BY ED FELIEN
It’s beginning to look like an interesting race for mayor this year.
First, Frey vetoed the Council’s Budget. He objected to the cuts in downtown personnel in favor of funding “pet projects” in the Council members’ wards.
The Council voted to override the mayor’s veto, and Emily Koski, 11th Ward council member, responded:
Jacob Frey
“The mayor recommended a 2025 city budget that included $1.883 billion in expenses, $1.896 billion in revenues, and an 8.3 percent property tax levy increase. The Council adopted city budget included $1.880 billion in expenses, $1.893 billion in revenues, and a 6.8 percent property tax levy increase.
“The Council cut $7.120 million in expenses and revenues and used $3.875 million in the city’s current fund balance to offset $3.875 million in new one-time spending. The Council lowered the property tax levy increase by 1.5 percent.”
Koski is running for Mayor. Her father, Al Hofstede, was mayor of Minneapolis from 1974 to 1975 and from 1978 to 1979. He and Tom Kelm and Andy Kozak (both former aides to Governor Wendell Anderson) formed North State Advisors — a lobbying firm that included clients like The Tobacco Institute. Along with Tony Scallon and Jeff Spartz, they ran DFL politics in South Minneapolis for thirty years up to just a few years ago
Emily Koski
when a majority of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-endorsed candidates won a majority on the City Council.
Koski is playing a clever game. She has been an essential key vote for overturning many of Frey’s vetoes of DSA initiatives. Koski understands the one rule in politics, you have to know how to count. If the left faction on the City Council can count on her for key votes, then, maybe, she should be able to count on the left for support when she goes up against Frey. She is obviously courting the left because she knows when the DFL City Convention happens on July 19, no one candidate will have the 60 percent necessary for endorsement. Four years ago, Frey couldn’t get the DFL endorsement.
Veteran prognosticators say Frey would get about 30 percent of the vote; Koski would get about 30 percent of the vote; Omar Fateh, the DSA socialist, would get about 30 percent of the vote; with 10 percent going to Uncommitted, or to DeWayne Davis or Brenda Short.
Omar Fateh
If in ranked choice voting: Frey comes in first; Koski second; Fateh third; and the others are dropped; and the third-place finisher (Fateh) would be eliminated on the next ballot, then it would be possible for Koski to get the 60 percent necessary for endorsement if Fateh threw his support to Koski. Fateh and DSA could make that deal if they could get agreement from Koski on the DSA platform and the promise of some kind of policy influencing position in a Koski administration.
Of course, the deal would have to work both ways. If Fateh is ahead and Koski would be dropped on the next ballot, then Koski should tell her supporters to support Fateh. If she doesn’t do that, and, if her supporters split their votes between Frey and Fateh, then the Convention could deadlock on an endorsement and the candidates would go to the general election, and that always favors the candidate with the most money, which would favor Frey and Koski.
DeWayne Davis
If you want a ringside seat and you want to participate in this contest, then you should go to your Precinct Caucus on Tuesday, April 8 and get elected a precinct delegate.
Frey is a very attractive and intelligent candidate. He is a liberal in, most definitely, the Rybak tradition. Rybak even picked his staff and helped set up his office for Frey’s first term. The struggle over the budget best illustrates the differences between Frey and the left-leaning City Council. Frey wants the money to stay downtown to hire more planners and bureaucrats. The Council wants the money to go out to the communities with the most needs and be administrated by local organizations in those communities.
Council member Jason Chavez wrote:
“After three very long days of debate, discussion, and negotiations; and after many months of
Brenda Short
meetings, research, and community engagement; the Council passed a 2025 city budget at 11:55 p.m. on Tuesday night.
“I was disappointed when Mayor Frey recklessly vetoed the budget on Wednesday, risking the jobs of more than 4,000 employees as well as all of the vital services that the city provides. Just as a supermajority of the Council voted to approve most of the budget amendments that we passed, I joined a majority of the City Council to override that veto yesterday, averting a potential budget crisis. I, together with most of my Council colleagues, believe that the city’s budget is too important to use as a tool for political points.
“Thankfully, at the end of the day, common sense prevailed and 9 of the 13 Council Members ensured that roads will be plowed, potholes will be filled, and that we have a city budget that reflects the values of Ward 9 and Minneapolis.”
Chavez authored or co-authored 29 amendments to the budget, totaling $8.6 million. Some of the projects he supported include:
An expansion of the Stable Homes, Stable School program with an Early Childhood Prevention Pilot Program and a Middle School Pilot Program to reduce homelessness. By funding these pilot expansions, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority estimates an additional 180-225 families (representing 440-565 children) could be served by the program. Amount: $830,500 one-time
Stabilize the shelter operations of Avivo Village to prevent losing needed services meant to address homelessness. This shelter is a first-ever, indoor community of 100 secure, private dwellings or “tiny houses” that provides shelter and wraparound services to individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Amount: $1.6 million one-time
Establish a program that is designed to improve public safety by helping employ adults encountering homelessness or housing instability with sustainable low-barrier work and income and increasing the cleanliness and livability of the Southside Green Zone. The program will create teams of workers who will focus on cleaning this area that is disproportionately impacted by public safety, homelessness, and cleanliness issues. Amount: $285,000 one-time
This seems to be the way city government should work. The mayor should think about the big picture and the Council should think about their particular communities. It seems unfair to call the three examples “pet projects.” They seem like carefully chosen strategies to deal with specific homelessness problems.
State Senator Omar Fateh is also a candidate for mayor. He won the undying support of the Uber and Lyft drivers when he fought for a minimum wage and worker protection for them. He declared: I am DFL and I am a socialist. Hubert Humphrey arranged the merger of the Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party in 1944 to assist FDR’s re-election. The 1934 Farmer-Labor Platform said, “Capitalism has failed and should be abolished.” Floyd B. Olson, the Farmer-Labor Governor at the time, said, “I am what I want to be. I am a radical. I’m not a liberal. We need a definite change in the system.” Radicals and socialists have a legitimate home in the DFL.
Clint Combs has an excellent report in this issue on the discussions within the DSA on whether to endorse a candidate for mayor.
There is beginning to be a little excitement in South Minneapolis about the contests for seats on the City Council.
Word in City Hall is that Andrea Jenkins is thinking she won’t run for re-election. She began downtown as an aide to Sixth Ward Council Member Robert Lilligren. Nobody knows the building and how it works better than Andrea. A poet and transgender performance artist, Jenkins helped a lot of people rethink what they thought about race and sex and gender identity. She was President of the City Council, 2022 to 2024. She knows how it works, and she could give us all some good advice on how it could work better.
The Ward 8 Convention is on Sunday, May 4.
What’s going to happen in the Eleventh Ward? If Koski’s running for Mayor, then the seat is open. Or, does Koski want the Convention to adjourn until after the Mayor Convention so she could keep her options open? No, she can’t do that. She has to go for broke. She’ll have to let the Convention endorse a candidate for her City Council seat. This will have to happen pretty fast.
The Ward 11 Convention is on Saturday, May 31.
The Twelfth Ward DFL Convention should be a barnburner. Park Board Commissioner Becky Alper will be challenging Aurin Chowdhury. Chowdhury has been a reliable vote in support of the DSA Council majority, but she has received criticism from some constituents for not listening to their concerns.
Taxes and Crime in South Minneapolis
By Kathryn Kelly
“What are the Minneapolis politicians (the mayor and City Council) doing about the cost of living and crime in South Minneapolis? Letters in the Star-Tribune and postings on Nextdoor document a constant stream of concerns and problems in South Minneapolis that the politicians seem to be ignoring.
“The most recent is the proposed increase in Minneapolis property taxes that started out at 13 percent, then went down to 8 percent, and are now 6.8 percent due to public pressure. And, this is not counting the increases with the Park Board, school board tax levies, Hennepin County and the Met Council. People are more and more concerned with how they can afford to live in the city. This, while I have seen businesses complaining that they no longer have parking for their customers because of all of the changes to the streets, along with the increase in on-street parking of cars due to more and more density.
“Then, people record and lament all of the petty (and some not so petty) crimes going on in the city, and all they can do is file a complaint with the city. If you read Nextdoor, you come across story after story of porch pirates, stolen cars, car break-ins, garage break-ins and property theft. Last year I saw a post with video of a garage that was broken into. It belonged to a friend of mine. And, just recently, I saw a video where a vehicle rammed a garage door, destroyed it, but didn’t get in. Yet, the owner now had to replace the garage door. And, there is video after video of people trolling alleys in the early morning looking for items to steal.
“Then, there are the more concerning crimes. By Lake Hiawatha, a resident recently had an intruder break into her home while she was sleeping. The intruder was totally inebriated, and the police came and took him away. Also, in 2023, someone tried to kick in the front door of a resident at 10:30 p.m. Two weeks later, someone came back at 1:30 a.m. ringing the doorbell, and again 2 weeks later, ringing the doorbell at 1:30 a.m.
“I have also read posts by people stating that they were avoiding businesses where there has been drug-dealing over on Hiawatha Avenue. And, I’ve read posts from people who have concerns when homeless populations take up residence in their neighborhoods, leaving needles on the ground for their kids to pick up, not to mention the homes that have been damaged or destroyed by fires in the homeless encampments.
“The residents keep asking, what should they do? Can the politicians respond to this, especially in this upcoming election year?”
A copy of this letter was sent to Chowdhury. We asked for her response. She has not responded.
The Ward 12 Convention will be on Saturday, May 3.
If you want to get in on the fun, if you want your voice to be heard — by your neighbors, by your City Council Member and by your mayor – then remember, the meeting belongs to the people who show up for the meeting. Meet your neighbors. Start it off by showing up at your precinct caucus on Tuesday, April 8 and getting elected a precinct delegate.
