The introduction of instant-runoff voting (IRV) added uncertainty to city council races in Minneapolis. But when all the votes are (finally) counted, it appears likely that every incumbent who ran for re-election will prevail.
Minneapolis mayoral candidate Al Flowers heckled Mayor R.T. Rybak at length yesterday as Rybak delivered a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for new KMOJ-FM studios in North Minneapolis.
Minneapolis City Council debates are generally polite, drowsy affairs. But Ward Five has a reputation for boisterous, even unruly, political discourse. That might explain why more than 100 people showed up at the Capri Theater on Tuesday night to watch five city council candidates debate the issues.
There are currently just two Hmong police officers assigned to Minneapolis’ 4th Precinct, both of whom work overnight shifts. North Side residents want at least one Hmong-speaking cop on the day shift to help foster better communications with the Minneapolis Police Department. But achieving that may be harder than it would seem.
Don Samuels cites plunging crime rates and signs of economic progress on the North Side as evidence of his effectiveness at City Hall. His opponents paint him as aloof and out of touch with the concerns of most residents.
Although Minneapolis held no primary election this year, candidates for city office still had to file “pre-primary” campaign-finance reports under a new ordinance passed this summer. Yet for two weeks after the Sept. 8 deadline, confusion and other delays kept a couple dozen candidate and political committee reports from reaching the public.
When locals gather to choose delegates at DFL precinct caucuses Tuesday, three Minneapolis City Council candidates will be looking for the first signs of success from skills they picked up at a recent weekend at Camp Wellstone.
The one Minneapolis City Council seat in the clutches of the Green Party is likely to stay that way, unless a credible DFL candidate comes forward to take the place of Charles Carlson, the newly departed — and truly incredible — challenger to incumbent Cam Gordon. The Green stalwart, who won by 141 votes in 2005 after losing by only 106 votes in 2001, tells the Minnesota Independent he plans to campaign for re-election as usual but won’t be surprised if the DFL decides to endorse no one to oppose him.
Why in the world does it cost $280 to get your car out of the impound lot after it’s been towed for a parking violation? It’s a question Minneapolis city council members started…
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