BY CAM GORDON A new report released this spring by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization Global Rights for Women confirms that the city’s response to domestic violence calls continues to fall short. The report, “An Institutional Analysis of the Minneapolis Police Response to Domestic Violence,” was presented to the Community Commission on…
BY CAM GORDON Hopes are high for a new report that centers on strengthening safety beyond policing efforts with attention to prevention and restorative as well as alternative responses to crime and violence. Released on July 13 following a city press conference called by Mayor Jacob Frey, the “Minneapolis Safe…
BY CAM GORDON On June 16, a quiet Friday afternoon before a three-day weekend, with little advance notice, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other United States Justice Department staff held a press conference with city officials to announce the results of their two-year investigation into Minneapolis police and an…
BY CAM GORDON Many people were surprised when, on March 29, the city of Minneapolis announced plans to rehouse a police station at one of two locations in the Southside’s 3rd Precinct. According to the announcement, from July 2020 to December 2022 city staff had been examining potential sites for…
BY CAM GORDON The struggle for racial equity within our city government has suffered another setback. As of March 13, Tyeastia Green, the director of the recently elevated Department of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, no longer works for the city of Minneapolis. In a memo-style report that she sent…
BY CAM GORDON County’s new Zero Waste Plan could end garbage burning downtown Once again, people are organizing to shut down Hennepin County’s downtown garbage burner. The burner, known as the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), has been fraught with controversy since before it opened in 1989. “Communities have been…
BY CAM GORDON The future of Hiawatha Golf Course took an interesting turn this January when the city’s Historic Preservation Commission and the Park Board weighed in on its past. Both formally responded to a nomination submitted last year to add the golf course to the National Register of Historic…
BY CAM GORDON The rent control debate is heating up. With the city’s rent stabilization workgroup completing its work in December, it now falls to the City Council to approve a policy and draft an ordinance if we are to have rent stabilization in Minneapolis. On Dec. 13, the 25-member…
BY CAM GORDON Hopes are high that when city leaders and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis begin contract negotiations this fall, the process will be more open to scrutiny and input than it has been in the past. In November, the City Council approved a settlement agreement related to…
BY CAM GORDON In October, a power struggle about how to respond to groups camping outdoors came to a head, not only outside City Hall between city officials and the community, but within City Hall and the City Council itself. Nearly four months have passed since the council voted to…
BY CAM GORDON In what is likely a response to the unusually low number of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the recommendation by the mayor’s Community Safety Work Group to “strengthen MPD’s recruitment and hiring process,” the mayor is recommending spending $740,000 on an internship program for…
BY CAM GORDON The role of public involvement has been questioned as the mayor and City Council move forward towards court agreements on racist policing practices. Last April 27, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) released a report that found probable cause that the city and its police department…
BY CAM GORDON The mayor and City Council are moving quickly to restructure city government. Substantial ordinance amendments, which have yet to be shared with the public, could be approved by the end of August. The timeline presented by Mayor Jacob Frey in June called for the public hearing on…
BY CAM GORDON On June 15, Judge Joseph R. Klein ordered the city of Minneapolis to immediately stop any ongoing implementation of the 2040 Plan until the city satisfies the requirements of the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA), which could include completing an environmental assessment. On June 20, the city…
BY CAM GORDON A growing number of Southside residents are working to fund a People’s Climate and Equity Plan in next years’ Minneapolis city budget which is expected to come to the City Council in August for review. They hope to make their version of Minneapolis Green New Deal a…
