Closing Argument: Before You Vote, Know the Play Card
Friday, November 3, 2023 at 11:09AMBy Carol Becker
Editors Note: Carol Becker is a Data Researcher, Political Consultant, and previously served on the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation.
Minneapolis is going to have an election November 7th.
It is a hackneyed cliché to say this is the most important election ever. Honestly, you can’t really know until years later whether an election was revolutionary. What I can say is that Minneapolis is a deeply divided city, with two dueling agendas. And this election will determine which way the City will go over the next two years and shape the full citywide election in 2025. And it is projected that only 25% of the people eligible to vote will even bother to vote.
What are the two agendas? We can think of the two groups as far-left and center-left on the political spectrum. A good example of this split is siting the replacement Third Precinct. The moderates, focused on the practicalities of running a city, wants to build a new police precinct to provide a physical place for City employees to do work. The Mayor most recently proposed 2633 Minnehaha Avenue, a site that could be ready in a year for a modest $14M, the cheapest and fastest of any alternative. Voting in favor on Tuesday were Council Members Andrea Jenkins, Michael Rainville, Linea Palmisano, LaTrisha Vetaw, Lisa Goodman and Emily Koski.
The far-left, with its roots in the defund movement, wants to build a “public safety center” with the police only one of many departments in the building. Or even perhaps a larger “community services center” similar to the service centers that the County has built. They don’t really know exactly, and as Council Member Payne said on Tuesday, they don’t really feel any urgency to come to a resolution. According to Payne, they would rather “engage the public” and “build trust” by “continuing discussions with the community” than expedite a building. But for people who went to the actual meetings about where to site the precinct, they know that activists disrupted every meeting, making real community dialogue impossible. In many ways, it feels like delay just to relitigate the 2021 charter vote. Voting against the proposal were Council Members Elliott Payne, Robin Wonsley, Jeremiah Ellison, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai, and Jamal Osman.
This is just a microcosm of the gulf dividing our city. In the next two years, we are going to face questions like:
- Will we hire more than the absolute minimum number of police officers?
- Will we allow homeless encampments?
- Will we continue to add bike lanes while throttling access to jobs and businesses?
- Will we have rent control?
- Will we spend $40M a year (roughly a 10% increase in taxes) to have the City shovel sidewalks?
- Will we focus on building jobs and growing the economy or will we focus only on worker’s rights?
- Will we focus on the needs of families and children or continue to develop a city that works best for the young and childless?
I could go on.
There are three major endorsements on the progressive side, the Democratic Socialists of America, Take Action Minnesota, and the far-left progressive PAC, Minneapolis for the Many. There are two major endorsements on the center-left side, the moderate PACs All of Minneapolis and Engage Minneapolis.
The DFL used to be a center-left/moderate party. In Minneapolis, that is no longer true. Five far-left candidates and four moderate candidates have been endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL. So it is no longer clear if the DFL is a center-left party any longer.
The Star Tribune has also made endorsements. None of them were progressives.
The play card for the upcoming election looks like this:
I don’t know if this will be the most important election ever. I can tell you whether our city thrives or declines will depend on who we elect. The turnout is supposed to be small so every vote will matter. Regardless of your views, please vote November 7th.
