A Minneapolis report card
In some ways, life in Minneapolis is getting better; in other ways, it's getting worse. That's the message in a report today Monday to the city council's committee on Health, Energy and the Environment.
The report summarizes the progress the city is making on goals for making Minneapolis a more livable city.
Five years ago Minneapolis set 24 indicators of sustainability, and the report measures progress toward those goals.
One of the measures that got worse is the infant mortality level.
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Committee chairman Scott Benson says the city may need to try more innovative ways to address that problem.
"It may be that something that is seemingly unrelated, for example in the infant mortality level, say unemployment levels in minority communities for example might have more of an effect on infant mortality rates than we had thought, so taking efforts at other problems we see in the city may help us address another issue that you might not think is directly linked," Benson said.
More people also went to the hospital for asthma. And there were more unhealthy air quality days.
On the positive side, Minneapolis had no sewer overflows last year; more people rode the bus; and more students graduated from high school.
Benson said the city will be asking for public input on how to tackle the more troublesome problems in new ways.
