As predicted in last month’s issue of the Hill & Lake Press, the question of whether portions of the westbound roadway of The Mall Park in East Isles would be removed or replaced was not dead, only sleeping.
In March, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board voted 5-4 not to require the Met Council to replace the westernmost two blocks of the roadway following subsurface sewer work this summer.
Removing the roadway would have been consistent with the board’s 2020 Southwest Service Area Master Plan, but acting on that plan sparked significant opposition from local community members, approximately 780 of whom signed a petition in opposition to the change, largely citing parking and emergency vehicle access concerns.
On April 16, the Park Board reversed course, voting 6-3 to require the Met Council to restore the roadway to its current condition after the sewer work is concluded. The new vote was prompted by a change of heart on the part of District 1 commissioner Billy Menz, who had voted with the 5-4 majority to remove the roadway in March.
In explaining his change of position, Menz said he had intended to vote to require roadway replacement in March, but at the last minute had been swayed to change his vote by Chris Meyer, his predecessor in the District 1 seat, and others.
Menz began his comments at the April 16 meeting by apologizing to his colleagues but explaining that his prior vote didn’t feel right in his gut, and he regretted it al- most immediately, which he said was a first in his Park Board role.
After some soul-searching, he got to work, touring the site with local District 4 Commissioner Elizabeth Shaffer and others, which he said led to a better understanding of the complexities of the site and the needs of local residents.
Accordingly, Menz drafted a resolution to override the board’s vote on March 5. Menz said he was sensitive to the concerns of other Park Board and community members regarding using resources (i.e., funds from the Met Council) efficiently, but he said he also thought it was important to follow a “first do no harm” principle, and expressed concern that the board’s earlier decision could cause significant harm, even if unintended. In his comments, Menz expressed concerns about awkwardly disrupt ed traffic patterns, local resident concerns, and – above all – concerns about emergency vehicle access for the adjoining apartment buildings, a concern echoed by the Minneapolis Fire Marshal.
The fire-safety concerns cited by Menz were echoed in comments by At-Large Commissioner Charles Rucker, who serves as a career Minneapolis fire fighter in his day job. Rucker said, based on 20 years of driving fire rigs, that quick and ready access to buildings is essential, particularly given that the apartments lining The Mall’s south side are pre-war buildings with “balloon construction,” having no interior fire stops, a building style that allows fires to spread quickly. Rucker noted that the recent narrowing of Minneapolis roadways and the partial closures of several parkways during COVID all impaired fire department response times, and that minutes matter in emergency situations.
Park Commissioners Tom Olsen and Becky Alper spoke passionately in opposition to Menz’s resolution. Both noted that roadway removal was part of the 2020 Master Plan, and that the plan had not yet been altered. That, they argued, meant the money from the Met Council would be squandered if not applied in furtherance of the plan. They also expressed a view that the safety concerns expressed by other commissioners were really a stalking horse for resident parking concerns.
Alper suggested that removing parking on The Mall altogether would better address fire access and safety concerns, while Olsen proposed a satirical resolution to widen all roads within the Park Board’s jurisdiction to 20 feet for fire access, regardless of parking issues, tree loss or other green space impacts.
At Olsen’s urging the resolution failed unanimously, but he said the argument was ideologically consistent with the views expressed by commissioners who said they planned to vote in favor of the Menz resolution. Alper characterized such votes as “hypocrisy.”
Prior to calling a vote, Board President Cathy Abene said the main issue in her mind was infeasibility. Not only had the fire marshal expressed concerns, but Abene described the scheme in the master plan as merely a “concept plan,” and noted there had not been due diligence performed regarding the issues of safety, community impact, or the legal issues related to vacating a roadway. Abene said these missing elements needed to be shown to work before taking affirmative steps to implement the plan.
Voting in favor of Menz’s resolution to restore the roadway: Commissioners Abene, Menz, Musich (another flipped vote from March), Rucker, Shaffer and Thompson. Voting against: Commissioners Alper, Forney and Olsen.
So, for now, it appears the roadway will be restored after the Met Council sewer work concludes, and the resolution directs the superintendent to “re-engage the neighborhood and reframe those aspects of The Mall Park determined to be infeasible at or before such a time when the park is due to receive funding under the 20-Year Neighborhood Parks Program.”
