Ok, time to do my Minneapolis City Council recommendations. You can find your ward here:

https://www.minneapolismn.gov/.../city-council/find-my-ward/

”Too long didn’t read’ cheat sheet:

Ward 1: Elliott Payne

Ward 2: Robin Wonsley (key race)

Ward 3: Marcus Mills

Ward 4: Marvina Haynes

Ward 5: Ethrophic Burnett (key race)

Ward 6: Jamal Osman

Ward 7: Katie Cashman (key race)

Ward 8: Soren Stevenson (key race)

Ward 9: Jason Chavez for Ward 9 City Council

Ward 10: Aisha Chughtai (key race)

Ward 11: Jamison Whiting 1st choice, Jim Meyer 2nd

Ward 12: Aurin Chowdhury (key race)

Ward 13: Linea Palmisano

Although I didn’t vote for the strong mayor amendment, the deal was the mayor would control more but in return, the council would retain budget power & get enhanced oversight - checks & balances. The Strong mayor system enhanced power of high wealth/high turnout wards, and I believe it’s vital that the council reflect a broader reality. Since I think Frey is likely to win, and has done a poor job of managing civilian crime prevention functions (for example), I’ve backed candidates with a broader view of public safety, who are more likely to accept city responsibility for helping folks without homes, support multimodal transportation so we’re not so car dependent, and back a robust audit function (Frey recently proposed axing 2 auditors).

Right now, the Council has 9 votes willing to check the mayor - a veto-proof majority. I think that’s unlikely to reoccur, but I’d like to maintain a majority. Without it, Frey won’t have to negotiate, one of his major failings, and I at least want to preserve that.

Because of how I see the Council/mayor going, I don’t think we’ll ever see St. Paul style rent control or police staffing reduced below the charter minimum. 

5 or 6 races are key. In no particular order:

Ward 8 - my home Ward. Soren Stevenson ran 2 years ago, lost by 38 votes, but stayed involved. He’s a remarkably positive candidate whose job is in homeless outreach. He works hard, knows policy, asked good questions, is independent of the landlord groups pouring money into this race. He’s DFL endorsed & a renter. His opponent, Josh Bassais, originally announced for mayor then “dropped down” to this race. He was very pissy when he lost the DFL endorsement this spring — I found it revealing. He is bad for me as a biker: he literally said at a debate that bike lanes made sense in “July & August‘ … as I’ve noted, I’m a year-round biker but even if you’re fair weather, I just don’t want to spend 4 years with a council member i have to convince to keep me safe, and the city less polluting. Call it my special interest.

Wards 2 & 10. Arguably the two most lefty in the city (along with Ward 9), their incumbents fit much better than the challengers. Robin Wonsley makes waves but people don’t realize how hard she works or how much legislation she’s sponsored that’s been enacted. Dinkytown has great safety lighting because of her. Landlords — including one who illegally blocked Wonsley from campaigning — parachuted in a former suburban rep from a different ward to run against her. The U area doesn’t deserve that. In Ward 10, the Uptown Association — mad about beautiful Hennepin Avenue (they’ll embrace now that it’s done) and mad about the homeless (that is really the purview of the strong mayor) put up an opponent who criticized bike lanes, bragged about no labor endorsements, and even proposed building a data center in Uptown (!) to run against Aisha Chughtai. Now this opponent is showing herself on a bike, because the ward is just way more progressive than her donors. Vote Aisha.

Ward 7. Katie Cashman is so great, but also the epitome of how Frey backers demonize true moderates. Cashman has voted for police headcount and raises, supported the business community (all businesses, not just big ones), is not a member of the DSA. She’s a full-throated environmental advocate & a strong voice for renters. A lot of homeowners in wealthier parts of the ward support her opponent, who has made clear that unquestioning support of Frey & “c-suite” businesspeople. She’s not as sharp as Katie on policy and nowhere near as independent. If you want to build a city for the next 50 years - a multimodal, locally oriented, renter-friendly, human-scale Minneapolis - Katie is a critical vote.

Ward 12. The city’s biggest progressive ward will hopefully easily reject Aurin Chowdhury’s opponent, who has made *international* headlines for racist comments about Aurin’s skin color. (https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-city.../601346555).

Ward 5. This north side ward, with many low-income renters deserves independent representation. Burnett is free of the landlord interests who have prioritized this district.

Ward 11. This is a moderate ward, currently represented by Emily J. Hofstede Koski. She, like Cashman, is a moderate who learned during her term that disagreement with Frey means being demonized. She’s endorsed Jamison Whiting, a city attorney who may be the only candidate endorsed by Frey-touting political action committees and the more progressive Mpls for the many. Whiting - who went to Washburn with my son! Time flies! - is a smart guy and likely swing vote. He has good ideas about putting the Trump-abandoned federal consent decree Into the still-alive state settlement … something Frey won’t do. He’s a guy some see as a future mayor … time will tell if that’s on the Frey model or something more center-left and collaborative. Jim Meyer is an old friend & we disagree on a number of issues but he is a deeply knowledgeable person & truly earnest and decent in his advocacy. I’d trust him, and deserves to be ranked above 3rd in a 3-way race.

Some folks might be surprised I’m endorsing Linea Palmisano, one of Frey’s staunchest defenders and someone I disagree with often. However — in the theme of Wards 2 & 10 being progressive and deserving a rep that reflects that — Palmisano fits the bulk of Ward 13. Her opponent is also a gadfly. 

I don’t want to slight great reps who deserve kudos like Elliott Payne and Jason Chavez for Ward 9 City Council but this is already long. 

Again, comments are turned off because I don’t want my feed becoming a shooting gallery. As with my earlier mayoral post, feel free to post on your feed and welcome whomever you want into the comments. (I did have to suffer reading someone accuse me of being a ”capitulating Star Tribune employee” — I’ve never worked for them, sorry — while another accused me of “making stuff up” instead of specifying, so it made me feel good about my choice here).