Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

[VAStationDude]

Ride a bike down victory memorial and blocks to the east. There are well off boomers in North

[EOst]

The area nearer Victory Parkway is significantly whiter and higher income.

Worth noting too: Her mother, Alice Rainville, represented the area for 22 years, 75-97 (Johnson replaced her).

[FISHMANPET]

Oh God that's definitely what we need on the council, a 40 year dynasty.

[lordmoke]

It gets older and whiter up toward Victory Memorial. Hence Barbara Johnson.

[alleycat]

North was 42% black, 30% white, 13% Asian and 8% Hispanic in 2010. The neighborhoods west of Penn and north of Dowling are generally majority Caucasian and the rest is majority black. Hmong population is mostly in Jordan and Near North.

As for Johnson, I think she has a very real fear of her district slowly deteriorating. Crime has spread further north over the years. I think her protective nature can come off negatively as you implied.

[David Greene]

Irritatingly, Johnson also has a penchant for disdain for anyone trying to help Northside communities if they are not from the Northside. It's total hubris on her part to claim she's the only one who "really" cares about the Northside.

EDIT: I like Goodman better than Johnson. Goodman's a self-serving lobbyist for the wealthy but at least she's open and honest about it.

[mattaudio]

Likely vote count for the B. Johnson amendment:
1 maybe, 2 no, 3 maybe, 4 yes, 5 maybe, 6 maybe, 7 no, 8 no, 8 no, 10 no, 11 maybe, 12 no, 13 maybe.
A definite uphill battle for her.

[MNdible]

...and the second time she made frankly insulting comments about how this wasn't appropriate for North because her constituents "don't feel safe riding public transit in North Minneapolis."

I understand that any time people say North Minneapolis, people's racial attention gets piqued.

Can we accept, though, that riding the 5 through North Minneapolis may be a different (and less pleasant, and possibly at times difficult and less safe feeling) experience than riding the 6 through Uptown (based on forum comments, this seems to be the bus that people are most familiar with)? And can we accept that this may be true regardless of the race of the rider?

[alleycat]

I wrote this on Facebook and tagged Barb and Blong. She has to realize that some of us do want this change.

Barb Johnson I just wanted to point that at least two of your constituents support the easing of parking rules along transit lines. We're making major investments in aBRT, LRT and potentially streetcar along our major streets in North. That investment should be coupled with changes like the relaxing of parking laws.

Because of the dominance of single family (and some duplex) zoning in your ward this will only really affect the areas near commercial corridors in north. That will mean that any change to parking requirements will not affect the beautiful single family core of North Minneapolis' many diverse neighborhoods. Instead it will allow incremental, small scale multifamily housing to have a chance in a market that is currently tipped toward 40+ unit half and full block developments.

I hope that Blong Yang and you can help make the slow rebuilding of major corridors like Penn, Fremont, Emerson, Lyndale, Plymouth, 26th Avenue, West Broadway and Lowry Avenues a possibility. I want to see our neighborhoods thrive. Current parking requirements are holding the potential for better, market rate, housing back.

Of note, I went to the Victory Neigborhood Ice Cream Social (Free Ice Cream! Hell Yeah) and was joking about my soon to be never announced campaign against Rep. Mullery. Low and behold the couples major concern was that the new aBRT station at Osseo and 46th was going to bring more loitering (I'm guessing that's a polite way of saying poor, black transit riders) and crime to their bucolic neck of the woods. I explained the station cameras, better lighting, roaming transit police to try and placate their fears. Unfortunately they could only half-joke about how they used to take the 5 when they first moved in, but after a stabbing on the bus they got a car. The recent double homicide near them didn't help my cause.

[David Greene]

Hidges endorsed Clinton today.

I can't say I'm surprised, but I am very disappointed.

[EOst]

I understand that any time people say North Minneapolis, people's racial attention gets piqued.

Can we accept, though, that riding the 5 through North Minneapolis may be a different (and less pleasant, and possibly at times difficult and less safe feeling) experience than riding the 6 through Uptown (based on forum comments, this seems to be the bus that people are most familiar with)? And can we accept that this may be true regardless of the race of the rider?

I'll admit I don't often ride the 5 unless Lowry Open Streets is happening, though my girlfriend has taken the 19 both directions every day for the past few years and I occasionally join her, so I do have some experience with Northside bus routes. I don't think the people who ride those buses for the most part are qualitatively different from the people who take the 2 through Phillips or even the 18, and those are buses I ride all the time.

More to the point, though, statements like these aren't just descriptive, they're performative. When your elected official (to say nothing of the President of the City Council!) is saying, essentially, "be afraid to ride public transit in North Minneapolis," then of course public transit is going to feel scary. Very few people on any given bus, if any, are actually dangerous or threatening or even interested in harassing anyone, and most of the time bus drivers are well aware of them and able to take care of it (or call someone who is). But if you're told to be afraid of people on those buses, then ultimately, you're just going to find someone to be afraid of.

Even more; if you want to make buses like the 5 feel more friendly and accommodating to middle-class people, what better way is there than to encourage middle-class people to take the bus? Safety in numbers, after all.

[FISHMANPET]

And as true as all of that is, it's still not relevant! Nobody is being forced onto a bus or forced to get rid of their car or forced to do anything. In fact, we're looking to stop forcing people to do something, which is potentially to build more parking than they'd like. They're still free to build as much parking as they want, they just also now have the freedom to build as little as they want, as well.

Sent from my phone

[alleycat]

Here were Barb's two responses:

Scottie, I have lived through Dream Homes, mobile homes, and proposals for cheap multifamily construction. I really think it is important to have a full community discussion about this proposal, given that we have multiple sites on Penn and Fremont that are ripe for redevelopment- Lowry, Dowling, Broadway, Golden Vallley Road, Plymouth to mention a few. There has been little or no input from Northsiders and I want to take some time to hear what people think.

Glad to hear from many perspectives- I think this can be very productive. I am not opposed to reducing the parking requirements- i just want more information and community discussion. I did not see a single comment, appearance at the one public meeting from a Northsider.

[David Greene]

More to the point, though, statements like these aren't just descriptive, they're performative. When your elected official (to say nothing of the President of the City Council!) is saying, essentially, "be afraid to ride public transit in North Minneapolis," then of course public transit is going to feel scary. Very few people on any given bus, if any, are actually dangerous or threatening or even interested in harassing anyone, and most of the time bus drivers are well aware of them and able to take care of it (or call someone who is). But if you're told to be afraid of people on those buses, then ultimately, you're just going to find someone to be afraid of.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqSFl6jCIAEJlod.jpg

[MNdible]

More to the point, though, statements like these aren't just descriptive, they're performative.

I don't disagree with this. But the flip side is that some bus routes currently are unpleasant experiences. I don't claim to have a solution for this, but I don't think saying that people who are uncomfortable riding the bus are racists is any part of any solution. Especially since a lot of the people who are most directly impacted by these negative experiences are themselves black.

[EOst]

I don't know if we actually disagree about that. Being uncomfortable riding buses doesn't (necessarily) mean that you're a racist. But stoking those fears for cynical political or tribal reasons is, I think, pretty inexcusable.

[mattaudio]

Looking at tomorrow's agenda, I am stumped on one of the CD&RS items:
3. Minnehaha Academy project host approval for bond issuance
Passage of Resolution authorizing host approval for the issuance of Bank Qualified Bank Direct Financing for Minnehaha Academy through the cities of Lilydale and Mendota.

Can someone explain what sort of thing is, financing for a third party through other cities?

[MNdible]

I think this type of pass-through funding is fairly common. Here's the agenda item, which it explains it a little better [PDF].

[mattaudio]

Parking reform is before the council:
-Amendment to eliminate the changes for buildings with more than 50 units. There will be no change for larger developments.
-Goodman / Regulatory will be working on regulations for surface lots adjacent to residential properties around the city.
Uninanimous.

[FISHMANPET]

Gotta say, parking reform passing 13-0 feels pretty great. And everybody, even Barbara Johnson, seemed to emphatically support it.

I think this bodes well for Lisa Bender's secret agenda to destroy the city from within.