Local Politics: City Council Ward 12

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

I live in Ward 12, so although I have some opinions about other wards, they tend to be vague and uninformed. Here's who's running:

Brent Perry (Socialist Action)
Rick L. Nyhlen (Independent)
Charley Underwood (DFL)
Sandy Colvin Roy (DFL) (incumbent)

Brent Perry is a Socialist, obviously. He has a Facebook group. (Can I just say, I am not liking this trend towards substituting a Facebook group for an informational website. A Facebook group is a wonderful campaign tool for getting the word out about your events; it's less useful for putting up substantive information about your stances. However, if you're running as a Socialist against an entrenched incumbent Democrat in a Minneapolis election, it probably doesn't matter all that much what you use as long as Google can find it.) His Facebook page has a statement which starts out with, "Capitalism has failed." I guess the bottom line is that you're a socialist, or you aren't, and you probably know whether you are or you aren't. I'm not. If you are, he's probably your guy.

Rick Nyhlen has a web page rather than a Facebook group but on second thought, maybe web pages aren't such a good idea. GeoCities may be gone, but late-1990s-era web design lives on! Anyway, I can forgive poor web design, and I can forgive one or two typos, but complete and utter incoherence is a problem. He spelled Michele Bachmann's first name as "mechell" and sponsor as "sponser" and his front page includes this statement: "Rick Nyhlen, Has been Coaching the Children in Ward 12 For 17 years, now he say's it time to help their Parents."

His summary of the issues appears to be (1) constituents should get a response to their concerns if they contact their City Council rep (and I agree with him emphatically); (2) roads and bridges should be repaired (yes, though I'd say this doesn't distinguish him significantly from Sandy; she's always talking about her emphasis on infrastructure); (3) Minneapolis should have an audit; (4) property taxes are too high.

You know, I would really have to HATE Sandy to vote for someone with a statement on his website as poorly written as the one I quoted above. Rick, if you drop by, for future reference, it should say: "Rick Nyhlen has been coaching the children in Ward 12 for seventeen years; now he says it's time to help their parents."

On to Charley Underwood. Charley is actually a friend of a very good friend of mine so I can't make fun of him. To my knowledge he's not actually campaigning at this point (I looked for a website and did not find one); he tried for the endorsement and lost. He has a blog that hasn't been updated in a long time, but is articulate and coherent and has a hilarious (if dubiously sourced) story about Sarah Palin during the RNC. He called us to chat while preparing to try for the endorsement; he seems thoughtful and very, very, very sincere. To be honest, he seemed too kind and sincere to serve effectively on the City Council; it would be kind of like sending a Hufflepuff into a room full of Slytherins. However, if you're unhappy with Sandy Colvin-Roy, cast your vote for Charley.

Sandy Colvin Roy is the incumbent. I have fewer issues with her now than I did back when Sharon was mayor; with fewer bad ideas being put on the table, Sandy supports fewer bad ideas. When I contact her about a concern, I generally get a prompt response, though on at least one occasion she promised a followup call and then never did get back to me.

You can get a quick rundown on the four candidates here as well. Sandy mentions upgrading the traffic signals around light rail crossings to improve traffic flow as one of her issues -- and honestly, that's the sort of thing I kind of have to like her for. Left turns on Hiawatha from 42nd St. are one of the banes of 12th Ward life, and that's the sort of thing she tends to focus on -- very un-glamorous un-flashy details of city operation that nonetheless have a big impact on our quality of life.

I am pretty sure that is IT for my ballot. Hurray! All Minneapolis voters can use the Precinct Finder on the city website to (a) figure out where they'll go to vote and (b) see a sample ballot so they can find out now which offices they'll be voting for. My primary tools here were the list of Candidate Filings plus Google. If you're not registered, don't forget Minnesota has same-day voter registration.

Will Tell Stories For Food

Local Politics: City Council Ward 12