Hennepin County Notice on Encampments Along the Midtown Greenway

Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council's Regional Railroad Authority posted this notice along the Midtown Greenway during the summer of 2020, directing people living in encampments to shelter hotlines — 612-348-9410 for families, 612-248-2350 for single adults — and a COVID-19 nurse triage line at 612-348-5553. The notice cited Governor Tim Walz's executive order allowing counties to restrict or close encampments if adequate housing or shelter space became available, or if an encampment's size threatened residents' health and safety. It also listed pandemic guidelines: tents spaced at least 12 by 12 feet apart, six feet of distance between people, cloth face coverings for anyone over age two, outdoor gatherings capped at 25 people, and no more than 10 tents per encampment. The Midtown Greenway runs roughly five and a half miles through south Minneapolis along a former Milwaukee Road rail corridor, now used as a bicycle and pedestrian trail beneath street level.

Photo taken in August 2020.