Finding a Green Way to Govern

I want to make abundantly clear that I do not support any of the current public funding schemes for a Vikings stadium. As you may recall, I did not support publicly funding the new Twins stadium either, and was the only Council Member to call on the County to let Minneapolis residents vote on the new taxes that paid for it.  I do not, in general, support devoting public funds to private stadiums. Stadiums are not effective ways to create jobs or economic development. They are not good long term investments - just look at the continuing drag the Target Center places on the City. They are not good ways to improve underdeveloped parts of our city - just look at the sea of surface parking lots surrounding the Metrodome. In addition, there are a lot of specifics to dislike in the most recent proposal from the Mayor and Council President, now being branded as the "People's Stadium." Sales taxes are regressive, arguably as regressive as property taxes.  The proposed ...

I strongly supported a resolution authored by Council Member Betsy Hodges this morning, supporting "Peaceable Calls for Reforms to the Income Tax, Financial, and Electoral Systems."  This puts the Council on record standing with the Occupy MN protests, the local outgrowth of the Occupy Wall Street protest. This was not adopted without some controversy.  Council Member Colvin Roy attempted to delete the "whereas" clause calling out the negative impacts of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and her motion failed on an extremely narrow 6-5 vote.  Joining me in voting against CM Colvin Roy's amendment: CMs Hodges, Glidden, Lilligren, Schiff and Quincy.  Voting to strip the Citizen's United clause: CMs Colvin Roy, Goodman, Hofstede, Reich and Tuthill. The arguments against this clause, and against the resolution as a whole, were completely uncompelling.  The Council shouldn't weigh in on Supreme Court cases?  Why on earth not, if they ar...

This morning, the Council passed a Healthy Food Policy .  That's the good news. The bad news is that it passed on a razor-thin 6-5 vote.  Those who joined me in voting yes: CMs Hodges, Glidden, Hofstede, Lilligren, and Quincy.  Those who voted against it (in favor of unhealthy food?): CMs Reich, Goodman, Schiff, Tuthill, and Colvin Roy.  CMs Johnson and Samuels were absent this morning. There was no discussion at this morning's meeting to explain the motivations of those who voted "no," but the positions of those who voted against it were made clear at yesterday's Committee of the Whole meeting.  However, many of the concerns were based on misreadings or distortions of the policy. Here's an attempt to set the record straight: 1) There’s a problem.   According to a recent employee health assessment, 65% of City employees are overweight or obese and 60% aren’t getting enough fruits and vegetables. This has an impact on costs to the City in h...

This morning, the Council voted on a comprehensive change to the licensing requirements for pedicabs.  I support many of these changes, especially the lifting of the rush hour ban in downtown. But in the end I could not vote for it.  I was joined in voting "no" by Council Member Lilligren.  I was able to make several important changes that will decrease the ordinance's negative impacts - allowing cabs up to 66 inches in width (up from the original proposal of 55 inches), allowing people to give free rides as long as they don't take tips or display advertising, and referring to state law to determine which past felonies should disqualify folks from operating pedicabs (rather than including all felonies). My chief objection to the ordinance is that, at the urging of our staff, it includes a requirement for a specific set of braking systems for pedicabs.  I continue to believe that this is a completely unnecessary, unwarranted interference in the decisions of small ...