MINNEAPOLIS — The future of Open Streets, a popular Minneapolis summer series, could be in question after this summer.
On Monday, it was announced that there was a "mutual agreement" to end the partnership between the city and Our Streets, the nonprofit that organizes the series each summer. The city will continue to help throughout the remainder of 2023, which includes two more events — Open Streets West Broadway on Sept. 16 and Open Streets Lyndale on Oct. 8.
Open Streets, which has been around since 2011, shuts down an urban street for an afternoon to allow people an opportunity to walk, bike and socialize on the block. It's often accompanied by art, music and food, and has drawn thousands of people to a single event. According to a spokesperson for the city, Minneapolis' current contract of $0 has come to an end.
"Public Works will continue to work with Our Streets Minneapolis through the 2023 Open Streets season, after which that current contract will end," Sarah McKenzie, spokesperson for the City of Minneapolis, said in a statement. "By mutual agreement, the City and Our Streets will not be extending the current contract for Open Streets events for 2024. Public Works is committed to supporting the Open Streets Program through this transition and looks forward to the future of the Open Streets Program as it continues to evolve. The City welcomes an event organizer to advance the Open Streets Program in 2024, and beyond."
McKenzie said the city is also planning to launch a new event series in 2024 "to advance the goals of the City's Transportation Action Plan," which includes more walking, biking and transit by 2030.
"This new event series is not intended to replace the Open Streets program," McKenzie said in a statement. "The Open Street Program launched in 2011 and has evolved over time; Open Streets are much-loved events that function as a street fair focused on community organizing and business development opportunities. The City values the Open Streets Program and hopes that both types of events co-exist in the future."
However, Jose Zayas Caban, Open Streets Executive Director, said the program is in doubt without help from the city.
"Transportation Action Plan prioritizes racial and class equity, so if the financial burden remains with Our Street Minneapolis or any other organization that wants to do an Open Streets event, that is a way of taking the oxygen out of the program and effectively ending it because it puts the burden on the community to raise the money for the event," said Zayas Caban. "It also creates a class disparity issue where wealthier communities that are better resourced might have better access to do something like that where the communities we serve couldn’t imagine doing it with their own resources."
Our Streets presented a budget request to the city for nearly $850,000 back for next year's five events, but the city never agreed.
"When you come to an Open Streets event, there is a reason why they are so busy and they are so rich and diverse and interesting," said Zayas Caban. "That’s a staff person doing unpaid labor for the City of Minneapolis going around the city in an unsustainable way trying to build all these partnerships."
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