A pro-labor wave comes for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board seats

Last year’s park workers strike will play a key role in this year’s election, where all nine seats on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are on the ballot.

That strike was the first in the agency’s 140-year history. Lasting over 20 days, it catapulted the Park Board’s financial troubles into the spotlight. It also brought chaos to a group that had, until then, distinguished itself as more pragmatic than previous iterations.

The labor strife motivated a wave of union-aligned challengers who have attacked the Park Board’s commitment to the workforce that maintains Minneapolis’ park system. Incumbents have responded by showcasing their knowledge of park administration and trying to explain how they’ve balanced the goals of conflicting constituencies.

Almost all sitting commissioners lost this year’s DFL Party endorsement to challengers viewed as better for labor: Michael Wilson and Amber Frederick for at-large, Jason Garcia in District 4, Ira Jourdain in District 6 and Dan Engelhart in District 1.

At-large Commissioner Tom Olsen was the only incumbent in a competitive race to be endorsed by the DFL. Charles Rucker in District 2 and Kedar Deshpande in District 3 are unopposed.

Other challengers suggested changing leadership is the way to restore worker trust when asked at a recent forum.

It would be helpful just having a fresh face, said Loppet Foundation youth coach Mary McKelvey, who is running for one of the three at-large spots. Justin Cermak, who’s challenging Board Vice President Steffanie Musich in District 5 and wants to stop the $45 million North Commons project, echoed the sentiment.

Setting the stage for the next crop of commissioners is the agency’s inclement financial forecast. Nearly 18% of city property taxes go to the Park Board, which relies on that single source of money for 80% of its revenue. Falling commercial property values affect the parks more than other government services.

Superintendent Al Bangoura’s administration is looking for money by cutting rec center hours, reducing trash cans and raising fees “in the event of recession-level budget cuts,” according to a presentation given to commissioners.

Austere times create hard choices between maintaining crumbling assets clustered in the city’s wealthier enclaves and building new ones in historically marginalized neighborhoods. It makes it harder to expand access for people with disabilities, build climate change-resistant sports facilities and acquire property for new parks.

Incumbents including Board President Cathy Abene in District 6 and Meg Forney, at-large, have taken credit for finding new revenue streams, such as an endowment fund and stormwater utility fees. But they’ve also taken heat for selling carbon offset credits to companies that use them to cushion carbon-reduction goals. When Frederick said she would end that program at a League of Women Voters forum, Musich, who championed it, gave a concerned look.

There are plenty of other lightning-rod issues, such as reducing vehicle mileage in the parks — a topic related to periodically closing parkways to cars.

This spring, when a majority of commissioners eschewed the publicly vetted long-range greening plan for Uptown’s Mall Park in order to preserve parking, it chafed Abene’s challenger in District 6, Jourdain. He comes from eight years on the school board and is the only tribal member running to be a park commissioner.

Contenders Averi Turner, running for an at-large seat, and Kay Carvajal Moran in District 5, are both in their 20s and say they will push the agency to include more communities of color in decisionmaking.

Reconciling the Park Board’s role as Minneapolis’ largest landowner with the region’s history of conflict with American Indian people is another burgeoning issue. In recent years the city’s largest lake has been renamed Bde Maka Ska, and the Hiawatha Golf Course redevelopment was inspired in part by Indigenous perspectives on the environmental consequences of draining wetlands for recreation.

The idea of surrendering parkland to tribal control has been floated by community activists, but never gained traction with the Park Board. Several incumbents have touted the ongoing transfer of property near St. Anthony Falls to stewardship by the Native-led organization Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, but that involves federal land with which the Park Board plays a minor role. This year however, at-large candidate Adam Schneider, Engelhart and Olsen have made strong statements in support of “land back,” referencing the recent transfer of state park lands to Dakota ownership.

Commissioners who chose not to run for re-election, District 1’s Billy Menz and District 3’s Becky Alper, had some advice for newcomers: Serving on the Park Board is hard to do well. The pay is part time, but the work is never-ending.

There’s also institutional pressure to abide by the way things have long been done, Alper said, referring to the influence of Park Board lawyer Brian Rice. While commissioners come and go, Rice has been appointed general counsel every year since 1985 with no contract and no competition. It’s unclear how much he makes in legal fees.

During the strike last year, commissioners rankled workers when they said they didn’t know enough about contract discussions to help settle the dispute, based on legal advice they’d been given to keep their distance. Yet, state law says negotiations between public employers and employees are open to all.