Council NEWS & EVENTS

Metro HRA achieves highest ranking

This is Metro HRA’s 15th straight year earning the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) ranking of High Performer.

Metropolitan Council appoints advisory committee members with broad perspectives and experience

The Metropolitan Council appointed members to eight of its advisory committees who will provide guidance and advice to the Council on its policies and plans.

Support services play critical role in allowing people who have disabilities to live independently

Council Chair calls for state lawmakers to pass transportation bill with real solution for Metro Mobility.

Council makes appointments to two advisory committees

16 members named to Land Use Advisory Committee, and four members named to Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission.

Treatment plants recognized for outstanding permit compliance

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) recognized seven of eight Metropolitan Council wastewater treatment plants.

Steady growth continues in metro area

Metro area population increased 8.8% since 2010, according to U.S. Census

D Line: Centering racial equity and improving people's lives

President of Abbott Northwestern, elected officials and community leaders highlight importance of D Line bus rapid transit (BRT) to businesses, employees, hospital patients, residents and more.

Council’s small business program helps deliver Final Four

For the last year, Met Council staff have been connecting the local organizing committee with small businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans, and people with disabilities.

High-frequency transit attracting more development 

About one-third of the region’s residential multifamily development between 2009 and 2017 happened within a half-mile of current and planned light rail and bus rapid transit stations.

Wastewater treatment staff prepare for spring flooding

The clock has started ticking on flood preparations at the massive Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant on the Mississippi River in Saint Paul.

SWLRT gets critical approval from federal government to begin construction

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) cleared the path for construction to begin on the Southwest Light Rail Transit Project (SWLRT).

Metropolitan Council Chair to Step Down November 30

Council Chair Alene Tchourumoff will pursue a new professional opportunity. Vice Chair Harry Melander will assume the duties of the Chair in the Chair’s absence, until the end of the administration.

Metropolitan Council awards $4.5 million in grants to support affordable housing development

The grants are expected to support the creation of more than 650 housing units affordable to low- and very low-income residents and important connections to jobs and services.

Metropolitan Council launches major travel behavior survey

Thousands of households are expected to participate using smartphones — a first for the region.

Apprentice Program to help fill Metro Transit driver shortage

Metro Transit will participate in the Minnesota Apprenticeship initiative, which will bring on as many as 200 new employees in the coming years.

Council receives loan to finance wastewater treatment capital improvement projects

$45 million loan from the Minnesota Clean Water Revolving Fund will finance multiple wastewater treatment plant and interceptor sewer system capital improvement projects in 2018-2019.

New report shows population and household growth in the Twin Cities metro outpaces available housing

The Twin Cities is facing a critical housing shortage as the population increases. In addition to needing more housing supply, demographics are increasing the need for more diverse housing.

Fuhrmann leaves passenger rail legacy for generations to come

Leaders at Metro Transit and Metropolitan Council recognize Fuhrmann as the person responsible for the region’s 62 miles of passenger rail (40 miles for Northstar and 22 for LRT).

Met Council expands opportunities available to minority businesses

By expanding its criteria to include other certifications recognized by the State and other regional governments, the Council will increase the number of businesses it works with to 2,800. 

Transit leaders break ground on $25 million renovation to Mall of America transit center

Upgrades to state's busiest transit hub will provide safer, more efficient experience for thousands of daily customers

2019 wastewater customer budget workshops

A workshop for local government customers to share preliminary 2020 rate information and more.

Upcoming Council and Committee meetings

The Council and its committees meet regularly most months.  Find information on all upcoming Council and Committee meetings.   

Can manufactured homes help the housing crisis?

FastCompany.com

Tiny houses get all the attention, but mobile homes–despite the stigma–are already a huge part of the country’s housing, and could have a bigger part to play. 

Explaining the multifamily housing boom in the Twin Cities suburbs. (Yes, there is one.)

MinnPost

Increasingly, suburbs around the country are making room for a different kind of development: multi-family homes: Apartments, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.

St. Paul would get new wastewater incinerator under $150 million proposal

TwinCities.com Pioneer Press

As the metro grows, so does the amount of its poop. And that means a major wastewater plant along the Mississippi River in St. Paul needs to grow as well, to burn heavier volumes of solid waste.

Metro Transit works to provide commuters options in wake of construction

Star Tribune

Metro Transit increased service by 40 percent, with additional park-and-rides and expanded trip times, and partnered with the city and MnDOT on creating transit advantages, like bus-only lanes..

Met Council Partners with Xcel to Operate on 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2040

KSTP-TV

Xcel Energy and the Metropolitan Council announced Friday a commitment to allow the council to operate on 100 percent renewable energy by 2040.

Lake Elmo neighbors are nearly 6 decades apart in age, but united in their care for a murky backyard pond

TwinCities.com Pioneer Press

The two are among 113 volunteers metrowide who check the health of lakes and rivers for the Metropolitan Council. They have become friends, in the process of befriending the pond.

The numbers don't lie: Twin Cities needs more housing

Star Tribune

Construction hit the average last year, but dwellings in the region are far below the projected population growth. 

Shortchange transit, shortchange growth

Star Tribune

Every world-class city has a world-class transit system, something peer regions like Seattle, Denver and even Dallas in deep-red Texas acknowledge as they invest more rapidly than the Twin Cities.
 

Minneapolis is growing at its fastest rate since 1950

MinnPost

Last week, Mayor Jacob Frey announced a goal to fund $50 million on housing projects in Minneapolis to address an affordable housing crisis in a city “growing faster that it has since 1950.”

Met Council explores treating, reusing wastewater in SE metro

MPRNews.org

The Metropolitan Council is asking the public to weigh in on a preliminary proposal to treat wastewater in the southeast Twin Cities metro area so it could be reused by a waste-to-biofuel plant.