Speed Gibson

The City of Minneapolis is broke, heading toward default. The Legislature, also broke, is back in session, but Minneapolis is no longer able to curry favor with them, particularly the Republicans whom they have snubbed for decades. Things are desperate enough now for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and others to consider needed, overdue change.

The current system of ward politics has generated much of the past trouble, and certainly will be no part of any real solution. As the Star Tribune wrote on Dec 19, 2004:

The problem with Minneapolis' current structure -- and political culture -- is that it values inefficiency and insularity; residents tend to think in terms of neighborhoods only, instead of a single, living, breathing, more broadly competitive city. The focus tends to become my park, my school, my council member, my ward, my intersection. Frequently, those ownerships are invoked in preserving my things against the claims of others -- and especially against any attempt to bring the city together in an effort to enunciate a shared vision.

The Star Tribune has proposed a consolidated government with a City Manager. There are other choices, like dividing Minneapolis into, say, three smaller cities (East, North/Downtown, South?). It's not a solution to the financial crisis, but such reform is essential to avoiding the next one.

We can't just allow Minneapolis to collapse like a dying star into a "forbidden zone" where everyone who can moves out. The Legislature, having created much of the problem in the first place and having put off the day of reckoning for 20 years or more, does in my opinion, have a responsibility to assist righting the financial ship. But the needed reforms needed to keep Minneapolis solvent must be part of the package.