The Washington Avenue public meeting was held on May 14 from 5-7pm. It was an "open house," which means that people could drop in anytime in that two hour window to see the four different options Hennepin County has designed for Washington Ave. Options were laid out in detail on giant printouts on the walls and on the table; these maps showed an overhead picture of the current Wash Ave along with the proposed changes drawn in. There was no formal presentation, but staff were available to answer questions. After viewing the different layout options, attendees were asked to fill out a small packet in which we could express our preferred vision for the future of Washington Ave.
The meeting was well attended by bicycle coalition members; a big THANK YOU to everyone who came! We are confident that our voice was heard and that we are well on our way to making Wash Ave safer for cyclists and pedestrians and more livable for all who spend time in this area.
If you were not able to attend the meeting, you can still make your opinion heard! Hennepin County's survey link is still up and will be open for at least the next few days. Be sure to check out the great blog posts here and here that detail the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition's take on the Wash Ave redesign. Take 5 minutes to fill it out, and bug all your friends to do the same: WASH AVE SURVEY
This was my first public meeting and I found the environment friendly and unintimidating. Plus, there were free cookies! Thanks again to everyone else who came out, and to everyone who has filled out the survey already.
