City of Minneapolis

In This Issue:

It is Time to Unite our City and County Libraries

Legislative report on city’s public safety strategy

Fight Continues to Protect Residents from Airport Noise

Black History Month events celebrate art

Marcy-Holmes named eco-friendly neighborhood

HOURCAR Opens North Loop Location

Books4Kids Book Drive Kicks off

Energy Film Festival Feb. 17th

Green Roofs Conf. April 29th

It is Time to Unite our City and County Libraries

Over the coming weeks you will be hearing more about the future of our city libraries and the possibility of a merger with county libraries. I credit the hard work of the library working groups for their effort on this proposal and heartily applaud the Hennepin County Board for their partnership on our libraries. I believe that the time has come to unite our city and county libraries and create a premier library system that maximizes the best of our Minneapolis and Hennepin County libraries.

I have for many years supported a combined city-county library system because of the significant benefits that could be achieved to ensure that our residents have access to one of the best library systems in the nation. Those benefits include:

1. More stable funding for our libraries. We have seen firsthand the devastation to our libraries resulting from state aid cuts to the City of Minneapolis. Hennepin County is less reliant on volatile state aid and could provide more stable funding for all our libraries.
   
    
2. Greater tax equity. Beyond basic library programs and services, the Central Library in downtown Minneapolis provides unique reference library services to the entire state. Currently, only Minneapolis taxpayers pay for these valuable research and archival functions. The County has a much broader tax base and could more fairly spread the costs of this unique collection over a broader population.
   
    
3. More accountability. Right now, policy/operational decisions for city libraries and financial decisions for city libraries are made by separate governing bodies. A united library system would put financial and operational decisions under the same elected body and increase accountability by lining up funding decisions with operational responsibility.
   
    
4. Increased efficiency. After initial merger costs, a united library system will provide administrative efficiencies of facility administration and coordination of the collections. This means more money for other areas, including hours and programs.

Many questions still need to be answered about how to establish acceptable levels of hours and programs for a successful united library system. More stable funding, more equitable taxation, more accountability and increased efficiency in a united system will make it easier to provide adequate library hours and programs for our community, but details need to be ironed out about how to best accomplish that. Fortunately, Hennepin County has proven to be an exceptional library steward and they share our values for a strong library system to help address these issues.

As I have said many times before, I strongly believe that libraries are critical to our community and provide essential service to our residents. The current situation is not worthy of a great city. The City of Minneapolis provided additional funding to keep more libraries open for longer hours until a long-term solution could be found. A strong, stable, fair, accountable and efficient united city-county library system is that solution and I will continue my work to make this plan a reality. Together, we can create the world-class library system Minneapolis and Hennepin County deserve.

Legislative Report on Our Public Safety Strategy
This week Police Chief Tim Dolan and I called on State Legislators to support our efforts to keep the City of Minneapolis a safe place to call home by restoring local government aid and providing property tax reform. During testimony before a rare joint session of the Minnesota Senate Public Safety Finance Committee and the House Public Safety Budget Committee, Dolan and I discussed the public safety challenges we face and outlined strategies we have underway to reduce crime: funding new police officers, investing in innovative public safety technology, improving crime enforcement and making significant investments in initiatives that prevent crime by attacking its root causes. Visit the Mayor’s Office online for more information about our public safety plan that we presented to the legislature.

Fight Continues to Protect Residents from Airport Noise
The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) this week offered a $239 million subsidy to Northwest Airlines (NWA) when the MAC should be protecting homeowners harmed by airport noise pollution. The MAC’s action, which may be illegal, essentially takes money promised to average citizens and gives it instead to NWA. We want NWA to succeed, but the financial future of NWA should not come at the expense of the well-being and financial future of thousands of homeowners who were promised protection from airport noise pollution. It is ironic that MAC would make this offer only two weeks after Judge Aldrich supported our efforts to force the MAC to follow through on promised noise protection. Visit the Mayor’s Office online for more information about the MAC subsidy and Judge Aldrich’s court order.

Black History Month Events Celebrate Art
February is Black History Month, a time that gives everyone a chance to learn more about the contributions of blacks to American culture, science, society and history. To celebrate Black History Month the City of Minneapolis is co-sponsoring “The Art and Soul of Black History,” a series of events that feature noted lecturers, artists and performances. The events are held every Wednesday in February from 11:30am -12:30pm in City Hall and the Hennepin County Government Center. All events are free and open to the public. The lectures are held in handicap accessible facilities and sign language interpretation is available upon request. For more information and a calendar of events visit the City of Minneapolis online.

Marcy-Holmes Named Most Eco-Friendly Neighborhood
Marcy-Holmes was recently named one of the top 10 eco-friendly neighborhoods in the nation by Natural Homes magazine. Minneapolis’ oldest neighborhood was recognized as a top urban neighborhood that encourages “the healthy, eco-conscious good life.” Marcy-Holmes was chosen because of the number of bike lanes in the neighborhood, grants available for housing rehab and its many community gardens and parks. The neighborhood was also recognized for its eco-friendly programs such as its riverbank cleanups, tree plantings, green roof efforts and rainwater recycling. Marcy-Holmes has maintained its historic and eco-friendly character by preserving and enhancing housing, neighborhood parks, the Mississippi River corridor and its many green spaces and boulevards. Click here to view the complete report on America’s Best Eco-Neighborhoods.