Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Elections - City Councils and Commissions - Policies
MNdible
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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby MNdible » November 5th, 2015, 12:09 pm

Either that or they're not convinced that Minnesotans are ready to watch 0-0 draws decided by somebody taking a penalty shot after a horrible dive.
Yeah, I'm a huge soccer fan.

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mplsjaromir
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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby mplsjaromir » November 5th, 2015, 12:10 pm

Lol, then what's the beef?

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby EOst » November 5th, 2015, 12:33 pm

I don't have any real complaints about things that Mayor Hodges has done, but that's mostly because I have a hard time pointing to anything that she initiated (as opposed to the City Council). I know we have a "weak mayor" system, but she seems more or less invisible.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby MNdible » November 5th, 2015, 12:39 pm

Broadly, she seems to be spending most of her time working on things that really aren't in the city's purview, while mostly ignoring the things that really are. She hasn't been visible, hasn't been a cheerleader for the city, and I can't think of anything where her involvement has made a positive difference. She frankly doesn't seem to understand how to work within the limitations of the job.

Although I don't always agree with him, and his ambition give me pause, I'd say that Jacob Frey has been doing a better job of being mayor than Hodges has.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby grant1simons2 » November 5th, 2015, 12:47 pm

I think he may be even busier than Hodges. He told me we should catch up on stuff but can't meet until after Thanksgiving Break :shock:

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby MNdible » November 5th, 2015, 12:56 pm

Increasingly, it seems as if everyone in City Hall has taken courses at the University of Obfuscation. When a couple of City Council members questioned how some vague, small budget items were actually going to be implemented last week, an aide from the mayor’s office offered some jabberwocky to the effect that folks will partner with “key lead agencies” and be “leveraging our existing partners as we move outwardly. It is something that is in line with a national initiative.”
From Tevlin's Strib column.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby mplsjaromir » November 5th, 2015, 1:59 pm

Ugh, Frey to me, embodies the worst of the modern Democratic Party, but to each their own.

Telvin's uses anecdotes from the guy who sells $700 upcycled stools and the specter of a possible murder count that is not a standard deviation outside the last decade's numbers. Did Telvin just uncover the first time a government official uses nonspecific language? It seems that Telvin's column is not substantive, that is fitting because the criticisms of Hodges seem full of non specific qualifiers.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby FISHMANPET » November 5th, 2015, 2:19 pm

It mostly seems buttmad at the world "holistic" and just mocking that. I don't know, I feel like murder prevention is a really hard thing. How do you prevent someone from wanting to kill someone else, if they're somehow already at a place where that seems acceptable? Honestly, a "holistic" (which literally means considering all of the parts and how they interconnect) sounds like the best approach instead of ???

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby MNdible » November 5th, 2015, 2:28 pm

Of course this is going to be vague and nonspecific. It's not like she killed a puppy or something.

To flip the thing on its head, what about Hodges's first two years in office makes you think that she's worthy of reelection?

The squishy focus group language seems consistent with her budgeting, where little pots of money are distributed to little programs that make people feel like something is being done.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby acs » November 5th, 2015, 2:33 pm

But she raised taxes! That's got to give her enough liberal cred to win right? And how can we forget about social equity?!

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby mplsjaromir » November 5th, 2015, 2:49 pm

She said no to the ridiculous soccer stadium.

She is a capable manager who for most part is going by the approach Rybak used for the majority of his tenure. Do not extend the city finances unless you have deep consensus, do not chase gimmicky vanity projects (something Chris Coleman should learn) and make incremental small scale improvements (bike lanes, parking requirement reform).

I will also say she handled the pointergate fiasco with grace and aplomb.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby LakeCharles » November 5th, 2015, 4:37 pm

But she raised taxes! That's got to give her enough liberal cred to win right? And how can we forget about social equity?!

Haha. Wikipedia's definition of social equity: "Social equity is the cornerstone of society, which cannot be maintained for a few at the expense of the many. Increased equity results in decreased spending on prisons, security enforcement, welfare, and social services." And you oppose this somehow? I'm glad we have Hodges instead of you.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby acs » November 5th, 2015, 4:52 pm

Yes, all that is true, and look how well one-party rule of Minneapolis for as far back as any of us have been alive has done to increase social equity. It's just going swimmingly isn't it? In case you missed it, our core cities are now more segregated than Eden Prairie and the disparity in educational and achievement outcomes is so great that a massive lawsuit was just filed against the state, both cities and both school boards:

http://www.startribune.com/lawsuit-clai ... 340843751/

But of course it's sacrilege to vote against the status quot party in this city, because Winton or Barb Johnson or Frey might question the utility of giving NoMi "Promise Zone" status. The horror!

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby acs » November 5th, 2015, 5:18 pm

Broadly, she seems to be spending most of her time working on things that really aren't in the city's purview, while mostly ignoring the things that really are. She hasn't been visible, hasn't been a cheerleader for the city, and I can't think of anything where her involvement has made a positive difference. She frankly doesn't seem to understand how to work within the limitations of the job.

Although I don't always agree with him, and his ambition give me pause, I'd say that Jacob Frey has been doing a better job of being mayor than Hodges has.
I'd agree most of this. The contrast with Rybak is pretty stunning in this regard. I didn't like many of his policies (Vikes Stadium Deal, spend $100m to end homelessness in 10 years? yeah that really worked) however I deeply respect that he was willing to cheerlead for the city and try big initiatives that mostly paid off. I didn't really expect Hodges to work behind the scenes with business to land us a new stadium and development or start a new racing event, but given all the development and prosperity flowing into the city (in certain areas) I feel like Betsy is blowing our window of opportunity to really build on the successes we've had. Shooting down the privately funded soccer stadium was just one sign. The city council may have more power than the Mayor, but I think there's a lot of people on this board who have maybe speculated how things might be different if Jacob Frey were mayor for the last two years.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby EOst » November 5th, 2015, 5:52 pm

Yes, all that is true, and look how well one-party rule of Minneapolis for as far back as any of us have been alive has done to increase social equity. It's just going swimmingly isn't it? In case you missed it, our core cities are now more segregated than Eden Prairie and the disparity in educational and achievement outcomes is so great that a massive lawsuit was just filed against the state, both cities and both school boards
And that was caused by DFL control of Minneapolis how, exactly? Right now this is just "post hoc ergo propter hoc," and it frankly ignores the fact that every major metro area shows similar--and often worse!--discrepancies, whether controlled by Democrats, Republicans, or the Monster Raving Looney Party.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby mister.shoes » November 5th, 2015, 10:16 pm

You listed the Republicans twice...
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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby FISHMANPET » November 6th, 2015, 2:11 pm

I'm not really sure what's implied by calling Minneapolis a "one party town" (besides the obvious that nearly all of the elected officials have a D by their name). Specifically what would having an R on the city council do? It's not like they're all in some lockstep death march to far left communism, there's plenty of disagreement. I don't really see Republican social views playing well in a city, especially this one, so if someone did run they'd have to distance themselves from that and the entire Republican establishment behind those kinds of ideas.

So we're left with fiscal conservatism. You mean like balancing the budget and increasing our bond rating (like Democrat RT Ryback did?). Or removing burdensome regulation that gets in the way of market forces, such as parking minimums (like Democrat Lisa Bender did). Or refusing to give handouts to big business (Like Democrat Betsy Hodges did with the soccer stadium).

Then you're left with some of the weird anti-urban identiy politics of the Republicans. Bikes and Trains BAD! Hypothetical buses that they'll never fund are good! Wealth destroying automobiles good! More lanes for cars! No sidewalks!

And if we're talking about equity, if we say that current councils attempts at equity (the Working Families agenda) is bad, then what's the "Republican" alternative? Tax cuts for business owners and removing a minimum wage, and hoping it trickles down to the employees?

I guess what I'm saying is that "Democrat" or "Republican" is almost meaningless when it comes to local government because the standard rhetoric used at the state and national level don't really apply. And in the few cases where they sort of maybe do, the people in the cities overwhelmingly hold the Democrat view, not the Republican view. So I don't really know what a "Republican" city council would do differently or how that would be better for anyone.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby Viktor Vaughn » November 7th, 2015, 2:37 pm

It would be nice to see the dems lose one party control to the green party. Electing republicans isn't going to help the city.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby MNdible » November 7th, 2015, 5:06 pm

I don't think that the Greens bring any meaningful difference. Tell me how Cam Gordon is different than Alondra Cano.

There is a recent history of having some very moderate or almost-Independent Democrats on the City Council. People who weren't supported by the unions or the super-progressive sets. I wish that it were possible for a true moderate Republican or two to make it onto the Council.

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Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Postby Viktor Vaughn » November 7th, 2015, 7:13 pm

I agree there's a lot of overlap between greens and progressive democrats. But I do think Cam Gordon is a more reliable progressive vote than most the democratic counsel members. The city would benefit from an opposition party challenging middle of the road democrats. It'd be nice to have a real choice in general elections, rather than just the dfl anointed inevitable candidate and token opposition.


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