City briefs

The city has approved a framework for redevelopment of the 10 acres of land the city owns at the former Kmart site.  It includes a new park and six parcels they plan to sell to provide up to 600 rental housing units, retail uses concentrated on Lake St. and Nicollet Ave., an indoor recreation space, a full-service grocery store, and 20-25 townhomes for homeownership. The first request for proposals could go out later this year focused on the southeast quadrant of the site that is next to the proposed park followed by parcel-by-parcel requests moving clockwise through the rest of the site over the next several years.

 

After voting to put The Mall Park project on hold last month, on May 7, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approved reallocating $275,000 from the project to the Soo Line Community Gardens where gardening has halted due to soil contamination including include diesel range petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons likely left by the by railroads and grain elevators that previously used the land. The plan for the garden includes new accessible paths to the Midtown Greenway and will need additional funding.  

 

In Democratic Farmer Labor party ward conventions for Wards 8 and 13, Soren Stevenson and Linea Palmisano were endorsed in their respective city council races. The Green Party met in April and endorsed Adam Schneider for at-large Park and Recreation Board commissioner.

 

Minneapolis has received a 2025 Vision Zero for Youth U.S. Leadership Award from the National Center for Safe Routes to School for their work to eliminate serious injuries and deaths among children walking and biking.

 

Hennepin County is holding community collection events this summer where people can dispose of garden and household hazardous waste. Waste will be accepted on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 27 and 28 at St. Louis Park Middle School and Aug. 8 and 9 at South High School. 

 

The city has authorized a contract of $15,000 with the Longfellow Community Council for the Bryant, Central, Corcoran, Longfellow, Nokomis East, Powderhorn Park, Hale Page Diamond Lake, and Standish-Ericsson neighborhood organizations to explore shared services, staff, training, programming and fundraising. 

 

The city council has authorized contracts of $80,000 with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, $25,000 with the International Institute of Minnesota, $70,000 with the Volunteer Lawyers Network, $20,000 with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, and $80,000 with Advocates for Human Rights to support the continuation of immigration legal services through the end of the year.   

 

The city charter commission is proposing amending the city charter to reduce the number of appointments that the city council must approve from 11, as it is currently allowed, to seven. Under their latest proposal the mayor, who now also has to approve the 11 appointees, would take over sole appointing authority for the appointments of the city’s commission of health, as well as directors of civil rights, regulatory services, and emergency management. 

 

The city has published new rules since passage of ordinance amendments allowing edible plants, including shrubs, to be grown in the boulevard without a permit. They can be found at https://www.minneapolismn.gov/resident-services/property-housing/housing/property-maintenance/boulevard-gardens/