This is a response to the recently posted (included below) question about
the adopted litter container policy:
Throughout the Mayor's career she has made basic city services one of her
top priorities. Recently, since 1999, the Mayor has been a tireless advocate
for providing a cleaner city through a variety of approaches including
additional litter containers and additional litter container servicing. In
each of the past two budgets the Mayor has asked the City Council to commit
significant City resources to address the litter problems in Minneapolis. As
recently as the proposed FY 2001 budget the Mayor asked the City Council to
appropriate $600,000 towards "Clean City" initiatives. The Council
significantly reduced this request by only approving $100,000 for FY 2001
Clean City activities.
At the heart of this request was an idea to not only provide additional
litter services, but try to get ahead of the problem by creating an
aggressive Citywide approach. The Mayor asked a City staff working group,
"Clean Minneapolis Task Force" to create strategies for addressing the
litter, graffiti and general cleaning of the City. The work group, with its
limited financial resources, was extremely creative. The Clean City
initiatives are beginning to see results. Clean City initiatives were kicked
off this past April 28th by the Mayor and will continue for the rest of the
summer and into the fall. Clean City icons in parking ramps, at bus shelters
and even on the back of City vehicles can be seen all over Minneapolis. The
next phase will kick off a PR campaign that lets the public know that "when
they litter they're trash." Unfortunately, the federal government no longer
has our friend the tear shedding Native American or the hooting owl to help
compliment the City's efforts. The good news is the City's task force is
partnering with the state of Minnesota - MNDOT and other private firms to
complete the aggressive campaign. Finally, the Mayor's office is also
working with the Minneapolis public schools to create a Clean City awareness
curriculum and teaching campaign. The Mayor is encouraging the Minneapolis
schools to kick off this aspect of the initiative this fall.
The Mayor and members of the City Council have been working on a litter
container policy to complement the highly successful adopt a litter
container program. Some members of the council have resisted these efforts
because they believe they undermine the adopt a litter container program. To
the contrary, the Mayor believes and has stated many times that these basic
City services are complementary. She believes a balanced approach must be
taken as is the case in most large metropolitan cities. Finally, the Mayor
will now focus her efforts in this area by calling on the Downtown Council
and the Warehouse District Association to pursue the formation of Special
Service Districts in the downtown. As in many cities across the nation
including Minneapolis, private businesses have partnered with cities to
improve basic city services. The City has met their end of the bargain by
providing this basic city service, it is now time for the private sector to
do their part.
To your specific questions about the policy that was adopted by the City
Council and signed by the Mayor on Friday, here are the details.
* The City will provide a litter container at each intersection in the
"Downtown Minneapolis Taxing Area." This area includes the downtown, St.
Anthony Main and Riverplace, Seven Corners, Metrodome area, Loring Park,
Lower Hennepin, Warehouse dist. and Nicollet Island.
* The City will provide 143 litter containers at bus stops in the
designated commercial corridors. These corridors include West Broadway, Lake
Street, Franklin, and Central Ave.
* The City will increase litter container servicing form the current
once a week pick-up to 2.5 times per week. (Twice in the winter months and
three times during the summer.)
* The cost of the new services will be a one-time capitol cost of
$169,200 for the additional litter containers. The annual increased
servicing will cost $167,186. The Council approved an FY 2001 Parking Fund
appropriation for capitol and operations expenditures. Additional years will
be addressed in the FY 2002 budget deliberations.
Buck Humphrey
Policy Aide
Office of Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton
612-673-2100
-----Original Message-----
> From: Russell W Peterson
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 4:38 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: [Mpls] Mayor Sayles Belton supports council
litter
> container proposal
>
>
> This press release gives us no information. Which plan
was
> passed and how and where will it be implemented and how
much
> does it cost and where is the money coming from?
>
> It's one thing to support something in an election year,
> it's another to flesh out the details and see what's
really
> happening. And for my money, why did it take almost 8
years
> for the Mayor to do anything about this basic city service
-
> same goes for the environmental disaster of Hiawatha and
the
> adverse impact on people from the ever increasing noise
> level of the airplanes.
>
> Russ Peterson
> former Standishite
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