Star Tribune
Interstate 94 design alternatives, released by MnDOT, get mixed reviews
The Minnesota Department of Transportation released a slate of 10 alternatives Monday for repairing the heavily used stretch of Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, with hopes they might also help improve the freeway’s historically antagonistic relationship with the communities that live beside it.
The options revealed by MnDOT’s Rethinking I-94 Policy Advisory Committee range from simply repairing what already exists to expanding the corridor to 10 lanes with broader shoulders for buses. They follow years of technical research and public engagement sessions in which Twin Cities residents were encouraged to dream big about how transforming I-94 could reconnect city neighborhoods.
“The alternatives feature a variety of roadway types, transit service and lane configurations,” said MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. “We listened to input from communities along I-94, community leaders participating in rethinking, advocacy groups and our partner agencies as these alternatives were developed but will continue to do so as this process moves forward.”
The advisory committee includes city, county and state representatives, who said they would take some time to consider the options. But several were immediately disappointed to see alternatives included that would result in a bigger freeway.
“Why is expansion even on the table, if the goals and the project’s master vision is to have equity, climate resiliency, et cetera?” asked St. Paul City Council Member Mitra Jalali. She noted that St. Paul opposes expanding the freeway and supports a dedicated lane for mass transit.
“Freeway expansion is actually categorically in opposition to those things,” Jalali said.
Rethinking I-94 project manager Melissa Barnes said that MnDOT wanted to consider the full universe of alternatives, but that some ideas would be eliminated later in the process. None of the alternatives yet have cost estimates. The agency hopes to name a preferred alternative sometime before 2025.
One of the eliminated alternatives, which had gained traction during the public engagement process, was the Twin Cities Boulevard proposal by Our Streets Minneapolis to convert the stretch of I-94 between the two downtowns into a boulevard. That proposal didn’t pass “purpose and need,” Barnes said.
Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley asked that MnDOT consult an expert who has experience with highway-to-boulevard conversions before throwing out the idea, which she said has significant support among her constituents.
“If you want me to tell you what I think is the best idea, that’s an at-grade roadway that is more of a boulevard conversion that incorporates transit and walkability,” Conley said. “We are hearing from residents that they are interested in a slowdown, and not an expansion, of this freeway. So, I just can’t stress that enough.”
MnDOT also eliminated light rail along the freeway after determining there wouldn’t be enough ridership to justify the cost, said consultant Robert McHaney. Instead, some of the alternatives propose dedicated bus rapid transit lanes with stops to be determined. Others suggest reducing the number of lanes to two in each direction.
One grassroots proposal for I-94, ReConnect Rondo, is a 15-year effort led by residents of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood to build a land bridge over the highway between Grotto and Chatsworth streets that would double as an African American cultural enterprise district.
The land bridge wasn’t included among the alternatives, but MnDOT consultant Jessica Karls nodded to the agency’s “respect” for the neighborhood campaign, and promised “continued collaboration” with Rondo residents as Rethinking I-94 progresses.
MnDOT will publish the alternatives Wednesday on its Rethinking I-94 website and open an online survey to collect public feedback sometime this week. Representatives will meet with neighborhood groups and complete additional technical work before publishing draft documents for formal public comment next spring.
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
Part III
How Rhode Island’s charter schools succeeded where Minnesota’s failed
Each spring, Blackstone Valley Prep in Rhode Island hosts a loud, spirited and celebratory “college signing day” ceremony for its high school seniors. One by one, the teenagers step onstage to proudly announce their post-graduation plans. Many are the first in their family to seek a degree.
Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country, but it’s here — and not in Minnesota, the birthplace of the charter school movement — that this daring experiment in public school education is paying big dividends for students and their families.
Left In the 27 years since Rhode Island’s first charter school opened its doors, just one has closed. Segue Institute for Learning, a community charter in Central Falls, R.I., is among the state’s successes. It has an extraordinarily low student-to-teacher ratio of 4 to 1, even though it spends less than a typical Rhode Island school.
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