Commissioner to protesters: ‘Please stay away from our homes’

A Hennepin County commissioner and former state lawmaker invoked the murder of state Rep. Melissa Hortman when she admonished protesters Tuesday for gathering outside a colleague’s home.

“We should not [be going] to people’s homes,” Commissioner Heather Edelson said during a County Board meeting Tuesday. “Please come to our places of business. Please come here. Call us. But please stay away from our homes. We all feel very unsafe right now in ways that are different and variable.”

Protesters opposed to burning garbage had gathered Monday in front of the home of Board Chair Irene Fernando. She represents District 2, which includes the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), an incinerator in Minneapolis’ North Loop.

Edelson was a member of the Minnesota House until she stepped down in 2024 after winning a seat on the County Board. Her comments come less than two months after her former colleague, Rep. Melissa Hortman, and Hortman’s husband, Mark, were killed by an assassin in their Brooklyn Park home.

“My friend Melissa Hortman was murdered. She wasn’t just a community leader. She was a person, in her home, that was attacked,” Edelson said. “Her life was taken from her. She’ll never see her kids again.”

Edelson added that her former colleague Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot repeatedly in their Champlin home.

“We run for office, not our families,” Edelson said.

The protest came two weeks after members of the Zero Burn Coalition packed the public comment portion of a July board meeting, calling for commissioners to close the trash incinerator.

The protest in front of Fernando’s home was organized by another group, Ashes to Action.

Opponents of the HERC say it has adverse health impacts on the surrounding community, which includes many of Minneapolis’ most disadvantaged residents.

Supporters of the incinerator contend the emissions are well controlled and that burning waste to generate electricity is better than trucking it to a landfill.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to delay, for two weeks, a discussion about closing the HERC sooner, so they can review information from Minneapolis city leaders. About 60% of the trash that goes to the incinerator comes from city residents and businesses.