The City of Minneapolis has moved to spruce up some of the unsightly, recently-installed barriers its placed downtown to curb illegal street racing,
New stickers featuring motivational messages were added to the temporary bollards on Monday, with a city spokesperson telling Bring Me The News it was done "to add more visual interest."
The barriers, located in the Mill District, include messages such as "See you downtown," "The best part is you," "Glad you're here," "It's patio season," and "Find your new favorites."
The messages were added in collaboration with the Mpls Downtown Reanimation effort, for which the Minneapolis Downtown Council is "tracking key news and metrics while highlighting open restaurants, retail locations and skyway hours."
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The barriers were set up along 2nd Street at the Portland Avenue intersection in early July to limit through traffic while allowing residents and employees in the area to have access to their homes and work.
The decision came after a Fourth of July incident in downtown Minneapolis where groups were walking and driving around neighborhoods shooting fireworks at people, cars, police and residential buildings, as well a
Parts of the Mill District and downtown have been popular locations for illegal street racing, with barriers set up on several other blocks of 2nd Street.
Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Garrett Parten tells Bring Me The News the plan is to keep the barriers in place through October, "or before the snow starts to pile up."
Parten added that there will be a listening session in late August to allow residents in the area to have input on whether they should stay or go.