Thread by @WedgeLIVE

Happening now

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1385399300725817347

Kate Knuth: Yes on charter change for rent stabilization. Open up the conversation, but avoid unintended consequences that push small landlords out. It takes multiple strategies, including rent stabilization. Pledges to deliver on density of the 2040 plan.

Knuth hits Frey without naming him by saying it will take more than an empty promise of ending homelessness in 5 years.

Frey: We've invested several times the previous record in affordable housing. More per capita than almost any city in the country. Stable Homes Stable Schools program helped 3000 kids.

Frey: Most every economist has said it hamstrings mobility and supply. I listen to experts, data and research. As a formal policy has not been put forward, I'll wait to review the language. Other candidates can talk about catch phrases, but we have done the work, gotten results.

Sheila Nezhad: I've worked with IX. Housing is how we get to safety. Supports Minneapolis United for Rent Control 6 point plan. Supports fully funded tenant protection board. Tenant navigators were cut in last year's budget. Increase funding for that and things like Homeline.

Nezhad: I live a few blocks from Powderhorn Park, where hundreds of families were living outside without an appropriate place to live. Just a few blocks away there's an empty luxury apartment building.

Frey: We all agree the root causes of crime are systemic. Lack of housing, jobs. Pandemic has compounded public safety issues. We must invest in comprehensive approach. Every one of my budgets has funded at record levels, safety beyond policing measures.

This city needs a "both and" approach. This is where I differ from some of the candidates in this race. Late night and early morning calls, relaying the murder of young men are happening too frequently. You might not want to say it publicly, but our city needs police.

Frey: Our city shouldn't go down the road of defunding or abolishing police. Minneapolis has one of the lowest ratios of police per capita.

AJ Awed: when people talk about transformation and people use language that others might not agree with it, it's in the spirit of transformation. To conflate it is a deeply mistaken fact. We have to be willing to have that conversation. We need community-endorsed police.

Nezhad: I've studied the history of policing and reform in the US and Minneapolis. The first major elected official to suggest police need better training in order to stop racist violence was Harry Truman. We've been trying the same reforms for 70 years.

Nezhad: Minneapolis has adopted many of them. We've tried it. To reduce violence against communities of color we need to built systems that operate from a foundation of racial justice. Far-fetched to believe we're one or two tweaks away.

Knuth: Of course Black communities and communities of color don't trust police. Police actively harm them. 78% of police searches were done to Black residents. Black people are stopped, searched, booked more often than white people. That's how our system is working.

Knuth: We need to take really active steps to end the harm of policing, transforming public safety. Pretext stops lead to not just small harm, but the worst harm a person can experience. I support moving traffic enforcement to regulatory services or a new dept of public safety.

Knuth: Mayor has authority. End confrontation between police & encampments - armed law enforcement shouldn't be part of that work. Crime isn't just rising in Mpls, it's rising around the country. Reforming current police-centric system isn't going to get the results we want.

Many are saying candidate Sturm's constant swaying back and forth in his chair is hypnotizing.

Climate question

Knuth: "We need to actually implement the 2040 plan and deliver on its promises. As mayor I will make climate justice central to this implementation" in appointing department leadership, planning commission, in communicating to neighborhoods about street design.

Upper Harbor Terminal question.

Nezhad: North Minneapolis residents deserve developments and jobs that will serve the working class and not gentrify (did she say "gentrifrey"?). Plan funnels money into the pockets of our state's wealthiest developers.

Nezhad: Restart the community planning process, center community voices. Food production and urban agriculture.

Knuth: If you read about UHT, city calls it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Make sure promised benefits are delivered. Appreciates CM Cunningham's leadership. Is enough in place to hold developer accountable? I'm laser focused on promised benefits are delivered.

Frey: North Minneapolis has been cut off by heavy industry and a highway, both placed without regard for Black community. We can create culturally affirming recreation/jobs. Hire union/local workers w clear, binding contracts. Ensure Black business owners are prime contractors.

George FLoyd Square: Should 38th and Chicago be opened up?

Nezhad: I live a few blocks away from GFS. If you go there you will see what community building looks like in practice. We've seen clear demands from community for investment, rather than investing in militarization. I know crime is up. I live in the neighborhood.

Nezhad: We need solutions to the root of crime, violence, harm. Filling the jails does not reduce crime. Address poverty, lack of mental health care, education on healthy relationships. Imagine what GFS could be if we invested in community. As mayor I will take up the challenge.

Knuth: Decision needs to be made in collaboration with folks at 38th and Chicago, residents, business, stewards of GFS. That's not happening right now. GFS is asking us to do things in a radically different way. The mayor has the authority to open up street to traffic or not.

Knuth: mayor is in unique position on this decision. I've been disappointed in the unwillingness to lean into this, work through hard conversations, build relationship, center community, to not just have a simplistic decision.

Knuth: Meeting demands isn't about checking off something on a piece of paper. Being a final decision maker is hard. That's the job of the mayor. No decision will make everyone happy.

Frey: For many months, I've been working with CM Jenkins and Cano to make sure we're having necessary conversation on 38th and Chicago. GFS has helped to center a centuries in the making reckoning around racial justice.

Frey: I've had heart wrenching conversations w Black families, business owners. Childrens b'day parties cut short by gunfire. This is reality of the office of mayor, you need to face all the people, when not all the people agree. My position is we need to do right by community.

Knuth: "We need a new mayor to help us navigate this defining moment." We've been aching for city leadership to fully see us, to help us make sense of what's happening.

Knuth: Transformative moments aren't easy. They are unsteady, uncomfortable, full of conflict. They force us to reckon with how things have been. The systems we inhabit were not meant to serve everyone - by design. We need a mayor who is present and accountable.

Frey: To all that are listening, you know this. We have a mandate for change. We've rested on good intention & pretty words for too long. We need courage to recognize reality. Let's have dialogue. Let's chart a course. Let's not trade this opportunity for change for theoretical.

Frey: You have my word, I'll tell you the truth. I won't minimize the challenges. I'll continue being a principled leader guiding the city to a more just Minneapolis.

Nezhad: I want elected officials who make it easier for everyday people to get involved in decisions that affect our lives. I understand the job of mayor. I've been leading community solutions to police violence and building real safety for years.

Nezhad: I'm ready to step into the mayor's office with a real plan. This moment is a call to action. I was on the streets last week. The people of Minneapolis are fearless right now. It's up to us to meet this moment with real change.

Don't forget to register to caucus and sign up to be a delegate: caucus.dfl.org

Jacob Frey's answer on public safety.

Sheila Nezhad's answer on public safety.

Kate Knuth's answer on public safety.