Johnson: No more delays: Get moving on former MPD Third Precinct site

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The foot-dragging must end. A sensible, community-supported proposal for the burned, former Minneapolis Third Precinct police station should be approved. There are no good reasons to further delay restoring a city-owned building that has been a vacant eyesore for more than four years.

Minneapolis City Council members can advance the plan this week and should do so. It’s in the best interests of the immediate neighborhood around the south Minneapolis site at 3000 Minnehaha Av. — and of those who travel to and through the area — to get moving on repairing and reusing the site without further delay.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey recommends a sensible plan for the site that would house both space for community and for city services. Two-thirds of the accessible first floor would be used for to-be-determined community purposes that might include meeting spaces or workspace for small businesses or nonprofits. And the remainder of the building would house the city’s voter services.

In April, a City Council committee rejected the plan on a 7-6 vote, with some members arguing that the community was not involved in crafting the plan. At the direction of the council, city staff sought and received community input on the plan during the past several months. Those results were released last week. The demographically representative poll found that 63% of respondents support the proposal. Support was even stronger from neighbors in the area, where there was 70% approval.

Still, some council members say they’ll support a resolution on Tuesday that would again reject the recommendation and send the city back to the drawing board for solutions that could include turning the entire building over to community uses.

Frey’s administration proposes to relocate Elections & Voter Services (EVS), which is currently leasing industrial space in northeast Minneapolis, into the former police precinct building.

Operations that are currently housed in leased spaces would be consolidated at the site and would occupy about a third of the first floor and higher floors as well. Here citizens could vote early and find other voter services. City ballot machines would also be stored in the building. Election judges would be trained at the EVS, and the department would coordinate mail balloting, hospital voting, voter outreach and engagement, and pop-up voting events at the location.

This would make the services more centrally located and connected to transportation in an area that has historically had low voter turnout.

The council members who intend to further hold up the plan for the site should reconsider and allow the proposed use to proceed. As the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board has previously argued, the plan for this city-owned property would remove an eyesore, house an important public service and provide space for the neighborhood. It’s well-vetted and economically feasible.

”Community has been at the heart of the 3000 Minnehaha redevelopment, and [residents are] tired of waiting,“ said Frey. “Our city has already held seven engagement sessions with residents and conducted a survey … . The survey results show clear support for transforming the site into a democracy center and a community space … . It’s time to move forward.”