Finding a Green Way to Govern

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8-5 majority of the Minneapolis City Council had just approved a motion by 9th Ward Council Member Jason Chavez which rescinded the 2021 compromise that allowed the city to demolish the Roof Depot building at 1860 E. 28th St. The motion halted any demolition and construction on the site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...

 After years of negotiations, led by 3 different city labor relations directors, with strong community opposition, and a lengthy debate on March 24, the City Council voted 8 to 5 to approve a new contract with the Minneapolis Police Federation, which represents all Minneapolis police officers up to and including the rank of lieutenant.   The previous agreement expired in 2019. The new one ends this December and covers 2019-22. It includes $7,000 bonuses for new officers and current officers who stay on the job until the end of the year, as well as retroactive salary increases of 1% for 2020, 1.5% for 2021, and 2.5% for this year. There is also an additional 2.5% “market adjustment” wage increase beginning Jan. 1, 2022, and another 1% starting Dec. 31, 2022.   This increases department expenses by $9 million in 2022 to cover the retroactive pay increases and half of the bonuses.   The agreement also includes a new mental health screening requirement follow...

Since leaving the Council, I have taken up the past time of writing about city issues and policy for a few local papers. I have decided to keep this blog alive to allow me to post some of my work here, especially things that relate to local government issues and the Minneapolis City government in particular.  This will allow me to keep this historical record intact and growing into the future.