Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today joined City Council Member Scott Benson to announce the recipients of the first round of Minneapolis' Mobilizing Citizens for Grassroots Climate Change grants.

Twenty grants of up to $1,000 will support the many grassroots efforts taking place throughout Minneapolis directing people to take meaningful actions to reduce their energy use. The grantees include churches, neighborhood groups, non-profit organizations and parks.

"As a green leader, Minneapolis is doing everything it can to reduce our energy use and fight global climate change," Mayor Rybak said. "But city government can't do all of this work alone. We need strong partnerships with our churches, community groups and neighborhoods. We need a vision, but we also need action. These grantees are rolling up their sleeves and doing meaningful work to reduce energy consumption and fight climate change."

"People-led leadership and inspiration is critically important right now because while city government can provide leadership, we can make monumental progress in improving our environment if we also inspire residents and community groups to join our actions," said Council Member Benson, who chairs the Council’s Health Education and Environment Committee. "While we need to inspire in all areas of environmental stewardship, the area that emerges far above all others is our urgent need to address the climate change crisis."

The Grassroots Climate Change grants are part of Minneapolis' comprehensive sustainability initiative to reduce the City's carbon dioxide footprint 12 percent by 2012, with the realization that everyone can and must play a part to reduce climate change. Each grantee will use their City grants to promote the Minneapolis Energy Challenge campaign to reduce energy use.  Read more...

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak applauded today's announcement of the Children's Hospital expansion plan along the Life Science Corridor in south Minneapolis. In a letter to Children's Hospital President and CEO Alan Goldbloom, Mayor Rybak congratulated the organization’s leadership for this bold undertaking and for their continued faith in the City of Minneapolis and the Phillips neighborhood.

"We remain committed to whatever needs Children's Hospital has to make this expansion a full reality," Mayor Rybak said. "I look forward to helping ensure that this new expansion is a success and becomes seamlessly integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods."

Mayor Rybak's letter to Goldbloom emphasized the important role that Children's Hospital has played in the burgeoning south Minneapolis Life Sciences Corridor.

"In the mid-1990s the hospital systems along Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis had grown weary of long-standing problems," Rybak said. "When I took office in 2002, Phillips was beginning to turn around, but you and other south Minneapolis health leaders asked me to do more to secure and build on the gains of the late 1990s. You all worked closely with me in establishing the Life Sciences Corridor, which has been witness to the following expansions:

*Abbott Northwestern ($160 million)
*Phillips Eye Institute ($5 million)
*Allina ($60 million)
*Hennepin County Medical Center ($80 million)

"We stand on the shoulders of great Minneapolis health care and civic leaders who committed themselves to healing Phillips, rather than leaving," Rybak added. "Since 2003, all of the Life Sciences campuses threatening to leave Minneapolis in the 1990s have announced or completed major expansions. As a result, the City's Life Sciences workforce grew by over 2,000 jobs in 2005 alone and continued growth is expected from these and other expansions."  Read more...

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak applauded Metro Transit's announcement today of a $2.4 million plan to improve security on transit buses with greater police presence, broadened partnerships with local police, retrofitting buses with enhanced multi-camera digital recording systems, and increasing community outreach efforts.

"As the key player responsible for keeping our buses safe, Metro Transit's ability to improve bus security is urgently needed," Mayor Rybak said. "At the same time, Minneapolis is boosting its efforts to make sure bus stops in Minneapolis are safe and respectful. Working together with Metro Transit, we want people to feel safe and respected everywhere in Minneapolis."

Metro Transit's enhanced safety plan comes as the City of Minneapolis is boosting its efforts to keep downtown and areas around bus stops safe. Yesterday the City Council's Public Safety and Regulatory Services Committee unanimously approved the Mayor's proposal to add $500,000 to the Minneapolis Police Department to strengthen City police patrols downtown, especially around bus stops. The Committee also approved an additional $250,000 to strengthen neighborhood safety plans in crime hot spots outside downtown.

Business leaders also supported the improved efforts. "The Minneapolis Downtown Council is very grateful for the leadership initiative this represents," Downtown Council President/CEO Sam Grabarski said. "Metro Transit's plans, dovetailed with the plans announced by City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County officials, are all valuable steps in the right direction for the safety of downtown Minneapolis, and the communities surrounding us."  Read more...

Mayor R.T. Rybak today announced a proposal to add $500,000 to the Minneapolis Police Department to strengthen police patrols along the Route 5 bus line, especially in downtown. The funding would come from the City's contingency funds to provide improved public safety during the coming summer months.

"As summer approaches, we must strengthen our police patrols to make sure downtown and areas around bus stops are safe," Mayor Rybak said. "Because of our aggressive crime-fighting efforts, crime is falling and we want to maintain that trend into the summer months. We can do that by adding officers and increasing collaboration with Metro Transit Police and the County."

"Along with the at least fifteen new officers we have already secured for downtown, we believe that $500,000 additional funding for targeted police overtime would allow us to reach the same levels of high police presence and visibility that we had last summer," Mayor Rybak added.

"We are determined to replicate the size and visibility of the downtown street patrol we deployed in 2006," Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said. "With funding for more officers city-wide, we have already added seven officers to downtown's First Precinct and we will be adding at least eight more by this summer. We're also increasing the number of full-time Mounted Patrol by four officers, for a total of six full-time and eighteen part-time mounted officers. This special patrol helps significantly with crowd control and is a very obvious officer presence because you can see a mounted officer a block away."

"An increased police patrol will allow us to have a constant presence near problematic bus stops and around Block E," First Precinct Commander Janee Harteau said. "For this effort, Metro Transit already has more officers assigned to ride the Route 5 buses, and we expect that they will be adding more beat officers to the bus stops on 7th and 5th Streets. Minneapolis police will work closely with Metro Transit police to provide a strong presence at those bus stops."  Read more...

Feb. 13, 2007
Mayor Rybak Urges Support for Superintendent Green

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today endorsed Dr. Bill Green to be the permanent Superintendent for the Minneapolis Public schools, and urged the Minneapolis School Board to appoint Dr. Green at their meeting tonight.  Read more...

Feb. 8, 2007 Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today harshly criticized the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) for offering a $239 million bail-out to Northwest Airlines when the MAC should be protecting homeowners harmed by airport noise pollution.  Read more...