9-14-2024 7:18pm

Brooklyn Park To Hold Light Rail Municipal Consent Vote On Sept. 23

Tom Akaolisa Editor

Brooklyn Park To Hold Light Rail Municipal Consent Vote On Sept. 23

The Brooklyn Park City Council has scheduled a date for its municipal consent vote on the Blue Line Extension light rail project.

The city council plans to vote Sept. 23.

There is no provision for a city to stop the overall project. That power rests with the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County.

Brooklyn Park’s vote is strictly on how council members view the project’s design. A no vote would trigger a hearing with the Metropolitan Council to go over design concerns.

During the Sept. 9 city council meeting this week, some residents raised crime concerns with light rail, calling attention to problems with existing transit lines. Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston addressed those concerns.

“I assure you, light rail comes, our city is going to be very active in that, and we’re going to have a huge say in terms of how that’s addressed,” said Winston. “We’re going to be very aggressive with that because we know how important it is.”

Of the 12 stations planned for the 13.4-mile Blue Line Extension, five of them would be in Brooklyn Park.

The planned route starts at the Target Field station in Minneapolis, goes through Robbinsdale and Crystal, and ends near the Target campus in Brooklyn Park.

Brooklyn Park city engineers pointed out that municipal consent is not a vote on cost effectiveness, nor is it a vote to switch to a different transit mode, such as buses.

“The reality is that it appears the train is coming,” said Winston. “It is what it is.”