Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is bullish on Uptown. This comes after years of decline following the George Floyd riots, a high-profile shooting, and disruptive construction in the famous area just south of downtown.
"I first will promise that you will see the buds of progress happening this year," Frey told WCCO's Chad Hartman Wednesday. "What does that mean? I think you'll see some small and local businesses open up. I think you'll see some new creative ideas that come to the forefront. You'll see people that are looking to creatively invest in Uptown."
But Frey says it's not going to happen all at once.
In the meantime, he says the city is going to temporarily experiment with shutting off the parking meters on a couple of blocks to allow for free parking. That is expected to begin later in April.
As for those small, locally-owned businesses the mayor says will be opening up, he's excited about some creative ideas and investments on the horizon.
"It's gonna be coming back, but it won't be everything, one big burst, all at once," Frey explains. "And here's the ask that I've got. When those small and local businesses do open, Good God, go to them."
For many, Uptown represents an affordable place to live and hangout for 20-somethings. The area thrived in the 1990s and into the early-2000s.
That is no more. Beset by rising costs, construction, and then crime following the pandemic and Floyd's murder, Uptown was sent it into a spiral the city is now trying to pull out of, with the younger, hip crowd now making Northeast or even the North Loop their home.