City of Minneapolis

Dear Friend,

After 17 inches of snow fell on us Friday and Saturday making it the largest snow storm to hit Minneapolis since Halloween 2001, and the fifth-largest in our history we have declared a second consecutive Snow Emergency beginning at 9:00 p.m. tonight, Monday, December 13. While crews have been able to make at least one pass through 95 percent of streets and 100 percent of alleys — which added together, total over 1,500 miles — there is still much work that needs to be done to make our streets safe and drivable for emergency crews and the public. This second Snow Emergency will allow crews to thoroughly plow all the City streets and alleys, and get to any areas that may have been missed. (If your street or alley was missed by a snow plow, please call 311.)

Please read farther down this message for Snow Emergency Parking Rules.

I very much want to thank two sets of people who have worked heroically during this challenging time. First, City crews have been on the job on 12-hour shifts around the clock since Friday evening. They have been faced with the worst conditions in nearly two decades and despite it all have made a lot of progress toward getting our streets fully cleared. Second, residents across Minneapolis have been helping their neighbors and total strangers dig out their cars, shovel their sidewalks and clear out corners and sidewalks. Your cooperation during this time has been phenomenal, and we encourage you to keep up the great work.

You have probably heard that if you car was towed during the first Snow Emergency, which ends at 8:00 p.m. tonight, the City of Minneapolis will waive your towing fee. We felt it was only fair to those residents who simply had no way to move their cars during the onslaught of snow. However, please note that we will not waive any towing fees during this second Snow Emergency, which begins at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

Therefore, it is essential that you follow the Snow Emergency parking rules. If you can’t park in an area because it hasn’t been plowed yet, find another place to park where you can comply with the parking rules, even if this means parking a few blocks away from home. When residents and City crews work together, we can clear our streets faster.

Snow Emergency parking rules

• Tonight, Dec. 13, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. (Day 1)
  Do not park on EITHER side of a Snow Emergency route until the street is fully plowed.
• Tuesday, Dec. 14, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Day 2)
  Do not park on the EVEN side of a non-Snow Emergency route, or on EITHER side of a parkway until the street is fully plowed.
• Wednesday, Dec. 15, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Day 3)
  Do not park on the ODD side of a non-Snow Emergency route until the street is fully plowed.

For more information on Snow Emergencies in Minneapolis, visit www.MinneapolisMN.gov/Snow.

Spreading the word about Snow Emergencies

The City of Minneapolis uses a number of ways to help folks learn about and follow the Snow Emergency parking rules. We advise drivers to put several of these tools to use, not just one or two. The more ways you have to learn about a Snow Emergency, the less likely it is that you’ll be towed because you didn’t know one was declared or what you were supposed to do when it was.

• Call the hotline - By calling the automated (612) 348-SNOW hotline, you can find out if a Snow Emergency has been declared. The hotline will include information on parking restrictions that drivers need to follow to avoid tickets and tows. The hotline includes information in Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.
• Check out the City’s website - Go to www.MinneapolisMN.gov/Snow to find out whether a Snow Emergency has been declared and for a wealth of information on Snow Emergencies in many languages. Also, check out the street lookup, which lets you put in an address or a neighborhood to see where you can park during a Snow Emergency.
• Mail - Every fall, Snow Emergency information is mailed to every household in Minneapolis.
• Phone alerts - Minneapolis uses a phone alert system to notify residents when Snow Emergencies are declared. It is an automated notification system that can place thousands of calls per hour. go to Snow Emergency Phone Alerts to sign up.
• E-mail alerts - You can sign up to get Snow Emergency alerts automatically e-mailed to you. Go to E-Mail and Text Message Snow Alerts for more details.
• The media - News releases are sent to the media so TV, radio stations and other news outlets can inform their viewers, listeners and readers that a Snow Emergency is in effect.
• On Cable - Tune in to cable channels 14 and 79. These channels will have information in several languages when a Snow Emergency is declared.
• Facebook – “Like” Minneapolis Snow Emergency on Facebook. Go to www.facebook.com/MinneapolisSnowEmergency.
• Twitter - twitter.com/minneapolissnow. If you have a Twitter account, just follow us. Both the Twitter and Facebook pages will tell fans and followers when a Snow Emergency is declared.

Thank you for your partnership and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Mayor R.T. Rybak
City of Minneapolis

P.S. To learn more about how Im working to address the issues affecting our city, sign up for my e-mail update , check out my website or follow my blog.