After two years of community push for an art walk on Central Avenue, over 1,000 letters were sent to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) in support of the art walk. A committee formed by the Arts District spent a year walking down Central; these walks were attended by hundreds of community members. During these walks, residents discussed potential logistics for the project.
So far, MnDOT’s correspondence with art walk advocates has left many individuals uncertain the department’s commitment to the project.
On Sept. 1, MnDOT’s Visual Quality Advisory Committee (VQAC) met for the second time to discuss the planned reconstruction. The project is slated for 2028-30.
This meeting came after a unanimous Aug. 27 vote by the Minneapolis City Council calling for MnDOT to adopt the art walk concept as part of the Central Avenue municipal consent vote. The excerpt from the municipal consent document reads in part:
“The City of Minneapolis strongly supports the Art Walk Concept and requests MnDOT to acknowledge that this part of Central Avenue is not a highway but a dense urban arts district, and that they will include Northeast Minneapolis residents and artist communities in the Corridor-Wide Visual Quality Advisory Committee to ensure direct input from the Northeast Arts District community in the development of the visual quality manual.”
The Arts District is not asking for money. They are not asking to sacrifice parking, or to remove any elements introduced on MnDOT’s plan from 2024. Instead, the Arts District is asking for the lines to be adjusted to accommodate public art, something some members of this community have discussed since the 2008 Small Area Plan for Central Avenue. More than 500 artists/small businesses work in art buildings on Central Avenue; to date, MnDOT officials have not reached out to the members of the Arts District to discuss or collaborate.
The Central Avenue Art Walk committee has worked with artist Jeff Harrison to help visualize what the Art Walk could look like on Central Avenue. “Breeze,” an existing sculpture by Foster Willey, reimagined in front of the Wells Fargo building on Central Avenue. (Jeff Harrison)
The VQAC meeting
Seth Stattmiller, who co-operates Recovery Bike Shop, and Jake Bertram and Erin Kayser, representing the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association (HNIA), are members of the VQAC.
The VQAC meetings have been attended by more than 15 MnDOT staff members, consultants and other government employees. By contrast, nine community members were in attendance.
When asked about HNIA’s goals in the VQAC, Bertram said, “VQAC is not a comprehensive review of the project. For example, it’s not a review of where MnDOT is going to have stops, though it might discuss what the stops might look like. It is a useful process focused on beautification, painted benches, trash cans, sidewalk design, etc. But that process has not involved review of any concepts that include what we would consider an art walk. We are not sure if MnDOT has even asked their design consultants to develop those concepts in the first place.”
Kayser said MnDOT “are being too careful about what impact VQAC could have.” MnDOT has provided seven categories for its work: boulevard treatment, lighting, landscape, pavement treatment, wayfinding and signage, median enhancements and art opportunities. At the VQAC meeting, MnDOT officials asked the group to select a 4′-by-8′ spot on Central Avenue where art might be placed MnDOT officials spoke about the results of a prioritization survey: in the development, they would prioritize lighting, boulevard, striping and stamped pavement. Officials also discussed whether stamped pavement would be considered art.
Graphic of “Max Rabitat” by Mary Johnson placed in front of the US Bank location on Central Avenue. (Jeff Harrison)
The options
When hearing the options presented and how MnDOT achieves community consent, some community members have been left with the impression MnDOT is not keen on accommodating neighborhoods along the corridor.
To some community members, the options they want have never been on the table. Stattmiller said, “MnDOT will point to all of these engagement sessions and presentations and email notices and then claim these as evidence of listening. In reality, the plan they presented two years ago has remained almost entirely unchanged.”
At the VQAC meeting, a MnDOT representative said, “You can have an art walk in this one spot.”
Stattmiller said, “That is not an art walk. That is an art spot. Municipal Consent approved an art walk and MnDOT is essentially saying no.”
The next VQAC meeting will not happen until the next round of drawings. “They are stonewalling,” Stattmiller said. “MnDOT will not commit to action steps. MnDOT is offering to find common ground — as long as it is MnDOT’s ground.” The committee was asked not to name the MnDOT representatives present at the meeting.
It appears many members of the VQAC believe MnDOT is not serious about making the Art Walk a reality. According to some members of the VQAC, it’s worth asking: If taxpayers pay for the Central Avenue reconstruction, what triggers need to be in place to ensure the community gets the tools it needs to make its commercial nodes successful?
The Minnesota government should be going out of their way to work with a group that is excited to create an asset like this for our city and our state. An art walk would foster economic growth as a destination, mitigate crime, inspire our neighborhoods and calm traffic on a busy corridor. Arts District representatives would expect MnDOT would welcome the opportunity to come to the table to collaborate and create a positive impact with their work. Learn more at https://www.northeastminneapolisartsdistrict.org.