At any time, up to 300 large trucks are legally parked on the streets of Minneapolis ready to collect their next load before heading onto the open road.
For some, these rigs are a major cog of commerce, especially during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic when the demand for fast home delivery of items ranging from groceries to medical supplies exploded. And the trucks are upward mobility vehicles for drivers, many of whom hail from Minneapolis’ East African immigrant community.
But for others, the trucks are a nuisance in the neighborhood and a safety and environmental risk.
While parking large trucks on residential streets is already banned, the city council will decide in the coming weeks whether the current restrictions should be extended to ban truck parking on all streets of the city. The Council’s Committee on Transport and Public Works on Wednesday approved such a 4-0-one-abstention ban – despite several councilors expressing concerns that the city does not offer truckers a viable alternative.
According to the city administration, the measure has been triggered by more and more complaints about the practice in recent years. At the public hearing on Wednesday, several residents shared their frustration with trucks parked near their homes and businesses. It is difficult for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to move around the oil rigs, they said, and the oil rigs often obstruct speed limits and other safety signs. Some drivers, they said, leave rubbish behind or leave their trucks spraying fumes.
However, John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association, said the city’s timing on the matter was unfortunate given the lack of secure parking in the Twin Cities and across the state.
“Every day, professional truckers deliver essential groceries, medicines, products, materials and supplies to our communities and local businesses,” said Hausladen. “During the worst days of the pandemic, truckers played a vital role in supporting our supply chains, which continue to reach their limits.”
The story goes on
Council vice-president Andrea Jenkins, lead author of the change, said truck parking is a “growing, damaging” challenge in the city as other municipalities in the metropolitan area have banned them altogether from on-street parking.
Due to bans in other locations, Jenkins said trucks are pulling into the streets of Minneapolis, including Lake Street and Washington, Nicollet, and Minnehaha Avenues.
“This is not a Minneapolis problem, it’s a metropolitan Minnesota problem,” she said.
A complex subject
There is agreement on this point. The demand for truck parking spaces is exploding in the subway. A Minnesota Department of Transportation 2019 [MnDOT] Study found that the total tonnage of cargo carried by trucks has increased by 24% over the previous decade.
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In addition, regulations limiting the number of hours drivers can spend on the road are causing many of them to park near their homes or where they are supposed to pick up cargo, said Dillon Fried, assistant parking systems manager for Minneapolis .
The MnDOT study characterizes truck parking as a complex problem that requires a solution that is being developed by both the government and the private sector. In 2019, only 4,846 parking spaces were available in Minnesota for more than 26,000 long-distance trips in a day, according to the study.
Although Jenkins said she sympathized with drivers’ concerns, she said truck parking is a “cost of doing business. There is a cost to being an entrepreneur.”
According to a city report, the vehicles that generate the most complaints are “large straight trucks and tractor units with or without trailers.
“It is common for these vehicles to band together and park along entire city blocks, sometimes for several blocks in a row and on both sides of a street,” the report said.
Many immigrants and people of color started their own haulage companies because there is a relatively low barrier to entry – they basically buy a truck or two, the report says.
The US Department of Labor estimates that 40% of truck drivers across the country are from communities of color. However, according to the city report, demographic data to quantify the number of local minority-owned and colored truck drivers is difficult to find.
Mohammed Elmi, owner of Twin Cities-based truck transport company ELMI Transportation, said in an interview that many of its drivers are East African immigrants.
“In Somalia in particular, people own their own businesses. They like to be their own advocate,” he said.
Elmi said Minneapolis-based drivers often have to pay to park their oil rigs on suburban lots, undermining their ability to make a living.
City officials have included parking in their legislative agenda and will be working with groups interested in providing their own paid parking for trucks.
If the council adopts the total ban, the new rules would take effect in 2022. The illegal parking fine would be increased to $ 150 from $ 45 for the first violation and $ 250 for subsequent violations.
Janet Moore • 612-673-7752
@ByJanetMoore
