Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • A5

I I A A majority of commuters who take the bus to their downtown Minneapolis jobs have yet to return to their desks, but when they do, Ben Rajkowski has a promise. will be coming back to a better system that is stronger and more said Rajkowski, Metro manager of tran- sit information. He points to 36 new real-time double-sided digital signs that Metro Transit has put up over the past two months at bus stops along S. Marquette and 2nd avenues. The stops are served by express and limited-stop routes and starting this fall by the Orange Line, the new rapid bus line from downtown to Burnsville.

The sleek new displays are con- nected to fiber optic lines, which will allow information to flow from buses to Metro informa- tion systems and onto signs more quickly and with fewer interrup- tions. That will allow riders to see trip times that are more accurate, Rajkowski said. The old digital signs, which were some of the first that Metro Transit deployed in the Twin Cit- ies, were 10 years old and suffered because they relied on cellular connections to pass on infor- mation. When signals were dis- rupted, riders saw error messages or notices like temporarily unavailable. Please see That was happening way too often, Rajkowski said, and it frus- trated riders.

Unreliable signs were one of top com- plaints, he added. To keep the new displays in working order and fix them swiftly when issues occur, Metro Transit this summer hired two technicians to maintain them. The new digital LED displays will also tell riders when a stop is closed. But the signs show canceled trips. Trips not operating, however, will be removed from the listing of arrivals.

Riders can sub- scribe to Metro alerts to get those notifications. Riders at bus stops where sched- ules are flashed on a TV screen, such as along the A Line, Line and on Nicollet Mall, will now be able to see when a trip is scrubbed. The screen will show which buses are not coming, Rajkowski said. The new displays come as Metro Transit has worked to increase accuracy with its arrival and departure predictions. Earlier this year, Metro Transit upgraded its NexTrip system to become more reliable by making it smart enough to predict travel times by accounting for factors such as traffic or weather.

The agency also launched a Twitter account dedi- cated to informing riders about trips that are canceled, delayed or rerouted. also begun sharing its data with third-party provid- ers such as Google Maps and the Metro Transit app. transit information, we try to find out what the pain points are and introduce new chan- nels or improve the Rajkowski said. of efforts have gone in to improve those Filling the Hwy. 212 gap MnDOT get to celebrate the completion of this work on Hwy.

212 in Norwood Young America in person, so mark- ing the feat with a video. Crews resurfaced the road between Hwy. 25 and Tacoma Ave- nue, put in a new roundabout at the Hwy. and County Road 36 inter- change, added biking and walking trails and upgraded traffic signals. More is coming.

MnDOT and Carver County plan to expand 5 miles of the road through Dahl- gren Township from two lanes to a four-lane divided highway. Con- struction could start in the fall. Follow news about traffic and commuting at The Drive on startribune.com. Got traffic or transportation questions, or story ideas? E-mail tweet stribdrive or call Tim Harlow at 612-673-7768. New bus stop signs promise better info TA I A A 5 MINNESOTA LOCAL STATE REGION Minneapolis police have yet to call it a homicide, although there were signs of trauma.

By PAM MILLER and PAUL KLAUDA Star Tribune staff writers Minneapolis police are investi- gating a death at the homeless encampment along Minnehaha Park Drive, a police spokesman said Sun- day afternoon. The death, initially reported by police to be that of a woman, was reported just as volunteers were step- ping up efforts to get people to leave the encampment in the 4900 block of Minnehaha Park Drive. The arrival of several squad cars just after 12:15 p.m. caused most resi- dents to flee, thinking the police had arrived to clear the camp, spokesman John Elder said. City and Park Police officers found the man in a tent, showing signs of trauma.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, Elder said. The death is being investigated as suspicious, but it has not yet been determined whether it was a homi- cide, he said. Later Sunday, police issued an update identifying the per- son as an adult male after the Hen- nepin County Medical Office had begun its identification process. Police are asking that anyone who might have been in the area and has information call the homicide unit at 612-673-2941. The Park Board posted a to at the camp on Dec.

31, telling people to leave within 72 hours and to alternate Accord- ing to the notice, three people died at homeless encampments in Min- neapolis in 2020. Park Board spokeswoman Dawn Sommers said Sunday that volun- teers were working with people to help them leave voluntarily on Mon- day for other places where shelter was available. Those efforts were consistent with approaches used at other encampments in the city, she said, seeking to avoid what she called last of forcing peo- ple to leave. The camp and others like it have created health and safety problems for residents and others, the city said. Both Minneapolis and St.

Paul have wrestled with how to handle home- lessness in their cities over the past year and beyond. If the death is ruled a homi- cide, it would be the first one in the city in 2021. In 2020, Minneapolis had 82 homi- cides, making it the third worst year for killings. The grim record was set in 1995, when the city had 97 homi- cides, followed by 1996, when there were 83. In all of 2019, there were 48 homicides in Minneapolis.

The city experienced a sharp increase in violent crime after the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody, which sparked pro- tests and unrest nationwide. St. Paul reported 34 homicides in 2020, tying record of 34. The city had 31 homicides in 2019. death at homeless encampment investigated By KIM HYATT kim.hyatt@startribune.com As many as 1,000 protesters took to the snow-covered streets of south Minneapolis on Sunday to demand justice for 23-year-old Dolal Idd after he was fatally shot by Minneapolis police last week.

The crowd was peaceful while expressing outrage over the killing that closed out 2020 the first by Minneapolis police since the killing of George Floyd on May 25. For several hours Sunday, protest- ers listened to activists, chanted and marched from the site of the incident to Lake Street and back, carrying signs echoing those seen throughout the summer. encouraged to see that such a huge turnout in solidarity for the brother and his family in the middle of the winter. That shows that actually passion for the youth to really actually engage this indefinitely until there is some real said AJ Awed, 30, who knelt on his jacket in prayer on the edge of the crowd. at the same time, disap- pointed because we be here.

After the murder of George Floyd and countless others, I understand how the police could be so careless, you Idd was killed Wednesday by offi- cers during an attempted felony traf- fic stop at a Holiday gas station at 36th Street and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis. Police say Idd was being sought in connection with a weapons investigation. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo released the body camera video, which appears to show that Idd fired first. Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of Coun- cil on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which helped organize the protest, told crowd that, in the wake of death, he believe the narrative of police and called for an independent investiga- tion. He said the first bodycam foot- age shared by Minneapolis police is and criticized it for being edited.

The demonstration came a day after the Hennepin County Sheriff Office released bodycam footage of a search at the Idd family home in Eden Prairie, where Dolal lived. The 28-minute video shows family, including at least two children, held on the living room floor while parents are restrained in plastic hand- cuffs as deputies executed a search warrant at 2:20 a.m. Dec. 31, hours after the killing. had the audacity to share another edited video of how they terrorized a family treated them as they were going into a military opera- Hussein said.

The Sheriff Office footage shows deputies, several with guns drawn, conducting a and search. At the time, family mem- bers did not know about the killing and repeatedly asked why deputies were there. The family and others, including state Omar Fateh, allege that the search was inappropriate. Sheriff David Hutchinson said Saturday that he released the video to what happened, saying there had been allegations that dep- uties acted inhu- manely, and with excessive Hundreds protest police shooting Photos by RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII Protesters gathered Sunday at the gas station at 36th Street and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis where police shot and killed Dolal Idd last week. Bayle Gelle, Dolal father, joined the protesters.

The march occa- sionally stopped traffic on its route; protesters remained peaceful. JERRY HOLT jerry.holt@startribune.com If the death at the homeless encampment along Minnehaha Park Drive is ruled a homicide, it will be first one of 2021. March held day after release of search video of family home. See DOLAL on A6 ZSW A5 Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 DAY, JA A RY 4 2 0 2 1.