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Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here. Like many large cities across the nation, Minneapolis faces some strong headwinds. We feel the squeeze of decreased revenues, increasing costs and potential federal cutbacks. We are facing the hostility and chaos of a presidential administration that undermines democratic norms at every turn. And we are still recovering from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest. Despite these challenges, we work together to make progress on the issues that matter most to residents. And we’ve found a strong partner in Mayor Jacob Frey, who has spent his last two terms delivering results. He’s led our city through unprecedented challenges with a steady hand, standing up to bad ideas like rent control, defunding the police and ordinances that would’ve forced rideshare companies out of the Twin Cities market. He’s spent his time in office focusing on results instead of rhetoric, and Minneapolis is better for it. We’ve become a national leader on housing by his establishment of the Stable Homes Stable Schools program to provide stable housing to over 6,700 Minneapolis Public Schools children across over 2,000 families. We are building unprecedented amounts of deeply affordable housing, and unsheltered homelessness is down 33%. Our work to hire more police officers and rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department is paying off — police recruitment is up and violent crime trending down. We continue to push forward nation-leading work on climate action, and we have fought back against the Trump administration’s attacks on our communities. But at times, our progress and potential have been stymied by a City Council majority that have shown themselves to be far more interested in their own ideology than representing the very residents they serve. And thus we land on the losing side of many important votes that would accelerate our city’s comeback. Here are a few examples: We voted to honor community feedback and advance meaningful development at George Floyd Square. We listened to small-business owners who said their shops wouldn’t survive if the area was only accessible to pedestrians; we listened to residents who said they rely on transit and need buses in the intersection. Despite more than 70% of the 6,000 surrounding neighbors who were surveyed supporting the plan brought forward by city staff, nine of our colleagues voted to further delay progress and necessary infrastructure upgrades at George Floyd Square. Instead, they spent an additional $500,000 to study different layouts, kicking the can down the road at the expense of taxpayers and the neighbors. We demanded better than a badly damaged, vacant former Third Precinct building, which became a backdrop for press conferences by politicians like JD Vance who are eager to tear down our city’s image and its values. We stood with the community and supported the proposal for the Democracy Center from the very beginning. We were met with opposition from our colleagues who tried to slow walk the project and block this plan.
