Stop The North Minneapolis Greenway
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Crime Issues

- Having long sections of land that are inaccessible to regular police supervision is a recipe for disaster in this area. Parking in the back alleys will result in more auto break ins, as well.

- Many of us keep our back gates locked, for obvious reasons. When we are denied parking access to the fronts of our homes - and our back doors become the main entry ways - this will mean either having to go out and unlock the gate anytime someone is coming over, or leaving it unlocked. One is inconvenient - especially in inclement weather! - and the other is less than safe.

- We already have an issue with deliveries in the area being stolen. The greenway project will result in deliveries being made to the back alley, where they’re even LESS safe.

- Due to the layouts of most back yards / garages / alleys / etc, it is much more difficult to keep an eye out for trouble. We lose the benefit of neighbours looking out for neighbours, for the most part.

- On a personal note, we already have a ton of problems with people coming right up in our yard to steal flowers, plants (pulling right out of the ground)... I can't imagine that a greenway will ease that sense of entitlement at all, what with our front yard essentially becoming a public park.

At the 3/8/16 Greenway Council Meeting, we learned that the council had NO idea about the crime and safety issues in north:

At several points during the meeting, it was pretty clear that resident safety was far down the list of the council’s priorities, and was being addressed mainly as an afterthought / to placate. A few points:

– There is NO plan for permanent extra lighting in the alleys, just for the demo. “We don’t have a budget for lighting” and “we don’t have funding secured for that” are direct quotes, when specifically asked about lighting.

– They talked about stationing police officers at the corner of Lowry and the proposed Greenway to prevent people from turning onto it – for the safety of the cyclists.

– They talked about increasing the number of police officers in the area, including WALKING officers.

For one, we already have a shortage of police in the area. People report 45+ minute response times to serious crimes. During the summer, we all have to play “gunshots or fireworks”. The city basically ignores all of it.

… yet somehow, this ad hoc, non-entity without a business plan is going to get more police in the area? And ON FOOT, at that? Right.

– One “plan” was to state “Housing inspectors might take extra care to ticket things like overgrown weeds in the alleys along the Greenway”. Of course, there was no discussion about arranging or paying for this, or why they figure the city would or should provide such a service, when they are so very lax in it now.

There are currently entire blocks in north that are described as “Looking like a landfill”, and residents all over north have a problem with how inspections are handled/followed up on now. Why should anyone think that this will change for a Greenway? And why should it change BECAUSE of a Greenway?

We’ve all been fighting this for years, why should a very specific area get extra attention, because some hipsters from south Minneapolis claim to want to bike on our residential streets?

– One “plan” mentioned to ensure safety was to encourage residents to “get to know your neighbours” ... because that will stop shootings and rapes. (Anyone who lives in north knows this to NOT be the case)

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