If you ask me, I say these recent well-attended Uptown Association meetings are secretly guerilla urbanist pranks intended to prove even the most cranked up "parking shortage" grievance-havers can find a place to park.

A thread from earlier tonight. Tangled web: The PAC "We Heart Minneapolis" had a table at the Uptown Association meeting. The PAC and the Uptown Association have the same chair, Andrea Corbin.

Old Man Jeremiah Ellison talking about the old days at city hall (again). Says current government structure is an obstacle to communication, keeps everyone from getting on the same page. As a result the city is less effective at addressing big problems like homeless encampments. Ellison on how pre-2021 government helped create a common understanding of a problem: Council members wouldn't "just get a staff report, they'd maybe be in a meeting where it's dawning on you... we thought that was gonna work but it's not gonna work."

Dumbest news you'll hear all day: Longtime organizers of the Uptown Art Fair—a pedestrian fair—say they will no longer hold their event due to city pedestrianizing Hennepin Ave.
audacy.com/wccoradio/news… My impression has always been that the Uptown Association's whole reason for existing was the art fair. So we're lucky they didn't pack up in a huff, take Uptown with them, and define New Uptown as 2 blocks in any direction from the Bachman's parking lot.

Here's the judge's order overturning the wrongful conviction of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana, after 15 years in prison. The findings of fact are brutal.

One of the investigators on this case is now the Assistant Chief of Community Trust, Christopher Gaiters.
ag.state.mn.us/Office/CRU/Bar…

I don't know if it inspires community trust to have someone this incompetent or malicious as the assistant chief of community trust.

Minneapolis City Council voted 9-2 to override Mayor Frey's veto of a carbon emission fee.

Article about the veto from last week: mprnews.org/story/2024/10/… There was extended debate over whether the fee should be left at $452 per ton or changed to TBD, pending staff analysis. Council left it at $452.

Even so, appears there is no disagreement that the fee amount will be amended by July 1, 2025.

Something I've been warning about all year has finally happened. Mayor Frey has hired his pal Lisa Goodman to fill a role that was created for her in last year's budget — voted on while she was still a council member.

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1754651060117831976

Goodman starts work Monday as the city's Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Public Service. You can imagine folks at CPED are breathing a sigh of relief she won't be housed in their department.

Minneapolis City Council's Budget Committee voted 9-4 to approve $1.5 million to prevent the permanent closure of Agate shelter downtown. City funding would be contingent on Agate securing an additional $1.5 million from another source by Dec 31.
lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2024-01049 Because it comes from the city's contingency funding, 10 votes would be needed to pass it at the next meeting of the full council. Palmisano, Rainville, Vetaw, and Jenkins voted no and would need to flip to yes. There's also the potential of finding another funding source.

Minneapolis City Council's Climate and Infrastructure Committee received a municipal consent presentation on the Blue Line light rail extension through north Minneapolis. Committee and full council scheduled to vote over the next 2-3 weeks.
lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCAV2…
Transit elements in Minneapolis: 3.8 miles of track and 5 stations (Minneapolis will be insisting a 6th station must be included at Washington and Broadway).

Open Streets on Lyndale! I don't care if it's run by an org that's incredibly hostile to safer street designs, or that it inexplicably has Uptown in the event name now — you can't keep me away! Vote with your fuzzy balls at Hennepin County's Lyndale Ave tent and the @MelodySWV news tent

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, a statement distancing myself from the creeps and weirdos who supported my campaign:

1/x "First of all, deepest thanks to my true blue supporters. You left it all out on the field. You never stopped making the case that this district deserves better. At the same time, we respect the judgement of an overwhelming number of voters who thought I was worse."

2/x

If you had a sense the current City Council was much more active than last term, here's the data. In 2024, they've produced twice as many ordinances/ordinance proposals than the same period in both 2022 and 2023.
lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2024-00902
The plan going forward is for quarterly reports tracking the status of legislative action by the City Council. Not just ordinances but requests for information directed at the mayor, called legislative directives.
lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCAV2…

Anti-Stancil PAC is delivering his tweets to physical real world mailboxes. Arrived today.

This is the first time screenshots could play a decisive role in a race for MN House in 61A since the infamous 2002 campaign when Frank Hornstein buried the district in printouts of his opponent's LiveJournal page.

Minneapolis Park Board Commissioner Becka Thompson's updated resolution in opposition to the Blue Line extension crossing a parkway at grade. Important to remember the at grade crossing was developed in response to MPRB opposition to a flyover bridge.





Very clever for Thompson to edit out the part of the resolution that previously acknowledged "MPRB staff and commissioners have been involved" in project decisions.

The Minneapolis Park Board previously asked Blue Line light rail planners to ditch a flyover bridge at the Lowry Station at Theo Wirth Pkway. Now some commissioners are critical of plans for an at-grade crossing, which was developed in consultation with Park Board staff. Here's existing conditions compared to what's being proposed. The parkway would jog to the right, creating more park space. The tracks cross the parkway at-grade and the station (pictured in yellow) would be built underneath new sections of bridge for W Broadway Ave.

The cat tour is Wednesday, June 26. This is an unsanctioned event. There will be no place to park. I can't protect you if things go sideways. Neither I nor the cats get paid for this. The cat tour has no staff, no security. If anyone in a uniform asks, we are just hundreds of people out for a stroll who have nothing to do with each other.

Using research compiled by a reader (some of it pictured here), Wedge LIVE confirms that Nextdoor user Carol Becker has been actively posting under two Reddit accounts. Both were created within a three day span in late April: MplsDoodleDoodle and MplsSpaniel. Both usernames have been used exclusively to post in the same local subreddits. Each has been continuously active over the last two months, with both being used in r/Minneapolis within the last 24 hours.

Memo from the Minneapolis chief HR officer about the city's workplace culture. Complaints are received at nearly 3x the rate of other organizations. Complaints by city employees are significantly more likely to be substantiated as valid when compared to other orgs (60% vs 45%). Charting the turnover rate across all city departments going back to 2014.

"If resignation rates continue at the current rate throughout 2024, we project the City turn-over rate to drop to less than 10% which is comparable to pre-pandemic rates." 10% is considered healthy.

Nice to see Lisa Bender again today. Can't believe I'm old enough to say it was 10 yrs ago I got my start covering local politics watching brand new Council Member Bender endure n'hood meetings full of people very disgruntled that she had different priorities from her predecessor

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1779203725292097798

Bender's session was called: "Beyond Lawn Sign Battles: Building Support for Change" because every fight worth having, every change worth making, means overcoming stacks and stacks of poorly designed yard signs.

"Why legislators want to end Minneapolis 2040 lawsuit" minnpost.com/state-governme… In 2018, the 2040 plan passed by a 12-1 council vote. Since that time, there's been much public praise for the plan. Mainstream city candidates generally do not run their campaigns pledging to abolish the 2040 plan. There is no viable political movement to reverse it. Consensus.

NOT ENOUGH PARKING: Here's a fascinating study of suburban zoning codes across the Twin Cities. In 7 of the 10 suburbs surveyed, 272 parking stalls would be insufficient for a 211 unit apartment building. One municipality requires over 500 parking spots.

Here are the participating suburbs and the hypothetical 5 story apartment proposal.

Happening now: City of Minneapolis COO Margaret Anderson Kelliher giving a homelessness update to the City Council following yesterday's eviction of Camp Nenookaasi.
So far the presentation is mostly a rehash of yesterday's press conference.

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1752376623259619527