urbanMSP

There will be 35 candidates on the ballot this election: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/displa ... olis-mayor

Besty Hodges Released a statement about a zero waste plan, essentially saying that Garbage Burning harms our environment... So those of you who want to get rid of the HERC... you have your candidate

Zero Waste policy creates a win-win-win for Minneapolis. Less trash-burning means less money spent, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and better use of our valuable land. Reusing and recycling our goods means cheaper materials and products for the community.

Who knew that the mayor has a magic waste reducing wand? And why hasn't Rybak used it?

I swear, every time I'm inclined to support one of the candidates, they come out with a bone-headed statement.

Also, doesn't HERC provide steam heating for a large portion of the buildings downtown? We can't shut it off without a replacement.

Who knew that the mayor has a magic waste reducing wand? And why hasn't Rybak used it?

It's really not that hard, we just have lacked the political will. A lot can be composted (see: U.S. Capitol cafeteria) a lot can be recycled and even more doesn't have to be used in the first place.

It *is* a pretty bad idea to have a garbage burner in the middle of a city experiencing a population boom. We're not going to get rid of HERC tomorrow but it'll be gone in 15 years. The land is too valuable.

Who knew that the mayor has a magic waste reducing wand? And why hasn't Rybak used it?

I swear, every time I'm inclined to support one of the candidates, they come out with a bone-headed statement.

Ditto. This and "closing the acievement gap" coming from municipal candidates makes me

I'd recommend reading the whole post on her facebook page, if you want... That was just a snippet.

I agree that it shouldn't close tomorrow, but it would be good to take the steps to find other solutions. It's not like it would be impossible.

This and "closing the acievement gap" coming from municipal candidates makes me

Why? The mayor does have a significant bully pulpit. The school board is not the only entity that affects schools. We aren't going to close the gap unless the gap is in the front of the public's mind. The school board cannot do that. The mayor, legislators and city council members can.

So it just occurred to me (duh!) that with IRV and no primary, we're actually going to have EVERY ONE of these people on the actual general-election ballot. Presumably they will only allow people to enter their top, say, five choices and not all the way down because a 35-by-35 matrix would be unworkable; but even a five-by-35 grid is absurd. And I'm politically aware enough to know who the five or six *real* candidates are, but I'll still have to search through a randomized list to find them. This should significantly increase the randomness of the outcome and reduce the number of people voting, no?

I'm a big fan of IRV in principle - I even did a little phone-calling in the push to bring it about - but until right now it hadn't occurred to me what a mess it could be if too many people enter a race. This is going to be a ridiculous ballot.

Exactly, which is why the threshold to getting on the ballot needs to be raised. I don't think that a $200 fee and a petition with, say, 500 signatures is onerous. But it will get rid of most of the vanity candidates.

So it just occurred to me (duh!) that with IRV and no primary, we're actually going to have EVERY ONE of these people on the actual general-election ballot. Presumably they will only allow people to enter their top, say, five choices and not all the way down because a 35-by-35 matrix would be unworkable; but even a five-by-35 grid is absurd. And I'm politically aware enough to know who the five or six *real* candidates are, but I'll still have to search through a randomized list to find them. This should significantly increase the randomness of the outcome and reduce the number of people voting, no?

I'm a big fan of IRV in principle - I even did a little phone-calling in the push to bring it about - but until right now it hadn't occurred to me what a mess it could be if too many people enter a race. This is going to be a ridiculous ballot.

I would agree that I think this is going to be more confusing than a lot of IRV-proponents are claiming, but I'm pretty sure you just pick your top three, you don't rank the whole group. They absolutely need to raise the filing fee. If I didn't work for the city I for sure would have filed just for fun.

I noticed that a Mark Anderson has filed. I wonder if that will hurt Mark Andrew, as people sort through that long random list for his name.

Betsy Hodges has received the endorsement of Emily's List, which traditionally has not involved itself in local politics. They have changed that stance and are calling 2013 "Year of the Woman Mayor"

http://blogs.mprnews.org/cities/2013/08 ... lis-mayor/

Betsy who?

Oh, and this-

Their "Islands in the Stream" duet is not to be trifled with.

I'm sure Winton will ask the Vegas Lounge patrons why Northeast isn't more like Edina.

AIA MPLS and ULI MN are co-hosting a mayoral forum focused on urban design and development issues.

September 26th, 4pm-7pm, at IMS.

As far as I know, this event is open to the public at large, but registration is requested.

Fundraising numbers are in. Sheesh, Cohen's really going balls to the wall, isn't he?

I like how it points out that most of Cohen's campaign is just bashing the Star Tribune. Does he actually have a platform other than hating the Star Tribune?

Also is there any information on his Star Tribune lawsuit? I also can't imagine what kind of crazy person you'd have to be to hold onto $300k for 30 years (unless he invested it and is just drawing off that, I hope he's at least that smart).

Sure he does. He also seems to think that a downtown casino could replace the city's tax income. Those are the two planks. It's a pretty rickety platform.