The Wedge Times-Picayune

If you want my thoughts on the stakes for public safety, rent stabilization, and other big issues — please read this. It applies broadly to every candidate I’m endorsing in 2023.

Do I want to put my spotless reputation on the line for the bad acts and opinions of others? Not at all. I have grown to hate endorsements. But any good editorial board knows the public has a short memory for bad calls and really needs to be told how to think. So here we go. If you don’t see your ward listed, you are either in a part of the city that’s beyond help or you’re fine and you don’t need any help.

This is intended as a preamble to my forthcoming Minneapolis City Council endorsements, and to give readers a better sense of how I see some of the issues at stake in this election. My endorsements in key races will follow in this post.

It’s a city council election year in Minneapolis. Early voting is underway. 13 seats are up for grabs, I’d say only 5 are competitive. The mayor is not up for reelection until 2025. If you haven’t been tuned into Minneapolis politics for the last several years, here’s a recap, along with my thoughts on the big issues.

I was on location for the blessing of a newly installed bike rack at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church on Sunday morning. Churchgoers are excited to have a place for their bikes after spending years locking up to random street fixtures like railings or signposts — or carrying their bike up three flights of stairs. The rack was installed thanks to the efforts of the church’s Creation Care team, with 50% of the cost covered by the transportation non-profit Move Minnesota through their bike parking cost share program. It’s a story you’ll only see on Wedge LIVE.

Interested St. Paul businesses or organizations can contact Move Minnesota.

The Star Tribune’s 2023 Minneapolis City Council candidate questionnaire asks a question that divides our city and inflames the culture war: “If you’re faced with the choice of spending $1 on a road for vehicles or $1 for a bike lane, which do you choose and why?” The existence of this question gives you hope that maybe crime resentment is dead and good old-fashioned, “Nazi lane” style bike hate might return (the photo above is from the 2017 election).

At a Ward 12 candidate forum in the Longfellow neighborhood last Wednesday, candidates answered questions on public safety, climate, rent stabilization, homelessness, sidewalk shoveling, and more (livestream here* / live tweets here).

Have you ever pondered a fun thought experiment like “What would happen if everyone in my city flushed their toilets at the same time — never before has a comprehensive plan specifically authorized this many theoretical toilets operating in sync.” That’s pretty close to the premise of the never-ending legal crusade to stop the Minneapolis 2040 Plan.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that back in 2018, some very wealthy pretend environmentalists created an entity called Smart Growth Minneapolis for the sole purpose of suing the city over triplexes. Now in 2023 — after ping ponging between district court, appeals court, and the state supreme court — this group has convinced a district court judge to take seriously the idea that every plot of land in the city is about to be built up to the fullest extent of the law, damaging the environment. So the judge has halted the 2040 Plan temporarily, as we wait for an environmental analysis (likely to be followed by yet more legal action contesting the validity of that analysis).

One of the things I DO FOR YOU is listen to landlord zoom calls. If you’re not familiar, Kari Lundin (the “Duplex Chick”), a realtor and mentor to the local landlord community, hosts Q&A sessions where Minneapolis candidates give revealing answers, but only after being reassured that a wider audience will never see it. Past guests include LaTrisha Vetaw, who embarrassed herself so thoroughly on a landlord zoom call in 2021 that voters in Ward 4 elected her to the City Council.

A grizzled old friend of mine (who will remain anonymous) told me a story about a long ago Hennepin County Public Works official who decided a reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue was just too difficult — even though age and condition meant the street was overdue for it. And so for many years it was just arbitrarily shoved aside.

We’re lucky that feckless bureaucrat was there at the time, because if the county had done a reconstruction 10 or 15 yrs ago, they’d have given us the same horrifying layout that was already there. Too wide, too fast, too dangerous. It would have robbed us of the chance to make it the great neighborhood street it has the potential to be.

After three days of concern about the status of the popular annual events known as Open Streets, Minneapolis Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher made a public commitment Thursday that the city would continue to partner on those events in 2024 and provide the same support services like trash, traffic control, and police. What’s unclear is what the events will look like if Our Streets Minneapolis, the longtime organizer, is not involved. The city plans to put out a request for proposals from potential organizers, which could still include Our Streets.

On Monday, the city put out a statement claiming a “mutual agreement” with Our Streets to not extend the contract for 2024. The response from the organization’s executive director: “1000% not true.” Our Streets says they haven’t had a chance to discuss the 2024 season with the city, though they have made it clear it’s unsustainable to continue to do the event for free. The organization submitted a budget of $851,000 to do five events next year.