This article is part of a larger report, “Bring Back 6th: A Collective Vision for Reparative Justice & the Future of the Northside.”
Redeveloping Olson Memorial Highway will be a long process and presents a unique opportunity for collaboration, reparative justice, and community-led solutions. Residents must be an integral part of the design and planning process to create community ownership of the results. A community-led process increases the momentum behind the effort and the probability of successful implementation.
Community-Informed Design
These concepts were directly informed by the community members, organizations, and partners through a variety of engagement strategies. This included Design Week, where the public and stakeholders were invited to provide their input through focus groups, one-one-one conversations, and public meetings.
The evaluation framework is intended to assist the community in determining which alternative, or elements of each, best reflect the needs and desires of the community.
These recommendations can be used as a tool for the community and organizations to advocate for what they would like to see prioritized as the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and the City of Minneapolis move forward with developing the preferred alternative for Olson Memorial Highway and other related plans and projects.Community-Based Evaluation Criteria
Community-Based Evaluation Criteria
Community Driven Solutions
Design Concepts
This section explores three potential design concepts for a reimagined 6th Avenue and the repurposed Olson Memorial Highway land. Each concept is illustrated through maps, diagrams, and visual renderings developed in response to community engagement, stakeholder input, and the project team’s understanding of existing conditions and the historic harms caused by the highway.
The concepts represent varying degrees of development and open space, ranging from minimal intervention to transformative redevelopment. These include design strategies that reknit neighborhoods, prioritize multimodal access, create inclusive public spaces rooted in community values, and can be interchanged to eventually reach the one design alternative that best responds to the needs of adjacent neighborhoods.
The reconstruction of this segment of Olson Memorial Highway will directly impact Heritage Park, Harrison, Willard-Hay, Near North, and Sumner-Glenwood neighborhoods of the Northside, as well as Bryn Mawr, east Golden Valley, and North Loop of downtown Minneapolis.
Land Reclamation
Reclaiming Olson Memorial Highway’s right-of-way provides a spectrum of outcomes depending on how much of that land is returned for urban redevelopment uses versus set aside as open space. The project analysis assumes that the land made available by the reconfiguration of Olson Memorial Highway will yield approximately 12 acres of land that can be developed or dedicated to public space.
Through a combination of listening to community priorities and reviewing economic data to provide additional insights, we can identify design solutions to community needs and take advantage of the economic opportunities that lie within the project area.
Economic Opportunities from Land Reclamation
|
Priority |
Data Signal |
Design Response |
|---|---|---|
|
Capture Retail Leakage → |
Low Retail Index, high unmet demand → |
Ground-floor retail pads in every concept, strongest along Penn Avenue & Van White Memorial Boulevard |
|
Expand Housing Choice → |
Rising household size, limited multifamily inventory → |
Mid-rise apartment blocks and stacked townhomes |
|
Build Community Wealth → |
Owner-occupied surge → |
Community Land Trust parcels and inclusionary ownership units embedded in site plans |
|
Grow Quality Jobs → |
Net worker inflow, under-supply of modern space → |
Office/medical flex; opportunities for maker-space incubators, technology industries and professional services |
Project Zones
There are four distinct zones along the corridor, each of which represents a different character. As such, the design components within each zone vary slightly in all concepts.
- Zone A: Theodore Wirth Parkway to Thomas Avenue
- Zone B: Thomas Avenue to Logan Avenue
- Zone C: Logan Avenue to I-94
- Zone D: I-94 to Oak Lane Avenue
Transition Points
There are four primary transition points between these zones along the corridor that are addressed in different ways by each of the concepts:
- Theodore Wirth Parkway: transition from Golden Valley to regional park
- Thomas Avenue: transition from regional park to urban residential area
- Logan Avenue: transition from urban residential to civic and mixed-use district
- Oak Lake Avenue: transition from North Minneapolis to Downtown
Some of these transition points where the roadway configuration changes are shown as roundabouts, which were expressed as a preferred safety improvement strategy by community members through a public survey. Roundabouts are intersection treatments with a circular configuration that reduce speeds and conflicts for all modes by requiring traffic to slow and yield. They also simplify transitions between roadway configurations.
Proposed Concepts
Existing Corridor Conditions
Road Configuration
The corridor includes a six-lane highway (two lanes either direction with one closed lane in either direction) and a wide center median separating travel directions.
The right-of-way is 94 feet at the minimum and 300+ feet at the maximum, including service roads for segments on the north and south of the highway, sidewalks, and 15-19 foot shoulder on the bridge over Theodore Wirth Regional Park.
The current configuration does not include a dedicated bike facility, street parking, or dedicated transit lanes.
Existing conditions in Zone A at Theodore Wirth Regional Park
Existing conditions in Zone B at Penn Avenue
Existing conditions in Zone C at Van White Memorial Boulevard
Existing conditions in Zone D on the I-94 overpass
Multimodal Network
The street grid is disrupted by the highway, land use redevelopment, and curvilinear streets on the east side of Humboldt Avenue. Only Penn Avenue, Morgan Avenue, Humboldt Avenue/Elwood Avenue, Van White Memorial Boulevard, and Bryant Avenue are connected across the corridor. Other north/south streets have movements restricted to left only and left/right turns onto Olson Memorial Highway or are cut off (e.g., dead end) at the highway.
The City of Minneapolis designates the existing highway as a Mixed-Use Regional Connector, which is intended to balance regional and local access. Glenwood Avenue and Penn Avenue are designated as Mixed-Use Commercial Connectors to serve medium-distance connections and commercial destinations, while Plymouth Avenue, Van White Memorial Boulevard, and 7th Street are designated as Mixed-Use Community Connectors intended to serve the local community and accommodate various land uses.
The bike network within the study area primarily consists of north/south connections via a bike boulevard on Queen Ave, a trail along/adjacent to Van White Memorial Boulevard, and a proposed bike facility along Irving Avenue (i.e., Northside Greenway project). These routes connect to neighborhood green space and North Minneapolis.
The existing protected bike facilities along Plymouth Avenue and standard bike facilities along Glenwood Avenue provide connections to Theodore Wirth Regional Park and Downtown through North Minneapolis. Theodore Wirth Regional Park includes a network of park trails, connected to the region via the trails along Theodore Wirth Parkway and Olson Memorial Highway from the parkway through the City of Golden Valley.
Olson Memorial Highway current serves the Metro Transit C-Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that runs from downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Center via Olson Memorial Highway to Penn Avenue, with stations at Penn Avenue, Humboldt Avenue, Bryant Avenue, and 7th Street. BRT currently shares lanes with regular traffic along the route within the study area.
Land Use
The west end of the corridor is primarily within Theodore Wirth Regional Park, bordering Golden Valley and Minneapolis, but access from North Minneapolis and Olson Memorial Highway is limited due to the railroad, steep terrain, and water.
From the regional park to Knox Avenue land use is generally single-family residential. The land use from Knox Avenue to I-94 includes mixed uses with a series of civic spaces and buildings, including the historic Sumner Library and Phylis Wheatley Community Center, schools, and parks/green spaces. I-94 and industrial zoning act as a barrier from North Minneapolis to Downtown and other community spaces, such as the Minneapolis Famers Market and Metro Schools.
Existing Transportation Network of Olson Memorial Highway
Linear Park
The linear park concept dedicates the majority of the reclaimed right-of-way to public park and green space, expanding access to natural resources and maintaining the healthy, mature trees in the existing boulevard within the proposed park.
Illustrative Linear Park Concept
Olson Memorial Highway currently
In Zone A through Theodore Wirth Regional Park, the street is a two-lane, tree-lined parkway, with dedicated bus lanes on either side. The reclaimed right-of-way space allows space for a shared-use path on the south side of the street, adjacent Wirth Lake and Bassett Creek, with additional buffer space for new plantings.
In Zone B, where the reclaimed right-of-way is at its widest, the linear park is placed in the center of the corridor, bordered by a paired one-way bike facility, sidewalk, parking bays/street trees, a two-way street on both sides of the park, one-way dedicated bus lane, a vegetated buffer, and sidewalks.
Zone C presents a similar roadway configuration, but with one travel lane on either side of the park and reduced park space to fit within a smaller right-of-way.
In Zone D where there is limited space over the bridges, the street is reduced to a one-way travel and dedicated bus lane in either direction, with a shared-use path over Theodore Wirth Regional Park and a pair of separated one-way bike facilities and sidewalks over I-94.
This concept does not prioritize restoring the street grid, but does still facilitate four additional multimodal connections across the corridor at Thomas Avenue, Russell Avenue, Newton Avenue, and Logan Avenue. It also proposed a fifth connection adjacent to Sumner Library and recently built Olson Park Apartments.
Though new connections are limited, this concept still improves access to the street network to the north and south from the corridor because of the two-way travel conversation on both sides of the park, compared to the one-way travel on either side of the median today, which limits access.
All concepts propose that the corridor designation be converted from Mixed-Use Regional Connector to Mixed-Use Community Connector to better serve the local community and accommodate a range of uses and services.
The linear park concept treats these transition points with roundabouts to accommodate the changes in vehicular traffic flow, reflect the parkway character, and provide opportunity for gateways into different character zones along the corridor.
The dedicated bike lanes that buffer the park provide a direct connection from the Grand rounds and Luce Line trails near Theodore Wirth Regional Park, existing and planned trails in the study area, and Downtown Minneapolis. The park incorporates meandering paths through the green space for recreational use and leisurely travel.
This concept provides a dedicated bus lane for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) adjacent to vehicular travel.
Linear Park Concept Transportation Network
Development for this concept is limited to existing undeveloped, vacant parcels along the corridor. In all concepts, a commercial node is proposed at the Penn Avenue and 6th Avenue intersection. Commercial development in this node would be limited and small-scale in this concept.
Linear Park Components Diagram
Linear Park Concept at Penn Avenue
A sequence of green spaces is proposed for the right-of-way reclaimed for land use. In Zone A, where there is not adequate space for a park, the concept includes a wide vegetated buffer space between the road and trail, and increased buffer space and vegetation between the trail and Wirth Lake.
Zone B (through the residential area) allocates the most space to the park, incorporating a water feature and natural park character to complement Theodore Wirth Regional Park. This space could also accommodate needs expressed by the community, such as community gardens and inclusive, outdoor youth spaces.
The park in Zone C transitions from natural park to a public plaza character to accommodate the activity of families and youth traveling to and through the space from schools, community buildings, and multifamily residential housing.
The concept proposes vegetated planters to separate vehicles from pedestrians and bicyclists in Zone D where the bridge over I-94 does not allow for green space.
In the linear park scenario, 100% of the right-of-way is dedicated to a linear greenway with diverse park spaces and programming, leaving no development opportunities within the right-of-way. This scenario could be coupled with higher-intensity development on the opportunity parcels that lie outside the right-of-way, which have a mix of public and private owners and may attract investment once the public realm improves.
Neighborhood Blocks
In contrast to the Linear Park, the Neighborhood Blocks concept dedicates the majority of reclaimed right-of-way to infill and mixed-use development.
Illustrative Neighborhood Blocks Concept
Olson Memorial Highway currently
In this concept, Zone A is similar to the Linear Park concept, which accommodates additional buffer space and vegetation on the bridge as the bike facility is consolidated to a shared-use path on the south side.
Development is similarly placed in the center of the corridor, bordered by a wide sidewalk, buffer with street trees regularly placed, parking bays/vegetation, a one-way vehicle travel lane, one-way dedicated bus lane, a vegetated buffer, and sidewalk, which is mirrored on the south side of the street. However, the Neighborhood Blocks concept begins to differ in Zone B with a shared-use path only running on the south side.
Zone C consolidates the one-way pair of complete streets into one roadway to the south side and development to the north, with a slow, traffic-calmed street proposed as the alleyway to encourage activation between the new and existing development, in comparison to the approach in Zone B. Street parking is removed and the vegetated buffer between vehicles and bicyclists is replaced with curb separation in this section of the corridor, but the tree canopy and vegetation in the sidewalk buffer is expanded.
Zone D continues the section from Zone C as well as incorporates planters onto the bridge for additional greening and screening of I-94 traffic below.
Though this concept shows paired one=way streets separated by a block of development, the street network is still well-connected because the street grid is restored across the corridor. Neighborhood Blocks proposes traffic control, such as two-way stops, four-way stops, or signalized intersections along the corridor at new connections.
Similar to the Linear Park concept, this shared-use path provides a direct connection for pedestrians and bicyclists to existing trails from Theodore Wirth Regional Park to Downtown and designates a bus-only lane adjacent to vehicular travel.
Neighborhood Blocks Concept Transportation Network
The development proposed in this concept is primarily multi-family residential, intended to increase the density from the existing single-family residential housing throughout the neighborhood. Development in Zone B reflects mid-density, mixed-use housing with businesses and services on the first floor and loft and family apartments above, with common outdoor spaces for residents.
The commercial node at the intersection of Penn Avenue should incorporate the highest density development, with the biggest concentration of businesses and opportunity for a public plaza and community building for neighborhood gathering.
Development in Zone C reflects lower density, multi-family housing, such as row houses, duplexers, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). There is potential for surface parking adjacent to the corridor to be redeveloped for homes, businesses, and/or institutional use.
Neighborhood Blocks Components Diagram
Neighborhood Blocks Concept at Penn Avenue
In this scenario, a human-scale street network is reestablished within the right-of-way. Utilizing a medium floor-area ratio (FAR) for development opportunities within the right-of-way, this scenario favors mixed-income families and small businesses, aiming to provide a moderate amount of housing and jobs.
Redevelopment within the right-of-way offers approximately 1.4 million square feet of building square footage, 957 residential units, and 115 retail opportunities, which could create an estimated 231 jobs. Mid-rise massing using an FAR of 200% of the buildable land area keeps building heights at a neighborhood scale.
Tree-Lined Transitway
The Tree-Lined Transitway retains the most right-of-way for roadway and the least for land use change and development. This concept provides vegetated, tree-lined separation for all modes of travel where the existing trees in the center median are maintained for the length of the corridor, as feasible.
Illustrative Tree-Lined Transitway Concept
Olson Memorial Highway currrently
The configuration consists of a two-way road with center median/turn lane adjacent to a transit guideway, as well as transit stops/sidewalk, two-way separated bike facility, wide buffering maintaining the existing healthy boulevard trees, and wide sidewalks.
The roadway is consolidated within the northern portion of the right-of-way, and development is to the south. This configuration is consistent throughout in all four zones, with variations to the widths of buffers, sidewalks, and bikeways.
The Tree-Lined Transitway street network is a blend of the Linear Park and Neighborhood Blocks. Similar to the Neighborhood Blocks concept, the street grid is mostly reconnected across a new 6th Avenue. This concept proposes standard signalized intersections with transit signal priority along the corridor. This concept includes roundabouts at the Theordore Wirth Parkway and Oak Lane Avenue that act as transitions into the study area and corridor road configuration
Like the other concepts, the two-way bikeway trail will provide a direct connection for bicyclists to existing trails from Theodore Wirth Regional Park to Downtown.
While Linear Park and Neighborhood Blocks concepts facilitate dedicated bus travel lanes, the Tree-Lined Transitway concept creates a dedicated guideway for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to maximize efficiency and safety of travelers.
Tree-Lined Transitway Concept Transportation Network
Though the Tree-Lined Transitway has more space dedicated to transportation facilities and less to reclaimed land uses than the Neighborhood Blocks concept, the proposed land use and building types between the concepts are similar. This includes primarily multi-family residential, with mixed-use buildings and higher density in the commercial node near the Penn Avenue intersection.
Development in Zone C would be limited to redevelopment of surface parking for homes, businesses, and/or institutional use.
Tree-Lined Transitway Concept Diagram
Tree-Lined Transitway Concept at Penn Avenue
In the Tree-Lined Transitway concept, a transit-ready boulevard with frontage development opportunities utilizes a high floor-area ratio (FAR) in the right-of-way. Seeking to provide strong job access, this scenario favors employers, retailers, and transit riders. Job access has the most substantial potential in this scenario.
There are roughly 9.5 acres of developable land within the right-of-way in the tree-lined transitway design concept. With a high FAR, it provides the highest intensity of development within the right-of-way, encompassing almost four million square feet of building square footage. Providing approximately 202 retail business opportunities with 404 potential jobs, it offers the highest potential tax base and annual tax revenue within the right-of-way, at roughly $970 million and $15 million, respectively.
Comparing the Concepts
Reclaiming Olson Memorial Highway’s right-of-way provides a spectrum of outcomes depending on how much of that land is returned for urban development uses versus set aside as open space.
The development analysis within this report assumes that the land made available by the reconfiguration of Olson Memorial Highway will yield approximately 12 acres of land that can be developed or dedicated to park space. Varying assumptions on the intensity of density of development within the right-of-way, described as “floor-area ratio” or FAR, are matched with each scenario as described below.
The graphics provide an illustrative example of how different land uses and intensity might look between the three concepts.
Linear Park Concept
Neighborhood Block Concept
Tree-Lined Transitway Concept
Design Trade-offs by Concept
|
Community Priorities |
Linear Park |
Neighborhood Blocks |
Tree-Lined Transityway |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Safety & Connectivity |
Provides two-way travel on both sides of development to improve access, creating long blocks of park space. |
Reconnects the street grid, establishing smaller blocks of development. |
Consolidates the roadway to the north side of the street, with long blocks of development. |
|
Development & Economic Stability |
Preserving the right-of-way as park maximizes housing on fewer acres. Produces the largest assessed value thanks to high FAR on a small footprint. |
Spreads benefits across the most parcels by spreading low- and medium-density buildings over more land. Creates medium housing capacity. |
Creates more job and retail intensity, reflecting transit-oriented FAR and more storefronts. Balances land use trade-offs by pairing mobility upgrades with balanced growth. Creates medium housing capacity. |
|
Community Identity & Uses |
Expands network of open spaces and creates opportunities for diverse park programming, including community gardens and playgrounds, emphasizing outdoor gathering. |
Provides opportunities for a public square and/or market, common public spaces for housing residents, lively streets with cafe seating and activated pedestrian zones. |
Provides opportunities for a public square and/or market, common public spaces for housing residents, lively streets with cafe seating and activated pedestrian zones. |
|
Environment & Green Space |
Emphasizes environmental wellness by providing space to expand natural habitats and connections to new and existing green spaces, expanding on the water and natural landscapes of Theodore Wirth Regional Park. |
Accommodates tree planting and vegetation, as well as common open space for residents. |
Facilitates the highest mature tree preservation along the corridor, while greatly expanding street tree plantings. |
|
Health & Community Wellness |
Provides the greatest opportunity to maximize air and water quality by enhancing ecosystems and vegetation. |
Provides opportunity for trees and green stormwater infrastructure along the street. |
Addresses a higher level of impervious pavement with greatly expanded street trees plantings, vegetation, and stormwater management to address heat islands and heavy rainfall. |
|
Equity & Reparative Justice |
Maximizes public space and green space, providing opportunity for outdoor spaces that serve all members of the community. |
Maximizes housing, shops, and jobs, creating easy access to services within the community. |
Emphasizes safe and reliable transit, while creating vibrant street life and a mix of land uses. |
All concepts share commonalities for the “Safety & Connectivity” and “Health & Community Wellness” community priorities.
For “Safety & Connectivity”, all concepts provide dedicated space for all modes of travel, increased buffer space, vegetation, and tree canopy, and improved circulation. In addition, reduced lanes and lane widths for vehicular travel, while providing dedicated routes for transit and bicycle travel.
For “Health & Wellness”, all concepts decrease air, light, and noise pollution by slowing and reducing traffic. It also provides additional spaces for culture, art, and community gathering and enhance connections to surrounding neighborhoods, green spaces, and trails.
Benefits & Challenges of Street Design Components
The three design concepts presented in this report incorporate several street design components in order to create a safer, more equitable alternative to Olson Memorial Highway. What follows is a list of the benefits and challenges of incorporating each of these street design components.
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Lower speeds and reduced conflicts at roundabouts lead to significantly fewer injuries and fatal crashes; improve traffic flow; create opportunities for gateway and greening |
Not a common treatment in the neighborhood or city, which would require a practice adjustment for drivers in the immediate neighborhood. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Familiar treatment for drivers with proven safety countermeasures that can be safe for all travelers. |
Often chosen for operational reasons with a trade-off between safety and mobility. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Can reduce conflict points, traffic signal timing, and traffic congestion. |
Can be confusing, lead to higher traffic speeds, and increase travel time due to network traffic circulation. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Reduce travel speeds, enhance crossing safety for pedestrians, and improve accessibility and visibility of adjacent businesses. |
Can require wider intersections and can lead to higher congestion. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Facilitates predictable movements for drivers and aligns with traffic flow; reduces bike conflict points. |
Can require more space than a two-way or shared facility and can increase travel time; may encourage contraflow bike travel. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Improves bike circulation and connectivity. |
Limits bike access to one side of the street, can be confusing to drivers, and can be complicated at intersections. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Accommodates a range of users and is space-efficient. |
Space and cost efficient while still providing separation of bus from vehicular traffic. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Space and cost efficient while still providing separation of bus from vehicular traffic. |
Potential congestion and conflict points with people traveling in adjacent lanes or crossing the street. |
|
Benefits |
Challenges |
|---|---|
|
Facilitates the most consistent and reliable bus service; improves safety for riders and people accessing bus stations. |
Expensive and requires additional road width. |
Community Benefits Policies and Programs
Bring Back 6th is an opportunity to redesign the Olson Memorial Highway corridor in a way that improves community health, wealth, accessibility, and safety for existing residents. Many redevelopment projects face tensions between the desire for improvement and concern about the displacement that gentrification can bring. The construction of Olson Memorial Highway caused displacement, and there is a risk that future changes to the corridor could also cause displacement, even and especially if the changes are positive. The displacement that recently occurred on the corridor during the Blue Line Light Rail planning phase underscores the need to proactively mitigate this risk.
However, as seen in the highway removal project in Rochester, New York (Inner Loop East), community repair is achievable through good policy that invests in long-term neighborhood stabilization, housing security, economic opportunity, and community-serving institutions and amenities.
This section outlines an anti-displacement policy framework that asserts that displacement does not have to be an inevitable outcome of change, an enumerates the thoughtful and concerted policy, program, and organizing efforts required to avoid displacement. Collectively, the policy strategies address multiple forms of potential displacement: direct displacement, commercial displacement, and gentrification.
Anti-Displacement Policy Framework
This anti-displacement policy framework aims to support residents in the study area and community members to fulfill their community vision. The policy framework builds on existing community-driven anti-displacement campaigns, input from over 200 community members, and a literature review of research and case studies, and is designed to address the particular displacement risks and community assets in the neighborhoods that reconstructing the corridor will reconnect.
For the future of the corridor, residents and community members envision a safe, clean, affordable, walkable, connected and commercially vibrant neighborhood. Today, several community organizations such as Harrison Neighborhood Association, Heritage Park Neighborhood Association, Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, Green Garden Bakery, Urban Strategies, and The Phyllis Wheatley Center actively lead community advocacy, provide services, and organize events that bring the community together. Residents express that they would love even more frequent community-building events in the future.
Community members have expressed the most excitement about the economic opportunities and amenities that Bring Back 6th can bring, followed by improved road and pedestrian safety, and reconnecting neighborhoods divided by Olson Memorial Highway.
Policy Toolkit Recommendations Overview
These policy recommendations are designed to address both immediate and long-term displacement concerns, working to stabilize neighborhoods and support residents through every stage of community change. Many policies recommend strengthening targeted outreach and education programs to ensure resident access and reach—although the City, County, and State have established relevant policies and programs, additional awareness and programming would further activate the reach and efficacy of those policies for residents who need them.
The policy framework emphasizes the importance of early action and building collaborative relationships among key public, private, and nonprofit entities ahead of corridor redevelopment and potential displacement. The framework also emphasizes investing in local community-based organizations to enhance policy effectiveness and ensure lasting impact beyond the Bring Back 6th initiative.
The policy toolkit is organized around the four themes and includes, for each policy objective, features, timelines, roles, and metrics for evaluating progress. For each recommended policy, the toolkit also includes the following information to inform future efforts by key policy-enabling and implementing entities: description, policy strengths, implementation challenges and considerations, and case studies for every recommended policy from Minneapolis, across the country, and the world.
Housing Stability
Both renters and homeowners face increasing strains on affordability and habitability, which are already displacing existing residents. Renters, who make up the majority of neighborhood residents, need more affordable housing options for tenants at the lowest incomes. Some newer developments include affordable units but primarily at 80% of the area median income (AMI). Residents also want more opportunities for homeownership.
Meanwhile, existing homeowners are also facing rising costs from increasing utility expenses, property values that raise the area’s property taxes, and unexpected home repair and maintenance costs that low-income homeowners struggle to afford.
As this initiative could potentially bring new investment into the area, there’s an opportunity to protect existing and low-income residents from experiencing additional displacement and the opportunity to remain in place and benefit from the reinvestment in their neighborhood. The following are housing stability policies.
Economic Opportunities
The 2023 median household income in the Harrison and Heritage Park neighborhoods was $67,898 and $52,901, respectively, with over 66% of adults in the labor force. Despite barriers to vehicle ownership, the majority of residents commute to work by car, with a small portion carpooling or taking public transit; however, the latter option is often inaccessible.
Many residents are eager to develop more retail space in the neighborhood to improve their access to basic needs and quality of life while boosting local jobs and economic activity. However, local small business owners often struggle to find available and affordable retail spaces. Many also lack awareness of administrative requirements, such as necessary income or tax documentation, to access support and funding programs.
The following policies are intended to address these barriers to help revitalize the historic commercial corridors of Glenwood Avenue and Plymouth Avenue and identify new potential retail space along the redesigned 6th Avenue, particularly near Penn Avenue.
Cultural, Arts, and Community Building
Several organizations currently serve the neighborhoods as hubs for human services, policy organizing, and community and cultural events. These organizations provide critical resources and referrals for support, such as free legal aid, homeowner or rental improvement grants, and navigating social services.
However, many of the residents they serve are currently already experiencing displacement. Without supporting key cultural and civic institutions, community ties could further weaken and reduce the capacity to provide future community services, policy organizing, and cultural events.
Despite the housing quality and community safety challenges, residents want to stay in their neighborhood and continue to strengthen the community with their neighbors. These policies respond to residents’ desire to retain local character and strengthen existing cultural and community institutions amid future development.
Community Decision-making
The community has been organizing around housing stability, economic opportunity, community safety, and combating cultural gentrification for many years. Their efforts include campaigns for affordable housing, negotiating community benefits with developers, improving health and safety conditions of housing, and other policy initiatives.
Today, many express the desire to strengthen their policy advocacy skills, and community members are leaders cited the need to improve awareness and messaging on policy efforts so residents can plug into and help mobilize policy campaigns.
These policies offer opportunities for community members and partners to develop and implement a shared vision that formally integrates residents and community representatives into the decision-making process.
Learn more about the campaign to Bring Back 6th.
Once called the “Beale Street of Minneapolis,” the old Near-Northside was an integral Black and Jewish community that was destroyed in 1939 for the construction of Olson Memorial Highway, a low-trafficked highway “to nowhere” that has been polluting the neighborhood ever since.