More housing at every level:

Minneapolis is facing a significant shortage of supply – we need more housing to meet the needs of our current population and plan for growth.

However, we can’t just rely on private development to meet our needs, and we can’t keep offering tax breaks to private developers to create “affordable” housing that isn’t affordable to our neighbors with the lowest incomes. We need to encourage public and nonprofit housing production across our city to make sure that those with the lowest incomes are also able to afford to live in our city in the neighborhoods they want to. As mayor, I would invest city dollars in programs to develop non-profit affordable housing, and I would work with the City Council to invest more in our current tools and explore Program-Related Investments (PRIs) that would specifically help develop non-profit housing for people at or below 30% of AMI.

But Minneapolis can’t do it all alone. We need to work with our partners at the County and at the State to find larger sources of investment in non-profit and public funding, but we first need to show them that we’re taking this issue seriously. I have over 20 years of experience in inter-government work and in getting things done on Capitol Hill, so I know what it takes to create inter-governmental solutions to some of our biggest problems.

Flourishing neighborhoods for vibrant and well-funded city:

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how people work and live in our city. 

We need to rethink what our commercial corridors and hubs look like. While it’s important to build back Downtown as a hub of commerce and workers, we also need to be developing incentives in getting more people into those corridors for more reasons. Smaller lease spaces, conversion of commercial spaces into residential or entertainment spaces, and tax incentives for small and medium-sized businesses to grow in these spaces can help invigorate our Downtown.

But Downtown isn’t the only place where commerce and growth can happen. I’ve talked to people in neighborhoods across the city who have tried to start small businesses and faced a city enterprise that has been incredibly difficult to navigate – some have even had to hire consultants to help them figure out the process. These entrepreneurs need more support from the City through outreach, navigation, and financial resources. We also need to look at the types of tax incentives we’re offering to large businesses and developers to make sure they’re not coming at the expense of everyday renters and homeowners. What’s more, I will work collaboratively with the State and County to see where we can leverage shared investments and resources. Investing in our entrepreneurs pays dividends, and as mayor, I will make sure that the city enterprise works for them as well as it does for our major corporations.

True Community Safety with Support We Can Trust:

We need a robust toolbox for community safety that decenters armed police response, and instead focuses on upstream solutions to crime, compassionate and well-resourced responses for people experiencing mental or chemical health crises, and coordinated and goal-oriented violence interruption.

When I co-led the City Community Safety Working Group, I worked with leaders and residents to offer our current mayor recommendations for increased violence prevention, better response to non-violent 911 calls, and deeper training and accountability for police. Some of these recommendations have been implemented – we now have 24/7 crisis response for mental health calls – but most of those recommendations were left on the table. 

Here’s what I’ll focus on as mayor:

• Upstream solutions: Much of our crime comes from underinvestment in our communities. When folks' basic needs aren’t being met, when our young people feel ignored and have nowhere to go, when people experiencing homelessness or addiction are criminalized instead of supported, crime goes up. As mayor, I’m committed to addressing the underlying causes of crime and investing city resources in supporting our neighbors.

• Recruiting different kinds of officers: If we want to hire more police officers that are better able to serve and protect our communities, we need to change who we hire and what we hire for. I’ve talked to teachers and social workers who have applied for the police academy and been rejected because they don’t have the “right” background. I will work to change these practices so we value community service and prioritize people who bring new and important perspectives to the work.

• Coordinating with dispatchers: Our response times are too slow. Part of this is because we have too few police officers, but much of it is because of a lack of coordination across City and County departments. I’ll work across these government agencies to make sure that the right support is showing up where it needs to quickly.

Create accountability across the department: We need to hold police accountable to their core responsibilities to serve and protect our residents, and we need credentialed training and real accountability – not just “coaching” – for our officers and their managers. We also need to create accountability for our violence interrupters. We can’t just award contracts based on promises or connections – we need to know what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it, and to hold them to those commitments.

A Mayor’s Office that puts people over politics

I have years of experiencing managing teams and bringing people together from my time as Director of Appropriations for Rep. Steny Hoyer to my current role as Lead Minister at Plymouth Community Church. As mayor, I will prioritize building a working relationship with the City Council to make sure that the decisions I make are clear and that I can hear and understand feedback on them. I don’t know everything and certainly don’t pretend to; I’ll rely on their input and the input of residents to make sure that I and my team are avoiding conflicts of interest.

I also want to bring back our city workforce in exile – we have so many community experts who don’t want to work for the city when its leadership is this dysfunctional. With a good team of people in place, we can get back to good governance by creating better processes for these types of decisions and clarity and accountability around what we’re asking our contractors and awardees to do.

Workers that are protected and respected

Our city needs strong unions in order to protect the rights of people who live here. I have supported and will continue to support unions, including new ones being created or brought to our community.

Under the current mayor, moneyed interests have had a receptive and reactive ear. As mayor, I will work to make sure that workers are heard and represented well by their government. I support the creation of a Labor Standards Board in the city to advise our city leadership on issues facing workers and will work with the city council to create one. I will also commit to meeting with union leaders and members to hear how the city can help support their organizing.

Keeping our residents and visitors safe

Minneapolis is known as a safe place to live and visit for people who are being targeted by this Presidential administration, especially immigrants and trans and non-binary people. We need to live up to our promise as a city of safe haven by actively joining with others to make sure the rights and dignity of our residents and visitors are protected. As mayor, I’ll work closely with our City Attorney, the County Attorney, and our State Attorney General to push back against infringements on any person’s rights in our city, and will continue to take principled stands to protect the people who live and visit here.

Collaboration with our government and nonprofit partners

Having good relationships with our other governmental partners and with our robust nonprofit sector is critically important. Whether it's supporting our unhoused neighbors, updating our infrastructure like water and roads, or supporting our students and young people, we can’t do our work in a vacuum – we need respectful and collaborative relationships within our city government, and with the County, the State, and other governmental entities in our region. 

As mayor, I’ll use my years of experience navigating infrastructure and intergovernmental relations to build and repair cooperatively with the governments, nonprofits, and other institutions in our city and those around us.

A resilient and prepared climate-conscious city

I want Minneapolis to be one of the first municipalities to receive 100% of our energy from carbon-free sources – even before the 2040 deadline from the State. 

One of my main priorities as mayor will be to support our neighborhoods to create thriving places for people to live and work. Part of that will be to make sure our neighborhoods are able to rely on non-carbon sources of energy. We’ve spent a lot of capacity building rooftop solar – which we can and should be doing – but we also need community-owned and community-connected energy options. I will work to build more cooperative solar gardens, especially in low-income neighborhoods or neighborhoods with high percentages of renters. I’ll work with community organizations and communities of faith, conscience, and spiritual practice to build community-owned solar or community geothermal projects like what’s happening at Sabathani or with the Downtown thermal district. I will also work to make sure every neighborhood has a climate-focused resilience hub, somewhere that folks can go during times of emergency, but also organize neighborhood efforts to provide clean air, water, food, and community space during sunny days. I will ensure that the city does its part to expedite the closure of the HERC, including development and implementation of a plan to reduce solid waste, including in multi-family and commercial structures.

Transit and infrastructure for young people, seniors, and everyone in between

There are wonderful things to see and do in every neighborhood of our city, and we need to make sure that people are able to get around in order to access all that Minneapolis has to offer. We need to continue to make sure that our streets are pedestrian friendly and bikeable, and I’ll also work closely with the Metropolitan Council to ensure that our transit options are accessible, reliable, and affordable. But we also need to remember that many of our neighbors may need other modes of transportation to be able to get around. As mayor, I’ll make sure that infrastructure projects take into account walkability, bikeability, and accessibility to meet the needs of all of our residents and visitors.

Safe and supportive schools for your young people

Minneapolis public schools are facing a $75 million projected budget deficit for the next school year. Currently, 42% of our eligible students are not attending our public schools. Our schools, especially our public schools, are the bedrock of our democracy and the backbone of our community. The relationship between the City and our schools must be strengthened. Every school in Minneapolis is facing unique challenges. I will use the power that is available to the Mayor’s office to focus on our schools at the site level. Whether it’s after school programs, working with neighborhood organizations for hyper-local solutions, supporting families to make sure students have their needs met, or lobbying the legislature, we must invest in our students.