Our Streets hosted Imagine 6th Avenue North at Bethune Elementary on Saturday, October 10, in Near North Minneapolis as part of the campaign to “Bring Back 6th.” Nearby residents and families were invited to share what matters most to them as we reimagine the Olson Memorial Highway corridor.
Attendees not only got their choice of free food from multiple food trucks, but also listened to live music, played basketball, and jumped in the bouncy house. Near North residents could share their story for public history collection, their top 3 priorities for the future of the corridor, and places they value in the neighborhood.
Community Priorities
|
Voting Jar |
Count |
|---|---|
|
Local Job Opportunities |
55 |
|
Local Businesses |
67 |
|
Affordable Homeownership |
59 |
|
Affordable Rental Housing in Good Condition |
90 |
|
Reducing Pollution |
42 |
|
Community Input in Neighborhood Planning |
45 |
|
Green Space |
48 |
|
Arts & Community Organizations |
23 |
What’s a place in the neighborhood that’s meaningful?
Responses highlighted Sumner Library and Harrison Park multiple times. Other mentions included Bassett Creek Park. Attendees were encouraged to also add places they’d like to see in their neighborhood. Many people wrote that they’d like to see a grocery store or two so they don’t have to travel for food access.
You used to have every kind of store you can think of from Morgan to Penn.
Flurnia Hadley-Davis
Both Our Streets and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) received federal funds through the Reconnecting Communities Program for work on Olson Memorial Highway. MnDOT is evaluating options for the corridor’s future in tandem with Our Streets. The agency has committed to incorporating design concepts from the Bring Back 6th report and community engagement events into its process, with plans to share these concepts in 2027. Our Streets will be hosting two more engagement events before the end of the year focused specifically on anti-displacement on November 10 and November 12.
I definitely want to see more affordable housing and livable conditions […] I would also like to see, we’re a food desert. Can we get quality grocery stores that manage and maintain and stay?
Aja Harris
Our Streets is working with the following community partners: Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, Heritage Park Neighborhood Association, Harrison Neighborhood Association, Lao Center of Minnesota, and Green Garden Bakery.
Learn more about the campaign to Bring Back 6th.
Once called the “Beale Street of Minneapolis,” the old Near-Northside was an integrated 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.