Author: Carly Ellefsen

We have been hosting Open Streets Minneapolis since 2011. This year, the City of Minneapolis Public Works Department ended our contract without advance discussion.

Earlier this year, we partnered with the Best Buy Teen Tech Center in North Minneapolis, a technology-driven safe space for youth ages 13-18 to take classes, internships, workshops, and more.

Open Streets Minneapolis, the highly-anticipated event series that closes city streets to motor vehicle traffic, will be in the North Minneapolis neighborhood this Saturday, September 16, 2023.

Last week, without notice, dialogue, or the opportunity to renew our contract, we were surprised to find out that Minneapolis Public Works was ending its partnership with our organization to host the Open Streets Minneapolis event series. 

The City of Minneapolis Public Works Department plans to end our partnership in hosting Open Streets Minneapolis, a hallmark of summer for many Minneapolis residents that Our Streets Minneapolis started in 2011. There was no advance discussion of ending the partnership or the future of the event series.

Open Streets Minneapolis, the highly-anticipated event series that closes city streets to motor vehicle traffic, will be on the West Bank this Sunday, August 20, 2023. Cedar Avenue from Washington Avenue to 6th Street South, as well as part of Riverside Avenue, will be closed to car traffic from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for Minneapolis residents to enjoy neighborhood businesses and safe biking, walking and rolling.

Our Streets Minneapolis is funding independent studies of a boulevard conversion on I-94 as part of the Twin Cities Boulevard campaign, a vision to replace the 7.5-mile stretch of highway between downtown Minneapolis and downtown Saint Paul with a multi-modal boulevard.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) released the Rethinking I-94 project options to the public today in the Policy Advisory Committee meeting. We have been advocating for a boulevard conversion option, or Twin Cities Boulevard, to address the injustice of the history of the highway and improve the living conditions of the Minnesotans who live along the project corridor. 

Despite broad community support and a clearly identified need, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) did not apply for a Bloomberg Philanthropies asphalt art grant for the Olson Memorial Highway & Van White Boulevard intersection. Although the City of Minneapolis expressed support for asphalt art on Olson, because MnDOT owns the right-of-way, MnDOT needed to approve the project.