Metropolitan Council

Elections - City Councils and Commissions - Policies
Silophant
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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby Silophant » December 18th, 2018, 12:24 pm

Well, better her than the Actual Republican, I guess.
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kellonathan
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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby kellonathan » December 18th, 2018, 12:40 pm

I was hoping to see a technocrat-kinda figurehead like Peter McLaughlin, but oh well, Slawik seems pretty qualified compared to other finalists.
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Bakken2016
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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby Bakken2016 » December 18th, 2018, 1:35 pm

It was just announced, Slawik is the new chair of the Met Council!

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby twincitizen » December 18th, 2018, 3:45 pm

She was just reelected to serve a second term as Mayor of Maplewood...a term which hasn't even begun yet. She seems like a fine candidate to lead the Met Council, with her long legislative experience, mayoral experience, etc. But the timing is odd for her and for Maplewood, which will have a vacant Mayoral seat come Jan. 1, and will have to hold a special election soon.

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Tiller
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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby Tiller » December 19th, 2018, 2:42 pm

She was just reelected to serve a second term as Mayor of Maplewood...a term which hasn't even begun yet. She seems like a fine candidate to lead the Met Council, with her long legislative experience, mayoral experience, etc. But the timing is odd for her and for Maplewood, which will have a vacant Mayoral seat come Jan. 1, and will have to hold a special election soon.
The Maplewood city council repealed the part of the city code requiring a special election if at least 6 months are left in the term. Idk what will happen with the, now 2, open seats. Sounds like they will appoint people to fill them.

Edit: It should also be mentioned Nora Slawik has spent a lot of time bringing the Gold Line and Rush Line DBRTs through the study process, so hopefully her chairing the Met Council will be good for BRT in Minnesota, and for the East Metro.

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby mattaudio » December 19th, 2018, 4:42 pm

I'm not sure the Gold Line and the Rush Line are positive examples of transit planning.

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby xandrex » January 14th, 2019, 11:15 am

This could go either here or in the Met Council thread...

Brian Lamb out as head of Metro Transit. https://twitter.com/MooreStrib/status/1 ... 7645963266

Anyone have any insight on how this might change the org?

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby alexschief » January 14th, 2019, 4:00 pm

I'm too far removed from this to *really* know what to think. But from my perspective, Metro Transit has been basically well run, with a rare degree of consistency, and anytime you shake up the leadership without really giving an explanation as to why has to be a concern.

Given her background as a suburban mayor, I'm still nervous about Slawik and hoping to get a better picture of her priorities for transit. This move certainly shows that she's thinking about it, but doesn't really suggest to me a direction she intends to push. Minneapolis-St. Paul has a desperate need for politicians who will got to bat not just for lines on a map, but for transit service that is actually useful to people.

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby mattaudio » January 14th, 2019, 4:30 pm

I don't get it either. It seems like - despite massive funding shortfalls - MT is doing things better every year.

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Bakken2016 » January 14th, 2019, 4:38 pm

I don't get it either. It seems like - despite massive funding shortfalls - MT is doing things better every year.
My thought and others I have talked to, they needed a scapegoat for the homeless on the train. Which if true, is despicable.


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Bakken2016
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Bakken2016 » January 14th, 2019, 4:39 pm

I don't get it either. It seems like - despite massive funding shortfalls - MT is doing things better every year.
My thought and others I have talked to, they needed a scapegoat for the homeless on the train. Which if true, is despicable.


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Image

Cause this quote from the new chair makes me suspicious.


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David Greene
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby David Greene » January 14th, 2019, 7:34 pm

The whole thing is disgraceful. Why do we care if homeless people ride transit anyway? Don't they have things hard enough without being pushed out of yet more public places?

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby MNdible » January 15th, 2019, 9:58 am

Do we have any evidence besides some conjecture and a stray reference that this is actually the reason the change was made?

(Also, making transit the de facto shelter solution for the homeless population does a disservice to both the homeless population and to other transit riders.)

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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby xandrex » January 15th, 2019, 12:14 pm

I imagine that the actual answer is something anodyne like "internal politics," but it makes the shakeup sexier in print if "it's about homeless on trains" is the issue.

It's just hard to imagine that homeless on trains was the actual reason since there hasn't really been much controversy from it (there are articles on it every year, but they rarely make much of a splash).

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby David Greene » January 18th, 2019, 10:43 am

I almost believe that, except Lamb served under multiple very different administrations and was very effective under all of them. Why *now*?

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby Anondson » February 25th, 2019, 7:13 pm

Any thoughts on the new appointees?
https://twitter.com/MetCouncilNews/stat ... 5051676673

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby Anondson » February 25th, 2019, 8:41 pm

At a quick glance the names didn’t stand out, except one, Molly Cummings is the name of Hopkins’ mayor whose term expires in 2019. I haven’t dug deeper but that could be her I think...

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby fehler » February 26th, 2019, 9:48 am

Former Minneapolis City Councilmember Robert Lilligran is a solid choice, as is Susan Vento (chair of Friends of the Mississippi River). Falcon Heights Mayor Peter Lindstrom is meh. Wendy Wulff is a former Pawlenty (and Dayton) appointee to the council, and I have no idea why Waltz would include her. Fresh start needed, surely there are transit advocates in Lakeville.

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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby xandrex » November 1st, 2019, 10:27 am


alexschief
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Re: Metropolitan Council

Postby alexschief » November 1st, 2019, 3:19 pm

On Twitter, mostly for fun, I suggested Heather Worthington. I assume her appointment would result in the suburbs going nuclear. Peter McLaughlin was a favorite for some folks the first time around, but he seems to have a good position now with LISC Twin Cities. RT Rybak has had his job with the Mpls Foundation a little longer, and maybe he's looking for something else, but I doubt it. Cummings and Lilligren are good candidates, both have enough experience with the council and also working in leadership positions of larger agencies.

Besides someone who is a strong administrator and a good leader, I'd ideally like to see the position held by someone who is a frequent (at least once a workweek) transit rider, and has a professional background in either land use or transportation planning. It's also pretty clear by now that this is an extremely stressful and thankless job, and so I hope the position will go to someone who has the love for the position and the conviction in the work to stick around at least until the end of the first Walz term.


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