Star Tribune
With brash police chief gone, Metro Transit’s safety efforts push on
“Now it’s [a] team approach, a whole community approach, to public safety,” Dotseth said.
That includes the addition of Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) agents aboard the Green and Blue light-rail lines checking fares and educating passengers on how to behave. Currently, there are 40 TRIP agents, but Metro Transit’s proposed 2025 budget calls for up to 100 agents by the end of next year.
Beginning in October, TRIP agents will work on the transit system from 5 a.m. to midnight every day. Officials say that TRIP agents have made more than a quarter-million contacts with riders since the program debuted in February.
Metro Transit will continue to employ private security guards at problem transit stations including Franklin Avenue, Lake Street/Midtown and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Blue Line light-rail stations, Central Station on the Green Line, the Orange Line’s Interstate 35W and Lake Street station, and the Brooklyn Center, Uptown and Chicago-Lake transit centers.
The agency also contracts with five community organizations to help transit passengers experiencing homelessness, hunger, mental health challenges and drug and alcohol addiction. Since its launch, the organizations have made contact with about 6,700 individuals, resulting in some 3,800 referrals for various services, according to Metro Transit.
There’s evidence the safety plan is starting to bear fruit.
Nine votes were needed to override Frey’s veto, but the vote was 7-6 in favor — not enough to overturn the resolution, which expressed solidarity with “nonviolent campus activism opposing war and supporting Palestinian human rights.”
The university has disputed that the protest at Morrill Hall was nonviolent, saying protesters spray-painted security cameras, broke interior windows and barricaded exits, trapping staffers for “an extended period of time.” University police and Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies arrested 11 protesters.
The university said the protesters caused over $67,000 in damage to doorways, walls and flooring; violated multiple university polices; and caused emotional harm to employees as they piled up furniture and copy machines to prevent workers from leaving.
The vote to override was supported by Council Members Robin Wonsley, Jason Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury, Jeremiah Ellison and Jamal Osman, as well as Council President Elliott Payne and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai.
Those voting to sustain the veto were Council Members Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Katie Cashman, Emily Koski, Andrea Jenkins and Linea Palmisano.
That’s the same breakdown as the original 7-5 vote to approve the resolution, except that Jenkins was absent.
Bartho said she was heartbroken that such an act came to Northfield, but “we’re trying to make the most of it.”
The tree was donated by Paisley Gardens, a boutique garden center in Northfield. Decorated in purple garlands and big round ornaments, the tree will also be surrounded by lit-up trees and a thousand luminaries.
The Winter Walk, now in its 26th year, includes live music, fireworks, carolers, firepits and plenty of shopping.
If anything will put a damper on the evening, it’ll be temperatures in the single digits Thursday night, Bartho said. Not the actions of a Grinch with the heart of a dead tomato splotched.
“It’s not going to keep people away,” Bartho said. “People are coming down anyway.”
The Hennepin County Board approved a 5.5% increase to its property tax levy Thursday to fund a $3 billion budget for 2025.
Property taxes fund about $1 billion of the county’s $2.5 billion operating budget and $463 million capital improvement plan. About 60% of the county operating budget comes from state and federal dollars dedicated to various social programs.
Hennepin County is Minnesota’s second largest government, after the state government. Overall, county spending will grow by $87 million, or 3.6%, next year.
About $55 million comes from the property tax increase and the rest from savings. County leaders noted that federal pandemic aid is spent and tapping savings will make up short-term gaps without impacting long-term finances.
Much of the new spending will go toward rising salaries and benefits for the county’s 10,000 employees. The size of the workforce is not expected to change, and county officials are finalizing new contracts with the 17 unions that represent about ⅔ of workers.
More than 4,000 workers represented by six different AFSCME units approved new three-year contracts Wednesday that include 4% raises each year. That is on top of the regular increases some workers receive for their experience.
The new budget also includes $10 million toward covering the cost of uncompensated care at HCMC, the safety-net hospital overseen by commissioners and the Hennepin Healthcare System board.
