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Community Calendar

From council meetings to events in our neighborhood and Minneapolis, you’re always welcome to join in. 

 
Winter Party
Jan
25

Winter Party

Come out and meet your Uptown neighbors at the Lake of the Isles Skating Rink!


From 1-3 pm, we will be skating, enjoying hot chocolate, and warming ourselves with good conversation and fire pits.

More details to come!

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City Budget Workshop
Sep
28

City Budget Workshop

Ward 7 Budget Workshop 

Workshop for Ward 7 stakeholders on Thursday, September 26th at the Woman’s Club (410 Oak Grove St) in Loring Park hosted by Katie Cashman, Ward 7 Council Member. With participation by the City’s Budget Director and the Chairs of our City Council’s Budget Committee, Council Vice President Chughtai and Council Member Koski, we’ll learn the basics of how the City’s budget works and collaborate in teams to identify Ward priorities and trade-offs. This will be a great opportunity to actively participate in the City’s 2025 budgeting process. Registration is open and encouraged.

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Coffee with Katie Cashman
Aug
21

Coffee with Katie Cashman

Uptown Safety focus at August “Coffee with Katie” 

Message by Katie Cashman:

Join Katie Cashman for this month’s “Coffee with Katie” community roundtable discussion at Walker Library (2880 Hennepin Ave) in East Isles on Wednesday, August 21st, 6-7:30pm. We know that residents, businesses, and owners in the Uptown area have been struggling through a trend of robberies, assaults, open drug use, and property crimes of all kinds this year. Many residents, workers, and visitors do not feel safe, and it further discourages investment in our commercial corridor. 

Hennepin Avenue needs and deserves new resources and a new approach to change the trajectory. We all know how short-staffed our police department is, and it's critical that we deploy some complementary strategies to help reverse these trends. Establishing Safety Ambassadors in Uptown is a pilot strategy that was already funded by the City Council in the 2024 budget can be done using the same model that has proven successful in Downtown Minneapolis.

Contracted by the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District (DID), Block by Block is a well-established and professional vendor that employs workers with union representation. The DID funds 55 ambassadors each year who clean the public spaces, connect community members experiencing homelessness or mental illness to services and resources, provide an extra layer of security for commercial and retail businesses, and provide hospitality, guidance and more “eyes on the street.” Their presence helps pedestrians, families, shoppers, workers, business owners and residents feel safer as they move through Downtown.

The 2024 Budget approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor included $3m for 10 community safety ambassador pilots throughout the city, including $300,000 for Uptown. Since I started my term in January, I have been pushing our Office of Community Safety (Commissioner Barnette’s team) to implement the Uptown pilot program. $300,000 for Uptown Safety Ambassadors could cover over 5,000 hours of ambassador time, based on data provided by the DID. 

Safety Ambassadors, hired and trained by Block by Block or a similar vendor, stationed along Hennepin Avenue would support 5th Precinct police by diverting some “lower priority” calls away from 911, allowing police to respond more quickly to violent crime. This is a proven tool we can leverage now to help restore community faith in our public safety system and quell the sense of “lawlessness” that has impacted our city since the pandemic. I ask you all to support me in urging the Mayor and Commissioner Barnette to implement this pilot program in Uptown immediately.

At this month’s “Coffee with Katie” I’ll be joined by two guests: Shane Zahn, the DID Safety Program lead, to share firsthand about the effectiveness of the downtown ambassadors; and Lesley Kandaras, the General Manager of Metro Transit, to overview safety efforts at the Uptown Transit Station and transit stops along Hennepin Avenue. This is an opportunity for all of us to learn, ask questions, and constructively discuss ideas for securing more community safety resources for Uptown.

When: Wednesday, August 21st | 6-7:30pm

Where: The Walker Library (2880 Hennepin Ave), Bde Maka Ska Room

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Lake Clean Up
Jul
27

Lake Clean Up

The East Bde Maka Ska Neighborhood Association is hosting a Lake Cleanup on Saturday, July 27, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. rain or shine! We welcome all lake enthusiasts to participate! Please meet us on the bike/walk trail near the Sailing Club lawn across from the stairs on W. 31st Street to help clean up trash in and around the Lake. We'll have treats and cleanup gear like gloves, buckets, bags, rakes, and trash pickers. You may want to wear tall boots to reach trash at the edge of the Lake. Please be cautious as we sometimes find sharp objects.

Thanks to Wheels Fun Rentals, kayaks will be available free of charge for the clean up!! Boats will be available from 8:30-10:00 am. Adults 18+ must leave an ID and sign a waiver at the rental desk. Kids under 15 must be accompanied by a parent (maximum of 2 kids), but can go out in separate kayaks. Kids ages 5-9 must ride in a double kayak with a parent. Boaters will take bags, trash grabbers, and gloves to clean floating trash away from the shore.

Our cleanups are Park Steward events, and the Park Board asks that all Park volunteers sign a waiver each year. You can find the 2024 waiver here: 

Forms for Adults: https://form.jotform.com/210516046139146

Form for Minors: https://form.jotform.com/211065085233144

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