City Briefs - Mar 2024

The intersection of Highway 55/Hiawatha Ave. and Lake St. (County Road 3) will be reconstructed beginning in April. The hoped for result will be a simplified intersection with improved accessibility for people walking, biking, rolling and using transit. The work will include new signal systems with improved accessibility at Lake St. and Snelling Ave. and Lake St. and 22nd Ave., as well as reconstructed ramps connecting Hiawatha and Lake. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is leading the work.   

 

On March 27, the Longfellow Community Council, Lake Street Council and Seward Civic and Commerce Association hosted a public meeting with city staff from the Department of Community Safety to provide more information about the creation of two future Community Safety Centers, one on East Lake Street and one at 2633 Minnehaha Ave.  They gathered feedback from residents and business owners about their community safety concerns and how a safety center could best serve the area. 

 

A cooperative agreement has been signed between the city of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) that is intended to align the planning and investments to improve the Minnehaha Creek watershed area. It includes establishing a steering committee and “Partnership Implementation Plan,” and will evaluate the Penn Newton Morgan, Nicollet, and Bloomington Cedar areas to be the initial focus of the partners’ work over the next five years. 

 

The city council and Mayor Jacob Frey have unanimously approved a $1.5 million per year contract with Effective Law Enforcement for All, Inc. to be the independent monitor for the city’s settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights related to discriminatory police practices. The nonprofit firm’s president is David Douglass who is a former Assistant United States Attorney and Department of Justice Civil Rights Prosecutor. He was deputy monitor for the consent decree between the City of New Orleans and the Department of Justice. The city may terminate the contract following a two-year evaluation. 

 

On June 19, there will be a grand opening for the renovated 107-year-old building that was damaged in the 2020 civil unrest at corner of 27th and Lake St. There are still leasing opportunities for retail, meeting, event, or office spaces in the building.  It will also be part of the Doors Open Minneapolis event on May 18-19.  For updates you can sign up for Redesign’s newsletter at  https://bit.ly/redesign-newsletter.

 

Three banks of tennis courts, all currently in very poor condition near Minnehaha Creek between Lake Hiawatha and Minnehaha Regional Park, will be removed this spring. The courts at 30th Ave. will be converted to a pollinator lawn this year. At 32nd Ave., the area will be prepared for a future clay tennis court. At 34th Ave., MPRB plans build a bike skills course that will complement other courses such as those at Hall Park, Bryn Mawr Meadows Park, and Perkins Hill Park.