The Downtown Bikeways work group has been talking to people that live, work, go to school, eat, or recreate along the corridor that connects downtown with Loring Heights, Stevens Square, Whittier, and neighborhoods to the south. One person that we spoke with is Peter Leugers, who bikes along the corridor. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Making Minneapolis Winters Walkable

At Our Streets Minneapolis, our volunteers, board, and staff have been hard at work making Minneapolis winters walkable.

In September we announced our top three advocacy priorities to improve winter sidewalk maintenance in Minneapolis. At that time, our priorities were:   

• Implementation of the City’s planned winter sidewalk maintenance pilot
• Demonstrated improvement in corner clearing during this winter season
• Increased assistance for folks who aren’t able to clear their walks & further education on what the sidewalk clearance rules are

The next month our advocacy led to the Minneapolis City Council Transportation and Public Works Committee discussing winter sidewalk maintenance for 90 minutes--an unprecedented focus on this issue.

In 2018 Our Streets Minneapolis launched the Bicycle Connectors program, a new initiative to encourage more black women, indigenous women, and women of color to bike for transportation. Cindy Vue, our Bicycle Encouragement and Volunteer Coordinator, partnered with six local organizations serving black women, indigenous women, and women of color in Minneapolis.

Each organization received support from Our Streets Minneapolis to create their own unique program to encourage more of the women they serve to bike for transportation. Funding for the Bicycle Connectors program is provided through travel demand management funds awarded by the Metropolitan Council and administered by Metro Transit.

One organization we partnered with was the Cleveland Neighborhood Association.