Mayor Jacob Frey has presented his recommended 2019 City budget to City leaders – a
budget that includes a significant increase in funding for affordable housing
programs.
The City Council will begin reviewing the recommended $1.55 billion
budget, hold a series of budget presentations in September and October, and
vote on adopting a budget Dec. 5. The Board of Estimate and Taxation is scheduled to hold a public hearing to set the maximum property tax
levy at 5:05 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12.
The recommended budget includes a 5.63 percent tax levy increase. The
City’s revenues come from a variety of sources with property taxes accounting
for about 23 percent of the budget. The City’s tax base has increased by more
than 10 percent between 2018 and 2019 and the proposed levy increase is less
than 6 percent, resulting in the overall tax rate going down.
A few highlights of the mayor’s proposed budget include:
Visit the City’s budget website to review the 2019
recommended budget, learn about key dates in the approval process and watch a video about how you can provide feedback on the
proposed budget.
Dear neighbors,
Thank you for participating in a
wonderful event last night to celebrate the reopening of the East 38th
Street Bridge! I am filled with joy at
the turnout of members of the community who came to enjoy dinner on the bridge
and engage in meaningful conversation with neighbors, many of whom they were
meeting for the first time.
I want to send a heart-felt thank
you to the planning team and volunteers who helped coordinate and make this
cross-community event possible. Thank you
to our co-hosts and sponsors, including: Bryant
Neighborhood Organization (BNO), Center for
Performing Arts, Central Area
Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO), Eat for Equity, Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), Kente Circle,
Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA),
Litin Eco, Lyndale
Neighborhood Association (LNA), Marnita’s
Table, Minnesota Department of
Transportation, Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder News, Sabathani
Community Center, Seward Community Co-op
Friendship Store, Southside
Community Health Services, Xcel
Energy.
This event marks a process to
reinvigorate East 38th Street, and I’m proud to help lead this
effort at the City on behalf of the Eighth Ward. Thank you, also, to Ward 8 Staff Sara Lopez
and Deebaa Sirdar for their tremendous help in organizing this special event
and celebration. Read more about the
event here.
In recent weeks air traffic has
been more noticeable over certain neighborhoods. That may be because we
have been very heavily in a south flow for much of the summer. In a south flow,
Minneapolis residents are affected by the arriving airplanes and the departures
go over Eagan and Mendota Heights. This high use of a south flow was the
result of winds predominantly coming out of the south / southwest; planes need
to take off into the wind. The use of a south flow was extremely high,
even for the summer months, which was welcome for those affected by departure
noise but not good for people most affected by arrival traffic. As those
southerly winds have died down, the north flow is back in the mix at times with
departures over us. The City asks the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) Control Tower to do their best to balance the use
of a north and south flow. Neither the City nor the airport has direct
control over this, so we depend on the voluntary efforts of the Control Tower.
The summer months are a difficult
time for airplane noise. Summer is the
busiest time of year so there are more planes and departure altitudes are lower
when the air temperature is higher. The airport’s Noise Oversight
Committee (NOC) has studied departure profiles to see if a change would help
reduce noise. One profile uses most of the plane’s energy to climb and
gain altitude while the other profile uses the energy to move forward and away
from the airport. When these two were compared it didn’t really make much
difference for Minneapolis residents because we are simply too close to the
airport. In fact, there is concern that for people very close to the
airport, using energy towards climbing instead of going away from the airport
just means a longer duration of loud noise. We are told that the difference
between these two profiles is becoming more and more negligible as planes
become more efficient. The City asked an outside consultant about this
just to be sure the findings were reliable. The consultant agreed.
The City has a staff person that
works on airport noise issues and the City is very proactive about looking for
procedures or technology that will help reduce noise. We follow these
issues closely and look to other airports for anything that could be applied at
MSP. We also take a very active role to try to shape federal law and
regulations.
Residents are encouraged to
continue to file noise
complaints with the Minneapolis Airports Commission (MAC) in order to
better understand how to balance departure flows.
Lane closures
June 18, 2018 through
fall 2021
· NB I-35W is reduced to
three lanes from 43rd St. to downtown Minneapolis
Note: one northbound
I-35W lane will be a MnPASS lane
June 18, 2018 through
fall 2019
·
SB I-35W is reduced to
two lanes from downtown Minneapolis to 43rd St.
June 15, 2018 through
fall 2020
·
SB I-35W to 35th St. is
closed
Detour: Continue on I-35W and take the 46th St. exit to
Nicollet Ave
·
NB I-35W to 31st St/Lake
St is closed to traffic, but remain open to buses
June 8, 2018 through
fall 2021
·
31st St. to SB I-35W is
closed to traffic, but remain open to buses
Detour: Nicollet Ave. to 46th St.
·
35th St to NB I-35W is
closed
Detour: Nicollet Ave. to E. Diamond Lake Rd
March 2, 2018 through
fall 2021
·
36th St. to SB I-35W is
closed
Detour: Portland Ave. to 46th St.
Bridge closures
Aug. 3 2018 through
fall 2020
·
40th St. bridge over
I-35W will be closed to pedestrians and bicyclists
Detour: Paved trail on the east side of
MLK park, 42nd St, 2nd Ave.
Local street impacts
Aug. 13, 2018 to Oct.
2018
·
The 39th St. and 3rd
Ave. intersection is closed
Aug. 2, 2018 to Oct.
2018
·
The 39th St. and 1st
Ave. intersection is closed
June 28, 2018 to fall
2018
·
2nd Ave. is closed
between 38th St. and 39th St.
June 28, 2018 to
late-August 2018
·
2nd Ave. is closed
between 29th St. and Lake St.
May 17, 2018 to fall
2018
·
Stevens Ave. is closed
between 38th St. and 39th St.
May 2018 to fall 2018
(tentatively)
·
Park Ave. and Portland
Ave. will have temporary restriping and a transit lane
Note: The restriping of
Park Ave. and Portland Ave. (between downtown and Lake St.) to add a temporary
transit lane was chosen to help reduce impacts and maintain a transit advantage
for transit while the 35W@94 project is underway. This new striping is temporary;
it will remain in place through fall 2018, at which point Metro Transit, MnDOT
and the City of Minneapolis will assess if the transit operators are
comfortable that they can again provide reliable service on I-35W. Restriping
is also weather/temperature dependent, so it may need to wait until spring 2019
if the decision to move back to the permanent striping is made when it is cold
out.
March 2, 2018 to fall
2018
·
Intersections of Stevens
Ave. and Second Ave. S are closed between 37th St. and 38th St.
Note: Residents will be
able to access Stevens Ave. and 2nd Ave. S from 37th St. or 39th St. During the
closure, two-way traffic on Stevens Ave. between 37th St. and 38th St. will be
allowed.
Trail and sidewalk
impacts
Summer 2018
The sidewalk is closed
at the following roads:
·
2nd Ave. S. between Lake
St. and 29th St.
·
Clinton Ave. between
Lake St. and 28th St.
·
South side of Lake St.
between Stevens Ave. and 2nd Ave. S.
·
South side of 31st St.
between Stevens Ave. and 2nd Ave. S.
·
Intersections of 38th
St./Stevens Ave. and 39th St./Stevens Ave.
·
Intersections of 38th
St./2nd Ave. S. and 39th St./2nd Ave. S.
For more information, questions or concerns:
- To learn more about this project, including all current traffic impacts and detour routes, click here to visit the MNDOT website.
- Metro Transit bus routes will be impacted as a result of construction. For updated route information, and to sign up for Rider Alerts, click here.
- Follow MNDOT on Facebook at facebook.com/mndot and Twitter: @mndotnews
- Email the MNDOT project team at: info@35w94.com
- Call the project MNDOT hotline at: 612-284-6125
-
For real-time travel information anywhere in Minnesota visit http://www.511mn.org/or dial 5-1-1.
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