Mayor Frey: Minneapolis can prove to the nation it’s possible to run an effective government

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The presidential election did not go the way I hoped. While Democrats sift through the aftermath and search for answers, it’s essential that we show Democratic-led cities like Minneapolis can work for the people we represent.

Some loud voices are already suggesting that to counter the Trump agenda, we need to swing further left. That approach isn’t just wrong, it’s counterproductive. The opposite of extremism isn’t the opposite extreme. We don’t need to mirror the far-right with an equally far-left agenda. Instead, we need to show that thoughtful, effective governance works, and that cities like Minneapolis can get the basics right.

In recent years, many progressive cities have drifted away from practical policies, prioritizing ideological purity over what benefits people’s daily lives. Proposals like defunding the police, legalizing encampments, and implementing rent control have often been driven more by political agendas than by practical visions of how to improve public safety, health and economic opportunity. We’ve seen that when cities prioritize policy that sounds good over policy that does good, they fail to deliver the results their residents need.

In Minneapolis, I’ve watched the City Council veer further left, often dismissing expert advice, ignoring the law, and disregarding facts and data. The results mirror what we’re seeing play out on the federal level: legislation focused more on messaging than results and an erosion of trust in our institutions.

To break this cycle, we can’t afford to let political pressure, or the demands of interest groups, dictate our decisions. When an idea isn’t working, we must have the courage to say so. We cannot be afraid to speak the truth to the people we represent, even — and especially — when it’s politically uncomfortable.

The pressure we face moving forward is now different. The pressure is on us to deliver results because we cannot count on this new presidential administration to do it for us. Not every issue can or should be addressed by city government, but we can — and must — do a better job at delivering core services. Minneapolis should be a beacon for practical, effective and equitable governance.

Getting the basics right doesn’t mean abandoning our ideals. Minneapolis continues to lead the way in innovation in a number of categories. We are a national leader in affordable housing — recently producing 8.5 times the amount of deeply affordable housing than previous years, and adding groundbreaking zoning reform that helps diversify our housing stock and desegregate our city. Our Stable Homes Stable Schools initiative has helped ensure thousands of Minneapolis Public School students and families have a roof over their heads at night.

We are recruiting more police officers and moving forward with a first-of-its-kind Southside Safety Center that will bring together a number of safety services under one roof.

We’ve created more opportunities for Black and brown entrepreneurs through the Ownership and Opportunity Fund, an investment vehicle that has sparked growth in commercial corridors across our city.

And through the Climate Legacy Initiative, we’ve tripled our investments in climate work, setting the tone on how to reduce our per capita carbon footprint at the local level.

Here in Minneapolis, we have positioned ourselves as a city that can prove to the nation it’s possible to run an effective government that is based in reality.

The first four weeks of the presidential transition have been chaotic and confounding. Over the next four years, Minneapolis will need to refocus our energy and attention on the exceptional work underway and concrete ways to improve residents’ lives.

But to succeed, we must love our city more than our ideology. In times of division, we need to unite around the idea that democratic cities can work and Minneapolis can lead the way forward.

Jacob Frey is the mayor of Minneapolis.