Thank you so much to everyone who came to our State of Our Neighborhood! Below are notes from our meeting. We really enjoyed speaking with the community and learning more about what is happening!
On February 5, the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association hosted an opportunity for community members to communicate with our elected representatives. The representatives in attendance were:
Neighborhood Issues
Can you explain the sewer lateral assessment program?
The cost and headache is significant, especially on the East side of the lake. Homeowner is responsible all the way to the street and the connection. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to fix. It costs $10K to $50K to repair a sewer lateral, and many of them need repair due to aging infrastructure. Met council did have a grant program and money goes quickly. We are considering other options; some cities have insurance. There is a way to have it as an assessment, rolled into your taxes, but you have to have three bids from the city’s list. - Councilmember Koski
The Nokomis East neighborhood also offers loans to help fund home repairs.
A climate change assessment indicated that there is a high potential for flooding in our area over the coming years. How is your team working on this?
We’ve sent it over to Public Works to get a more formal response. Have a meeting with them later this week. Other neighbors have shared Minnehaha Creek watershed district, policy working group addressing protecting the natural systems and also flooding issues. - Councilmember Chowdhury
NENA is encouraging residents to “adopt a drain,” keeping it clear of debris so that water can flow easily.
A tree that provided a lot of shade came down at the small beach a few years ago. There was word that they were going to replant, but that hasn’t happened. Any plans?
Haven’t heard anything but will bring it to the Parks Commissioner. - Councilmember Chowdhury
What can be done to improve pedestrian safety? Specific concerns about 50th&30th, 51st&30th, 53rd&28th, and along 58th.
The City of Minneapolis only allocated $100k for traffic calming last budget cycle. Community members can apply for areas that are dangerous. This budget cycle, the city council allocated an additional $1.5M to take on more of these projects and is hoping to have that approved. Citizens should work with neighbors and local businesses to point out areas that are dangerous. Good first step would be to schedule a day for Aurin and team to come watch traffic and pass along to the public works team. Hard to compete for these funds, but higher priority on kids going to school. Also working on this near Sanford middle school. - Councilmember Chowdhury
There has been a 33% reduction in pedestrian and bike deaths due to being hit by cars since the bullocks were installed to slow down drivers, according to a neighbor.
What can we do about existing buildings that are in bad shape?
There may be an opportunity to think more creatively around renovation funding. Commercial grants currently exist to support small businesses. The city is here to be helpful, but don’t always connect all the dots. - Councilmember Koski
State/City Issues
Could you walk us through the status of the encampment sweeps?
There were three encampment sweeps this last month in Minneapolis. City Council passed legislation requiring quarterly reports from the city on cost and impacts, and if there was shelter available when the sweeps were done. It’s hard to get accurate data right now, but the first report is coming this quarter.
City policy is that camping is illegal. Mayor directs depts to conduct sweeps. There is no standard procedure, no noticing, no requirements around shelter beds. We all know encampments are not healthy and safe, but sweeps disconnect people from service providers and don’t lead to helpful outcomes, ultimately just moves the encampments. City council is working on humane Encampment Response - requiring noticing, time to go to detox or shelter, work with services, debating a provision on evidence that there are shelther beds available. Often the beds that are available are unsafe, or they want to be with partner or pet, ability to store belongings. Some people don’t want to go to shelter but most people are looking for something safe and stable.
We are also looking at creating a new navigation center where people can be inside and connect with services, similar to one we had in 2018. While we might be in a shortage of transitional housing, there are availabilities and getting someone in often bottlenecks at paperwork, etc.
Additionally we are lobbying at the state capitol to get more funding for Avivo Village. This model has been successful, so we want to create another tiny home village in S Minneapolis. Also considering a safe parking ordinance, which would allow the city to pick an area where people can park overnight and sleep in their cars with access to wifi and security services. - Councilmember Chowdhury
Can you tell us more about Healthcare for Housing?
Homeless people often go to the emergency room because there is no where else to go, or when they are discharged from other areas of the hospital, they are moved to the ER as there is no where else to go. Behavioral health center is a 24/7 operation, they have beds as a go-between before finding permanent housing. LEAD, non-profits, and the police dept, are recommending this to a mix of people coming from the hospital, those that need more continual care, people coming from off the street, people going through mental health crisis. There is also a supportive housing incentive fund for targeted populations: chronically homeless, disabled, those that need support to maintain their housing. - Commissioner Conley
What did we learn from the project to end Veteran Homelessness?
In terms of the work to end Veteran’s Homelessness, our teams in the Office to End Homelessness are taking some of the lessons we learned to see what can be applied to families, youth and single adults experiencing homelessness. That work, studying the model for our vets, is ongoing. Hopefully we find similar paths to ending homelessness for all. - Commissioner Conley
What is the future of composting since the landfills are emitting methane due to food waste being dumped. Will it become mandatory?
Still in conversation. The city and county are in agreement to reduce waste, want and need to increase behavior changes. We are working towards multi-family dwellings having organics recycling containers. “We are going to go real hard to get food waste out of the incinerator” - Commissioner Conley
What budget concerns do you foresee?
The school lunch program was funded for the first couple of years, need to allocate more funding to that area. The state will need to come up with a way to fund unemployment, I don’t believe districts will be able to fund. We are also seeing potential transportation cuts. - Senator Wiklund
What bills are currently in the Senate for Education and what is being done for our schools?
There are two bills that the district has with the senate currently. Currently, students with special needs that leave the district but still live in the district, their funding currently has to stay in the district, instead of moving with the child. There is a proposal to have that funding follow the student, but we need to find where the revenue will come from for schools. There is a lack of program and teacher funding throughout the state. We are working on a monthly meeting to discuss and have more parents & teachers involved so policymakers can hear from those affected, they need more voices from those affected and this is how they plan to do it. (Early March is the first meeting). Contact the senator to learn how to participate. - Senator Mohamed
What can you share about the proposed partnership between the University of Minnesota and Essentia?
A legislative meeting is taking place soon regarding the U of M conversation. It would probably take city/state resources if U of M wanted to purchase the medical building on the West Bank. - Senator Wiklund
What are you doing to keep our senior care communities open and thriving?
I understand the concern for continued resources and attracting workers as we are facing an incoming large generation of seniors. We also need to figure out how to manage the rising cost of healthcare needs. - Senator Wiklund
I have noticed a lot of smoking (cigarettes and marijuana) in our parks and near the lakes. How can we enforce the no smoking policy?
We understand that being around smoking is dangerous for folks with asthma and can make public spaces debilitating. There is a Parks no-smoking policy, but if it isn’t being enforced that needs to be remedied. Even if we add an ordinance at the City level, the issue is the enforcement. We will connect with Park Board commissioner Tom Olson. - Councilmember Chowdhury
National Issues
What is the city doing to protect residents given the recent executive orders? What can citizens do?
We are improving cross-jurisdictional communication. Ensuring that people know that we are here to protect, and we are united. Things are coming at us federally, trying to dismantle things, some things we can have control over, but can voice our opposition. We have a 50 year history of gay rights and trans rights in our city. We are also asking organizations what we can do. It has been all hands on deck. Make sure that people know their rights and have a plan. - Councilmember Koski
We are all struggling with this right now. Too many executive orders happening making it hard to know where to start. We have a divided House, Republicans would like to undo some of our policies. Connect with the communities and resources within the communities. - Senator Mohamed
Have put in place protections for gender affirming care and reproductive healthcare in state laws. Haven't figured out if it could reduce federal funding. Looking at how to protect data in certain areas. State agencies are trying to figure out what the repercussions could be (i.e. withholding funding of things). - Senator Wiklund
Do you have any concerns for the future of the Democratic Party and if so what are you doing to address them?
Yes of course we are worried. With the last election it was out of our control but we also didn’t do enough and are bad at messaging what we do. We learned we are terrible at messaging and keeping our base together. Senators are currently in a caucus discussing this, lots of hard conversations are happening. - Senator Mohamed
What can Democrats do to win elections and how can citizens help?
Organize and get out there. Pick two districts that are red and do door knocking to help those districts out. Have conversations outside of elections. More town halls! - Senator Mohamed