Among our successes, what particularly stands out:

• Together we have continued to build our ward as a safe, welcoming place and maintained our commitment to keep public safety as our number one priority for the ward.
• Additional housing for our seniors, homeowners, and renters.
• Facing the challenges of the mortgage foreclosure crisis by aggressively punishing those involved in illegal and fraudulent mortgage activity.
• Partnerships with Hennepin County; our state, and federal elected officials; along with for profit and non-profit organizations to develop successful assistance programs for those in need.

My commitment to community engagement is as strong today as it was when I hosted our nine neighborhoods at our first Third Ward Summit on March 4, 2006.

In 2007, the Summit focused on public safety and improved regulatory services; the most recent Summit (October 2008) focused on transportation. At the Summits, we have shared our hopes and dreams, developed priorities for the ward, and outlined our vision for the future of the Third Ward and Minneapolis. Attendees to our Summits have included City Department heads, the City Coordinator, the Mayor’s Office Senior Policy Aide, Hennepin County Commissioners, Park Board, School Board, and Library Board members, and our legislators.

Together, we identified and developed priorities for 2006 and each of the following years.

• Improved public safety in our neighborhoods including additional officers, increased patrol visibility, and community outreach in the Police Departments Second and Fourth Precinct areas of the Third Ward.
• Increased enforcement by the Regulatory Services department in order to deal effectively with livability issues, problem tenants, and problem businesses.

There is still much work to do, but both these priorities have been achieved. In addition, we have increased our joint effectiveness in the city and each neighborhood has had increased leadership and participation. Together we have made the Third Ward the up-and-coming place!

Another outcome of our first summit was the formation of the Third Ward CARE monthly meetings:

• Residents, non-profit organizations, churches, the 2nd and 4th police precincts, the University of Minnesota Police chief, Hennepin County probation officers, Hennepin County attorney’s office, regulatory services, and housing inspections have effectively improved hundreds of problem properties and businesses.
• Businesses using an excessive amount of city resources, as in one case with Wafanas, using $500,000 of city resources in one year, have been closed.

I will continue to focus on expanding economic opportunities through the prudent delivery of regulatory and public safety enforcement.

Over the last three years, four goals have been accomplished:

1. The Above the Falls Plan for improving the upper Mississippi riverfront in North, Northeast, and Southeast Minneapolis
   
   A recommendation from a Blue Ribbon Task Force, which I convened and co-chaired along with John Olsen, President of the Park Board, resulted in the 2007 Minnesota Legislature approving the new non-profit Minneapolis Mississippi Riverfront Corporation, responsible for the upper riverfront and riverfront improvements. As co-chair of this new organization, I will uphold our vision of achieving the Above the Falls Plan and sustain our riverfront for all to enjoy.
   
   
2. In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature, the University of Minnesota and the City of Minneapolis approved the Alliance, fostering a historic new relationship.
   
   Through the Alliance Steering Committee, the City Council passed a zoning moratorium, created innovative programs to increase home ownership, recommended changes in the delivery of city services, increased student involvement in the organization, strengthened our relationship, as well as our communication, with the University of Minnesota and city departments. We are in the process of preparing for our report to the Legislature in 2009.
   
   
3. Proposed neighborhood renovations and improvements.
   
   A proposal to renovate the deteriorating, historic Florence Court, the courtyard homes, and the expansion of the courtyard; development of new apartments creating an improved gateway to Marcy-Holmes, and the University of Minnesota; removal of a polluted gas station site. These are examples of successful collaboration between the developer, the neighborhood, myself, the planning staff, and the historic preservation and planning committees of the city.
   
   
4. The revitalization of West Broadway on the North side in Minneapolis.
   
   The receipt of a $432,000 grant from the City of Minneapolis Great Streets Neighborhood Business District Program with unanimous support from the City Council to build a 70 million dollar 24 hour YWCA and an athletic center, retail, and office complex.