City of Minneapolis: Fact Sheet
Minneapolis is a clean, green, active and educated city. It’s also diverse, and home to a vibrant arts and culture scene, and a thriving business sector. Minneapolis City government continues to innovate and find ways to ensure that it is a city that works.
INNOVATIVE GOVERNMENT
City of Minneapolis leaders take pride in being innovative in tackling issues and improving the livability of the city. From creating a citywide wireless network to fighting foreclosures, Minneapolis is always pursuing ways to build a better place for residents, businesses and visitors. Here are a few highlights:
- City officials have taken a strategic, long-term approach to addressing City finances. After the State cut Minneapolis local aid in 2003, the City took major steps to streamline its services, find efficiencies and address financial challenges. Although Minneapolis receives $36 million less in local aid from the State of Minnesota than it did five years ago, the City is on much stronger financial footing to deal with the current economic downturn.
- Minneapolis established an integrated management strategy that aligns the City’s planning, resource allocation (budget, people, technology), performance evaluation and process improvement efforts. Results Management helps the City advance its goals and make the most of resources.
- As part of its management for results, City officials established Results Minneapolis, a management tool to track performance toward achieving the City’s goals. A review panel of City leaders meets with a different department head each week to track progress and discuss strategies on key performance measures. These "progress conferences" highlight areas where the City is excelling, as well as opportunities for improvement.
- Minneapolis became the first city in the region to implement a non-emergency phone system, called 311. A single number for residents to call means it's easier for residents to access City services, and City government is more streamlined and efficient. 311 also takes service requests online and receives about 2,000 calls a day.
- Minneapolis' new, state-of-the-art computer-aided dispatch system is a powerful tool to help police, fire and medical personnel respond to emergencies. It features an automatic vehicle location system that lets dispatchers see mapped locations of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances throughout the city, even when they're on the move. It also gives cops and firefighters better information in the field, giving police access to federal and state databases and allowing firefighters to see building plans and aerial photographs on the way to an incident.
- Minneapolis has taken major steps to combat foreclosure, joining with the Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council to create and promote a healthy housing market. Minneapolis also established an acquisition fund and secured $11 million in state and philanthropic funds to buy and rehab vacant and foreclosed homes.
- Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City Council established 24 sustainability indicators ranging from air and water quality to affordable housing. Every department includes strategies to meet goals on the indicators in their business plans, which ensures that the City is making progress become more sustainable.
- Minneapolis is among the first cities in the nation to create a citywide wireless network. The network will cover all outdoor areas of Minneapolis and will revolutionize the way the City delivers services. Among the public safety benefits, the network will allow police, firefighters and other responders to get key information at the scene of an incident.
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Minneapolis: at a glance Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the heart of cultural and economic activity for the Upper Midwest. The Minneapolis Saint Paul metropolitan area is the 14th largest in the country.
December 2008 |
SUSTAINABILITY
The City of Minneapolis is a leader in creating policies and practices that protect and enhance the environment, and save taxpayer dollars.
Minneapolis is nationally recognized for its sustainability efforts, ranking as the seventh most sustainable city by SustainLane.com in 2008 and the 11th most sustainable city by Popular Science magazine. Highlights include:
- Minneapolis is greening its fleet of vehicles – shrinking the overall fleet by more than 150, adding 238 flex-fuel vehicles and 50 hybrids, and opening an E-85 fueling station with Hennepin County.
- Minneapolis was among the first large cities in the nation to pass an anti-idling ordinance to cut down on vehicle emissions.
- Minneapolis is about to construct a 600 kilowatt solar array (the largest urban array in the Upper Midwest) on the roof of the Minneapolis Convention Center. It will be the fourth solar array installed at City facilities.
- Minneapolis City Hall is home to a green roof, and other City facilities have been built to be water- and energy-efficient.
- Minneapolis adopted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver standards, setting high sustainability goals for constructing any new City facilities.
- U.S. Census data ranks Minneapolis second in the nation in the percentage of people who bike to work. About 3.8% of residents bike to work, and another 6.4% walk.
- More than 80% of Minneapolis households recycle, keeping more than 23,000 tons of cans, glass, newspaper and other materials out of the garbage burner each year.
ACTIVE & OUTDOORS
Minneapolitans are among the most active in the country. With 22 lakes and more than 170 parks, no one lives more than 6 blocks from a park.
Minneapolis ranks among the top in listings of the nation’s most fit and active cities. In 2006 Men’s Fitness magazine named Minneapolis the nation’s "most athletic city," for its year-round sports activities and the number of residents participating in athletic activities. Highlights:
- 49 rec centers, 296 sports fields, 181 tennis courts, 2 water parks, 62 wading pools, 6 skate parks, 7 golf courses, 30 ice rinks, 12 public gardens, 7 fishing piers and 5 boat launches;
- 43 miles of biking and walking paths;
- A 50-mile scenic byway with pedestrian and bike trails along Minneapolis’ parkways, the Mississippi River and the city’s lakes.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Minneapolis is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle and has one of the most robust business climates in the country. It draws its strength from a diverse economic base built on finance, professional and technical services, health care, education, manufacturing and rail and trucking services.
Frequently recognized as a great place for business, Minneapolis Saint Paul was named the top metro area in the country for business by MarketWatch two years in a row (2007 & 2008).
There are many reasons Minneapolis’ economy remains strong, even during tough economic times:
- 32 Fortune 1000 companies in the metro area (more than any other U.S. city). 8 located in Minneapolis: Target, U.S. Bancorp, General Mills, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, Thrivent Financial, PepsiAmericas and Valspar.
- 160,000 jobs in downtown Minneapolis, and it continues to draw new companies thanks to its amenities and excellent access to public transit.
- Minneapolis is a leading center for research and health care delivery, with 19 health and medical institutions and 61 labs. Combined they employ nearly 15,000 physicians, other health care professionals and staff and help more than a million patients annually.
- A green business sector is growing in Minneapolis, including businesses that focus on green building design and construction, alternative energy production and conservation systems, cleaning products, and the bicycle industry.
- Downtown Minneapolis is home to a half-dozen new hotels that cater to business and leisure travelers. Several new luxury hotels include the Chambers Hotel, the W Hotel in the historic Foshay Tower, the Westin in the former Farmers & Mechanics Bank building, and Starwood’s Ivy Hotel at the Ivy Tower.
ARTS & CULTURE
In Minneapolis residents and visitors are surrounded by thriving arts and culture, from theater and performing arts to world class museums and cutting-edge architecture. GQ magazine recently named Minneapolis one of the "World’s Seven Best Art Cities."
Arts and culture highlights include:
- More than 100 theater venues in Minneapolis Saint Paul, second only to New York City for the number of theater seats and tickets sold per capita.
- Nearly 60 museums in Minneapolis Saint Paul is second only to Chicago and Washington, D.C.
- The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, one of the largest urban sculpture gardens in the country, featuring more than 40 permanent art installations.
Several new top-design landmarks, including the new Jean Nouvel-designed Guthrie Theater along the Mississippi, an addition by Herzog & de Meuron to the Walker Art Center and a Minneapolis Institute of Arts expansion designed by Michael Graves. Cesar Pellis eye-catching Minneapolis Central Library takes up a full city block in downtown Minneapolis.
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City government: at a glance Mayor: R.T. Rybak 13 City Council Members Elected to 4 year terms (next municipal election: 2009) Approximately 4,000 employees
2009 Budget
Of the $374 million General Fund budget:
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PUBLIC SAFETY
Keeping Minneapolis streets and neighborhoods safe is a top. With nearly 900 police officers and more than 400 firefighters, public safety represents the City’s single largest funding priority, with an overall budget of more than $200 million annually.
More officers, smarter policing and better technology have led to significant decreases in violent crime in Minneapolis since 2006.
Minneapolis public safety highlights:
- Violent crime in Minneapolis dropped nearly 25% between 2006 and 2008, due in part to aggressive action aimed at reducing the number of crimes committed by juveniles.
- Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City Council created a youth violence prevention task force that resulted in a "Blueprint for Action." The plan works to combat youth violence through a combination of prevention and tough enforcement. Between 2006 and 2008, juvenile crime decreased 30% in Minneapolis.
- Minneapolis maintains the highest levels of funding for public safety, despite serious financial pressures. Its police force is the largest since 2002, when state local government aid cuts significantly affected the City’s budget.
- Minneapolis aggressively pursues new technologies to help keep the city safe:
- More than 130 public safety cameras in key areas of the city;
- ShotSpotter system instantly alerts dispatchers when gunfire is detected and pinpoints where the shot was fired;
- State-of-the-art computer-aided dispatch system helps police, fire and medical personnel respond to emergencies;
- Minneapolis became the first city in the country to integrate its ShotSpotter system with public safety cameras using the City’s new wireless network.
- Minneapolis firefighters make 25,000 emergency medical runs a year, frequently being the first on the scene for medical emergencies. Every firefighter is a trained emergency medical technician.
- Minneapolis’ 19 fire stations positioned around the city help firefighters achieve their goal of having the first fire unit at an incident scene in 5 minutes 90% of the time. Current response is 3 minutes 52 seconds.
- Each police precinct has a Community Crime Prevention/SAFE specialist who works with residents to involve them in keeping their neighborhoods safe and improve cooperation with police.
- Each Minneapolis neighborhood has a local policing plan developed by police and neighborhood residents to reflect community priorities and how police are addressing them.
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Minneapolis has active and effective block clubs. In 2008, Minneapolis ranked No. 1 in the nation for National Night Out participation, with more than 62,000 residents attending 1,100 block gatherings.
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Minneapolis Police: at a glance
Minneapolis Fire: at a glance
Average response time is 3 minutes 52 seconds |
Last updated Feb. 7, 2012