Finding a Green Way to Govern

Six people were killed on September 27 in a hand gun shooting in a Minneapolis business. Another four people were wounded in a separate shooting on the same day when someone shot into their home. My thoughts and prayers go out the victims, their families, co-workers and other community members devastated by these terrible crimes. These are all too common in our country, our state and our City. Each time it reminds me how important it is for us to work harder to prevent future acts of violence and address this epidemic of gun violence head on. I don't understand why it is so hard for us, as a nation, to unite to look at how science, education, regulation and technology can help address this public health crisis. To jump start that effort and secure the funding that it will require we should increase the tax on guns and amunition. There is already a federal excise tax on bullets and sporting arms (11 percent) and handguns (10 percent). The tax goes into the Pittman-Robertson Fun...

This is an update about a tragedy that occured in the Ward several months ago.  Wesley Gubbin, the driver who hit and killed a bicyclist named  Thomas Malloy on West River Parkway, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison. According to witnesses, Gubbin was speeding down the oncoming lane of the parkway in order to pass other drivers who had conscientiously stopped for Mr. Malloy to cross the street.  He did not stop after hitting and killing Mr. Malloy. It's good to see that there have been consequences in this case, and I hope it is a reminder to the rest of us to drive carefully and cede right of way to pedestrians and bicyclists.  Keeping everyone safe is worth taking a little extra time.

In an ironically well-timed announcement the same morning that the Council was gutting civilian oversight in Minneapolis, we're hearing that there will be no consequences for the officers involved in the Drug Recognition Evaluator  (or DRE) controversy.  According to the Hennepin County Attorney, there is insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against the officers involved.  I have not heard anything about the officers involved being disciplined in any other way, and I doubt that they will be. So, to recap: Several young people go on record alleging that officers involved in the DRE program provided them with illegal drugs, via a video shared on the internet.  No one takes any action until an unnamed police participant in the DRE program corroborates the allegations, triggering an investigation.  That investigation is complete, and no action will be taken.  Did the young people who made the initial allegations and the police officer who cam...

I t's a sad day for Minneapolis.  Our decades-long experiment in civilian oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department has been ended by a 7-6 vote of the Council. The dismantling of the Civilian Review Authority (CRA) goes far beyond what was necessary to respond to the Legislature’s recent actions to hobble the CRA.  The CRA has been scrapped and replaced with a new "civilian oversight" process completely dominated by the police. A growing reluctance for people to bring complaints forward and a renewed erosion of public trust in the police will likely follow. There are many problems with the changes that passed the Council today.  If someone was treated badly by a Minneapolis police officer before today's  change, they could choose to have their complaint investigated by a civilian and sent to a board of civilians for their recommendation to the Chief.   After today's change, a complainant will no longer have any choice.  Their complaint may be in...

One of the pieces of literature I handed out during Welcome Week activities last week along with City staff and folks from the U of M was this "Grade Your Living Space" piece, prepared by the Minneapolis Inspections Department. The last point of this otherwise good piece asserts that open porches can NOT have "couches, lazy-boys (sic), or any type of indoor furniture." The problem with this is that it's not, well, true. Such a prohibition was definitely proposed by Council Member Hofstede in 2009.  But as you can see here (scroll to page 328) or here , or here , or here , this ordinance did not pass.  In fact, it failed by a wide margin, with nine Council Members voting against it and only four voting for it. This isn't the first time I've heard about Inspections using this non-law for enforcement activities.  Earlier this year, a constituent of Council Member Schiff was given a violation order from the City that attempted to require her to rem...

After a very good discussion at the Council's Committee of the Whole this morning, the committee  voted to create a new Utility Franchise Work Group to assist the City in preparing for negotiations regarding our electric and natural gas franchise agreements with public utility companies.    I am one of the four Council Members who have been appointed to this Work Group.    Among its tasks, the work group will develop a set of policy principles that will guide the city in its franchise discussions; review and consider potential legislative and/or other regulatory changes and consider formal support for these changes on the City’s state legislative agenda; and develop a community engagement program.   I am very supportive of having this conversation, and exploring all of our options: renewing the franchise agreements, renegotiating them to include more green energy and energy efficiency, or starting the process to become a municipal power utility .

This month, Environment Minnesota is bringing former Boulder, Colorado Mayor Susan Osborne to Minneapolis for a  Green Ideas and Ham  discussion on municipal power.   This should be a fascinating and timely conversation, given that Minneapolis’ franchise agreements with Xcel Energy and Centerpoint Energy expire in 2014.  Susan was on the Boulder City Council from 2007-2009, and served as Mayor from 2009-2011.  She also served as a planner in Boulder for decades. The event is on  Tuesday ,  September 18 th , 8:00am, at the Red Stag Supper Club, 509 1st Avenue NE. Last year, the people of Boulder took a major step towards democratic control of their energy options.  They voted to authorize their city government to form a municipal power utility, provided that it could keep rates as low or lower than the incumbent utility, reliability as good or better, and make significant progress on clean energy and energy efficiency.  Their incumbent uti...