The intersection of Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue is much cleaner and mostly free of public drug users as of early May 2026. In March, community members and business owners had spent their winter trying to get city leaders and the media to pay attention to what they saw as yet another decline in Uptown.
People going through homelessness, open drug use, and the litter that trailed behind seemed to overwhelm an area of Minneapolis that has been fighting for itself for years.
Uptowners had unanswered questions for months. Where was the mayor? Where were the police? Where were the safety community ambassadors the City Council funded in 2024?
Some of these questions were finally being answered.
Uptown safety press conference
The City of Minneapolis held a press conference in front of Walker Library on April 21, 2026 including Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette, and Ward 7 City Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer to discuss safety in Uptown.
Shaffer announced at the press conference that community safety ambassadors were coming to Uptown in November 2026. The announcement came as somewhat of a surprise. She told East Bde Maka Ska residents in March that there was no funding for the ambassador program, per Barnette.
“Our officers are on the street and those that are here doing the night shift and overnight are trying to address livability issues proactively and we’ve seen results,” Barnette said at the press conference. Barnette did not address the conflicting funding information.
Frey confirmed at the press conference that $1 million in 2024 public safety aid is earmarked for the Uptown ambassador program. This is an increase from the $300,000 in public safety aid Ward 10 Aisha Chughtai earmarked for the program back in 2023.
Frey addressed the delay in getting the ambassador program to Uptown, saying it takes “incredible work” to get these programs set up.
“We instituted several programs with great urgency in a very short period of time,” Frey said about community programs dating back to 2020 and 2021. “The reality is that we should have paused a bit longer to get it right.”
According to the City, community safety ambassadors are meant to be a “friendly, visible, and welcoming presence” that share information with people about special events, businesses, and services. They offer support to help people with wellness concerns but will report hazards and emergencies to 311 and 911. They also check-in with local businesses and connect with the community to “build trust, calm tensions, and prevent violence.”
“It does take a while to hire, on board,” Director of Neighborhood Safety Amanda Harrington said during the press conference. “There is a significant amount of training that we want these people to have before they are on the street.” Training includes deescalation, first aid, and NARCAN administration.
Harrington said community engagement about the ambassador program will also happen before November.
Where did everyone go?
Issuing trespassing citations and arrests became a tactic of the Minneapolis Police Department in late February 2026. By the end of March, police had issued a total of 176 trespassing citations and 91 arrests. In April through May 6, police issued 61 trespassing citations and made 39 arrests.
“Complaints related to narcotics activity in Uptown have decreased dramatically,” O’Hara reported at the April press conference. “We’re also seeing fewer repeat individuals driving disorder. That tells us that these strategies, this collective work of residents, business owners, and all of our partners is having an impact.”
It is unclear where the people “driving disorder” went, but another area where unhoused people tend to gather is now being taken care of by a business owner.
“We don’t want to have what happened in Uptown to happen to us,” Basim Sabri, owner of Karmel Mall, said.
He said he saw no changes in the amount of people in the alley behind KFC on Lake Street at Blaisdell Avenue when Uptown was swept.
Sabri erected two fences, blocking off an alley, dubbed “chicken alley” by local police, in early May.
“Nobody in the City took the responsibility to solve the problems that businesses have,” Sabri said. “I’m really fed up.”
He said the fence took care of the problem “immediately.”
“No one is protecting us,” Sabri said. He said he didn’t put the fence up to protect his mall but to protect the children in the apartment building behind KFC where he said children no longer go outside to play.
“I love this neighborhood,” Sabri said. “I don’t just own the mall, I live here.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here