Mayoral Race

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » June 21st, 2013, 9:32 am

Now that I look at it, Stafford isn't even involved with the Andrew campaign, he's just a supporter.

And I wasn't at the convention so all I know is that it was terrible and way too long for how little it accomplished, but I think maybe we should focus on the candidates and the stupid process stories?

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby David Greene » June 21st, 2013, 9:44 am

Now that I look at it, Stafford isn't even involved with the Andrew campaign, he's just a supporter.
He's not just an ordinary supporter, though. Rick Stafford is VERY high up in the party. He has a lot of power to work the DFL machinery. When you have that much power you've got to use it judiciously. From what I have read there were very clear biases in the way the convention was run and that demands some kind of response from the Andrew campaign.

I've attended conventions chaired by Stafford and he's always come off to me as very partisan toward the insiders and the way he runs conventions reflects that. There is little room for grassroots organizing in his worldview. It's time for him to go.

Process matters. It is how we make decisions and get things done. If we have poor process we get poor decisions. We all know this from our experience with infrastructure development.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » June 21st, 2013, 9:49 am

I have no doubt the process should be improved, but let's do it for the sake of better candidates, not purely for the sake of process. Endlessly going on and on about process for the sake of process doesn't get us anywhere.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby MNdible » June 21st, 2013, 10:52 am

Although it took longer than it needed to, I think ultimately the convention came to the same conclusion that I did:

There are a number of interesting, strong candidates in the race and there's no good reason to arbitrarily endorse one and force the others to drop out.

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Re: Mayoral Race

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 25th, 2013, 4:03 pm

http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2013 ... went-wrong

Did anyone here get one of those policy packets from Hodges mentioned in this article? I'd be curious to know her policy stance on a range of issues.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby twincitizen » June 25th, 2013, 5:54 pm

Yes. But I still haven't read it because I was a "militant no endorsement" to steal a phrase from a friend.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Silophant » June 25th, 2013, 6:27 pm

Is anyone else at the Minneapolis Energy Forum? On this subject, at least, the candidates are a real agreeable bunch.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Silophant » June 25th, 2013, 10:39 pm

I was going to post from the forum, but my phone died. I'll sum up my thoughts on the forum here.

The candidates attending were Don Samuels, Cam Winton, Jackie Cherryhomes, Mark Andrew, Betsy Hodges, and Dan Cohen.

Don Shelby started by asking the candidates for a show of hands on whether they believed in human-caused climate change. Everyone did. (Surprise!)

Winton started off by disclosing that he works for Duke Energy, and that Xcel Energy. He made some pointed comments that other candidates hadn't disclosed their ties.

1st topic: on solar energy in Minneapolis. All candidates think it's a great idea, with various ideas of how to fund it. Andrew pointed out that he was the only candidate to have an actual proposal on the subject. Everyone else pointed out that his numbers don't add up. I've only glanced at the plan, but it looks like the numbers are fine, assuming absolute best-case scenarios for everything. So, totally unrealistic, but that's normal for renewable energy proposals.

2nd: I'm totally blanking on what this topic was. All the candidates were agreed on it, though.

3rd: Transit in Minneapolis: All the candidates were very supportive of increasing transit availability, especially in North Minneapolis. Everyone also expressed support for the streetcar project, except for Winton, who is stridently against them and would rather spend $2mil/mile upgrading buses to have off-board ticketing and heated stations than $40 mil/mile on a streetcar. I see his point, though I don't agree with it.

4th: Minneapolis Energy Options: Varied opinions on this one. Hodges is very much for it, since Xcel is evil. Andrew supports the ideas behind it, but didn't full-out endorse it, saying he'd back it if the city council does. Samuels, Winton, and Cherryhomes all said it was a good idea, but they'd have to wait and see what the results of the study were. Winton pointed out that the city will have to sign new, though hopefully shorter contracts with Xcel and Centerpoint in any case, since a year is not nearly enough time to set up a municipal utility in a city the size of Minneapolis. Cherryhomes is worried (correctly!) that buying out the entire Xcel system within city limits would render the city unable to afford to improve anything else for years or decades into the future. Cohen was totally against it, saying that it's too expensive (true), too complicated for the city to run without hiring back all the engineers we had just effectively fired (true), and would be a magnet for cronyism (maybe true).

5th: HERC expansion and a Zero-Waste City. Hodges is against HERC expansion, since Minneapolis will very soon be a Zero-Waste city, and there won't be anything to burn anyway. Cohen admitted to not knowing much about the subject, but has no problem expanding it, since it meets federal pollution guidelines. The remaining candidates are adamantly against expansion, but are fine leaving it open while Minneapolis strives for zero-waste. Samuels pointed out that it's the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center, and even if Minneapolis becomes Zero-waste, it will still burn garbage from the rest of the county.

During the closing statements, I had to stifle a laugh when Cherryhomes claimed to be the only candidate to have created green jobs, earning immediate concerned looks from Winton and Andrew, seated on either side of her. As we walked out, a woman in the back stood up and began shouting about how the UN had just stated that veganism was the only route to a green future society.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby MNdible » June 26th, 2013, 9:04 am

Thanks for the summary.

I have no idea why anybody thinks that having the city take over the utilities would be a good idea.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Andrew_F » June 26th, 2013, 9:58 am

1st topic: on solar energy in Minneapolis. All candidates think it's a great idea, with various ideas of how to fund it. Andrew pointed out that he was the only candidate to have an actual proposal on the subject. Everyone else pointed out that his numbers don't add up. I've only glanced at the plan, but it looks like the numbers are fine, assuming absolute best-case scenarios for everything. So, totally unrealistic, but that's normal for renewable energy proposals.
How about they relax the hoops you need to jump through for the city and Xcel in order to install solar on your own property? Perhaps instead of investing directly in panels, the city could use that money to work with Xcel to make their procedures a little more reasonable. Free net meters with built-in shutoffs, then Xcel won't have to care what you do on your side.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 26th, 2013, 10:13 am

I have no idea why anybody thinks that having the city take over the utilities would be a good idea.
Utility monopolies are basically guaranteed profits for the owners right? So why should those profits go to a second yacht for someone who is friends with lots of politicians? Wouldn't it be better if the guaranteed profits went into projects that simultaneously provide public goods and pay middle-class salaries? The problem being that energy monopolies are likely to become unprofitable thanks to the dispersed generation model of renewables. So when Ed Felien first proposed this in the 70s it was a good idea, today it is dubious.
Hodges is against HERC expansion, since Minneapolis will very soon be a Zero-Waste city
Minneapolis is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG way from being a zero-waste city, and anyone who thinks otherwise spends all their time in a yoga-inflated bubble somewhere south and/or west of Lake Harriet. And, as Don Samuels pointed out, that's irrelevant for HERC anyway. It's disappointing that a bunch of people who claim to be environmentally-minded think it's preferable to have garbage trucks drive 60 miles further and dump trash in a landfill for it to generate methane and pollute waterways for 100 years. The only argument against HERC is based in environmental justice and it's funny that no one is making that argument.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby MNdible » June 26th, 2013, 10:41 am

Utility monopolies are basically guaranteed profits for the owners right? So why should those profits go to a second yacht for someone who is friends with lots of politicians?
Obviously, this is rich grounds for pandering in the DFL trenches. I guess I just find it hard to believe that Minneapolis (or any mid size municipality) could run a stand alone utility company and provide rates that are comparable to what we're seeing now, even if you get rid of profit to money grubbers. Remember, utility profits are effectively determined by the PUC.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby woofner » June 26th, 2013, 11:12 am

The City of New Ulm runs its own power, gas, and telecom utilities in addition to the standard munis (water, waste water, and trash). From what I hear from my relatives, their rates are far below what I pay, although their property taxes are pretty high, which may have something to do with it.

Looks like Rochester's electric rates are about 3 cents higher per kWh than Xcel's MN rates, and their monthly service charge is about $5 more. So your assumption may be correct, although if it's based on rates declining as operations scale up, Minneapolis would likely be able to deliver lower rates than Rochester.

Again, I wasn't thinking that rates would be set to remove the profitability of the enterprise, just that the profits would return directly to the municipality rather than investors. Of course the franchise fee should also be considered when looking at the viability of municipalization.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » June 26th, 2013, 11:14 am

I wonder if the recent storm changes the minds of anybody on this. A municipal utility would stand a better chance of burying utility lines than hoping Xcel does it for us.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby David Greene » June 26th, 2013, 11:40 am

The only argument against HERC is based in environmental justice and it's funny that no one is making that argument.
I have some folks in North and a state Rep. you should meet.

The mayoral candidates are not talking about environmental justice (on anything!) to their great shame.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Nick » July 3rd, 2013, 8:26 pm

"You can be my [wingmen]!"

-Cam Winton, to twincitizen and I at Movies in the Park.

Note: Top Gun is the movie.
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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby FISHMANPET » July 4th, 2013, 11:42 am

Dan Cohen is crazy enough to buy bilboards, saw this above Stub & Herbs.

Image

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby MNdible » July 4th, 2013, 7:50 pm

How bizarre. I guess he's got the "people with an axe to grind against the Strib" vote locked up.

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Re: Mayoral Race

Postby Andrew_F » July 5th, 2013, 12:31 pm

There's an odd one I noticed last week at 50th and Penn, but now I'm forgetting what it said.


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