I am making a pitch for you to vote for Alondra Cano as your first choice.
Gary Schiff is being endorsed by the Star Tribune. This is notable because the
Star Tribune also endorsed Barb Johnson and Blong Yang. Barb Johnson and
Blong Yang are undoubtedly the most conservative members of the city council.
Barb Johnson. As council president, voted against $15/hour last fall, and stood
in the way of $15 until last spring. And Blong Yang voted against it every
time.
The Star Tribune is owned by the billionaire Glen Taylor, the owner of the
Timberwolves. It should be noted that Taylor is not a supporter of the $15
minimum wage and would undoubtedly oppose rent control. Alondra has come out in
favor of rent control. Gary Schiff has stated he is opposed to rent control.
Furthermore Glen Taylor is a former GOP state senator whose interests align
with business owners rather than workers. (a profile published in his own
paper at the time he purchased it quotes him as saying, "If you ask me would I
prefer to have unions or not, I’d prefer not to have unions.")
Alondra's other main opponent, Mohamed Farah is being funded by “Minneapolis
Works!”. This is a conservative PAC also co-funded by Glen Taylor. This PAC
is funding opponents of the most progressive city council candidates in the
city. (Please note, that I have not said here that Gary is receiving any of
this PAC money.)
But Farah is receiving this money. If you are a progressive and you are voting
for Gary as first choice, I don’t think Farah is your second choice if you vote
your politics.
These connections to the Star Tribune and Glen Taylor and the dark money of
this downtown PAC are important. They are legitimately issues in this
campaign. I think we need to look at what is behind endorsements. The power
of money to affect our elections.
It’s not fair to say, “Quit distracting us from the real issues, let’s get back
to talking about the important issues. Campaign finance is important and it is
a legitimate issue. It always needs to be watched.
That said, we need to keep talking about all of the issues.
One area is affordable housing.
Alondra has been unfairly and inaccurately misrepresented by Gary’s campaign.
Gary stated in his recent mass email that “There has been no new affordable
housing funded in the Ninth Ward in the last four years”. This is not true,
but the repeating of this false attack nonetheless has unfairly damaged Alondra
in the eyes of the public.
Below are some (but not all) of the affordable housing accomplishment that
Alondra and her office helped to create in the 9th ward. The Hennepin County
social service center located at Hiawatha and East Lake Street has broken
ground and hundreds of workforce housing units are slated to be built along
with a robust presence of small and diverse businesses which Alondra helped to
codify into the cooperative agreement between the City and the County so the
project could move forward.
Through Cano’s work, all of the southside City owned lots are slated to become
long-term (30 year min) affordable homeownership housing opportunities for low
to moderate income residents.
The Family Partnership was able to develop a partnership with PPL for their
future headquarters located on the southeastern corner of East Lake Street and
Bloomington
The Sherman owned lot on the northeast corner of East Lake Street and
Bloomington Avenue (sandwiched in between Salama Coffee and the Red Lake
Embassy) which you referenced is being worked on to include a higher density
plan than the original duplex
Other areas of accomplishment by Alondra are below.
WORKERS RIGHTS
Gary Schiff is being endorsed by the Star Tribune. This is notable because the
Star Tribune also endorsed Barb Johnson and Blong Yang. Barb Johnson and
Blong Yang are undoubtedly the most conservative members of the city council.
Barb Johnson. As council president, voted against $15/hour last fall, and stood
in the way of $15 until last spring. And Blong Yang voted against it every
time.
The Star Tribune is owned by the billionaire Glen Taylor, the owner of the
Timberwolves. It should be noted that Taylor is not a supporter of the $15
minimum wage and would undoubtedly oppose rent control. Alondra has come out in
favor of rent control. Gary Schiff has stated he is opposed to rent control.
Furthermore Glen Taylor is a former GOP state senator whose interests align
with business owners rather than workers. (a profile published in his own
paper at the time he purchased it quotes him as saying, "If you ask me would I
prefer to have unions or not, I’d prefer not to have unions.")
Alondra's other main opponent, Mohamed Farah is being funded by “Minneapolis
Works!”. This is a conservative PAC also co-funded by Glen Taylor. This PAC
is funding opponents of the most progressive city council candidates in the
city. (Please note, that I have not said here that Gary is receiving any of
this PAC money.)
But Farah is receiving this money. If you are a progressive and you are voting
for Gary as first choice, I don’t think Farah is your second choice if you vote
your politics.
These connections to the Star Tribune and Glen Taylor and the dark money of
this downtown PAC are important. They are legitimately issues in this
campaign. I think we need to look at what is behind endorsements. The power
of money to affect our elections.
It’s not fair to say, “Quit distracting us from the real issues, let’s get back
to talking about the important issues. Campaign finance is important and it is
a legitimate issue. It always needs to be watched.
That said, we need to keep talking about all of the issues.
One area is affordable housing.
Alondra has been unfairly and inaccurately misrepresented by Gary’s campaign.
Gary stated in his recent mass email that “There has been no new affordable
housing funded in the Ninth Ward in the last four years”. This is not true,
but the repeating of this false attack nonetheless has unfairly damaged Alondra
in the eyes of the public.
Below are some (but not all) of the affordable housing accomplishment that
Alondra and her office helped to create in the 9th ward. The Hennepin County
social service center located at Hiawatha and East Lake Street has broken
ground and hundreds of workforce housing units are slated to be built along
with a robust presence of small and diverse businesses which Alondra helped to
codify into the cooperative agreement between the City and the County so the
project could move forward.
Through Cano’s work, all of the southside City owned lots are slated to become
long-term (30 year min) affordable homeownership housing opportunities for low
to moderate income residents.
The Family Partnership was able to develop a partnership with PPL for their
future headquarters located on the southeastern corner of East Lake Street and
Bloomington
The Sherman owned lot on the northeast corner of East Lake Street and
Bloomington Avenue (sandwiched in between Salama Coffee and the Red Lake
Embassy) which you referenced is being worked on to include a higher density
plan than the original duplex
Other areas of accomplishment by Alondra are below.
WORKERS RIGHTS
