Thank you so much Laura!! The feeling is mutual!

Thanks for sharing! Here’s the video of CM Wonsley’s response & more clips from the meeting ⬇️

You can take action here by contacting project decision makers to demand that MnDOT stop shutting community members and their elected officials out of the Rethinking I-94 process 🔽
actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

One final Rethinking I-94 PAC meeting clip:
MnDOT Metro District Engineer Khani Sahebjam spoke about the generational mistake that was made by building I-94 through a city and the work underway now to repair that injustice.
Time will tell if these words are accompanied by action.

Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter was at the Rethinking I-94 PAC meeting, and though he did raise some concerns about traffic, he called on MnDOT to continue to study the at-grade boulevard options. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdoo...

A boulevard would INCREASE total trips while reducing car trips.
Engineer Ian Lockwood discussed this during a 2021 presentation via an equation for vibrant cities:
"We want the number of trips of all types to go up, but we want vehicles miles traveled to go down."
youtu.be/51hGZtOBaio?...

Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley said we get what we build for:
“The idea that the at-grade option is going to displace a bunch of trips all throughout the community, I'm not buying that right now.. these trips exist because the highway is the way it is”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIdU...

Thankfully many PAC members weren't buying it.
Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura:
"I understand that we had a day where there was a bunch of events and a lot of people used the highway.. how do we incentive more people to use public transportation for those types of events?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0dx...

The whole traffic segment felt like a fearmongering tactic to kill momentum for the at-grade boulevard options.
Sloboden wrapped up his presentation by saying "The point of this is to give perspective and a little bit more understanding about the freeway and how important I-94 is to the area."

MnDOT also brought in a Texas-based traffic consultant to talk about "traffic considerations" for Rethinking I-94. Jaimie Sloboden talked a lot about event traffic and made a comparison to Florida and Texas, saying that freeway lanes are needed there for hurricane evacuations. The climate irony 🙃

Council Member Wonsley pushed back on this, and called for community oversight over MnDOT's air quality analysis.