the upcoming election in Minneapolis

[mellowtigger]

A pair of people older than me knocked on my door today to promote a candidate for Minneapolis city council. I guess it's finally time to do a quick review, so I can get my thoughts in good order for election day. My overarching priorities remain unchanged, but within Minneapolis the single biggest factor right now is probably policing.

There are 3 propositions up for vote, council members for each city ward (a near-record number of candidates), and a city mayor.

Prop:	Issue:	Thoughts:
1	Change to a strong city mayor	Whatever is going on between our current Mayor Frey and the police just smells like old-style, money-under-the-table, friendly-kickbacks corruption.  Remember when police opened fire without identification or warning, or when their own body cam footage showed what people were already saying about their highly aggressive patrolling after the riots, and Mayor Frey continued his ongoing apology tour for them?  Consolidating authority right now seems like a bad idea.  I care less about efficiency on this matter but more about accountability.  The more eyes on a problem, the better.  I'm voting NO on this one.
2	Change to a Dept of Public Safety	A direct response to the policing problem.  Don't allow "serve and protect the community" to be their marketing spin for public relations.  Instead, hold them to that promise.  Make it official.  Make policing a part of actual Public Safety.  Codify it.  A big YES from me on this one.
3	Rent control	I'm not well researched on this topic.  Racial disparity here in Minneapolis is the worst in the nation.  I think the idea here is that ending predatory practices in renting will allow more black people to accumulate the wealth deposit needed to eventually buy a home of their own.  If somebody thinks this change will help, then I'm willing to let them try.  I'll vote YES, for lack of reasonable opposition, just to try something new.

Minneapolis city Ward 5 candidates.

Yes.
nobody	nobody at all
Maybe.
nobody	nobody at all
Probably not.
Cathy Spann	She works for the Jordan community council here in my neighborhood, and I think she's quite effective at it.  But the public safety topic on her webpage sounds like trying to appease "both sides" simultaneously, which is bad.  I don't think that's a possible future.  I think significant change of some kind is mandatory at this stage, rather than tinkering around the edges.  It's a strange position, really, since her personality could easily be abbreviated as LOUD.  She's not afraid to make her ideas known, so why pussyfoot on this topic?
Suleiman Isse	He has a more extensive statement on public safety, but it also seems to include things intended for all audiences at once.  I've never heard the name before, so I don't automatically trust that this candidate can deliver on any promises.
No, definitely not.
Jeremiah Ellison	I don't vote for family dynasties, not ever.  So his actual policies are moot, even though I think he was originally in favor of Prop 2.
James "Jim" Seymour	Who?  Apparently they live only 3 "long" blocks from me according to city filing forms, but what are their goals and intentions?
Elijah Norris-Holliday	Big on "touchy feely" statements on the webpage.  The public safety section, however, misrepresents the #YesOn2 campaign, mentioned at top.  If he can't understand what's been proposed, then I don't trust him to handle government authority well.
Victor Martinez	Really quite vague on the Prop 2 issue.  The specific public safety ideas mentioned seem like milquetoast "reform" stuff.  I could hope that being a pastor and a local high school graduate could help improve his compassion for the people here, if I'm feeling optimistic?  EDIT 2021 Oct 26:  New information, he's specifically against Prop 2 and "defunding the police".  Definitely a "no" now.
Kristel Porter	Has worked in healthcare, education, and community organizations?  Calls out system failures in policing?  That's my tune!  Says NO on Prop 2, though?  These people are going to be very surprised when Prop 2 passes and there's still a police department (under Public Safety) and still a police chief (reporting to the new Public Safety chief).

Mayor, where Minneapolis includes instant runoff voting, so we rank our top 3 choices.  Here is my ranking of the entire list.

Perry, Jerell	For The People	FINALLY, someone who accurately represents the intention and potential of Proposition 2 on their webpage.
Sheila Nezhad	DFL	I started following her on Twitter sometime after the riots.  I hope she has a good run at Mayor.
Marcus Harcus	DFL	An "unprofessional" but well expressed and very human article about reconstruction.  I'm willing to give this non-politician a try.
Mark Globus	DFL	Police are not the right response to every 911 call, yes, exactly.
Troy Benjegerdes	Farmer-Labor	Climate change, basic income, playing the long game.  That's my kind of crazy.  :)  I almost wish Minneapolis voted for the top 5 choices, but we only select 3.
AJ Awed	DFL	A little vague on Prop 2 specifically, but otherwise saying the right things.
Nate Atkins	Libertarian	Not clear on Prop 2, but plenty of other good ideas.
Kevin Ward	independent	Interesting thoughts on response to any death by police, but otherwise disorganized.
Bob Carney Jr	Republican	He mentioned the Occupy movement.  I didn't know there were Republicans still around who paid attention to the big picture?  Otherwise quite disorganized, though.
Paul E. Johnson	Equity In Motion	Very vague.  I couldn't find any reference to that new political party either.  Vanity project?
Mike Winter	Independence-Alliance	More cops, but with tinkering around the edges of the problem.
Christopher W David	DFL	Useless webpage.  If you can't do that, then I don't trust you with government authority either.
Doug Nelson	Socialist Workers	No webpage of your own?  Any authority will have to be able to navigate at least that much tech.
Clint Conner	DFL	The webpage reads like police apologia.  I didn't read farther than that.
Laverne Turner	Republican	More money to police.  How is that supposed to help?
Jacob Frey	DFL	He got us here, and his only plan to get us out is more of the same trifles that led us here.  No.
Kate Knuth	DFL	Otherwise my kind of candidate, but again... I do not vote for political dynasties.  Not ever.

Well, there went 3 hours of my life that I'm not getting back.  But I feel well prepared to vote in a few weeks, so hopefully that effort is worthwhile.  I like recording my thoughts too, so I can look back over time and see if my ideas have changed... and how and why.

Edit: 2021 November Monday 18:30 - oops, there's more
There are 3 other positions that I failed to research earlier.  After going to more webpages, I am voting these ranked choices too.
Board of Estimate of Taxation: 1st = Sam Pree-Stinson, 2nd = Pine Salica, 3rd = write-in for myself
Park and Recreation Commissioner at Large: 1st = Alicia Smith, 2nd = Charles Rucker, 3rd = Tom Olsen
Park And Recreation Commissioner District 2: 1st = Eric Moran, 2nd = Mike Shelton, 3rd = write-in for myself