Comments sought on proposed changes to the City Charter

The Charter Commission holds its first public hearing July 15

The Minneapolis Charter Commission is seeking public comments on a proposed amendment to the City Charter related to the future of public safety. People can submit their comments online or provide them directly to members of the commission at a July 15 public hearing.

Special Meeting: Land Use & Development Committee

Wednesday, July 15, 2020, 6:30 pm

Online Only

To receive login information for this meeting, you must RSVP to www.marcy-holmes.org/events.

CA Ventures project presentation for high-density, mixed use building at 407 15th Avenue SE, 1428 5th Street SE, 1413-1417 4th Street SE, 1412 5th Street SE, and 1400-1402 5th Street SE (impacted businesses include McDonald's, Pagoda, Five Guys, India Kitchen, Dinkytown Wine & Spirits, Subway, Pizza Hut and a branch of TCF Bank)

Public Safety Transformation

The City Council has proposed an amendment to the City Charter to be referred to voters in November. If approved by voters, that amendment would create a new Community Safety & Violence Prevention Department and remove the Police Department from the Charter. 

See the proposed amendment

From the City of Minneapolis:

Dear neighborhood and community leaders,

The City of Minneapolis and its residents have experienced heartbreak, tragedy and multiple crises over the past four months. Given the difficulty of engaging the community at this time, the Neighborhoods 2020 Steering Committee has recommended that the Neighborhoods 2020 public comment period be extended until September 30, 2020.

From the Minneapolis Police Department

To All Block Leaders and past NNO registrants:  Please read this update carefully!

The MPD will be postponing participation in National Night Out until Tuesday, September 15 2020.

* IF you have already registered for a block permit event, your permit will be honored for September 15.

* IF you would like to still have your event on August 4th, you may also do so with the permit.

* You may also host your event on a date other than August 4 or September 15--we just need to know for planning purposes--wait for an email later this week to reply, we would like to know by July 10.

* Note that Nickelodeon Universe is still closed. It may open prior to September 15. If so, we will try to get Mystery Tickets and if we can get them, they will be delivered separately from your permit and registration mailer.

* We encourage blocks to host National Night out, urging that everyone follow the CDC guidelines for gatherings. We recognize this will be a challenge and many fun activities from past events might be moot, but we hope that NNO can continue to be one of the best opportunities to keep your immediate neighbors connected!

City Council Advances Proposed Ballot Measure Asking Voters to Create a New Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention

The City Council voted today to advance a proposed ballot measure that would ask Minneapolis voters to amend the City Charter to create a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention and remove the Police Department as a charter department.

NEIGHBORHOODS 2020 - PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ENDING SOON

On July 15, 2020, the public comment period will close on draft guidelines for Neighborhoods 2020. Please consider submitting your feedback to the city, and to Council Member Fletcher, by July 15th. 

But first, let’s review. 

WHAT IS NEIGHBORHOODS 2020?

Neighborhoods 2020 has been a multi-year, city-wide initiative to reassess how 70 neighborhood associations, like the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association (MHNA), are funded by the City of Minneapolis. Many associations receive 100% of their funding through the City, while others receive additional funds through grants and fundraising campaigns. Despite its long-standing success at receiving grants and raising its own funds, a majority of MHNA’s operating budget comes from the City.

One goal of Neighborhoods 2020 is to ensure that public funds would be more equitably distributed throughout the city, but also to make certain that the associations using these funds would equitably engage with their communities, especially and most notably with renters and people of color. For too long neighborhood associations have been largely led and organized by older, white homeowning men and women hoping to protect and preserve “their neighborhood.”

The current Community Participation Program—that currently distributes association funding—will expire on December 31, 2020. The guidelines and attendant funding formulas of Neighborhoods 2020 (perhaps under some new, less outdated name) will begin on January 1, 2021.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER TO ME? 

If you value the role that MHNA has played in organizing our community—not only in this extremely challenging year but in years prior—we ask that you take note of how severely our overall operations could change next year. Although the precise funding formula is difficult to discern at this time (there are many moving parts, which you can glean when you read the guidelines), MHNA could experience up to a 75% reduction in funds it receives from the City. It will be difficult to continue to improve this organization, and it will be difficult to maintain the number of things that we already do well.

WHAT CAN I DO?

First, we invite you to explore the program documents for yourself. You can find the draft guidelines for the Neighborhoods 2020 Program here.

You can also review the City’s Neighborhoods 2020 webpage here. On this page you will find a wealth of information, from the original conception of the program, notes and videos from meetings over the years, and most importantly, you can find out how you can make a comment by July 15, 2020 at 11:59 pm.

If you have any questions, please contact MHNA Executive Director, Chris Lautenschlager at chris@marcy-holmes.org or 612.623.7633.