Where the Bike Lane Ends and the Drug Market Begins…

There’s a place where the bike lane ends, and the drug market begins…

By Dan Orban

Last month the city built a brand new protected bike lane down 24th Street between Portland and Cedar Avenue through the Phillips Neighborhood. This story isn’t about the money spent, the concerns of winter snow removal, the lack of use, or future traffic problems. I’m concerned about the city’s priorities. You see, the bike path ends in an open air drug market at the intersection of Cedar and Hiawatha. Why are we building expensive bike lanes instead of focusing on people who are struggling on the streets? Why do we refuse to protect public spaces and cause entire neighborhoods to experience public safety and accessibility issues?

I’ll describe the problem. At the end of the new bike lane, you have two options as a biker or a pedestrian. First, you could walk or ride your bike over the 24th street pedestrian bridge through open drug dealing, drug usage, needles, refuse, and illegal activities. Fortunately, the city cleans this bridge once every two weeks, but the next day it is covered in needles, foil, trash, and drugs. The drug activity is dense and it blocks the path on the west side of the bridge.

A second option is to walk or bike on the road, as suggested by several detour signs put up over the summer. Fences block the sidewalks to keep drug dealing from happening under Hiawatha. After walking on the road, pedestrians then need to stroll through another open air drug market under the Light Rail bridge. I’ve seen many people take this dangerous route, including a woman with kids. Unfortunately, this has led to at least one pedestrian death involving vehicular traffic. This is unsurprising because in some cities, up to 70% of pedestrian deaths have been people living outside in camps.  I do not understand how the city could recommend walking on the road as the detour.

There are better solutions than spending thousands of dollars futilely cleaning the bike path every two weeks. We must protect these public spaces. Open air drug dealing, public drug usage, and human trafficking leads to crime, oppression, overdoses, and death. It is not healthy for neighborhood residents or for those participating in drug related activities. We must follow policies and create ordinances that do not allow drug markets. Fentanyl addiction eventually leads to death, so why are we encouraging drug dealers to take advantage of people who are struggling? All of this is in the open for our kids to watch!

Fixing the problem requires prioritizing social work, low barrier shelters, and drug treatment programs. Short term solutions include medicated assisted treatment. Then people can gain autonomy and start a path towards recovery, job training, and long term culturally specific programs.

I’ve reached out to several champions of bike lanes and public transportation. If this happened in a nicer part of town, perhaps people would care more. Unfortunately, the public safety and accessibility issues do not appear to be a high priority to the local transportation experts. As residents of Phillips, we often feel forgotten and unimportant. Why should the city care about some of the poorest residents in Minneapolis? These are the residents of Minneapolis who often cannot afford a car. Many of us rely on walking, biking, or public transit. We are the people who would benefit from practical bike lanes. Those who say bikes are the answer, should be consistent in their message, especially concerning Phillips Neighborhood. However, instead of protecting our public spaces, keeping residents safe, and working on practical transit options, the city spent money to build an expensive bike lane to a drug market.

Dan Orban is running for City Council in Ward 9