Nicollet Mall

[SurlyLHT]

I believe that the numbers do not truly reflect the amount of crime that is going on out there. Even within my neighborhood there are many instances where people who are victims of crime are not calling the police because they know that they will not get a response or they feel like it's a waste of time because the response they get will be more hassle than it's worth. This especially has been the response to the stealing of catalytic converters and car and/or garage break-ins.
I think we're all victims of our police department and the city council feeding negatively off each other. The city council is doing its best to destroy the police and the police are overwhelmed, under staffed, and afraid to do their jobs for fear of being the next headline.
I'm not sure how many of you have worked in a toxic environment, but it kills any motivation to do anything; you only goal is to get through till the next day. Over time I think it will get better, but for now I think we're all paying the price.

They aren't "overwhelmed, under staffed and afraid to do their jobs." They are on strike. Come on.

It's been reported quite a few police officers have left the force or there is a lack of applications for new officers. Can you blame them? Again - not saying there aren't bad cops out there or that reform isn't needed with the police department, but there are good cops out there too.

They are overwhelmed. Talk to your local Precinct Inspector at one of the community meetings they've been attending and ask them where there staff are allocated and you very quickly realize where the numbers are. Part of this is also that if there is a shooting it takes like 80% or more of a Precinct's patrols. So they can get help from another Precinct, but if there are two shootings in a night we're out of Patrols and you get bullets flying over kids playing sports and no MPD response as happened a few months ago.

We've heard different numbers about how many officers there are, part of this is because of a lawsuit from Northsiders demanding more PD. But, many Officers have left or on leave and a Cadet class I believe was canceled this year. The Mayor has 3 Cadet classes planned for 2021 to get some Officers back. They've said they don't want to simply hire officers from elsewhere, but to recruit a diverse recruit class and train them through their own academy. Some of this is simply timing, many officers have left, and Cadet classes take time.

The Cure Violence Interrupters had a soft start without adequate training on the model, but are not getting training and implementation help from Cure Violence HQ in Chicago, they should be out next year. We're hopefully also get more Mental Health officials and etc.

The next Public Comment session is December 2nd, I would encourage you all to call in and leave a comment if you live in Mpls.

[amiller92]

There are a large number of cops on leave right now which is an issue. Which is why the city had to call in extra help from the burbs and park police. I think that's a sign of being overwhelmed given the number of active officers .
I do agree that the reconstruction of Hennepin ave has moved alot of people around downtown added on the covid and economic crisis

Had to? You mean the mayor caved to pressure to make a symbolic gesture to offer money that the department may not even be able to spend because there may not be any officers to borrow?

Again, this is all about the politics.

[amiller92]

It's been reported quite a few police officers have left the force or there is a lack of applications for new officers. Can you blame them? Again - not saying there aren't bad cops out there or that reform isn't needed with the police department, but there are good cops out there too.

Yes, I can blame them, for continuing a culture where kneeling on a man's neck until he's dead doesn't even raise eyebrows among his colleagues (yeah, Lane, whatever). Where the response to anger about doing so is a blue wall of silence. Where hiding in the station is how they respond to civil unrest. Where a sick out is how they respond to being called out for how they've failed us and victimized black and brown communities (admittedly, at the white majority's behest).

They are part of a outrageous system, which their ongoing behavior demonstrates. I will blame them until they become part of the solution.

[Blaisdell Greenway]

They are part of a outrageous system, which their ongoing behavior demonstrates. I will blame them until they become part of the solution.

Thinking back to a few quotes I read in the Strib soon after George Floyd's death. They talked to some "good cops" who said they "couldn't believe Chauvin was still on the force" and that shooting residents with less-lethal munitions unprovoked is "not Chief Rondo's style."

1. the fact that Chauvin was still on the force regardless of his decades of known poor behavior and use-of-force lawsuits -- and was TRAINING new recruits -- tells you everything about how culture eats policy for breakfast
2. if unprovoked shooting of residents is not Chief Rondo's style and yet unprovoked shooting occurs anyway with gusto, Rondo is apparently not in charge of his own force

Giving MPD more and more money has clearly not solved any of these problems over the years. And the chief and mayor can't answer the simple question of how even more money is supposed to solve these problems. Their only response is to call council members racist for daring to ask. We all want safety and stability on our streets. The cops have clearly shown they're not capable to make it happen.

[Austinite]

Does anyone have any photos of the holiday lighting/greening along Nicollet and Peavey? Would love to see. I know Nicollet must still be sad sight with windows boarded up, etc. Not really festive.

[grant1simons2]

This whole year isn't really "festive" so what's the real point?

[Austinite]

This whole year isn't really "festive" so what's the real point?

Delayed response. The point is to bring some cheer. Glad to see they did put up lighting this year. Still would like something other than just white lights on trees, but better than nothing.

[sanguinic]

The Star Tribune's Streetscapes series looks at the poorly landscaped Nicollet Mall:
https://www.startribune.com/nicollet-ma ... 600203268/

[Anondson]

Rerouting buses from Nicollet Mall to make it more a pedestrian street?

https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis ... 600280566/

[Tyler]

I mean, duh.

[Silophant]

Man, I hope that proposal gets some momentum before Metro Transit commits to building a third parallel BRT corridor on a third adjacent block of downtown.

Even ignoring the superflous capital investment, buses on Nicollet are an operational nightmare. We shouldn't be running three high-frequency services down a corridor with practically no ability for vehicles to pass each other. It's fine for rapid transit, with sealed ROWs to prevent non-transit interference and level boarding, etc to keep the vehicles moving, but is plainly unworkable for local buses on surface streets, even with no other traffic on the street.

This complaint brought to you by my experience a couple weeks ago, when MTPD responded to a call from the NB Rt. 11 ahead of my bus by parking in the SB lane, completely stopping all bus traffic on all five Nicollet Mall routes for half an hour or however long it took to do the report. Obviously it was the cop's fault, he should have parked on the sidewalk or around the corner or wherever, but still. Wouldn't have been an issue on literally any other street in the city.

[Trademark]

If express buses come back to pre-covid levels this is a bad idea. Marq/2 was packed with buses during peak hours.

[Anondson]

If express buses come back to pre-covid levels this is a bad idea. Marq/2 was packed with buses during peak hours.

They sure were! Some long nights going south on Marquette. The timing of lights seemed against moving evening buses, but the turns off Marquette were the big bottlenecks.

[Silophant]

If (big if, between continued hybrid work/WFH and also the LRT extensions) that happens, the locals could go to Hennepin instead, maybe even with bus-only lanes to fill in the gap between the south Hennepin bus lanes and the Hennepin/1st bus lanes across the river.

[amiller92]

Figure out what to do with the buses and get it done.

[Trademark]

If (big if, between continued hybrid work/WFH and also the LRT extensions) that happens, the locals could go to Hennepin instead, maybe even with bus-only lanes to fill in the gap between the south Hennepin bus lanes and the Hennepin/1st bus lanes across the river.

The 17 in particular would be very awkward to run from Hennepin to Nicollet to Hennepin

[StandishGuy]

I'm thrilled that they are finally pursuing this, but geez... Minneapolis citizens have asked for this for generations. Nicollet Mall is painfully slow for buses and major routes like the 18 and 17 deserve faster service. I suggest moving local buses over to Marquette and suburban transit providers can go to 2nd Avenue or somewhere else. The Southwest LRT extension should, hopefully, reduce the number of suburban buses coming downtown. At any rate, routes with the highest ridership should be given priority on faster streets anyways.

It's really a shame that the Mayor and downtown leaders came to this decision after the bland reconstruction of Nicollet Mall. Sadly, the bus shelters are some of the nicer features of the streetscape and I wonder what might replace them.

[alexschief]

The idea of getting buses off of Nicollet has been around forever. Nicollet isn't a great fit for buses, because of the speed limits buses on the mall run arguably worse than mixed traffic, especially at off-peak hours. But it's also a major corridor with tons of destinations and a bunch of good bus stops already built-in. There's a significant sunk cost that you have to eat if you take buses off the street.

You'd also need to install bus lanes on Hennepin and do some route consolidation. But those are good things in and of themselves and shouldn't be contingent on pulling buses off Nicollet. The City (this Mayor and his predecessors) have shown no interest in doing any of the preparatory work that would be required to take buses off Nicollet permanently. The reconstruction of Nicollet was an enormous missed opportunity in which downtown poobahs effectively killed off any kind of bold or unique thinking. The Hennepin redesign was similarly unambitious. The CBD of the city is crippled by small thinking.

Anyway, the way to "save" Nicollet and the CBD is the same as it has always been. It's not the buses, it's the people. Nicollet needs more residents. The second half of the Opus block is not yet developed and there are big redevelopment or conversion opportunities (skirts of City Center, 801 Nicollet, the Target Events Center, etc) that haven't been realized. Instead of chasing office workers or tourists, downtown needs more people who will make their homes there. It's happening in big numbers all over downtown, except for the spot in the middle.

[uptownbro]

Frey plans to close a few blocks of Nicollet to buses this summer as a pilot program

[Tom H.]

Downtown transit tunnel of the north-south variety, anyone?