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At the August 13 primary election, voters in district 61A (map below) will get to choose which of three DFL candidates will replace retiring Minnesota House Rep. Frank Hornstein. I spoke with all of the DFL candidates a few months ago on the Wedge LIVE podcast: Katie Jones, Isabel Rolfes, and Will Stancil.

But they’ve sharpened their messages since then, so it’s worth checking out the League of Women Voters forum from Wednesday night. Below are some highlights from the forum.

Continue reading “MN House District 61A Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues”

We never thought this day would come. The transportation needs of car-free, low-income and disabled residents has become a top concern. Everyone across the region is in a panic over what happens if we fail these people. Did you think we meant transit riders? Sorry, no, we meant the Uber and Lyft situation.

But rideshare aside, many of us really are hoping for city leadership that follows through on ambitious commitments to affordable, safe, sustainable transportation. And Minneapolis is about to get a new Public Works director. Timothy Sexton is certain to be confirmed at a City Council meeting this Thursday.

Continue reading “New Hope for Public Works Leadership That Won’t Kneecap Transit”

It was more than five years ago that the nationally-heralded 2040 plan, with a vision of a dense pedestrianized city, was passed by a 12-1 vote of the City Council. But before that vote even happened, the city was taken to court by Smart Growth Minneapolis. This is an organization formed for the sole purpose of suing the city to stop modest upzoning (legalizing triplexes) in residential areas that had been restricted to single-family housing only.

SGM was founded by John Goetz of the personal injury law firm Schwebel Goetz & Sieben and borrows its name from a prominent national organization called Smart Growth America. But these two organizations hold views that are diametrically opposed – Smart Growth America disavows any connection to its Minneapolis namesake, says the lawsuit is “sad” and that the 2040 Plan is actually the definition of “Smart Growth.” Despite SGM having no environmental agenda apart from the one lawsuit, they have had success getting themselves labeled as an “environmental” group in news stories.

Continue reading “2040 Plan, Five Years Later: Pretend environmentalists say they’re not against density, this is about ethics in city planning.”

A draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has been introduced and will be taken up by the Minneapolis City Council at a committee meeting on January 24. Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw has responded, in an opinion published in the Star Tribune, calling it “dangerous” and “divisive” — without pointing to any particular language in the resolution. She accused one colleague of language “clearly meant to incite violence.” A serious enough charge that you’d expect her to specify what had been said — but she didn’t. And she’s set a record for the number of days into a new term that a council member pretends to be offended and demands an apology from the council president.*

Continue reading “Delegitimizing Gaza Conversation Misses the Point”

In addition to all the other stuff scheduled to be on your 2024 ballot, Minneapolis voters may get to weigh in on another amendment to restructure city government. The Minneapolis Charter Commission (the authors of our new strong mayor form of government adopted in 2021) is currently discussing a proposal to strip the City Council of their power to confirm certain mayoral appointees. This could include the directors of departments like Public Works, CPED (planning), Civil Rights, Regulatory Services, Emergency Management, Health, and Tax Assessor. The number of council-confirmed roles could go from the current 12 to as few as five.

There’s no agreed upon proposal, nothing has been voted on, but this commission has a preference for concentrating power in the mayor’s office so let’s sound the alarm. This could be bad and you should pay attention.

Josh Martin and I discuss the issue in detail for this week’s episode of the Wedge LIVE Podcast, available wherever you listen. Or watch on YouTube:

Continue reading “Return of the Mayoral Power Grab”

Here’s an early start on the holiday theme of hope, peace, love, new year, and new beginnings. I bring you tidings of comfort and joy about Minneapolis local government in 2024.

Continue reading “There’s hope for Minneapolis City Hall in 2024”

It’s been a manic week and a half for Mayor Frey. He followed up a rough election night with a rapidly escalating fight over police bonuses that gave former ally Emily Koski a platform to trash his leadership two times in the span of four days. There is more to this police bonus story than what you’re seeing on the local news (“golly gee, we’d have a fully staffed police force if not for that meddling city council!“).

As I wrote last week, my hopeful election reaction was that fear tactics were fading and the debate at city hall could soon become less dumb and more collaborative. Well, not so fast. Frey hasn’t abandoned his preferred tactic of bull-rushing the city council with press conferences, fear, and manufactured deadlines. And it will only get harder for him come January, when Lisa Goodman departs and Andrea Jenkins is no longer council president.

Continue reading “Mayor Frey Squanders Post-Election Opportunity, Loses Another Friend”

Watch or listen to the Election 2023 Results Episode of the Wedge LIVE podcast.

If you watched the most recent episode of the Wedge LIVE podcast, you know that I am seriously relieved by last week’s election results. Mayor Frey’s rich friends at All of Mpls poured at least a million dollars into an independent expenditure campaign. The Star Tribune editorial board made some questionable endorsements that have further eroded the institution’s credibility. These things weren’t enough to save the Frey-aligned council majority.

Continue reading “Election Result: Relief”

Are we voting our fears again this year? Last week in Ward 10, I received a mailer from a crime-themed PAC slicing the city’s crime stats in a way to show me crime is actually up, despite all those news stories telling me crime is down. But I’m clever, so I recognized this as an attempt to get me to vote for Minneapolis City Council candidate Bruce Dachis, who is alarmingly ignorant and whose policies are extremely against my interests.

Dachis appeared on a local right wing talk radio show on yesterday. The host falsely accused Council Member Aisha Chughtai of supporting Hamas. And at another point they sat there listening to a Vietnam-era country song bashing anti-war protesters. Election 2023 is weird and gross in ways I had not expected.

Continue reading “My Thoughts On Election Eve 2023”