Steffanie Musich is the incumbent and is running again. She was not endorsed at the City DFL convention, probably due to the walkout of all the Frey supporters in a failed attempt to break the quorum.
On the ballot:
Steffanie Musich (Incumbent)
Kay Carvajal Moran (Labor-endorsed)
Justin Theodore Cermak
Colton Baldus
tl;dr I would rank Kay Carvajal Moran #1, Colton Baldus #2, Steffanie Musich #3.
Over on the post about the At-Large race I provided a whole lot of backstory on the last four years of the Park Board, and I don’t want to just C&P that whole thing over because there’s a lot. For the people who don’t want to click over, here’s a minimalist “why I’m super annoyed with the current Park Board, and why I want candidates who will do different things” summary:
- Current Park Board turned down a free park in favor of keeping parking and pretended this was about fire safety.
- Current Park Board oversaw a strike and most of the board failed to intervene.
I think Steffanie was the only candidate seeking endorsement at the City DFL convention, which is why there was no endorsement in District 5 — she was one of the members LiUNA (the park board workers’ union) identified as a union buster, but there was no viable alternative presented at the time. Since then, Kay has entered the race and gotten a ton of union support.
Justin listed his Instagram as his campaign site but I linked to his campaign Facebook because it’s a lot more informative. (For example, the newest post as of today appears to suggest that supporters put his signs up in parks.) Most informative bit is his rant about how the incumbent is “THE driving force behind the plan to ruin Hiawatha Golf Course.” That golf course is not viable in 18-hole form. One of the things I like about Musich is her refusal to prioritize golf over a clean lake and people not losing their homes. I would absolutely not rank Justin.
Steffanie Musich (Incumbent)
Steffanie was on the wrong side of both the Uptown Mall vote and the strike. She was also the driving force behind a program that sells carbon offset credits to companies, theoretically in exchange for planting trees. Her website mentions this in her first-term accomplishments: “Facilitated Public/Private partnership with Green Minneapolis to expand tree planting by 7,000 trees annually.” Except that according to the 2024 Star Tribune article I linked above, “none of the profits has been used to plant a single tree. It may be used to purchase trees in 2025, said Park Board spokeswoman Robin Smothers.”
I have mixed feelings about carbon credits; I mean on one hand they’re weirdly reminiscent to me of medieval-style indulgences and on the other hand they’re maybe better than nothing. However, if someone’s buying indulgences carbon credits on the basis of trees getting planted, and the trees aren’t getting planted, it’s really hard to see this as anything other than greenwashing.
Kay Carvajal Moran (Labor-endorsed)
Kay doesn’t have the DFL endorsement (presumably because she entered late) but does have multiple labor endorsements and endorsements from various high-profile DFLers. She’s held various jobs in human services (her LinkedIn says she’s currently a case management assistant for Hennepin County, and has worked as a youth coordinator).
She’s worked with the Minnesota Immigrant Movement to support street vendors, and supports “micro entrepreneurs” in the parks. She’s also worked on youth programming in the parks (she mentions kickboxing, Bike Alebrijes MN, and academic support.) Her website leads with youth programming and also talks about environmental stewardship and worker rights.
Colton Baldus is a tenant organizer. The vision section of their website leads with “stand with organized labor” but also talks about climate justice, reduced fees for those who currently struggle to afford to use park programs, public restrooms in every park, and harm reduction strategies. They don’t t seem to have any endorsements.
I would rank Kay #1, Colton #2. I originally said that I was not worried enough about Justin and his “NO ENDORSEMENTS – NO MASTERS” approach to campaigning to rate Steffanie #3, but a friend made a case for her on the grounds that it’s worth having the golf course ride-or-die lose as decisively as possible, and she deserves some gratitude for sticking with her stance on the golf course. (FWIW I think this is a contest between Kay and Steffanie, in any case.)
I have a new book coming out next June! This one is not YA; it’s a near-future thriller about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on site to deliver babies. You can pre-order it right now if you want.
I do not have a Patreon or Ko-Fi but instead encourage people who want to reward all my hard work to donate to fundraisers. This year I’m fundraising for YouthLink. YouthLink is a Minneapolis nonprofit that helps youth (ages 16-24) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. (Here’s their website.) I have seen some of the work they do and been really impressed. (An early donor to the fundraiser added a comment: “YouthLink was incredible instrumental in my assistance of a friend to escape a bad family situation in Florida with little more than a computer and a state ID. Thanks to YouthLink and their knowledge of resources my friend was able to get a mailing address (which was essential in getting a debit card and formal identification documents), healthcare, hot meals, an internship at a local company, and even furniture for their new apartment.” — That is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about!)
Will Tell Stories For Food 
I don’t understand your comment about liking Musich’s “refusal to prioritize golf over … people not losing their homes.” As a family who owns one of those homes, we have only seen plans from Musich and the Park Board that would cause water intrusion into our home. Our home has never had water in it, and we have owned it since the 1960’s. The most recent proposals would put water across the street from our homes at a level higher than our basements. When I asked how they would keep the homes dry, I was told, “We don’t know yet.” Very heartwarming to the homeowners. Plus, 98% of the pollution comes from the watershed, including Lake Minnetonka, not the golf course, according to the Park Board’s engineering consultant. Changes to the golf course property will do little or nothing to clean up the lake. In fact, the project would take out the pond system on the golf course which currently sequesters pollution from millions of gallons of Minneapolis storm water.
You also say that Hiawatha golf course is not viable in the 18-hole form. The manager told me last week that Hiawatha is on pace for record revenues again this year. And, it has been 11 years since the 2014 flood. Our research has shown that the biggest risk to Hiawatha golf course is the ability of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed to control water coming down Minnehaha Creek. In 2014, they lost control of their release of water from Lake Minnetonka due to overtopping the dam, causing flooding throughout the lower watershed, not just Hiawatha Golf Course. And, I found out that MCWD has overtopped Grey’s Bay Dam 8 times in the last 24 years. A very concerning record. And, they say that their policies and procedures for the dam are based on the watershed 50 or more years ago. That’s concerning.
You put out your opinions on the Hiawatha Golf Course project as though you are an expert, yet it is obvious that you don’t know much about the Hiawatha Golf Course project. Maybe you should come and talk to some of us who have lived with this pending fiasco of a project for the past 9 years.
When I researched this four years ago, multiple people who are knowledgeable about the project told me that the alternative to transitioning to a nine-hole course was using eminent domain to turn a block’s worth of homes in the area into a holding pond.
The current golf course pumping system keeps basements dry by accident while the planned system under the 9-hole plan would be created for the explicit purpose of keeping the basements dry. You are miscaracterizing the plan by saying they “don’t know yet” how it will keep basements dry; that just means the actual detailed engineering work is not yet done and is likely unable to be done until the specifics of the overall park design are nailed down, which is still a work in progress. The fundamental hydrologic study that shows that it can be done has been complete for years.
i have to say, Kay Carvajal Moran looked out of her depth at the debate.