Cara Moves On

This week, the Mayor's Office and City Hall is bidding farewell to a Second Ward resident: Cara Letofsky. Cara has been highly valued by me and my colleagues and she, and her good work here, will be greatly missed.



Cara has worked in the Mayor's Office as a Policy Aide whose portfolio included, according to the Mayor's website: "Sustainability and environment, planning and urban design, housing and homelessness, neighborhood community development and relations, jobs and workforce development, financial literacy, 2010 census."



I have to admit that it was a little bit strange when Cara and I both started our new jobs in January of 2006. We'd just come off of a close-fought campaign against each other for the Second Ward Council seat, a race I won by only a hundred and fifty-one votes. Mayor Rybak had noticed Cara's organizing skill, and he offered her a position in his second administration.



In those first few months, it was sometimes difficult to make the transition from campaign rivals to coworkers. But over the course of the last few years, I've found that my working relationship with Cara has been my closest with anyone in the Mayor's Office. We've worked together on a number of initiatives that have been major priorities for me: Homegrown Minneapolis, the creation of the new Neighborhood and Community Relations Commission and Department and the new generation of NRP, and a host of sustainability and green jobs issues. I've gotten to know that Cara is a hard worker who looks for pragmatic, concrete ways to make meaningful and beneficial change in an organization that can be all too hard to turn in a better direction.



I can't imagine where the Homegrown Minneapolis initiative would be without her work, or what would have become of NRP if she hadn't been at the table. I'm not sure what we're going to do without her.



What I do have confidence in is that Cara will find a place to continue her work to make the world a better place. Good luck, Cara, and thanks for all you've done for our city.