News

Do you utilize freelance or contract workers? Minneapolis is proposing an ordinance that would extend the recent Wage Theft rules to contract workers. If there are any concerning components of the proposal for you, please let us know.

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/File/2759/Freelance%20Worker%20Protections%20Ordinance%20Draft%2009.12.2019.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

Changes coming up to routes and access:

·         The 40^th Street bridge will open in early October.

·         Both directions of I-35W are closed from 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 to 5 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.

·          Both directions of I-35W are closed from 10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10 to 5 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11.

·         Updated The ramp from I-35W south to I-94 west is closed from 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21. Detour: Highway 280 to I-94 west.

·         Updated The ramp from I-35W north to 3^rd/4^th/Washington is closed 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21.

·          Updated The ramp from Highway 55 west to Washington Avenue and 3^rd Street is closed from 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21.

Did you know that the local Crime Prevention Specialist will perform a walkthrough of your business for free to help you identify areas for improvement? 

Contact Jennifer Waisanen at 612-673-5407 or Jennifer.waisanen@minneapolismn.gov  to make an appointment

Our local precinct appreciates video evidence when trying to track down suspects, but it only helps if the recording exists, is a high enough quality, and captures faces. To help, they put together some general advice regarding surveillance equipment. If you have specific questions, feel free to send them in to SWBA, and we'll help get an expert answer for you.

SurveillanceSystemsCA.DOC

MN DEED reports that unemployment dropped to 3.3% in August, with an adjusted overall job increase of 1100 jobs.

Businesses can find resources to help attract and retain talented employees at the new online tool: https://www.careerforcemn.com/employers

POLICE NOTICE:
A number of cases of theft from businesses have been happening throughout the precinct. Most recently the suspects have been Juvenile Somali males, but historically this group of suspects cross all ethnicities.

The suspects enter the business as a group and while some may distract staff others are entering employee-only area and stealing from purses, backpacks, and other personal items left in what they believed was a secure area by staff. The other type of theft we have seen are thefts from tip jars that are set on the counter or near the cash register.

PREVENTION TIPS:

Secure areas for staff personal belongings need to actually be secured, maybe lockers or a locked closet

While these groups may come in and be intimidating to some staff, the polite but direct, friendly interaction as a person enters the business (this is the reasoning behind the Walmart Greeter) is often a great deterrent to crime

Consider a tip container on the counter that has a lock on it and is bolted to the counter

Instruct staff to keep their phone in a pocket if it must be on them and keys for the business secured on a lanyard or belt

Do not leave the till open, staff can be easily distracted

Monitor the movement of people that come into the business, be creative with shelving to allow the store to be monitored easily and suspects not to be able to be hidden and allowed to make their way into areas that they should not be in- if you do not have public restrooms, don’t allow anyone into the back area where employee restrooms may be.

Please make sure that the business is not totally reliant on video cameras, often the pictures are not great or the system is not working, please stress how important it is to get good descriptions of suspects especially if there is something unique about the suspect or their clothing.

You can request a crime prevention walkthrough from the Crime Prevention Specialist at the precinct for free advice on improvements specific to your business. We're in the 5th Precinct.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/police/precincts/police_about_5th-precinct

The Regulatory Affairs committee met this week. Upcoming road construction projects, crime prevention and potential predictive scheduling ordinance introduction were focus areas. View Minutes for summary.

Check out the closed Facebook group - Southwest Crime Watch. This page is meant for business owners to be able to see information about the latest crime issues, and view photos and video footage that can help you identify potential threats. We'll also be sharing out prevention tips and advice. 

Members, if you have a question or concern, please contact our coordinator Jessica Reinhardt, or consider joining us at next month's committee meeting.

The City is making progress on its plans for reconstructing Grand Ave. In an effort to take into account public opinion and needs, they've developed a survey to collect input. We encourage impacted businesses to respond: http://www.minneapolismn.gov/cip/futureprojects/grand-ave-s

SWBA has a number of tools to help business owners share information and ideas. Here in the members only section you can find a variety of forums and topics for member access. 

If you're more of a Facebook kind of person, we can help you connect there too. Find SWBAmpls on Facebook. Any Minneapolis business owner is welcome to join the Southwest Crime Watch group, and members may join the SWBA Members group.

The Crime Watch group is a new tool to help businesses share information about incidents and suspects in the area. With more information, we can all be more aware and prepared to prevent future incidents. If you have questions on how to join, reach out to our coordinator at Jessica@experiencesouthwest.com

35W Changes coming up:

The ramp from I-35W north to 31st Street and Lake Street is closed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Thursday, Aug. 29 and Friday, Aug. 30

I-35W south is closed from I-94 to Highway 62 from 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3 to 5 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4

The ramp from I-35W north to Lake Street/31st Street is closed 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Sept. 9-11.