Finding a Green Way to Govern

Last night a young man killed more than a dozen people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.  News reports indicate that he was armed with a military-style assault rifle, a shotgun and handguns. One of the most terrible things about this tragedy is just how unsurprising it is.  Our country has become inured to the constant catastrophe of gun violence, and even mass murder has become appallingly familiar.  Aurora will be just another place name suffused with new meaning, to add to Tuscon, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and on and on and on. But at least these large-scale massacres get some level of attention in our national conversation.  Not so with the steady stream of gun-related violence that goes on day after day.  Here's a sample of gun violence from eight days in Minneapolis: - Tuesday the 10th: Two young men were shot at on the street, likely due to their sexual orientation. - Wednesday the 11th: Police arrested a man who fired a gun fou...

Friday, I plan to introduce subject matter of an ordinance that will, if passed, allow electric-assist bicycles to be used as pedicabs in Minneapolis. This idea came from Bill Beekman, a resident of Ward 13, who wants to start a small business pedaling a particular European-made pedicab called a Veloform .  It was discussed during last fall's complete revamp of the pedicab ordinance (which, as you can read here, also made things difficult for another small business owner), but the City could not legally allow electric-assist pedicabs then due to a quirk of state law. That quirk was that electric-assist bicycles were categorized as a subset of "motorized bicycles," rather than as a subset of "bicycles," and it's against state law to let anyone ride on a motorized bicycle.  That law makes sense, when thinking about a bike with a 2-stroke motor that goes 30mph; you don't want people giving each other rides on bikes like those.  It was pretty clearly not...

At the request of Council Member Glidden and me, our superb City Clerk and Elections staff have prepared a very detailed report on the potential impacts of the Voter ID Constitutional amendment.  I say "potential" because the actual ballot language is extremely vague, and the Legislature would have to put together the actual rules that  election administrators would have to follow. After reading the report it is clear that this would be a major step backgrounds for voting rights in Minnesota. If this amendment passes it will be disastrous for democracy in Minnesota, for election administration, and for local governments.  It is not a "Voter ID" initiative, but a voter suppression initiative.  The key impact will be to make it harder for Minnesotans - especially the most vulnerable Minnesotans, like people in nursing homes, young people, and the poor - to vote. I encourage you to read the report, but here are some of the key concerns that it raises. ...

During the devastating report on the Voter ID Constitutional amendment this morning, our Clerk pointed out that under a provisional voting scheme large numbers of votes are thrown out, because the voters in question do not or cannot prove their eligibility within the short timeline available to them.  The Pew survey City staff cited indicates that 30% of provisional votes are not counted. This reminded me of a quote I've heard many times, often paraphrased.  Here's the original , which appeared for the first time in Memoirs of the Former Secretary of Stalin : "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how." - Joseph Stalin Who knew that there would be something that Minnesota Republicans and Soviet Communists could agree on?

The Council is working on a needed change to our ordinances regulating door-to-door solicitors.  The old ordinance required a license or permit for basically everyone knocking on doors, whether they were selling a product or service, or seeking charitable donations.  That opened the City to charges that we were violating First Amendment protections of free speech and Commerce Clause protections of commercial activity.  Similar requirements have been struck down in other places. The new ordinance brings us more into line with the Constitution by scrapping the requirement for "non-commercial door-to-door advocates" to get a permit or even register with the City, and making folks selling a product or service that will be delivered later get a free registration.  The new ordinance regime has four distinct categories of solicitors with their own sets of rules, based on what they are knocking on doors for: Non-commercial door-to-door advocates.   These...

Amy Senser, the driver who hit and killed Anousone Phanthavong in the Second Ward, has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.  It's good to see consequences in this case, and I am thankful to Ms. Senser for apologizing directly to Anousone's family.  I'm hoping that this outcome will help give some closure to them, and to his friends at True Thai restaurant.

The City's website has a neat new feature that shows where you can find all of the farmers markets in Minneapolis.  There's also a printable map , links to individual markets' websites, info on hours and whether markets take EBT, and even a list of recipes for the fresh produce you can buy at the market.  This great resource was put together by Homegrown Minneapolis.

Dilla's Ethiopian Restaurant on the West Bank recently opened for business, and has gotten some good press in the Minnesota Daily .  It's great to see the Baldy's/K-Wok site reopen - the West Bank's vibrancy is due to its eclectic mix of restaurants, bars and retail, and the whole area benefits from each business.  I wish Beko Tufa and Dilla's great success.

The City’s Internal Audit department has conducted an audit of the City’s information technology contract with the Unisys Corporation.   The contract, which began in 2007 and ends in 2015, is currently valued at $86,363,655 .   The audit found significant issues in our contract management with Unisys.   First, quoting from the report, “While IT management reviews the invoices for accuracy and completeness, there is no evidence to support the invoice itself was reviewed . Also, the support documentation provided by Unisys only show total dollars without adequate details used to calculate the totals (i.e. rates and hours).   Additionally, while there are written procedures on the IT invoice review process, the procedures are very brief and do not include detailed steps .”   Second, there are concerns about our contract monitoring: “IT management does not receive relevant reports from Unisys as stated in the contract. Also, there is currently no agreed upon...