Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

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MNdible
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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby MNdible » October 26th, 2017, 2:44 pm

I generally like IRV quite a bit, but I hate the way it handles this condition. It's fundamentally undemocratic.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby David Greene » October 26th, 2017, 3:22 pm

Not sure if this should go here, but...

I see John Edwards is running for Board of Estimation and Taxation. His argument is, "I'm not Carol Becker."

Honestly asking, why is he running and why is he running on this platform? I don't get the Becker hate.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby amiller92 » October 26th, 2017, 4:09 pm

He said decided to run a write-in campaign after Becker's ridiculous suit against the mayor over the budget, and Becker's ridiculous statements declaring victory in the face of complete defeat in that suit. He cited prior ridiculous litigation she's brought.

I don't think "get rid of a crazy person" is terrible reason to run. Especially for this type of position, where the main qualification anyone brings is "I want it" and where voters are almost completely unaware of what the position is.

But I don't really know Becker at all, aside from news about the crazy legislation. Do you? What are the reasons not to get rid of her?

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby PhilmerPhil » October 26th, 2017, 4:19 pm

I've seen Carol Becker mixed up in some terrible Facebook comment threads, almost always on the wrong side of things most people on this forum care about.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby David Greene » October 26th, 2017, 8:01 pm

I've seen Carol Becker mixed up in some terrible Facebook comment threads, almost always on the wrong side of things most people on this forum care about.
Examples? I honestly haven't followed her recently. I know her from the old e-democracy days where she was generally very helpful in explaining how property taxes work and such things.

As far as the lawsuit goes, I guess I don't see it as ridiculous. There is legitimate concern that what the mayor did was not in the interest of transparency or public participation. The mayor has a staff. Not getting the work done on time is unacceptable.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby Blaisdell Greenway » October 27th, 2017, 12:37 pm

Carol's said some pretty mean transphobic shit about me, and is hellbent on stretching the truth so it suits her. I can't comment too much on her work for Board of Estimate, but people I respect around City Hall don't like her for all the reasons John Edwards notes.

As for RCV in the at-large Park Board race, your first vote counts for a LOT more than the other two. There's no reason not to rank 2 and 3, but be strategic about your first.

-----While you're here thinking about first choices, just a plug that I am the only mpls municipal candidate (in ANY race, as far as I can tell) that is calling for freeway lids. Also the only park candidate connecting the dots between transit, parks and housing. Urbanism is environmentalism.-----

The DFL didn't "snub" women, they endorsed one (Musich) and the other three were unbelievably subpar candidates (as measured by all their opponents solidly winning endorsement on the first ballot). LaTrisha would have undoubtedly earned the DFL endorsement, but she didn't even go to caucuses this year. (I like her a lot and she's supporting me since I am running a legit racial justice campaign. I'm supporting the DFL candidates because that's how party politics works).

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby David Greene » October 27th, 2017, 3:28 pm

Carol's said some pretty mean transphobic shit about me, and is hellbent on stretching the truth so it suits her. I can't comment too much on her work for Board of Estimate, but people I respect around City Hall don't like her for all the reasons John Edwards notes.
I'm very sorry you went through that. It's so odd because she is endorsed by Stonewall. I wish I knew what specific reasons John has, because I can't find them on his accounts. I'm sure it's somewhere but I can't find it. I'm absolutely open to voting for him and I just might based on your account but it would be good to have some things to tell other people.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby David Greene » October 27th, 2017, 3:39 pm

Back to park board, I am currently leadning Hogan, Vetaw, French. I feel like it's important to get people of color on the board. I hate to leave off Russ but as others have said, there are four really good candidates and we can only rank three.

BTW, I had an exchange with Jeanne Massey about the three vote restriction. Someone really dropped the ball because there is *no* reason we should not be able to vote for the full slate of candidates.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby FISHMANPET » October 27th, 2017, 3:50 pm

According to the City Charter, the Mayor is required to release a summary of the budget by a certain date, and the Charter lays out what specifically is required. Usually this has meant a budget speech on or before that day, with the full budget being released at the same time. This year, Hodges released the text of her budget address (which in her opinion satisfied the Charter requirement) on the day the Charter requires, but did not release her full proposed budget until later. Hodge's justification was that between the Damond shooting and... honestly I don't remember the other thing, but between those things her office didn't have time to prepare the full budget by the date stated in the Charter (Ryback did this as well, when the 35W bridge collapse). Becker believed that Hodges had not fulfilled her duty as laid out in the charter.

Now at this point reasonable people could agree or disagree if the budget statement Hodges released met the requirements in the Charter. But the fact that Becker disagreed with Hodges on that point isn't really the major issue here. Becker sued Hodges to try and force her to release a budget. Apparently she did this same thing when Ryback didn't release the full budget, but was complicit when Mayor Belton did it while Carol Becker worked for Belton (I don't know enough to confirm any of that). If that's true, there's clearly some politics in play here.

Becker filed her suit and posted about it on Facebook. The court accepted the suit, which is basically a procedural step that has nothing to do with the merits of the case. Becker declared victory on her Facebook page, despite many people pointing out to her that this was a procedural act and nothing to do with the merits of the case. Eventually she had her hearing before a judge and the judge sided with Mayor Hodges, the budget statement met the requirements in the Charter and the case was dismissed. Becker had to admit defeat but still called it a victory because she fought the mayor.

Becker runs on being a policy and budget wonk. Maybe she is really good with that stuff. But in the case of this lawsuit she either completely misunderstood the filing process (doubtful, I know she's smart enough to understand it) or willfully misrepresented the actions of the court to score political points. Legitimate policy differences are acceptable and in the grand scheme of things probably good. Willfully misrepresenting your actions as a "victory" is dishonest and deceitful, and it's below any elected official.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby David Greene » October 27th, 2017, 4:37 pm

On one hand, I see your point and maybe elected officials should be held to a higher standard for things like this.

On the other hand, "declaring victory" is a time-honored political strategy. Community organizers do it all the time, because often just getting to the table is a victory even if the outcome of a particular battle isn't exactly what you wanted. You want to keep people engaged and hopeful. Not saying that was Beckers thinking at all, I really don't know. I'm only speaking from my organizing experience.

Like I said, I didn't really follow the whole thing so it's helpful to hear these viewpoints. Thanks!

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby FISHMANPET » October 27th, 2017, 8:54 pm

And here's Carol Becker asking the tough questions about who's the big money funding such organizations as...

Our Revolution, FairVote, BLM, Our Streets, NOC, and even Wedge Live

http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mp ... qOtBhERzhO

Carol Becker is mean, she's arrogant, she's dismissive, and she's conservative.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby mplsjaromir » October 27th, 2017, 10:10 pm

Yikes.

I’m sure she is genuinely “asking questions”.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby FISHMANPET » October 27th, 2017, 10:25 pm

Digging deeper into her posts on E-democracy because what else would I be doing on a Friday night, she appears to be behind some pretty serious (and probably unfounded) accusations against Park Board District 2 Kale Severson. I'm not going to post them because I don't think that's really fair, but the deeper you dig into Carol Becker, the more you're realize that her character is... questionable, at best.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby phop » October 27th, 2017, 10:53 pm

That post... What in the world? Glad to know she's also aligned herself with the kooky RCV conspiracy theorists.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby bermanp7 » October 29th, 2017, 6:13 pm

If anyone out there is in Ward 11 and undecided, I recommend you rank Erica Mauter #1, in part for precisely the reasons the Star Tribune says they've ranked her last:
Erica Mauter, 39, director of the Twin Cities Women’s Choir and a former chemical engineer, is also running. Smart and engaged, Mauter nevertheless has some drawbacks that should concern voters. Even though the vast majority of homes in her ward are single-family dwellings, Mauter said she favors “upzoning” the entire area, allowing developers to “build a triplex on the footprint of a single-family home.” Requiring parking would only increase the cost, she said, adding that parking close to one’s home is “a privilege.” The Star Tribune Editorial Board strongly supports public transit, but Mauter would do well to gain more sensitivity to those with young children, infirmities or concerns about safety at night or inclement weather that make parking an issue not to be so lightly dismissed.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/editorial-en ... 453717893/

A personal comment: When I knocked doors for Erica yesterday, I told folks about how great she is at communication. She's active on social media in a way I find relatable and engaging, even (or rather especially) when the topics are challenging. More details about Erica, plus info on volunteering/donating, at https://www.ericamauter.org/

PS I find it odd that the Strib uses upzoning and density as knocks against Erica but not against their preferred mayoral candidate.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby amiller92 » October 29th, 2017, 7:48 pm

Or against their preferred Ward 11 candidate.

I like Jeremy Schroeder and I'll be happy if he's elected, but I'm hot about how the Strib treated Erica. They condescended to and lectured the only queer, black woman in the race because of course she doesn't know what it's like to have small children.

The thing about Erica, or at least my impression of her, is that she engaged, smart, analytical and open to data, but of course with a grounding in progressive values. Talking to her like she just hasn't considered all the angles is offensive.


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Tiller
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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby Tiller » October 29th, 2017, 10:00 pm

Wow the strib editorial board is just garbage.

And if someone with mobility issues does need a parking spot in front of their house, then make it a handicap spot and put a set of signs in like I've seen in St Paul (idk if that is done in minneapolis). Permit parking is also an option, or just not move to an urban area if driving and parking are that important to your mobility needs. There are lots of people with disabilities who can't drive at all who would *love* to take your place!

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby alexschief » October 30th, 2017, 7:58 am

PS I find it odd that the Strib uses upzoning and density as knocks against Erica but not against their preferred mayoral candidate.
The Strib is this weird amalgamation of both growth machine and homevoter politics. They have a very mid-century, Western American view of the city; skyscrapers and apartment towers in the center of town, and idyllic suburban-style neighborhoods around it. They have no interest in missing middle neighborhoods, and no conception of multimodal transportation outside of the commuting context.

tab
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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby tab » October 30th, 2017, 8:30 am

Following up on Tiller's question: yes, Minneapolis also allows residents to designate an on-street parking spot as a handicap spot.

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Re: Minneapolis City Council and Park Board Elections 2017

Postby billhelm » October 30th, 2017, 8:38 am

Strib editorial board "would do well" to actually visit Ward 11, where they could visibly see that lack of viable parking isn't really an issue in most of the ward.

Shameful editorial, but I'm glad to see people seeing right through it. The problem is the voters that don't dig and will use what the strib said at the polls.

I'm encouraged though, I think it's going to be a close race.


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