Finding a Green Way to Govern

Each year I identify key priorities to guide my work. So far, I have identified 11 areas I plan to focus on and would like your input about what is most (1st choice) and least (last choice) important. If you want to share your thoughts please feel free to cut and paste the list below into an email, rank as many as you like in order of your preference and email it back to me at cam.gordon@ci.minneapolis.mn.us . Also, feel free to add your own ideas. ( ) Close the racial disparities in poverty and employment ( ) Increase affordable housing and reduce homelessness ( ) Fight climate change and work to clean up our soil, water and air ( ) Improve community policing and police-community relations ( ) Prevent youth violence and increase youth employment and health ( ) Enhance civilian oversight of police and end racial profiling ( ) Manage public dollars wisely and keep taxes and fees down ( ) Support small businesses ( ) Create green jobs ( ) Ensure that there is funding and support for neig...

I voted against a move to take the City’s audit functions away from the Board of Estimate and Taxation and move them to a newly-created (and redundant and unnecessary) “Audit Committee” made up of three Council Members and three citizen appointees, one from the Council, one from the Mayor and one from the Park Board. This was, in my opinion, an ill-advised action for the Council to take, for three main reasons. First, I believe that it is preferable to have our auditors report to a more independent body, like the Board of Estimate, rather than to what will be, in effect, a completely Council-controlled body (the Council will, in effect, control four of six seats on this body). Second, the voters just rejected, less than two months ago, a proposal to scrap the Board of Estimate. One of the main arguments used by the pro-BOE side was that it houses the City’s external audit function. The (large) Council majority appears to have chosen to disregard the will of the voters in this regard. T...

The 2010 budget that we approved in December has been the most difficult I have had to consider since taking office in 2006. Faced with significant cuts from the state, we were forced to balance a desire to keep taxes from escalating while still providing essential city services. On top of this, we learned late this year that the Police Department had overspent its 2009 budget by a staggering $3 million, increasing the deficit we had to fill. Unfortunately, we were forced to cut almost 100 City jobs from nearly every department including 25 police officers, 30 civilian employees of the police department. The police cuts were especially hard for me because the Police Department had made great progress in terms of recruiting a diverse class of new officers, and these are among the first who will be cut. I will be paying closer attention to the 2010 Police Department budget, to prevent a repeat of this year’s poor fiscal discipline. Fortunately, since passing the budget we were able to mo...

Winter storm "Dell" has reintroduced Minneapolis to the joys of winter, including the Snow Emergency. Parking restrictions go into place at 9pm tonight - go here to find out where you should park to avoid being towed.

As the Council considers the 2010 budget, there are some changes to the Mayor’s proposed budget that I will be seeking to make, and some principles that will guide how I respond to other Council Members’ proposals: - Recertify TIF Districts at the highest possible level . Neighborhood groups depend on and deserve a reliable, long-term funding source. I will fight to increase the recertification from the Mayor’s proposed 50% to something higher, and better balance neighborhoods with Target Center debt relief. - Continue supporting restorative justice . I believe that the City’s investment of $75,000 in restorative justice programs in the past several budgets has been very wise, both reducing repeat livability crime and ultimately saving the City money. The Mayor’s budget cuts this support. I will fight to put it back in. - No loss of Crime Prevention Specialists . I do not agree with the Police Chief’s proposal to balance the MPD budget by laying off our successful and necessary CPS sta...