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Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 8th, 2013, 7:29 pm
by twincitizen
One thing is for sure, this won't be pretty: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/12/08 ... rom=social

Looks like the vote for Council President is going to be a close one, but I think Glidden has the 7 votes needed. Herself, Lisa Bender, Alondra Cano, Andrew Johnson (hinted/confirmed in MPR article) plus Cam Gordon already makes five. How hard could it be to get 2 out of the 4 remaining newbies (Frey, Yang, Warsame, Palmisano)?? Goodman, Quincy, Reich and current president Barb Johnson (duh) all seem likely to vote for the status quo.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 9th, 2013, 11:40 am
by David Greene
^^^ Seems like the correct analysis to me. Glidden as president would be a *huge* deal!

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 9th, 2013, 11:50 am
by mister.shoes
Ward 8 represent! Woot!




*ahem* Sorry. ;)

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 9th, 2013, 12:13 pm
by twincitizen
I gotta say, I'm not thrilled about the way the media is playing this (i.e. "more liberal council than before"). It would be more correct to say this council will be more "progressive", which in terms of City administration, means something else entirely. We will have a council that will be more willing to tackle issues like transit improvement, parking reforms, density, social justice, police oversight/reform (body cameras, residency requirements, etc.), shrinking the opportunity gap, etc. They will be less focused on dishing out multi-million dollar subsidies to developers and sports team owners. They will (ideally, but probably not) reduce spending that only fattens big union contracts and instead fund programs to assist Minneapolitans who are truly struggling.

I don't think they are any more or less likely than the outgoing council to hold the line on the budget. Will the levy be cut another 1% next year? Held flat? Who the hell knows, but I don't think the changing faces on the council will have much of an impact on that.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 9th, 2013, 12:18 pm
by David Greene
I gotta say, I'm not thrilled about the way the media is playing this (i.e. "more liberal council than before"). It would be more correct to say this council will be more "progressive"
I HATE that term! "Progressive" has been used as a label by too many groups that frankly aren't real interested in the opportunity, education and wealth gaps we're faced with. This council was definitely elected with a mandate to close those gaps. I think we need another term entirely, one that conveys a willingness to get one's hands dirty.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 9th, 2013, 3:27 pm
by woofner
We have an awkward political vocabulary to match our sham democracy. I agree with twincitizen, though, that the term "progressive" better matches the reformist but not necessarily leftist stance that this group tends to have.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 16th, 2013, 9:39 am
by mattaudio
Found out last Friday that it appears Barb Johnson will be the council president with 8 votes lined up right now. It appears this is now a done deal.
B. Johnson: B. Johnson / Goodman / Reich / Quincy / Warsame / Palmisano / Frey / Yang
Glidden: Glidden / A. Johnson / Gordon / Bender / Cano

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 16th, 2013, 2:46 pm
by David Greene
Found out last Friday that it appears Barb Johnson will be the council president with 8 votes lined up right now. It appears this is now a done deal.
A. Johnson: B. Johnson / Goodman / Reich / Quincy / Warsame / Palmisano / Frey / Yang
Glidden: Glidden / A. Johnson / Gordon / Bender / Cano
Boo! Mildly surprised to see Warsame and Yang in the Johnson camp.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 16th, 2013, 2:54 pm
by MNdible
Warsame was attached to Andrews at the hip, so I'm not surprised to see him with Johnson, and Yang may just be showing Northside solidarity.

While I like Glidden a lot (she's my CM), I do think that Johnson's pragmatism may be a good counterpoint to the young turks taking over.

Re: 2013 Minneapolis Municipal Election

Posted: December 16th, 2013, 3:04 pm
by twincitizen
I guess I'm more worried about the implications it has for committee chair assignments than any bold show of progressivism/change or whatever else the local media is trying to sell it as.

Not surprised in the least about Warsame...he was bought and paid for by the DFL establishment. I agree with MNdible, Yang's siding with B. Johnson is not terribly surprising either. Jacob Frey and Linea Palmisano though...very disappointing to see that. Shame. They would have made the difference.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 17th, 2013, 4:00 pm
by degersblogg
If Barb ends up getting reelected as President, then I think Glidden NEEDS to be chair of Ways & Means/Budget. She'll be the only returning committee member to the council, and she's part of the "fiscally conservative" wing of the City Council. I don't think there is any other committee where it is so apparent who the Chair should be and needs to be, other than maybe Z&P and Bender.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 9:51 am
by MNdible
Cano, Frey, and Yang are on MPR Roundtable this morning. My lord does Cano have a chip on her shoulder...

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 12:44 pm
by David Greene
My lord does Cano have a chip on her shoulder...
What do you mean? I only caught a few minutes so maybe I missed something but I didn't hear anything outrageous from her.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 12:50 pm
by MNdible
It's hard to point to any one thing, but it came across to me that she was heading into the Council with a patronizing attitude towards the incumbent CMs, looking for a fight.

My impression was that she really thinks she's something special.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 1:07 pm
by PhilmerPhil
Will this be posted online for those of us who missed it?

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 1:12 pm
by MNdible
I think they do usually upload the audio files after a bit. I'm guessing it will be at this page, although it's not there yet.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 1:17 pm
by gobezlij
My impression was entirely different than mndible's. She came across as someone who has some strong ideas about where the city is failing and who has a passion toward working on them.

She barely beat Ty Moore, a socialist candidate, in the election - something she acknowledged in the discussion - so she is likely mindful that her ward wouldn't mind seeing some changes in how the city works and serves its residents. I was encouraged by her willingness to speak at length about her priorities.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 2:01 pm
by seanrichardryan
Cano, Frey, and Yang are on MPR Roundtable this morning. My lord does Cano have a chip on her shoulder...
That's exactly what I was thinking. I had a lot of grimacing moments between her and Frey.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 10:17 pm
by smorin
Cano's ambitious and gung-ho about change and pissed at what she sees as injustices. I can see her being more polarizing and less willing to compromise but having some really great ideas that will get a majority. Frey kind of has a general inoffensive approach in a kind of "hey guys... wouldn't this be cool" kind of way. He seems like he could be good at working with everyone, maybe a good middleman in garnering consensus. But not likely to be a strong fighter in the face of something a little more controversial. Yang seems less ambitious, maybe more of a realist who realizes he can't change the world in the MPLS city council, all around pretty unexciting but could potentially lead the way on some smaller, practical stuff. These are just first impressions. We'll see.

Re: Minneapolis City Politics General Discussion

Posted: December 20th, 2013, 10:50 pm
by David Greene
My impression was entirely different than mndible's. She came across as someone who has some strong ideas about where the city is failing and who has a passion toward working on them.
That was exactly my read as well. The new council members are going to bring some very different and needed perspectives to city hall. She was absolutely right that this council was elected with a mandate to do something major to advance racial equity.