This Thursday the City of Minneapolis is hosting a hearing where folks can provide feedback on the Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee (CLIC) recommendations for how the City should spend capital improvement funding from 2020 - 2024.
Here’s when the hearing will be:
CLIC Public Hearing
Thursday, May 16th | 6:00 PM
City Hall Room 319
350 S 5th St, Minneapolis, MN 55415
There’s also an opportunity to give feedback at the Phillips Community Center from 6:30 - 8 PM on Wednesday, May 15th. There was an opportunity at UROC last week, but unfortunately we missed that one.
What is CLIC?
CLIC, or the Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee, is a group of 33 residents appointed by the City Council and Mayor. The folks who serve on CLIC make recommendations to the City Council and Mayor about how the City should spend it’s five year capital budget. This is important because it is one of the main ways the City funds street improvements like protected bike lanes and filling sidewalk gaps. The recommendations CLIC makes are based on recommendations that come from departments at the City, like the Department of Public Works, which oversees transportation in Minneapolis.
You can learn a little more about how CLIC does this by reading this blog post we wrote in 2017.
How does Public Works decide which projects to recommend to CLIC?
Public Works asks for input from local partner agencies like MnDOT and Metro Transit, neighborhood organizations, business associations, and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committees. They also take a look at 311 requests and complaints to help guide which projects to include in their funding recommendations.
How does CLIC decide which projects to recommend to the City Council and Mayor?
CLIC members use their experience as residents of Minneapolis, along with knowledge of City of Minneapolis goals and plans like Minneapolis 2040 and Vision Zero to create a report detailing their recommendations. This report typically comes out in July. Here’s a link to the capital budget requests they’re planning to recommend. These recommendations will be for the years 2020 - 2024.
How do I fit in?
Before CLIC submits their final recommendations to City Council and the Mayor, they hold a joint public hearing with the City Planning Commission so they can hear input from the public on the projects they’re planning to recommend. This is private residents’ chance to provide feedback on the projects recommended for funding. This year, this hearing will be on Thursday, May 16th at 6:00 PM in City Hall, which is located at 350 S 5th St in Minneapolis. The hearing will take place in room 319.
What could I give feedback on?
Here are a few thoughts about what you could give feedback on at the hearing on Thursday if you choose to attend:
- This process is very confusing and difficult to track. One thing you could ask of CLIC and the Planning Commission is that they re-evaluate their process for future years, especially when it comes to engaging residents. As we wrote this blog post, our staff had a really hard time accessing information about CLIC and the recommendations. We also couldn’t find confirmation of when the hearing took place--we had to call a City staff member and ask a CLIC member before we were able to confirm the time and place. We know we have more knowledge about how to access this information than nearly all Minneapolis residents and this was still really tough for us.
- You could thank them. Right now, the recommendations include plans for 23 miles of pedestrian facilities and 29 miles of bicycle facilities. There are a lot of great things in the recommendations, and we’re grateful for that.
- You could ask them to do something differently. Take a look at the recommendations from public works if you have a chance. While there are lots of great projects included, there are noticeable omissions. One big one is that these budget recommendations do not include plans for a Northside Greenway. When the City asked the Bicycle Advisory Committee for recommendations, one item on their list was that the City should create a funding source for neighborhood greenways, like the Northside Greenway. The City did not include a funding source, or the Northside Greenway, in their recommendations. Given the City’s recent pop-up greenway, published report, and engagement with residents around this project, and their equity & climate change goals, we don’t understand why the City isn’t recommending the project for funding.
Still have questions? Us too. Like we mentioned, this process is really tough to figure out. Hopefully by getting more involved we’ll be able to express our concerns and learn more to help us prepare for the next time around.
