LETTER FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS

Letter from Mayor Frey, Council President Bender and Transportation and Public Works Committee Chair Reich

November 18, 2020

Minneapolis is a city on the move: we adapt, we evolve, we grow and we improve. 2020 has shown that even when faced with unprecedented challenges, we can and will pull together to do the hard work of building and operating a city that works for everyone.

Our work in transportation is a foundation for how people in our city function and prosper. People rely on our public infrastructure to access jobs and education, complete everyday tasks, and meet family and socialize, if even from a distance. Our streets have given room for expanded outdoor functionality during COVID and been a place of protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death. 2020 has clearly articulated streets as our collective gathering space.

With the Minneapolis Transportation Action Plan we look with intention at the next 10 years of how we will leverage changes on streets to better serve the people and businesses of Minneapolis, while making advancements toward our plan goals – climate, safety, equity, prosperity, mobility, and active partnerships. With this plan we set an important mode shift goal where 3 of every 5 trips will be taken by walking, biking or transit by 2030. We will drastically reduce the transportation sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with citywide climate policies and improving the health and vitality of our community. And importantly, we continue to look for new ways to support our streets as the social fabric that welcomes and unites us – providing safe and inviting public spaces for people to come together and experience our city.

Different from recent transportation plans in Minneapolis, we are bringing together all the ways people move throughout our city into one plan, specifically calling out a City-led transit vision, addressing freight needs, leveraging opportunities to use technology to more efficiently reach our transportation goals, and giving direction to how all street needs are met within the same street space. With this plan we lay forward a path to make walking, biking or taking transit the easy decision. Through this plan, we look to address historic inequities in the transportation system and create a future where streets knit communities back together, rather than divide them. We are creating streets that better protect users from impacts of traffic crashes, better handle stormwater and create more attractive surroundings, and help to ensure people’s time spent traveling or their safety and comfort while traveling is not pre-determined by income or race.

Based on the feedback we’ve received while developing this plan, we are confident in saying we join you in pursuit of building a more just and climate-forward transportation system for the people of Minneapolis.

Mayor Jacob Frey

Council President Bender

Transportation and Public Works Committee Chair Reich