I'm sending along my latest email newsletter because it has a bunch of
news on trees, affordable housing numbers, job strategies at Midtown
Exchange and news on the State of the City:
R.T. Rybak
News from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak
April 22, 2004
IN THIS UPDATE:
1. TREE PLANTING CELEBRATION
2. MIDTOWN EXCHANGE
3. AFFORDABLE HOUSING
4. STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
_____________________________________________________
1. Tree Planting Celebration
I am pleased to announce that the City is on track to more than exceed
its goal of planting 5,000 new trees in 2004 through a public-private
partnership, more than doubling the usual number of trees planted. To
celebrate and kick-off the tree-planting season, my office and the Park
Board are hosting an event this Sunday, April 25th. This will include a
major contribution from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, who
will be on hand to announce their grant to the City. We will be planting
the first 6 disease-resistant historic Elm trees in the City and will be
talking about CITYTREES, the campaign to plant and care for these 5,000
new trees this year. Minneapolis Firefighters and a Fire Truck will be
there to water the new trees and talk about the Fire Department's
commitment to watering trees. Park Board mascot, Elmer, the Elm Tree
will entertain kids.
When: 1:00 p.m., Sunday, April 25
Where: 1900 block of Park Ave. S. (Park Ave. will be blocked
off)
Who: The public is invited to join Mayor Rybak; Park Board
Commissioners and City Council Members Paul Ostrow and Dean Zimmerman.
Other partners to announce tree-planting and care efforts include:
Doubletree Guest Suites General Manager Dan
Little, announce the hotel's program to plant trees at Minneapolis
schools
Interim Minneapolis Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek
Free Colorado Blue Spruce from Doubletree Guest Suites for first 50
people Sunday.
2. Midtown Exchange
I'm pleased to announce the City and Ryan Companies, the developers of
Midtown Exchange at the former Sears store on Lake Street, have reached
an agreement on agressive goals for hiring minority and woman
construction workers. Ryan Companies is committed to filling their
construction workforce on this site with 15% skilled minority
tradespeople, 20% unskilled minority laborers, and 5% women construction
workers. All three goals are substantial increases over previous City
projects - an 87.5% increase for skilled minority workers alone. Ryan
deserves praise for agressively pursuing a diverse workforce on this
project.
At the same time, Ryan and the City have created a "pipeline" for people
to get hired and start work as soon as possible. Ryan Companies will
draw unemployed union workers and apprectices from the surrounding
neighborhood first. In turn, community members can join
pre-apprenticeship training programs, such as Goodwill/Easter Seals'
program, and then start an apprenticeship program on the Midtown
Exchange site.
The link below will have job and project updates.
http://midtowncommunityworks.org/exchange
I'm working to bring this project to reality and bring jobs to the
community.
3. Affordable Housing
Last Thursday the Family Housing Fund and Housing Link released their
first annual report called "Housing Counts". This is an independent,
third party counting of all the affordable housing being supported by
the Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here is the link:
http://www.fhfund.org/_dnld/reports/housing_counts.pdf
As you can see, it has been a good two years for the City of
Minneapolis. We have closed on more than 754 new affordable units (the
City's definition of "affordable" is only those units affordable to a
family making less than 50% of the Metropolitan Median Income (MMI) or
$38,350 for a family of four) and provided funding to help renovate and
keep affordable another 1,188 units. That's nearly 2,000 affordable
units that have been built or maintained as long-term affordable housing
in just the past two years. I am particularly proud of the fact that the
majority of these units, 512 of the new units and 1,066 of the renovated
ones, are affordable to those families and individuals making less that
30% of the MMI or $23,010 for a family of four.
4. State of the City Address
Just a reminder, my 2004 State of the City Address will be next
Thursday, April 29th, at 4:00 p.m. in the rotunda of City Hall.
Minneapolis middle-school student Cameron Hughes will sing preceding the
address and refreshments will follow.
City Hall is fully accessible and my speech will be signed in sign
language for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. This event will be
simulcast on cable TV channels 14 and 79 and on the City's website at
www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us
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