urbanMSP

Janne Flisrand announced today her run for Ward 7 City Council. Incumbent is Lisa Goodman.

Jeremy Schroeder announced his run a couple months ago for Ward 11. Incumbent is John Quincy.

Mod note: There's a separate thread to discuss the Mayoral race: https://forum.streets.mn/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=4152

Jeremy Schroeder has "#deathpenalty" in his Twitter bio. I'm sure it's well meaning and connected to some work he's done, but presented with zero context in a brief Twitter bio comes off as strange.

Anyways, Raeisha Williams is challenging Blong Yang in Ward 5 and a guy whose name I forgot is challenging Alondra Cano in Ward 9.

Jeremy was former Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, where he worked himself out of a job when Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.

He should probably make that more clear. It'd be nice to see Quincy go. I really don't have too much against him, but someone more vocal in the seat would be nice.

It'd be nice to see Quincy go. I really don't have too much against him, but someone more vocal in the seat would be nice.

Right? Like, maybe I'm not paying enough attention, but I don't see his name saying or doing much. I think I've gotten one generic piece of constituent outreach mail, basically police public safety talking points around national night out. And he doesn't respond when you write to him.

So, yeah, he could be fine, but how would I know?

I think Quincy is very much an introvert who enjoys doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes wonky budget stuff - for example he was a big part of figuring out the parks funding proposal. Which is fine, Hodges made a name for herself by being a wonk. But as a regular watcher (or listener) of Channel 79 (never will I refer to the new station number!), it's rare to hear him speak up about any topic, at all. Not land use, not transportation, not social justice policies, not anything. And that's something that should maybe be an important quality for a council rep in a progressive city - making your views and reasons for voting a certain way clear, at a bare minimum when you're actually in the council chambers voting on something. And constituent engagement is absolutely part of the job, something I have heard from many people (including door knocking in 2013) that he doesn't excel at. And, it's hard to criticize a guy who doesn't brag about his accomplishments all the time - aren't we always asking white males to take a back seat to women/POC leading where possible?

But I also think his lack of taking a stand on anything and lack of progressive policy proposals (let's be serious, a city has limited options so it would boil down to budget increases, land use, or transpo for the most part - things that polarize even urban liberals) are things that appeal to people who like the status quo. Not to paint too broad a brush, but white homeowners in the outer reaches of the city don't want things to change. They like the easy drive into downtown (or, easy drive out to 62 to hit up Edina or Eagan for work), they like the little commercial corner where they grab a beer and dinner, etc etc. He's a safe choice for those people, even if he doesn't answer their emails.

(oh the memories! thanks to all my doorknockers and volunteers from 2013!)

Other than Alondra and Barb, I'm not especially eager to see anyone else go. I'd like to get one more solid pro-bike vote, so something like 3rd Avenue doesn't happen again. That's pretty much the only 7-6 vote we've seen that went the wrong way. I just don't see a strong case being made for several councilors to be replaced.

Anyone know who isn't running again? I'm sure many of us hope that Barb decides to hang it up. And it has been rumored that Elizabeth Glidden won't run again. That might be it for the open seats.

But keep in mind all the things which never even get to a 7-6 vote because a) there's nothing forcing the vote (it's rare that we have a forced 7-6 type vote) and b) councilors know how to vote count...

If we were able to flip two or three more seats, the types of policy changes and the rate at which they come would be quite different post-2017. Our comp plan may look quite different. Our future housing affordability may look quite different. Many other areas of policy may look quite different.

Not to paint too broad a brush, but white homeowners in the outer reaches of the city don't want things to change.

Hey, buddy. Watch it. (Just kidding, of course)

ETA: Thinking about it, I know that Matt and I are both in that demographic. Who was it that just bought a house on 34th near 46th? That's gotta count as one more. Then again two (2!) of my neighbors voted for Trump. Ugh.



Being an introvert is no excuse for not sending a mailing or two or even responding to an email, but yeah.

I used to be in Quincy's ward before I was redistricted into Glidden's. FWIW, I still get more regular communication from Quincy than Glidden.

Being an introvert is no excuse for not sending a mailing or two or even responding to an email, but yeah.

Also, they have a staff for those things...

There are some really profound differences between how accessible the councilmembers are. Of the ones I lived under, Frey is probably the gold standard, because he responds personally. Goodman would always at least have an aide respond. Never once got a response from Warsame.

Another Ward 11 person here and the analysis is spot on. I helped Matt campaign a bit in my hood and I found that there was appetite for a different candidate. I think it's going to be tough to beat a non-controversial incumbent though.


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Matt got an impressive number of 1st choice votes (more than Cano or Yang did, and only 100 less than Barb!!), but I don't think it's a stretch to say that fully half were anti-stadium protest votes. Compare to Ward 1 where Reich's challenger ran purely as a means to lodge a stadium protest vote (his website plainly stated that he wasn't actually running to win, nor did he campaign), yet he still got over 1000 votes compared to Reich's 4000. Matt got over 2000 votes, compared to Quincy's ~5000.

My point is, with the stadium issue in the distant rearview, challengers to Reich or Quincy won't have an "automatic" 1,000 votes in their pocket this time. Unseating an incumbent who has done no wrong, no matter how unexciting the person may be, is a steep challenge.

I spun off the Mayoral race into a separate topic. This one here can be used for City Council and Park Board contests.

Strib with an early look at the numerous potential Park Board candidates: http://www.startribune.com/field-of-gra ... 401960705/

Is anyone not running for re-election?

I just saw a campaign kickoff announcement for Cam Gordon on FB. I'm sure I'm not alone here in thinking that Cam would step aside at some point to let longtime aide Robin Garwood run for the seat. I guess I thought that would happen this year. Should he be reelected (and chances of that are extremely high), this will be Cam's 4th term. He and Glidden are the only members of the class of 2005 still on the council. Only Barb Johnson and Lisa Goodman pre-date them, both were first elected in 1997 - they will be running for their 6th terms.

I've heard rumblings (but possibly on this very forum...) that Glidden may not be running again.

I've heard the same (also possibly on this forum). It would be a great loss for the city. Does she know something about county board or legislative races or is she just hanging up her public service coat for now?

How the heck did Abdi Warsame build a $50,000 war chest in 2014-2015?