Updates

Today is the City of Minneapolis comment deadline for the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction project.

Here are three ways you can help:

Thank you to our volunteer Derek Bauer for capturing the feeling of Hennepin Avenue. Drowning in a sea of cars. Chaotic, loud, and hard to track where the next danger will come from.

What makes a place?

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What makes a place? It’s the people.

Yet, we have signs of life and what could be. We enjoy a stroll with ice cream, we cross the street to visit businesses, we shop for groceries, we wait for the bus, we bike. The people make this place. They bring it to life and make us imagine what it could be instead of what it is—instead of all the ways it fails us. Let’s make Hennepin work for people! Join us in letting the City of Minneapolis know we want a place for people: Option 1 is the only inclusive choice. Send a message in support to [email protected] or call 612-673-3594. 

We allied with some of our most forward-thinking local organizations to write a letter in support of Option 1, including Our Streets Minneapolis, the Midtown Greenway Coalition, Move Minnesota, the Sierra Club, and the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota. 

Read the letter here and add yourself to the list of people signing here include your ward info under Affiliation. Sign by April 15th!

We’ve allied with some of our most forward-thinking local organizations to write a letter in support of Option 1:

💛Midtown Greenway Coalition
💛Sierra Club North Star Chapter
💛Move Minnesota
💛Our Streets Minneapolis
💛Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota

Join us: Read the letter here and add yourself to the list of people signing here. Sign by April 15th!

We’d love to have more people and organizations sign on, so please share this with any and all of your networks and organizations, favorite businesses, whomever! And remind them to act on Hennepin in other ways as well!

Now is a critical moment in the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction project. The City of Minneapolis comment deadline closes this Friday, April 16th.

We’re getting everything ready to submit from our outreach. You can be a huge factor in the outcome for Hennepin Avenue. Join our efforts!

Three ways you can help support Option 1:

Streets.mn posts!
We’ve got a half dozen Hennepin Avenue posts in the works for this week. Please read, comment, and share with your networks so others understand how critical Hennepin Avenue is and how to support Option 1. 

Social media! 
Make sure you’re following us on social media Twitter and Instagram. Please like, boost, and share our posts to your networks. And tag us in your own posts on the topic.

City input!
Don’t forget to do the basics, too! Fill out the city survey. Share your personal experiences and observations on the interactive map. And don’t underestimate the power of sending emails to city staff ([email protected]) or giving them a call at 612-673-3594. 

We’re growing our support every single day. Remember, what happens on Hennepin Avenue at this moment can shape other streets including county owned streets. What will our future look like? A street for everyone? Will it reflect adopted city policies* and the action this moment requires? We can shape the outcome, so lets push as hard as we can through Friday.

*City policies:

• Transportation Action Plan (2020)
• Minneapolis 2040 (2019)
• Climate Emergency declaration (2019)
• Social Cost of Carbon (2019)
• Vision Zero (2017) 
• Complete Streets (2015)

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We gathered comments at two more volunteer shifts this past weekend. On Friday, we were on the Mall in Uptown, at Humboldt & The Greenway. On Easter Sunday April 4th, we were set up at Bde Maka Ska. We also have friends and neighbors collecting comments as they go about their day. Every comment counts! If you’d like to learn more contact us [email protected] 

Thanks to our volunteer team—we couldn’t do any of this without you. Both events were hugely successful. We met and spoke with over 160 new supporters who would not have normally engaged in the city’s process to redesign Hennepin Avenue. On Friday, given our proximity to the Uptown Transit Station we were able to do outreach to rush hour transit riders. We also got to pet many good dogs. Can’t beat these locations to meet neighborhood dogs.  

That’s not to say we didn’t meet with some opposition. We know change can be difficult for some, but a safer, more vibrant, more livable street makes our community stronger—and ultimately draws more people to live, work, and shop here. The enthusiasm from people who didn’t know this was happening, newly engaged residents and visitors—that made this weekend’s volunteer shifts incredibly rewarding, even for those of us who aren’t comfortable asking strangers to take time to support a cause. 

Our positive vision for a street that works for people walking, rolling, biking, busing, and driving is the only inclusive choice. Please keep the comments “I like Option 1” coming to [email protected] or call 612-673-3594 and help us continue building momentum!  

Read More »A weekend of outreach

On Sunday, we took to the streets to collect comments in support of a Hennepin Avenue for people, no matter how they travel. Thanks to the volunteer team who helped with outreach. It felt good to be outside, talking to neighbors, and seeing the enthusiasm for streets built for people. People from different backgrounds, a range of ages, all across our city, and even visitors from outside Minneapolis realize Hennepin Avenue doesn’t work well for anyone in its current form. People are looking forward to dedicated transit lanes, pedestrian improvements and bike lanes. Option 1 is the only inclusive design choice.

An observation from this event, held at the intersection of the Greenway and Bryant Avenue: this is a destination. People come to Uptown from St. Paul to the east, and from Hopkins and Minnetonka to the west. Even as a resident of the neighborhood, I was surprised at how many people I met from outside Minneapolis had arrived in Uptown by bike.  

Building safe biking infrastructure draws people to our city. The Greenway is a bike highway — and it can feed into a local bike route on Hennepin Avenue, bringing visitors and customers to the neighborhood. People who bike within our city and those who bike into our city. On Sunday, we met a group of three on a bike tour checking out all the protected biking infrastructure in our city. We’re not all comfortable riding in traffic with cars. Imagine what a destination Hennepin Avenue could be. If you build safe and well-connected bike routes, not only will it serve those of us who live here — people will be drawn to them. The Bryant bike boulevard and the Greenway prove this. Bike lanes on Hennepin Avenue will be an asset to our growing community.  

Read More »Kick off event