I gave the State of the City address this afternoon. The full text will be available tomorrow about noon, but the following update gives an overview. I'm interested in any feedback which you can email to be directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
R.T. News from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak April 29, 2004 IN THIS ISSUE: 1. STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS HIGHLIGHTS 2. STATE OF THE CITY TRANSCRIPTS __________________________________________________ 1. State of the City Highlights I just finished giving the 2004 State of the City Address in the atrium of City Hall. For those of you unable to be here, these are some of the highlights. My third State of the City Address focused on housing and jobs, keeping Minneapolis the most liveable City in America, and continuing to deliver good government for good value. I am pleased to announce the City has secured over $40 million for the North Side Home Fund, including $20 million each from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and Franklin National Bank. I said affordable housing was one of the most pressing issues when I took office two years ago and the City has responded. Over 3,000 new homes have been built in Minneapolis in the last two years. Every part of the City is growing. Our riverfront is exploding with housing, our condo market is booming and our commercial core is expanding. The City has funded almost 2,000 affordable units, and the vast majority are available to people making under $11 an hour. There was still a clear need for reinvestment on the North Side, so we seeded this project with $1 million, which will be leveraged more than 40-times that in additional funds. The project will renovate boarded and vacant properties, encourage private renovation and increase homeownership among people of color. The City also established the Affordable Housing Trust Fund last year and allocated in the toughest of budget times $12 million dollars toward affordable housing, up 50 percent from spending in 2001. While it's important to continue to create housing, I know it's equally important the City to focus on making sure working families earn enough to pay for that housing. To do this, earlier this spring the City launched Close the Gap, a collaborative effort to close the historic unemployment gap between Minneapolis and the region. The strategy is to train and place 2,400 people in jobs and develop more career laddering programs, such as the Neighborhood Health Careers Institute, which trains people in Phillips for jobs at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. In addition, I announced today that Step-Up, the summer job-creation program, has met its goal of creating 200 additional jobs for kids this summer. To make it easier for the homeowner or the small business the City is creating Minneapolis One-Stop, which will be one location for all consumer development-related services, including basic plan development, and approvals for building and home-improvement projects. Simple e-Permits will soon be available online for licensed contractors, and the City is making more services available online and working on additional ways to streamline the permit and development processes. I also talked about the major accomplishments of the past year, including: Allina's commitment to bring 1,000 jobs to the City in the Midtown Exchange (former Sears Building). 2 big victories for the environment: successfully lobbying to convert the Riverside Coal Plant and securing $20 million from the MAC to complete Phase I of the Sound Insulation Program. Tripling the City's tree planting budget for 2004 and leveraging an additional $100,000 from the EPA for greening the downtown core. Launching the second MOSAIC Arts Celebration and starting to develop a citywide arts plan. Starting to plan an exciting new future for riverfront land now occupied by the Upper River Terminal. Preventing further budget cuts through innovative health care contract changes designed collaboratively with our unions that became a model for others in the state. Receiving over $7 million for environmental health problems through the Lead Task Force, led by Council Member Paul Zerby and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. Refocusing the Youth Coordinating Board and starting to develop a comprehensive Children's Agenda. Developing a city-wide, strategy for improving water quality with Council Member Colvin Roy, the Park Board and the Watersheds and developing a city-wide environmental plan. 2. State of the City Transcripts A full transcript of my 2004 State of the City Address will be available on the City's website, www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us by tomorrow afternoon, Friday April 30th. **************************************************************** REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
