Candidates' experience, footwork, clout distinguish Nokomis contest

Newcomer brings shoe leather and surprising fundraising ability to a race against candidates who ran nearly even in the Nokomis area in 2005.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 9:48 PM

It's coming down to a test of shoe leather against political muscle against experience in the Minneapolis Park Board district centered on Lake Nokomis.

Carol Kummer has experience after serving six years on the Park Board. But it's a post she wasn't planning to run for again until the candidate she supported dropped out of the race for health reasons.

There's political muscle behind Jason Stone, who nearly beat Kummer in 2005. He claims support from Mayor R.T. Rybak and a majority of the City Council.

Steve Barland is using shoe leather to try to leverage his background as a longtime youth coach. He's putting in the most hours, peddling his message door-to-door. Though the political neophyte of the bunch, Barland raised more money this year than his two opponents combined by Sept. 1. Much of it came from parents of the kids he's coached.

The race also includes Dan W. Peterson and McClain Looney, but neither has made much of an impression.

The seat is one of six district seats and includes such areas as Minnehaha Falls and the creek that feeds it, and Pearl Park. All three candidates said they oppose a proposed charter amendment to substitute the City Council for the current membership of the city's Board of Estimate and Taxation, fearing the effect on parks.

In 2003 the Park Board appointed Kummer, 69, a retired state worker who was a Metropolitan Council member for 20 years, to fill the seat emptied by the death of Ed Solomon. Barland, 53, was among seven finalists considered to fill that vacancy. He began coaching in high school and eventually coached boys and girls in five sports. He waited to run for the board until Kummer said she wouldn't. In 2005 she edged Stone with just 51 percent of the vote.

Stone, 38, served on the city's capital budgeting committee and the advisory committee for the Park Board's comprehensive plan and says he's expanded his knowledge of municipal affairs. He said his background as a manager, formerly for a bank and now for a nonprofit, gives him valuable skills for the board. He offers himself as a conciliator in the fractious relations between the board and City Council. In a race where the DFL failed to endorse, he snared the biggest labor endorsement, which went to Kummer four years ago.

He faults Kummer for jumping back into the race, but she said she's a problem-solver who is passionate about parks. She cited talks she and Council Member Sandra Colvin Roy have initiated to resolve the issue of applying city storm water fees to park property. She said she'd like to look for ways to raise park revenues, as the board did with the Sea Salt restaurant at Minnehaha, rather than make budget cuts.

Barland said maintaining youth programs and keeping rec centers open are his top priority. He's running a K-3 basketball skills camp right after the election. He's a customer service representative for a furniture store. He said a proposed requirement that developers give land or money shouldn't be imposed during a recession.

With voters asked this year to rank their choices, only Stone expressed a definite preference for a No. 2 choice: Barland.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438