Finding a Green Way to Govern

This morning, the Council passed a resolution I authored honoring Seward resident Mike Trdan for his long and successful career in recycling. I was delighted and proud to follow up on a constituent’s idea to honor Mike, whom I have known for years as a neighbor and fellow Seward Neighborhood Group Board member and more recently as a knowledgable and skilled advisor and strategist, especially when in comes to waste management and recycling. Mike is someone who can actually get things done to help improve how we manage waste in Minneapolis. For example, he recently led the effort (working with the Seward Neighborhood Group as well as County and City staff) to apply for funds for a pilot project in Seward to test out a new dual-stream recycling program. I'm excited about partnering with him on this and on other environmental initiatives in the future. Here's the text of the resolution: Resolution By Gordon, Reich, Hofstede, Johnson, Samuels, Lilligren, Goodman, Glidden, Schiff, Tu...

As you can read here , 18-year-old Ahmed Shire Ali has pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery that led to the shocking triple murder in the Seward Market on Franklin Avenue on January 6th. He has agreed to testify against the alleged murderer, Mahdi Ali. It's tragic that this young man made the terrible decision to rob the Seward Market, setting in motion the chain of events that ended three innocent lives and put him in prison until he's in his 30s. But I commend him for taking responsibility for his actions, I thank the Police Department for their great work, and those in the community who helped them identify the perpetrators. I also thank the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for building a strong case against the alleged shooter. It's my hope that this can help the healing process for the families of the victims and the Seward neighborhood.

According to Bicycling Magazine , Minneapolis is the nation’s best city for bicyclists. They specifically called out the hardiness of those cyclists (like my Aide) who brave our sub-zero winter, our 123 miles of on- and off-street bicycle facilities, our abundance of bike parking and lockers, and our vibrant cycling culture. I’m proud that we’ve come so far. It's not accidental: Public Works staff, with support from the Council, the Bicycle Advisory Committee and the cycling public, have been hard at work for the last fifteen years to build more and better bike infrastructure, from [x] off-street facilities like the Midtown Greenway, to bike lanes, to bike/walk streets through neighborhoods. We've installed innovative treatments like the First Avenue bike lanes, as well as funding standard needs like bike racks. We've given developers density bonuses for installing bike racks, and are embarking on a project to encourage more City employees to bike to and for work. It's ...

The City of Minneapolis has regained our triple-A (or Aaa) rating from Moody's Investors Service. The City was already rated triple-A ("AAA") from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poors. By regaining the "triple-triple A" status Minneapolis joins an elite, small number of cities (less than 5%) with the highest ratings from all three major rating services. This is the result of outstanding work over the past eight years by both Minneapolis elected officials and our financial management staff, especially our invaluable and extremely droll Chief Financial Officer Patrick Born, and our skillful, dedicated Director of Management & Budget Heather Johnston. Together, we have constantly improved our financial condition - which was nowhere near as positive at the turn of the millenium as it is today - and withstood the financial crises caused by reduced state support while laying a solid foundation for the future. We've significantly reduced our debt, kept up our...

Recently the Distrcit Court of Northern California, San Fransico Division, was asked if the City and County of San Francisco’s ranked choice voting system, which limits the number of rankings to three (as the 2009 Minneapolis municipal election did) unreasonably infringes upon voters’ rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Its response? No. The court found that ranked choice voting is constitutional. You can read the full decision here. This decision affirms, again, that ranked choice voting is legal, workable and fair, in addition to being popular with Minneapolis voters. I am confident that if ranked choice voting opponents bring an "as applied" lawsuit against Minneapolis in regards to the 2009 election, they will get the same response.

The U.S. Department of Justice just released a report, “ A Review of Minneapolis’ Youth Violence Prevention Initiative” . The report, created by the National Center for Victims of Crime, describes the City’s initiative to prevent and reduce violence by and against youth. It is interesting and helpful to see how national experts on this topic understand our efforts. The report concludes, "The city’s Blueprint for Action: Preventing Youth Violence in Minneapolis attacks the root causes of violence while holding juvenile perpetrators accountable for their actions and offering rehabilitation where appropriate. In the process, the initiative has woven a citywide fabric of partnerships that other jurisdictions can replicate. Community members and professionals from juvenile justice, law enforcement, community programs, and public health—no longer feeling isolated—have a renewed sense of purpose as part of a larger effort, moving in the same direction toward the same goal. Crime statisti...

The Council has adopted a landmark policy allowing more types of food to be sold on the street downtown. There are ways that I don't think this policy went far enough, but I am delighted that it's gone forward. Before this change, only highly processed and packaged foods were allowed downtown - hot dogs, junk food, that sort of thing. The new policy allows vendors to sell any sort of food, including fresh, whole foods, within the Downtown Improvement District boundaries. I made one amendment: to allow vendors on private property (like parking lots) to use grid-connected electricity. One of my concerns has been that by making this generally good change, we may be unintentionally diminishing air quality downtown, through the proliferation of small gas generators to keep refrigerators running. My amendment changed what had been a blanket ban on cleaner energy from the grid to a more situation-dependent policy. I also supported a staff direction offered by Council Member Hofstede, ...

Last Friday, my colleagues declined to give me a "second" on a motion to reappoint Dave Bicking to the Civilian Review Authority. I was disappointed in this outcome. I did not expect my motion to prevail, but looked forward to an opportunity to present my reasons for reappointing Dave. The most important of these is the simplest: he did a good job on the CRA. He worked hard. He did his homework. He did his research. He helped the CRA write a report on the performance of the Police Chief in regards to his relationship with the CRA that was clear, cogent, evidence-based, and highly influential, at least in terms of my own vote on the Chief's renomination. Dave also helped my office track the multiple ways in which the Police Department had changed its policy manual without the input of the CRA or policymakers (see here for more on that). I realize that Dave may have ruffled some feathers, especially by participating in anti-Dolan forums and by embroiling himself in a public...

One of the smallest, least controversial actions at the last City Council meeting had more impact on me than most: the Council formally appointed yours truly as their representative to the Tree Advisory Commission, a joint effort between the City and the Park Board. My alternate is Shannon McDonough, Aide to First Ward Council Member Kevin Reich. My impending appointment led to Council Member Robert Lilligren asking me a question about Emerald Ash Borer with an interesting preface: "you're the new tree guy, right?" This struck me as somewhat strange. I'm as much of a 'treehugger' as the next Green, but I don't know much about our leafy neighbors, other than that they're good for our city: they reduce energy use, increase water quality, reduce stormwater runoff, combat urban heat island effect, and make our streets more pleasant. I will bring nowhere near the expertise to this position that former First Ward Policy Aide Lorrie Stromme did; she not only ...