Finding a Green Way to Govern

The Minneapolis Health Department has developed a new Healthy Communities Assessment Tool. This online resource provides information about the physical, social and economic conditions of community health in Minneapolis Includes 41 health indicators at the neighborhood level. The indicators were determined at a national level and we are one of four pilot cities in the United States selected by Healthy Housing Solutions Inc. and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to participate in this pilot project. The way it is being presented now may make too big a deal out of rankings, but this offers a way to look at strengths and weaknesses and may provide insights into what needs more research and focus in your neighborhood.] I am very excited to see this coming forward and look forward to seeing how we can use it to make better decisions and investments in Minneapolis. Check it out at here   .

I was very excited to see that in January, the Mayor’s Cradle to Kindergarten (K) Cabinet released its draft plan to address early childhood disparities. The plan outlines policy, legislative and collaboration recommendations intended to help ensure that all Minneapolis residents are able to thrive during their first years of life.  Please take a few minutes to read the draft plan .  I commend the group and the Mayor for this overdue focus 0 – 3 year-olds and for the practical, research based recommendations it makes under each of the following three goals: Goal One: All children 0 to three will receive a healthy start rich with early experiences that prepares them for successful early education and literacy. 1. Increase early childhood screening at age three. 2. Improve mental health services of children birth to three. 3. Decrease the “Word Gap” of children birth to three. 4. Expand targeted home visiting services. 5. Increase community awareness and e...

Last year, on December 10, following an intense and often passionate public hearing; and a lengthy and sometimes emotional debate by the City Council, the 2015 budget was approved. This followed an earlier Budget Committee meeting where the Council voted 7-6 to support amendments to the proposed 2015 budget that reduced funding for several high priorities of mine including the newly formed Clean Energy Partnership, homeownership support, community engagement funding for the One Minneapolis Fund, an outside evaluation of our community engagement system and a Civil Rights Department Disparity study. Fortunately, at that meeting, a proposal to shift funding for pedestrian and bicyclist safety from ongoing to one-time dollars was withdrawn and an attempt to cut a proposed racial equity position in the City Coordinator’s office failed on a 7-6 vote.  Subsequently, on the 10 th, funding for the Clean Energy Partnership and the One Minneapolis Fund was restored by shifting some fun...

This morning, the Council approved a staff direction I worked on with Council Member Blong Yang that will give the Council better access to data on low-level arrests and police stops in our city. Here's the direction: Motion by Gordon and Yang Directing the Police Department and City Attorney’s Office to provide data on misdemeanor arrests, charging, prosecution and diversion by race, gender, age, geography, and offence for the years 2010-2014, and report back to the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Emergency Management committee in the second quarter of 2015. Further directing the Attorney’s Office and Police Department to make recommendations concerning the development of a policy and potential protocol for the recording and reporting of demographic information, especially race and location, of police stops that do not necessarily lead to an arrest, and to report back with recommendations regarding this in the second quarter of 2015. This appears to be a very careful, sm...

Last night, after a boisterous public hearing and some more contentious, 7-6 votes, the Council adopted the 2015 budget.  Here are some key takeaways: The community came out in force.  In addition to tens of emails and phone calls to Council Members, more than sixty people came to speak to the Council about the importance of investing in clean energy and equity.  Only one person spoke in favor of the levy reduction. We won back most of the losses from last week.   The Council voted unanimously to restore many of the cuts that were made last week.  Most importantly to me, we restored all of the funding for the Clean Energy Partnership, most of the funding for the One Minneapolis Fund, and a small amount of the funding for homeownership counseling and foreclosure prevention.  I do not think these wins would have been possible without all of the pressure the community brought to bear. This budget includes a lot of progressive wins.  There is ...