A conversation with Hizzonner, the Mayor

Hizzonner, the Mayor, stopped by the office Friday. We got a chance to ask him some questions. He is charming, personable, eager, intelligent and, above all, earnest. He obviously cares about the City, and he also cares about getting re-elected next year.

He started off cheerleading for the newest Sears building developer. When Ryan Company got the contract to develop the property, he told them, “I’m on your rental team.” He believes the Allina commitment to take almost half the space will insure its success. “They wouldn’t have committed to going in there if it had been any developer other than Ryan,” Rybak said. We told him we were alarmed at the extent of public subsidy, they put in $8.9 million and we put in $69 million in a project that will be worth more than $170 million when it's done. He promised to take a look at the article we had published on that question.

He talked about his attempt to fire Robert Olson, the former Chief of Police, “When I took office I sat down with Olson in a very private meeting, only the two of us, and talked about the kind of police department I wanted. When I had been out door-knocking, there had been almost complete agreement on every issue facing Minneapolis among all voters, except for the police. Communities of color did not believe they were being served by the police. We needed to change that. I had some ideas, but I wanted to talk to Olson. I asked him if he thought that was a problem. He didn't believe it was. We agreed to disagree, and we discussed buying out his contract and easing him out. Unfortunately, word got out that he was being fired; it didn't come from me. The Council immediately got supportive of the Chief, and it was impossible to proceed, so we had to wait until his contract ran out a year later. I couldn't talk to people on the Council and try to line up votes before I talked to Olson, so we just had to wait.”

“I’m quite pleased with McManus,” Rybak said. “We hired a national search team. I told them I didn't want just one or two black candidates. I wanted a pool of black candidates. I thought one sure way to win the confidence of the black community to the police would be to have a black chief. They did a number of tests on candidates, and this one white guy seemed way ahead. We had a meeting with leaders of the black community and they all agreed that this white guy seemed like the best candidate. I was still troubled. Finally, my wife told me, ‘Why do you make it so difficult for yourself?’ So, we picked the white guy.”

We asked the mayor why the Chief was saying he didn't believe in the Civilian Review Board, and that he thought that internal review by the police should be enough?

Rybak admitted he goofed big time when he eliminated the Civilian Review process without having anything to replace it. He said he agreed there must be civilian control of the police.

We asked if he could support allowing the Civil Rights Department to review the actions of the police. When the Civilian Review Board was functioning it could not issue subpoenas or award damages. Its only power was to report its findings to the Chief. The Civil Rights Commission has the power to subpoena people and compel them to testify and to award damages, except, under current rules, it cannot subpoena police officers.

Rybak said the Civil Rights Department has been almost dysfunctional for the last few years. No one, especially people on the street, had any confidence in it. They’ve hired a new Civil Rights Director, and the Mayor has confidence they will clean up the backlog of cases and get that department functioning again. The particular form that a new Civilian Review Board might take is being studied by a committee.

We asked about the use of “Shoot to kill” training films for police officers. These are interactive films that allow police officers to simulate real situations when they might face armed and dangerous suspects. When should they use deadly force to restrain a suspect? One film portrays a man about to commit suicide by shooting himself. At what seems like the final moment, the suspect turns the weapon on the officer and shoots him or her. Is that a common occurrence? It seems that would be a very uncommon occurrence. But the effect of the film as a training exercise for young officers would be to encourage them to shoot first and ask questions afterwards.

Just a few years ago, in one twelve month period, three mentally ill people were executed by the MPD: Gregory Samples was driving his car erratically and ended up ramming a police car. Barbara Schneider was playing her radio too loud and was chased by the MPD into her bedroom where she was defending herself with a butter knife. Abu Jeilani was walking up Franklin Avenue whacking cars with a machete and a crow bar. Granted, they all should have been restrained, but there was no credible justification for killing these three disturbed individuals. The fault for the use of excessive force can only be attributed to improper training.

Rybak had not seen the films, but he said he has fought to keep in his police budget the training of police officers to deal with people with problems of mental illness. Currently, one-third of the MPD have had that training. He wants that number to be 100 percent.

He believes McManus is vigorously pursuing the bad guys on the streets, and he fully supports his “targeting policing” strategy. Actually, the policy is a re-invention of CODEFOR, where the police keep track of a few bad guys (the ones responsible for most of the police calls) in each neighborhood. There are serious questions as to whether this policy is unconstitutional in that it does not seem to be providing equal protection of the law to all citizens. But it is a widely accepted police procedure, and, probably, something like it has been the method of operation of the police ever since cops started chasing the same robber twice.

We were concerned about the block that Tyesha Edwards lived on. It is the symbol of decay for South Minneapolis. Three vacant and partially boarded commercial buildings stand next to each other like patients in a cancer ward. Across the street there are boarded up apartment buildings.

“Our family is still friends with Tyesha Edwards’ family,” Rybak said.

“It's a social problem, not a personal problem,” we said.

“We fired John Bergquist, [the former head of licensing] we're moving toward a more vigorous code enforcement that will eliminate these problems,” he said.
We asked why he hadn't given more leadership in eliminating smoking in bars and restaurants.

He said when he walked into the first meeting of people working on the smoking ordinance, he told them, “We’re going to have a smoking ordinance.” He said he wants to make sure it's an effective ordinance, that it will be effectively enforced and that it doesn't hurt small businesses.

And then the hour was over and the Mayor left. He was pumped. He was gregarious. He was funny, and he was deadly serious about keeping “the only job I've ever wanted.”

There are at least two other candidates seeking that job.

Lisa McDonald, the former 10th Ward City Council Member, has strong support with Republicans, Independents, conservative Democrats, possibly police and fire unions and the building trades. This might be enough to get her through a three way primary and into the playoff. When we asked her if she was a candidate, she said, “No comment.”

When asked about her opinion of RT she was a little more vocal, “I guess he’s good at the P R thing. But I question the amount of real change that has occurred. Do you think he’ll blame the state for the city problems next year as he has for the past three? Friends of mine in the neighborhoods and the development business all say that the changes in MCDA (now CPED) have actually made doing business with the city harder not more streamlined.”

Peter McLaughlin, the County Commissioner representing about one-third of the City on the Southside for the last ten years, would be a strong liberal challenge to Rybak. When we asked him if he was a candidate he said, “I'm tryin’ to elect a new President, ‘cause we sure as hell need one!” He’s thrilled at the reception light rail has had with the Hiawatha line. He’s fighting the County Board's attempt to turn Hennepin County Medical Center into a Public Benefit Corporation. Besides losing some control over the operations of the hospital, there is a danger such a move could seriously jeopardize the pensions of current employees. He is optimistic about the Sears development. He says he has put in six to eight years of hard work with the Phillips Partnership trying to fight crime in the neighborhood. He was instrumental in Wells Fargo taking over the Honeywell site, “And if Wells Fargo hadn’t gone into the Honeywell site, then Allina wouldn’t have expanded and gone into the Sears site. I’ve been there every step of the way,” he said.