Short and quick: Come join Hennepin For People for a Mass Ride on Saturday September 18th, meeting at 4pm at Smith Triangle Park (by Temple Israel at 24th and Hennepin). There will be a decorating station if you want to make your ride flashier for the ride, the group will make one or two laps (depending on time) of the whole corridor, and end at the Greenway to connect with other Greenway Glow events. All ages and abilities welcome. Reach out to Hennepin For People if you want to help with the logistics of the event (corks, mechanics, decorators, etc.). Bring a friend or five!
If you like a bit of narrative: The Hennepin Ave S reconstruction project has been written about here on streets.mn for several years now as the concepts and designs have worked their way through a litany of public events and listening sessions. Streets writers have shared their visions, concerns, hopes, and generally pointed out the need for the City of Minneapolis to follow its own policies.
A central theme has come up throughout all of the engagement and comments for this project: Hennepin Ave should be a street FOR PEOPLE. With that in mind, a group of neighbors along the corridor came together and formed the group Hennepin For People. They have collected hundreds of comments in support of a dedicated bus lane and protected bike lane on the corridor, canvassed businesses, and recently held an action event including supportive local politicians and candidates (it even got a shoutout in one of the inaugural Racket posts).
This Saturday, September 18th, Hennepin For People is hosting a Mass Ride event as part of the Greenway Glow festival. All ages and abilities are welcome. Bike, scoot, skate, or roll. There will be a decorating station to have some fun with your ride. To make sure that support is being shown to the proposed dedicated bus lanes, there will also be bus themed decorations.
Bring a friend (or five!) and show your support for safety and accessibility for all on Hennepin Ave! If you are interested in helping with the ride in any fashion (set up/clean up, being a traffic blocking cork to support the safety of the ride, bike mechanic for day-of snags, defense vehicle behind the ride, or anything else you can think of), reach out to Hennepin For People at [email protected]. Hope to see you there!
