As a follow up to Minneapolis 2040, the City’s comprehensive plan, a Transportation Action Plan is being drafted to guide the planning and implementation of transportation projects over the next ten years. Our Streets Minneapolis supports many parts of Minneapolis 2040 and we welcome the emphasis on building a transportation system that puts people first.

The upcoming action plan is an opportunity to design a new transportation system—one that is cleaner, more comfortable and allows people to get around our city in a variety of ways.

The Our Streets Pedestrian Work Group (PWG) had a cozy meeting on March 18 at the Hennepin Central Library. Cozy as in our original room was taken, although we all fit in nicely in a smaller, nearby room. The library staff even provided some extra chairs.

A mid-February evening—in all of its snowy, frozen winter glory—found the Our Streets Pedestrian Work Group (PWG) once again at the Lakes and Legends Brewery in Loring Park. After kicking off 2019 with a rousing discussion of our new top priorities, group members built on that momentum with a meeting that centered around winter sidewalk maintenance.

The Our Streets Minneapolis Pedestrian Work Group kicked off 2019 with a conversation about this year’s priorities, activities, and pedestrian issues.

Hey, Minneapolis! How are those winter sidewalks treating you these days?

With a whole lot of recent snow and ice, it’s been hard to get around on our sidewalks. Whether we’re walking, rolling, or using transit, we need our sidewalks to be better cleared of snow and ice, and in a much more timely way.

Our systems and norms are still prioritizing the movement of cars and trucks over people. We’re still clearing streets ahead of clearing sidewalks.

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.

At our December meeting, members of the Pedestrian Work Group reflected on 2018 and identified some of our successes over the past year. These included:

Making Minneapolis Winters Walkable!

After adding pedestrian advocacy to our mission in 2017, the Our Streets Minneapolis board chose winter sidewalk maintenance as our first campaign focused on walking and rolling. We’re working to make Minneapolis winters accessible for everyone.

The problem:
Sidewalks and crossing areas are not cleared of snow and ice promptly, and are not maintained in a consistent manner for people who are walking or rolling.

Our goal:
Snow and ice are cleared promptly from sidewalks, corners, and crossing areas so people can get around in the ways that work best for them.

Here at Our Streets Minneapolis, we continue to advocate for a city where biking, walking, and rolling is easy and comfortable for everyone.

We thought this was a good time for an update on what’s happening with our advocacy work at Our Streets Minneapolis. We’d love for you to get involved with whatever is most motivating to you, so here are some options:

After almost three years, Minneapolis’ comprehensive planning process is nearing an end.

A couple weeks ago, I compared the current draft with the first draft. Your comments made a difference! Thank you! In this blog, I shared information about the Planning Commission hearing. This hearing happened last week. At the hearing, Sarah Tschida, an Our Streets Minneapolis board member, testified along with many other folks who care about the future of our city.