Finding a Green Way to Govern

Today, the Council voted to abolish the Minneapolis Public Library System and merge it with the Hennepin County system. I was the one Council Member to vote against this. Given the unanimous votes of the Library Board and Hennepin County Board, I am the only person in local government to vote against this, and I thought I should explain my vote. I don't talk about this very often, but there is a list of principles that I look towards when I'm faced with a difficult decision. This list is the ten key values of the Green Party . When I examined this proposed merger against these core political principles that guide me, two of them seemed especially germane: grassroots democracy and decentralization. Decentralization demands that power and decisionmaking (political, social and economic) are in more hands, not fewer. Centralization always, always promises efficiency, whether the efficiency of a totalitarian state or a multinational corporation. This efficiency is often a mirage, b...

Minneapolis City Clerk Merry Keefe, one of the most helpful, warmest, ablest City staff members we've had the pleasure to work with over the last two years, is retiring. She helped us acclimate to the rules, procedures and culture here in City Hall , and under her leadership the Clerk's office has become one of the very best departments in the City. Among Merry's many accomplishments: this blog . When our office floated the unprecedented idea of a Council Member blog early in 2006, we met with significant resistance from various parts of the City, especially the Attorney's Office and some of Cam's colleagues who are uncomfortable with too much free speech. Emblematic of her can-do attitude, Merry immediately understood why we would want to blog - to conduct an in-depth discussion with our constituents about the policy issues facing the City - and supported us strongly every step of the way. She never questioned whether we could or should use this communication mediu...

Today, the Council took a very important and positive step for the future of Minneapolis neighborhoods and the Neighborhood Revitalization Program , which has been one of my top priorities this year at the Committee of the Whole Meeting . The NRP Work Group (made up of Mayor Rybak, Council Members Ostrow, Hodges, Lilligren and Johnson, and NRP director Bob Miller) came to Committee of the Whole with a " Framework for the Future of NRP " report that shows broad and growing support for three key stances I have been strongly advocating: 1. Neighborhood groups should receive adequate, reliable financial support to maintain their basic infrastructure (like staff) 2. The City should provide better support and coordination for organizations working to engage their communities, including neighborhood groups 3. Neighborhood groups should receive discretionary funding that they can target towards their priorities and concerns This growing (and, to be honest, pleasantly surprising) cons...

I am delighted that the Hard Times is set to reopen this weekend. I wish them great success and look forward to eating there again and holding my open office hours in the ward there the first Tuesday of each month (from 9:30 - 11 AM). I can hardly wait to see all the new improvements and taste the familiar dishes. I know that the extended closing and renovations have resulted in a significant loss of income so a big boost in business in the weeks ahead would be greatly appreciated I am sure.

We need your help! The City currently is advertising 7 vacancies on the Civilian Review Authority (CRA) board, and we have not received the response we would like. The CRA has great potential to be a vital part of how we improve police practices and hold police accountable for misconduct. It is very important that we have a diverse, committed and effective CRA board. Please consider applying and help us pass the word to anyone you think would be interested in this important and challenging volunteer opportunity! Find information on the vacancy here .

The Council has adopted the 2008 budget. Among the most interesting last-minute amendments were the following: - An unsuccessful attempt by CM Remington to take $300,000 from the police overtime budget to hire two more cops (which I was sympathetic towards but did not vote to support) - An unsuccesful attempt by CM Samuels to take $10,000 from the highly successful Energy Challenge Micro Grant program for non-germane bike lanes on the northside (which I strongly opposed) - A successful, convoluted motion to undo the Mayor's recommended $100,000 cut to the Minnesota Telecommunications Network (MTN) by funding Wireless Portals (to whom the Mayor had given MTN's $100K) from the self-insurance fund, which itself will be funded from the Minnesota Airports Commission settlement agreement (which I strongly supported - MTN should not take this sort of massive hit to its meager budget) - A successful motion to keep the City's community engagement positions in CPED rather than trans...

For some fun pictures of the very snowy groundbreaking of the new Seward Coop project, see here . In terms of the time my office has spent and the sheer amount of community interest and time, this project is far and away the major redevelopment of my term thus far. Robin and I met with the Riverside Market Task Force for months last year and this year, worked for still more months on various site plan issues (especially the now-infamous "T" alley), and enthusiastically supported the multiple strands of City funding that have gone into the project. It was good to come together and celebrate embarking on this project's next phase with other people who care about it, including Coop staff and board members, neighbors, City staff (including CPED Director Mike Christensen), Seward Redesign staff and board members and others. I look forward to the next ceremony on this site to celebrate its grand opening.

The Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) has contacted my office, along with the Mayor's office, asking the City to ban children's products containing Bisphenol-A and certain phthalates , as San Francisco has done, in order to build momentum for possible future statewide and nationwide bans. My office has also received constituent correspondence on this matter. San Francisco took a similar action in 2006, California recently banned some phthalates in children's toys, and the European Union has banned three phthalates in toys and child-care products since 2005. There is a range of options the City could pursue towards the long term goal of eliminating these toxins from the environment, including, but not limited to: passing a resolution against these toxins, calling for the legislature to ban them and retailers to voluntarily phase them out; banning these toxins in certain products; banning these toxins in certain products pending statewide action or at some p...

Prompted by some high-profile dog bite incidents and an impression that a certain sort of people are increasingly "weaponizing" dogs and using them as tools for intimidation, mostly on the Northside, City staff and Council Members Samuels, Hofstede and Johnson have proposed a new ordinance that would severely crack down on dog owners in Minneapolis. Among their proposed changes: 1) Rather than simply fining owners who are found to have unlicensed pets (both dogs and cats), Animal Care and Control (ACC) staff would be empowered to impound unlicensed pets. 2) Pets (both dogs and cats) could be declared "potentially dangerous" for doing any of the following: causing a person to take a "defensive action," offering a "physical threat" or having a "known propensity or tendency" to be dangerous. If a cat hisses at someone, it could be a potentially dangerous animal. If a campaign volunteer runs out of a fenced yard when a dog runs around the h...

As you can read here , Minneapolis has been selected to receive a $2 million grant to build a 600 kilowatt solar installation on top of our Currie Maintenance Facility. This is bigger than any existing solar project in the upper midwest. It's a unique and interesting deal, which I hope we can replicate elsewhere. Here's how it works: Xcel Energy's Renewable Development Fund, which they were required by the Prairie Island agreement to create, will provide $2 million towards this project. The City will lease space on top of our facility to a third-party solar developer. This developer, unlike either Xcel or the City, will have access to federal tax incentives for solar. The City will enter into a power purchase agreement with the solar developer, paying a little more than we do per kilowatt-hour off of the normal Xcel grid. This will generate a large portion of the demand of the Currie facility, the equivalent of about 80 single-family homes. It also affords us a unique...

Two important Central Corridor Light Rail West Bank Station Location meetings are coming up in December. The Metropolitan Council has indicated that they will make a final determination about the location of the station early in January. Both these meetings will present plans and gather community input to help influence that decision. West Bank Community Coalition Land Use Committee Wednesday, December 12, 6:30pm at Brian Coyle Community Center *** Public Meeting Convened by the Metropolitan Council and Minneapolis Council Member Cam Gordon Monday, December 17 7:00-8:00pm at Brian Coyle Community Center

Minneapolis declared a Snow Emergency yesterday, December 2. Today (Monday), from 8am-8pm, do not park on the EVEN side of non-Snow Emergency routes, or on EITHER side of parkways until the street is fully plowed. Tomorrow (Tuesday), 8am-8pm, do not park on the ODD side of non-Snow Emergency routes until the street is fully plowed. For more information on Snow Emergencies in Minneapolis, go here , or call the Snow Emergency hotline at 612-348-SNOW. Information is also available in Spanish (673-3819), Somali (673-2141), and Hmong (673-2933). You can look up your street to see parking rules here . For future snow events, you can sign up to receive an email or text message to your cell phone here . Lastly, folks in the University area can park for free at one of the four U-area SnOasis parking ramps during the first night of a Snow Emergency.