Get ready for street sweeping

Public Works crews are gearing up to start the City’s comprehensive street sweeping program to clear away what has accumulated in the streets over the winter. The City has scheduled Tuesday, April 20, for the first day of sweeping. Beginning Monday, April 19, drivers should watch for temporary “No Parking” signs to avoid a ticket and tow.

Starting April 20 for approximately four weeks, sweeping crews will take care of more than 1,000 miles of city streets. Alley sweeping will be completed by then. Drivers need to follow street sweeping parking rules or they may have their cars ticketed and towed to the Minneapolis Impound Lot.

Residents, workers and visitors have several ways to find out more about street sweeping:

• “No Parking” signs – Crews will post “No Parking” signs at least 24 hours before sweeping any streets. Parking will be banned from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day a street is swept. The “No Parking” signs will be removed as soon as possible after a street has been completely swept to allow people to resume parking. Drivers should not park along these streets until these temporary “No Parking” signs are removed.

• Phone calls to residents – The City will make about 3,500 automated phone calls each evening to let residents know their street will be swept the next day.

• Interactive web tool –By the Friday before the first week of the sweep, you can visit the interactive street sweeping map to see when your street is scheduled to be swept.

• Videos – Street sweeping is explained in English, Spanish, Somali and Hmong in short videos on the City’s YouTube channel

Street sweeping is one way we work to protect our environment because it keeps leaves, trash and other pollutants from clogging our storm drains and polluting our lakes, creeks and the Mississippi River. It also helps keep our neighborhoods clean and livable.

Residents should not push leaves, grass clippings, or anything else into City streets. Not only is it bad for our waterways, it’s against the law. Anything that goes down a storm drain flows directly into our lakes, creeks and the Mississippi River, and decomposing plant material in the water encourages the growth of harmful aquatic plants and algae. 

If you are looking to help keep our waterways clean, consider participating in the Minneapolis Adopt-a-Drain Program, where you can commit to clearing leaves and trash regularly from your adopted storm drains.

Spring yard waste collection underway

The 2021 season for Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling collection of leaves, brush and other yard trimmings started this week. Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling customers can set properly prepared yard waste at their alleys or curbs next to their garbage carts by 6 a.m. on garbage day.

The City encourages gardeners and landscapers to leave yard waste untouched until daytime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees (mid-April or early May) to protect pollinators. Bees often nest in broken stems of plants, and butterflies overwinter in leaf piles.

Solid Waste & Recycling customers can set yard waste out in a reusable container, compostable bags (paper or certified compostable plastic – look for the BPI logo) or bundled with string or twine.

• Reusable containers must be 32-38 gallons in size and 26-32 inches high with sturdy handles.

• Each container, bag or bundle must weigh less than 40 pounds.

• Branches must be less than 3 inches in diameter and cut to less than 3 feet or shorter.

Bags marked “biodegradable” or “degradable” don’t meet the State law and are not accepted.

Solid Waste & Recycling crews can’t pick up dirt, soil, sod, branches wider than 3 inches in diameter or longer than 3 feet, stumps or trees.

Nobody should rake leaves into the street. It’s against the law and bad for our lakes, creeks and river.

For questions about leaf and brush pickup, customers can check the website or call Solid Waste & Recycling at 612-673-2917 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Ward 1 Restorative Justice forum

Ward 1 Council Member Kevin Reich will host a virtual forum Wednesday, April 28, 6-7:30 p.m., on restorative justice, an approach to rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.

Speakers will include Deputy City Attorney Mary Ellen Heng, Willie Bridges of the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, Josh Peterson of the Office of Violence Prevention, and Cynthia Prosek of Restorative Justice Community Action.

Click here to join the meeting or call in (audio only) 612-276-6670, Conference ID: 890 952 634#

COVID-19 emergency rent and utility bill assistance

If you have experienced hardship due to the pandemic and need help paying your rent or utility bills, you may be eligible for COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance.  

While you can’t be evicted for not paying rent during Gov. Walz’s executive order, rent is still due. When the order is lifted, people owing unpaid rent could be at risk for eviction.

Eligible Minneapolis renters can receive help with rent and utility bills dated on or after March 13, 2020. If you qualify, you could receive up to 15 months total assistance.  

Get ready by downloading this checklist to see if you’re eligible and find out what documents you’ll need to be ready when the program opens for applications later this month. 

RentHelpMN is a collaborative effort among the City of Minneapolis and other local and State governments across Minnesota to provide emergency rental assistance to Minneapolis households and households across the state.

Landlords

Download the landlords checklist for information about how to alert your tenants, help them get ready to apply and prepare your documentation for when the program opens for applications.

You can sign up for email updates about when RentHelpMN will open and how to apply on the State’s website.

All Minnesotans 16 and older eligible for COVID-19 vaccine

Every Minnesotan 16 years of age and older is now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine. How to get your shot:

• Sign up for the Minnesota COVID-19 vaccine connector in English, Spanish, Somali or Hmong to get updates on vaccine opportunities in your area.

• You may be randomly selected to make an appointment at one of the State’s COVID-19 Community Vaccination Program locations. If you are selected, you will be notified by text, email or phone call by one of the State’s vaccination partners.

• Find vaccine locations and providers near you using the State’s interactive map.

• Contact your primary health care provider or a local pharmacy.

• Use CDC: VaccineFinder to find pharmacy appointments near you.

• Your employer may also reach out with information about vaccination opportunities.

• Anyone eligible for a City vaccination clinic will be contacted by the City or their employer or organization. The City is continuing to work on vaccinating the priority groups identified by the State.

MPD establishes new tip line

The Minneapolis Police Department has established a new tip line. Call 612-673-5335 to provide tips to MPD about suspicious activity not requiring an immediate response, such as vehicles driving without license plates, etc. If someone’s safety is at risk and an immediate response from police, fire or medics is required, call 911. For all other City services and questions, call 311.

Please join us THIS THURSDAY for a community conversation on anti-racism

In honor of Ahmaud Aubery, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, George Floyd and countless others whose lives were taken unjustly, the Waite Park Community Council is grateful to partner with Tru Ruts on a series of neighborhood conversations focused on anti-racism and transformative change. 

The discussions will be held over Zoom every 2nd and 4th Thursday from April through September. They will be led by artist activists and Waite Park residents E.G.Bailey and Shá Cage, who will work with neighborhood liaison Michelle Filkins and facilitators trained in diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism work.

Sessions will integrate conversation/discussion, often using books, essays and films as points of departure. Each session will be grounded in basic principles of respect and discipline allowing for the cultivation of honesty, debate, research, action and relationship building.

REGISTER HERE on a first come first serve basis as space is available. Waite Park residents and community members will be given priority, but other participants will be allowed if space permits.

Confirmations will be sent out by March 31st.

Tru Ruts and the Waite Park Community Council hopes this forum can grow to become a city-wide model for other neighborhoods.

E.G. Bailey, recently named one of Filmmaker magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, and a McKnight Media Artist Fellow, is an Emmy and Ivey award-winning artist, filmmaker, director and producer. He has won several awards nationally and internationally and has contributed over 20 years to community organizing efforts in the Twin Cities using art to influence change.

Shá Cage is a consultant, a film and theater producer, director, writer and actress. She has been named a Changemaker by Women’s Press, Artist of the Year by City Pages and Star Tribune, a leading artist of her generation by Insight and a Mover and Maker by Mpls STP magazine with her co-conspirator E.G. Bailey. Her work and activism has garnered distinguished awards and has taken her across the U.S, to Japan, South Africa, England, France, the Netherlands, Mali, Croatia and more.

Neighborhood meeting: Learn about Waite Park's 2021 raingarden program

Please join us on Zoom Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m. for our monthly neighborhood meeting to find out how you could qualify for a discounted raingarden consultation and installation.

The Waite Park Community Council is partnering with Metro Blooms to help up to 20 homeowners in the neighborhood plan and install raingardens this season.

A raingarden consists of native plants and flowers arranged in a shallow depression designed to capture rainwater runoff. Water that would otherwise flow down driveways, streets and sidewalks is instead absorbed into the earth, which filters pollutants and recharges groundwater.

In addition to helping to keep our water clean, rain gardens provide habitat for pollinators and other wildlife, including the endangered rusty patched bumble bee. And they help prevent local flooding and relieve pressure on storm drains, making our neighborhood more resilient!

The first come, first served program will be subsidized by the Waite Park Community Council. Participants will be responsible for half of the on-site consultation fee and the cost of plants and materials. Information about how to apply will be released after the meeting.

Other items on the agenda for Thursday's meeting:

• An update on the Waite Park Community Garden and 2021 budget

• Planning for upcoming neighborhood anti-racism forum

• Discussion of letter supporting fruit trees on boulevards

• Discussion about neighborhood COVID-19 vaccine outreach

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 861 937 5928
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Free COVID-19 tests available Thursdays at Columbia Golf Course

The City of Minneapolis is offering free COVID-19 saliva testing at Columbia Golf Course.

The testing will take place at the Columbia Manor reception hall from 4-7 p.m. on March 25 and April 1, 8, and 15. You can expect to get test results in about 24 hours.

Testing is encouraged and available to everyone, whether or not you have symptoms. It’s one of the best ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 and help prevent exposing your loved ones to the virus along with wearing masks correctly, keeping 6 feet from anyone you don’t live with and hand-washing.

Testing is especially important now with people going back to school and because some of the recently found variants seem to spread more easily than the original strain — up to 70% more.

Do not eat, drink or use tobacco products for 30 minutes before taking a COVID-19 saliva test.

Find information about other free COVID-19 testing location on the city's website.

Just Deeds Project helps homeowners remove racial covenants

The City of Minneapolis has launched a new initiative providing Minneapolis homeowners with the opportunity to learn about, acknowledge and discharge racial covenants recorded against their properties. The City’s Just Deeds Project, led by the City Attorney’s Office, will allow people to reclaim their homes as equitable spaces.

Racial covenants were binding documents recorded against a property’s title, which prohibited all future owners of the property from selling it, renting it, or allowing it to be used by people of certain races or ethnicities. Racial covenants were recorded on residential properties in Minneapolis by developers and homeowners beginning in the 1910s to prevent the sale and use of these properties to non-white Minneapolitans. 

Mapping Prejudice, a research project based in the Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota, has compiled a map of over 8,000 properties in Minneapolis with racial covenants, including more than 200 homes in the Waite Park neighborhood.

Through the City’s Just Deeds Project, Minneapolis homeowners can acknowledge and disclaim the racial covenants recorded against their properties by recording a discharge form against their property title. The City Attorney’s Office staff will assist homeowners in completing this process free of charge. Hennepin County has also waived its typical fees associated with this process. Participation in the City’s program will be first-come, first-serve, subject to staffing availability. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Learn more about the Just Deeds Project by visiting the City’s website or by emailing JustDeedsProject@minneapolismn.gov. —via the City of Minneapolis