Opinion | It’s time to pause the I-94 project Despite years of community engagement work through the "Rethinking I-94" project, MnDOT plans to rebuild the interstate more or less as it is today. A new vision is needed, Mary Morse Marti writes.

I live in the toxic blast zone of I-94 and experience its awful effects nearly every day. This article is for my neighbors, my cities, and myself. We can and must do so much better with this project.

All great points! CRP data has unit information so we could try to get a “whole unit” rent estimate. And it’s not public but there is a way to anonymize the data. I pitched it to Commerce last spring and they are still considering it. May need some political pressure to get them to do it…

We kind of already have one statewide actually. Starting in 2025 all landlords are required to submit Certificates of Rent Paid (CRP) to MN Commerce. Those include the number of months paid and the total rent paid - meaning we could estimate monthly rent. But they didn’t share the data when I asked

Twin Cities Boulevard Supporters Swarm MnDOT at Public Meeting Over 100 Twin Cities Boulevard campaign supporters attended the Minnesota Department of Transportation's (MnDOT) public meeting at the Wilder Foundation in Saint Paul on Thursday, November 6. Supporte...

"If this rally is any indication, that period will likely be fraught with opposition to advancing the project without first exploring alternatives that do not involve rebuilding the highway."

@mndot.mn.gov

www.ourstreetsmn.org/2025/11/10/t...

"MnDOT is uninterested in seriously addressing climate change. This is climate defeatism; starting from the assumption that any action that fits the scale of looming climate destruction is too big to pursue."

@mfrumholtz.bsky.social @lenasophia.bsky.social
www.startribune.com/mndots-clima...

Opinion | We’re seeing haves and have-nots with Minneapolis rents While the housing cost burden is easing overall, it’s not the case for lower-income renters, the authors write.

Published my first Op-Ed w/ Professor Ed Goetz on how the national narrative about Minneapolis misses how zoning and market rate housing are necessary but not sufficient to help lower-income renters 🧵 www.startribune.com/twin-cities-...

There's no such thing as a one man government. We need a Mayor ready to collaborate, build relationships, and ensure Minneapolis is taking a cross jurisdictional approach to solve the City's problems.

Reminds me of @equalityalec.bsky.social ‘s phenomenal talk in Minneapolis this week and how media “narrows” our perceptions.

Why Northern Iron is far from a good neighbor in St. Paul Health issues continue to be a problem in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood where Northern Iron produces metal castings and machine parts.

Lead, soot, toxic air pollution. Northern iron needs to go…

Access without safety is not equity. These lakes are ours together, and they must be safe for everyone!

My office has worked with UMN staff, students, and neighborhood leaders to craft a funding proposal that we presented to the University District Alliance (UDA) for approval. The proposal passed!

Thank you to everyone who came out to support us and this movement for a park system that puts people first! 🌳
Now, let’s keep going! Link in bio to get involved. #MichaelForParks #ParksForThepeople #MnplsParks

City announces 'Big Honking Truck Parade' to be held in downtown Minneapolis A parade of big trucks from around the city aims to bring families to Downtown Minneapolis.

what a shock, this is happening on nicollet mall. these events are part of plan to remove transit from nicollet mall by showing what they can do instead

no such care is given to showing how the streetscape where nicollet mall transit would move will be improved

bringmethenews.com/minnesota-li...

Save the Twin Cities Boulevard YouTube video by Our Streets

There's still time to act.

Take action to keep the Twin Cities Boulevard vision alive.

youtu.be/fepz3l2Tn8Q?...

Within months, @mndot.mn.gov wants to remove all freeway removal options from its "Rethinking I-94" process--BEFORE the real environmental & health review

30 orgs, including 15 neighborhood associations, have signed onto this letter asking them to keep freeway removal in the mix

You can sign too!

RacketCast, Ep. 18: Unions Shout WTF Over Guv's WFH Reversal feat. MAPE - Racket Union honcho Megan Dayton says her membership is outraged.

Racketcast gets timely!

Minneapolis cites demolition crew tearing down Smith Foundry after pollution caught on video Neighbors near the foundry, which operated for roughly a century in the East Phillips neighborhood until last year, have worried for weeks about dust escaping the site.

Minneapolis can’t seem to do right by East Phillips so the gloves are off again. EPNI will be providing emergency box fan filters for the community free of charge, and it is exploring legal action. If the system won’t protect us (again) we will.

www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

ICYMI: while people in MSP fight to keep MnDOT from rebuilding I-94 in our already polluted neighborhoods, people in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center are being muzzled in their efforts to keep @mndot.bsky.social and their consultants from turning 252 into a highway. ***SHAME***

This is a map showing the city of Minneapolis on the left and Hennepin county on the right. It also shows each census tract with a different color based on its cumulative cancer risk attributable to all pollution sources. The map shows darker areas near highways within the city, but shows how the city as a whole has worse all pollution cancer risk compared to the county.

This thread is exactly why I made this map. Data needs context. The map the city made answers an important question: who in the city bears the biggest brunt of highway exposure? But highways are meant for regional transport and the map on the right shows us that we all pay a big price for it.

Our published work in a government journal curiously disappeared Several studies for a CDC journal were purged without explanation before a judge’s order restored them. That's unacceptable.

Melissa and I wrote about our research being purged... www.minnpost.com/community-vo...

New report on Smith Foundry says state should better align pollution evaluation with federal standards A new report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor on the Smith Foundry pollution says the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency needs to improve its standards and response to public complaints.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor says the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was out of alignment with federal compliance standards, and should also improve how it handles complaints from the public.

By Andrew Hazzard

Lost South St. Anthony Park South St. Anthony Park’s homes, businesses and even a church disappeared for Highway 280. What was lost, and what still survives?

"The highway blighted the neighborhood in ways that led to further destruction in the 1970s, when HUD removed 60-plus other houses. It was only through major neighborhood opposition that every house in the place wasn’t condemned in order to convert the whole area into industrial zoning."

A beautiful new piece in the Star Tribune shows how @MNDOT’s decision on Rethinking 94 is putting our futures in jeopardy.

With a once-in-a-generation chance to make lasting positive change, MnDOT is putting our communities at risk.

https://buff.ly/4hxQi3c

Street Views: Mapping Highways’ Footprint Our twice-monthly columnist maps the impact and “rethinking” imposed on urban communities during the original freeway boom.

Keep it coming, young Jedi.

MnDOT’s climate defeatism: Why won’t they let us consider living more sustainably? The case for a different kind of road where I-94 runs now.

Getting to the core of MnDOT's depraved highway analysis. They're poisoning us on purpose.

‘I want to run away from here.’ Neighbors complain about pollution from St. Paul foundry. Northern Iron and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are still engaged in a legal fight over pollution levels. Neighbors say dust and soot from the facility continues.

Neighbors complain about pollution from Northern Iron as the St. Paul foundry continues legal fight with the state.

Written by Andrew Hazzard.

Just Vibes: Evaluating MnDOT’s Rethinking I-94 Alternative Scores MnDOT is “confident in their analysis”. They shouldn’t be. Report authored by Mateo Frumholtz in collaboration with TCDSA, Our Streets, and the Minnesota Communities over Highways Coalition.  …

Read this scathing analysis by @twincitiesdsa.bsky.social, @ourstreetsmn.org, & MN Communities over Highways Coalition of
@mndot.bsky.social's plan to cut the boulevard option re: 94:
twincitiesdsa.org/2025/01/just...

then tell MnDot what you think on friday! wsbeng.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Just Vibes: Evaluating MnDOT’s Rethinking I-94 Alternative Scores MnDOT is “confident in their analysis”. They shouldn’t be. Report authored by Mateo Frumholtz in collaboration with TCDSA, Our Streets, and the Minnesota Communities over Highways Coalition.  Just …

Have you thought to yourself, “I wish I understood how the MN Dept of Transport decided to remove from consideration the seemingly most popular option —freeway removal — and whether their reasoning was abjectly, laughably bad”?

Have I got a report for you!

twincitiesdsa.org/2025/01/just...

Bollards: oft-forgotten urban pawns but essential to public safety Tragedy on Bourbon Street brought into focus that simple urban infrastructure like bollards should be part of public safety strategy.

I wrote about bollards. Apparently they're controversial? MOAR BOLLARDS, I say! www.minnpost.com/cityscape/20...