August 2016 Newsletter

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For the latest news from Ward 2 in Minneapolis please check our our monthly newsletter here.

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Lessons from Mr. Smith's Time in City Hall

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  Part 1 - Mr. Smith Goes to City Hall Last year, the city saw an exodus of staff in two of its newest divisions, the office of race, equity and inclusion and the office of performance and innovation, now called The Department of Performance Management and Innovation. Both lost all their staff in 2023. One of those who left in 2023 was Brian K. Smith. In 2016 Smith went from being an outsider fighting city hall to becoming the Director of the new city division aimed at innovation and equity, started by then-mayor Besty Hodges. That ended last year, following a controversial city coordinator appointment, a discrimination complaint, and a lawsuit he and others filed against the city. On July 7, 2023, just a few weeks after retiring from his position working in City Hall, I met with Smith and talked with him about his experience there.  He didn’t expect to get the job when he was hired by Hodges.   “She knew me just like most of the other council members,”...
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Banning Sofas and Easy Chairs

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I want to clarify my position on an ordinance proposed by council member Hofstede regarding furniture in yards and on porches. The specific proposed amendment adds the following language: Any upholstered furniture not manufactured for outdoor use, including upholstered chairs, upholstered couches, and mattresses placed in any front yard, side yard or rear yard abutting a street or on any opened porch exposed to the elements, shall constitute a nuisance condition .” According to discussions at the committee an exposed porch includes any porch that has a roof and railings but it not fully enclosed with windows or screens. I have listened carefully to the concerns and reasoning behind this proposal and can appreciate the good intentions of those who are supporting and bringing this idea forward, but I can't support this proposal as presented. I am willing to support the portion that restricts the use of upholstered furniture (not specifically manufactured for outdoor use) on lawns an...
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"Minneapolis" Group Pushes for Photo ID Voting Requirement

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There was a flurry of short stories in various metro media today on a group of "Minneapolis" activists pushing for a photo ID requirement in Minneapolis elections. Some of the stories did not even identify this "Minneapolis" organization, but a few did. As you can see here , this is a cooperative project between the Minnesota Voters Alliance and a group called, vaguely and innocuously enough, "Citizens for a Better Minneapolis." Who doesn't want a better Minneapolis, right? There are a few holes in this story. The first is that the Minnesota Voters Alliance is suburban-based, right-wing organization whose main purpose has been, in my opinion, to oppose democratic empowerment of Minnesotans, mostly at the municipal level. They are the group that sued the City over the constitutionality of ranked choice voting and failed dramatically at the Supreme Court, handing the City an unambiguous ruling that ranked choice voting is indeed constitutional. They have...
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