2-PAC’s first hybrid Zoom meeting opened on April 8 at 6:48 with 7 attenders in person and 4 on Zoom. The Monroe Village community room had been 2-PAC’s meeting place for many years before Covid shut down all in person meetings. It’s good to be back.
Nick Juarez is now the U of MN Director of Community Engagement and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) We didn’t catch the announcement of your new position, Nick. Congratulations!
Inspector Torborg and Director Juarez are here to discuss the new coordination agreement between the MPD and the UMPD. Plans will improve safety coordination in East Marcy Holmes, including Dinkytown and adjacent areas. *[see related article at end of this report]
Inspector Torborg opened: The first item is that the UMPD will be the primary responders to 911 calls for the area from 35W to 19th Ave SE in Marcy-Holmes East. That is primarily student housing. The 2nd Pct. gets about 500 calls from that area a year — 2 or 3 a day. Given the MPD staffing issues and transit time to that area, having the UMPD there will help response time. The UMPD is also planning to open a safety center, where all officers can stop, recharge, write up reports and more. That will be a sub-station that both Departments can use. That will be a welcome amenity.
Spring Jam is April 20th. Last year’s Jam was fairly calm and we expect this year’s will be as well.
There are a couple of bigger concerts scheduled as well [Morgan Walen for 2 nights in June, and Metallica for 2 nights in August — EQ ]
Traffic issues: The Stonearch Bridge will be closed for structural work for two years — half at a time. That will slow the foot and bike traffic going back and forth. The 2nd Pct has been working with CM Mike Rainville who contacted trained Violence Interrupters, including Somali Mothers. We’ll try to get some of those this summer also.
QQ: about putting steel plates on the roads to discourage the doughnut drivers.
Inspector: That will wait until after the snow season. Plus, the State Highway Patrol has worked to cut down hot rodding. We’re also working on “street squeezing”, cutting down the road width, which slows traffic down.
Nick Juarez: Since the beginning of the year, UMPD has also had overtime officers every night of the week. We also use double staffing over the weekends. That will continue through the end of the school year. Spring Jam was quiet last year but it was also cold. I’m hoping for cold weather or at least rain to keep the crowds down.
As the Inspector reported, we’ve expanded our zone. We’ve also deployed all of our portable cameras and light trailers through Dinkytown as well as Marcy Holmes East. We’ve been highlighting the Field House in response to some activity in that area. More camera trailers have been put on University and throughout the new expansion zone. The light trailers, orange colored, are there to light up some of the darker areas–mostly on the outskirts of the Dinkytown business area.
We also have a contract with MetroTransit Police to have officers riding the three stops on campus. That contract ends in May but they’re in conversations to extend that through September.
To people who are familiar with past events in the Dinkytown area, we’re making sure we are a visible presence in that area — both MPD and UMPD.
On the Safety Center. That will be a place for officers to meet, rest, write reports and more, but it will also be a spot for the Dept. of Public Safety and the Community Engagement Team to provide resources to the people who live near Dinkytown and in Marcy Holmes East. The majority of those people are students, faculty and staff. We can provide resources, help with filling out reports and 311s, and have an advocate available to work through how the process works after a police report has been filed. They can follow the issue through the courts system. The staff there will also follow through with other U of M services, like Boynton Health, Student Legal Services, and other services. Hopefully that will be open by Fall Quarter.
One more thing we can look forward to is a major construction project for University Ave. and 4th St. SE. That is due to start this spring. University Avenue will be down to two lanes with major congestion. That can work to our advantage as well.
Inspector Torborg: They’ve already started working on East Hennepin, as well. That project will extend from the river to the junction of East Hennepin and Central Ave.
QQ: With the Officers spread so thin, is there a plan to involve CSOs as well?
Inspectors: We’ve used them for certain traffic events, parades and so on. They are unarmed. They do provide a “Uniformed” presence and they have radios, so they can call if there is a problem. They are in various stages of their police training: some are kids right out of high school and others are at the end of their training. We have to be thinking of their safety.
CPS Ali: Speaking of construction, there is also the Lowry Avenue construction from Washington Street to Central Avenue. That is supposed to start in April and continue to October. They’re making it more pedestrian friendly. Phase 1: Lowry Ave., Washington to Johnson Sts. 2024-2025. Phase 2: Lowry Ave., Marshall to Washington Sts. 2026- 27.
Inspector: July 4 fireworks We’ve had a lot of problems on Boom Island in the last few years. This year, Boom Island will be a “Recommended Observation Area”. The planners haven’t announced where the launch site will be.
The Inspector and others are talking about creating an “exclusion zone” to keep people from returning after the event. One more issue: July 4 is on a Thursday this year and Taste of Minnesota is on July 6th (Nicollet Mall). The Twins are also playing here on the 4th as well.
Juarez: Adding to it: Freshman Orientation starts the second week of June. There are always people on campus.
[EQ: other summer events that increase traffic through the 2nd Pct. include Father’s Day on the bluff, Aquatennial, State Fair, and Labor Day. The Twins and Gopher sports bring in a lot of people too.].
*See Star Tribune article: https://tinyurl.com/bdea7ewb
Emilie Quast, Member
MPD Second Precinct Advisory Council (2-PAC)
1911 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis MN 55418
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 