 4th Street Lofts project would be a 6-story, 169-unit
apartment building with 42 enclosed parking stalls, a pocket park and
substantial green, open and landscaped areas located in Towerside near the
Prospect Park Station. The applications include a rezoning from Industrial to
High Density Residential (R6), a variance to allow the building to be located
greater than 15â feet from front lot line (4th) for the entry and greater than
18â from corner side lot line (29th), and a minimum parking variance from 68 to
42 stalls. The project will be heard by the City Planning Commission on
February 20, 2018. The Zoning & Planning Committee will make a recommendation
on the rezoning petition (and any appeals) on March 15, 2018, and the Council
will make the final action on March 23, 2018.
Green on Fourth. A project located at 2901 4th St. SE within the Towerside
Innovation District in the Prospect Park neighborhood near Prospect Park LRT
station formally âclosedâ in January. It is called Green on 4th and the
owners, Prospect Park Properties and Timberland Partners, plan on constructing
243 new housing units, including 49 affordable to households with incomes at or
below 50% of the area medium income (AMI) and 17 units affordable to households
with incomes at or below 60% AMI. This will be built on the formerly
contaminated and blighted site of the Boeser Sheet Metal Company. Part of the
site contains the Cityâs first district storm water system to collectively
treat storm water from several surrounding developments and another portion
will be dedicated park land.
Prime Place. Prime Place, which appears to be operating under a new name as The
Arrow, has requested an extension of their temporary Certificate of Occupancy
(CO. The CO allows them to have people living in the completed section and
they are seeking an extension until April 15. The expected completion date for
the entire building is around the end of March. Staff have recommended we
approve the request based on the fact that there are currently no outstanding
building code issues in the occupied portion. They also have informed me that
they appear to be working in good faith towards completion of the project and
that the current superintendent at the job has been cooperative and resolves
field inspection concerns promptly. Denying the extension would displace about
250 students which does not appear to be justified if the living conditions are
safe. While this seems reasonable I have been in communication with tenants of
the building and nearby neighbors and remain concerned about the health and
safety of this project. I will continue to monitor it carefully and am
exploring ways to prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
Graduate Hotel Arrest. A standoff between police and a man in the Graduate
hotel near the University of Minnesota East Bank campus occurred near the end
of the month. I am grateful that a woman who was in the room with him is safe,
and that the suspect is alive. All of the public statements by the police
involved stressed that they wanted to resolve the situation peacefully, and I'm
thankful for that approach, and that it seems to have worked. I was very
heartened by UMPD Police Chief Matt Clark's statement: "Our goal is to have a
peaceful resolution. Time is important, yes, but more important is safety. I
thank the officers who dealt with this situation with restraint and the U of M
community for their patience over the two days it took to resolve the
situation. You can read more about it here:
http://www.startribune.com/standoff-between-police-and-suspect-intensifies-at-hotel-near-u-of-m/471786933/
Openings on Boards and Commissions. A number of board and commission positions
are open for City Council and mayor appointments this fall. Visit
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/boards/openings/index.htm for more information and
to apply.
Open Office Hours in the Ward. I usually hold open Community âOffice Hoursâ in
the ward every Monday morning from 9:30 to 11:00 am. Please feel free to call
the office at 673-2202 to reserve some time when I will be there or just stop
by.
First Mondays at the Birchwood Café, 3311 E 25th St;
Second Mondays at Black: Coffee and Waffles, 1500 Como Ave SE;
Third Mondays at T-Rex Cookie Café, 3338 University Ave SE; and
Fourth Mondays at the East Lake Library, 2727 E Lake St.
Cam Gordon
Minneapolis City Council Member, Second Ward
673-2202, 296-0579
<email obscured><mailto:cam.gordon@minneapolismn.gov>
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/ward2
http://secondward.blogspot.com/
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