We began 2020 planning the 10th Open Streets Minneapolis season and gearing up to launch a new advocacy campaign featuring many in-person community meetings. 

In early March when COVID-19 descended on our city, we shifted to remote offices and worked with our local partners to identify how we could adjust our programs and advocacy work.

In May when Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, we recommitted to uprooting white supremacy in our work, supporting our staff, and advocating for better streets without relying on policing. 

As our city fights a pandemic, confronts a long history of racism, and combats the climate crisis, we continue to build the equitable, sustainable transportation system our communities need now and in the future.

In March 2019, we wrote a blog post laying out our priorities for the draft Transportation Action Plan (TAP). This plan will guide transportation policy in the city for the next ten years. Earlier this month, Minneapolis City Council voted to adopt the final version of the plan. You can find the final version of the Transportation Action Plan online now. 

Let’s take a look at the final version of TAP, and see how well our priorities are represented in it.

Our Streets Minneapolis has been advocating to re-shape Lyndale Avenue S as part of our new initiative, County Streets for People. We are asking Hennepin County--the entity responsible for this street--do the bare minimum: a 4-3 conversion to improve safety on the corridor. However, Lyndale Ave S is just one example of a much larger systemic issue around how Hennepin County approaches street design.