City briefs - Apr 2025

Legislators Town Hall April 21
There will be a meeting on Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m. hosted by 5th District Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar; State Representatives Jamie Long, Esther Agbaje, Emma Greenman, Katie Jones, Sydney Jordan, Samantha Sencer-Mura, Mike Howard, Anquam Mahamoud, and Aisha Gomez; and State Senators Omar Fateh and Doron Clark. This event is open to the public but pre-registration is required to receive the location. The focus in on the impact of federal government actions on Minnesotans. For more information, email MN05.Info@mail.house.gov or call 612-333-1272. The event will also be broadcast on Omar’s social media.

District 61 Town Hall April 30
There will be a District 61 town hall meeting on Wednesday, April 30 from 7-8:30 p.m. hosted by State Representatives Jamie Long and Katies Jones, and State Senator Scott Dibble at United Methodist Church (511 Groveland Ave.).

Open Streets
The city council has approved locations, dates and organizers for four Open Streets Minneapolis events this year. They selected Central Avenue, Cedar Avenue, West Broadway, and Hennepin Avenue in Uptown. The Uptown Association will be organizing the Hennepin Ave event on Sept. 20 on Hennepin between W 26th and 36th Streets. The Central Ave event will be held Aug. 2, Cedar on Aug. 17, and West Broadway on Sept. 6.

Southwest Light Rail audit
The state’s legislative auditor released a report on the Metropolitan Council’s Southwest Light Rail Transit construction project on April 7, 2025, and found that the council’s financial practices did not meet certain requirements and that there were weaknesses in internal controls in several areas. They also noted that the Lunda/C.S. McCrossan Joint Venture group did not always comply with the requirements regarding use of disadvantaged business enterprises and physical security of the project sites.

Local public health heroes
The Minneapolis health department held a resource fair and ceremony to honor local health heroes on April 9. They are Marcus Kar, Director of North Minneapolis Programs at Youth Farm; Matt Toburen, executive director at Aliveness Project; Sue Abderholden, executive director for NAMI Minnesota; BrightSide Produce; the Avivo Street Outreach Team; Nazir Khan, executive director of the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table; and Colectiva Bilingüe of the Minneapolis Bilingual Education Collective.

City hall renovations
The renovations to city hall that have been underway for more than three years are nearly completed. The construction updated heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical systems. The third floor now features a media room and more natural light, as the process uncovered many windows that have been hidden as part of previous renovations. The mayor and his staff have already moved into Room 330, City Hall. City council member offices and all the meetings that use the council chambers will move back over the next few months.

Minneapolis Music Summit
The city and the Minnesota Independent Venue Alliance are co-hosting a Minneapolis Music Summit on May 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Green Room at 2923 Girard Ave So. Musicians, promoters, and those working in management, recording, venues, studios or policy are invited to attend this free event to connect to resources and give feedback on policy ideas.

Art sought for riverfront
Artists have been invited to apply to create artwork at Water Works in Mill Ruins Park that includes the sacred Dakhóta sites of Owámniyomni and Wíta Nagí and is within the Dakhóta traditional homelands. The selected artist or artist team will collaborate with the Dakhóta community to design the artwork. For more information, contact lydia.fourhorns@minneapolismn.gov.

Sidewalk vending
On April 17, the city council is expected to pass an ordinance that will allow a vendor to operate their licensed cart at up to three locations instead of just one. It will also allow carts to operate on more streets, as well as commercial corridors and closer to park buildings. Operating hours will increase from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. to 6-12 a.m. unless within 300 feet of a residence, when hours must be between 7 a.m.-11 p.m.

Yard waste collection
The 2025 season for Minneapolis solid waste collection of leaves, brush and branches started April 7. People can set yard waste out in reusable containers, compostable bags or bundled with string or twine by 6 a.m. on regularly scheduled waste pick up days to have it removed.