Minneapolis This Week: Transit Cuts, Heat Relief Sites, and a Midtown Corridor Vote

Minneapolis headed into the Fourth of July weekend grappling with three overlapping crises: a Metro Transit board vote that will shrink bus service on 14 routes beginning August 3, a heat emergency that sent hundreds of residents to city-run cooling centers, and a contentious City Council decision on the future of the Midtown Greenway corridor that drew hundreds of residents to City Hall on Tuesday night.

The convergence matters because each story touches the same pressure point — who gets access to what, and how fast the city can respond when multiple systems strain at once. Minneapolis Public Works reported temperatures hitting 101 degrees Fahrenheit on July 1, the hottest recorded July 1 temperature at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport since 1988. Against that backdrop, the announcement of bus cuts landed especially hard in neighborhoods where residents depend on public transit to reach those same cooling centers.

Transit Cuts and the Heat Gap

The Metro Transit board approved a $34 million operating shortfall reduction plan on June 30, trimming frequency on routes including the 5 (Fremont Avenue North to downtown), the 18 (East Lake Street), and the 21 (Franklin Avenue), all corridors running through low-income and majority-renter neighborhoods. Weekend service on Route 21, which connects Phillips and Whittier to downtown, will drop from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes starting in August. Advocates from the Transit for All MN coalition rallied outside the Metro Transit headquarters on 5th Street South before the vote, collecting more than 1,200 petition signatures in 72 hours.

The timing collided directly with the heat emergency. Hennepin County activated eight cooling centers across Minneapolis on July 1, including sites at the North Regional Library on Webber Parkway, the Brian Coyle Community Center in Cedar-Riverside, and the Midtown Global Market on East Lake Street. Hennepin County Emergency Management logged over 430 resident check-ins across all sites on Tuesday alone, its highest single-day cooling center count since the July 2021 heat dome. Getting to those locations without a car, on a route now running half as often, is not an abstract concern for the roughly 27 percent of Minneapolis households that the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey identified as car-free.

Greenway Corridor Decision Splits the Council

The City Council voted 8 to 5 Wednesday to advance the Midtown Greenway Light Rail Extension feasibility study into a full environmental review, allocating $2.1 million from the city's Capital Improvement Budget. The vote was closer than planners had anticipated. Three council members representing Longfellow, Seward, and Powderhorn Park neighborhoods backed the study; two representing the near-north side voted no, arguing the money should address more immediate infrastructure needs, including deteriorating pavement on Penn Avenue North between Plymouth and Lowry avenues.

The Greenway debate has simmered since 2023, when the Met Council removed the corridor from its 2040 transit plan pending funding certainty. Supporters point to the 13-mile former rail cut running from the Chain of Lakes to the Hiawatha light rail station as one of the few shovel-ready alignments left in the city. Opponents say the environmental review, expected to take 18 to 24 months, delays concrete improvements residents can use now.

Elsewhere this week, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board confirmed that all 22 wading pools operated by MPRB will open by July 5, two days later than the original June 28 target because of a staffing shortage affecting aquatics positions citywide. The board is offering a $500 hiring bonus for lifeguards willing to commit through Labor Day — a program that drew 60 applicants in its first week. Logan Park and Farview Park pools are among the sites expected to open by the holiday weekend.

Residents looking to stay cool, track the Route 21 service change timeline, or submit comments on the Greenway environmental review can visit minneapolismn.gov or call 311, which extended its hours to 7 a.m.–10 p.m. through July 6. The next Metro Transit board meeting is scheduled for August 12 at its downtown Minneapolis headquarters, where public comment on the August service changes will be accepted.