At the Ward 2 forum on Tuesday, three election candidates, incumbent City Council member Robin Wonsley, former state Rep. Shelley Madore and newcomer Max Theroux discussed the important issues in the area.
The forum was organized by the League of Women Voters, the East Bank Neighborhood Partnership and was held in Coffman Theater at Coffman Union. The forum was in a question-and-answer style, with moderating the questions and a meet-and-greet after.
Ward 2 candidate Michael Baskins withdrew from the race and asked voters to rank Madore instead, according to his website.
Housing
In the first half, housing was at the top of people’s concerns. Candidates talked about affordable housing and homelessness.
Wonsley highlighted her time in the city council regarding renters’ rights, such as the STOP Slumlords Ordinance.
Madore said necessary and improved regulatory services should be present to help student and resident renters learn their rights.
“What we do have is a lack of regulatory services to make sure that our tenants have their rights heard,” Madore said. “Our regulatory services are not delivering to students.”
Homelessness was another issue discussed.
While homelessness has decreased since 2020, according to Hennepin County Point and Time data, the issue of homeless encampments returned after the encampment of Lake Street was taken down, according to the Minnesota Daily.
Madore said Hennepin County has not gathered enough data on the effectiveness of the services to help those who are homeless throughout Minneapolis.
“The real issue we have to look at is Hennepin County using the resources that they have been allocated to solve this issue,” Madore said.
Madore said she would have addiction treatment centers and more support with people with mental health issues, which can be some key factors leading to homelessness.
Wonsley said Minneapolis could be the first city to significantly reduce homelessness if it adopts the housing-first approach, which would include an emergency housing voucher program and another program that provides housing and services for families.
“This problem is not insurmountable, and the way that we do it is through the housing first approach,” Wonsley said.
Public Safety
Public safety and conduct from the Minneapolis Police Department was a prominent discussion. Theroux said if elected, he would focus on increasing police recruitment and community-based organizations in the area.
“The incidents that took place in Dinkytown over the past couple of years, with more often than not young people shooting in with fireworks, would not have happened as they did if they were community-based groups stepped in first as opposed to the police force, which often creates more tension because there isn’t trust between those communities,” Theroux said.
Wonsley said if she were reelected, she would focus on expanding mental health services and moving traffic enforcement away from police response to non-911 services.
In terms of police oversight, all of the candidates supported following the federal consent decree from 2020.
The consent decree was put on hold in January by the U.S. Department of Justice, reported the Daily. In May, the DOJ filed a motion for a federal judge to dismiss the consent decree, which the judge approved, according to the Sahan Journal.
One issue of police oversight arose from MPD’s off-duty hours.
Wonsley said she would continue on policies like the off-duty work fees collection ordinance.
Madore said creating a different department and a new law enforcement budget would make it difficult to address the number of hours.
“The idea that we’re going to create a new fee structure that the police department is not yet prepared to implement is not going to solve the problem,” Madore said.
Immigration
Each of the candidates was against the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement working with MPD. Madore said the use of ICE in Minneapolis was an attack on neighbors.
ICE agents have been in Minneapolis with a large protest against the agency on June 3 on East Lake Street, reported the Minnesota Reformer.
Wonsley said the protest on East Lake Street showed her Minneapolis needed to improve its separation ordinance. Both Madore and Wonsley are for updating the separation ordinance.
“That really opened up to the fact that this city is not ready for the ongoing attacks that will likely come up against the administration against our immigrant neighbors,” Wonsley said.
Access to Grocery Stores
The focus of grocery prices came from the students, specifically regarding the Target in Dinkytown.
According to the University of Minnesota Boynton Health’s 2024 College Student Health Survey, 21.8% of students said they were worried about food insecurity and affording food from nearby retailers.
Wonsley said if elected, she would seek to establish a municipal grocery, a store owned by the government for the community. Wonsley said she had been working with the East Bank neighborhood to get funding for an economic expert to budget a store.
“It’s very clear students have talked about a lack of affordable grocery options on campus,” Wonsley said.
Madore and Theroux both disagreed with the idea of a municipal grocery store. Madore said the idea was unrealistic and would lead to more management from the city.
“We know we hear it from New York, and we’re hearing it from other places, but Minneapolis is not the place for this,” Madore said. “A municipal grocery store would become an asset that the city would have to manage.”
Madore said there is a possible solution with zoning, or small bodega-type grocery stores near the University’s campus.
Theroux said he was against the idea of a municipal store, but instead wants to incentivize stores like Cub Foods and Aldi to set up their grocery stores near the University.
“As a student who lives in Dinkytown, the one Target we have is not nearly enough,” Theroux said. “That being said, I don’t think a municipal grocery store is the answer.”
Correction: A previous version of the article stated Madore was a state senator. This is incorrect, she was a former state representative.
