Email sent on November 26th, 2025, to Mayor Jacob Frey, Council Member Aisha Chughtai
Author: Kevin Norman
Hello City Leaders,
My name is Kevin Norman, and I live in South Uptown. I’m writing because I care deeply about Minneapolis and the people who call this city home. I’m a progressive resident who believes in systemic solutions for addiction, housing, and public health. I also believe that a city can hold compassion and accountability at the same time.
Right now, Hennepin Avenue isn’t reflecting either.
With Hennepin now fully open, the level of open drug use, visible addiction, and daily disorder is easier to find than ever. I walk this corridor often, and it’s heartbreaking for the people who are struggling and discouraging for the residents, families, and businesses who depend on this street being safe and welcoming.
I’ve seen what happens when cities fail to intervene. I lived in Oakland, California for ten years before moving to Minneapolis three years ago. Oakland is a city I care about, but it became an example of how hands-off policies on public drug use and street disorder create conditions where no one thrives. Minneapolis has an opportunity to avoid that trajectory, but only if we act with urgency.
I support long-term investments in housing, mental health, and treatment. Systemic change matters. But while we work on those long-term solutions, we can’t allow a major commercial corridor to deteriorate to the point where people avoid it entirely. Hennepin Avenue cannot revitalize if residents, visitors, and families simply don’t feel safe walking it. And businesses cannot be expected to invest or stay anchored here when the street environment feels unmanaged.
I’m asking for immediate, concrete steps to restore dignity and safety on Hennepin. That could include more consistent outreach presence, stricter response to open drug use, increased coordination with business owners, or a rapid-response approach to addressing street-level disorder. Something has to change soon. The status quo isn’t working for anyone, including those struggling with addiction.
At this point, there is already an informal boycott happening on Hennepin. People are avoiding the corridor not because they want to, but because the conditions make them feel unsafe. You don’t need an organized effort for a boycott — it’s happening naturally as a result of the current state of the street. And that’s exactly what I’m hoping we can prevent from becoming permanent.
I’ve included a few Hennepin area businesses that I frequent here for visibility. They’re already feeling the impact of people avoiding the corridor, and their voice is essential in any conversation about restoring safety and vibrancy.
I’d be happy to discuss in person. I love this neighborhood, and I want to see Hennepin Avenue become a thriving part of our community again.
Sincerely,
Kevin Norman, Minneapolis
Thank you Kevin for your initial email to our elected officials and small business owners about the open drug use happening on our streets especially being hit hard is Hennepin Avenue daily. I also appreciate your follow up responses to those who are reading your email for the first time and are commenting on your thoughtful insigts here in the Minneapolis Times. Showing up and being part of the solution can be a thankless task but big numbers make for lighter work. We must all keep showing up as you suggested and be part of the solution.
I truly appreciate your email to our elected officials and am grateful that the Minneapolis Times shared it with the greater community. Onward and Upwards we go. Together we can accomplish big things.
This weekends successful events at Seven Points mall show that when our strong community shows up wonderful things can and will continue to happen. Check out Holidays on Hennepin website and show your support for Uptown by visiting the small businesses who have decorated for the holiday season and are participating in Holidays on Hennepin.
The Uptown Association and Minneapolis Rotary will again be selling Christmas Trees at Seven Points mulch lot this upcoming weekend, December 14-15th. They are beautiful 6′ to 9′ trees if you need a tree consider purchasing from this community supported event.
Kevin it was great meeting you and your wife this weekend at the Holiday Market – take care and keep in touch – Judy L.
A fair question I have heard posed is, how do you define a progressive? I bet it takes in a wide swath of unspoken self images. I think it is a term that people like to be called. Who wouldn’t want to be “progressive”? I don’t call myself a progressive, though in the essential sense of the word, I probably am. To me, progressive suggests elected and other political leadership that knows what is best for us and doesn’t need to listen. That is unfortunate, as I find myself identifying with pragmatic moderates, that I believe have more potential to create progress.
Kevin’s first problem is that he’s a progressive. Progressive policy is what he’s complaining about. Welcome to Minneapolis, dude. Want things to change? Start voting less progressive.
And does Aisha Chughtai still live in her ward? Last I heard, she essentially lives with her significant other, outside of her ward, and her residence on paper is just to make it seem like she lives in her ward. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t care about anyone there. They’re not her neighbors.
Sandwich I know some people will jump to the “this is all progressive policy” argument, but we don’t need to fit everything into a partisan box. I’ve lived in multiple cities and I’ve seen both left-leaning and right-leaning governments struggle with the exact same issues when they don’t manage street-level disorder well. This isn’t a one-party failure. It’s a basic governance failure.
I’m progressive because I believe in long-term investments in housing, mental health, and treatment, but I also believe a city has to keep public spaces safe and functional in the meantime. Those things aren’t contradictory. They’re both necessary.
Where Aisha lives isn’t the issue for me. My frustration is based on my actual experience as a constituent — she hasn’t responded to my emails and the current state of Uptown speaks for itself. I didn’t vote for her for those reasons. If an elected official won’t engage with residents, that’s a deal-breaker for me regardless of their policy positions. The only way to earn back trust is by showing up, communicating, and taking action on issues like this if she chooses to run again.
I’m also curious what you’re doing with your own frustration with city leadership. A lot of folks are upset, but despairing because our preferred candidate didn’t win doesn’t move anything forward. We can push the people who did get elected to do their jobs. That’s why I’m speaking up and documenting what I see. If enough of us do that, it becomes harder for the city to ignore.
“Sandwich I know some people will jump to the “this is all progressive policy” argument, but we don’t need to fit everything into a partisan box.” –> Agreed and thank you.
I hear ya Kevin. What blocks of Hennepin do you think have the worst problems of drug use and street level disorder? When I’m on Hennepin it is mostly around the 22xx, 23xx, 24xx blocks. I don’t see every block by any means. Thanks, Doug
Dougthomson thanks for the thoughtful question — keep traveling south — Seven Points area is a hotspot. Also Lyn-Lake area.
I hear you, Buzzmann. I’m frustrated too. I’ve emailed Aisha several times without a response, which has been discouraging. But I’m still determined to see the situation on Hennepin improve, because the people and businesses here deserve better.
Regardless of how disappointed we are with how things have been handled, we need more people pushing together instead of venting on our own.
A few things us residents can do that will make a difference:
• Document what we’re seeing and send it to the city consistently.
• Loop in our neighborhood associations and business owners so this becomes a coordinated concern.
• Push for timelines and commitments instead of vague promises.
• Show up at public meetings and speak during open comment, where it’s formally recorded.
• Contact council members directly. All their emails are listed here: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/
I’m not giving up because I want to see Hennepin become a safe, livable stretch again. I’m ready to work with anyone including the people I’m frustrated with if that’s what it takes to get real improvements.
Let’s do it together.
I would add to this: keep Minneapolis Times in the loop. This is a topic of focus for us.
For sure David!
What a shock ? Aisha Chugthai has done nothing for uptown since being elected. F#%k Frye and eat the rich are her rallying cries. Unbelievably she has been elected once more by people who buy into her bs about rent control 20 an hour minimum wages and many other fairytales that cannot be achieved especially as her policies have driven businesses out of uptown leaving an even smaller pool of tax dollars to fund needed city services. She’s a joke and unfortunately uptown suffers. Her high school education and lack of meaningful work experience don’t help. She just doesn’t get it and I’m not sure the people who voted for her do either. She’s not suffering with her 100k plus salary and while she hasn’t been eating the rich she clearly hasn’t walked away from the buffet table. She calls herself a socialist but lives like a capitalist. A sucker born every minute. Unfortunately many of them live in ward 10
You nailed it. Add me to the seemingly endless list of people to whom Aisha won’t respond–nearly 4 years, now. She’s an activist–NOT a CC member. She has no business on the council–yet young renters buy into her fantasy and vote for her. Now for the kicker: Today the CC votes on a pay raise for themselves. They already get (not earn) $109,00 per year, plus benefits. Sadly, there’s no accountability–other than to issue a recall petition–I think. Ward 10 ‘s in a sad state of affairs. I so hoped Lydia Millard would have won the election. What has become of Ward 10??
Thank you Kevin Norman for this post.