Finding a Green Way to Govern

I am grateful and humbled to have been reelected to a third term as Second Ward Council Member.   I thank the voters of Ward 2 for your continued confidence.   As I have over the last eight years, I will do my best to represent all the people of the Ward on the City Council, and work to make Minneapolis a more just, democratic, sustainable and peaceful city where everyone can enjoy their lives and thrive. I consider it a great honor and a great joy to be able to continue to serve you and all of Minneapolis as a City Council Member. We can more effectively improve our community and support one another if we work together. So please feel free to share your hopes, concerns and ideas with me anytime. I also encourage you to get involved with your neighborhood and business associations and with the work you see in the community that you support. If you think of any way that I, or Robin or Nancy from our office, can be of assistance to you, please don’t hesitate to contact us an...

Below is an open letter from me and five of my Minneapolis City Council colleagues to National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell and Washington Redskins team owner Dan Snyder expressing our disapproval of the team’s name in advance of the November 7th game against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis and the planned rally, march and rallies to be held on the same day. For more details please look here and here . An Open Letter to National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell and Washington, D.C. NFL Team Owner Dan Snyder November 4, 2013 Dear Commissioner Goodell and Mr. Snyder, We, the undersigned members of the City Council of the City of Minneapolis, are writing to express our disapproval of the Washington Redskins team name and mascot. The Redskins are due to play the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on November 7, 2013. We join those Minnesota residents who will be protesting outside Mall of America Field in condemning the racism inherent in the “...

Minnesota Public Radio has run a story  with James Norton from the Heavy Table about the Seward neighborhood being increasingly viewed as a place to get a great meal.  Tracy's, the Seward Coop, Birchwood Cafe, and Verdant Tea get shout-outs.  The closing of True Thai is also mentioned. Among the other great restaurants in Seward that didn't get mentioned: the Seward Cafe, the Blue Nile, Pizza Luce, Himalayan Restaurant and Shabelle Restaurant, as well as Precision Grind coffee shop. It's great to see folks from the whole Twin Cities recognizing the special food scene in Seward.  I hope it will generate an upswing in business for Seward small businesses.

Earlier today, I voted with all of the rest of my colleagues to allow the demolition of the former Gluek's Tied House / Rainbow Gallery building.  I see this as an unfortunate outcome, but the only decision I could make. It is important to place this development in a broader philosophical context.  As I see it, the Green perspective on density is that the more good-quality housing we can build in the right places – with good access to jobs, non-motorized transportation infrastructure, cultural, educational and recreational amenities, and transit – the more we fight the urban sprawl that destroys farmland and encourages auto dependency.  Greater density doesn’t just have environmental benefits, either.  We live in a city that was built for a population of 500,000 people (the peak that we hit in the 1950s), but which has a current population of less than 400,000 people.  That means that we have fewer people paying into maintaining our infrastructure and suppo...

The Journal has run an op-ed I wrote answering some frequently asked questions about ranked choice voting.  I encourage you to go read it, but here are the main points: You can't help your most-preferred candidate by "bullet voting" for him or her, and you can't  hurt your most-preferred candidate by using all three of your rankings RCV is not responsible for the huge mayoral field - that's the fault of the low filing fee and no incumbent on the ballot RCV is not confusing to voters, according to research conducted on the Minneapolis municipal election in 2009 Voters should use all three rankings, if there are three candidates they support RCV has produced a mayor's race without the low-turnout primary and without the rancor and divisiveness of past races, and that's a good thing