🤖 Silence, robot

Silence, Robot!

Your neighbor’s choice to take out the leaf blower at 8 a.m. might be annoying, but it’s also allowed under city rules. MinnPost’s Trevor Mitchell reports that regulating noise pollution is tough for the city, and different noises fall under different jurisdictions. This perennial problem was underscored by a unanimous Minneapolis City Council vote last week to amend the noise ordinance. The law was updated to clarify that motion-detecting devices, like Ring cameras, can’t be heard beyond the property where the camera is located. For example, a Ring camera can’t yell “you’re being recorded!” at a pedestrian walking by on the sidewalk.
[🎧 City Cast Twin Cities / MinnPost]

• Who you gonna call?: “ People were saying, 'I am hearing this dozens, hundreds of times a day,'” Mitchell said, referencing the noise made by Ring and other motion-detecting devices. 
  "Somebody's walking by on the sidewalk, and it's constantly going off and ringing and ringing and ringing.” But most sound violations are hard to enforce, partly because you need to know who to call. Loud car or leaf-blower? Call 311, but they’re only open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Loud music? Call 911. But a noisy garbage truck is actually a call to Business Licenses and Consumer Services.
  [🎧 City Cast Twin Cities]

Don’t touch bats: The Minnesota Department of Health has identified the woman seen on camera picking up a bat on a North Loop sidewalk. The animal later tested positive for rabies, which led the MDH to put up posters in search of the woman. According to the MDH, she was trying to help an animal in distress. [KARE 11]

Questions, unanswered: The latest in strong mayor governance? Mayor Jacob Frey has seemingly issued an edict limiting the amount of time city staffers spend in City Council meetings. Notably, the mayor barred Minneapolis Police Department reps from going to a meeting last week focused on $21 million in MPD overspending. Frey argued he didn’t want staffers sitting in council chambers for “hours on end.” [Star Tribune]

Skyscraper views: Downtown Minneapolis may never be what it once was, at least not anytime soon. The Star Tribune’s Katie Galioto reports that 2.7 million square feet of office space downtown is being converted into something else, and the big push is for more housing. While a one-bedroom for $1,102 in a once-buzzy area might seem tantalizing, some critique the perceived slow progress on revitalizing downtown. Former government guy Ron Way took aim at the mayor for a lack of follow-through in an op-ed. “Downtown recovery is like a wandering horse that can’t find the barn,” Way writes. “Time to saddle the pony, but who’s the rider?” [Star Tribune / Minnesota Reformer]

Dig in: Three years since Minnesota adopted universal school meals, the results are in. More students are eating at school, especially breakfast. Before, about 34% of students who didn’t qualify for free and reduced lunch were skipping meals. The Minnesota Department of Education also estimates families are saving $1,000 per year per student. [MPR News]

Pushback: Parents of Minneapolis Public Schools students are speaking out against proposed school closures. Some worry about the impact on the neighborhood as a whole, fearing a drop in home values and business closures. Parents protested in front of Loring Elementary School earlier this week, one of the schools slated for closure. [KSTP / CBS Minnesota]

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