Photo Credit: YouTube / City of Minneapolis
(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) – The Minneapolis City Council met for its regular meeting on July 16, but several key issues caused tension between council members. The reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue was approved 8-4 despite concerns about the economic impact on businesses along the street and rerouting traffic.
Council Member Stevenson shared her personal thoughts about the project at the meeting regarding the current construction on Lyndale Avenue: “I was driving my kids to school; we already have a single lane of freaking traffic, and there are ambulances flying trying to get past, and there's nowhere for cars or anyone to go because you are in one lane.”
Additional concern was raised regarding whether the completed design allowed for emergency vehicles to still pass through the area. Public Works Senior Transportation Planner Fontain Burr assured the council that the current design does not change the pre-existing lane configurations, meaning there will still be adequate room for vehicles to move out of the way in emergencies when medical, fire, or law enforcement vehicles may need to pass them.
Underlying frustrations with property owner accountability and city oversight failures were exposed when the report to fund support for resident relief at Heritage Park was discussed. Council Member Chowdhury moved to approve the report as a former member of the Executive Committee for the area. Council Member Warren's request for $2.5 million was granted to provide relief to residents at Heritage Park.
Council Member Wonsley stated in part that, “the council has been clear across this board that inhumane conditions are not something that we should be normalizing, and it’s devastating that your residents have had to endure that.”
He also iterated that regular reporting should take place between the council and Heritage Park’s administration regarding relocation to prevent the council from needing to approve additional funding without reports on how the initial funds were dispersed.
Wonsley further explained that part of the debate surrounding funding initially was the failure of the agencies responsible for Heritage Park to ensure humane living conditions for tenants. The council agreed that these agencies and the property owner should not be handed funds without some reporting procedures in place to hold them accountable and prove where funds are being directed.
The amendments to the report included sub-bullets 3.4 and 3.5: addition of legislative directive on reporting and staff direction to the City Attorney’s office regarding recouping losses. Warren requested a separate vote on 3.5, because the initial vote isn’t regarding recouping losses.
“If we want to make it about that,” she stated, “then we’ll have to ask Abdi Wasami to bring his happy body to the table, which he has neglected to do because the majority of the residents who were there [at Heritage Park] are participants of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. Until Abdi Wasami does his damn job, there [are] no questions to be asked to anybody, about absolutely anything.”
She further went on to say that Wasami would then need to start issuing residents back their Section 8 vouchers, housing vouchers, and anything else they lost. Ultimately, a vote on section 3.4 was passed unanimously, but the separate vote for the addition of section 3.5 narrowly passed at 7-5. The Heritage Park package, including the two amendments, unanimously passed through the council as a whole.
Finally, the MPD sent representatives to promote a potential drone pilot program through Skydio, which would allow them to use the technology for initial response in certain emergencies. Issues regarding ethics and accountability prevented the request from reaching the required two-thirds vote. The vote was split 6-6, with both sides at odds about whether the technology would be a valuable safety tool or a liability.
To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at kristin.h@lead4earth.org.
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