Finding a Green Way to Govern

As the Council is considering a more recent proposal to amend the police conduct ordinance, I humbly offer this work product from last year, which I drafted with the help of some key community advisors and with input from city staff.  The underlining indicates new language and the strikethrough marking indicates language to be removed. I hope that it might be helpful.  Former CM GORDON's AMENDED DRAFT, AUGUST 20, 2021   CHAPTER 172. - POLICE CONDUCT OVERSIGHT [3]   Footnotes: --- ( 3 ) --- Editor's note— Ord. No. 2012-Or-061, § 1, adopted September 21, 2012, amended the title of Ch. 172 from "Civilian Police Review Authority" to "Police Conduct Oversight." See also the Code Comparative Table. 172.10. - Police conduct oversight system established. For the purposes of (1) assuring that police services are delivered in a lawful and nondiscriminatory manner, (2) assuring that effective accountability for policing is supported through a...

 The mayor and city council are moving quickly to restructure city government.  Perhaps too quickly. Substantial ordinance amendments, which have yet to be shared with the public, could be approved by the end of August. The timeline presented by Mayor Jacob Frey in June called for the public hearing on August 4 and approval on August 20. Some of it is already underway. On June 30, the Council approved two new executive positions: a Community Safety Commissioner and a Chief Operation Officer to replace the City Coordinator Ordinances amendments were approved to create the position of City Operations Officer, with a salary of $269,943 to $320,000 and the position of Community Safety Commissioner, with a salary of $295,250 to $350,000. Both salaries exceed the cap of $192,144 imposed by state law and will require a waiver. Both positions will report to the mayor.  The City Operations Officer will oversee the proposed new Office of Public Service which would in...

This was a formerly unpublished blog from my first term in office.  Since both Don and Paul are running this year for other offices, I decided to publish it now.  While I was working hard in 2006 and 7 to decriminalize poverty, othere were doubling down and not willing to be concerned about unfair and biased enforcement.  There was another aspect of the speeches made by my colleagues who are supportive of the Remington/Ostrow amendment to further criminalize panhandling which I found distrubing. CMs Paul Ostrow and Don Samuels both, in different ways, stated that the proposed ordinance was going to be selectively enforced but concluded that that's ok . Here's CM Ostrow: “There’s a longstanding doctrine of prosecutorial discretion, and in every single law that’s ever been written, there are circumstances where the prosecutor and the police can say: ‘this is not an appropriate situation to apply the ordinance.’ So while I think that Council Member Gordon has pointed out...

 On June 15, Judge Joseph R. Klein ordered the City to immediately stop “any ongoing implementation of the 2040 Plan” until the City satisfies the requirements of the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA)” which could include completing an environmental assessment. On June 20, the city filed an appeal. The case has been brought forward by Smart Growth Minneapolis, formed, it seems, to oppose the plan as a “non-profit organization 100% funded by individual donations.” Their president is John C. Goetz, and their legal team includes Jack Perry, Maren Grier and Thomas Basting all from Briggs & Morgan, we well as former mayoral candidate Nekima Levy Armstrong, and Timothy J. Keane. Smart Growth has been joined in the lawsuit by the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds. No other environmental groups are part of the lawsuit, although one headed by former Council Member Diane Hofstede, the Great River Coalition, is listed o...

On March 10, supporters of the East Phillips Urban Farm project were celebrating. An 8-5 majority of the Minneapolis City Council had just approved a motion by 9th Ward Council Member Jason Chavez which rescinded the 2021 compromise that allowed the city to demolish the Roof Depot building at 1860 E. 28th St. The motion halted any demolition and construction on the site until the East Phillips neighborhood, and potentially others, could make formal proposals for the reuse of the building. The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) called it “historic action to review formal proposals for the Roof Depot Building,” adding that “this victory signals that Minneapolis is prepared to begin to undo decades of harm it has caused to neighborhoods like East Phillips.” But the celebration didn’t last long. On March 11, Mayor Frey vetoed the Chavez resolution. On March 24, the council failed to get the nine votes required to override it, on a 7-6 vote. “I’m disappointed in this veto and feel ...

A national Green party publication (Green Pages) asked me to write something about my 16 years in office and Mike Feinstein wrote a 2021 election recap and dedicated a good chunk of space to Minneapolis in general, Samantha’s victory, and, at the end, to me, my last campaign and some of my time in office.    Here are the links -    https://greenpagesnews.org/green-governance/   https://greenpagesnews.org/greens-think-globally-run-locally-green-party-2021-election-year-in-review/   Here is the text from my article looking back at my time in office: By Cam Gordon, Green Party of Minnesota and 4 term Minneapolis City Council Member This January I concluded a 16-year run as the sole Green Party City Council Member in Minneapolis. As I did so, I also ended my experiment in Green governance.  When I took to the campaign trail in the early 2000s, I was convinced that Green values provided a solid foundation for governing. As a founding member of the Green Par...