Cathy Abene is the incumbent and is running again. Her opponent, Ira Jourdain, has the DFL endorsement, probably in large part due to the walkout at the City DFL convention of all the Frey supporters in a failed attempt to break the quorum. (If I were Cathy Abene, I would be absolutely furious at Frey. Apparently they’re campaigning together, though.)
On the ballot:
Cathy Abene (Incumbent)
Ira Jourdain (DFL-endorsed)
Cathy Abene was my second choice in 2021 and while I don’t think I regret this (could’ve been worse) I’ve been disappointed with her as she’s largely gone in lockstep with Elizabeth Shaffer. I wrote a longer assessment of all the reasons I don’t like the current Park Board on my At-Large post and I don’t want to recap here, but I will note that Cathy got called out by LiUNA (the union that represents the Park Workers) as a union buster in the wake of the park worker strike. On Cathy’s website, she says, “The number one refrain I hear from constituents is that we should prioritize taking care of what we have, and I couldn’t agree more. When it comes to our physical parks, our world-class system is only as good as the assets that make it up.” The thing she doesn’t acknowledge is that among the assets that make it up are the people who take care of what we have! Taking care of the workers who maintain our parks is part of taking care of what we have. Cathy also joined Shaffer in the vote to cut youth programming positions in order to repave a bike path.
When my kids were little, we lived close to the Hiawatha School Park, and we went there a lot. There was a woman who worked at the park (I would guess she’s now retired) who was the person who would literally haul out the hose to spray down the surface of the ice rink any day when it was cold enough to freeze, to give skaters a fresh surface. One time some asshole dropped bubble bath into the wading pool and she spent the next day scrubbing it out by hand. She worked so hard making sure that park stayed pleasant and usable and nice. The parks system is partly the fields, playgrounds, ice rinks, woods, community centers, etc., and it’s partly the people who mow the grass, fix the play equipment, flood the ice rinks, trim the trees, and staff the community centers.
Ira is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Red Lake band of Ojibwe, works in Human Services, and served on the Minneapolis School Board for two terms. In an article where he reflects on his time on the school board he mentions his proudest achievement is mandating 30 minutes of recess per day for Minneapolis elementary schoolers. (That’s a minimum, to be clear, and many — possibly most — Minneapolis elementary schoolers were not getting it. My kids definitely did not, when they were in a Minneapolis public school.)
Ira got an anti-endorsement from someone who’d had very bad experiences with him back when he was running for the State House seat in 62B (okay, someone let me know you can’t see that link without a Bluesky account. The statement was, “Ira Jourdain is the single worst elected official I have ever interacted with. I had to block him on Facebook because he would constantly harass me in the DMs at like 2AM,” made by a former resident who maintains ties to the area) but I’m very unhappy with Cathy, and Ira actually explicitly acknowledges how much the parks are the result of hard work from the park staff.. I would vote for Ira Jourdain.
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 