South Minneapolis council candidates talk public safety, rent control and where to put the Third Precinct

Two weeks out from Election Day, candidates across three south Minneapolis wards are talking to voters about some of the top issues facing their neighborhoods: affordable housing, public safety and the long-awaited relocation of the police headquarters that serves much of the southeast part of the city.

The challenge of trying to solve those issues will come quickly for whoever comes out on top in the 12th Ward, where three-term Council Member Andrew Johnson plans to step down shortly after Election Day — leaving the council member-elect to step in just in time for the December approval of the city's budget.

Aurin Chowdhury, Nancy Ford and Luther Ranheim hope to represent neighborhoods in the far southeast corner of Minneapolis, and from Cedar Avenue to the Mississippi River.

Chowdhury, a community organizer and policy aide for Ninth Ward Council Member Jason Chavez, is endorsed by the Minnesota DFL and the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), though she self-identifies as a progressive, independent Democrat.

The DSA was criticized for a recent statement expressing solidarity with Palestinians that didn't condemn the killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas. The group later released a second statement that did denounce the killings.

"I had nothing to do with the [initial] statement. It was not written by me. … It was not supported by me," Chowdhury said, adding that she believes it's wrong to ask a Muslim woman if she supports terrorism.

Chowdhury says building a responsive, accountable public safety system is the biggest challenge facing the city, and she wants investments in policing alternatives like the behavioral crisis team and embedded social workers. But Chowdhury also believes police are needed in emergency situations, and she supports increasing the force to the city's mandatory minimum level: about 730 officers.

"I am a staunch supporter of deep police reforms," she said.

Chowdhury is the only 12th Ward candidate who favors rent control. She supports creating a "tailor-made policy" for Minneapolis — but not a 3% cap — that would help end predatory rent hikes while allowing some exceptions, such as for landlords providing naturally occurring affordable housing.

Ranheim, a gift planner at the Minnesota-St. Paul Foundation, said his experience as a steward of an organization's money and managing nonprofits with limited financial means would help him succeed as a council member.

He said the Third Precinct relocation is residents' top concern. The council and Mayor Jacob Frey have struggled in recent months to find consensus on a replacement location for the station that burned following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Ranheim supports the mayor's suggestion of building the precinct at 2600 Minnehaha Av. Chowdhury, however, suggested looking at another site on Cheatham Avenue, though she said she's open to other options.

Ranheim said Minneapolis should build more deeply affordable housing and public housing, since there's currently a four-year wait for the latter — and he's concerned about seniors who can't stay in their homes because of rising property taxes.

"They're making really tough choices right now," he said.

Ford, who owns a small business called Repair Lair on Minnehaha Avenue, mentioned a trifecta of related issues as most pressing for residents: affordable housing, crime, and the opioid and fentanyl crisis.

She said she's "deeply, personally engaged" with a local homeless community and that the city should support "wraparound services" to help unhoused people.

"We need to put money into programs to address these issues both as prevention and addressing it as it happens," she said. "We are way behind."

Ford would like to see more townhouses and cooperatively owned properties so people can afford to buy a home. She supports using community land trusts to create affordable homeownership opportunities as well as programs that offer down-payment assistance or buy down mortgage points to decrease interest rates.

Council Member Emily Koski, a business analyst elected in 2021, is facing a challenge from Gabrielle Prosser, a cake decorator helper and Socialist Workers Party candidate.

The 11th Ward is bordered on the south side by Richfield and includes Lake Nokomis, Diamond Lake and Minnehaha Creek.

Koski, the Minnesota DFL-endorsed candidate, says she's proud to serve as chair of the council's budget committee. She noted her work obtaining funding so the city's behavioral crisis team, which responds when a resident calling 911 needs mental health support, could buy two new vans that accommodate children and people with disabilities.

Public safety is "top of mind, still, for everybody," Koski said. Minneapolis definitely needs more officers, she said, but may not need the 900-plus previously recommended because of investments in alternative strategies and prevention.

Koski doesn't support rent control and thinks the city must continue to "keep the pedal to the metal" on affordable housing, highlighting efforts like the 4d Affordable Housing Incentive Program and Stable Homes, Stable Schools.

She thinks the sporadic sweeps of homeless encampments are ineffective but also believes the camps are unsafe, and supports a "low-barrier" shelter option like Avivo Village.

"It's going to take compassion and we need to make sure we're prioritizing human dignity," she said.

Prosser, who was also a Socialist Workers Party candidate for governor in 2022, said the capitalist system must be overthrown in favor of one that represents workers' needs before issues like affordable housing can be solved. She supports reforming the police and said she would fight for rent control measures.

"We're about building our unions and transform them to really advance working people's needs," she said of her party.

In the city's southwest corner, three-term incumbent Linea Palmisano is up against Kate Mortenson, a fellow moderate DFLer running on reducing crime and strengthening core services like road repair and snow removal.

The ward extends from France Avenue to Lyndale Avenue and includes Lake Bde Maka Ska, Lake Harriet and neighborhoods like Linden Hills and Armatage.

Palmisano, who received the DFL endorsement, agrees basic services are a necessity. She also pointed to crime by groups of youth as an issue that worries her constituents. Prosecution can be complicated, she said.

"There's no council member who has worked harder and longer for public safety and public safety reform than me," she said.

Mortenson, who runs an online learning company and led the local organizing committee for the 2019 Final Four, said she's running because she's "challenging the status quo," and is frustrated by city leaders who take too long to resolve big issues like the Third Precinct police headquarters.

"I think the biggest challenge we're facing on the City Council right now is a lack of leadership," Mortenson said.

Palmisano is proud of her work helping to restructure city government into an "executive mayor-legislative council" model and as chair of the audit committee, broadening that role beyond conducting financial reviews.

She noted that she's held firm on difficult 12-1 votes on the council. This summer she cast the sole vote against a measure to prevent police from operating out of any rebuilt office on the former Third Precinct site.

"People think they could do that and they think it'd be no problem, but wait until it rains down on you," Palmisano said.

Both candidates oppose a rent cap and believe homeless encampments are risky for people living there and the wider community.

Mortenson's "No. 1 critique" of the city's response to the encampments is the apparent lack of urgency around building shelter for the unhoused. The city should build it sooner and bigger, she said.

Also campaigning is Zach Metzger, who has worked as a legislative aide, and Bob "Again" Carney, a frequent candidate for state and local office.

Metzger said he's running to increase affordable housing and support alternative public safety approaches. He said the city spends too much on bulldozing homeless encampments.

"The response to the problem should never be worse than the problem," he said.

If elected, Carney says he'll refuse to take the oath of office, letting Palmisano keep the seat. He said he'd publicly share his opinions and would be "a real bridge between the Republican Party and Minneapolis."