u/bttr-mpls

I just posted an interview with Tom Olsen, President of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, about the 2027-28 city budget fight. The Park Board wants a 5.86% levy increase just to keep things running as they are, but Mayor Frey is only offering 2.5% and wants to merge some Park Board departments (like HR) into the city to save money. Olsen says that won't actually save much, since Park Board staff are cheaper than city staff for the same work, and if the mayor's number wins out, it could mean layoffs and cuts to park services. We also got into two other big topics: the ongoing fight over the Minnehaha off-leash dog park closure, and why so many city beaches have been closing this year due to E. coli. Full interview and video are in the post if you want the details. Watch the interview here.

In this newsletter, I look at the constant online backlash against Mayor Jacob Frey, using his recent dancing at the Black Entrepreneurial State Fair as an example of how any small moment can turn into a big controversy. The piece argues that this nonstop outrage distracts from bigger problems the city actually needs to fix, like slow job growth, high childcare costs, and a corporate tax rate that ranks dead last among major metro areas. It also shares highlights from a conversation with the head of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, who warns that cities cannot coast on their past reputation and have to keep working to stay competitive. The main message is that criticizing leaders is fine, but Minneapolis needs to focus more on solving real problems and attracting jobs. https://www.betterminneapolis.com/p/frey-derangement-syndrome

In my latest newsletter, I break down what Peggy Flanagan's blowout win over Angie Craig tells us about where Minnesota Democratic politics is headed. The short version: voters are done with cautious, TV-ad-heavy campaigns and want candidates who take bold stands, show up in person, and build real community connections instead of just buying airtime. I dig into four big lessons from the race, including how Craig's vote on immigration hurt her, why "safe" centrist messaging didn't work outstate like people expected, and why taking money from groups tied to Israel has become a serious liability for Democrats in progressive states. Are there other factors I am missing? https://www.betterminneapolis.com/p/the-new-math-of-dfl-elections-in

In this newsletter, I look at the tight DFL primary race for U.S. Senate between Angie Craig and Peggy Flanagan, where the polls disagree on who's ahead. I compare it to Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed beat Haley Stevens by a smaller margin than expected, and I wonder if Flanagan could pull off something similar against the more centrist Craig. I point out that the online fighting between supporters has gotten ugly, with each side treating the other as unworthy of respect, even though the seat is rated "Likely D" and either candidate would probably keep it in Democratic hands. I bring in Jonathan Chait's argument from The Atlantic that the party's left wing is gaining ground because it doesn't have to worry about general election voters the way moderates do, and that this internal fight is making Democrats weaker heading into 2028. I close by saying Minnesota has real problems, like rebuilding Minneapolis's economy and dealing with strained school and city budgets, and that we need leaders focused on solving those problems rather than winning intraparty fights. https://www.betterminneapolis.com/p/what-the-michigan-senate-race-means

I wrote about how a city's reputation matters and how it gets shaped by both bad luck and bad leadership. I looked at Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who has had a rough few months, from an awkward comment about wealthy residents leaving over taxes to her slow public response after a shooting at a food festival, which ended with her police chief being pushed out with a big payout. I also pointed to St. Paul's new mayor dealing with her own scandal, and to Minneapolis losing its police chief too. Then I turned closer to home. Minneapolis keeps dealing with mass shootings that make people in the suburbs even more likely to skip going downtown, even as the city tries hard to promote its arts and music scene. I argued that Minneapolis, along with cities like Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, is competing for new businesses and residents against cities like Dallas, Charlotte, and Nashville, and that we won't win that competition until we're seen as safe, well run, and effective, not just well intentioned. You can read the full newsletter here: https://www.betterminneapolis.com/p/reputation-management

Occasionally, I ride the D-Line bus through Phillips, Ventura Village, and Elliot Park, and this week got me thinking hard about what it actually means to help someone struggling with addiction. I saw things on that ride that made me question whether staying out of it is really the compassionate choice. I've been reading a Seattle writer named Michael Hatch, who lost his sister to overdose, and he makes the case that San Francisco is finally getting this right under Mayor Daniel Lurie. They built a 24/7 stabilization center where police can bring people in crisis, and California now allows year-long conservatorships to keep people in treatment instead of releasing them back to the street. Hatch argues Seattle has avoided doing anything like this, even though we already step in for people like Alzheimer's patients who can't keep themselves safe. This connects directly to news here at home. Mayor Frey just announced that Minneapolis police will start citing and arresting people for public drug use and dealing in encampments, a move some activists are calling cruel. I don't see it that way. If someone has lost the ability to make sound choices because of addiction, letting them stay on the street isn't respect, it's neglect. I'm interviewing Minneapolis Director of Regulatory Services Enrique Velazquez this week about what this policy shift means and how the city's new Safe Outdoor Spaces program, which would let homeless residents sleep safely in vehicles, might work in practice. You can read the newsletter for the full story: https://www.betterminneapolis.com/p/minneapolis-as-seen-from-the-d-line?r=304p16&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Hennepin County is picking a new top prosecutor in August, and five candidates are running. The County Attorney decides who gets charged with crimes, offers plea deals, and sets priorities for victims and the community, basically, they have a ton of power over how justice works here. The thing is, even though it's supposed to be "nonpartisan," it's pretty much a Democratic race (one candidate even got the DSA wing's endorsement). The candidates mostly agree on the big goals, reduce racial disparities, help victims, prevent crime, but they disagree on how to get there and which crimes to focus on. One is an insider who ran the fraud division for 40+ years; one is a state representative known for gun reform; one is a federal prosecutor who handled the Chauvin case; one runs prosecutions in Ramsey County with solid data-driven results; and one is a civil lawyer from outside the system who wants accountability. There's no obvious wrong answer here, and whoever wins will probably end up in a controversy, this office always does. If you want the real breakdown of each candidate, check out the full newsletter.

After a string of incidents in my own South Minneapolis neighborhood — a break-in, a car theft, smashed windows, and getting blocked from a street because of an active shooter — I found myself struggling to convince friends from New York that Minneapolis is safe. What bothers me most isn't just the crime itself, but the silence from our elected officials. Two people were shot near the Wedge Co-op on Sunday, three more were shot near University Avenue Northeast on Monday, and the response from City Hall was basically nothing. Meanwhile, nearly every crime category in Minneapolis is trending at or above last year's numbers. I'm not just calling for more police, I know they mostly show up after the fact to collect shell casings. What I want is a real, honest conversation about the mix of things that drive crime: drugs, gangs, poverty, lack of jobs and education. Until our leaders stop looking away and start treating this like the urgent problem it is, Minneapolis is going to keep spinning its wheels. Read the full article.

I sat down with Bruce Dachis, a commercial property owner who's been involved in Uptown real estate for almost 40 years, to push back on a Star Tribune op-ed that claimed landlords are keeping storefronts empty on purpose to get tax write-offs. Bruce explained that's just not how it works — whatever tax benefit you might get is way less than the money you're losing by not having a tenant. It's like spending a dollar to get back 60 cents. The real problem in Uptown goes back to the chaos after George Floyd's murder, which scared off shoppers and businesses, and things haven't fully bounced back. The morning I went to record the interview, my wife's catalytic converter got stolen overnight and I got rerouted because of a police standoff nearby — so yeah, some days in Minneapolis it's hard to stay positive. But Bruce and I ended on a hopeful note: drug use around Uptown seems to be down, some businesses are coming back, and the Art Fair returns August 7–9. There are real signs of improvement if you know where to look. https://open.substack.com/pub/betterminneapolis/p/an-insiders-view-of-the-uptown-real?r=304p16&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web