Election 2021: Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation

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The Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation has six members: only two are elected directly to the BET. The others are the Mayor, the City Council President, another City Council rep, and a Park Board rep. The BET sets the tax levy for the city — basically, they decide how much all of city government is going to cost, and it’s the cost is split up based on the value of property you own. You can play around with the property tax estimator if you’re curious what other people’s bills look like. The BET can also sell city bonds.

BET Candidate Pine Salica has a more detailed explanation of what the BET does on their site. Here’s the city’s page with their explanation.

On the ballot:

Pine Salica
Steve Brandt
Samantha Pree-Stinson
Kevin Nikiforakis

Minneapolis will be electing two people to the BET, but you get to rank three on your ballot. Here’s the MPR video explaining how ranked-choice voting works in a multi-seat race.

tl;dr I would go with #1 Pine Salica, #2 Samantha Pree-Stinson, #3 Steve Brandt. I feel the strongest about Pine; this post took as long as it did because I’ve been waffling about Steve vs. Sam, so read on for more.

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Election 2021: The Rent Control Questions (Minneapolis and Saint Paul)

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Rent control / rent stabilization is on the ballot in both cities this fall. In Minneapolis, they’re seeking permission to write a rent control ordinance. In St. Paul, there’s a specific proposal.

In Minneapolis, it’s City Question 3 and reads as follows:

CITY QUESTION 3 (Minneapolis)

Authorizing City Council to Enact Rent Control Ordinance

Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to authorize the City Council to regulate rents on private residential property in the City of Minneapolis, with the general nature of the amendments being indicated in the explanatory note below, which is made a part of this ballot?

Explanatory Note:
This amendment would:
1. Authorize the City Council to regulate rents on private residential property in the City of Minneapolis by ordinance.
2. Provide that an ordinance regulating rents on private residential property could be enacted in two different and independent ways:
a. The City Council may enact the ordinance.
b. The City Council may refer the ordinance as a ballot question to be decided by the voters for approval at an election. If more than half of the votes cast on the ballot question are in favor of its adoption, the ordinance would take effect 30 days after the election, or at such other time as provided in the ordinance.

In Saint Paul, it’s City Question 1 (it’s the only city question on the ballot) and reads as follows:

CITY QUESTION 1 (St. Paul)

Whether To Adopt a Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance

Should the City adopt the proposed Ordinance limiting rent increases? The Ordinance limits residential rent increases to no more than 3% in a 12-month period, regardless of whether there is a change of occupancy. The Ordinance also directs the City to create a process for landlords to request an exception to the 3% limit based on the right to a reasonable return on investment. A “yes” vote is a vote in favor of limiting rent increases. A “no” vote is a vote against limiting rent increases.

tl;dr — I would vote yes in Minneapolis, but I’m going to vote no in St. Paul.

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Election 2021: Saint Paul School Board

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Saint Paul is having a school board election this year. There are four seats: three in the regular election for four-year terms, and one in a special election for a two-year term (this time because someone moved away). They’re being voted on separately. (They’re all on this year’s ballot, just to be clear, but there will be separate sections for the four-year seats and the two-year seat.)

On the ballot for the four-year seat:

Uriah Ward (DFL-endorsed)
Jennifer McPherson
Ryan Williams
Jim Vue
Halla Henderson (DFL-endorsed)
James Farnsworth

On the ballot for the special election (the two-year seat):

Jeannie Foster
Clayton Howatt (DFL-endorsed)

I am planning to vote for Jim Vue, Halla Henderson, and James Farnsworth in the regular election, Jeannie Foster in the special election.

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Election 2021: Minneapolis City Question 1, the “Strong Mayor” charter amendment

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Here’s the question as it will appear on the ballot:

CITY QUESTION 1 (Minneapolis)

Government Structure: Executive Mayor – Legislative Council

Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to adopt a change in its form of government to an Executive Mayor-Legislative Council structure to shift certain powers to the Mayor, consolidating administrative authority over all operating departments under the Mayor, and eliminating the Executive Committee?

There is no explanatory note.

tl;dr: I would vote no.

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Election 2021: Minneapolis City Council, Ward 13

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With this post, I’m done with the City Council races! Still to come: the Minneapolis Mayoral race, the Board of Estimate and Taxation, the Strong Mayor charter amendment, the Rent Stabilization charter amendment, St. Paul School board, their Rent Stabilization charter amendment, and … possibly another post on public safety? ::checks calendar:: better make this one fast, I guess.

On the ballot for Ward 13:

Linea Palmisano (incumbent, DFL, DFL endorsed)
Mike Norton (DFL)
Kati Medford (Green)
Ken Salway (Republican)
Bob Reuer (Independent)

That’s kind of a startling amount of party diversity for a Minneapolis City Council race.

tl;dr: #1 Mike Norton, #2 Kati Medford.

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Election 2021: Minneapolis City Council, Ward 7

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I keep saying “I’m going to do this one quickly and just get it DONE” and then getting sucked down another rabbit hole. Anyway, I’m going to try to do this one quickly and just get it done.

On the ballot:

Lisa Goodman (DFL, incumbent, DFL-endorsed)
Teqen Zéa-Aida (DFL)
Joanna Diaz (DFL)
Nick Kor (DFL)

tl;dr vote for Nick Kor as your #1. I would also list Teqen Zéa-Aida as my #2.

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Election 2021: Minneapolis City Council, Ward 6

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Ward 6 includes Cedar-Riverside and several other neighborhoods with a lot of immigrants. It’s currently represented by Jamal Osman, who won a special election in 2020 to replace Abdi Warsame after he resigned to lead the city’s Public Housing Authority instead. There were twelve candidates a year ago; now there are two. Abdirizak Bihi was also on last year’s ballot. (He was dropped on the second ballot. AK Hassan made it one more round, then AJ Awed made it one more round past that. Both Hassan and Awed are running for other offices this year — Hassan to be re-elected to the Park Board, Awed for mayor.)

This has been an extremely strange year to learn the job of City Council rep. Jamal Osman notes that he has not yet gone to an in-person City Council meeting.

On the ballot:

Jamal Osman (DFL)
Abdirizak Bihi (DFL)

Neither has the DFL endorsement.

tl;dr after a whole lot of waffling I decided on Osman, but I think undecided voters should read the post to see if they agree with me. ETA: after some late-breaking news I’m going to say I have no idea who I’d vote for. (For a full update you can scroll down to the boldfaced “I AM NOT SURE WHERE TO EVEN START.”)

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Election 2021: Minneapolis City Council, Ward 10

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This is an open seat; Lisa Bender is not running again.

On the ballot:

Alicia Gibson (DFL)
Katie Jones (DFL)
Chris Parsons (DFL)
Aisha Chughtai (DFL)
David Wheeler (DFL)
Ubah Nur (DFL)

No one has the DFL endorsement.

tl;dr — Katie Jones and Aisha Chughtai in some order, 1 and 2.

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Election 2021: Minneapolis Ward 2

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This is the sort of “only in Minneapolis” race where the two Democrats are the conservatives and the long-time progressive Green has a Democratic Socialist running to his left. (Also there’s a Republican but I keep forgetting he exists because he doesn’t have a website.)

It’s also one of those “I like multiple people in this race and worry about hurting people’s feelings” races.

On the ballot:

Cameron Gordon (Green, incumbent)
Robin Wonsley Worlobah (Democratic Socialist)
Yusra Arab (DFL)
Tom Anderson (DFL)
Guy T. Gaskin (Republican)

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