Minneapolis’ Open Streets could be scaled back even more, with few bidders to plan the festivals

Open Streets events in Minneapolis were already set to scale back this summer, with the city pitching only five events, down from eight last year — but now it’s not clear there will be even that many.

Longtime organizer Our Streets Minneapolis, an alternative transportation advocacy group, stepped away from running Open Streets after the group asked for money from the city to plan the festivals and the city declined. Our Streets had been running the events for several years.

Instead, Minneapolis posted a request for proposals for vendors to run one or two Open Streets events out of five, with the city reimbursing up to $50,000 in expenses and providing services. As of Thursday, according to a city spokesperson, there were organizers locked in for Open Streets events on Nicollet, W. Broadway and Lyndale avenues.,

The City Council is set to vote on those contracts, but two proposed events — for Franklin Avenue and Northeast’s Central Avenue — did not have organizers as of Thursday. City spokesperson Greta Bergstrom said no one bid for the Northeast event, and that an organization bid for Franklin, but then pulled out.

Our Streets Executive Director Jose Zayas Cabán said his group applied and was awarded the Franklin event. But then they asked for more money for planning efforts than was in the contract. The city said no, Zayas Cabán said, so Our Streets did not take the contract.

Bergstrom said Minneapolis will put out a new request for proposals in hopes of reviving the Open Streets events on Franklin and Central avenues.

The city did not propose Open Streets for Cedar-Riverside, E. Lake Street or Glenwood, where Our Streets held events last summer.

Zayas Cabán said his group wonders if there’s enough time for organizers to set up Open Streets events at all.

“They are really, really behind, based on our experience,” he said.

Last year, Our Streets announced the schedule for its events in February, with the first Open Streets held in June.

This year, Bergstrom said, the events will be in August and September: Lyndale on Aug. 24, W. Broadway on Sept. 21, and Nicollet on Sept. 28, pending the council’s approval.

The W. Broadway event will be put on by the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition, which has partnered with Our Streets in recent years.

The coalition’s executive director, Kristel Porter, said it’s going to be tough to pull off a big event with relatively little time. Her group will need to recruit volunteers and vendors and pull in enough sponsors to cover what she anticipates will be more than $100,000 in costs.

“It’s going to take a long time and that’s a problem,” she said. And because the coalition has experience co-hosting Open Streets events, Porter said it’s going to be easier for her group than for others new to holding big events.

“I don’t know how it’s going to work for others, to be honest,” she said.

But Porter is hopeful. The neighborhood groups that will now be responsible for Open Streets could find ways to partner with smaller groups in their areas, and deepen local partnerships.

“This is actually an opportunity for community to come together and make something better than it was before.”

Staff writer Dave Orrick contributed to this story.