MINNEAPOLIS — Roads in Dinkytown are back open — for now — following a series of weekend road closures in the name of public safety.
The Dinkytown Safety and Pedestrian Access Pilot Program, which will continue during the next two weekends near the University of Minnesota, is an effort to deter recent crime, reduce violence and curb reckless driving that has plagued the area popular with students.
The program closes streets to create two pedestrian zones. The first is on 5th Street Southeast between 13th and 14th Avenues. The second is on 14th Avenue Southeast between 4th and 5th Streets. The closures start at 4 p.m. on Thursdays through 10 a.m. on Sundays. They will continue for the next two weekends.
After the first set of closures this weekend, the effectiveness of the effort is already generating debate from businesses and residents who saw mixed results.
"We're a takeout place, so we have people lining up outside and waiting for their food outside and then these blocks are in the middle of their way," said Chang Yoo, owner of CrunCheese Korean Hot Dog, who pointed to giant concrete blocks that remained on Tuesday, despite the road being back open during the week.
As the owner of a business directly impacted by recent crime, Yoo says he appreciated that 14th Avenue was free from the reckless driving and violence he's witnessed this summer, but he has mixed feelings about a street closure that lasts through his busiest days.
"I think it's slowed business down a little bit, but I would still prefer to feel safer from crime and stuff," Yoo said. "I don't mind having it blocked, but I wish they could do something better."
At Crisp & Green, which was in the middle of the closure on 14th Avenue, general manager Lexy Race also said she noticed a similar trade-off between safety and her bottom line.
"We might have had a small decrease in sales but nothing super substantial," Race said. "But when I would leave around 10 p.m., it did feel safer."
But according to some of those who live in the area, that cutoff is critical.
"The problem is after 10 p.m.," said Keyah Mizer, who lives just a block away from the road closures.
Mizer and her friend, Maggie Maloney, say the road blocks actually seemed to make the problem worse when large crowds began to gather after dark. Nearby bars, including Burrito Loco, which just reopened following a shooting outside in July, also expressed frustration that the closures seemed to simply shift the problem.
"Now it's just so much chaos condensed in a block," Mizer said. "It's at the point now where it's like, do you go outside after 10 when it's dark and potentially get in danger? It's just not worth it and sad when we all just want to enjoy our campus."
Though the closures might need some shifting, Tom Fisher, a professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Design, says the strategy can often be an effective tool to enhance public safety, especially when patrol staff is limited.
"This is a technique called tactical urbanism and the idea is that you try things at a very low-cost, low-risk way to see if it improves a situation," Fisher said.
Fisher says closing streets can make it harder for criminals to get around, while increasing the number of pedestrians, which can both help deter crime. The strategy has appeared to be working in cutting down on racing and reckless driving the in Minneapolis Mill District this summer, but it doesn't mean it will work in Dinkytown.
"All they really did was move the issue farther down to on-campus housing," Mizer said.
"And it's really not the side streets," Maloney said. "It's the main streets like University and 4th Avenues."
"Sometimes crime just moves — that if you take care of it one place, it just goes somewhere else," Fisher said. "And so it might mean that, in addition to closing some streets, you also have to patrol some other places more heavily and also start to anticipate where these crimes are."
And that's where student and business input comes in.
"Frequently, we find that communities have some of the best ideas," Fisher said. "So being open to suggestions by the community is important. Also, the community is a big part of crime prevention."
It's a community effort that Mizer and Maloney say they are both going to be more engaged with moving forward.
"We could do our part better, of showing up to those meetings and speaking," Mizer said. "I think it's just never something I thought I'd have to advocate for so hard. But I guess it is."
Andria Waclawski, assistant director of public relations for the University of Minnesota, issued the following statement in response to the questions and concerns about the status of the road closures and how the the pilot program will be assessed:
"The goal was to start this pilot as soon as possible in the continued effort to address ongoing safety concerns. With staffing challenges facing both MPD (which has jurisdiction of these blocks) and UMPD, the aim was to be creative and try new ideas. The street closures are set to run from 4 p.m. Thursdays through 10 a.m. Sundays, with the last day being Sunday, August 14.
From the perspective of the university’s Strategic Safety Advisory Committee, success of this pilot will be considered by looking at comparative data around emergency response calls, SAFE-U Alerts and feedback from MPD, as well as UMPD, and of course, input from Dinkytown businesses and local residents.
"The shared goal of everyone invested in public safety in the Dinkytown area and neighborhoods near campus is to do what we can to keep our community safe. Support and patience are appreciated as we undertake this pilot project, assess the results, and continue collaboration with community partners."
The Pilot Program is one of 26 safety changes recommended in an action update from the university’s Strategic Safety Advisory Committee.
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