Six or seven candidates for Minneapolis mayor tried their best (bless their hearts) to answer questions on urban farming at Sabathani community center a few blocks from me.
A few of them were dedicated chicken owners and vegetable growers and one was an actual farmer. But all of them were forced to express support for farmers while admitting that the best thing the mayor can do is to reduce rules and regulations and to ensure that the rules that remain are the ones that emphasize health and safety. Hodges brought up the difficulty in putting a beehive on a city-owned roof because of a regulation saying they could not be more than six feet off the ground.
Everyone agreed that more local sourcing and procurement was desirable.
Winton made a good point immediately when he said, "The pot is dry. All the money was spent on financing the Vikings stadium." I get angry thinking about it. I feel simmering outrage over the stadium deal. Funny how the governor, city councilmembers and the press seem to criticize it only in retrospect.
At one point an uninvited marginal candidate (there are 35 total) walked up to the front and tried to join the debate. I cringed and he was escorted out without causing a scene.
Woodruff lives only half a block from my old apartment in those awesome lofts on Franklin Ave and 1st St. The first thing she said was that she was a lesbian. I like her emphasis on riverfront development. At some point this city turned its back on the river but the parts that have been developed are absolutely beautiful. I’m thinking of that loop between the Plymouth Ave bridge and Stone Arch bridge. If you want a three-mile jog, that loop is even better than doing a lake.
A sandwich sign man stood in the lobby with an "Anyone but Andrew" sign and posed for photos.
Even an hour and a half is just too little time at a forum like this to get much information on platforms. I need a side-by-side comparison before I vote on November 5th. The Southwest Journal and Southside Pride voters guides have been helpful. I would be fine with Hodges, Fine, Woodruff, Cohen, Cherryhomes, Samuels. Even Winton would not represent a huge rift with the current mayor.
I am glad that ranked-choice voting prevented the frontrunners from being selected early on by activists. But it is nice only to have to choose between two or three instead of six or seven. I just started reading "The Metropolitan Revolution" about how metro areas are where true political leadership and good governance is developing (as opposed to Washington). I think all the candidates I saw share that kind of regional vision.
pseudoisaac 