Current Issues and Challenges
As with much of Minneapolis, residents and business owners of Dinkytown have asked the city council to address traffic problems, graffiti, public drunkeness, housing regulations, and snow emergency procedures (1).
In 2007, the University of Minnesota published an executive summary of a longer report, Moving Forward Together: U of M Minneapolis Area Neighborhood Impact Report. Though this report itself does not seem to be online, the summary remains in the Google cache system. Based on Appendix 2 of this report, there are a number of issues affecting Dinkytown — many of these linked to the University of Minnesota.
By the 1980s, the area was already experiencing decline in home ownership, with conversion of single-family units to rental and tear-downs for garden apartment rentals catering to the student market. This trend continues today. The neighborhood has a strong interdependence with the University, but its recent housing
development along the riverfront is responding to renewed market demand spreading out from downtown and the Old Saint Anthony area along Hennepin Avenue E. Business owners in Dinkytown estimate that up to 70% of their customers are either students or visitors coming into the neighborhood for University events.
Minneapolis City Council
Dinkytown is within Ward 3 of Minneapolis. As of 2007, Ward 3 is represented by Diane Hofstede. The ward includes the following neighborhoods:
- Boom Island
- Central Avenue
- Dinkytown
- Farview Park
- Grain Belt Brewery
- Mississippi Riverfront
- Nicollet Island
- West Broadway
The city provides detailed information on Ward 3 on the Minneapolis Web pages. There is also an e-mail newsletter covering issues of interest to residents of Ward 3.
(1) Source: Ward 3 Newsletter issues
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