The Mayor Blog

     Mayor Rybak and the City Council Friday awarded $6.5 million to rehab homes in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosure. This is part of $14 million that the City received from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the State of Minnesota to support the City’s strategy to reinvest in these neighborhoods.

     An abandoned home or a foreclosed home requires repair in order to be re-occupied. This funding will be used to help local, non-profit developers cover the cost difference between the development cost (purchase price and the cost of rehab) and the sale price of reclaimed foreclosed homes. The properties will then be sold or rented to income-qualified tenants, bringing people back on the blocks in communities hardest hit by foreclosure.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Minneapolis employees from Emergency Preparedness, Animal Control, and the Fire Department are providing their expertise and assistance in Moorhead, which faces spring flooding that is expected to become even more serious in the coming days.

Emergency Preparedness Director Rocco Forte is among the group of Minneapolis staffers who are helping in the Red River Valley as the flooding danger grows. Since Monday, three Emergency Preparedness staff members have been in Moorhead helping coordinate evacuation planning. In addition, a Minneapolis Animal Control agent and truck were deployed to Moorhead Thursday to assist in pet evacuation and rescue efforts. Beginning Saturday, four additional Emergency Preparedness staff, including Director Rocco Forte, will also travel to Moorhead. Forte will work out of the Clay County Emergency Operations Center that has been opened to deal with the flooding.

Minneapolis Emergency Preparedness is part of a metro area Incident Management Team that pools together emergency preparedness and planning experts from around the metro who can be called upon to assist in emergency situations. As part of the Incident Management Team, staff from Minneapolis also assisted during flooding in Iowa in 2008.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

According to city records, the number of foreclosures in Minneapolis fell for the fourth month in a row. November, December 2008, and January, February 2009 have all had fewer total foreclosures than those months had the year before. These numbers are further proof that the foreclosure crisis has hit its peak in Minnesota’s largest city.

While government alone can’t fix the huge market failures that led to so many foreclosures, the City of Minneapolis has been at the forefront fighting this challenge since the first signs of the foreclosure epidemic began more than two years ago. Over this time, Minneapolis’ comprehensive effort to fight the foreclosure crisis has centered on three main strategies: prevention, reinvestment, and repositioning. Preventing a foreclosure from happening is the most effective intervention we can make. It costs far less to prevent a foreclosure than to fix a foreclosed property. Minneapolis has helped hundreds of homes avoid foreclosure by:

• Working with the Home Ownership Center to hold housing fairs with prevention counselors and direct negotiations with lenders.
• Using the City website, 311, and utility bill inserts to connect borrowers to prevention counseling services.
• Providing funding and staff for professional pre- and post-purchase home ownership counseling.

However, even if there was not another single foreclosure in Minneapolis, we would still have a crisis on our hands due to the thousands of foreclosures that have already devastated our neighborhoods. That’s why we need to remain focused on reinvesting and repositioning neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

    I was so excited to deliver my State of the City speech today at Coloplast, a shining example of the kind of long overdue change that’s coming to north Minneapolis. Get this: Coloplast is a Denmark-based global medical device company that recently moved its North American headquarters onto the west shore of the Mississippi River in north Minneapolis! They’ve built a beautiful new $35 million campus (with construction workers from the northside) that will be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified Silver, will include one of the company’s three global Innovation Centers, and will house approximately 500 employees in sales, marketing, research and development. Plus they have an greement with the City to hire lots of north Minneapolis residents.

     Coloplast has operations in 30 different countries, but right here in Minneapolis they are reinventing the Upper River and the surrounding neighborhoods of the northside. This incredible place is now an avenue for local residents to become employed at one of the most successful medical device companies in the world. 

     Anyone who doubts what a global economy can do for Minneapolis should drive by the new Coloplast builing on West River Road just north of Plymouth Avenue. Minneapolis’ business and city leaders have tried for decades to move a major employer into north Minneapolis and it finally happened because of a company from Denmark. Thank you, Coloplast, for showing us that the global economy can be a world of opportunity right in our own back yard!

To learn more about the excitement behind Coloplast coming to north Minneapolis, check out the great article about it in Finance and Commerce.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

With the arrest Wednesday by Minneapolis police of a 15-year-old in connection with the shooting that left two kids wounded, attention has once again shifted to the City’s efforts to prevent youth violence. What a relief to see KARE 11 take on this story by starting with the facts. Police records show that juvenile violent crime is down 26 percent so far this year compared to the same time last year. This is especially positive news given that last year was the second year in a row that juvenile crime decreased in Minneapolis.  As KARE 11 points out, crimes committed in schools are also down 62 percent so far this school year, including everything from assault and disorderly conduct to weapons cases.

This continued drop in juvenile crime follows a year of coordinated efforts to respond to youth violence with tough enforcement, while also working to get at the core issues behind youth violence. In January 2008, Mayor Rybak laid out a blueprint for action to prevent youth violence, with 34 action items to connect every youth with a trusted adult, intervene at the first sign that youth are at risk for violence, restore youth who have gone down the wrong path, and undo the culture of violence in our community. Tangible progress has been made on all 34 action items identified in the plan and work continues to more forward.

Our primary goal is zero youth homicides and we will not rest until that happens. We need everyone in this community to understand that youth violence affects each of us and each of us has a role to play to keep our children and youth safe.  –Mayor R.T. Rybak

The City’s Youth Violence Prevention task force produces regular reports and posts progress on-line for the public to read. The most recent quarterly report was recently posted on-line; it reviews activities and progress in the last quarter of 2008.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Does your organization have a creative idea to help fight global warming? Do you need funding to jump-start your project? As an innovative way to directly engage people to fight climate change, the City of Minneapolis is again offering grants to help people in Minneapolis take steps to reduce global warming. Neighborhood, business and faith-based associations are eligible to apply for the grants, along with other nonprofits, libraries, park and recreational centers, and other public organizations. Two types of grants are available: 

Grassroots Climate Change Micro Grants for grants up to $1,500. Application deadline is 4 p.m. Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Climate Change Innovations Grants for grants up to $10,000. Application deadline is 4 p.m. Monday, April 20, 2009.

The application is short and easy to fill out. Applicants are asked to submit their plans to use the money for a project that results in meaningful, measurable steps to reduce climate change. To learn more about the grants, to get an application, or see project ideas, visit the City’s Sustainability Web site.  

In 2008, the City awarded 25 similar grants that leveraged thousands of dollars in volunteer time and resources resulting in 1,954 new participants taking the Energy Challenge. Together, those people committed to saving 2.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide saving $647,220 annually on their energy use. You too can help fight climate change AND save money in the process. Apply today and we’ll help you.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Kudos to the Downtown Journal for a great story in their most recent edition about the on-line education success story of Capella University, the new namesake of Minneapolis’ tallest building. “At a time when most of Downtown’s biggest companies are shrinking, Capella University is growing,” the article aptly opens.  Although you might not have heard much about it, Capella now has 1,150 administrative employees, quickly becoming one of Downtown’s top 10 largest companies — and it’s growing. With more than 26,000 students worldwide, Capella needed to double the size of its space at 225 South Sixth — now called the Capella Tower. In 2003 Capella entered the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame after being named one of America’s 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the fifth year in a row. Capella University is a great example of why Minneapolis is a national education leader, why education is one of our city’s largest job sectors, and why this is a great place to grow a big idea from scratch and make it succeed.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »